00110011 00110101

I felt the Crook and Flail in my hands. They seemed to fit so naturally. I swung the Flail briefly feeling the shifting weight as it trailed behind before swinging quickly with a snap at the end. The Crook meanwhile felt heavy but balanced. The front was sharpened somewhat with a silver sheen around the blade area. The back was large and blunt.

I played with them a little more jabbing out with the Crook and swinging making a whistling noise in the air. The moment was interrupted by Lily.

"Cough. Cough."

I felt my face redden slightly as I realized everybody had been watching. I looked at them quickly before hastily grabbing the skill book close to me.

"I... ah... was just testing them out." I said sheepishly.

Lily just shook her head and smiled as she walked away. Henry and Hoy stayed and watched while Beth told me how to use the skill book. "When you use the book it will dissapear. And when it does the information it holds will enter your mind. Sometimes taking in the information is a shock to the system and disorienting but just bear with it. If you can stay conscious that makes it more worthwhile." She said as the book glowed briefly and a screen appeared before me.

/ Current points are 210. Do you wish to learn for 200?/ The system chimed.

I took a deep breath. "Yes." I said.

The book let out a light before turning into data that entering my head. A flood of information and videos of professor's explaining things. No actual combat experience was shown just theories. Mostly how the things I had were normally used as authoritative symbols. But it was known that the Flail and Crook were used as weapons. How one should have moved with these things together was a mystery. But what it showed me was a theory of possible combat scenarios.

It was somewhat similar to dagger combat. But the singular difference was the flail. The Crook would hook around a weapon prying it away as the flail swung around smashing into the opponent's head or lashing at their exposed or weak parts.

And if the Crook was used to disarm someone it could also be used in a flowing motion to pull the person toward you. And then use the Crook to either bludgeon their throat/head in an aggressive and brutal manner. The flail would then wrap around a leg and trip them making them a grounded and easy target. And if the limb was exposed it could also tear flesh or disable limbs depending on the type in use.

The information continued for a while. The others left after half an hour passed. Still I stood there. My mind slowly taking in everything and processing it. Or at least slow according to my standards.

As a professional hacker I was used to high speed information and processing. In some ways it was my home turf. So this was nothing in comparison to high speed coding.

Eventually the theories, videos, and information slowed to a halted end and I found myself standing in the basement with the night sky filling the small window panes peeking outside.

Feeling the weapons in my hands was a unique experience and suddenly I missed my sickles. Their climbing ability was a good one I had become used to and the fact that had been taken from me felt like someone was trying to give me a handycap or "Nerf" as we gamers called it.

But the boost was I could actually identify what my weapons were. Not to say I hadn't tried in the past. It's just that nothing ever came up before. So you could say I was okay with this new development.

I shifted back into my civilian form and went up stairs. As I went a felt a something jingling around my wrists.

Looking down I saw two gold bracelets that linked into my avatars flesh like a piercing. One was a miniature Crook and the other a small flail. Jingling on their respective wrists I felt a bit more at peace with things.

Everybody else had their own accessory of sorts. Necklaces, Bracelets, or brooches. All of them were weapons and armor stored away and waiting. And these things around my wrists were good enough for me. And the sarcophagus on the back of my wrist would still serve its purpose.

Later I planned on learning Shield arts to compliment everything I've learned. Cause all I had right now for that was just brutish and unrefined knowledge of how to use it. And for me that wasn't enough.

I needed more information and practice for me to use my current tools. Even if that meant killing a whole lot of people.

I was brought out of my thoughts when I looked up and realized I made it to the top of the stairs. Everything was going as usual. Lily was taking care of her plant while Henry was busy "scrolling through his paper. Hoy was enjoying sitting in his chair while Beth was playing with one of her wisps.

It was nice and quiet. It was a quiet that unnerved me.

I was so used to being in combat or running that everything here made me nervous. Every piece of me screamed something was wrong. I didn't know what but it was wrong.

In the Warrior Faction Area

"We have been killing and destroying viruses like mad! And he has the balls to tell me to try harder!?" A mans roar echoed from a medieval looking tent. "Does Ares think this job is easy? I don't think so! Our faction goes in with dozens of players and not one person has managed to do what those insignificant people have managed to do!" He shouted.

Suddenly a dagger embedded itself into a post close by the man. His armor was shiny and thick. He stood at 7 foot with broad shoulders and blonde hair. His jaw was chiseled and covered in a blonde beard. His eyes were a piercing sky blue. His voice sounded British as he roared in anger. Seething with his fists clenched. A large sword swung at his side eminating a chill from its scabbard of blue and gold.

"I will get this done even if I need to knock them from the leader board." He whispered to himself as he pulled up a holographic map of every floor.

"I just need to find their base first. Not having a faction house makes them no longer a faction and if they are no longer a faction that makes them no longer a threat." He growled.

A little ripping sound was heard as a paper fell to the floor. The image it bore was from a newspaper. The paper was so full of holes though so it was hard to make out what the picture had been but the headline said it all. "Death Hunters Win again! " was what it read at the top.

Outside Bell quietly stood in the shadows listening to what was going on in the tent. She had heard about things being done in the shadows towards Sil and his friends. And that meant alot to her.

She liked Sil. Having only known him for a couple days she could tell. He was honest in alot of ways. He was crafty, smart, personable, and strong. And she could tell he wasn't prideful about the wins. She eventually looked down at the symbol on her wrist. "Was it really worth joining this faction? They are willing to do anything to win. Even sacrifice the weaker people to reach their goal. Is that what I really want?" She thought to herself.

Bell thought about her father in Mars Colony 8.

(Flashback) "You're nothing! A bargaining chip to be sold off to the highest bidder! A bootlicker that will never make it anywhere! Why? Because you are a woman and that's all you'll ever be worth." His voice echoed through the concrete walls of their home. A stuffed teddy bear ripped and torn layed on the floor. Is stuffing strewn about in a fashion that said it had been shredded apart viciously.

And there was a little blonde girl crying on the floor holding her cheek. A red hand print already showing on her face.

Bell shook her head bringing herself back to reality. "Interface." She said as she quietly walked away from the tent.

"What does it take to leave a faction?" She asked with a glint in her eye.

Back with Sil-

A hologram of a spartan charged toward an Anubis looking figure. Quickly lashing out with an upward swing of a spear only to be caught and parried by a Candy Cane looking weapon.

It hooked around the spear catching and twirling it so to bring the spartan closer before metal plated tendril wrapped around its head. They pulled back cranking its head around till it spun breaking free from the spine and ripping free of the body.

I had been in the Holo-room for a couple hours now. My precision with my weapons was rising slowly. My first couple attempts at using them were far more embarrassing and unrefined. I had gotten the flail caught on an enemy here or incorrectly parried a blade with the Crook there.

It took a bit to get used to.

Suddenly I heard a knock on the Holo-room door and my enemies paused before disappearing entirely. I let out a sigh as I turned to find the door open and Beth standing in the doorway.

"You've got a visitor. Says she's a friend." Beth said pointing upstairs.

A confused look crossed my face as I stepped through the door and shrank to my normal form.

Stepping up the stairs I heard babbling. The type that happened when unpleasant news came up and people didn't like it.

"I told you people wouldn't leave us alone if we skipped the games this week. It hasn't even been a week and people are targetting us outside the dome! If they find us again we're toast." Hoy said loudly.

"We are fine right now. We may need to move again but if we are seen by the enemy then they are going to deal with us any way they can. And that means we need to cool our heads a bit to make a better decision than flying off the handle." Lily replied calmly.

"True. But in our case we are too famous now to go unnoticed. So how do we avoid all the attention now that we are here? We are basically sitting ducks if Arthur comes knocking on our doorstep." Henry said his voice sounding bored.

And then I heard a voice I hadn't heard in a couple weeks.

"Arthur doesn't know where you are right now. He is still looking for you and I made sure I wasn't followed. But I'm saying you guys need to watch yourselves."

I rounded the top of the stairs to see Bell sitting on the couch surrounded by Lily, Hoy, and Henry. They surrounded her like a bunch of vultures around a weak dying animal.

"I never expected to see you here Bell." I said loudly catching the others attention.

"Friend of yours?" Lily asked eyeing me up and down.

"Yeah. From training. One hell of a fighter if I say so myself." I said looking at her on the couch.

"Why you here Bell? I thought the warrior faction didn't allow for you to visit people outside the faction?" I asked with a slight cold sweat going down my back. "If you're here it can't be good. Not to say you're not welcome to visit. You are. But... Everybody sounds a bit... stressed."

Bell smiled a little as she held up her left arm and everybody jolted back a little.

A piece of her arm was missing. And I don't mean a small piece of skin. I mean a chunk. Right around where her faction mark used to be in about halfway through her arm was missing.

"I left the warrior faction. They only value the strong and trample all over their weak people. They don't even have a faction house where we can earn contribution points. So I haven't been able to learn any skills or tactics besides what I'm being shown." She said dropping her arm down to her side covering up the marked area.

"Okay... I understand you left but what's with the chunk missing?" I said a little worried. I knew we couldn't feel pain but what I had just seen seemed wrong.

"I left my faction. And the only way to do that is-"

"- To cut out the mark." Lily cut her off. "You have to cut it out to its roots for you to be free from a factions restrictions. And even that is difficult." Lily said gesturing to Bells arm. "Most people just rip their limb off as it's normally easier that way."

"But why did you leave? What was so bad that you had to leave to come here?" I asked as I got a bad feeling.

Bell looked at me with a frown. "One of our commanders was asked to hunt down and destroy your faction before the next dome battle. His name is Arthur. And he wants your head Sil." She said.