chapter 36

Leonard was currently sitting on a couch on the second floor of his guild base- as he was the only one left in the guild building today since the other members go out for a hunting trip in the frontline, he's checking through the multiverse store and viewing all the eyes candies that showed up every time he dragged his fingers up to reviews an item.

As the multiverse store literally had everything that a person can imagine- it was one of Leonard favorite pastime activity just trying to see how far he could go in his search for items.

Of course, what usually ruined his fun was none other than the price-tag that was placed next to the items in BOLD RED INK.

"Life is so unfair…" Leonard lamented as he looked at the number of digits that was displayed before his very eyes.

"What are you looking at, Leonard?" Yui-the loli that Kirito and Asuna brought back from their long vacation suddenly appeared from behind him.

"Oh hey Yui, it's nothing- just me lamenting on how unfair life is." he quickly took down the Multiverse system interface.

"Right- what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be outside playing with the other?" Leonard says jokingly to the highly intelligent A.I that hid its identity as a little girl.

"no...Mommy said that it was too dangerous for me to follow them and everyone else, so she told me to stay behind," she said shyly.

Upon seeing her having that kind of expression on her face, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

"Yui, don't you think it's about time you tell me of who you really are?" Leonard leaned back onto the couch and had a bright smile on his face as he asked the girl.

However, she still had that confused look on her.

"Hmm? I- don't understand," she replied.

"please , I already know about your existence, an A.I built as an emotional support assistance by the Kayaba and the Cardinal system for the players- but when he trapped everyone inside the game- he banned you from interacting with the players and isolated you away, but somehow you manage to find a loophole and transferred your data over into the game itself, thus here you are," he told her while having an amused expression on his face as he saw her expression changed drastically.

"H-how do you know that?" Yui asked him in surprise, as Leonard was the first player to notice she was an A.I instead of a real human being.

"It's heaven secret- can't tell you, but you should know that I am quite different from your average players of this world- you've already seen it for yourself, didn't you?" he smirked.

Yui went over to Leonard and placed her palm near his face and stood frozen for a moment before she spoke up.

"I see...so that's what you are, you are a player- yet not a player...a completely different and System…" she said in a low tone of voice.

"Just...who are you?" she questioned him curiously.

"I'm me of course...just someone who isn't bound by the system," he replied.

"What is your purpose here?" she continued to question.

"To clear the game." that was the truth, it was his goal to clear the game- no it something that he had to do.

"I see...so, will you tell Mommy and Daddy of what I really am?" Yui looked at Leonard with a face filled with dejection.

Upon seeing the loli dejected face, Leonard just let out a long sigh and shook his head.

"No, I will not do that, I'm just going to wait until you trust everyone enough to tell them of the truth...you know when the game is clear- ALL of Sword Art Online data will be wiped clean- include that of your data as well…" Leonard reminded the "little girl"

"...I know that...I just want to experience what it is like to have a family…"

She then sat next to him and curled up and holding her knees while still having that sad expression on her face.

"Even when you know that there's a chance of you getting erased when you escape that prison? Is it worth it?" Leonard asked her with a serious expression on his face.

"I-I don't know…I just know that it was really fun being with Mommy and Daddy…" she muttered in a low tone.

Seeing her conflicted face, Leonard couldn't help but let out a smile and pat her on the head gently- which greatly surprised her.

"Don't worry too much about it, just enjoy the time that you spend with them...trust me, I won't allow you to be erased- and I'm sure Kirito would do the same as well," Leonard told her.

******

Since then, days have passed and the time has come.

A message was sent to all the guilds that were currently fighting on the frontline- the sender was none other than the Knight of the Blood Oath- Heathcliff himself.

Informing them to meet at the warp gate in the morning of the next day for the boss raid.

The night before the raid, the Moonlit Black Cats were once again having a meeting under the basement of their guild building, this time it included Kirito and Asuna.

"Alright, we should pick out party members now, we need them to have good cover in both DEFENSE and OFFENSE…actually, I would prefer if we going for a bit more defensive on this one though." Leonard suggested.

"Why do you say that, Leonard? Don't our usual combination work out for this one as well? I mean it works great so far and no one had been injured to a critical level or end up dead yet- well couldn't say that to the noobies that joined us a while back that got overconfident and ended up dead…. " Kibaou asked him as he suddenly was reminded about a dumbass- with a good heart that joined them a few months back.

He died such a tragic death...literally getting squashed.

"I had a feeling that this one is going to be quite hard to defeat...I wonder if you guys notice it- but the monster on floor 75th are all skeletons...undead...which had a ridiculously high amount of attack but shitty defense." Leonard then reminded them of the monsters that inhabited the floor itself.

"Hmm...you are right...indeed we should rather try to keep ourselves alive and wither the boss down slowly instead of being reckless." Diavel nodded in agreement.

"Also another fact- that thing is a quarter boss...so expect it to be MUCH stronger...didn't we already lost 10 recons to the monster?" Kirito then spoke up.

"You are right...so I suggest we stock ourselves up on as many defensive items as possible, I don't want anyone here to die...got that?" Leonard spoke in an ice-cold tone.

"Alright...dismiss, get some good rest, you'll need it for tomorrow." Leonard dismissed all the raid members.

After the guild members began to get up and left, Leonard leaned back onto his chair and let out a sigh. "How am I going to kill that thing without letting it killing my people...especially Sachi and the important members of the original series" he placed his palm over his face as he muttered out those words in a low tone.

"Are you ok Leonard?" it was then that a soft and melodious voice called out from behind him as two arms wrapped around his neck.

"Sachi...tomorrow fight...please be safe...don't do anything that is not necessary…" he whispered- when Sachi heard him, she couldn't help but to giggle a little bit.

"You know that I'm a tank, Leonard...it is my duty to protect the people who stood behind me- but if I were to fail...I still have you to protect me right?" she whispered into his ear before placing a kiss on his cheek.

"I will not let anything happen to you Sachi…" Leonard declared.