An Englishman in Castle Aincrad

Floor 27 - Chapter 3 - Heartbeat

"How did Rain end up out here?" Asuna asked from around the middle of the formation they'd found themselves in.

It was a good question, but not the one Jet would've asked – that one was "where the hell was here?!"

The sky shone purple in the twilight, and even the clouds were a dull grey, whilst the growls of creatures they probably didn't want to come face to face with rustled in the crevices below them. Wherever "here" was, it wasn't Aincrad, he was sure of that much – the fantasy aesthetic had completely disappeared, lost to a grim vibe that told him that whoever they came toe to toe with was almost certainly going to be a tough fight.

This place simply wasn't conducive to an easy life – most of this place looked like it hadn't seen the sun since the last Ice Age, and even the howling of the wind through the valleys carried a mournful tone to it...

"Rain?" Sanya shouted; her voice amplified massively in the valley. "Are you nearby?" She called, and Jet looked out over the valleys. Specks in the sky that had just turned around, as if they'd heard Sanya's cry and were now looking for the source of it.

"Uhh, Sanya? I think you might have just gotten us some unwanted attention..."

"Oh, be quiet, this place is deserted." She dismissed him. "See, no one here but us and that gargoyle." She stated, as if her point was proven... until realising that gargoyle hadn't been there just seconds ago. "Yebat." She cursed.

"Yup." He agreed as he pulled out his sword, ready for a fight...

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Inside the cave, Rain was doing her best to keep Mito's attention, but there really was only so much she could do. Every swing of that scythe left a trail of darkness in its wake, leaving blind before any follow up strike, though Eydis proved a valuable ally in defending her during those moments, and even getting a few good hits in on Mito, before she was unceremoniously thrown aside, and rendered unconscious.

Now fighting alone, the crystalline ice in the caves proved valuable to her, as she used them to detect an incoming attack seconds before it landed and put herself in position to counter the majority of them, but a fair number proved too much to block, and she was forced to break off her assault and go evasive during those attacks, putting her out of place for any follow up she might have taken during the counterattack...

Mito hadn't been this powerful when she was alive, had she?

Either way, she was struggling now – the battle had been going on for minutes at this point, and neither side were making any real progress...

"Mito, just listen to me!"

"I shan't listen to one from the Dark Territory!"

"Oh for- you aren't from here! Listen to me! Remember me?"

"No." Mito answered bluntly.

"Remember Asuna, Kirito, Koharu, Jet, your friends!" Rain pleaded.

"I was sent by the goddesses themselves. I have no memories of any friends." The way she spat that last line out would almost certainly have stung if she had time to process that. Maybe they weren't close, but the fact that she thought of them as enemies now certainly wasn't pleasant! "And I shall slay the sinner and the rogue element on behalf of them!"

"Then I hope your goddesses have mercy on you when I send you back to them!" Rain readied her swords, knowing one thing – this would be her last stand. Despite her big talk, she knew that she would struggle to win with Eydis out of the fight, and with Mito now knowing her style of fighting, she certainly had no more tricks up her sleeve...