#file 1d

"Happy Valentines Day, Sinon. I don't think I can truly offer much besides keeping through with my promise that I'll protect you, but I hope this is something worth giving."

With that, Kirito opens his <<Inventory>> and causes a <<One Handed Straight Sword>> to materialize in his hands, more specifically, his trusty sword, the <<Elucidator>>. With a warm smile on his face, he hands the weapon to Sinon.

Slowly walking down a small dirt path of a dense forest in Floor 53, a small sigh parted from the lips of a swordsman. While the boy had plans to do a bit of leveling to finally max his <<Dual Blades>> skill, a message sent by the <<Info House>> and his friend, Argo, caused said plans to be altered. Kirito didn't question why Argo wanted him to go by the dungeon, but he didn't particularly care. Once he'd finally reached his destination, dull steel optics scanned the area. <<The Rat>> was nowhere to be found, but a faint sound caught his attention. It was undoubtedly the sound of weapons clashing. Turning towards that general direction, the raven began to walk towards the source.

By the time the swordsman arrived at the origin of the noise, thousands of blue polygons scattered through the air. Staring blankly at them, the black haired boy's head slowly looked down, optics aimed at the sword wielder in front of him. Female, same one handed long sword as his known as <<Queen's Knightsword>>, a dagger hooked to her waist, short hair that was dyed a cerulean blue, and dull brown eyes. With arms crossed, the male continued to observe the girl, watching her fend off the last few mobs around her. Soon though all the monsters had been reduced to polygons.

| Impressive. |

Though right as she turned her back, a wolf-type mob leaped out from the bushes from behind her, lunging towards her. Right before it had reached the female, it suddenly exploded into blue polygons. Standing there was the boy in black, silver blade drawn. Once his eyes locked with the other person, he simply sheathed the sword, not saying a word.

      Turning to face a very familiar face, the Rat gave a warm smile, a change of pace from her usual sly or sneaky smirk. Resting her book on the table, the auburn haired girl raised her hand slightly to greet the rapier user.

     The swordsman stood there, slowly looking around to inspect his surroundings. Where was he? The area was bright and vibrant, but something felt... off. This place felt like Aincrad, but at the same time, it didn't. He couldn't figure it out, but something about this place interested him. For now though, he needed to figure out where he was to begin with. Seeing a man in all black a few meters away from him, the raven slowly approached the stranger. Once he was behind the person, he lightly tapped on the his shoulders. As the man turned to face him, Kirito's eyes widened in shock. The man looked almost identical to him. Jumping back, he gripped the silver blades hilt on his back, entering a defensive stance.

    Staring off into the distance, the black swordsman scanned as much of Floor 47 as he could. Turning to face the young girl who accompanied him, he gave a small smile before starting their journey. While he had some hidden reasons to help the girl revive her pet dragon, which he decided to keep secret, the raven did not deny the fact this was also simply because he wished to assist her personally, it just happened to be that his current employer's task overlapped with this, so it worked out rather well in the end. Though after a few minutes of walking, the hollow boy's facade had diminished a bit, and as a result, his steps became quieter and his face slowly lost it's emotion. But ever since that day, this was nothing truly out of the ordinary.

    As the time passed, more of his thoughts began to emerge and cloud his vision. He knew that the murder guild, Titan's Hand would follow them and wait until they got the rare item before attacking them, and that's why he had prepared himself with a poison dagger that would inflict paralysis, the Elucidator which he had recently been able to equip, the best coat Ashley had made, as well as choosing his Battle Healing skill as his main passive skill. They would be too low leveled to truly hurt him, but Silica would not be so lucky. Even with her new gear, she was still at risk, and the thought of losing another again horrified and angered him. Unknown to him, he had tightened his fist hard enough for the leather glove he had to make and audible sound, and he had been gritting his teeth for the past minute.