Announcements: Cutting Costs (2024) » January 2024 Copyfraud Attack » Finding Universes to Join (and making yours more visible!) » Guide To Universes On RPG » Member Shoutout Thread » Starter Locations & Prompts for Newcomers » RPG Chat — the official app » Frequently Asked Questions » Suggestions & Requests: THE MASTER THREAD »

Latest Discussions: With Chat currently offline... An alternative » Adapa Adapa's for adapa » To the Rich Men North of Richmond » Shake Senora » Good Morning RPG! » Ramblings of a Madman: American History Unkempt » Site Revitalization » Map Making Resources » Lost Poetry » Wishes » Ring of Invisibility » Seeking Roleplayer for Rumple/Mr. Gold from Once Upon a Time » Some political parody for these trying times » What dinosaur are you? » So, I have an Etsy » Train Poetry I » Joker » D&D Alignment Chart: How To Get A Theorem Named After You » Dungeon23 : Creative Challenge » Returning User - Is it dead? »

Players Wanted: Looking for a long term partner! » JoJo or Mha roleplay » Seeking long-term rp partners for MxM » [MxF] Ruining Beauty / Beauty x Bastard » Minecraft Rp Help Wanted » CALL FOR WITNESSES: The Public v Zosimos » Social Immortal: A Vampire Only Soiree [The Multiverse] » XENOMORPH EDM TOUR Feat. Synthe Gridd: Get Your Tickets! » Aishna: Tower of Desire » Looking for fellow RPGers/Characters » looking for a RP partner (ABO/BL) » Looking for a long term roleplay partner » Explore the World of Boruto with Our Roleplaying Group on FB » More Jedi, Sith, and Imperials needed! » Role-player's Wanted » OSR Armchair Warrior looking for Kin » Friday the 13th Fun, Anyone? » Writers Wanted! » Long term partner to play an older male wanted » DEAD! »

0
followers
follow

Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO)

"I will keep my promises...I will get everyone out of here."

0 · 1,485 views · located in Chapter 5 - Stolen and united

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

Description

Nickname: AtoobuuO(IGN)

Real name: Yoshitsune Shineda (Romanized: Shineda Yoshitsune)

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Appearance:
Image
In Game Character

Image
In Real Life


Personality: Shineda is truly a kind and helpful individual. He is a fun loving person and while not hesitate to help anyone. He’s a playful child despite his age and a lover of video games which is why he played ACO. He’s intelligent and good at time management, a good voice of reason. Shineda has a bad temper, but has a goof grip on his anger to counteract it. He also cannot stand the thought of someone being expendable. In ACO, he decided to be different from his real self, acting mean and tough like a delinquent, even being despicable. But now that he is truly living in the world of ACO… he has to be the person he truly is in the game in order to survive.
Currently, Shineda has a strong dislike for the other gamers that have ruined his life by trapping him here because of their problem.
Shineda is a fan of scarves, as he wears them in real life as well as in game when he can find one.
Shineda practiced kendo, but decided not to stick by the rules of kendo when playing ACO. He is versatile and has no preferences in weapon. His fighting style is almost like a dance, an art style when he swings his sword.

Biography: Shineda was brought up by his strict father after the death of his beloved mother. As a youngster, Shineda was a spoilt child, always seeking the affections of his mother. He has a rather strained relationship with his father, as he is strict, so Shineda is afraid of him and hardly confides to him with any problems. This also meant that Shineda never had the privilege of participating in gaming or outside activities like the other children. He never had a handphone, a computer or a game console. All he had was kendo and karate that his father forced him into.
After his father’s death, the then 14 year old Shineda began living with his close friend that was almost like family to him. The family was willing to take him in, and treated him like their own son. He eventually managed to experience technology for once, obtaining his own handphone and a laptop. He was a technology idiot, always needing his friend to teach him about it. He shared a console with his friend and sucked at games a lot when he played with his friend, but when ACO arrived along with his very first official console, the Insitus Gear, Shineda played a game that he felt comfortable with for the first time. In the virtual world, Shineda was able to be someone he wasn’t and was able to do quite well in the gameplay. Despite the incredibly addicting gameplay, Shineda was actually on of the ones that stopped to go to school and do part-time work instead of just play all the time. Due to this, Shineda was left behind in terms of level and game-skills, but his fighting ability was hardly diminished.
Shineda was fairly unlucky to have been playing ACO during the day the ‘Death Game’ announcement was made. He had a life out there!! Why was he being punished along with the idiots who spent their time here than in the real world?! It was unfair to him and he resented the gamers around him, not wanting to join up with them. He decided to play the game solo after the first day of the announcement.
After 4 months into the game, Shineda considered himself possibly the only solo player in the game. He was constantly fighting alone, and received all the experience from his kills. Passersby considered his level to be similar to his, but honestly... just how high is his current level after solo-ing every creature he's met? Playing in dangerous waters, Shineda fought higher leveled monsters and higher level monsters in order to level up faster and become stronger. A literal living machine that stopped only to satisfy his hungry stomach before resuming his onslaught. He played well away from the other players, still holding a grudge against them, although his anger has subsided a little after seeing the death of other players in front of his eyes, and the sadness each of them held. Perhaps they've learned their lesson? This game was not an escape from reality. Not matter how harsh it is, they had to face it. At the same time, Shineda's cheery disposition has been returning slowly and slowly overtime. Now he's more cheerful and relaxed, although he still retains his reckless drive for power. Shineda appeared many times to assist stray adventurers that he met when they get attacked by either orange or red players. Despite his anger with other players, he still believed that none of them should be killed by another player. It was morally wrong. Desperation could make people do unimaginable things. Hidden out of society, AtuobuuO was a name still unheard of by other players, Shineda continues to solo play his way, travelling to many places, some of the places include the <<Frozen Plains>> and <<Tornado Desert>>, constantly in search of the First Major Boss's dungeon, but without much success. However, he has a feeling that he's coming close to it.
Almost a year has passed in the Death Game, and several months after the First Boss battle he had alongside powerful warriors, and not to mention the day the Town of Beginning was formed. Within that time span, guilds had begun forming at a frightening speed. Shineda himself was a hidden frontliner that no one knew off, but 67 of the defeated bosses were courtesy from him, alone. Not to mention the other 21 he participated in to assist other players. A hidden solo player, only those that have seen him describe a cloaked warrior with a simple looking katana weapon that seemed to dance the moment he swung the sword. Shineda decided to remain enigmatic, no wanting to associate himself with anyone, despite his vanished anger towards the gamers. He could see that people were starting to work together to get out, it didn't matter anymore whatever they were afraid of in reality. They had made up their mind to get out of here and that was enough for Shineda's anger to quell. Shineda had seen players come and go, fight and die, and he never wanted that to happen to anyone else, but he alone was unable to save EVERYONE in the game. He could only save the ones that he could reach for. From what Shineda knows, he was the first to travel to the <<Inferna>> region and defeated the very first Major Boss in that location, the mighty three headed monster,<<Cerberus>>.

Equipment:
Weapon - 「Crossing Field」 - <<Weapon Type: Katana>> - An <<Evolving Weapon>>, the <<Crossing Field>> adjusts itself to the user's stats, making sure that all the stats achieve a complete balance. This means that while the weaknesses of the user will be compensated, the strengths will not grow any further.
Armor - 「Burning Cerberus+」 - One of the rare <<Activated Equip>> items. Displays a new sleeker design. Sleeveless armor that reveals the bare arms, with the 3 head of the <<Cerberus>> designed onto the shoulder plates and the chest plate. Armguards and leggings resemble the paws of the <<Cerberus>>. It seems to be of a faded silver colour, but once the <<Active>> is used, the entire armor seems to go ablaze, the entire armour revealing it's true colours. The shoulder plates and the chest plate burn up, giving the look that the designed <<Cerberus>> has burning manes. The faded silver look is replaced by a sleek dark red and black colouration, and the armguards and leggings produce fire with each movement the user makes. Claws also reveal themselves on the paws.
It's almost as if the <<Cerberus>> is still alive and ready to fight again.
The <<Active>>: When activated, the 「Burning Cerberus」 gives an incredible boost of power to the owner and also deals a decent amount of constant DPS with any attacker coming into melee contact with the owner due to the magic flames of the <<Cerberus>>.
Accessories - 「Shades of Darkness」 - A cloak that seems to have been sewn together from the shadows. When the person moved, the cloak seems to trail along in the air with black wisps. A super-rare equip item that focuses all it's effects upon rendering the user undetectable. Gives <<Undetectable>>, <<Sneak>> and <<Shadowless>>. It is a perfect <<Stealth>> item, granting the user the coveted <<Presence Block>>, making it absolutely impossible to track the person who has this equipped. On top of that, it grants well-rounded stats to boost.
Items
-「Magma Ruby」x2 - A supremely rare item from the <<Inferna>>. It sports a very shiny red gem INSIDE the gem. It is the only material item that can give the highest <<Fire Element>> to a weapon.
-「Travelling Tent」- An item that is hard to obtain. Acts similar to an inn and allows accommodation in the wilderness. Take a long time to set up and to pack up.
-「Monster Essence+」x17 - A material item.
- Various foodstuffs and drinks.
- Various crystals.
- And ALOT mineral ores, stones, fragments.
Key Items
-「Heart Shaped Snowflake」- A one time only obtainable object, one-of-a-kind. There is currently no use for it.

Magic abilities:
Fire Magic Style: Ember – A simple magic ability that any beginner can chose to begin with and equip. Shoots out small sprays of fireballs about the size of small rocks. Technically, ‘embers’.
Fire Magic Style: Fire - A basic magic spell that fires out a fireball. Requires 4 words.
Advanced Fire Magic Style: Fire - A advanced magic spell of an enhanced fireball. Shoots out 4 tracking fireballs. Requires 8 words.
Water Magic Style: Water - A basic magic spell that produces a jet of water. Requires 4 words.
Illusion Magic Style: Smokescreen - A fusion magic spell made from both <<Fire Magic Style: Fire>> and <<Water Magic Style: Water>>, producing a smokescreen that temporarily blinds the surrounding units, both friendly and hostiles. Requires 6 words.
Enhancement Magic Style: Piercing UP - An enhancement magic spell that increases the piercing damage dealt based on the amount of power the weapon has, the higher the damage, the more the piercing damage. A high enough piercing damage can cause enemy armor to shatter. Can target self or friendly. Requires 8 words.
Enhancement Magic Style: Double Strike - An enhancement magic spell that allows the user to deal the amount of damage from two hits with just one hit. The system registers into the combo as an extra hit and also provides an extra slash animation, thus making combo building easier and stylish.

Special abilities:

Job Type Abilities:
- True Miner Complete - The <<Player>> will not require as much energy to mine, meaning less drop in hunger and tiredness.
- Weaponsmith Complete - Shineda is able to forge weapons only, but they have slightly higher stats when compared to other blacksmiths, so no normal weapon can compare to his.
Hunter - Shineda has a higher chance of obtaining rarer materials from creatures or monsters.
- Hunter Complete - Shineda has a slight chance of obtaining rarer materials from creatures or monsters.
- Scavenger Complete - Any creature or monster that is slain while Shineda is within vicinity will not disappear immediately, allowing a small time frame for Shineda to scavenge some materials from the fallen enemy. Does not work on <<Bosses>>.

Passive Abilities:
- Detect Complete - The <<Player>> is able to detect enemies within a small radius.
- Lucky - Shineda has a high chance of obtaining rarer items from monster drops.
- Desperate Survivor - All healing effects (both magical and item) on Shineda are slightly increased, Shineda's hunger will drop slower and the food he consumes will fill him up easier. If Shineda is put into <<Sleep>> status while in combat, he gradually regenerates his HP and MP in very little but slow and steady amounts.
- Jack of all Trades - Shineda is able to wield any <<Weapon Type>>.
- Extended Weight Carrying Limit - Shineda is able to carry even more items.
- True Samurai - When using and weapon that is a <<Weapon Type: Katana>>, the attack power of the weapon is greatly increased.
- Underworld Transformation - Allows the player to change shape to enter <<Inferna>>. In Shineda's case, he becomes slightly rock-like.


Sword Skills
- Piercing Stab - A basic single shot attack. Although the name says 'Stab', it can be used as a slashing move.
- Rising Slash - A powerful upwards cutting motion. It causes enemies to <<Bounce>>.
- Triple Slash - A beginner's combo <<Sword Skill>>. The <<Player>> begins off with a slow start, but once the first strike has landed, the final 2 hits end in quick succession, giving the appearance of light piercing through enemies.
- Sweeping Dash - A powerful knockdown attack. The <<Player>> sweeps down the ground in order to take out the enemy's footing, before dashing forward in a lancing stab to inflict powerful damage. It instantly breaks weak defenses.
- Crescent - A powerful upward cutting motion in the air. This can be paired with <<Rising Slash>>.
- Power Attack - A destructive swing that throws all enemies off you. The attack starts off slowly by holding a stance and waiting for the skill to increase in power before throwing a large swing in a big radius in front of the <<Player>>, causing surrounding enemies to be thrown backwards and damaged. Good for clearing out large mobs.
- Shockwave - A powerful attack that comes from below. The attack begins slowly with the <<Player>> holding his stance and waiting for energy to build up, before unleashing it down to the ground, causing a visible shockwave of energy to form. It has quite a far reach, and can attack underground enemies. Deals extra damage when underground and less damage the further the enemy is away from <<Player>>.
- Cutting Stroke - A deadly attack that cuts for the main arteries of the target, causing a 100% critical chance and a small chance to inflict <<Bleed>>.
- Heavy Magnum - A forceful thrust with the sword that deals incredible damage to the target, sending it flying far away with the force of a super powered bullet. This has a chance to inflict <<Daze>>.
- Berserk Assault - An advanced 10 hit combo. The user seems to go into a rage and swing his sword around, dealing more damage the less the <<HP>> of the user is.
- Break Drive - An advanced 15 hit combo <<Sword Skill>>. With well placed strikes and positioning, the <<Break Drive>> is a devastating skill to those caught in it's range. It's a powerful linear attack that opens with a powerful lancing motion before accompanied by several slashes and ending with another linear charging attack that sends the target flying.

Unique Combat Abilities:
To Be Added: Teaser Hint – Involves something about his style of fighting.

Unique Combat Sword Skills:

Extra: AtuobuuO has been a very reserved player, not a participant in large events and rarely enters towns, meaning not many have known him. As for those players that have seen him, say that they see a warrior that dances with his sword, fighting his enemies as if in a dance of death. Each flash that emitted from his sword was like another beautiful light for his dance. Little did Shineda know, that one day he would be given a title of his own.

So begins...

Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO)'s Story

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO)
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

A Saturday with the family, talking about their day. Normal. But to Shineda, it was the day that he could play ACO, a VRMMORPG that was developed by Kawakami Yoshihiro, an amazing game creator and inventor, who was also the innovator of the latest Insitus Gear. Now in his room, Shineda beheld his most prized possession, a very well kept Insitus Gear. After admiring it for a little while and imagining his day in the world of Caelum, which he had been travelling around for quite a while now, as well as the <<Secret Quest>> that he managed to obtain. He breathed out happily, before setting the Insitus Gear on his head and over his blonde locks of hair.

Laying down on his bed, he closed his eyes as he always did... not knowing this might be the last time he would ever open them.

"System Begin."

<<Sequence Initializing...>>

<<Player: AtuobuuO - Confirmed>>

~~~~~


Shineda respawned in the main city of <<Caelum>>. He finally tasted defeat for the first time, at the hands of a monster. Sure, he'd lost to players before, considering how players were more advanced. But he had never lost to a <<Boss>> enemy, with or without a party... until today. It was a funny feeling to him, like he was sad and excited at the same time.

"This <<Secret Quest>> is pretty hard..." he muttered to himself before he got up and patted himself down. He was Level 43, possibly not a very good time to take on this particular <<Boss>> yet...but he wanted to try ever since the <<Quest>> appeared in his log all of a sudden. Big mistake. His armor and weapon at the moment might've been perfect for a level 40 type quest, but definitely not for this one. He got up and chuckled before deciding to fly down to <<Inferna>>.

Then his sword disappeared...and his armor. Soon everything on him was disappearing. Shineda thought it was a majorly bad glitch, but then he noticed from high above that there was flashes of light from all over the different areas. Teleportation?

He saw his level drop back to 1 and he was teleported to <<Novus City - Terra>>. All around him, he saw even more people flashing and finding themselves in the location, bewildered. What was going on?

It wasn't until the Game Master appeared and gave them his announcement, that everyone began panicking. It was insane at how the people around him immediately broke down, or lost their minds, crying or protesting. A stampede ensued.

'A...death game? Because we're spending less time in real life...?' he thought, slowly getting angrier and angrier. The Game Master was right...and somehow, Shineda understood the Game Master's motive and supported it, instead of shunning it like the others. It was all because of these stupid, crazy gamers who had no life. Who didn't appreciate the life they had. They were the cause that innocent people like him who wanted to return home had to stay here and participate in their punishment.

He watched as a few people were crushed under the stampede, shattering into crystal pieces of data and disappearing. He roughly pushed his way through the stampede, not caring whether they would fall and be crushed. 'Serves them right!'

He drove a fist through the person in front of him, reducing the person's HP before pushing him away. "GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

And he pulled out his 「Beginner's Shortsword」, brandishing it around to make it clear so that people moved out of the way. A few HP bars dropped before the message was received. A path opened up for the angry player and he charged out before turning around.

"IT SERVES YOU LIFELESS BASTARDS RIGHT! YOU ONLY THINK ABOUT YOURSELF, NOW LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE! YOU'VE TRAPPED INNOCENT PEOPLE WHO PLAY THIS GAME JUST FOR FUN, INNOCENT PEOPLE WHO STILL WISH TO LIVE IN THE REAL WORLD! YOU'VE DOOMED US ALL WITH YOUR STUPIDITY!" he yelled at them, his eyes angry, tears threatening to spill out. He didn't even know that the system allowed tears to be in the game. He turned and continued to run, not knowing where his feet were taking him, but he wanted to get out of here and find a way out.

Where he went wasn't a good place to start, because he ended up meeting against a Level 6 <<3-Eyed Tiger>>. His anger caused his judgement and reasoning to be diminished, and he struck, fighting blow for blow against the <<3-Eyed Tiger>>.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" he yelled, striking and striking and striking, unrelenting, venting his anger on the program. His experience in ACO allowed his strikes to be faster and accurate, actually causing the fight to be even as he dodged and narrowly avoid dangerous blows. By the end of the ordeal, the fury-blinded Shineda was left with just a tiny sliver of health, that the green colour of his HP bar couldn't be seen, and the <<3-Eyed Tiger>> dead, shattering into crystals and disappearing. The normal <<EXP>> and <<Spoils>> screen appeared before him, stating he was now Level 3 and received 「3rd Eye of the Tiger」, 「3-Eyed Tiger's Claw」 and the sleek black-blue 「3-Eyed Tiger's Hide」. Shineda panted hard, feeling rather faint, threatening to collapse on the spot, but the amount of eyes that were staring at him from the forest kept his attention up and he ran.

"I'm not dying in this world...I'm not dying. Never." he muttered to himself, panting as he ran from 4 <<3- Eyed Tigers>> that chased after him. They were in the weaker territory now, and the weak Level 1 <<Slime>> was in the way. Shineda brandished his weapon then held it aloft in the air until it shone and he brought it down on the attacking <<Slime>>, slicing it in half, before he gave it 3 more slashes and continued to run. He swiped away the <<EXP>> and <<Spoils>> screen.

"NEVER!" he yelled outloud as he continued to run. He was surviving in this world, it was no excuse!

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Asher Damons (a.k.a. The Voice of Treason) Character Portrait: Canon Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO)
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Canon watched blankly as the one who approached her began to speak quietly. He leaned down, being at least a head taller than herself - although he looked about the same age as her, both her ingame body, and the real body the thought of which brought only a sense of longing and regret - and, placing a hand gently on her head, he whispered comforting words in her ear. And yet, the silver haired former warrior realized, she almost couldn't hear him over the screams of the crowd as fighting broke out, many people blaming others for their misfortune. Canon cringed as some of her would-be comforter's kind words were almost entirely drowned out by some angry shouting nearby that hit far too close to home. It served her right, huh...? The tears that were threatening to fall gained strength, but, mustering that courage which she still had left in her, she managed to blink them back.

"A-alright..." She murmured, nodding as the boy commanded her to remain calm. That, however, was easier said than done, considering the situation they were in. Still, she tried to take heart. This couldn't happen... right? Somebody would stop it. Maybe somebody would notice that something was wrong? Maybe the moderators would be able to log everyone out safely? But... wait... With the time compression feature, how long would that take? Probably at least a month. If she waited around for that long, she'd starve to death, not to mention be left behind by the more fearless players. She'd be in danger because she'd be weaker than everyone else. Even if this wasn't a game anymore, she could still become at least a little strong... right? But, to do that... She'd have to risk her life, and she was scared. She didn't want to fight when it meant she'd actually die in the end if she lost. But... did she have a choice?

Realizing what the boy had just said, the girl in vermillion blinked. Asher...? But his nameplate said "The Voice of Treason," an ominous name if she'd ever heard one. Did that mean he was introducing himself by his name in the real world? That wasn't something she'd ever heard of anyone doing before. Generally, speaking of real world affairs inside a game like this was just something you didn't do. This world was virtual, just an extension of an internet connection. Reality was something you were supposed to just leave at the door. Well, she supposed things might have changed due to the circumstances they were suddenly in, but still, there was a nagging, paranoid fear that she shouldn't respond with her real name. What if he knew her in real life, somehow? What if he went to her school? She didn't want to think about it, but she also didn't want to risk it, slight though the chance may have been. "I..." She stammered, before settling on a response. "J-just call me by my username. I-it's Canon." The boy didn't seem to mind this, as he just continued to speak.

Canon, and the mind that controlled her, was always too scared to accept the help of others. But now, she had something much greater to be afraid of. And so, as the boy stated his plan, for once, Canon spoke without hesitation, wiping the last tears from her eyes and nodding slightly, trying to show that she was okay. It was remarkable how quickly her mood turned around, and yet, reverse it did. Years of experience in game were made manifest as she quickly offered her own idea, her tongue loosened by the nessecity of haste for her own continued survival.

"Quests," She said quietly. This might not have made sense for a moment, until she elaborated. "Everyone else will probably start trying to find quests. They're a fast, and mostly safe way of making money here in the starting area. To complete most of them, you don't have to fight, and for those you do, you get good rewards, like weapons or armor. But since they only happen a given number of times, they'll all be gone within a day, and new quests won't come out for a while. We'll need money to buy food, right...? If we start doing quests here while everyone else either panics or moves to other cities, we might be able to survive, even though the mobs in this area will probably be farmed clean." She stopped a moment, taking a breath and thinking back to her own time as a beginning, trying to come up with a plan that would work and be safe enough to be viable now. Quickly, however, an idea struck her, and she spoke up again. "A-actually, I know a quest that might work. If we go into the sewers, there's a knight who'll tell us to fight a group of kobolds down there. They're level 2s, but they have low defense and HP. With two people, it won't be a problem, and the reward is enough XP to level us up at least twice, and a rare-class single-edge falchion that holds up until level ten with the right upgrades," She explained. Honestly, Canon didn't know what she was saying anymore. The idea of fighting any enemies now, even ones she was sure she could beat, was absolutely terrifying to her. And yet, she realized, this was an MMORPG, even if it wasn't a game anymore. The only way to survive was to grow strong, and the only way to grow strong was to fight. If she wanted to live, she had to fight. She knew that, and would just have to act on that knowledge. That did not mean, however, that she wasn't still clearly quite scared.

"H-how about you?" She asked. A stammer worked its way into her voice as she remembered that she was talking to someone else, and she realized exactly how awkward she was bound to be. It was only made worse when she remembered that just a moment ago, he'd been only inches away from her, whispering in her ear. And he was even a boy, around her own age... Canon blushed furiously, quite noticeable for the same reason her tears had been. Trying to divert her mind from the embarrassing thoughts she was beginning to have, she quickly spoke up. Fortunately, she already had been intending to ask this question, so it came out fairly naturally, although there was still a bit of a stutter in her voice, and her eyes began to quickly avert themselves from the boy's face.

"D-do you know any good quests?" She asked, gazing shyly down at her feet as she kicked a pebble that she'd probably just imagined, trying to forget the fact that there had just been a member of the opposite gender so close to her - her, of all people! That was unusual enough, in her experience, to actually momentarily allow her to forget her previous fears, although they still lingered at the back of her mind. This was probably for the best as, had she continued thinking about her situation, she very well might have broken down completely. Living in the moment was, perhaps, the only thing keeping her from absolute despair, and probable death afterward.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO)
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

The earlier enraged player had finally calmed down, especially after having too many life-death confrontations with high-leveled monsters. Bear Forest... who'd even have known that the name was very misleading. Bears were just the minor problem...it was the things that ATE the bears that were the true monsters here...

He panted as he equipped his newly acquired longsword type weapon shaped like a large flat blade with a hook on the tip that resembled it's namesake, the 「Scorpion Tail」, appeared and rested in it's sheathe across his lap. His HP bar was in the red zone, but he could manage. After all... he was done here.

"Time to go..." he stood up, while the multitudes of shimmering large, monstrous scorpion-shaped crystals around him shattered and faded away. Player levels were hidden from view unless in <<Duel>> situations, so there was no telling what the dark-haired swordsman's level was now. He emerged from the forest, slashing apart a <<Bear>> in the process before he was greeted with sunlight.

Those gamers could stay here for all he cared, but Shineda wanted to get back home... He needed to be stronger as fast as he could, even if that meant taking chances with the stronger enemies. Shineda had never died previously in the game, definitely not to the monsters, so he wasn't planning to die now. He was going to kill everything and get the hell out of here...

"Damn stupid gamers..." he muttered resentfully, turning his attention to an ore mound, where he began to dig. Obtaining several minerals, he continued onwards towards Silva. He had his own sequence of quests that he knew would give him the maximum amount of <<EXP>> to gain, and he was going to do just that.

"...'One does not simply-'" he stabbed at the ground and hooked out a gigantic <<Death Worm>> with the 「Scorpion Tail」 tip. "'-die in a freaking video game!'"

The <<Death Worm>> was shredded to pieces in bursts of lights emitting from Shineda's <<Sword Skills>>.

Caution had to be made for those who ventured into <<Bear Forest>> at low levels, since in certain locations in the vicinity of <<Bear Forest>> , are high-levelled <<Death Worms>> waiting underground for a tasty snack of travelers and adventurers.

'...and lifeless gamers.' Shineda thought to himself.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO)
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

[c]A name unheard of continues his lone search for the First Boss. Can he survive alone?[/c]

The black haired swordsman awoke from his slumber, dark blue eyes blinking as they stared at the tent canopy. He got up sleepily and proceeded to pack up his things. After several good minutes, the tent was taken down and Shineda was greeted by the biting cold of the <<Frozen Plains>>.

It's been almost 4 months into the game and Shineda continued his lone crusade to defeat this Death Game. During this entire 4 months, he had seen the terrified faces of other players and their deaths, causing his anger to lessen. His anger now was towards those who didn't seem to care about the fact that this was a Death Game, and even began to do despicable things to survive. A lone traveler, Shineda had roamed far and wide, with no one to hold him back, a privilege that only solo players had. And at the same time, he assisted those that required his help. A rarity in times like this, Shineda was like an angel assisting the weak. He saw now that the other players were suffering just as he had been. They wanted to return to reality. This was their wake-up call. They were fighting hard for it. For their survival. And he was dedicated to finishing this game, not just so he could return, but so that others could to. This became his new drive and he fought harder than before, risking his life over and over again in his quest to become stronger.

Now, Shineda was on a dungeon quest, solo. He had traveled almost any part of the most dangerous areas that had monsters that were at least 5-10 levels higher than he was, but places like that were starting to get less. He was on the search for the First Major Boss. He was even the first to travel to <<Frozen Plains>> and <<Tornado Desert>> in his search, a place considered to be quite fatal to the unprepared and consisting of powerful monsters. It had to be around somewhere.

"I'll find you." he muttered, then swung the weapon he forged at the group of <<Icicle Armadillos>>.

"I pierce through all armor with mighty strength! Piercing UP!" he read out the magic spell, causing runes to run along 「Air Blade」, circling it all the way to the tip. He drove the weapon through the first line of enemies, causing the one in front to completely shatter and receive the maximum force of the attack. Shineda continued to drive his sword to the mob, destroying a majority of them. The stronger their armor, the weaker they were inside. As long as the armor was removed, they stood no chance against him. Their numbers threatened to overwhelm him, but Shineda held his ground and kept his sword horizontally to the side. His HP bar slowly dropped as he was attacked, but his sword began to glow. A <<Sword Skill>>.

As the glow slowly grew brighter and brighter until it seemed that the light was dancing, he released, swinging his sword all the way to the other side. Like baseballs, each of the <<Icicle Armadillos>> curled up after being launched into the air and shattered into data.

"Home run." he mused, swinging his sword around then twirling it in front of him before putting it back into it's sheathe on his back, imitating a famous game character from a long time ago.

Further onwards, he finally found his target. The <<Frozen Emperor>>. A large humanoid, about 2 times the size of the average <<Player>>, frozen yet mobile. The ice was translucent and incredibly hard, meaning that one could not see what was underneath all the ice. But it seemed that the <<Frozen Emperor>> also wore armor, reinforcing it's already high defense. It wielded a two-handed Greatsword that seemed to be producing frost. Shineda quickly moved into a fighting stance but the frozen mound didn't seem to be moving. Humanoids were the hardest type of monsters to fight, since they resemble humans and can move around like humans. And the <<Frozen Emperor>> seemed to be stronger than most <<Field Bosses>>, possibly on par with a <<Major Boss>> but Shineda doubted it. No matter how strong a <<Field Boss>> was, a <<Major Boss>> would always be stronger than it.

A solid 5 minutes passed by and the mound showed no signs of moving, so Shineda lowered his weapon and walked towards it cautiously. Still, there was no movement.

"Odd..." he thought, holding his weapon at the ready. Still, a few more minutes went by and there was no response from the <<Boss>>. Just as Shineda lowered his guard with a sigh...

The <<Frozen Emperor>> swung it's greatsword at Shineda, sending him flying into the air and reducing his HP significantly.

"Uaaaaaaaagh!!" Shineda collapsed onto the frozen floor and got up, feeling heavy. What... then he looked at his HP bar, only to see a <<Frostbite>> symbol above it. That greatsword caused <<Frostbite>> status? Shineda had to make sure he dodged the weapon, or else he would be moving at an incredibly slow pace!

The <<Frozen Emperor's>> eyes finally flashed green, showing that it was now awakened and ready to do battle with it's adversary. What a surprise attack! The AI seemed to be getting smarter and smarter. The <<Boss>> held it's greatsword aloft and swung it down, Shineda blocked the attack with his weapon, causing sparks to fly from the clash. Another large swing brought Shineda flying into a wall painfully. His HP bar dropped again.

"Damn...The first hit decides everything when it comes to <<Frostbite>>...I'm so damn slow!" he cursed and stood up with his sword ready, narrowing getting himself stabbed by the weapon by part parrying and part dodging. This <<Boss>> wasn't going to be easy.

'Could be my last fight, if anything.' he thought darkly to himself.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO)
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Ageha
After returning to Pruina, Refa, followed by her loyal pet Kyuu-chan, went straight to Quest Giver (NPC) to receive <<The Locator>>. That was the only prize for this quests although she had to fight like 50 <<Giant Ice Bears>>. However the prize was worth it because with it Refa would be able to find anything in this game. It's a shame this item has one time use. Excited Refa took out <<The Locator>> out of her inventory. It looked odd, bit like a mobile phone with tiny screen and giant keyboard below with all possible letters. Only then she understood the "catch" of this item. One needed to know the name of what they were searching for however Refa had no idea what was 1st bosses name.

"Argg!!! All that fighting for nothing!" Refa angrily growled and was about to smash <<The Locator>> against the ground, but Kyuu-chan stopped her in time. Suddenly a new message screen appeared in front of Refa. Of course it was from no one else then Game Master who constantly sent news about game upgrades, survivors and special events. Half-heartily she opened the mail and with no interest she read it until one phrase caught her sight. "Information about 1st Major Boss". The message didn't say where it was hidden however it showed that it looked like a giant werewolf with sword, had specific fighting pattern and that its name was <<The Moolit Deathwolf>>.

A smirk appeared on Refa's face. Quickly she wrote in "The Moonlit Deathwolf" in <<The Locator>>. For a while nothing happened but then map of Terra appeared in front of Refa and she saw a red dot flashed in The Frozen Plains. As Refa remembered spot on map, <<The Locator>> turned into tiny pixels and disappeared.

"Kyuu-chan, get ready, we're going on a cold trip!" Refa exclaimed and without any ado rushed out of Pruina. Although it was quite a distance from Pruina to the location of first boss, red-head knew how to get there fast. Outside Pruina City, in Northen Pine Forest was a hidden reindeer farm. Player could go and rent one of these reindeer, but it wasn't cheap. Refa however didn't care how expensive it was. She wanted to kill that werewolf with her own sword.

Way to the farm seemed annoyingly long, but once she got there she instantly paid to get the fastest reindeer and hopped on its back. It let out a low growl and then rushed towards the direction Refa commanded. In meantime, Kyuu-chan had safely stuck under Refa's clothes, squealing every time reindeer made a crazy turn. It was amazing how well made pets in ACO were. They were just like real cats and dogs, asking for food, playing around and caring for their owner. The second amazing thing about pets was that they grew more powerful alongside their owners. If at first Kyuu-chan had only one tail and gave Refa ability to do weak fire magic, then now it he has two-tails and Refa can perform more powerful fire magic. During higher levels Kyuu-chan will be able to join battle.

As Refa rode out of Pine Forest and into Northen Plains, Kyuu-chan signalized that there was something going on not to far from where they were. Curious Refa turned the reindeer in direction where it should be. As she got closer she could see some giant white figure with flashing green eyes and something smaller not too far from it. By looks of it, it was some Field Boss and a player who got into trouble while fighting it. As Refa got even closer she could see that name of monster was <<Frozen Emperor>> and it was level 30. That guy must be crazy to take on such powerful Field Boss. Normally Refa wouldn't involve herself in fight like this, however she had element advantage. Fire attacks did double the damage against ice monsters, so this shouldn't be a problem.

"Fire burn down the enemies to melting ashes!" Refa chanted as she got closer to the monster. A rain of fire fell upon the giant making him roar. But because of her fire, snow around monster evaporated creating a thick mist so Refa couldn't tell was the monster dead or not.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO)
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

"Fire burn down the enemies to melting ashes!" Shineda heard a girl's voice yell. A rain of fire fell upon the giant making him roar. The snow around monster evaporated creating a thick mist which enveloped both participants of the fight. Instantly, this was his chance. Without having <<Frozen Emperor>> breathing down his neck constantly, Shineda was able to wait for a few seconds for the <<Frostbite>> status to disappear. Once that happened, Shineda charged straight for his adversary.

The player's small longsword clashed against the giant's huge greatsword, the force of their collision clearing the mist away. With a vicious roar, <<Frozen Emperor>> lashed out again, only this time to be fully parried by Shineda. Taking advantage of the delayed recovery from a parry, Shineda delivered a blinding mix of <<Triple Slash>>, <<Rising Slash>> and <<Crescent>> combo in one go. The flashes produced by the <<Sword Skills>> seemed to dance around in unison with the player's movement. The <<Frozen Emperor>> emitted a roar and stepped backwards, deep scratches etched upon it's frozen form. That was a pretty strong defense there, however, it seemed that the fire spell that attacked it earlier had softened the frozen form quite alot.

"I pierce through all armor with mighty strength! Piercing UP!" Shineda used his most frequent spell against defensive units. As runes began to circle around his sword, Shineda charged, leaping into the air to deliver a powerful strike straight towards the giant's head. The sword charged up with light again, the runes glowed gold and was brought straight towards the <<Frozen Emperor's>> face like a shining lance.

The <<Frozen Emperor>> never had a chance to react.

The powerful stab crushed through it's target's armor and dealt direct damage to the being underneath. An unearthly roar, far louder than before and slightly different. Without mercy, Shineda kept his assault, chipping off every layer of ice on the <<Frozen Emperor>>. The <<Boss's>> HP bar was slowly decreasing until it was dangerously low and eventually, it was empty. A showcase of Shineda's strength was displayed, betraying the truth of his current <<Level>>. Shineda received the normal Congratulations, <<Spoils>> of shockingly rare items and <<EXP>> which he apparently shared with the girl that helped him just now. Oh well.

He took another glance at the <<Frozen Emperor's>> foggy figure before glancing at his savior. Through the distance, using his <<Detect>>, he saw a red-haired girl on a reindeer. Through his senses, apparently some kind of pet was under her clothes. She must've been rich in order to afford a reindeer... or just desperate. He tugged at his <<Traveler's Rags>> and re-wrapped it around his neck, shielding him from the chill. He raised a hand in the air and called out to her.

"Hey! Thanks!" he did a square motion with his hands. ""You should have received the <<Spoils>> and <<EXP>> screen. Enjoy!"

'Hmmm~' he thought with a small smile. 'This is the first time someone's helping me instead of the other way around.'

He heard the unearthly roar yet again and turned around slowly. But wasn't the <<Frozen Emperor>> taken down?

What he saw was a totally different thing. It wasn't the <<Frozen Emperor>> that was standing. It was a giant werewolf about the same size, wearing armor...wielding the exact same sword the <<Frozen Emperor>> had. A few pieces of ice were still stuck onto the werewolf's fur, it shook them off then roared again, it's eyes flashing red, a sign of awakening. Bewildered, Shineda took a look at the monster's name.

<<Major Boss: The Moonlit Deathwolf>>

Shineda's eyes widened as the <<Boss>> swung it's sword around with ease, moving faster than the <<Frozen Emperor>> ever could. Each swing seemed to add a new appearance to the sword until eventually, the greatsword seemed larger and there were skull engravings on the hilt and pommel. The armor it wore also bore the same insignia.

Shineda's feelings had been right... The 1st <<Boss>> had been nearby all the time. But he had never dreamed it would've been the same monster he fought a while ago. <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> exuded complete difference from the <<Frozen Emperor>>, as if it had awakened all of it's true powers...

'Perhaps that's what happened...<<Frozen Emperor>> might've just been it's slumbering state...' he thought, before readying himself.

<<Boss Battle Begin>>

<<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> shifted it's focus towards Shineda and swung it's sword at frightening speed. With similar speed, Shineda brought his sword up for a block and found himself flying far. Collapsing, he blinked quickly and got up, his HP slowly reducing. He saw his sword emitting frost.

'Oh shit, it's not just <<Frost Bite>> anymore...it's <<FROZEN>>.' he thought with dread.

<<Frozen>> was one of the worst conditions to end up with, it caused the inflicted unit to be immobile, encased in complete ice. The unit would be unable to be healed unless it was <<Defrosted>>. This made it worst than <<Stun>>, <<Paralyze>> or <<Sleep>>, as in all these inflicted statuses, the inflicted can be healed through items or spells, but <<Frozen>> did not allow all those privileges. It was literally a death sentence...

He rolled out of the way as the <<Boss>> leaped into the air with surprising speed and tried to stab him, seeing as how it was so slow and lumbering in it's <<Frozen Emperor>> form. After the evade he stood up just in time to block another blow from the giant, knocking him off his feet again.

"Damn... he packs quite the sword." he muttered before recovering from his fall. <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> saw this and roared angrily before charging at him.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO)
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Ageha
Unfortunately her fire rain didn't kill the giant however it weakened it enough for other player to finish it off. Refa was bit shocked by the big amount of EXP she received despite the fact that she shared it with other player, but then again it was level 30 field boss.

"Hey, thanks," said the guy and Refa could see a tiny smile on his face. Before she could say anything another ear shattering growl filled the empty plains. Refa looked around and horror appeared on her face. A wolf who stood at least 3 meters tall, his silver fur that was covered in snow at some places and eyes just as red as blood appeared right behind other player. Without a doubt it was <<The Moolit Deathwolf>>.

"What is it doing outside of the dungeon! It shouldn't be able to come outside!!!" Refa exclaimed in shock and saw as werewolf swung its sword at other player, thus sending him flying. Refa also noticed that werewolf's sword was emitting chilly aura. Without a doubt that sword had frost ability. That was really bad. Not only did this thing overpower both players by multiple levels, but it could also freeze them. With monster who has such high agility getting frozen is same as getting killed.

There was however one thing that could beat this beasts, but first she needed to get other player and herself out of its range. "Smoke appear!" Refa chanted spell and everything around them got covered in thick layer of smoke making anyone inside it blind. Anyone except those who can smell they're way out and Kyuu-chan had perfect smell. Refa grabbed the reindeer and pulled it with her until she with Kyuu-chan's help finally stumbled upon other player.

Without saying anything, she tossed him onto the reindeer, mounted it and at full speed charged out of smoke cloud. <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> was angrily growling, unable to see anything. However the smoke won't remain for long, they need to create strategy and fast.

"Listen, we won't be able to beat this thing with power alone. It is higher level then us, it has very powerful weapon with frost ability and it's super fast! On top of that for some reason it is outside the dungeon which makes him even more dangerous. I've got an idea to beat him, but I'm not sure if it'll work. Before smoke clears I'm going to create a illusion ...." but Refa didn't get to finish as werewolf had already gotten out of smoke and charged right at them. Most likely it had really good hearing and he must have heard either Refa talking or reindeer's hooves.

There was no time to think so Refa acted on pure impulse. She jumped off the reindeer and faced the giant monster. As it was about to slash its sword at her, Refa chanted: "Shield protect my life!" thus creating unbreakable magical shield.

"Attack it, NOW!" Refa yelled hoping that other player would respond before magic stops working. If not then wolf will kill her in one slash.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO)
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

A smokescreen appeared suddenly, blinding both Shineda and <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>>. Shineda heard the creature swinging it's sword around in confusion, a few narrowly missing Shineda. Out of nowhere, the red haired girl galloped over in her reindeer and tossed him wordlessly onto the reindeer before charging out quickly. From behind, Shineda saw the sword narrowly miss the reindeer's rear. <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> growled angrily in it's blind position.

"Listen, we won't be able to beat this thing with power alone. It is higher level then us, it has very powerful weapon with frost ability and it's super fast! On top of that for some reason it is outside the dungeon which makes him even more dangerous. I've got an idea to beat him, but I'm not sure if it'll work. Before smoke clears I'm going to create a illusion ...." the girl didn't even manage to do anything before the giant came charging straight at them.

"Uh... the smoke didn't even clear yet." Shineda noted, pointing at the beast.

The girl jumped down from the reindeer just as the <<Boss>> swung it's sword at her. "Shield protect my life!" the girl yelled, forming an unbreakable barrier between them, stopping the sword. Shineda could see the frost forming around the barrier.

"Attack it, NOW!" she yelled and Shineda reacted instantly. He positioned himself for a stab and he leaped from the reindeer into the air, striking for <<The Moonlit Deathwolf's>> wrist. He connected, causing the beast to howl painfully and back off. Shineda landed in front of the girl, keeping his eyes firmly on the growling monster.

"...Two of us can't take it down." he muttered quietly, then opened his inventory, searching around it. A teleportation crystal formed in his free hand. Turning around, he placed the crystal into the girl's hand.

"Thanks for helping me...but for now you need to go." he said to her. "Go and form a party, bring them here and fight the <<Boss>>."

He pointed far off into the distance. "This entire field is its Dungeon. You won't be able to get out in time even with a reindeer. Use the crystal."

<<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> roared and charged at them.

"Go!" he yelled at the girl, just in case she didn't want to move. Then his eyes softened and he murmured very silently, "...the less that die in this game... the better."

Shineda moved his sword behind his back and blocked the <<Boss's>> attack, then smiled at the red haired girl.

"Go. Come back quickly, yea?" he said cheerfully, "I'll be waiting for your party to arrive."

With that, he turned around and pushed the sword back before diving into combat against <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> and it's dreaded Frost ability greatsword. The beast blocked his <<Sword Skill>> along with a <<Sword Skill>> of it's own, causing Shineda's eyes to widen in shock. In the recovery delay, the beast struck him with a fist, sending Shineda flying.

'Tch...' Shineda rolled to break his fall and then prepared himself for the next attack.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO)
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Ageha
The boy reacted fast, he sliced monsters making it growl in pain. Only then Refa noticed beasts ridiculously large health bar and that how barely any damage was inflicted.

"...Two of us can't take it down," he muttered quietly, then opened his inventory, searching around it. A teleportation crystal formed in his free hand. Turning around, he placed the crystal into Refa's hand.

"Thanks for helping me...but for now you need to go," he said to her. "Go and form a party, bring them here and fight the <<Boss>>."

He pointed far off into the distance: "This entire field is its Dungeon. You won't be able to get out in time even with a reindeer. Use the crystal."

<<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> roared and charged at them with tremendous speed.

"Go!" he yelled at Refa, then his eyes softened and he murmured very silently, "...the less that die in this game... the better."

Refa got angry. He actually expected her to just leave him here to die! There's no way he alone would last long enough for Refa to form a party and come back here.

"Like hell I'm leaving! Don't go acting like a hero and sacrificing yourself!" Red-head angrily yelled and threw crystal away into frozen field. Then she charged right at werewolf and sliced through his left leg, making giant fall with loud "thud". Refa was so enraged by boy's request that she acted out of pure anger right now. However this anger also gave power and determination to Refa. She isn't going to get beaten because this monster caught her off-guard. She will prove that she can even those who are much stronger then her.

"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!" Refa yelled and 30 other players appeared around her and the boy. That was the illusion Refa wanted to create. Like this they may be able to confuse the wolf into believing that they weren't the only ones here.

After werewolf stood up and saw the giant bunch it seemed that he really believed the illusion, because he randomly started slicing players Refa created. This gave them good chance to attack.

"Attack it after I slice its leg," Refa yelled and once again charged to cut <<The Moonlit Deathwolf's>> leg which made him growl and fall to ground. Seems like legs was its weak spot as it induced bit more damage then other spots and it also gave them chance to attack the beast while it was lying on the ground.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO) Character Portrait: Marius
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

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.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO) Character Portrait: Marius
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

"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.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO) Character Portrait: Marius
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, 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.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO) Character Portrait: Marius
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

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.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO) Character Portrait: Marius
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, 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.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO) Character Portrait: Marius
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

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.

The setting changes from Chapter 2 - How they survived to Side Stories

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Kahlan Yuzuriha Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO) Character Portrait: Marius
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Mat_z6
A roar. Yelling. Blades clashing in the distance. Kahlan Yuzuriha heard it all. Wandering alone for hours in the frozen plains was not pleasant one bit. The cold was harsh and the girl had only her blue armor for warmth. 'It was just like that time.' The frigid cold brought back memories that should have been forgotten. There was no time for that.

Kahlan took off running in the direction of the battle and unsheathed her sword. This didn't sound like a normal battle. Everyone had been wandering about in search of the first boss of the game, she knew that probably more than anyone. She was getting closer. The sounds of battle were gaining in intensity and as Kahlan sprinted across the last ridge, her speculations were confirmed. There in the middle of the frozen valley was a giant humanoid creature. Made entirely of ice, the thing was monstrous in size and his weapon was no different. The great sword it carried matched it size and Kahlan stared in awe at the sight. <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>>. Her gaze was distracted by two-no three players dancing around about the creature. One she did not recognize but two seemed awfully familiar. That red hair was too hard to forget.

"Reefa?"

Kahlan saw as she switched out with the unfamiliar boy. To her horror, the beast threw out it's claws sending the girl flying across the field. From what she saw, the players would not be able to take anymore of this with Reefa inflicted with the <<Frozen>> status. But the minute the icon appeared, it flashed away like it had never happened. A small white ball of fluff appeared on the girls shoulder. Was that.... a fox? Kahlan smiled, relieved.

The fight dragged on but just as Kahlan was to rush in guns (blade) ablazin one of the players that appeared to be Marius drew his dual blades and drove them deep into the frozen ice boss. She watched as the creature reeled back and shattered into millions of glowing pixels. They had done it. Kahlan chuckled, sheathing her sword. Those two had really grown. It only seemed like yesterday when they were running full speed towards the city of Silva they had journeyed together long ago. Deciding to join them, Kahlan descended the slope, her azure dress billowing in the frigid cold. But just as she was about to greet them, the girl was suddenly hit with a wave of tension. This was not the atmosphere of a joyful victory. Did something happen?

"Well, it seems like the fun ended without me. It's been awhile, Marius, Reefa. As soon as I heard your fight, I rushed over here as fast as I could. I'm sorry I couldn't help."

(Okay so I lied... lol Since theres a whole nother section for side stories, I can write Kahlan's back story while still interacting so here I am. Kinda wanted to fight but ahh well!)

The setting changes from Side Stories to Chapter 2 - How they survived

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Kahlan Yuzuriha Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO) Character Portrait: Marius
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

"Just because we play a lot of video games doesn't mean we're lifeless," Refa yelled, slashing at <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>>.

"Maybe we just have problems in real life and we wanted to have another chance to prove that we are worth something,"

"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,"

"Maybe they never gave us a CHANCE to fight!" Refa yelled out. In her moment of indecision, its claw the beast slashed right into Refa's chest sending her flying across the field, inducing <<Frozen>> status on her. Despite her impending doom, Shineda stood his ground, his <<Detect>> and his natural instincts telling him that she would be fine. Against his will, he watched as the red-head's health drop dangerously low.

Sure enough, those instincts proved right as a fire fox appeared and thawed it's owner out of her status effect. Faith. The other guy charged in, hellbent on defeating this creature.

As the boss was about to charge for the girl, the guy slammed into it with both of his blades, and turned into the sword skill that Shineda deduced was exclusive to <<Double Blades>>, 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!"

The boss fell over, the other player leaped 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!!" the warrior plunged both blades into the thing's chest, dropping it's HP to zero, and the <<Moonlit Deathwolf>> burst into an explosion of polygons.

The next thing he knew, Shineda had a sword pointed straight for his throat, to which he frowned at.

"Let me ask you a question." the male 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.

<<Congratulations, you've beat the first Major Boss!>> appeared in the screen and Shineda felt himself slacken in relief. No deaths. They won without back up.

Now there was only one thing left to do.

He search his inventory and threw a powerful healing crystal, another one of his last, to the red-haired, before he approached both players until they were within earshot. Another new player appeared out of the blue, so he decided the new blonde girl should listen to what he had to say too. He pulled his <<Traveler's Rags>> higher up his face.

"...'This isn't an escape.'" he quoted for all of them to hear. The exact same words that Kawakami Yoshihiro had said during the beginning of this Death Game. "No matter how terrible things get in reality, you have to face it. That's what he's trying to teach us. But we don't listen, and this is our punishment... your punishment."

Shineda's eyes seemed to be an endless sea of sadness. This was their story... but...

"...I...was very angry with the players in the beginning..." he admitted. "I really hated all of you for trapping me here when I still had a life out there. A family to be with."

He looked at the red-head.

"You said that you're not lifeless...but yet you decide to stay in this world more than reality...you say that maybe you have problems in real life and just wanted to prove your worth here..." Shineda closed his eyes and opened them, averting his gaze. "You say that 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. That they never gave us the chance to fight."

"...you're right. People didn't accept me for who I was and laughed at me. Made fun of my weakness and kicked me down when I was already down in hell."

"But you're wrong...the chance to fight isn't given to you by people, it's your own to take. To fight can only come from you, whether you want to fight or to give up. You gave up and decided to run but you can't run away from your problems, they'll only catch up with you, just like now. You ran, and the ACO that was your new life, has turned into your nightmare. You cannot escape reality, whether in this virtual world or the next. You must fight them. You must defeat them. It doesn't matter how hard it is, you must win. Only then will you live better and enjoy life."

"There will always be someone there to care for you. Who will want to be friends with you even with your weaknesses. They will accept you." Shineda explained, reaching out for the skies as if trying to catch something that only he could see. "You just have to find them."

He looked at the guy who had his back turned to him, Shineda respected his privacy and didn't ask for him to turn around and face him.

"I know how you feel about your legs. I may not have lost my legs, but I believe I have lost something equally important." he smiled. His parents. His mother never got to see him grow up, as she died early in his life. And he never got to tell his father how much he loved him despite the strained relationship they had. These losses were his wake up calls to cherish life and the people around him. "I would do anything I could to get back what I've lost...but that doesn't mean you should spend all your time here to enjoy having your legs...especially when there are people out there that need you."

"There's no way we can have more in a virtual world than we have in the real world." he disagreed. "It's only the way you view it. You think that this world is better because you have your legs, while the other is just a nightmare you'd rather not have."

"But have you ever thought about how others would feel without you around?" he asked, then decided to step over the line. "Perhaps your sister?"

"You never explained yourself to your sister. You never told her that you didn't think that she was the reason you lost your legs...Or perhaps you do think that it's her fault." Shineda shook his head with disapproval. "You should tell her. But instead your avoided her and came into this world, and now that the Death Game has been announced... what do you think she's doing now? Crying for her brother perhaps? Sitting by your bed in the hospital and praying you'll come back and smile at her for once? Your selfishness to live in this world might've caused your sister to feel even more guilty with herself to the point she can't even take it..."

Shineda felt fury, anger. So primal, so emotional, so empathic. "YOU NEVER STOPPED TO THINK ABOUT THAT, DID YOU?!" he shouted, forcing the words through his choked throat. He furiously blinked away his tears and tried to calm down, which he successfully did.

"...I'm not going to let you die. None of you." he promised.

He pointed at the red-head. "I'm making sure you get out of here to fight in the real world. And you, The Blur-"

"I've heard about you before the Death Game. You're respected and loved here, but it's time I get you out of here so you can spent time with your sister." he said. "I'll make sure of it."

'And me...I will get out of here to say thank you to uncle and aunt...and Eri.' Shineda promised silently to himself, images of his friend and her parents in his mind.

Shineda spun 「Air Blade」 before stabbing it into the frozen ground. "So make sure none of you ever die until we next meet. I'll be waiting." he left the sword there and walked past the three players.

"Do me a favour... just say that the three of you were the ones that defeated the <<Boss>>. I want nothing to do with it." he said, then, "And The Blur, take the 「Air Blade」... I know you have the 「Gemini Blade」, so it doesn't really matter whether you use it or not. But I'd like you to have it... Think of it as a present for defeating <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>>... and as a motivation to get out of this game alive."

"Because your sister is waiting." and with that, the solo player turned around for one final look at the other players. He raised a hand before a blizzard picked up in the <<Frozen Plains>>. His last gaze lingered on the blonde girl before he turned around to walk off, gradually swallowed into the blizzard.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Refa Character Portrait: Kahlan Yuzuriha Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO) Character Portrait: Marius
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Mat_z6
That certainly was not something she had intended to heard. Kahlan Yuzuriha now knew why there was so much tension in the air. Her gaze stared blankly at the white space where that boy walked off into the howling blizzard. Her fists clenched tight as his words, though not even directed as her, stabbed her through the heart. The girl shook uncontrollably not because of the sheer cold, but of the raging emotions that screamed inside her head. She had heard that speech before, though not as negative, it was the same. She had seen players like him, known players like him........ fell in love with a player like him. She knew of their righteous ideals but she also knew that the result of that never turned out well. Was she to sit here and watch her dreadful history in ACO play over and over? Sure, what he said was probably true but there was one mistake in his vision. He couldn't do it himself, and he couldn't see that. Taking all of the burden on himself. What foolishness. Where did he think he was going? There was no such thing as a lone hero. She knew that probably better than anyone. There was a certain extent to what a solo player could do on his own and for what he had in mind, there was no way he was going to make it, no matter how strong he was and certainly no matter how big his ego might be.

Kahlan struggled to keep her composure. But it was no use. Gritting her teeth she suddenly turned and powerwalked after the boy. For god's sake, she didn't even know his name. "You two do as you wish, it was great to see you but there's something I have to tell Mr. Hero over there."

Relieved that he didn't go far, Kahlan stopped in her tracks quickly summoning her player menu. Without thinking she shot the boy a party request as well as a friend request. She was crazy. This was ridiculous but for some reason, Kahlan believed that this had to be done, whether he accepted or not. She didn't care. She couldn't let him continue this. It was absurd. She took a breath. Even if he didn't accept, she might as well tell him what she wanted to say.

"Look.... You.... I've seen your type before. Excuse my language but you strut about preaching that you want to free everyone. That you want to save everyone but yet you act alone as if its YOUR duty to free everyone. As if it's YOUR responsibility to right the wrongs, as if YOUR the one that should take the blame, as if YOUR the one that has to sacrifice everything just so that everyone can be saved. I've seen it before and it's never turned out pretty. I've seen many sides to this game you've probably never dreamed of. Sure, we both have been through a lot but that should give you the more reason to realize that this game is impossible to beat by yourself. And if experience, common sense or - hell- even death can't get that through that thick skull of yours, I don't know what will. There's only so much a solo player can do and trust me, I was there once upon a time. I know what it's like. I used to be like you. I used to think I was invincible. That I could do it. That I could save everyone."

Kahlan choked. Her walls were all torn down at this moment. She was no longer the proud leader that called herself the Azure Paladin. She was Kahlan Yuzuriha, 16 year old high school girl who just wanted someone to understand her.

"Please. Stay with us. At least till we face the <<Boss>> and if you can't even stand that, at least come with us to the next town."

Kahlan could no longer look at him. Tears threatened to stream from her bright green eyes, no clouded with confusion and sadness. She could only look at the two request windows that she sent him floating in front of her.

"I - I used to think this game was heaven. It was my escape from the world. The world I hated so much. Even when the Death Game began, I was thrilled. It was just another challenge. Another "boss" I needed to overcome. It was an adventure. I had the time of my life. Even on the verge of death, I didn't know how serious this game was. It was only until I saw the people I cared about, the people I had made such strong bonds with, die in front of me, that was when I finally knew. I knew that this was no escape. I was just blindly running away from the reality of my miserable life. There is not true escape from reality. If you hate it so much, the worst thing you can do is run away from it. I realize that now. And that's why I want to get out of here. I have to change my own reality and not run away to a fantasy where nothing is even real. I want out. But I know I can't do it alone. Please.... I'm begging you. Will you help me?"

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kahlan Yuzuriha Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO)
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

It was surprise to walk with nothing but pure white in sight and suddenly having two windows popping up in front of you, and that was what happened to Shineda. He was surprised when he saw the windows were a party request and a friend request.

"Look.... You...." Shineda turned around to see the blonde girl talking to him. "I've seen your type before. Excuse my language but you strut about preaching that you want to free everyone. That you want to save everyone but yet you act alone as if its YOUR duty to free everyone. As if it's YOUR responsibility to right the wrongs, as if YOUR the one that should take the blame, as if YOUR the one that has to sacrifice everything just so that everyone can be saved. I've seen it before and it's never turned out pretty. I've seen many sides to this game you've probably never dreamed of. Sure, we both have been through a lot but that should give you the more reason to realize that this game is impossible to beat by yourself. And if experience, common sense or - hell- even death can't get that through that thick skull of yours, I don't know what will. There's only so much a solo player can do and trust me, I was there once upon a time. I know what it's like. I used to be like you. I used to think I was invincible. That I could do it. That I could save everyone."

Shineda looked at her with surprised eyes, but he said nothing, knowing that the girl wasn't finished.

"Please. Stay with us. At least till we face the <<Boss>> and if you can't even stand that, at least come with us to the next town." she said in a choked voice.

The girl was crying!

"I - I used to think this game was heaven. It was my escape from the world. The world I hated so much. Even when the Death Game began, I was thrilled. It was just another challenge. Another "boss" I needed to overcome. It was an adventure. I had the time of my life. Even on the verge of death, I didn't know how serious this game was. It was only until I saw the people I cared about, the people I had made such strong bonds with, die in front of me, that was when I finally knew. I knew that this was no escape. I was just blindly running away from the reality of my miserable life. There is not true escape from reality. If you hate it so much, the worst thing you can do is run away from it. I realize that now. And that's why I want to get out of here. I have to change my own reality and not run away to a fantasy where nothing is even real. I want out. But I know I can't do it alone. Please.... I'm begging you. Will you help me?"

Despite the surprise and shock he was feeling to see the girl cry, Shineda made a small smile. "Alright, first thing's first...let's get those tears out of your eyes. They're going to freeze in this weather."

He pulled off his <<Traveler's Rags>> and wiped the tears off, although he might've misjudged his strength...He was tired after all, and after removing the <<Traveler's Rags>>, his fingers became clumsy from the cold. Shineda wasn't sure if he had poked or pinched her face by accident.

"...I just don't want anyone else to die. You understand, don't you? Being alone means only I would die. But if I drag someone along with me... I'd be the bane of that person. I'd be the cause he or she dies if I ever screw up." he smiled, a forced one. "If I'm unable to protect that person, I would be a murderer... I would've caused that person to die."

He laughed a little, a rather pleasant sound after 4 months of his silence. "I guess I'm just to nice for my own good. I've seen people die together in parties, that's why I'd rather not drag people to their deaths."

"You understand now why I fight alone?" he asked the girl, Kahlan, as he saw from her requests window. "I'm afraid of people dying around me. It's as simple as that."

"...I started off only wanting to free myself." he admitted with a sheepish smile, even ashamed really. "But in these 4 months, I guess I began to forgive those that trapped me here...namely all of the gamers that spent more time here-" He looked at Kahlan with a apologetic smile. "-Sorry. I was just really angry to have my freedom robbed, to be thrown into this hellhole along with the rest of you when I wasn't even wrong."

"But I saw. The will to survive in this world, the will to escape. I heard people's stories, that they wanted to get out of here alive to tell their families and friends how much they cared about them." Shineda's eyes stared off into the far distance. "It was then that I stopped being so angry and just decided to help them."

He blinked and looked at Kahlan with an embarrassed expression, accompanied by an appropriate laugh. "I guess I dazed off somewhere."

He lifted his finger to press the accept button on the party menu, but his finger lingered a little on the friends request. He balled his fist for a while before relaxing it and pressing accept.

"Just to the next town. I need to make a new sword for myself." he said, removing his <<Traveler's Rag>> then sending a gift request to Kahlan.

"The IGN's AtuobuuO, just stick with Atu." he introduced himself, "You look a little pale, so... I think you might need this."

The gift request was his <<Traveler's Rag>>.

"Might be a little low on stats, but it's effect is brilliant." he told her. He did a few stretches.

"Just a warning, keeping me around would be difficult. I'd probably slip away when you're not paying attention." he grinned at Kahlan. Looks like some of Shineda's old personality was starting to flood back to him. "I don't really enter towns when I can help it, except only to buy supplies and to use the smelter and armory."

"Also...I'd rather you don't tell anyone about me." he gave her his rather light-hearted expression, as if he had no care in the whole world.

"So where are we headed to?"

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kahlan Yuzuriha Character Portrait: Yoshitsune Shineda(AtoobuuO)
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Mat_z6
"Alright, first thing's first...let's get those tears out of your eyes. They're going to freeze in this weather."

Kahlan's heart literally stopped beating for a split second when the boy smiled at her. Realizing that she had just poured her heart out to a guy she only met just a few minutes before made her face turn a deep scarlet. "I-I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-...." She stopped mid sentence as a rag brushed under her eyes, drying the trickle of tears Kahlan accidently let loose. The boy poked her in the eye by accident and Kahlan jerked back just a bit. She knew it was quite cold so she didn't bother.

"...I just don't want anyone else to die. You understand, don't you? Being alone means only I would die. But if I drag someone along with me... I'd be the bane of that person. I'd be the cause he or she dies if I ever screw up." he smiled, a forced one. "If I'm unable to protect that person, I would be a murderer... I would've caused that person to die."

Kahlan knew exactly where he was coming from. More than once, she had the urge to leave her comrades and friends behind in fear of leading them to their deaths. But then, where would they be if she went off and got herself killed? If she ran straight into a battle alone, thinking she was keeping her friends safe who would protect them if she died? But..... Kahlan understood.....

The boy continued to share his feelings with her and more and more, Kahlan felt like she had known him for ages. It was amazing how much the began to understand each others views in just those few minutes. Kahlan's grinned when he laughed. "I guess I dazed off somewhere."

He accepted both requests and Kahlan, let out a sigh of relief and pure happiness flooded her. At least she would be able to watch his back from until they parted, whenever that would be. She didn't even know why she wanted to party up with him so badly but she didn't care. She was just happy he accepted.

"Just to the next town. I need to make a new sword for myself." he said.

"That's fine. Perfectly fine." Kahlan barely managed to whisper.

A small gift box icon appeared in front of her. "The IGN's AtuobuuO, just stick with Atu." he introduced himself, "You look a little pale, so... I think you might need this."

Kahlan pressed the icon and a window appeared with the item <<Traveler's Rags>> inside. She hit accept as the small gift was added to her inventory. "Might be a little low on stats, but it's effect is brilliant."

Kahlan thanked him softly and another smile worked its way across her cold lips.

"Just a warning, keeping me around would be difficult. I'd probably slip away when you're not paying attention."

Kahlan shook her head. "I'll keep a close eye on you. Don't think you'll get away from me that easily, now." She added playfully.

"I don't really enter towns when I can help it, except only to buy supplies and to use the smelter and armory. Also...I'd rather you don't tell anyone about me."

Kahlan nodded. She could do that though she couldn't quite understand why he made such a request. 'Strange.'

"So where are we headed to?"

Kahlan instantly snapped back into her game mode. That was way too much emotion and crying for the day and she instantly felt embarrassed. People would get a kick if they found out the Azure Knight was a crybaby.

"I'm sick and tired of this cold. Lets start heading south east towards Dulre. How does that sound? The other two... Reefa and Marius seemed to have left already so it'll just be us. Oh and if you EVER tell anyone about how I acted in front of you just now, don't expect to wake up the next morning. I do have a reputation to keep if you don't mind." Kahlan joked, punching him lightly in the arm. "Now lets go. I'm freezing my toes off here! Oh and the name's Kahlan Yuzuriha by the way."

And they were off.