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Marius

"If I leave, I lose my legs. If I stay, I could lose everything."

0 · 1,083 views · located in Chapter 4 - Valentine Day Surprise

a character in “Antiva Chronus Online”, as played by DocBlargle

Description

Nickname: Marius

Real name: Mahiro Yasaka

Gender: Male

Age: 16

Appearance: In real life, Mahiro is 5 foot 10. He has long black hair, and dark blue eyes. He is slightly slim, and his muscles still have some tone despite being a vegetable in the hospital. He used to wear a t-shirt, jeans, and a sweatshirt, but now can only wear a traditional hospital garb. In the game, Marius has spikey black hair, which he keeps in control with a red bandanna. He has green eyes instead of blue, and is six feet tall. He wears a red and black cloak.
Real life:
Image
In game:
Image

Personality: Before he lost his legs, Mahiro was a good natured and friendly person. He was respecful to everyone he met, and was well liked by everyone. He enjoyed the company of others, and always had at least one person around with him. After the accident, though, he became a shadow of his former self. He only opened up to his sister, and was cold to everyone else. He became cynical and apathetic, and believed he had little left to live for. When he became immersed in ACO, and became Marius, the joy of the return of his legs brought back his old personality. He began to associate with other players more, and was very friendly. However, when he was trapped, he became slightly withdrawn again, though not as much as before. In place of his old apathy was a drive to see his sister again, so he commited himself to escaping. However, he is also conflicted, as returning will mean he will lose his legs again. Marius now prefers to work alone, though he will help anyone in need. Marius uses a fighting style of dodging his enemy's attacks, and attacking rapidly in the delay between them. He does not use magic often, and when he does it usually involves effecting his physical attacks, as he prefers fighting with his body then with magic.

Biography: Mahiro was born to a moderatly wealthy family. He had a sister older than him by two years, who he was very close with. He was enrolled in private school at a young age, and excelled both academically and socially. He became one of the most popular kids at school. In middle school, he got into cross country, just like his sister, and did fairly well in it. By high school, he was one of the better runners, and a number of girls at school were interested in him. However, this was not meant to last. When Mahiro was fifteen, his sister was almost run over by a car. Mahiro pushed her out of the way and was hit himself. He was paralyzed from the waist down. As time went on, his friends stopped visiting one by one, until the only person who visited him regularly was his sister. Due to this, Mahiro sunk into depression, and became a shell of his former self. When he heard about ACO, Mahiro took it as an oppertunity to get his legs back. Taking the username Marius, he entered the game. He was so happy with the return of his legs, his personality turned around, and he became his old self again. At a cost, though, he would spend days at a time in ACO, only leaving to meet with his sister. Not taking his mobility for granted, he focused his stats so much on agility that he was refered to as "The Blur". When Marius became trapped in the game, he became slightly withdrawn again, but was determined to escape to see his sister again.

Equipment:
Gemini blade: A double blade that requires both double blade and dual wielding skills, as it can split into two twin swords. It also boosts strength a good deal.
Cloak of Swift Vengeance: A red and black cloak that increases agility and dexterity to a large degree
Potions
Food
Crystals

Magic abilities:
Blade Tornado: Basic spell, four words. Causes the user's weapon to spin at a incredibly fast speed around the user, as a defensive barrier. The user is immobilized during the spell.
Lightning spear: Advanced spell: Seven words. Fires a bolt of lightning out of the user's sword, dealing a large amount of damage.
Lightning blade: Intermediate spell: Five words. Imbues the user's sword with lightning, adding elemental damage onto each attack. Only effects one sword when dual wielding.
Fire blade: Intermediate spell: Five words. Imbues the user's sword with fire, adding fire damage and a fire DOT onto each attack. Only effects one sword when dual wielding.

Special abilities:
Dual wielding
Double blades (allows the use of double bladed swords)
Cooking
Tracking
Sky Transformation
Water Transformation
Underworld Transformation

Extra: Mahiro is a big fan of Les Miserables, and named his username after his favorite character in the show.

So begins...

Marius's Story

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Marius almost laughed as he sent the thug flying backwards on his butt yet again, watching his opponent's HP drop to half. He turned to the other two players there, and addressed the three of them. "Your not going to get it." he said. "If I can drop all three of your health bars to half, and not even lose a quarter of my own, than you have no chance of taking it. I don't even see why you want it if none of you can use it anyway." Marius had been confronted by these three thugs deep in the forest, and they wanted to take his iconic, one of a kind weapon, the Gemini Blade. "This is your final warning. Leave now, or I will send the three of you back to your respawn points." The thugs, to their credit, didn't give up easily, and the one he just knocked back charged again. Not going easy anymore, Marius split his blade into two, parryed the strike with one, and sent him back again with the other, reducing the player's HP to a sliver. Having enough with toying with these jerks, Marius charged at the other two with incredible speed, granting creedance to his moniker, "The Blur". He reattached the two swords, stabbed the first player with one end and the second with the other in one swift move, than knelt down and spun the blade over his head, hitting the other two players in the neck and sending them back to the respawn point. He turned to the third, and just as Marius was about to take him out too, the player disappeared in a logout flash. Confused, Marius looked put down his sword, only to see it vanish before his eyes.

Marius watched in horror as all of his hard earned money and gear vanish, and his stats revert back to their level one defaults. Before he could react, he wound up in Nova city, near the edge of the crowd. As he heard the Game Master's message, he was struck with mixed emotions. He first thought selfishly of his legs. Being paralyzed from the waist down in real life, Marius didn't care at first, grateful that he could still walk. Then he though of his sister, and how she would react when she found her little brother, Mahiro, was stuck in a death game with no way out. Practically seeing his sister like that, devestated, in his mind's eye, Marius was struck with a need to do something.

Watching the panic escalate, Marius knew he needed to get out and get to some place that still had people with rationality. His first thought was to climb the building behind him, but he realized just as he reached it that with default stats, his chances of doing so were zero. Fortunately, there was a nearby alleyway, and slipped into an inn on the edge off town to plan out his first move.

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Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Marius
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At the inn, Marius plotted out his priorities so he could plan out his next moves. His biggest issues to deal with right now was his stats, and getting back his Gemini blade. The stats weren't so bad; he could earn the back over time with hard work. However, the Gemini blade was one of the games unique weapons. Only one of each existed in the game world at any given moment. If he didn't move fast enough, someone else could grab it first. Finding it was important, but he also needed to get its skill prerequisites first. Without them, the blade was as good as useless. To begin, Marius decided to head to the Bear Forest. He knew of a good quest in the nearby town of Silva to get a good starter sword called the Wind Flourisher. It would last a few levels of usefulness, and give him an agility boost as well, an added bonus to his fighting style. Noticing that the crowd outside was finally begining to desperse, to gain strength for themselves, Marius figured he should grab a delivery quest to Silva from the inn, and leave.

Out on the road, Marius jogged most of the way. He wanted to do everything he could to boost his agility. His entire style focused around high agility, so he needed it back up to full strength. Marius figured he would spend his time from now on alone. Before, he enjoyed partying up with others, but he wanted to be alone with his thoughts for now, to get things straight in his mind. While heading down the road, he noticed another player heading the same way, a girl with bright red hair. There also was a level 3 boar right behind her, trying to catch up and attack. Not one to abandon another player, Marius charged the boar. "Behind you!" he called out, and he launched a sword skill at the boar, dropping its HP to half. Using the recoil of the boar to is advantage, Marius turned on a dime after the hit, and finished it off with a few more. He turned to the girl and said "As cheesy as it might sound, it's dangerous to go alone. Normally, I would too, but without a safety margin at this point, it isn't the safest thing to do. Do you want to party up? At least until we get to Silva?" Realizing he had yet to introduce himself, he added "I'm Marius, by the way."

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#, as written by Ageha
On the way to Silva Refa didn't rest. She fought any monster she found starting from level 1 weasels and ending with level 4 jackals. The effect was better then she expected. If previously she would lazily sort out the monsters and attack only ones she liked (though all of them were pretty much the same), then now she lashed at everyone without mercy. In the end she managed to reach level 5 in very short period of time. And thanks to these battles she managed to get new sword and better armor which were dropped by monsters.

Refa decided that for now, it was enough fighting and that she needed to fasten her pace to get to Silva before nightfall. As she continued her slow jog to the city she noticed with corner of eye as one of wild boars followed her intending to attack. A boar was not threat to her or anyone else so she just continued to jog. When boar will get closer she will kill it.

"Behind you!" Refa heard someone call from behind her back. She turned around and saw as some player attack the boar and kill it in few blows. "As cheesy as it might sound, it's dangerous to go alone. Normally, I would too, but without a safety margin at this point, it isn't the safest thing to do. Do you want to party up? At least until we get to Silva?" He asked and without waiting for her answer added: "I'm Marius, by the way."

"Refa. This area is only dangerous for those who haven't played this game before. That boar you just killed couldn't even lay real harm on level 1 player. If you want you can tag along, but I won't wait for you if you fall behind and I won't help you if you get in trouble," She coldly replied and resumed her slow jog to Silva. Refa was being cold and bit rude on purpose. With other players around it would be harder for her to advance so she needs to get rid of him. Only reason she didn't refuse him right away is because there's nothing but road and plains on way to Silva.

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Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Kahlan Yuzuriha Character Portrait: Marius
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#, as written by Mat_z6
( I thought it was going to get quite boring if my character didn't interact till later so here I am! I can just explain during the 4 months time skip what happens to her later on.)

Leveling up was surprisingly easy when you knew exactly where to hunt. Kahlan had already leveled up significantly. Working on quests and fighting monsters all day really did pay off when you knew what you were doing. Soon, other players would gather their senses and begin leveling up and gathering money as she was doing. Though she was still extremely mad and frustrated that she was reduced to level one, the thrill of gaining experience points once again was still just as enjoyable. She had lost some very rare items that day and the skills she took so much time investing in were now all gone. Its was back to square one.

Kahlan suddenly felt a strange but very familiar sensation. A low grumble sounded from her stomach and she instantly knew what it was. That was strange. She had never felt hunger in this game before. Even though you could eat before, the food in ACO only tricked you into thinking you weren't hungry anymore thus making eating in the real world necessary. But now since they couldn't leave, Kahlan would have to pay more attention to these things. She had never bothered with eating here before. With her mind always on dungeons and leveling up, eating was the last thing on her mind.

"I guess I should take a break."

Plopping herself down on the grassy plains, Kahlan opened up her inventory. During her earlier break, she had taken that opportunity to venture back into Nova City after things calmed down to buy some supplies. A roast chicken leg, some bread, cream, and water, Kahlan sat in silence and tore a thin slice of meat off of the chicken. The scenery was beautiful here. Though she had seen these plains countless of times before, she could not help but admire the rolling hills of grass that seemed to go on for forever. If she looked hard enough, she could just make out a tiny dot that was the city of Silva, the next town over which was her final destination for the day. She had seen a few players here and there heading in the direction of the town but the main crowd was still occupying Nova City at the time and probably would be for the next few days. It was a safe place, and she couldn't blame them.

Something red caught her eye. Another player? Kahlan turned her head and sure enough a girl with fiery hair came walking down the path, Kahlan was sitting next to. She noticed something about her. She knew what she was doing. Surely she had been at a high level before this game turned flipside on them. The way she carried herself seemed to say "I know exactly what the hell I'm doing so don't slow me down!" Kahlan smiled instantly gaining the girl's respect. But then something strange happened. The girl was still a far ways away to spot Kahlan and apparently she was quite aware of the boar that was attempting a sneak attack. Breaking into a jog, the girl sped up. Kahlan knew exactly what she was doing. Planning on drawing the boar in closer to finish it off without wasting time to stop and kill it. Smart. Kahlan's eyes caught sight of another sight. Another player, probably thinking that the red head was in danger had sprinted forward, and killed the boar with a flurry of hits.

Kahlan finished off the rest of the bread and chicken and rose to her feet with a huff, dusting herself off. It was getting quite boring by herself so maybe some interaction would be nice. They were all headed in the same direction anyways. The red haired girl suddenly took off jogging, apparently leaving the boy to decide to follow her or not. Kahlan waited till the red head passed her and took off with her running beside her. Hopefully she wouldn't mind.

"Well, well. It seems we have at least a few players who know what they're doing."

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Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Kahlan Yuzuriha Character Portrait: Marius
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#, as written by Ageha
Before Refa even had the chance to restart her way to Silva, she heard a female voice come from aside:"Well, well. It seems we have at least a few players who know what they're doing."

Refa turned her face in direction of newcomer and saw a girl with short blond hair and stunningly green eyes. She seemed to confident and strong and somehow it made Refa gain instant respect for this girl.

"Well, it's not like we got stuck in this game because we didn't play it," Refa said with ironic smile on her face. She was bit surprised that she could even joke in situation like this. Then again, if Refa is going to be serious all the time she'll be stuck in this game, she'll turn into sour-faced woman children get scared of.

"I believe you came out to join the crue. Since we're headed in same direction we can stick together for now. It's not far from Silva now and we'll split up there anyway," Refa said to the girl. It was interesting how she didn't want Marius to tag along, because he thought that Refa wasn't strong enough to protect herself from a wild boar, but when this girl came along, Refa was ready to accept her, even if just for a while. She figured that it was because this girl was experienced player so they kind of understood each other's actions without explaining. Then again Marius wasn't exactly newbie either.

"I'm Refa, by the way, and that is Marius, whom I met like few minutes ago," Refa continued and chuckled a little. Although she was bit mad at Marius, it was bit comic to know that he wanted to save her as if she's a damsel in distress. This was now a death game, all girls are strong enough to defend themselves. Or at least Refa hoped that they could. She already knew that few players had lost their lives in the square and without a doubt more will die every day. Only those who are strong will remain, unless somebody beats this game quickly enough.

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Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Kahlan Yuzuriha Character Portrait: Marius
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Marius was a little bit shocked by what he heard from Refa. He wasn't sure what could be a proper safety margin anymore, so he just wasn't taking chances. He wasn't trying to 'save the damsel in distress' if that's what she was worried about. If they were stuck in here for being in the game too long, they all likely had a good amount of skill with the system already. Since he spent most of his time before they were reset in parties taking out large groups of enemies, he didn't really have a good safety margin calculated out yet. "I wasn't expecting you to." he said. "I just don't want to take a chance when a freak critical hit could be our undoing." Something about Refa's tone was familiar though, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He decided that he would think about it later. He needed to fully focus on getting to Silva in one piece.

He started a bit behind Refa, watching the rear for enemies. He wasn't used to this either, as before the reset he was often the lead scout, pulling whatever he was facing towards the tanks in the group to be pulled off of him. This was until they ran into another player. Refa greeted her with more civility than she greeted him, which slightly frustrated Marius. Why was he given the cold shoulder just for playing it a bit safe. He decided to stick with the group for now, though he was still a bit put off by this. When Refa introduced him, Marius gave a quick wave and greeted the newcomer with a neutral "Good to meet you." Marius looked off back down the road, towards Silva. "Well, I'd love to sit around a chat, but we're burning daylight. There is work to be done, and if we are all headed away from the more easily accesable resources to the North, we probably all have something specific to find down there. We'd better get moving. We can talk as we go." With that, Marius took off into a run a bit short of top speed to give them a chance to keep up. He was level 5 after that last kill, and he had put all but a few of his stat points he earned from level ups into agility, which made him faster than most players at the moment.

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Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Kahlan Yuzuriha Character Portrait: Marius
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#, as written by Mat_z6
Kahlan smiled and gave a polite nod as Refa introduced herself and her companion. Refa seemed like a pleasant person and even though their time together would be short, it would be enjoyable. Marius, her companion gave Kahlan a quick wave. He seemed frustrated and Kahlan could feel tension in the air. Did something happen between the two before she came? Well she did witness Marius "saving" Refa from the boar. Maybe it had something to do with that.

"I'm Kahlan. I'm very grateful you guys are letting me join you and I'll do my best not to slow you down."

Marius spoke up. "Well, I'd love to sit around a chat, but we're burning daylight. There is work to be done, and if we are all headed away from the more easily accesable resources to the North, we probably all have something specific to find down there. We'd better get moving. We can talk as we go."

And with that, the boy suddenly took off running in the direction of Silva. Well then.

"Your friend is quite in a hurry. But he's right. We should reach Silva before nightfall to rest up and stock up on supplies. I still haven't gotten used to the fact that we have to sleep and eat now." Kahlan shrugged. "Shall we go?"

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Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Kahlan Yuzuriha Character Portrait: Marius
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#, as written by Ageha
"Yes, let's go. We don't have even a minute to lose. And when you mention eating and sleeping then I haven't even done it yet," Refa said and remembered how her stomach had growled while she was fighting wild boars.

"I'm going to get some food once I get to Silva," Refa said and started to run to catch up with Marius. He was running bit too fast for Refa's liking however she didn't complain. Increasing agility is one of her stategies as well, because she likes to strike fast so the opponent doesn't even get the time to respond.

On their way to Silva, road was rather safe. Few wild jackals and wolves tried to attack them however they were no match for 3 players. It only served to increase their power and levels slightly. Refa also noticed that monsters got more and more powerful as they got closer to Silva. If at beginning it was just level 1 weasels then now even level 6 wolves appeared. Most likely that's because Silva has quite a lot of rewarding quests that offer great armory, weapons and even some skills as prizes. However Refa knew that real bounty hunting will start in Bear Forest. Monsters there dropped quite valuable items which can be sold or used to make armory.

After 30 minutes of fast jogging the trio finally came close to Silva. It looked very gloomy and dark from the outside, but Refa knew that it was just a camouflage to keep players away. Actually inside city it was very beautiful, and even though areas around city were very dangerous the city itself was completely safe. Most likely it was safest place in whole Terra, because not many players came here. But there was some weird shadow lingering in front of the city. At first Refa thought it to be a wolf however as she got closer she realized it was something much bigger then that. 3-eyed tiger.

Refa has met this monster before when she started ACO for first time, but she had already forgotten all about it. She died 3 times before she managed to beat this moonster, because although it was just level 6, it actually put some strategy into attacks unlike boars who just randomly attacked player when they saw one. But on the other hand, then Refa was alone, but now she has two more players with her. The tiger shouldn't be a problem.

"Be careful around that tiger. It's stronger then wolves and boars. We'll have to work together to beat it," Refa explained and drew out her sword.

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Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Kahlan Yuzuriha Character Portrait: Marius
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#, as written by Mat_z6
The short journey was more of a breeze than she had realized. The three of them sped though numerous mid level monsters without even a scratch and experience points came flowing like nothing else. It seemed partying up boosted the exp gain by a slight margin which helped magnificently. Kahlan obtained many rare weapons and armor as a result and the three of them were exceptionally stronger by the time they were able to spot Silva which was only about 30 minutes or so. It was nearly nightfall and the setting sun cast a large shadow over the three as it began to set behind the tall towers of the city. It was quite a breathtaking sight and Kahlan found that she was actually getting quite hungry once again. It seemed that fatigue was even added to the game as well as sickness and death. What a hassle.

As the three approached the city, they soon found that their journey was not quite over yet. One more opponent blocked their path. A three eyed tiger, one of the stronger monsters of this route and it definitely needed to be approached with more caution than the rest of the monsters they had been fighting for they were still at pretty low levels regardless of the strength they had gained.

"Be careful around that tiger. It's stronger then wolves and boars. We'll have to work together to beat it," Refa explained and drew out her sword.

Kahlan nodded and drew her newly acquired reinforced long sword from its sheath from her back. With the three of them, this wouldn't be a problem if they worked together. She began devising a strategy. Since she had leveled up a bit, Kahlan invested the majority of her skill points into her stamina, upping her strength, defense and attack by a significant amount. She preferred overwhelming the enemy with pure power and force and that's exactly what she was going to do.

Kahlan took a step forward and leaned into stance. "Okay, Marius, Refa, here's what we are going to do. I'll keep the tiger occupied from the front. My attack and defense should keep him at bay for awhile. While I attack from the front, I want you two to keep attacking from the sides. I need you to be quick. Don't let it get a chance to attack once. If we are able to do that, then we can avoid anything from happening. Overwhelm it and eliminate. All drops will be at random so we don't have to worry about unfair distributing. Understood?

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Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Kahlan Yuzuriha Character Portrait: Marius
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#, as written by Ageha
After Kahlan explained her strategy to them, Refa nooded, ready to take action. Fast and powerful attacks was her style. Previously she didn't manage to defeat the tiger simply because she couldn't beat it fast enough. After 5 slashes with her sword Refa managed to reduce tiger's health bar only by 1/5th while tiger with one hit did 1/3rd. Thus Refa died after reducing tiger's health bit over half. Only reason Refa managed to beat tiger in third try was because she raised her level to 10 which gave her obvious power advantage. Though she had it better then other player, as she has seen some players try up to 10 times and still with no luck of defeating powerful beast. It made Refa wonder how those players managed to beat even more powerful monsters, because three eyed tiger was just the beginning. Not only did the monster grow more powerful but they also developed a strategy which too became more and more complicated.

Last of the bosses Refa fought in Subaqua before the reset didn't even have any fighting pattern. It more felt like playing against very skilled player who adjusted himself according to situation. Refa never even managed to beat that boss and she hadn't even reached the half of the game at that point.

Refa was relieved that this time fighting the tiger wouldn't be a problem. Kahlan would take all the hits from tiger and counting that her defense is higher then Refa's defense back then, tiger should do less damage. Also since Refa and Marius would attack tiger together, they should finish it much faster.

"Let's do this!" Refa exclaimed and rushed straight-forward to attack the tiger. Lashing powerful blows at it, she attacked for as long as she could. Once red-head saw that tiger was going to attack, Refa backed away, letting Kahlan switch in. After that Refa rushed at tiger again and kept attacking him until it finally shattered into tiny pieces.

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As Marius and the group ran down the road, they each leveled up several times. Marius had managed to boost his agility even more, and he now also had a nice sword that boosted strength a little, giving him a bit more of a bite to his sword. As they went, Marius found that he had become increasingly hungry and tired, something not in the game before. Marius decided he would address this after he arrived, and head out for the Wind Flourisher tomorrow. As they neared the city, Marius stopped, noticing the shape of a large monster. Focusing his vision, he noticed it was a Three Eyed Tiger. After Refa pointed it out, Marius couldn't help but groan "Not this thing again." Three eyed tigers had been the bane of his existance one he had first started ACO. They constantly killed him off, again and again and again. Once his agility had been raised greatly, they no longer posed a threat since they couldn't hit him, but he still remembered the time when one of these could easily kill him.

After Kahlan described her strategy, Marius couldn't help but agree. He had seen that she place most points into stamina, making her a good tank to start. With his agility, he could launch hit and run attacks with ease, and Refa would make a good frontal dps as well. "Sounds good." he commented. "I'll get into position to hit it from the side. I'll go after it once you have its attention." Marius made his way around to the tiger's side, preparing to strike. As Refa and Kahlan began there attack, Marius charged the tiger from the side, launching his strongest attack on it while its back was turned. The tiger turned to face him after his hit landed, but he was already running off past it to reposition himself. He did this for a few more times, until Refa got the final hit. "Nice kill" Marius said to the group. As the loot went out to the group, Marius found himself in possesion of a new piece of armor called Speedster's Cloak. It gave a nice bonus to agility and a small bonus to dexterity, so it was quite valuable to him. Marius equipped the new cloak, and ran off with the group to Silva.

Eventually, they arrived in the city. Since it was so close to the Bear Forest, it was nicely shaded amongst the tall trees. Marius honestly thought that this city rivaled some of the cities in Caelum in terms of beauty. "Well, this is where we part." Marius said to the group. A thought suddenly occured to him. He checked his friends list and noticed that the names on it were all faded out. This meant that all of his friends had either died, or were logged out. He hopped it was the latter. Regardless, his friends list was, by all means, now empty. He quickly added both Refa and Kahlan to it. "Just in case we need each other again." he told them. With that, Marius left the party and headed to the inn. He decided he would buy dinner, go to bed for the night, and find the sword he was after tomorrow.

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Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Kahlan Yuzuriha Character Portrait: Marius
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#, as written by Ageha
As the trio fought tiger, Refa managed to land the final blow. All of them got some valuable items and Refa got a special one due to finishing blow bonus. It was a Fire Hair Pin that increased attack and agility by a little bit. At first it didn't seem like anything special but then Refa realized it was one of the "Evolving items". That means that you can power it up as you get better materials and higher blacksmith skill. "Evolving items" very rather rare because players could only get them from monsters, even quests didn't offer them.

After defeating tiger, they finally made their way to Silva. It was really beautiful city and since it was already dusk, lights that decorated the city started to take magical effect. Refa couldn't stop to amaze how lights illuminated the city and made it look as if normal stone walls were made of jewels.

"Well, this is where we part." Marius said breaking Refa from amazement. She had almost forgotten that they would have to part in Silva. Then Marius looked at something in his character panel and soon a little message appeared saying "Marius wants to add you to their friend list: Approve or Decline". "Just in case we need each other again," he told to both girls and Refa let out a small smile and pressed button Approve.

"I wish both of you good luck. Make sure you survive so we can meet again some day," Refa said and each one of them headed their own direction. First Refa went to buy food, medicine and all the other necessary stuff for surviving. After that she decided to visit armory shop to buy better weapons and armor. Although loots from monsters weren't bad, but they already fell behind her level (except the hair pin) so they wouldn't help her much.

After Refa was done with shopping, she went to the closest inn and booked one room in it. Innkeeper (NPC) said that Refa was first one to visit this inn so she received a discount and free breakfast next morning. Refa thanked Innkeeper and went straight to her room to rest. Only now she realized how tired and hungry she was. Her mind even created illusion of sore muscles although in ACO nobody was so unfit to have sore muscles, nor did the game actually produce such feeling. Quickly Refa took some bread and water out of her inventory and ate them in one swipe. They didn't taste too good, but they surely made her feel better. After that she unequipped her armor and snuggled into her blanket soon to be found sound asleep.

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Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Kahlan Yuzuriha Character Portrait: Marius
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#, as written by Mat_z6
The battle went better than Kahlan expected. As she had planned, the tiger never even had a chance to raise a claw against them. As Refa landed the final blow, Kahlan's heart was racing. This is what she played the game for. This is what she lived for. Sword in hand, she could do anything, be anything, go anywhere. And with the new addition to the game, Kahlan felt as if the game had gotten more exciting. What she didn't know was that this was all still a "game" in her mind. The reality of it had not even begun to make itself known in her mind yet. And this is what would lead to her downfall and soon after, her rise to be one of the most respected players in the game. But that story would have to wait.

The three players, finally entering Silva's massive gates, found themselves transfixed by the dazzling sight of the city lights. It truly was a sight to behold and since they were of the few players who had made it to the next town, the streets were almost empty as other players wandered here and there, trying to find a place for the night. They should be doing the same.

Marius was the first to break the silence. "Well, this is where we part." A friend request notification blinked in front of Kahlan. "Marius wants to add you to their friend list: Approve or Decline".

Kahlan nodded and accepted. These were the first of her friends since she had entered the death game. Already feeling like they would meet again Kahlan could only offer words of encouragement as her newly made friends went their separate ways leaving Kahlan standing there in the quiet center square. She was alone again. A small sigh escaped from her lips. She really enjoyed playing with others. There were benefits of going solo but the thrill of fighting beside your comrades was nothing in comparison. But..... They would meet again. Kahlan was sure of it.

Making her way to an inn just a few streets down, Kahlan decided she would stock up on supplies in the morning. She was exhausted and wanted to find a bed fast. Paying for the room, Kahlan strode up the stairs where a warm bed awaited her. Unequipping her armor, the blonde warrior tugged at the blue ribbon tied in her hair and her golden locks fell over her shoulders. As she slipped under the covers, another strange feeling arose inside her. Not knowing what it was, she dismissed it, closed her eyes and drifted to sleep. But deep down, she knew exactly what it was. It was the dull ache of homesickness.

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Character Portrait: Marius
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Deep in the tornado desert, there was a slightly hidden tomb half buried by a sand dune. The tomb could only be found as part of a rare quest. At the moment, the entrance was dark and deathly silent. If one were to continue in however, they would hear the clash of metal on metal. That was because inside the tomb was a battle taking place between Marius, and the monster inside, by the name of <<Dark Pharoh's War Master>>.

Appropriately, said enemy took the form of a mummy. Marius wasn't that interested in it, or the tomb, as the npc who gave him the quest was. What he was interested in was the wall at the back of the tomb, and the weapon in the War Master's hands. It was a double blade. Not as powerful or fast as the <<Gemini Blade>>, but it would do for a few levels. The wall in the back could be decoded by the npc to give him the double blade skill, the second step to reclaiming the Gemini Blade, as he already aquired dual wielding.

Marius charged the mummy again, his <<Wind Flourisher>> in one hand, and <<Speedster's Whirler>> in the other. They clashed blades yet again, and the mummy screamed right Marius's face. "Ugh, two words:" Marius commented. "Breath mint." He disengaged the enemy, ducked to avoid its strike, and swung at the things legs, reducing it to one fifth of its hp. The mummy clearly was not happy, as it swung the blade down in an attempt to kill him. It would have worked, as Marius also had only one fifth of his hp left. Fortunatly, Marius dodged the hit just in time. In one swift movement, Marius ran up the tomb wall, jumped off behind the mummy, and landed a critical hit as he fell, using the abiltiy <<Grand Eviceration>>. Wanting to end this little game, Marius decided to end it with his favorite spell. "Speed, Wind, Blade Tornado!" he called out, as his body spun faster than the eye could track, and his swords slashed out just as fast almost at random, when his vision cleared, the elite monster had been knocked back, and was dead. As he aquired the skill, Marius noticed something odd. The weapon the mummy held was not the <<War Master's Blade>> he expected. He selected the info window on the weapon, and gasped in awe, surprise, and ectasy.

The info screen said it was <<Gemini Blade>>.

Marius couldn't believe it. He had found the old Gemini Blade in Caellum, in the hands of the <<Gemini Angel>>. What in the world was it doing here? Marius wasn't complaining, just surprised. To test it, Marius picked it up, and pulled on both ends of the handle. Low and behold, the weapon split in two, becoming two different swords. Elated, Marius completed his quest, and accepted his offer to teleport to Siccitatis. As he returned to the inn, he contemplated where to head next. As a level 25, Marius had been asked by an old beta tester to help him and his group look for the boss. Happy to oblige, Marius offered to check the Tornado Desert and Dry Mountains, as he was headed there anyway. Deciding to change his pace from searching the endless desert, populated by strong monsters and sand whirlwinds, he decided to head off to the Dry Mountains. He replenshed his food and water supply, and went north through the desert, watching the <<Sand Burrowers>> and <<Mumified Warriors>> give way to <<Dry Goblins>> and <<Desert Griffins>>. Marius attacked each one relentlessly. He was going to have fun with his old friend.

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Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO) Character Portrait: Marius
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Marius began his walk to Siccitatis back feeling very annoyed. He had scoured every inch of both the desert and Dry Mountain. Though he found locations where bosses might be later, he still hadn't found the first one yet. Marius decided that if it wasn't here, it was likely up north, perhaps in the Frozen Plains. Marius decided it would be good to check there, so he readied a teleport crystal and said "Teleport. Alsiosus." With that, a blue light glowed around him, bluring vision. When it cleared, he was in the snowy city of Alsiosus. He bought a few more essentials, including a warmer coat, and set off into the Frozen Plains.

Marius killed off a few <<Ice Armidillos>> and the occasional <<Frost Wurm>> as he mapped out the area. Eventually, something big in the distance caught his eye, so he advanced to have a look. What he saw caught him completly off guard. It was a monster, and the name above it came up as <<Major Boss: The Moonlit Deathwolf>>. Whats more was that it was already engaged in combat. There looked to be about thirty people, which struck Marius as odd. If a party had been formed to kill the first boss, he would have been told. He used his newly reaquired <<Tracking>> skill, only to find that they were all illusions. Only two were real players. As he got a better look at them, one of them had the name Refa pop up over her head. He couldn't help but notice that the two were hanging by a thread, even as Refa managed to knock the thing down on its back. "Yeah, thats Refa alright."

Not wanting either them to get killed, or himself for that matter. Marius crouched behind a frozen rock, and fired off a message to the beta tester. "Found the boss. It's in the Frozen Plains. Two Players are already fighting it, so I'm going to help out. Get a party here ASAP." After he fired off the message, Marius muttered to himself "Can't believe I'm actually going to do this. This is stupid." Not able to talk himself out of it, Marius charged the boss at max speed, and called out, "Need a hand Refa?" As the boss was about to get back up, Marius lept onto its chest, and stabbed the downward end of his blade into its head. He ran across its body, spinning his blade on its chest as he went, registering more hits. He lept up at the end, and landed by Refa. "Are you crazy!" he yelled. "You should have called for help the first chance you got! Fortunately, I just did that. Backup is on the way." Marius decided that for one enemy, it was better to use his sword seperated, so he split the <<Gemini Blade>> in two, using his dual wielding skills instead.

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Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO) Character Portrait: Marius
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"Like hell I'm leaving! Don't go acting like a hero and sacrificing yourself!" the red-head angrily yelled and threw crystal away into frozen field, much to Shineda's dismay. Then she charged right at werewolf and sliced through his left leg, making giant fall with loud "thud". Just as she was angry, he was too. This was why people ended up dying! They NEVER listen!

"Like it or not, we're in this together now! I'm not going to let anyone die because some stupid overgrown puppy decided to come out and play! Create the wall to deceive my enemies!" the girl formed an army of illusions with her magic spell, causing the giant to rampage around, striking anything in it's way.

"Attack it after I slice its leg," she gave the order and attacked, the moment it fell, Shineda charged, a sword dance of pure light as he pulled out every <<Sword Skill>> in his arsenal into a full-fledged combo. A final crushing stab to end the combo dealt out an extra critical damage to the beast, causing it to fall flat on it's back. Shineda swung his sword around for a while before settling into his fighting stance. Just as <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> stood, another player joined the battled and attacked it with a flurry of strikes. This player was faster than Shineda!

"Are you crazy!" the player yelled. "You should have called for help the first chance you got! Fortunately, I just did that. Backup is on the way."

"Blame the girl, she didn't listen when I said to go looking for back up!" he seethed angrily, looking at the teleportation crystal as it cracked and shattered. That was his last one too. Stupid girl was going to either get herself killed one day, or someone else. Hadn't she learned ANYTHING from this Death Game?

The new warrior separated his sword into two, meaning... The <<Gemini Blade>>? To have received it so early in the game...

'Tch... 3 of us... ' he thought, charging at the beast as it tried to stand up after the attack. Delivering a <<Sweeping Dash>>, Shineda took out the giant's weak footing from underneath, then stabbed forward into it's chest with a flash of light, throwing the beast backwards yet again. Being Shineda's defense crushing <<Sword Skill>>, the beast's armor was already cracking.

"One more hit! I pierce through all armor with mighty strength! Piercing UP!" he chanted, once again forming runes that circled his sword. He accompanied this with <<Piercing Stab>>, hoping to fully break through the beast's armor. He charged, flying straight into the beast with reckless abandon. He collided the tip of his sword against the beast's armor. After what seemed to be a brief delay... cracks were heard. Several of them before a loud shatter. He succeeded! The shattering of the armor threw both <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> and him off balance, in a way that he wasn't able to recover in time to take advantage of the situation.

"SWITCH!" he called out, hoping the two other players would take lead when he was not able to.

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Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO) Character Portrait: Marius
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#, as written by Ageha
As Refa and the boy whose name she did not know continued to fight the monster,when an expected player appeared. It was Marius who apparently had noticed them from afar and now has joined in the fight.

"Are you crazy!" he yelled. "You should have called for help the first chance you got! Fortunately, I just did that. Backup is on the way."

"Blame the girl, she didn't listen when I said to go looking for back up!" the boy seethed angrily however he continued to attack <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>>. At first it seemed kind of odd because all spots he hit didn't do any damage. And only then Refa understood his tactic. The armor. He was trying to break it in order for them to be able to induce more damage on the monster.

"One more hit! I pierce through all armor with mighty strength! Piercing UP!" he chanted, once again forming runes that circled his sword. As he slashed at monster's armor it started to crack until it finally came off. Oh, <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> didn't seem to like that on bit, in fact he became even more aggressive.

"SWITCH!" Boy yelled unable to do anything to wolf anymore. Refa quickly chanted her shield spell and went straight the werewolf not letting him to attack anyone else. Although with its armor off <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> became more vulnerable, it also became more agile. It was a good thing Refa had trained her speed to be as high as possible. Quickly Refa chanted another illusion only this time it made wolf see as if she was with no armor or sword (the previous illusion had already disappeared). Obviously it tried to slash Refa in two, but she successfully blocked its attack with her magic shield and pierced her sword right into the spot where boy got the armor off.

Howling wolf fell on its back from the impact making itself an easy target for a split second. It was plenty enough for Refa. Angrily she slashed at wolf's chest again and yelled: "If I would have gone looking for back-up, you would be dead right now! Switch!"

As wolf was struck by another blow, Refa backed away to recover her mana a bit. Illusions required quite a lot of it and she'll need it, because <<The Moonlit Deathwolf's>> HP still was pretty high. In this fight Refa decided to be a shield. She will switch in each time wolf will try to attack either Marius or the other player. That was something Refa didn't do before in the game, however now when one could actually die, she was ready to sacrifice herself to protect the others.

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Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO) Character Portrait: Marius
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The red-head took advantage of the situation and attacked, casting a magic shield and illusion combo that successfully tricked the creature into hitting her only to receive a large recoil from the shield. She struck, piercing the wolf's chest, taking a nice amount of health away. It seemed that the armor had been protecting it's weakest spot. The beast fell on it's back, allowing the girl to strike again. By this time, Shineda had flipped from his fall to land on his feet and he charged.

"If I would have gone looking for back-up, you would be dead right now! Switch!" the girl yelled. To this Shineda snorted.

"You don't know what you're talking about. I don't intend to die in this death game caused by lifeless gamers." he yelled back angrily. "I just don't want any more deaths!"

It had been such a huge difference. He started off in the game cursing every gamer, hoping they would die for their stupidity. But after seeing the deaths, he lost that anger, although he still resented his bad luck. In fact, whether he knew it or not, Shineda had become a protector, saving those that he met in his travels.

Yes... this was his strength now. No longer was anger his power, his power was the will to protect, the will to save lives and the will to end this game.

He charged, moving at the same speed as the newcomer, courtesy of his stats and weapon bonuses. For a brief moment, the player's name and level appeared faintly before disappearing...

...He hugely out-leveled the other two and possibly even every other player in ACO, a fact that Shineda didn't like to reveal. Playing solo had allowed him to take all the EXP for himself, while others had been pairing up in order to increase their chances of survival, causing him to level up faster than any other player around. Another contributing factor... he did not want anyone to die, so Shineda avoided partying with people, afraid that they would die under his care if he couldn't protect them in time...

But now that these two were here to his displeasure...however, no matter what, there was no way he was letting them die.

<<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> received a powerful thrust straight into it's chest, sending it backwards with a painful howl. Shineda flourished his sword, causing light to shine from it. The beast growled and cast it's red eyes upon him before charging. Shineda stood his ground and swung his sword with all the strength he could muster.

The speed at which the beast was moving at and the force Shineda put into the blow, as well as a lucky Critical, sent the beast flying to the side and a rather large hunk of health deducted from its HP. Shineda stood there, his sword still outstretched from the attack before he slowly lowered his sword and glared at the beast.

It actually whimpered at his gaze, but stood up nonetheless and attacked. A skillful parry unbalanced the beast before Shineda slashed at the giant's chest, making it back away. A nice amount of HP was taken away from that hit.

'Just about a third more to go...' he thought, sparing a small glance at the beast's HP. Trying to take advantage of this, <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> charged and swung it's sword down at Shineda. This attack was blocked with ease by Shineda, who held his ground against the attack.

"SWITCH! GO ALL THE WAY!" he yelled, pushing the beast's sword back and making it stumble.

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Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO) Character Portrait: Marius
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#, as written by Ageha
The boy successfully switched in, started to restlessly strike the beast and yelled back at Refa: "You don't know what you're talking about. I don't intend to die in this death game caused by lifeless gamers. I just don't want any more deaths!"

He just continued to strike the wolf and decreased its health by quite considerable amount. As he fought Kyuu emerged from his safe hiding spot in Refa's clothes and let out a warning "nyuu" pointed towards the boy. Pets could give players some very important information if they listened to their pets and understood their signs. Usually pets showed players hidden tricks or traps, but it was weird for Kyuu-chan to be pointed towards this boy. Carefully Refa observed him fight the monster and she saw that he was very agile, he could easily keep up with monster's speed and even out speed it although it didn't have it's armor now. Normal players wouldn't be able to keep up with it. Just how powerful was this player anyway.

"SWITCH! GO ALL THE WAY!" he yelled, pushing the beast's sword back and making it stumble. Refa didn't hesitate and went on full frontal attack.

"Just because we play a lot of video games doesn't mean we're lifeless," Refa slashed <<The Moonlit Deathwolf's>> chest making him lose balance and fall.

"Maybe we just have problems in real life and we wanted to have another chance to prove that we are worth something," she jumped and pierced sword right into wolf's chest making him howl in pain and also pinning him to the ground. As she remember all those times classmates made fun of her, Refa became angrier and angrier and yet sadder as well.

"Maybe, people didn't accept who we were and just laughed at us, making fun of our weaknesses and kicking us even harder when we fell down," red-head could fell tears forming in her eyes, blurring her vision, but she just pulled the sword out of beast and slashed it so fast that it barely got chance to stand up and protect itself.

"Maybe they never gave us a CHANCE to fight!" Refa yelled out, however with her vision blurred by tears she failed to see <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> and obviously it didn't let that chance slip away. With its claw beast slashed right into Refa's chest sending her flying across the field, inducing <<Frozen>> status on her. When Refa understood what had happened, wolf was already lunging at her ready to delete her from this game and also real life. She needed to move but she couldn't since she was frozen.

.....or was she? As wolf was about to pierce through her with its claws, she quickly rolled out of the way and jumped onto her feet. Without any hesitation she chanted spell and created a shield to protect herself. But wasn't she frozen solid, she could have sworn she saw the <<Frozen>> status next to her now almost empty HP bar.

"Nyuuuu!" A worried squeal resounded in Refa's ear and she felt soft fur brush against her cheek. That's right, it was Kyuu-chan's unique ability. He could cure <<Frozen>> status. In other words, he simply melted the ice away. That kind of made sense Kyuu-chan was a fire fox and fire could melt the ice.

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Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO) Character Portrait: Marius
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Marius hung back a bit as the other male player ripped off the boss's armor. That took certainly more strength then most players had. Maybe they could pull this off before backup arrived. That would be interesting to explain. Refa certainly looked up to snuff as well, apparently having gained illusion magic, and was certainly able to hold her own as well. Marius was ready to take the next switch, when the other player said something that froze him on the spot.

"You don't know what you're talking about. I don't intend to die in this death game caused by lifeless gamers. I just don't want any more deaths!"

Lifeless gamers? Lifeless gamers?! Marius shivered with rage, and had to force himself from attacking the unnamed player. He missed his chance to switch in his anger, and Refa took over again. He listened to Refa's speech on why people seemed to give up the real world for ACO. It certainly hit some things that the player didn't consider. However, he didn't notice untill to late that she was about to be impaled by the werewolf's claws. In that instant, Marius's mind flashed back to that fateful moment when he pushed his sister away from the car, only to be hit himself. Now utterly enraged, he decided to use that rage for something usefull. As the boss recovered from its miss and prepared another charge, Marius charged the boss without warning, moving faster than he thought he could.

As the boss was about to charge, Marius slammed into it with both of his blades, and turned into the sword skill <<Double Blade Vortex>>, landing his combo right on the boss's weakpoint. "Maybe we feel we have lost everything we had in that world!" he said, continuing Refa's speech. He parried the werewolf's strike with both blades, knocked it out of the way, and dashed under it, hitting both of its legs. "Maybe some of us feel we have more here than we do outside!" As the boss fell over, Marius lept up onto its chest, and screamed "Maybe someone can't look his sister in the eye, because she thinks that she is the reason he is confined to a GOD DAMNED WHEELCHAIR!!" as he plunged both of his blades into the thing's chest. He lept off of the boss in a back flip, watching its hp drop to zero, and the <<Moonlit Deathwolf>> burst into an explosion of polygons. Losing all of his self control, Marius charged the insensitive, good for nothing player, stopping the tip of his blade inches from his throat.

"Let me ask you a question." Marius said coldly. "Let's say you were in the real world, and you woke up one morning to find you couldn't feel or move your legs. How far would you go to get them back?" He withdrew his swords, reattached them, and sheathed it on his back. He walked a small distance away from the two, completely ignoring the <<Spoils>> screen in front of him. He couldn't stop the tears from coming down his eyes as he thought of his sister, and the pain she was going through, likely feeling like she had lost her brother a second time.