She was right there! Standing only a small distance away from Rei. She was close enough for the Heavyblade to see the fear that reflected in her eyes. Or was it ecstasy? She stared back at him with such an expression in her eyes that seemed to be mocking Rei, provoking him to attack, mocking his own strength, his own resolve to attack something that couldn't fend itself. Rei's violet eyes widened into confusion, chills running down his spine, but another blade intercepted his view. Balmung's face appeared between him and his target, determination in his eyes.

One-handed sword struck two-handed katana, sparks erupting to fill the area with artificial light. Rei's weapon was thrust back, his hands nearly losing control of the heavy weapon, and he let out a small gasp of shock. This was no newbie; Balmung was strong enough to deflect his own attack! But why would he defend that NPC?! Why the hell would he decide to protect a set of data that stood for nothing but the information that it was to relay to the players? Rei's controller shook as he strained to bring his heavy sword back under his hands and ready to strike again while he watched the Blademaster stumble back. Balmung may have been strong enough to deflect one of Rei's attacks, but his overall body mass was much lower than that of Rei's. But it wasn't the blademaster than Rei's eyes remained upon; the NPC behind him had her own light violet eyes locked on the Heavyblade.

That expression in her eyes. It was filled with malice, with a sort of demonic rapture. It was an expression that was filled with lust for blood. She was nothing like the NPCs in the Hymn of Beginnings. Nothing at all. She had purely human expressions upon her face. She was nothing like an NPC; she was even beyond that of an AI!

The Blademaster and the NPC's figures flickered, revealing the cyberspace underneath their polygonal shapes, and then golden rings forced Balmung out of the game. The NPC looked toward Rei now, her shredded arm replaced with a Blademaster's with a blade in hand, both pointed toward Rei. Her lips parted to reveal a smile, a relish of the thrill of the moment, the joy of the kill. Her sword swept down, metal tip scraping the concrete floor, her voice echoing loud throughout the entire alleyway. "Swoce!!"

Rei managed to regain control of his blade, and he quickly whipped the katana before him in a defensive position. Bright crystal icicles struck his blade and the plates of armor on his exposed arms and legs and Rei was thrust back several feet. The green health bar in the corner of his FMD shook and dropped several hundred points.

What the hell was going on?! That was a blademaster skill... it belonged to a high leveled blademaster weapon! And the attack power, the damaged done by such an attack belonged to someone as strong as Balmung! Did that mean that this NPC had absorbed Balmung's skills? Did this mean that she could take any skills from any unsuspecting bystander?! Rei felt frustration grow in his heart. This was unfair! He had no idea what this NPC could have done, and for all he knew, she may not have even needed to absorb skills from other players! She could hack her own data after all, she could probably take abilities from the database and use them against him! Rei gritted his teeth. No, he wouldn't let this get to him. She was an NPC who had acquired a few Blademaster Skills. For all he knew, she had only that one ice skill. She may still have had no hit points, or defense statistics or any other stats for that matter. One strike may result in her complete deletion, and if she did possess any hit points, then Rei would just have to pommel them out of existence.

Rei quickly opened up his menu screen, accessing his skills list as he kept an eye on the NPC. Hit points or no, Rei would have to take her seriously. Her attack was as good as a well leveled Blademaster, and if he was careless enough he may end up getting himself killed. He gripped his blade in front of him and a crimson hue engulfed his blade. "Fire Blade!" He swung it over his head then slammed the blade against the concrete floor.

Flames burst out of the void left by his katana and raced forward in a thin blade after the NPC. The heat of the inferno engulfed and vaporized the icicles left by the NPC's attack, the program of the town not supporting the simple command that all aftereffects of an attack were to fade away. But, almost as immediately as it had appeared, the flames froze in place right in front of the NPC. The red and orange pixels shimmered, then began to pick itself apart, dissipating the flames as if they never existed.

Rei's eyes widened in shock. "What the hell?!" As if the game had heard his cry, a blue screen appeared before the Heavyblade, white letters spelling out a simple and well known message:

You are not allowed to use Skills in a Root Town.

Evan slammed his fist into the computer desk in front of him. "WHAT THE F***?!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The incessant beeping had finally come to a close, and a chair creaked back. Hands rubbed the back of the dark brown head.

"Whose bright idea was it to disable the lock of the root town?" A sigh echoed the words and keys tapped lightly in the silence. "I tell you, I'm away for a week or two and things go wrong." There was a short moment of silence. "Hmph, Baralai's team, huh? I'll have to send him my own personal word. Will someone please get the lights?! It's dark as hell in here!"