3239/Killstealing Jerks!

Killstealing Jerks!
Date of Scene:	20 October 2015
Location:	Alfheim Online <ALO>
Synopsis:	The Sleeping Knights are ready to take on their third boss battle. Twice before, a guild raidgroup got there and finished the boss before the Knights could do so. The guild's about to do it again unless someone's willing to teach them a lesson... or at least stop them.
Cast of Characters:	Kirito, Tomoe, 162, 385, 437, Karian Icefang, Yuuki Konno

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Yuuki Konno has posed:
    The Sleeping Knights had been doing great on their boss raid attempt, or so they'd thought. They followed Asuna-sensei's advice, deferring to her years of experience leading such boss battles. A simple fight, not using expensive potions and items, to learn the boss's patterns and to assess what would be needed for the return trip. They'd done quite well, ripping their way through the boss's health, but falling to one particular massive AOE attack that, should they figure out its timing or trigger, would mean they'd almost certainly prevail.

    In truth Asuna's advice had been invaluable right from the start. The Knights are certainly strong, but strength isn't everything. She'd been the one, after all, to advise them to hold back their first attempt so they could be ready to retry after respawning at Lonbal's save point nearby. She'd been the one to sense the invisible players hiding at the entrance of the boss's room, and to reveal them with a spell. She'd talked them down, forcing them to step aside from the boss room to let the Knights have their attempt. And of course, Asuna had been the one to spot their familiar hiding in the room, observing the battle using the 'peeping' darkness spell, so the guild spies hidden outside the room could view the entire fight.

    That was, of course, the plan of that guild all along. Many groups fail to defeat bosses their first run through. The difficulty of New Aincrad is quite a bit higher than the original, and raids are more about learning and repetition. Harder, yes, but without the 'do it right the first time or die' incentive of the original tower from Sword Art Online. This guild let smaller groups make attempts, spend vast amounts of Yrd on consumables, and would spy on them. When they knew enough of a boss's moves to be confident, they'd gather a full raid and take out the boss. They've done it before... at least twice. At least both times the Sleeping Knights had made an attempt on a floor boss.

    Back in Londbal, the Knights commiserated on the strength of the two-headed four-armed boss. On its huge defense, its powerful attacks, its special guard move. They'd done so well, gotten so close... but were a bit down that even with their new sensei they couldn't win the fight. Not the first time through, at least. That was when Asuna told them they had other things to worry about. She told them about the boss-killer guild, about the peeping spell, about the familiar observing the battle. Yuuki was shocked, almost unwilling to accept the reason why the bosses of floors 25 and 26 fell so soon after their own attempts. Dismayed and appalled at how they'd been used, and were being used again... and at the realization that this guild would do it now for the third time.

    Asuna smiled though, clapping a hand on Yuuki's shoulder. "Not necessarily." she'd said. "It's early in the afternoon. Some of their players will be working, some at school. Even a large guild will have trouble getting enough people together on short notice. I think it'd take an hour, minimum. And besides I might have an idea..."

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr's not been doing much with the Gatecrashers. Only a couple of things with the recent GGO debacle. So when the call went out to help in ALO, the wounded mage was more than eager to do /something/ other than sit at a desk and sort through reports. She logs in, calls the others that respond, and waits for them at the entrance to the dungeon. She's checking her equipment when they arrive.

    It's probably a quick run, though Mistral is a bit underleveled, she's got the Gatecrashers to back her up, and a few lucky weapon drops have her nearly on par, for the area at least. She'll be near the back of the group, counting her crossbow bolt stock and making sure she's topped off on HP before engaging the Killstealers.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian, or Iron Wolf, made his way through the dungeon and to the rest of the group. He offered a smile and nod towards all of the gathered members. "I heard you could use some assistance. Just point me where you need a hole opened."

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
     After lots of practice and training, and a bit of help from others, Annie- aka Silverbloom- has finally made it to the highest tiers. She's switched out her flute for a lyre, obtained a nice staff, and learned some more advanced magic. She's even attracted a bit more interest in her performing troupe idea (though not from anyone that anyone here would know.) And now it seemed like the time had come for a true test of her skills. This was really the first time she was going to be going up against other players in such a serious battle, and she seemed a bit nervous about it. Of course, she wasn't planning on getting into the thick of it, as her job was mainly support, but she knew that, as small as she was, she was still going to be a big target.

    "I'm here," Silverbloom said as she arrived. "This time... I'm not just going to watch!" She grinned, realizing that she just sounded kind of cool there.

Kirito has posed:
    Floating Castle Aincrad. Once the setting of death game 'Sword Art Online,' and now reduced... or perhaps UPGRADED... to hardcore expansion content in the skies of Alfheim.

    A hundred floors stacked one atop the other. Each floor a world unto itself with fantastic environments, enormous cities, countless square kilometers of adventure to be had. The ceiling of each floor mystically resembles the sky, but this does not disguise the fact that it's 'indoors' because of one thing.

    ENORMOUS PILLARS of some smooth stone-like material. The pillars that support the castle above also host the Labyrinth. Yes, each Labyrinth is built into one of the pillars.

    With one entrance point. Typically a big and dramatic, impossibly expansive bridge, sometimes a tunnel, maybe a linking cave.

    Kirito's seen it all before, but nostalgia will have to wait. He's at the head of the group that's cutting through monsters, and anyone who knows him well can bet he's thinking hard on lots of things... more than the immediate issues, certainly.

    He's fought giant slime creatures, winged Lizard soldiers in centurion gear, and giant frog monsters.... but in the end, the 'boss corridor' is a long tunnel leading towards a MASSIVE ornately carved black door... and the Spriggan smiles in triumph. "That was some haul... but here we are..."

    But is anything amiss?

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Yuuki is here, having met up with everyone at the entrance to the dungeon. She'd been hot-tempered and impatient, her desires split between wanting to rush in and kill the boss before the killstealers could gather, and wanting to rush in to kill all the jerks who had stolen their chances at achieving the dream of the Sleeping Knights. Cooler heads, somehow, prevailed. Mostly this is thanks to Asuna, who had alternately cajoled and reasoned with the hot-tempered Imp girl, telling her to wait for others before charging off into the dungeon.

    Backing Yuuki up, there's five others who are probably unfamiliar to the people here. A tall Gnome with a heavy mace and shield. A surprisingly tiny and boyish Salamander with a greatsword strapped across his back. A wispy Undine caster. A dusky-skinned Spriggan girl wielding a long warhammer like a polearm, and a glasses-wearing Leprechaun using a spear more like a walking stick. She introduces them in turn. Tecchi, Jun, Siune, Nori and Talken. Some of the group radiate youth, particularly Talken, Jun and Yuuki herself. Siune, Nori and Tecchi seem older, or at least somewhat more mature. It's of course difficult to tell player age behind a virtual avatar, but body language and attitude tell a lot. The Knights are all friendly, all open to some degree, and all a little hyped and tense, eager for the upcoming battles.

    "Maaaan, you guys are great." Yuuki says, eyes gleaming. Especially Asuna, at least in her eyes, for pulling this off. "There can't be many of them there. Maybe nobody! Maybe they're all waiting outside the dungeon for their buddies, and we get to beat up those three creepy spies for a warm-up..."

    At that point, the group rounds the final corridor before the boss door. Not many there, no. Not a full raid at least. Only perhaps half of a full raid group, all races and specs represented, milling about before the boss door in a casual order. They're still distant for now, but a few of them are looking the way of the Gatecrashers. Waiting for their fellow guildmates no doubt, for the final few groups to arrive before they make their boss attempt. And of course, nearly 30 elite players are nothing to scoff at. They're all armed and armored with endgame equipment, and no doubt they have plenty of experience fighting as a group. Their tanks and melee fighters are ready to block anyone who tries to move in, their casters and archers prepared to tear apart anyone from a distance, their healers ready to preserve and protect their front-liners in turn.

    "That... that's a lot of people." moans Talken in a low tone. "M-maybe we should just... ask them to leave?" he asks. Nori slaps him on the back, pushing him forward. "Oh sure! They'll just get out of our way because we got here first!" she says with a fierce teasing grin.

    Tecchi looks to the Gatecrashers thoughtfully. "We've got no business dragging you into our fight." he says. Jun steps up. "There shouldn't have been this many. This isn't going to be easy." he says, though with a hint of eagerness. "We ... haven't done any PvP in Alfheim Online." adds Siune, looking both nervous and rather eager. "Except for Yuuki." she adds.

    The eyes of the rest of the Knights fall on Yuuki, appearing to trust her to speak for them in this. Yuuki flashes a grin, then turns to the Gatecrashers present. Particularly those of them she's seen and fought before. She knows their strength and their worth. She doesn't know everyone present, but she knows enough. "Doesn't seem really fair, does it?" she says. "Not enough for everyone to fight and have any fun!" she claims. Behind her, several of the Sleeping Knights break into grins or nervous giggles. "We're going to fight the boss... so maybe we need to let you fight these guys without us so you haven't completely wasted the trip!"

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe had known this boss well enough or knew of it but it been changed and she'd had nothing to do with it so pressing into the castle had been a thing. Sure the bosses were able to be summoned agian yet? Only the first team to clear them would get names on the monument it been a matter of pride for some of the boss takedowns here, she also damn well wanted to get back to her home on the 50th floor to. So the sooner these bosses were knocked out? The happier she'd be, seriously she missed her house. However that wasn't quite why. Still this was a heck of a change from doing things to help Pris and she honestly /needed/ a change very badly in her life alsio she was keen to help out Kirito was not the only one thinking ab out this place as she was moving through the monsters as well.

"It's strange isn't it playing this without the gun to one's head?"

A slip perhaps but she's been very pressued lately.

"Oh lets just say I don't like their way of doing things, it's cheap really. They need to learn a lesson people will call them on doing things like that so don't worry about it, got it?"

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Mistral watches the group of enemy players. That's high level gear, even she can tell that. Her kit is only just good enough for this floor. She'll do her best, of course, but she's likely the weakest link here. The archers likely outrange her crossbow, the casters will get her if she stands back if the archesr don't, and her melee gear likely won't scratch the tanks. She may have to do something crazy, using the other Gatecrashers as a distraction to get around to the backline, where the gear disparity won't be so bad against weaker armour.

    Mistral asides to the others. "I'm gonna try somethin'. If you can distract 'em long enough, I might be able to take out their backline and make an openin' for ya."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Kagura hasn't been as active in Alfheim Online as she used to be, but it's still fun to log in and help explore a dungeon or take down a field boss. She hasn't joined in to battle against any of the floor bosses in New Aincrad ... at least, not until now.

But she *has* spent enough time in New Aincrad that she looks and feels reasonably comfortable in a dungeon. She wears an enameled light breastplate over her tunic, with reinforced gauntlets and boots; the color scheme might bring her Light Suit to mind, for those who've seen Yuna in battle outside of the game-world. (And the custom color scheme cost her some well-spent Yrd, to be sure.) The case which holds her harp is more visible than her buckler, and the short sword she uses is sheathed across her back when not in use - harp or buckler would be easier to grab if not for considerable practice.

Kagura looks over the crowd of other players, pursing her lips briefly. "Well, I've gone for the musical-distraction route before," she says with a mischievous smile, remembering the concert that kept a group of hostile players preoccupied while the other Gatecrashers were raiding a dungeon for one of the racial seals back during the main Alfheim quest. "If they don't recognize me, I could pose as a wandering bard, regale them with a few songs ... I doubt I'd get away with throwing debuffs into my music though." Her expression turns serious. "Are we sure we can't just ask them to back off for a while, let the SK do their thing?"

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian looks over to Kagura and shrugs. "I can always duel them...We win, you leave." He suggests. The smile on his face hints that he was hoping for that route.

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
     "I guess it would be nice if we could get them to leave peacefully," Silverbloom says. "But... it kind of sounds like these aren't the kinds of people who'd listen to our kinds of reasons." They were the more competitive types who wanted to beat everyone else. They wouldn't let anyone's friendship get in the way of their conquest. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to try, though."

Kirito has posed:
    "hoooh?" Kirito cants his head slightly, seemingly disappointed by the sight that awaits them. Disappointed, and maybe a little irritated. This is trouble, his gut tells him. The boy-in-black is better at reading between the lines sometimes than he lets on and... yeah, he is pretty sure this is trouble.

    "Looks like those rumors I was hearing had something to them after all." He murmurs to himself, shaking his head. Oi vey...

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Yuuki glances back at her team, taking a moment to gauge their reactions. There's some relief at calls for debate, and more relief when people indicate they're willing to fight. Some surprise too at Yuuki herself seemingly callously calling to let their new allies fight it out with these scumbag killstealers. There's method to her madness, of course. Pragmatically speaking, if they avoid taking damage and using consumables, they can enter the room and fight the boss fresh. If they take damage or are forced to start using healing items just to engage in a little light PvP, they risk losing their real goal. And if they don't get in there NOW, they'll have to try again on another level. That's not a terrible thing, since they're forewarned and forearmed this time, but ... well, it'd mean LOSING to these jerks. Again. And that would SUCK!

    Yuuki turns back to Karian, favoring him with a smile. "Ojiisan, if they could be convinced by a duel I'd be happy, but we both know they won't give up their advantage of numbers to fight someone as fierce as you!" she says cheerfully. She glances at the two Pucas, nodding. "It would have to be quite a distraction!" she says, implying rather good-naturedly that she doesn't think it'd work, but that she isn't going to doubt or fault them. "But hey, if we can get to the door and get inside, we can keep them out easily and shut the door. Once the door's shut they can't interfere. It'll be our fight to win or lose, and if we lose they deserve their shot!" she says. She nods to Mistral. "A distraction, forcing them to wheel to protect their casters... maybe!" Yuuki nods enthusiastically. It could work, possibly.

    Finally Yuuki turns to Mistral. Someone she doesn't know, but she certainly appreciates the sentiment. "I want to punch them all in thir stupid faces." she confides. "But Asuna convinced me we need to focus on the real goal here. So I hate to do this, but I might have to ask all of you to punch them for us!" she grins fiercely. "Because yeah, maybe they WILL listen to reason, but I really doubt it. Sometimes fighting's the only way to show someone how serious you are!" she claims, and turns to regard the foe.

    Four groups. 28 endgame raiders, prepared to take on the hardest boss uncovered in Aincrad so far. Against them, not quite two full groups, one group of which can't afford to engage in prolonged battle. She touches her sword hilt, a look of concentration firming her expression into a frown. "Again... this is your fight. But any time you want us to cut through the middle of them, I'm game. So if this is what you want... CHARGE!" she shouts, sweeping her sword out of its sheath in a ringing martial salute.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian smirks towards Yuuki and nods. He draws his own greatsword and then spots the salamander amongst the sleeping knights. "You know how to use that sword?" He asks him. It wasn't much of anything, at least the iron wolf thought. But hey, maybe he could try to teach him some stuff. He sets the tip of the blade on the ground and waits to see what the group decided.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
Mistral cracks her neck, and settles into a stance. She's ready to charge in, maybe even use the Sylph's wallrun to bypass the front-liners and get behind to the casters and healers. She'll wait for an opening, when Iron Wolf and the other frontliners engage, maybe, hoping they think she's not a threat. She's not sporting any super-high level gear, after all.

    Given an opening, she darts forward, mounting up a wall and leaping over the killstealer front line, attempting to drop down atop a caster while they're distracted with a spell, two handaxes flashing out as she chops down into them.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Kagura nods, then looks at Silverbloom. "How much have you learned about performing for effects?" she inquires of her fellow Puca. "I've gotten some good practice in, against mobs and against other players - more the former than the latter," she admits.

There isn't exactly a whole lot of time to discuss strategy, though; every minute the Gatecrashers and Sleeping Knights spend on strategizing is a minute in which the other raid groups could finish their preparations and charge in to attack the boss. So Kagura keeps her ears open (and half an 'eye' on the chat window) as she unslings her harp and strolls over to the raiders - just as Mistral goes on the attack.

This apparently isn't going to prompt much of a change of approach on Kagura's part, though; she just looks resigned, and starts strumming her harp's strings with the hand that isn't supporting the instrument's weight. Her attention flicks over the targets of Mistral's wrath, and she murmurs a few syllables of the Alfheim casting-tongue to help focus the effect she's weaving into her music ... but it's the music itself that carries the effect: a defense-weakening debuff, to slow her targets' reactions by JUST a little bit. Just enough, hopefully.

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
     Annie also approaches Yuuki, holding out a corked bottle. "So... um, Miss Zekken, when you get to the boss you should use this. I've been working on it for a while. It might help... it might just be cool! Or if you don't want the help you could just use it when you're done." It was, of course, a bottled Puca song. And since it now counted as an item, it wouldn't count as Silverbloom casting a spell against the boss herself, so it wouldn't interfere with the plan. That particular song was actually a bit of a custom performance, weaving an established buff tune into what could only be described as a Zekken theme song (or even a theme song for all the Sleeping Knights, depending on what Annie had learned about them by then), with bombastic lyrics worthy of superheroes... but still played on a lyre.

     Giving a thumbs-up to Kagura, Silverbloom joins her side, playing her own lyre and singing the magical lyrics softly. There was actually a bit of harmony going on all of a sudden- Silverbloom's spell, complimenting Kagura's, would improve her allies' agility.

Kirito has posed:
    Well, Kirito's not about to just randomly ATTACK people for no reason. He doesn't really subscribe to this sort of behavior. So instead of just going on the attack for what he thinks is inevitable, Kirito instead starts a strolling towards the group - though he halts his approach when the others just... OPEN FIRE. He blinks a bit.

    Oh... well. MMORPGs are just kinda crazy sometimes like this! "Not even trying to negotiate first won't look good later..." Not that he cares what sort of rep he has, but it still makes him wince thinking about it.

    But both hands come up to deftly grasp his twin swords, and wrench them free with the comforting scraping sound of metal on metal. Vox Unitas in one hand, Divination in the other, with practiced ease Kirito leaps forward and twirls the weapons threateningly. "You guys better make way... 'cuz if not, the death penalty awaits!"

    Skill growth loss, at the highest levels, REALLY sucks.

    Man, if people had just waited, he could have maybe tried to intimidate them or maybe negotiate. Oh well.

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Yuuki grins down at Silverbloom, reaching out to accept the bottled buff and ruffling the girl's hair. "Thanks! That ought to be great!" she beams, tickled that someone created an anthem for her. Silverbloom's absolutely right, of course. A bottled spell is an item, not anything that would be invalidated by the boss battle.

    Jun sizes the Iron Wolf up. And up. And up. The boy grins. "I don't have a lot of time to learn." he says. "But Yuuki says you're good. Really good. I'll keep an eye on you, maybe pick up a thing or two!" he adds cheerfully. He joins the front line, along with stoic Tecchi. Yuuki, Nori and Talken also step up, fanning out just behind the front line, clearly intending to at least engage in the initial rush.

    The guild of killstealers recognize at least some of the group charging in, but seem a bit nonplussed by being charged by a force half their size. A bulky gnome directs them, standing forth as a front-liner, arranging the other heavy tank types to take the brunt of the charge, spacing out the melee fighters, protecting the casters and archers and healers.

    Mistral easily evades the front lines, though she draws a few quick shots and spells from the back lines. The spells are rushed, the archer aim a bit uncertain due to Mistral's speed and unusual angle. These aren't PvPers so much as dedicated Raiders, so they're unused to certain tactics. And once Mistral's in close, the casters and archers begin to crumple. Not completely though. A couple pull out melee weapons, or turn their staves on Mistral. They're not super-damaging weapons, nor do the casters have the experience to be particularly deadly in melee, but she's not going to carve into their ranks entirely free of opposition.

    Karian, leading the front line, will find himself up against a gnome that can match him in size and probably beat him in armor, but won't have nearly the same strength or speed. The gnome is assisted by other gnomes and salamanders though. Tecchi steps forward, swinging his mace into the shield wall, trying to break the formation itself rather than do any particular damage to any one person. And when he's swung at, Tecchi just.. isn't there. He steps back, blocking with his shield, breaking the formation alternately and giving way, letting individuals come through to be struck hard by the other Sleeping Knights. They're a force of whirlwind destruction, lashing out with blades and blunt weapons, painting their foes with red lines and simply vanishing from any return swings. They're all fast, all skilled, and all trained by many boss battles to NOT stand in the way of oncoming attacks. Besides, they're also under the effects of Silverbloom's buff while Kagura's debuff reduces the opposing team's agility. An enemy puca bard begins a countermelody, but he's nowhere near as effective as the two Gatecrasher pucas in tandem.

    As for Kirito, well, a lone swordsman making a threat in the middle of an open PvP battle, it doesn't really have a whole lot of impact. The swordsmen aren't about to charge forward and engage him past the front-liners of the Gatecrashers and Sleeping Knights after all. Still, a few casters chant. Kirito's island of relative calm, back from the front ranks where there's no threat of friendly fire, draws their attention. A series of magical bolts, blue red and green spells, arch up from the casters not being butchered by Mistral. They rain down at Kirito, at Siune, at Silverbloom and Kagura who are hanging back in a relatively small group of apparent casters.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian grins down at the gnome, laughing loudly. "About time someone could match me! I guess I don't need to hold back!" He roars. Yuuki would know exactly what he meant by that. Gripping his greatsword in both hands, the Iron Wolf lets it fly with all the strength and control an age-old warrior could. Aiming to clear a cone in front of him, and if he was really lucky, make more room for the others. "Show me what you've got!"

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe Was doing well enough and she looked over to Kirito for a moment and she shrugs at Annie's answer this is a game with a PVP element she expects there to be a fiught it's just how it is after all. She seems ready though that Yuuki and her friends seem to be ready to go and she tilts hr head a little bit.

"Numbers won't mean squat honestly, they are out classed by us."

She's got a wide almost toothy grin on her face. She's ready for a brawl and she look at the groups s they are coming in and she smirks a little bit for a moment.

"Ih this is what you want to do? You really want to fight us? All right I'll make some nice Yrd off selling your drops."

With that she's got Dawn Breaker out and the Mourning wall ready as she dives into the raiders rants and she's also taken the time to charge her sword with light elemental power. Tomoe's also looking like she's having far too much fun.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Mistral steps back as a caster swings their staff at her. She parries the staff aside, then draws both axe blades back behind her, their blades glowing green as she charges up a Sword Skill. "Wind Dance." Her body switches to autopilot, cleaving into the poor caster with a series of sweeping chops, she carries on into the next guy, an archer, then another caster, before a second archer manages to parry the final hit, knocking the Sylph off balance.

    Mistral turns, parries the return attack, and tries to repress her advantage, before a magic bolt slams into her back. She's in the middle of an angry group of players, she might not last long, but she's going down fighting.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Whatever cheer Kagura may derive from seeing the effects of her debuffs, the sight of incoming spell-bolts reminds her that this battle is NOT one-sided; the other players will be doing everything they can to squash the interlopers who got in the way of their run at the floor boss.

It actually makes her feel a little guilty to think how she overlooked that ... and then the spells start landing. She lets out a brief yelp, her performance interrupted; after the first hit she takes, she's actually more free to try and dodge the others than while she was in the middle of weaving a magic tune against the opponents. So she dodges to the best of her ability, and if she can find a couple of seconds and a spot where she's not being 'shot' at, she tries another spell of her own - this time trying to debuff the opponents' accuracy. She might have to join combat directly at this rate.

Kirito has posed:
    When spells start flying, Kirito steps forward TOWARDS them, one of his sword arms relaxing slack in favor of Vox Unitas.

    It's a crazy thing to do.

    In a narrow corridor, there's no way to dodge. Not enough time, and not enough room. If those strike, Kirito's definitely toast. But he steps into their path, seemingly to protect the Sleeping Knights.

    Seemingly at the last moment his trusted blade shines crimson - and then, with a challenged smirk on his face Kirito vanishes in a serise of explosions and flashy special effects of the sort you only see on an MMORPG. Fire, wind, ice, all consume him in massive plumes.

    The whistling sound of a swung blade cleaves through the cacaphony, scattering the smoke and sizzling elemental power... revealing Kirito, the last hints of a Sword Skill's glow fading from Vox Unitas, and one hell of a fearless smile aimed at the offending mages.

    "Hmmmmmmm.... they're just too slow, those spells. Even the fastest ones don't hold a candle to an anti-material rifle's bullet."

    He... cut the magic?

    That should be impossible. A sword blade can't stop a spell. It takes magic to stop magic. Which means he HAD to have used a Sword Skill with elemental properties.

    Not only that, but 'center' of a spell, the coded center of its effect, is not immediately visible, and must be deduced. With that in mind, stopping one spell in a controlled situation MIGHT be possible.

    But it's a well-known thing. Sword Skills, once launched, cannot really be controlled. Slight shifts to path, with great difficulty... that's all anyone can manage. To cut not one, but a whole party's worth of coordinated bombardment, on the fly....?!

    What the hell was that?

    Such a thing has never, EVER been seen in Alfheim Online before.

    The waves of sheer confidence rolling of Kirito might be enough to cow the mages. He's certainly hoping so, and that it will give his allies a complete and total opening!

    Becuse he's not ditching the Sleeping Knights he's protecting just yet, while mages can still open fire!

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
     Silverbloom also has to maneuver through a rain of spells. If anyone tries to get close to her, they'll probably end up facing a sonic scream or a staff to the face. In any case, she thinks her next move should probably be to boost her defense against the enemy magic. Holding them off was the whole point, it seemed.

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    "Knights!" Yuuki calls out, raising her sword high for a moment. An enemy DPS sees this, thinks to take advantage of it, and sweeps his blade at her. She snaps up her foot, meeting his arm with her heel and kicking the blade flying into the air. Her own blade never wavers, until she deliberately brings it down to point at Mistral.

    The other Knights understand, and pull back from the line of battle to form up around Yuuki. Tecchi and Jun to either side, forming a wedge. Nori and Talken flanking, Siune well-protected in the middle. Then as one they leap forward.

    The Iron wolf knocks the guild leader sprawling, that one hit shaving off half his health and flooring him at the same time. Other tanks stumble from the force of the blow. Even with Kagura's debuff gone, their line is unsteady and ripe for a good pounding.

    A number of casters and some melee fighters stare in stunned disbelief as Kirito ruins their magic. It's impossible. It's well-known to be impossible. Even if you had the right sort of elemental magic, even if you had the skills necessary, even if you had the speed to analyze the spell and determine its physical point... no one has the speed to do it all. No one.

    The shock and surprise of Kirito's impossible act - which no doubt he was counting on, and acted that way for extra shock and awe - gives a moment of respite. The front line is paused, whether to start in amazement or because they sense the faltering of their allies and naturally hesitate as well. The casters pause as well, giving Silverbloom, Kagura and Mistral a moment to recover.

    At that point, the Sleeping Knights charge. They lance through the weakened front line, led by the violet streak of Zekken, the gap hammered wide open by the broad shoulders of Jun and Tecchi. Spear and warhammer strike in passing, skewering and tripping and smashing those opponents who try to recover. NONE of the Knights are trying to kill, just to break through, to keep anything from forming up and closing ranks against them. In passing, and not unintentionally, they rip through at least a third of Mistral's opposition, giving her an opening to flee or strike before cutting their way through the healers as well.

    They don't stop, in fact, until they hit the boss door. Striking it, pushing against it, until it slooooowly begins to creak open. Now their formation reverses, Talken and Nori using their long weapons, spinning them and darting quickly, keeping anyone from closing in on their group. Yuuki steps between them, her blade ready to pierce anyone foolish enough to try to rush her friends. And the boss door... opens.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian grins as he see's the guild leader go flying back. He lets a howl erupt from his avatar as he moves to keep him down. In a familiar display, he unloads his own sword skill, Moon breaker. Aiming to send the guild leader flying up into the sky, and then help him down with the blade edge of his sword. "Anyone else?!"

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
The momentary respite is much appreciated by Kagura, and with a grin, she puts it to the best use she can think of - trying to lay down a Haste effect on her allies, and as many of the Sleeping Knights as she can still include in the effect. She's not sure how well any buffs from outside their number will hold once the Knights engage the floor boss, but one of the oldest pieces of gamer wisdom is 'any advantage is useful' - especially when you ARE going into a major boss fight.

She just hopes it helps, rather than leaving them off-balance at a bad moment.

Once her buff is off, Kagura spares a moment to swap from her harp to her sword and shield. "I'm sorry about cutting you all off at the pass," she says to the other guild - and she actually IS sorry that it had to be done so rudely - "but you can't compose a song to the bravery and power of a guild if they don't get to show it off!"

And with that, she enters the fray ... at least, if there's still an actual fray to BE entered. The other guild might still try to interrupt the Sleeping Knights, given a chance; Kagura's not about to let that happen.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Mind out, coming through, make way for the Knight Train.

    Mistral grins at her archer opponent, then hops back, letting him get mown down by the passing Sleeping Knights. She raises one axe, issuing a challenge to the wavering enemies. "You wanna go after them? You go through me first." she issues forth, moving to block the path to the boss door so the Knights can get through. "Come at me, if you dare." she goads, her axe blades flickering green.

Kirito has posed:
    Success. Hints of triumph flicker across Kirito's face the moment the enemy's too distracted to notice he can't quite keep up that badass expression charade much longer.

    Even though, well, he WAS full of that much smug satisfaction at victory... in truth, that was a gamble.

    He's never tried cutting seven spells simultaneously before, after all.

    But since the mages stop firing, he raises his own weapons and begins to chant. Normally he doesn't bother with magic much, but today, 'shock and awe' is most effective, given they're outnumbered.

    That, and other matters.

    Norse glyphs whirl around him, locking in to the worlds of a spell that most people would call... pretty useless.

    It's one of the two or three that he's actually memorized. Because Kirito really, really hates how spells work in Alfheim Online. Karian might like it though, maybe.

    "�e�r hr��a n�tt d�pt renn helvegr!"

    Translated: 'Frighten them, depth of the night, and chase them along the roads of hell.'

    One of the basic Illusion magics. But Kirito's body is engulfed again in flames, this time ones of his own making. But what emerges from those flames...

    A HUGE creature, big enough to reach the distant ceiling. A greater demon of the Gleam Eyes family - thin red fur, glowing eyes, fancily curling goat horns, a toothy maw big enough to bite a fairy in half... and a long, tapering, muscular tail... impatiently thumping the ground.

    Kirito SNORTS at them, small plumes of smoke from its nostrils showing just how demonic this creature really is.

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
     Silverbloom gets excited watching the Sleeping Knights charge through. She has to be sure they'll make it through the door and none of the interlopers ruin it. But, it looks like they're going to make it! Just as Kagura draws her sword, Silverbloom also switches to her staff, keeping the opponents at bay with it. And then... Kirito does his thing. "You know, Mr. Kirito... You should really join our troupe," she suggests. "If you're going to put on a show like that!"

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe is having a grand old time of it as she fights the raider and she's laughing ond and off as she battles the variosu rank and file. She banishes her weapons rapidly opening her inventory and swapping weapons gone is the sword board and in thier place is a Naginata and she gets a bit of grin on her face she starts rapidly flipping up into the air and chanting while she's airborne she has the runs fly about her and the weapon blazes with white fire before hse comes in for a landing. She does not stop she launches into a combo of strikes there's no sword skill being used here this is all her she does several wide blows and then several impales nd makes use of her agility and reach.

"LUNAR REQUEM!"

Her attacks contiune for longer but it's a lite to say they havne't been hurting her but she's a tank and a very powerful one.

"Is this the best you can do?! Come on how do you expect to beat the ghost of the death game?!"

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    You really only need two people to open a boss door. As large and massive as they are, the do move at a push. Slowly, reluctantly, but they move. The key is they're designed so someone can't open them while fighting... but two can open them just fine while everyone else fights.

    No doubt the remaining guild members would love to charge in, to try to get inside with the Sleeping Knights. Not to kill them, most likely. They have little chance of that now. Still, they need to do something to spoil the run. The last thing they want is to lose a fight like this AND the boss battle. Losing drops is bad enough, but it's even worse when you lose the chance at floor boss loot that this guild lives and fights for.

    Of course it's only a game, and this time the raider guild is playing against impossible odds. The group who can nearly defeat a floor boss alone. Other fighters with strength that top the charts and reflexes that make it clear that a lot more than mere game stats give them that strength. A black-clad swordsman who can do something flat-out IMPOSSIBLE.

    Sure it's just a game, but this game's rigged. The worst part is the guild groups have lost their cohesion. Some fighters turn to Mistral and the back-rank Sleeping Knights, trying to preserve their original goal. Others turn to face the Iron Wolf and Iron Lily, trying to earn a PvP victory. Others, seeing the terror that is Kirito's Crimson Gleam Eyes, try to run. If they don't wipe, then at least there's no loss of loot. Any one of these three paths may have provided some hope... but acting on all three at once only spells certain defeat.

    Another few moments and the boss doors begin to slowly close. There's been no chance for any of the raiders to slip in, either to attack or to attempt to break up the single-party victory. A familiar may have gotten in... but so what? Let them watch. If anyone survives to use the familiar spell to spy, they can see the Knights and Asuna in their prime, buffed and ready, pumped with adrenaline and taking on the boss with every expectation of meeting their goal, of making their mark upon this in the ultimate challenge.

    It may not be much of a legend in the end, but it's THEIR legend. It's what they've set their sights on. And perhaps, if their luck and skill holds out, there will be TWO impossible things achieved here today.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
If Kagura doesn't have to join in the direct fighting, she's happy not to - but she's not going to leave her allies while there are still hostiles on the field, and she's especially not going to leave a chance for the other guild to go after the Sleeping Knights while the Knights are focused on getting into the boss room.

"You fine people have a choice," she says with a cheerful smile. "I'd *much* rather stick to the harp than get my sword dirty, so if you want to stand down, I can play a few more songs for you to enjoy ..." Including a couple of spell-disrupting tunes she's been trying to piece together. "... but if you insist on keeping this violent, then I suppose I'll have to stand my ground with blade in hand until you've had your fill. So, what's your choice?"

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
     Silverbloom grins as she shakes her staff, letting the chimes on its end jingle. "I vote for the songs!" she says.

Kirito has posed:
    A classic one-two punch for shock and awe this is, and that's just from Kirito's efforts. This many people opening up with everything out of nowhere on a Guild that wasn't expecting a serious PVP confrontation?

    Yeah, that's a foregone conclusion. Even if you're geared for a raid, fighting experience means SO much more in PVP.

    This group - well, most people in it - have that in spades.

    With the Sleeping Knights plowing through, Kirito loses much of his spirit to keep fighting.

    It's not like lives are at stake after all.

    But when people start turning, he can't help it. He chases and does some halfhearted swipes at them, roaring to get them running FASTER!

    The Spriggan does love his mischief.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe is not showing the raider guild any real mercy either she has a plan she will move to finish off downed parts of the raid. After all she darn well knows the dirty pool they are playing and them losing some of their gear and items is a wonderful lesson also it would set the guild back. If there was one thing that would mess them up good would be to bring down their tnake but right now she's being a whirlwind of doom. She'll even attempt to behead one and as the fight gets thicker she speaks up.

"Is that all you got?"

She now pulls back and starts to chant as she launches a barrage of light rays trying to hit as much of the enemy raid as she can.