chapter 32: Intermission

Roughly eight months later.

Somewhere in a dungeon within the lower floor of Aincrad, location- unknown.

A man with a noticeable face scar and messy long hair was being forced to his knee by the mess of shadow tendrils that was coming from the group, binding him.

His health bar was not damaged but he seems to be in pain.

"Who the hell are you?!" the man roared at the shadowy figure standing in front of him with a fearful expression on his face.

"Oh how far the great "Prince of Hell" has fallen…" the shadowy figure said in a tone full of pity with a mix of sarcasm mixed in.

"Tell! What do you want with me! You got better things to do, don't you? You and the front liners already destroyed my guild! So what more do you want from me you monster!!" Once again the man name "Prince of Hell" or Poh as he was known in Sword Art Online shouted at the shadowy figure in a fit of rage and a mix of terror.

"Oh no, the other might had already dismantled your so call "guild" despite suffering a few casualties of their own, however- that's there business, but me? We're nowhere done, for you see? Your future MUST not come to pass…Vassago Casals..." the shadowy figure whispered into Poh's ear while having a sadistic smile on his face.

Upon hearing the shadowy figure speech, Poh or Vassago Casals couldn't help but felt a chill ran down his spine after the shadowy figure spoke of that name, as far as he knows, no one in this world actually knows of his real name.

"W-who are you! And how do you know of that name!" Vassago stuttered.

"Me? I'm just someone who just rid of potential future troubles that would befall on my friends you see? You already know the meaning of my words, I cannot let you live as you might seek revenge on a certain person." after the shadowy figure finish saying those words- the shadow tendrils began to wrap around Vassago ever so tighter.

"But don't worry, your death shall not be in vain, just before you die, you shall help me clarified a few questions about my own power…" the shadowy figure grin became wider as he lifted his hand, revealing a vortex of shadow light wrapping around his hand.

"No-no stay away from me!! NoOoooooooooOO!!!!!" the wail sounded throughout the dungeon that was infested with monsters.

A few hours later, a shadowy figure walked out of a cave entrance, revealing his identity which was none other than Leonard himself.

"That was...an interesting experiment….could use some more control, Mind Sheer-checked, Mind Blast-checked, Mind Flay-checked that one too and finally, Mind Control...uncheck...too bad he died at the end." he rubbed his chin while checking off his list as he walks off toward the distant and disappeared down the road.

Flashback.

Vassago lay motionless on the cold- hard ground, unresponsive with both of his eyes rolled to the back of their sockets while saliva and snots rolled down from both of their respective holes.

"...wow...I never knew mind flaying could do so much…but that's strange...why is his health point still full, when he's technically...brain dead?...whatever...have a nice trip down there." Leonard then stabbed Vengeance into Vassago heart and drained the man health point to zero.

"So...these type of magic don't actually outright killed people...just making them into a vegetable...a loophole for killing? Plus 1 for shadow and void magic I guess." Leonard shrugged as he sheathed his blade and left, of course, he didn't forget to pick up the loots that were left by the "kind" deceased Vassago of course.

Flashback end

******

Floor 50th, Algade- the busiest town within the entirety of Sword Art Online, the second was the town of The Beginning- as there's still many who made their home there and refuse to leave due to various reason- such as afraid of getting killed.

Algade- the entire town itself covered for more than a kilometer in radius with busy streets and hundreds if not thousands of dark alleyways.

During those eight months, Leonard and the players were not just idling down, after they manage to beat back the forest elves tribe down on the third floor- the Dark elves- too had joined them in their effort to push further up as a form of repayment for saving their race.

With the help of the dark elves tribe, Leonard and the advance force manage to push up to the 27th floor of Aincrad in less than a month, it was then that things changed and they had to take in more precaution as emergency teleport crystal sometimes don't work in the boss room and to make it even worse- the bosses attack pattern became even more erratic and hard to predict- which result in the loss of many good players, to even add in more salt to injury- a cult of players killer who called themselves the "Laughing Coffin" start to kill people- reducing their numbers even further after rushing through the 35th floor.

It had gotten so bad Diavel and many other frontline commanders devised a plan to crushed all of so call "guild" Laughing Coffin in one go when they rushed out of the front line and actively searching for the guild base of the player killers and wiped them off the face of the planet or in this case- erasing their existence as a player within the game called "Sword Art Online".

With that's done and set- the players pushed themselves up further passed to the 75th floor before they decided to take their time before facing the boss.

Leonard finally stopped at a shady shop in one of the shady street of Algade.

He did not hesitate before he decides to push the door open.

When he stepped inside, what greeted him was his entire guild- The Moonlit Black Cats, with Kirito and Asuna included and other familiar faces such as that of Diavel and Kibaou- and Agil (this guy name was "Tiffany" within the game.) and a random player making a purchase from Tiff- ermm Agil before quickly packed up and left the store.

"Yo...what's up, Leonard!" Agil greeted him behind one of the counters when he notices that someone entered his shop.

"Yeah what's up Tiff- erm...Agil." Leonard greeted back to the tall, beefy black man.

"Nothing much, same as always, buying and selling goods," Agil replied back to Leonard- while completely ignored the part where Leonard accidentally blurted out part of his in-game avatar name.

"So did you rip anyone off today?" Leonard asked the black man as he pulled out a few items from his inventory for the man to evaluate.

"Not today- oh hey! Look like you got some nice stuff." Agil answered him as he picked up a meat cleaver to have a closer look.

"Yeah- I found it on the corpse of a red player- should be his weapon."

"Ominous name...Mate chopper…" Agil commented.

"Just sell it at a good price," Leonard told the man.

"Aye, will do- deposit into the guild coffer like usual?" Agil asked him.

"You know the drills."

The place that Leonard entered on the 50th floor- Algade, was none other than the guild base of Moonlit Black Cats- which comprised of some of the best players in the game with Leonard as it current leader after Keita gave him the reign a while back.

The guild base itself both functions as a living area for it members and also that of a store where anything that has a value can be traded.