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Sword Art Online: of Death Games and Diapers


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Yo. So it’s a day late, but I figured I’d release something for the 4th of July. Still on seasonal break, so I’m not writing a new chapter to post this. This is ultimately fine now, but does mean I’ll have to rebuild the reserve when I get back to work on new chapters.

Not much else to say. See you below!


Sword Art Online: Of Death Games and Diapers

Chapter Seventeen: Not Like You


With a piping hot paper sack in my right hand, I used my left to knock on the door to Asuna’s room. Now that I returned her rapier to her, I had no reason to just barge in. The time limit no longer applied, she still had her weapon, and neither of us had anything to lose anymore.

In a few moments, I heard her call out, voice dangerously low. “Who’s there?”

“It’s me. Can I come in?” I replied, voice calm and collected. After what I did to retrieve her «Wind Fleuret», she had no need to justify being angry and suspicious. Which meant I needed to take it in stride. “I brought some food. Wanna eat it before it gets cold?”

“… Come in.”

I opened the door and tentatively took a few steps inside. “Thanks,” I replied as I walked over to the bedside table and set the sack down. Taking a spherical, cloth-wrapped item out, I set it on the table within Asuna’s reach. “This is the famous dish of «Taran», so they just call them «Taran Steamed Buns». In effort of full disclosure, they didn’t exist in the beta, so I have no idea what they are.”

As she picked it up and unwrapped, I pulled my own bun out of the bag and sat down at the table. Considering the abundance of bovine mobs on the second floor, I half expected a beef bun here. But as always, things didn’t go exactly as I expected…

“Mmmph!!” Asuna’s strangled shout nearly busted an eardrum.

My eyes snapped over to where Asuna sat on the bed, only to find something… risqué. Oozing from the first bite she’d taken of the bun, I saw a thick, white substance. I also noticed said substance dripping down across Asuna’s face, onto her nightshirt and in between her breasts.

Cream-filled?! I thought while glaring at my own bun in contempt. Fucksake dev team, did you have to make food like this?! You tricky bastards!

Setting my bun aside, I quickly opened my menu looking for a handkerchief to give Asuna. Food or not, being covered with cream must’ve felt disgusting. After materializing a hanky, I quickly thrust it over in my partner’s direction.

“Here, something to wipe it off!” I frantically replied as I averted my gaze to spare her any further embarrassment.

‘K’chunk!’

Just as Asuna took the handkerchief, I heard a horrifying sound at the doorway. I hadn’t locked it when I came in… and someone just took advantage of that. I looked over at the door to find Argo, sweating with a smile that betrayed her emotions.

“Oh boy…” she said, voice trembling as she looked at the scene before her.

I know I told her to come after she finished on her end, but why now?!

She must’ve needed a lot of restraint to keep from laughing her ass off right about then.


After I finished explaining the situation to Argo in full, she sat down on Asuna’s bed with her legs under the covers and affectionately ran her hands through my partner’s hair, smiling down sympathetically.

“I see. Poor A-chan’s been through a lot today, huh,” the info broker commented warmly. “You’re safe now with Big Sis here.”

In response, Asuna shifted in bed and hugged Argo’s waist, burying her face in the informant’s abdomen. Argo smiled at the gesture, before snidely looking over at me. She flashed me a smug grin and double peace signs as if I should feel jealous of her or something. First of all, Asuna did this with me on floor one, and second of all…

You’re not the one I’m jealous of here! She is!

But no way in hell would I let Argo figure out she’s my type, I’d never hear the goddamn end of it. She’d tease me till the day I fuckin died! I tapped my foot on the ground impatiently and replied, “Anyway, how’d your trail go? You used your incredible «Hiding» skill to follow him, right?”

“Oh right, that,” Argo affirmed as she returned to petting Asuna’s head. “Right after you ran off, he closed up shop and met with some shady group in secret.”

My eyes narrowed. “Shady how? Did you get a good look at them?”

“All four had hooded cloaks on, so I couldn’t see crap,” Argo replied with a shake of her head. “Seems like he handed somethin’ over to ‘em, but he ran into some trouble and panicked. After that, they broke up, and the blacksmith went straight for the cheapest inn in town. That’s all I got for now.”

“That panic of his. It happened right after the clock struck eight, didn’t it?” I had a pretty good feeling I knew exactly what he panicked about.

The informant blinked at me, only mildly taken aback. “Yeah, right after the bell. How’d you know that?”

“That’s exactly when Asuna got her rapier back.” At my answer, the «Rat» sagely nodded her head in realization. But the four others… wait! “You’re sure there were four guys in cloaks? Not five?”

Once again, my question made her blink. “Definitely four. Why would there be five?”

“Never mind…” I replied, looking to the ground through narrowed eyes. “Thought I found something, but it didn’t pan out. Good work getting that far, though.”

“I’m sure you get it, but now that I know he’s pilfered swords off so many people, I can’t let up,” Argo told me, surprising no one. Even Asuna must’ve understood that. The informant continued, “I’ve gotta work his background, see what’s goin’ on. Leave that part to me. But what’s your plan?”

Of course, I had no intention of stopping here either. After what he did to Asuna, I hadn’t satisfied my desire for retribution whatsoever. But I had to be careful about how I went about doing it. Depending on the route I traveled, solving this case could take a big gamble. One I didn’t want to carelessly risk.

“We know for a fact he swindled away A-chan’s sword, temporary or not. Should we go public with the info before the damage spreads?” Argo continued with a sigh as if sensing my hesitation. “If we use my distribution routes… we can corner him in a day.”

A day. She worked fast, huh… but that speed would work against us here. If we tried to resolve things too quickly and without enough care, it could make some people seriously upset, both at us and at Nezha. Just what we needed. An emotional firestorm on both sides in a situation already this volatile to begin with.

“No. We can’t go about this heavy-handedly. When Asuna’s sword vanished, he must’ve realized we caught onto him. If he has any sense, he’ll play it safe for a bit,” I countered her through narrowed eyes. “And without understanding the method, we can’t prove anything. Besides… if we make a single misstep in punishing him, it could do more harm than good.”

“How so?” she asked, eyes flitting down to Asuna for just an instant.

I… no, we both knew where this discussion led to. A dangerous topic, one I’m sure neither of us wanted to be the one to broach. Once we got it on the table, we would pass the event horizon, and our actions could have consequences far more severe than either of us wanted. Consequences that would last far longer than the transient crimes we uncovered.

“It depends on what he’s done with all the weapons he’s stolen,” I calmly said, trying to ignore the anxiety prickling at the back of my neck. “If he still has them, which I doubt, then solving it cleanly is possible. But if he’s sold them to a shop for cash… then they’re gone forever.”

Argo started where I left off. “Which would mean it might be impossible to calm the rage of the players he robbed,” she said before pointing at me. “I know how pissed it made you. Imagine that, times ten. SAO doesn’t have a single penalty which can satisfy that kind of desire for vengeance.”

Either she fancied herself an optimist, or she just didn’t want to believe humans could stoop so low. I stared her dead in the eyes. “There is one. I know you know it too. If he did sell them and this goes public, that’s exactly what will happen if even one person died after losing their weapon.”

Argo’s expression dimmed. Her gaze fell down to the floor. “The punishment… of PK.”

“… What are you two talking about?” For the first time in the conversation, Asuna lifted her head and looked up at us inquisitively. “What’s… a PK?”

Argo looked over to me expectantly. I sighed. She really wanted me to answer this one… not that I blamed her for not wanting to ruin Asuna’s innocence, but still.

“Player killing. When a player kills another player. In other words…” I said, averting my eyes to avoid looking at the fencer’s expression when she put two and two together. “A public execution… of Nezha the blacksmith.”

Asuna bolted up in bed, the covers falling below her waist as she desperately leaned towards me. “You can’t! With the way SAO works right now, that would be… murder…”

“Exactly.” My eyes met hers again, and I saw the fear and pain in her eyes. “Which is why we can’t let it come to that.”

Argo pulled Asuna back down, burying the poor girl’s face in her chest and leaving me to think about the situation.  Even after what he did to her, she still had it in her to feel sympathetic. How pure.

Not that I didn’t agree with the general sentiment; he didn’t deserve to die for this. In spite of how much he pissed me off, I knew the consequences of his actions shouldn’t be death. And on top of that, setting my own personal feelings about him aside, letting him die for his crimes would set a dangerous precedent about how to deal with nonviolent criminals in this death game. One I couldn’t support in good faith, even if Nezha’s actions did get someone killed.

“That’s why we need the truth. The method and motive for his scam… and what he did with the weapons he stole,” Argo affirmed as she comfortingly rubbed Asuna’s back.

My gaze lowered slightly as I contemplated the issue. “And then some way to make things right… something to settle it for good.”

While I thought to myself, my gaze caught sight of something. I internally sighed as I realized Asuna didn’t even seem to realize it herself. She’s soaked. Guess she’ll need a change soon… I’ll wait until Argo’s gone to let her know.

“Yeah. If he admits his crime, we might have a way forward,” Argo replied, snapping me out of my thoughts. “A way to calm everyone else’s anger.”

Asuna shifted in Argo’s embrace to free her mouth and speak. “I don’t think he’s doing it just to steal from others. I just can’t see it.”

“I get that he looks honest and weak-willed…” I sighed. Her level of empathy for him still astounded me. “But we’ve pretty much proven the crime by now. Or do you think there’s room for extenuating circumstances?”

The fencer stared over in my direction, without really looking at me, like she saw something beyond. ”I just have a feeling… I met him before this incident. I didn’t see his face then, but…” as she rose into a sit, Asuna opened her menu and went into her inventory. “Argo. Once you’re done investigating, I want you to examine this.”

As she held out her open palm, a small arrowhead-like metal object flashed into existence atop it. Argo and I leaned in to get a closer look. It had incredible craftsmanship… I’d never seen anything like this in the NPC shops. Definitely the work of a player blacksmith, which instantly brought Nezha to mind, but…

Why would he have made…

“A… throwing knife?”


December 11th, 2022

Second Floor Labyrinth, F2

A long hallway fashioned from stone stretched before me and Asuna. Behind us, the door leading to the previous floor of the tower had shut, blocking our exit. Before us, a massive, brown minotaur whose height effortlessly surpassed my own, cutting off our advance.

Nowhere to run… I mused, before smiling drily. Not like I planned on it anyway.

Without wasting another second, I charged the monster, left sword glowing with a radiant blue light. I struck the taurus’s left flank with an «Uppercut» as I rushed past it, skidding to a stop around a meter away while it writhed in pain. But I didn’t have time to catch my breath if I wanted to keep the combo going, and so I held my right sword atop my shoulder until it glowed a vivid red.

The first hit of my skill tore into the minotaur’s left shoulder diagonally from behind, depleting a large chunk of its HP in a single blow. From there, my sword shot back up into a high position and slashed diagonally once more, this time putting a red tattoo on its right shoulder. And finally, a vertical slash down the center, right through its spine.

As the execution of my «Sharp Nail» concluded, I saw the massive Taurus mob turn towards Asuna. But Asuna had spaced out a lot today. Could she really take this thing on? Even with barely any health left, you couldn’t fuck around with this monster subclass. Especially ones with this massive hammer weapon, on low health.

As soon as my post-motion delay ended, I dashed between the minotaur and my partner with a shout. “No you fuckin’ don’t! Keep your eyes on me!”

I slashed through its heart with a lightning-quick «Vertical» from my right sword, before catching its lungs with a «Horizontal» from my left blade. With that, it only had a sliver of HP remaining, and I’d halted its advance.

Now is a good time. “Switch!” I called out.

Asuna’s response came at a delay. “… Oh, right!”

Not good. Did she still have her head in the clouds? After I knocked the taurus’s hammer back, I dashed out of its range. While my partner sped past me, I called out to remind her of the danger.

I shouted, “Watch out for the debuf!”

“I-I got it!” It lessened, but I still saw a slight delay.

This is risky…

I hoped my insecurities proved unfounded, but I had this nagging feeling in the back of my head that trying to make Asuna fight in this state would get one or both of us killed. But at the same time, she couldn’t just sit back and let me take care of everything either if she wanted to improve and advance. So I had to push her forward when she couldn’t take those first few steps on her own.

But unfortunately, when I pushed her forward this time, she fell over.

When the massive taurus closed in on her, she froze up. It only lasted a few seconds, but that’s all the mob needed. It sent a horizontal hammer swing her way, and she barely reacted in time to avoid getting hit dead on, but it still nicked her as she bent backwards, and the force nearly knocked her over.

“No way! What’s with this—” she shouted before having to dodge another two diagonal hammer swings. Once again, both of them scraped her, hitting her just hard enough to deal chip damage. “—All of a sudden?! It’s not fair!”

After yet another strike nicked her, she leapt back to gain some distance. I took note of her HP bar. Under half left— closer to a quarter, even. Asuna seemed to realize this too, and she shook her head, as if to shake the haze off. But just as she did, I saw it. The taurus raised its hammer high into the air with both hands, preparing to strike the ground at full force.

This bodes poorly.

I shouted over to her in a panic. “Asuna, it’s his numbing attack! Get some distance!”

But she didn’t heed my warning. When she looked up at the enemy’s massive hammer, she froze up again. As the hammer raised ever higher, her gaze followed it, mesmerized by the movement. Not good. She didn’t have the HP to survive even a single attack after the numbing effect took hold.

“What are you doing?!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, desperately trying to get through to her. “Hurry—!”

Time ran out. Just as Asuna tried to kick off the ground, the taurus’ hammer came crashing down, striking the stone flooring at full force. Not a moment later, a burst of what looked like electricity shot out and hit Asuna’s legs in an instant, halting her ascent before it began. She lost all her strength and fell to the floor, unable to fully sit up, much less distance herself from the enemy.

In other words, the stun effect caught her dead on. A second strike would render her paralyzed.

Playtime is over!

As the taurus raised its hammer into the air for a second strike, I dashed in between them, closing the distance in an instant and cutting the monster in half with a lightning-quick «Slant» from my left sword. After it exploded into an array of polygons, I skidded to a stop and sheathed both my weapons before turning around to face my partner.

“Having a bad day, I take it?” I said, offering a hand. “This isn’t like you. If I can help, let me know.”

Asuna reached out to take my hand, but a moment before she grasped it, her hand clenched into a fist. She got up on her own, still shaky from the remnants of the stun.

“It’s nothing. I’m just not feeling like myself today…” she said, gaze downcast. “Though if you want to help, well…”

After she trailed off, she got oddly fidgety. It only took a second for me to figure it out. “Lemme guess. You need a change?” Her face heated up as she nodded. “Some stun effects can do that to you, no worries. Let’s find a safe room so we can change without worrying about monster spawns.”

After another few minutes of walking, we happened upon an empty safe room. As we walked in, I materialized the changing supplies we needed. Changing mat, rash cream, wipes, the works. And since we used the same kind of diaper, I went ahead and got one of mine out as well.

I unfolded the changing mat and set it on the ground, prompting Asuna to lay down and lift her skirt. Getting a look at her Starz diaper, I could tell right away she hadn’t just wet herself. Well, whatever, all the more reason to change her out of it quickly. After unfolding the fresh diaper, I lifted her legs and set it down underneath her used one. When I had it aligned properly, I eased her down onto it, and it auto-sized to fit Asuna’s body instead of mine.

“This next bit is cold, fair warning,” I said. I knew I probably didn’t have to, but better safe than sorry.

Next, I untaped her soiled diaper and set about my task of wiping her off. Her face reddened, but she otherwise gave no reaction. One wipe, two wipes, three, four. After my fifth wipe, she was clean. I pulled her soiled diaper out from under her, rolled it up and taped it shut. Next, I opened the container of rash cream. Getting a dollop on my hand, I slathered it over her bare skin, making sure I didn’t miss anywhere.

After cleaning my hands off with another wipe, I pulled up the front of her diaper. Smoothing it out and getting the leak guards in working order, I dexterously taped it up with one hand while holding the front panel up with the other.

My job finished, I returned my items to my inventory and discarded the trash. As Asuna stood up and I put the changing mat away, she looked at me out of the corner of her eye, blushing beet red.

“You’re a little too good at that…” she remarked with a sigh.

I shrugged. “I had some people to practice on IRL.” I might tell her who I practiced on eventually, but it’d be a story for another time. “Anyway, let’s get a move on.”

Thankfully, the rest of that floor of the labyrinth passed by without incident.


So yeah, Kiriko is top tier pamp changer, who knew? 😛

Hope you liked it, and hope everyone is having fun and staying safe out there in these chaotic times. Catch you next holiday release!

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  • 2 months later...

Yo, what’s going on everybody! Still on hiatus, but I’m releasing this chapter sooner than planned for reasons I’m about to get into. Anyone who saw my status on Omorashi org will already know what I’m about to say, but without further ado…

I have ADHD. Until recently, I hadn't taken anything for it since I was a teenager. Earlier this month, I went on something for it since it seemed to be getting worse. It made focusing, remembering things, and writing a fuck of a lot easier. Ended up pounding out a chapter of this story in late September to make up for the one I released from the reserve for the Fourth of July. This is all great, but...

The med gave me partial seizures. I won't bother getting into how or why, but the long and short of it is that I've been having them off and on all my life and just didn't know it until this ADHD med made me have a bunch of them rapid fire and it spooked me into Googling the symptoms.

So I had to stop taking the meds, and now the magic is gone. Sucks, but that's life, and I've got others I can try. However, there is something to note here: if I can find one that works for me without any fucky side effects, I'll probably be able to end the hiatus early.

I've got another appointment with the one who prescribed them in two weeks or so, so it won't be before then, but I just thought I'd pop in, release an update and inform y'all that the hiatus might be ending a bit sooner than planned.

Anyway, read on! See you at the bottom.


Sword Art Online: Of Death Games and Diapers

Chapter Eighteen: Patchwork


December 9th, 2022

Second Floor Labyrinth, F8

As I walked through the hall of the eighth level of the second floor labyrinth, I heard the sound of metal on metal clashing from just ahead. Someone else had made it around as far as we did. Couldn’t help but feel curious about what kind of people could have advanced this far, this fast.

But when I neared the source of the clashing, I realized I’d made a slight lapse in judgement. The clangs which rang out came from a lower floor. I probably heard them from a gap in the walls which connected all the floors along the central column of the tower. Still, for them to be this loud, they probably made it to the seventh level. Still nothing to sneeze at, I supposed.

I walked up to the edge of the walkway and looked down to get a better look at them, and lo and behold, I found a few familiar faces duking it out with a «Lesser Taurus Striker», the same mob which gave Asuna and I so much trouble earlier in the day.

“Hey, check it out,” I said, pointing over the edge at them. “It’s those hero roleplayer guys from the field boss fight. The «Legend Braves», right? Can’t fault their enthusiasm, I guess.”

Asuna walked over and stood next to me, her eyes on the fight. “If you ask me, they don’t really live up to their name, personas aside.”

I chuckled at the assertion. But as I looked back to the fight below us, I couldn’t help but comment on it. “Give it another look.”

After I said that, the axe and spear wielders among the group rushed forward. The spear wielder used his superior reach to deflect a hammer strike from the enemy and send it staggering back, and without missing a beat, the leader shouted a command.

“Formation Z! Attack!”

Moving as one, he and his other two remaining comrades stabbed the Taurus in the gut with their swords, the combined impact nearly sending it flying. As the fight continued, they kept up a cheerful banter. In spite of their goofy antics, they still knew not to take themselves too seriously.

“They joke around, but they’re pretty good. Solid teamwork,” I said, offering them a smile from above. “Honestly, we could stand to learn a thing or two from them as well.”

Not long after I finished speaking, I felt a familiar twinge. How annoying… eight floors into the tower up to floor three, with people only one level below us. If we left now, not only would we run into more people in a world I’d made sure hated my guts, but we’d also lose our edge in clearing dungeon floors as the first party to get this far. I sighed in annoyance and muttered something without thinking.

“I have to pee…”

Asuna replied not a moment later, staring over my way. “Then do it. That’s what your diaper is for, right? Or are you not wearing one right now?”

Those damn puppy dog eyes… when did she pick up that Outside System Skill? Wait…

“Oh wow, I completely forgot I had one on,” I marveled, lifting up my skirt to inspect it myself. Rather than the black panties I’d worn for most of my time in SAO, I found a light blue star-printed diaper. I dropped my skirt and smoothed it out, feeling the heat of a blush forming on my cheeks. “How did that happen…?”

Without wasting a moment more, I relaxed my hold on my bladder and began inundating the crotch of my diaper, feeling the usual, annoyingly comfy rush of warmth right away. The hissing sounded loud enough I knew Asuna heard it too, which only made my cheeks heat up more.

But at the very least, we wouldn’t have to lose our edge in progression just for a bathroom break…

As the stream died down and my eyes returned to the battle below, I finally noticed the signs I’d been looking for from the start. “Something’s off about them… don’t you think?”

“Off? I mean…” Asuna replied, perplexed. “They’re strange, I guess? Not sure what you’re getting at…”

Oh. She didn’t notice yet. “It’s all unbalanced patchwork. Their teamwork, equipment, abilities, everything.”

“Patchwork?” she asked. Oh right, duh. I kept forgetting she was new to the whole MMO scene…

“Normally, in any good RPG, there’s a decent balance between your level and your gear,” I began explaining it, trying to avoid audibly sighing. “The stronger you are, the more money and experience you earn, the better gear you can get. It’s a pretty simple formula. But them…”

I pointed down at them as they fought off the same taurus mob that gave Asuna trouble earlier. As a group, they handled it better than my partner did alone. But the fight still looked like a struggle for them, in spite of the overwhelming advantage they possessed.

Through narrowed eyes, I continued, hoping beyond hope I hadn’t hit the nail on the head. “Their levels and skills are around average. Maybe a bit higher. But their gear is easily the best and most well-rounded of anyone on the frontlines. Don’t you find that strange?”

If I fought any of them one on one, I’d murk them, no questions asked. But I’d need to abuse the system to do it, and it wouldn’t be an easy fight by any means. But fighting even two of them at once, their massive gear advantage would be too much for me to handle. All five at once, and I wouldn’t win even with Asuna and Agil backing me up.

That’s why I needed to be wrong. Because if I wasn’t, then the situation would turn very dangerous, very quickly.

“So you’re saying they somehow found a more effective source of money than anyone else?” She attempted to clarify. Close. So very close. Just a bit more, and… click. “Wait, you’re saying they’re involved in the upgrade scam?! Them?!”

I nodded, a wry smile on my face. “It’s a reckless assumption, I admit. But Argo looked into it. The timing is too suspicious to ignore. The time when the clearers started losing their best gear to upgrade failures,” I replied, knowing I must’ve sounded kinda nuts to suspect them even with this evidence. “And the time when the Legend Braves showed up in the frontlines. They’re a perfect match, down to the exact day.”

“Guess we should look into their background,” Asuna replied without missing a beat, opening up her menu and beginning to type. “I’ll ask Argo for help.”

“Good call. Lemme know when she responds,” I replied as she typed away.

But around ten seconds later, the typing momentarily stopped. Asuna looked away from her keyboard to give the Legend Braves a pensive stare for a second before beginning to speak. “… No. Think about it. If they had those skills and that gear… then why couldn’t they have come to the frontier before this?”

“I got it! It’s not that their level is too average for their ridiculous gear,” I quickly replied, the truth hitting me like lightning. “It’s that their skill and gear are rock solid, but their level is too low for the frontlines!”

As Orlando delivered the mortal blow and their enemy exploded into an array of polygonal fragments, Asuna finished typing out her message. “Yes. That’s it. The source of the ‘patchwork’ feeling… and sent.”

I turned away from watching the celebrating Legend Braves down below and made moves to advance. “They’ve reached the level below us. Let’s get going. I want to clear the labyrinth today.”

Asuna balked. “Clear it? But why? We’re not even halfway through… why are you pushing yourself that hard?”

I smirked proudly at the question before drawing my left sword and letting it rest atop my shoulder. “I’ve got just a little ways to go until my «One-Handed Sword» skill reaches one-fifty.”

“One-hundred fifty?!”

I’m pretty sure that the Legend Braves beneath us probably heard that cry.

“Well… congrats,” she said a few seconds later, cheeks red from her initial outburst. But her eyes, they looked like I made her question her sense of reality. “What Skill Mod are you going to choose?”

I smirked, knowing that with all the time she spent inactive before joining the frontier, her «One-Handed Rapier» skill probably hadn’t even hit a hundred yet. Meanwhile, through insane grinding sessions and the fact I often used two weapons at once to rapidly chain skills and massively up my hit count and attack speed, I’d gotten to one-forty-five earlier today. This is the difference between the casual scum like start of SAO Asuna and the tryhard assholes like myself…

“Maybe I can start on the crit chance mods. I couldn’t get them at fifty or a hundred since I got «Shorten Skill Cooldown» and «Shorten Skill Post-Motion Delay» instead,” I mused, raising a hand to my chin in contented contemplation. “Though I guess if I don’t want my weapon lost or stolen, I could get «Quick Change» for insurance.”

My fencer friend forgot her frustration at the proficiency gap for a moment as a curious look crossed her features. “A separate ability? What’s it do?”

I could feel something important surfacing in my consciousness at the thought of this specific Skill Mod. But since I couldn’t put my finger on it, I just started explaining what it did. “It’s pretty handy. With Quick Change, if you drop your weapon or someone steals it, you can set a backup weapon and requip with a single button.”

The feeling I’d overlooked something important only intensified after explaining it. I could hear Asuna mumbling something about her skill proficiency under her breath. Probably cursing herself for not grinding harder up to now to make up for lost time at the start of the game. Not that I could blame her, being in her shoes would piss me off too. But back to Quick Change…

“Plus, if you have another copy of your weapon in your inventory, you can choose to equip the same thing you had on before. Neat, right?” I finished my explanation, my smirk having rounded out into a normal, jovial smile.

The sense I’d forgotten something crucial nearly gave me a headache in that moment. It’d become a constant drumbeat in the back of my head, and now I could barely think straight because of it. But then, a few seconds later, it finally clicked.

Wait…

“That’s it!!”

Asuna and I turned towards each other and shouted in unison, so loudly we must’ve been audible from multiple dungeon floors below. And in the aftermath, my partner seemed so stunned by our sudden close proximity of our faces that she jumped and fell back on her padded posterior, her skirt flying it up and exposing it for all to see as her cheeks flushed bright red.

“Need a change again already?” I teased, pointing at the yellowed garment as I tried not to laugh. “You know, you might want to do something about that decreasing capacity of yours.”

Her blush only intensified at that remark. But more importantly, her eyes… I saw pain and desperation in them. “Sh-shut up! I can’t help it, I don’t even feel it anymore!”

Oh crap… welp, looks like her Bladder Awareness fell below five-hundred then, if the horror stories I’d heard about the bathroom stats were true. Which meant she’d need potions to reliably get her stats high enough to stop needing diapers… and unfortunately for us, the mats for those on this floor were all super rare drops, and you also needed a lot of them for any potion worth a damn. Not to mention, who in their right minds would pick up a secondary utility skill with a high bar of entry for viability like «Mixing» this early on instead of a skill which would contribute to their survival more directly and immediately?

All the same, her worsening continence is totally my fault… so we’ll just have to settle for the costly NPC mixer in town. Finding the mats will still be a nightmare, though…

“Sorry. Guess I haven’t really helped you out that much with it so far,” I admitted aloud, offering her a hand. “When we get to town, I’ll foot the bill for what we need to get you back in panties again.”

At my words, her expression softened into a contemplative look as her gaze hit the floor. She took my hand and slowly rose to her feet and smoothed out her skirt, hiding her sodden padding once more. When she next looked at me a few seconds later, she had a soft smile on her face.

“No, it’s all right. Not yet. Just hurry and catch up to my pitiful stats for now,” she gracefully replied as my eyes widened. “It sucks to be the only one who can’t control her bladder between us, but if I’m not alone, it’s not nearly as embarrassing. If anything, I…”

I cocked my head when she trailed off, but she didn’t seem intent on finishing that last thought. Well, whatever. “Sure thing. Guess I’ll just have to fluid load and enter status condition hell if I want to catch up soon.”

Looks like I’d still need to use the NPC mixer to get me some potions to help the process along. Urge Increasers, Tick Increasers, Control Decreasers, Ease Increasers, and maybe Bladder Numbers. At least I had most of the mats for this on hand…

“But back to the scheme…” I said in an effort to get us back on track. “A crafter can’t learn that kind of skill very easily. Blacksmithing gives you character EXP and EXP for smithing skills, but it doesn’t give you weapon skill EXP.”

Asuna’s gaze faltered for a moment. “I think… we might be able to get past that issue. It’ll depend on what I hear back from Argo.”

Not a moment later, I saw the message notification pop up in front of my partner. Speak of the devil and she shall appear… and charge you an arm and a leg for everything she does for you. I leaned over to read off her menu, made visible when we got her rapier back before, and then…


Minutes earlier…

“Thanks. You’re a big help,” a certain whiskered informant spoke above the bustling dinner crowd at the restaurant they met at, gratefully smiling over at her invaluable contact.

The large, silver-haired man amicably smiled back. “It was nothing. I’m glad to be helping someone such as yourself. The service you provide the players with is irreplaceable.”

“By the way. Unrelated topic, but…” Argo said as she pulled up her menu and sent some character profiles his way. “You know anything about these folks?”

“Hmm…” her red-robed acquaintance replied in his deep voice as he read them over. “Orlando, Cuchulainn… oh, I see. They’re all legendary heroes. All six of them together. How nice.”

“Six? Oh, my mistake,” Argo replied as she caught the source of the confusion. “The Legend Braves are a group of five. The last one’s different.”

But her contact shook his head, pointing at Nezha’s profile with a smile. “No. This name too comes from a mythical hero. Or at the very least…”

The red-clad man’s smile saddened as he looked at the blacksmith’s picture in the profile. Argo couldn’t help but feel curious about this man. He had this regal air about him. And yet his cloak possessed the color of blood, almost appearing warlike.

His long lock of silvery hair fluttered about in the breeze as his eyes lost just a little of their light. “He was hoping… he could be one.”


“You closing up?”

A voice called out from the roads on the ground floor, snapping Asuna’s resting mind to attention. She looked through the slits at the street below, finding what looked like a tall man in heavy armor approaching Nezha the blacksmith. She’d been waiting for this for the better half of an hour, and now the moment of truth finally arrived.

Nezha’s anxious reply soon followed. “No, I’m still open! Looking for repairs, or—”

The voice underneath that thick helmet came out warped. You couldn’t discern anything from it beyond the spoken words. “No. Upgrade.”

I didn’t buy it before, but… guess I lost the bet.

“An… upgrade, then.” Nezha’s voice sounded almost defeated as he double checked.

The armored man asked a question as he arrived at the spot directly in front of the smithy. “Is that a problem?”

“Er, no! Not at all!”

The man handed the anxious smith his sword. “Agility, please,” he said, opening up his menu with a flick of the wrist. “I’ll pay for enough materials to increase the chance to ninety percent.”

“That will be twenty-seven hundred col, then,” Nezha replied. A few button presses later, and the transfer of funds completed. When he appraised the weapon with his smithing skills, he gave a subdued smile. “«Anneal Blade +6», Three Strength upgrades and three Durability upgrades, with two chances left. A challenging sword, but a very good one.”

A moment later, the smile vanished from his face as he trailed off. Asuna could feel his guilt from up here. He really did orchestrate this scam, going by that face… but why? He knew it was wrong, and he clearly felt bad about it. So why did he keep doing it anyway?

“And if you upgrade the Agility on top of that, it’ll become even better…” Nezha said with his head hung low. “Here we go, then.”

“Have they started?” a familiar mousy voice asked from behind the secret spectator.

Asuna nodded just faintly enough to avoid losing sight of the smith and client below. “Yes.”

As soon as the word left the fencer’s mouth, she felt a horribly-timed twinge. She had to pee— badly. But she couldn’t leave this spot or even look away right now, much less find a bathroom… and with how much she had to go, if she made a sudden move, she might lose control anyway. Only one thing to do, then…

‘Ssssssssssshhhh…’

“I know it’s hard to ignore the lightshow when he tosses the mats in,” Argo spoke up while she walked up to stare out the shutters from right over the fencer’s shoulder. “But make sure not to miss it.”

This is so unfair… Asuna moaned internally as her stream intensified and the hissing became even more audible. Even if she wanted to stop it now, she probably couldn’t anymore. Her diaper grew warmer and swelled thicker by the second. The first time I feel the urge in so long, and I still have to let go right away, right in front of an informant…

But externally, she remained calm. “I know.”

Just as Asuna’s stream began to taper off, Argo chimed in right as Nezha finally found all the mats he needed. “And to make you feel better…”

‘Psssssssssshhhh…’

Asuna heard a second stream from right behind her as her own began to quiet down. Argo noticed her distress right away, huh… and she answered by making sure the fencer wouldn’t be worsening her toilet training alone. As weird as she found this whole situation, she couldn’t deny the sense of comfort she felt knowing she had friends like Argo and Kiriko to keep her from feeling alone by doing things like this.

Wait!

She saw it. Right as the blacksmith dropped the materials into the furnace and lit it up in a vibrant green, she saw a window open from Nezha’s left hand, from behind the stand of display swords on his merchant’s carpet, a place he must’ve assumed hid his actions from his client. Even if it did, Asuna saw the window clear as day from up here.

A button press later, and the Anneal Blade in his grip blinked for just an instant. When it returned to normal and the window vanished, its shine seemed just a bit duller than the sword the man handed him.

“I saw it!” The fencer gave a muffled cry.

Argo nodded, her chin just briefly touching the fencer’s shoulder. “Yep. Switched out.”

Nezha lay the weapon over the furnace, suffusing the blade in its green glow. Next he moved it to the anvil and began striking it with his smith’s hammer. The same crisp clanging sound Asuna heard when he attempted to “upgrade” the fencer’s «Wind Fleuret».

“Sounds like…” Argo piped up as she sat down in a chair next to her, legs spread wide to accommodate what must’ve been a soaked diaper. She’d clearly used it before just now… “He’s really puttin’ his heart into those strikes.”

Asuna nodded. “Yeah. Sounded like this with my weapon, too. Even though it doesn’t matter how you strike it as long as you hit it enough times,” she said as she looked out the shutters. “At the time, I thought those earnest strokes prayed for his success. But… he must’ve been mourning. For the next sword he would sacrifice to his scam.”

“Mhm. He switched in a spent copy with no attempts remaining,” Argo affirmed Asuna’s words with more of her own. “And any attempt on a spent weapon… will always fail.”

They’d reached the final few strikes. The fencer looked on in anticipation. “And the penalty for that failure is…”

‘Cliiiiing!’

The tenth and final hammer strike rang loud and high. And not a moment later, the sword burst into shards atop the anvil which flew in all directions. Nezha’s back trembled and shrank into itself. His right hand slumped to the floor with his hammer as the handle in his left hand disappeared.

He prostrated himself before his client and began shouting at the top of his lungs. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m really, truly sorry!”

Asuna pushed the window shutters open and stood up. The deciding moment. The following interaction would shape how players responded to nonviolent crimes for the rest of the game.

“Give it a rest. You have nothing to apologize for… yet.”

The man’s words shocked some sense into the smith. He whipped his head around to look up at his client, eyes wide. “Huh?! But…”

The helmed knight looked up at Asuna, and the chestnut-haired girl nodded. She saw it clear as day. And with the helmet blocking out the man’s view of the furnace, he must’ve seen it too.

Or rather, she did.

“Once I figured it out… the trick struck me as surprisingly simple and elegant.”

As she spoke, with that same flick of the wrist motion from before, the client opened her menu and began rapidly switching out all her equips. Her metal armor and breast bindings, gone in a flash. Her shirt and pants, traded for a black shirt and pleated skirt. Heavy steel-plated boots switched for lightweight black ones. And finally, the addition of one crucial identifier: the long, black «Coat of Midnight», of which she had the only copy..

“Y-you’re the girl from—!”

Kiriko stared him down with cold, expressionless violet eyes. “Sorry about this. Dressing in disguise to deceive you. But you just tried to pull one over on me too like you did all the others before me, so I say it’s fair play.”

With a single button press of her right hand, a familiar sword flashed into existence in her right hand, pointed at Nezha’s throat. His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, and he instinctively began to back away.

“Quick Change. You used that skill mod on the weapons you received to switch them for spent copies of the same weapons in your inventory.” she continued, voice calm and casual, with a quiet intensity to it. “And I just used the same trick to retrieve my currently equipped weapon from your item storage. And before you deny it using my second sword, I’ll prove it isn’t.”

This time, she used her left hand to perform the same trick. In it appeared her second Anneal Blade, kept hidden up to now to keep him from identifying her. She hoisted it atop her shoulder as her right blade remained pointed at Nezha’s trachea.

“I never thought anyone this early on, much less a blacksmith, would select that mod,” she said, looking at Nezha with eyes so cold they sent a chill down Asuna’s spine. “And hiding the menu among the merchandise and drowning off the visual effects with the light of your furnace. Genius. As crimes go, it’s a work of art.”

Finally deciding to lay off a little, she pulled her right sword away from the poor man, before sheathing both her weapons at her waist in one fluid motion. With her physical threat finished, she made a threat of a different kind.

“Now you have two options. I can throw you to the wolves among the clearers and let them deal with you and your whole group, no matter the horrifying consequences on your end…” she offered, a callous glint in her eyes. “Or you can take a walk with me, back to the station.”

Kiriko made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, and she knew it. If he didn’t take it, he might face death not only for himself, but also for the rest of the Legend Braves. It didn’t matter that it was an empty threat. It would be more than enough pressure to crack his mental barriers open like an egg. Her mouth formed a half-smirk.

“Your move.”


Fun fact: Kiriko confronting Nezha in the last few hundred words is probably one of my favorite parts of this story to write so far.

Also, one thing worth mentioning: the fam and I are moving across town here soon! I’ve been sleeping in the front room of our current house for years, but in the new house, I get the whole basement to myself. Best part is, there’s a door to the basement, which means I can close it if I need privacy. I’m quite looking forward to it.

Things will be hectic while we move the next few weeks, but by the time things calm down, I should be on a new ADHD med, which means later this month, you might se another update from me, even before the originally planned Halloween release.

Catch you later!

Edited by WriterForce6XV (see edit history)
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  • 5 weeks later...

Eyo, how’s everybody doing here? I forgot to upload on Halloween, but I figure election day is a decent time as well. Hope everybody voted, and voted wisely.

That’s enough politics from me, fuck that noise. Read on, and see you below!


Sword Art Online: Of Death Games and Diapers

Chapter Nineteen: Sacrifice


“Let me see if I have this straight.”

Kiriko slammed her hand on the table to accentuate her annoyed tone. “You sold off all the weapons you stole. You lived large off the money you made. And now you have almost nothing left. That’s your story?”

“Yes…” Nezha answered, eyes downcast, with sweat dripping down his face. “I’m very sorry about this…”

Radio silence. Asuna suspected that Kiriko and Argo knew as well as she did. His face, his eyes, his voice, his body language… they all pointed to one thing.

He lied.

With a sigh, Kiriko sat back down in her chair next to Argo, and Asuna heard the faintest of crinkles. The sound brought a smile to her lips. That crinkle reminded her she wasn’t alone.

“The people on the frontlines are risking their actual lives. We drive ourselves crazy trying to power up those weapons… not just for our own survival — for yours, too,” Kiriko pressed, voice calm and measured. “Pursuing the desperate hope that our bodies won’t waste away to nothing while our minds remain trapped. The hope that one day, we’ll finally free ourselves from this deathtrap. You’re trampling those hopes underfoot. And for what? Well?”

Nezha flinched back, before his head fell. He nearly curled up into a ball trying to avoid her cold, merciless stare. “I don’t know… how to apologize for what I’ve done…”

“I knew it. Something’s not right.”

Speaking to him for the first time since they entered this room, Asuna stepped forward. From her spot between Kiriko and Argo, she pulled something from under her cloak, kept tucked underneath her belt. She quickly raised it high and stabbed it into the table between them and Nezha. The small throwing knife quivered with a high-pitched hum for a moment as the fencer let go of it.

“This belonged to a swordsman I randomly met out in the wilderness, towards the start of this floor,” Asuna said, her eyes on Nezha’s wide-eyed, fearful expression. “I asked Argo to identify it. She said it was a special player-made item that stores couldn’t carry— meaning the wielder created it.”

As the fencer spoke, Nezha’s eyes widened more and more, and he began to sweat profusely. The walls were closing in faster and faster, and he knew it. But stopping now to avoid making him uncomfortable wouldn’t solve anything. They had to keep pressing.

“The only person who could’ve made this… is the only player blacksmith in Aincrad,” Asuna continued. She then pointed a finger at Nezha. “In other words, you. It would make sense for a swordsman to learn «Quick Change». When I met you before, you had expensive gear on… but it was still less than the monetary damages I estimate you caused.”

Nezha briefly looked up, a desperate smile on his face. “I told you, I spent it on food and drink—”

Argo cut him off. “That can’t be true,” she said, shaking her head. “I’ve followed you the last few days. I’ve seen the simple lifestyle you’re leading.”

“You’re currently the only player blacksmith in the game. You’ve cornered the market by your existence alone,” Kiriko continued, giving him a cold, dispassionate look. “Yet you run this scam. It doesn’t add up. So here’s what we need to know from you.”

As she spoke, she went into her menu and materialized a one Col coin. She spun it by the edge on her index finger for a few moments before jerking her finger up to send it flying through the air. Then, just as it began to fall, she opened her menu with a flick of the wrist. Right before the coin hit her hand, it disappeared with a flashing visual effect, returning to her storage with flourish.

She looked him dead in the eye. “You’re taking this Col you’re raking in and offering it to someone else. Aren’t you?”

Once again, Nezha flinched back, before desperately retorting with a laugh. “What? Who would I give it to?! What proof do you have of—”

“You want proof? Look at your name. ‘Nezha.’”

This time, Asuna cut him off. And when she brought up his name, his face froze in a panic. In that instant, the look in his eyes said it all. He finally realized he couldn’t talk his way out of this.

“Your name is actually pronounced ‘Na-zha,’” the fencer continued with a light sigh. “I didn’t recognize it at first because the name ‘Nataku’ is the more common form in Japanese. I was sloppy.”

Argo chimed up next. “Nataku. Nazha. Prince Nata. A boy god from the Chinese epic Fengshen Yanyi, of Houshin Engi,” she said with a smile, knowing they had him cornered. “He uses mystical weapons called ‘Paopei’ and flies through the air with two wheels. Quite a figure. How would you classify him, Kii-boy?”

“I’d say he’s like the legendary Orlando, peer of Charlemagne,” she answered in a disinterested voice, looking at Nezha’s fearful face with a bored stare. “Or Beowulf, the root of all modern Western fantasy. You see where I’m going with this, right? Just like our new allies on the front lines, you’re named after…”

Asuna dealt the finishing blow. “A legendary brave hero.”

Tears began to gather at the corners of Nezha’s eyes. He sunk even lower, desperately attempting to hide his face behind the table between them. But the look in those eyes — they all already saw it, clear as day.

“Knew it. You were raising funds for them. That’s how they rose through the ranks so fast,” Kiriko said, slowly ramping up in intensity. “Be honest with us, Nezha. Why is it that out of your party, you’re the only one shouldering the risks of this activity? Are they promising something in return?”

As the dual-wielder began to rant, Nezha shrunk further and further into his seat. But when he did, those violet eyes lit up with a fire. She got up and lunged across the table, grabbing the blacksmith by his collar and forcing him to meet her eyes.

“Why are you running this crazy scam?!” she shouted right into his face. “You know everything you stand to lose, don’t you? So tell me what you’ve gained from it!”

Asuna could feel the panic setting in. This situation… would spiral out of control any minute. But she didn’t know how to stop it… what could she do?

Argo interjected, trying to calm everyone down. “Kii-boy, that’s not the issue here, calm down!”

But she didn’t listen. “It is! This is important! At this rate, the «Legend Braves» will quickly become the strongest players in the game!” she shouted back a moment later, flashing her a fiery violet look. “A team of swindlers and crooks who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals! If they decide they can meet people who try to reign them in with violence, then—!”

“Wait, Kiriko.”

Accompanied by the gentle hand Asuna placed on her shoulder, this command finally made her partner stop. Those wide violet eyes looked back at her, and almost looked afraid of themselves. Like Kiriko finally snapped out of it and felt horrified of herself, not of the scenario she just described.

She let Nezha go and sunk back into her seat, eyes closed while she took deep breaths to calm down. Asuna breathed a sigh of relief before addressing Nezha, who also sat back down, looking equal parts remorseful and angry. Asuna simply pulled his throwing knife out from where she stabbed it into the table earlier. She had a hypothesis about why he resorted to this scam. Time to test it.

“Here. Take it.”

As she gently spoke, she held his knife out in front of him, an arm’s length away, grip pointed towards him. Squinting intensely, he reached to take it… but he grabbed for it too soon. His fingertips barely even brushed up against the handle.

Point proven.

Asuna smiled, looking back at Kiriko reassuringly for a moment. Her partner had no way of knowing this. Turning back to Nezha, she said, “I knew it. You’re blind in one e—”

“It’s not as if I can’t see,” he retorted before she finished. “It’s just… through the nerve gear, I’ve lost… my depth perception…”

As soon as he finished talking, Kiriko snapped to attention. “I see. It’s an FNC.”

The fencer immediately turned to Argo for an explanation. The «Rat» looked back at her with a shrug. “Happens sometimes with consumer Nerve Gear. Stands for FullDive Nonconformity. It’s an interfacin’ error between the brain and the VR device. Worst case, you can’t dive at all.”

Asuna nodded. It made sense. His FNC must’ve rendered his eyesight nonfunctioning, preventing him from sensing depth. And with SAO now a death game, that weakness turned fatal.

“Poor thing,” Argo echoed the fencer’s thoughts. “Never shoulda tried to log in. Not that you could’ve known in advance…”

“I understand it, though…”

Asuna did a double take. Kiriko’s first response since her rant sounded not just calm, but… sympathetic. Her interactions with Nezha so far made her partner rule that possibility out entirely…

After a few moments of silence, those violet eyes opened, as she kicked back in her chair and nearly knocked it over. “No true gamer in this era could die before getting a look at this place.” But then, her eyes lit up in realization. “Wait, I was looking at it all wrong. Did they abandon their hope in you as a fighter and hold that over your head to force you into the scam?”

As soon as he registered the question, the soft-spoken blacksmith quickly stood up and slammed his hands against the table full force. “No!! They would never do that…!”

The sudden outburst nearly gave Asuna a heart attack. She could feel her heart pounding for several seconds afterwards. What she couldn’t feel, however…

‘Pssssssshhh…’

… Was her failing bladder. By the time she finally noticed the warming crotch of her diaper and sent a flustered glance down at her privates, her legs now forced further apart by the bulk of her sodden diaper, her bladder had already emptied.

No sense getting upset about it right now… back to the matter at hand…

“It might be the reverse. The Braves…” Asuna said. She saw Nezha’s frame, now sinking into his chair, grow rigid. “Never abandoned him. At the start of SAO, when everyone fiercely competed for resources to survive, they must’ve prioritized helping out their handicapped member,” she continued, watching as his body relaxed. “I imagine getting your «Throwing Knives» skill good enough to handle the second floor must’ve been very hard.”

Kiriko closed her eyes before replying in a somber tone. “Yeah. If you were stuck in those inefficient areas of the first floor, no wonder you’d be late to emerge. If it’s true, they’re the best friends you could have. I don’t think… I could’ve done that.”

The tone of her voice. The expression on her face. Asuna could feel the regret in that statement. Kiriko had… left someone behind, in those early days. Yet when Asuna temporarily lost her «Wind Fleuret»…

“I won’t leave you behind. I promise.”

When Kiriko comforted her with those words a few days prior, they sounded earnest and heartfelt. She meant every word, without question. So then… did she refuse to leave Asuna behind to avoid repeating her mistakes? Or was there something that set the fencer apart from the person she did leave behind?

I’m afraid of asking, but… I want to know…

Argo’s question snapped Asuna out of her stupor. “So? Are we wrong?”

Nezha’s tears began to stream down his face. “No. You’re right on the money… like a fool, I clung to their pity… and ruined the dreams of the group!” he cried, just barely keeping himself together. “The Legend Braves have been a team for years. Highly-ranked in every game we played. The best team you could ask for.”

As he spoke, his breathing became more and more labored. His voice began to tremble, feeling a moment away from falling apart. But he kept going. He couldn’t stop until he’d said his piece.

“Whe… when they announced SAO… and we learned of the world’s first FullDive VRMMO… we all got so pumped,” he said, his voice carrying just a hint of nostalgia. He got up to a stand, hands thumping against the table. “We were gonna seize control of Aincrad… become true heroes. But then… my FNC ruined everything!”

As he shouted that last sentence, he ran back towards the door to the balcony of the empty house they’d chosen to talk it out. Immediately, Asuna felt a sense of danger. Like something bad would happen. But he couldn’t escape from there — this house lied on the edge of town. If he jumped off, he’d fall off a cliff hundreds of meters high, leave the range of the town’s safe area and… die.

“After that… they tried to help me train. Not everyone was happy about it, of course. But our leader, Orlando-san… he never turned his back on me! But in the end…” he continued, wistfully looking past the balcony and into the night sky. “The moment I realized how useless my Throwing Knives skill is, no matter the work I put into it… matched right up with the time we realized we’d fallen behind and couldn’t make up the distance.”

Asuna couldn’t help but feel bad for him. She knew what it felt like to let down the people she cared about and respected. She knew what it felt like to be powerless, to have the deck stacked against her like he did.

Maybe that was why… she could never commit to hating him the whole time, even though he tried to steal her rapier and Kiriko’s «Anneal Blade». He gave off a depressed vibe from the moment she first saw him. Now that she knew the full story, it made perfect sense.

“That’s when it happened. When he came to us.”

The feeling of unease from when he stepped into the balcony came back with a vengeance. She could already tell what whoever appeared before Nezha and the Braves, he was bad news, from that cryptic introduction alone. Kiriko and Argo must’ve felt the same, by the looks on their faces.

“‘If you’re gonna be a blacksmith with battle skills, I got a cool way to make some cash on the side,’ he said,” Nezha explained, with a look on his face twisted by horror and regret. “He wore a hooded cape like a rain poncho— glossy and black…”

Kiriko reacted first. “A man in a black poncho? So he manipulated you into doing this?”

But Nezha didn’t take kindly to that suggestion. “Don’t get the wrong idea!” he shouted, turning around and backing further out into the balcony. “It was my idea! For my own sake! I did this on my own! Which is why—”

When Nezha’s back bumped into the railing, Asuna’s bad feeling hit its peak. She instantly realized what he planned to do. “No, don’t!”

But she didn’t react in time. Nezha began backing up even further, right over the railing. “This should be enough… to settle it for good!”

Asuna’s eyes widened in horror. He jumped off.

In disbelief, Asuna and Kiriko leapt into action, clearing the table in an instant and rushing to the edge of the balcony right as gravity began to take over. Asuna jumped over the edge a split second later, barely grabbing onto Nezha’s leg and holding on as hard as she could. Kiriko implicitly understood and grabbed onto her partner, holding her and Nezha up with all her might.

“Let go of me!” Nezha angrily shouted up at them, trying to shake himself free. “I have to pay the price!”

I’m losing my grip!

Asuna wouldn’t let that stand. “Think it over! I know what it’s like to let down the people you care about! But is this really what you want?!” she shouted back, looking him dead in the eyes. “To have them pity you to the very end, without even a chance at redemption?! No, you can’t! It’s not right! If you’re going to die…!”

She probably shouldn’t have tried to lecture him when they all hung onto their lives by a thread like this. But she couldn’t leave this unsaid. Even if he cooperated with them in the moment, he could just go kill himself on his own later. He needed to hear this, without delay. She built up her strength for one, final shout.

“Then die a hero!!

His eyes widened, and his struggling stopped. Asuna’s grip on him finally stabilized, and Kiriko’s grip on them tightened enough that her teeth could let go of the hem of Asuna’s… skirt. And with the fencer’s skirt flipped upside down…

A certain sodden, yellow-starred something became completely visible.

With Nezha staring right at it.

Why did this have to happen now of all times?!

“Argo, Strength booster!” Kiriko shouted back over her head at the panicked informant. “I can’t keep this up!”

“Right!”

Argo quickly opened her menu and retrieved a bottle filled with red liquid. She didn’t hesitate for a second before shoving it into Kiriko’s mouth. A single gulp later, and the dual-wielder’s surging Strength stat created a chain reaction so fast, Asuna couldn’t even comprehend what happened to her in the split second after that.

She could only recall feeling a painful impact. By the time her senses returned, she and Nezha were back in the bedroom, leaning back against the wall opposite the balcony, with the table in between having been knocked right over.

What the heck just happened…?

Then, Kiriko turned around from outside and rose to her feet without sitting back down. That, coupled with her disgusted grimace and a suspicious bulge in the seat of her pants visible from Asuna’s low vantage point made what just happened to her clear. It seemed the fencer’s partner hadn’t had an easy time with her padding in this extreme scenario either.

As if things weren’t bad enough, once the blacksmith returned to his senses, he collapsed to the floor as sobs began to wrack his body. This time, Asuna had nothing to challenge. No words of comfort left to offer. But she couldn’t leave him alone like this, either, after what he’d just tried to do. It’d be a big gamble, but…

Asuna turned to her partner with a subdued, imploring expression. “Kiriko. Please…”

Do something.

Kiriko remained transparent with how much she liked Nezha from the moment he tried to steal Asuna’s Wind Fleuret. She probably had very little sympathy for him, especially on a personal level. But Asuna knew her partner. The dual-wielder went above and beyond to help people in need. She saved Asuna’s life more than once, offered her a place to stay, offered to help her with her newfound toileting issues, and that was only the beginning.

So she would bet on getting through to that Kiriko, rather than the one nearly consumed by righteous anger she’d seen the past few days.

Those violet eyes locked with hers, before the dual-wielder sighed and began walking over to them, using her right hand to open her menu. “Nezha. Especially for the second floor, with only two or three Skill Slots, your Throwing Knives skill has to be impressive. Even without depth perception, if you use the system assist—”

“I know all of that already! It serves no practical purpose in battle!” he shouted back, looking up at her with a tear-streaked glare of desperation. “Without unlimited ammo, it’s useless!”

The moment Kiriko finished with her menu, something circular materialized in the air, and she caught it with her index finger and began swinging it around her finger by its inside edge. That ring-like item… Asuna saw it somewhere before. Didn’t it come from—

“Unlimited projectiles. Yeah, you won’t be finding that kind of unfair weapon type in SAO,” she replied, voice calm and collected. She turned to look at the bladed disc as she swished it around. “But you can get one that comes back to you, like this. The LA Bonus from the field boss— a «Chakram».”

She crouched down and set it on the floor between them, waiting for him to take it, soiled diaper on full display. But the moment he reached for it, she snatched it back up and held it eye level with his head.

“But there is a catch,” she explained, looking him dead in the eyes with the same cold, violet gaze she gave him when she uncovered his scam right in front of him. “You need an Extra Skill in order to use this. So Nezha, do you have any open Skill Slots?”

When Asuna looked at the blacksmith’s eyes, he looked like she’d shaken his whole world. The path she just laid out for him must’ve been one he didn’t think even existed. His crying stopped for the moment as he stared at the Chakram as if in awe.

“N… no…” he eventually muttered.

“Then, legendary hero Nataku. Let me change the question,” she said as she rose to her feet, holding the Chakram out in front of him with the tips of her fingers and thumb, close enough for him to reach out and take it.

“Are you prepared to sacrifice your smithing skill?”


So yeah. Take note Kiriko, strength boosters can strengthen your bowel muscles too, so much that you can’t help but lose it in your pants when you’re using all that extra strength. :3

That aside, I’m so looking forward to making my own arcs after I finish adapting Progressive. This got exhausting the most recent few chapters of the reserve.

As an aside, the seasons changing and all, my sex drive is slowly returning. Heres to hopefully being able to return soon, guys!

Catch you later!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I’m in something of a state right now, but I said I’d release a chapter for Thanksgiving, and unlike with my birthday (Veteran’s Day, if you remember the comment I made about it before), I actually remembered. So, here you go.

I will say, from what I remember about the process, this chapter was one of the most fun to write, but also one of the most challenging. You’ll see why shortly. See you at the bottom!


Sword Art Online: Of Death Games and Diapers

Chapter Twenty: Intermission - The Crimson Demon


As I waited outside the inn Asuna and Nezha chose to stay at tonight, I absently kicked at the cobblestone streets with my right foot. Didn’t particularly want to chill out here like a guard dog, but Argo went inside with them and I needed to consult her on some stuff before going out to hunt tonight.

Not to mention…

I opened my menu with a flick of the wrist and pulled up my status window. A swipe to the left and I wound up on my bathroom stats page. Since I started on floor two, I’d kept track of them a lot more closely, compiling data on the changes I noticed at different levels up till now in service of my deal with Argo.

Bladder Capacity: 837 | Bowel Capacity: 981

Bladder Control: 835 | Bowel Control: 984

Bladder Awareness: 851 | Bowel Awareness: 982

Peeing Ease: 303 | Pooping Ease: 17

Bedwetting Rate: 0 | Bed-Pooping Rate: 0

With the damage I’d already done to my bladder stats along with the data I’d compiled, I could cash in on three hundred grand from Argo if I wanted. But I’d probably bankrupt her if I did that, and I liked the idea of spreading the payments out so I had a rainy day fund to fall back on in case something came up.

Should be safe to get fifty thousand tonight, though. I could use it to give all my armor a +1 before the boss battle, then keep the rest in reserve. Would be a nice powerup to help keep me alive if I ever ended up actually taking a hit from the boss…

“They got rooms next to each other. A-chan’s keepin’ an eye on him until we meet up tomorrow after the stunt he pulled before,” a familiar nasal voice called out to me as a hand reached up to pat my shoulder. “So anyway, what’s up? Need somethin’ from lil old me?”

At her touch, I perked up and began walking away from the inn alongside her. Manipulating my menu, I materialized the first dataset I compiled as a rolled-up parchment and tossed it her way. “For starters, time for my first paycheck. I’ve got more than a few datasets to share by now, but if I bankrupt you, you won’t be able to keep up with the snake oil salesmen in your trade.”

“Appreciated.”

She dexterously caught the parchment and sent it into her inventory in one fluid motion. A moment later, a trade window popped up in front of me, and I saw the number fifty-thousand in the Col Transfer field. I hit accept, and the window closed, with the end result of me becoming a bit richer.

“You said ‘for starters.’ What’s up next?” Argo asked, sending a curious glance my way.

“I need some info on where to farm some potion ingredients most efficiently,” I replied with a shrug. I opened my menu and typed out a message, then sent it to her. “I need more of these. I have enough already to make a few potions I guess, but I might need to keep this up in the long term, as annoying as that sounds.”

Argo gave my message a read before giving me a deadpan stare. “When we made our deal, I didn’t think you were into this sorta thing… at least try to be subtle about your kinks now that your name is in the open. People are buying intel on you left and right.”

“Like hell it’s my kink…” I immediately replied, rolling my eyes. “Asuna wants me to catch up to her soon, stats-wise. Since her stats being terrible is at least partly my fault, I’m obliging her. All there is to it, really.”

That aside, I’m not sure if I appreciate being told straight up that my friend is selling a lot of info on me or not…

As she began to type out a reply, her cold stare softened into an insufferable smirk. “Oh…? So you got the hots for A-chan after all, huh?” she said, getting right up in my face. At this close proximity, it took all my strength to avoid blushing and giving her the false impression she was right. “I knew something was up. You’re never this nice and outgoing to other people, you ice queen you~.”

I received her reply seconds later, with a note of her fee at the bottom. Probably said a lot about our trust in each other that she sent me the goods before asking for payment this time, something she never did with anyone else. I sent her the requested amount in a trade window, and it closed a moment later, transaction complete.

I pinched the bridge of my nose as I finally replied to her teasing. “Not even close. No offense to her, but she’s not my type,” I retorted with a sigh. “She just reminds me of someone waiting for me back in the real. Someone I’ve taken care of since we were kids.”

Argo blinked, before her gaze momentarily hit the floor. “That’s too bad. It really is.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I couldn’t help but ask.

Knowing Argo, she wouldn’t say something like that for no reason, I mused with a sigh. I have a good feeling I know why, but that just raises even more questions…

“Don’t worry about it. Got something more important for you to chew on instead,” the informant said, a more serious look in her eyes. “The other day, a client bought info on you. He wanted to know how you chained skills. Had some weird ideas on how it worked.”

I blinked. Someone wanted to know how Skill Connect worked? Interesting… but why? In order to use it to the same effect as me, you needed a lot of skill, strength and speed. You needed to snap into the next skill’s pre-motion in the split second between the last hit of the skill and when its post-motion delay kicked in. You couldn’t just pick up the ability any time you wanted… and for that matter, what kind of ideas did this guy have on how it worked, anyway?

“Argo, name your price. I’ll buy any intel you have on this guy,” I told her through narrowed, skeptical eyes.

“I don’t have enough to charge you anythin’. Don’t even have his player name,” she told me with a sigh, before meeting my eyes with a serious stare. “So here’s what I got, free of charge. He’s known as the…”


‘Clang!’

My left «Anneal Blade» clashed with the curved sword of the «Taurus Slasher» before me, knocking both of our blades back. My right sword went after its left flank in the next moment, but the mob blocked it with its buckler shield.

Its curved sword glowed bright orange as it delivered a horizontal slashing skill. I blocked it with a «Slant» from my right sword, the knockback bouncing both our blades backwards again. With my left sword, I delivered a swift «Horizontal» through its stomach, which it retaliated against with a similar strike aimed at my neck.

I backed out of the way before dashing backwards, trying to get some distance. The Taurus mob fell for it hook, line and sinker, activating «Reaver» to close the distance with a forward thrust. I turned around as the blue light from my right sword signified the activation of a newly-unlocked Sword Skill, «Horizontal Square».

I moved past its left flank while delivering a horizontal strike from left to right. As it turned around to meet me, my sword reversed course and struck its stomach from the right. The impact staggered it just long enough for my blade to send me spinning around to hit its back with a leftward strike.

It spun around and tried to behead me with a diagonal slash, but the auto assist made my head duck under the attack and deliver the final stroke, a rightward slash through its right flank. Four waves of light shot out of its body, forming a square in the air around it.

The Taurus Slasher mooed a desperate, pained howl, then shattered into polygonal fragments soon after.

I sighed before twirling my swords into reverse grip and flicking them into their sheaths at my waist with a satisfying metallic thunk into place. After closing out of the EXP, Col and drop window, I sighed and began walking onward through the forest at the base of the mountain.

You could consider this forest dungeon far more dangerous than the labyrinth of this floor. Almost every enemy had the ability to induce some kind of crippling status condition. Even the Taurus Slasher I just fought had one. Its curved sword spawned coated in a venom that would paralyze anyone it cut. One hit from it and I’d have died an agonizing death where I couldn’t even fight back.

And a lot of the gathering points would yield items dangerous to ingest or breathe in. Poisonous mushrooms, fruits and vegetables which paralyzed or numbed any poor sap foolish enough to take a bite, flowers whose pollen would blind you if you sniffed it, and those only marked the beginning. The devs filled this dungeon to the brim with hazards around every corner.

But that’s exactly why I came here.

For every peril this place threw my way, I found a redeeming feature. The mobs all had very high EXP yields and good drop rates for rare items and crafting materials, the ingredients found in the gathering spots sold for a lot of Col, and you could use many of them to craft potent potions and elixirs. And the chests you could loot from this place often contained powerful gear which would serve any player well for a good few floors before being outclassed.

Not to mention, once you knew where to look, this dungeon had a plentiful supply of almost all the potion ingredients I needed.

I sighed as I surveyed the trees around me. “Never imagined the build I picked up halfway through the beta would get me Horizontal Square on floor two…” Sure, when you kept up a constant rhythm of sword skill after sword skill with two swords at once, your skill level went up much faster, but… “Though it’s still pretty exhausting to keep a chain up with three plus hit skills at my level. Guess I’ll have to level some more before I can integrate it into my combos…”

After a few more minutes walking, I began to hear a familiar noise up ahead. It sounded like a sword tearing through enemy flesh. If memory served, there was a clearing up ahead where a large amount of poisonous hornet mobs spawned. Who would be in here at the dead of night other than me?

Might as well go check.

I sped up my pace, dashing through the trees until I arrived at the clearing. The person I found there, surrounded by dozens of giant hornets on all sides, reminded me of the description Argo gave me of her client before. A tall, muscular man with ashen hair and eyes, who dressed in all crimson clothes and armor with white trim.

As he used his tower shield to block a sting attack and cut it down in the next moment, I murmured, “So that’s the «Crimson Demon»… huh?”

Rumor has it that he soloed almost all the strongest side dungeon bosses on the floor. Which meant he probably intended to go after the one here, too. I smirked. I always had time for some fun like this.

I drew my blades and dashed into the fray, cutting up some hornets to get him to notice me. After he finished killing one, he turned over to me. “You’re… Kiriko, correct? You use two swords to chain Sword Skills.”

Oh wow, Argo wasn’t kidding. Down to business right away.

“That’s me. And you’re the Crimson Demon, aren’t you?” I casually replied whilst backstepping to evade a sting from the left. “I figure you’re after the dungeon boss. What do you say we have a little wager?”

He blocked another hornet sting from his right. “What do you have in mind?”

“A competition to clear out all the hornets in this clearing,” I replied with a smirk, blocking a sting from the right with the flat of my blade. “Whoever takes out more can challenge the dungeon boss first.”

For just a moment, he smiled. “Interesting. But don’t hold back on my account,” he said, staring me dead in the eyes. “Show me just how powerful your skill chaining ability really is.”

I smirked. Well… “If you say so. Go!”

I sent a lightning-quick «Horizontal» through a wasp to my right, taking the first kill for myself. A moment later, my competitor caught up by killing a wasp with a basic attack. Must’ve had some high attack power for that to be possible…

I smirked. But he’s slower than I am.

I cleaved another wasp in two with a left-handed «Vertical», then chained it into a «Rage Spike» with my right blade that pierced right through another wasp’s head, hitting it critically with enough damage to oneshot. Next I followed up with a «Slant» against another nearby wasp with my left blade, then kept the momentum going and hit yet another wasp with «Sonic Leap», bringing my kill count up to five.

In that span of time, my rival’s kill count rose to three, but the whole time, he hadn’t used a single Sword Skill. I called out to him. “You’re making it too easy! Fire off some Sword Skills already!”

For the faintest of moments, he smirked. “If you insist.”

I never would’ve expected the Sword Skill he used next.

He drew his sword back and to his right, and after a moment of building up power, he unleashed the same four-hit skill I just recently unlocked, Horizontal Square. His first horizontal swing tore through two wasps at once, killing them both in one hit. Next, his blade bounced back and slashed through two more wasps from the opposite direction. Then he spun around and hit another two wasps with a leftward cleave, before finishing with a rightward slash that killed yet another two wasps, bringing his kill count up to eleven and clearing out a good chunk of all the wasps in the area..

I’m not about to be outdone like that! I’ll use it even better!

I dashed into the most densely populated area of the clearing before using my right hand to fire off my own Horizontal Square, pushing against the system assist just enough to increase my reach without canceling out the skill.

The opening rightward slash tore through the heads three wasps at once, killing them all in a single hit. My blade reversed course just in time to intercept a sting from the left and behead three more wasps, killing my attackers all at once. I spun around, dodging multiple attacks from behind me and hitting all four of my assailants with another leftward slash. My final slash to the right tore into three more wasps.

But I had no intention of stopping there. Three wasps in the cluster remained. Perfect for my next move. With my left hand, I chained into a second Sword Skill, «Sharp Nail». I tore down through the leftmost wasp’s head, then my blade bounced back up and tore through the rightmost wasp’s head in the same fashion, before finally ending the last one with a vertical slash that cut it into two perfect halves.

I panted lightly as I faintly registered that all the remaining wasps in the clearing had died. My kill count at the very end rose to twenty-one… but the use of multiple high hit count skills in succession still wore me out a bit. At least I won the competition, though…

“Splendid attack speed and reaction time,” my rival commended me, still looking completely unfazed. “And you boosted Horizontal Square’s range beyond its normal capacity.”

I smirked, before speaking between breaths. “You’re… pretty strong too. You reversed the score gap early on… in one move.” I took a deep breath and dropped out of my battle stance, finally able to breathe normally again. “Unlocking Horizontal Square on floor two is impressive enough on its own, but you also barely had to try to keep up.”

“But you still won the challenge,” he said, offering a complimentary smile. “I’m interested to see how you’ll fare against the dungeon boss, now that it’s about to spawn.”

Wait, what?

As if on cue, I heard the sound of rushing winds coming from above me, heading for my back. I turned around just in time to block a massive two-handed axe with my left sword, centimeters before it would’ve lopped my head off. It immediately sent me careening through the air at breakneck speeds.

The fuck?!

I jammed a sword into the ground and created a long, thin gash in the earth, skidding to a stop right before I would’ve flew into a tree and taken a sizeable dip in HP. That attack… I could barely follow it with my eyes. If I reacted a tenth of a second later, it would’ve killed me.

With a jolt, I yanked my sword from the earth and surveyed the area for my enemy. But before I knew it, the shadow I sought appeared in the air above me. My eyes darted up and saw a glossy black, muscular, horned Minotaur around two meters tall, but with one catch — keeping him aloft were two massive black wings, the size of an angel’s, flapping back and forth. He expertly wielded a two-handed battle axe, with a double-sided blade whose diameter matched the length of my Anneal Blades. Next to his dual HP bars, his name…

«Shedu, Lord of the Skies»

As I stood in awe, the Taurus bellowed a screeching moo which conjured the image of a hawk. A moment later, his wings bristled, and I immediately got shivers down my spine. Acting on instinct, I leapt backwards just in time to avoid getting showered with a barrage of feather quills which pierced into the earth with stunning ease and blinding speed. I saw the tiniest crackles of electricity pulse out from the feathers for a second after they hit the ground.

Paralytic projectiles… I mused with a smirk, a bead of sweat forming on my right temple. That would’ve killed me too.

He soared down to my level before abruptly changing course level with my head, flying right at me again with its axe poised to strike. I charged toward him and fired off an upward Slant with my right sword, knocking his axe backwards. In the followthrough, I chained Slant into a swift Vertical down through his head, upper spine and chest. The resulting critical cut his first HP bar down by a third and made him shriek in pain, flying back upwards to gain some distance.

I’m not done with you yet!

As he continued to ascend, I charged and fired off Sonic Leap with my right sword. But as I closed the distance between us with my aerial skill, Shedu suddenly recovered from his panicked frenzy, and when his wings bristled, my blood ran cold.

I immediately put two and two together. He tricked me! He wanted me airborn so I’d be a sitting duck for his feathers!

Hundreds of feather needles pierced my armor and skin in sequence. I convulsed in pain as my skill cancelled out and I crashed down to earth in a crumpled heap, all my strength sapped away. My HP hit the yellow from chip damage alone, and my senses pulsated with a burning pain all over my body, everywhere that a feather struck. I couldn’t hear clearly; everything came out garbled. Most damning of all, my HP bar flashed yellow every few seconds as a matching icon with a black lightning bolt appeared next to it, signifying one of the worst status effects in the game.

Paralysis.

So this is how I die…

Seizing his chance, the dungeon boss flew down at me, his battle axe glowing a cool green as it charged the skill «Whirlwind». That skill… if it hit me, the rest of my HP would disappear all at once.

Mercilessly cut in half, without being able to fight back, dodge or even move.

Seconds away from impact, a blur of motion appeared between me and Shedu — that blur knocked the boss back without budging a centimeter. Before me, I saw the Crimson Demon in all his glory, having saved my life like a trivial matter.

Who asked you to interfere?

As the flying boss recoiled through the air, my savior turned to face me, pulled out a red, rectangular item I didn’t recognize, and uttered a command. The rectangle glowed for a moment before shattering, and suddenly, the strength returned to my body, and the burning pain all but vanished.

“You looked like you would benefit from some assistance,” he told me, offering me a hand. I took it, and he pulled me to my feet. “What say we challenge this enemy together from here?”

I pulled a potion out of my coat, popping the cap off and downing it all in one chug. As I tossed the empty bottle aside, I replied. “Sure. But just so you understand, I’m still taking the LA.”

He smirked. “Acceptable terms. I’ll draw its aggro and block it. You strike it in the openings I create.”

I nodded in affirmation. A moment later, my ally raised his sword high and bellowed a fierce roar, his blade flashing red for the faintest of moments. Immediately after his use of the aggro skill «Howl», the boss shrieked and flew down towards him. My partner deftly blocked his axe strike, staggering the enemy backwards.

I rushed in and delivered a blue-glowing leftward strike through his chest with my left sword, then reversed course and struck it from left to right. As my «Horizontal Arc» animation concluded, I chained it into a «Vertical Arc» with my second sword, swiftly tracing a V through its torso and reducing its first HP bar down to a quarter.

It wailed in pain and flew upward, gaining some distance and preparing to use its feather shooting technique. I smirked. Not falling for that a second time. As feathers began to rain down on the earth, my partner and I jumped out of the way, expertly evading the attacks with practiced precision.

As soon as the feather needles stopped flying, the boss rushed down towards my partner at breakneck speed, his axe glowing a blood red. I recognized the pre-motion for «Grand Destroyer» and my blood ran cold. That skill had a paralysis effect! My ally had a tower shield, but a shield couldn’t protect you from status effects. You needed high debuff resistance to avoid them!

“Can you handle the paralysis?” I shouted over at him.

He nodded with a smile, and a moment later, he blocked the overhead strike with gusto, knocking Shedu back as if swatting a mosquito. Seizing my chance, I decided to try something new and dashed behind the boss, quickly activating a left-handed Sharp Nail.

The first diagonal slash cut his left wing clean off, and brought it down to three quarters of his last HP bar in one blow. The second diagonal slash severed the second wing, which took out another half of his HP bar, bringing his health down to a measly quarter of its last bar. As it fell to the ground, my combo’s final vertical strike came down on his head, cutting the boss in two.

As he exploded into innumerable polygonal fragments, I fell to my knees, leaning on my swords for support and panting heavily. The back to back battle with the wasps and boss took a lot out of me… I needed to get stronger before I could freely chain with three hit combos and above.

My makeshift partner walked up to me, sword and shield resting on his back, and extended his hand. I sheathed my swords and took it, rising unsteadily to my feet. I took a few haggard breaths before speaking, eyes downcast.

“… Thanks for saving me back there,” I told him with a sheepish look. “If you didn’t step in, I’d be dead right now.”

He replied without missing a beat. “It was nothing. I wanted the chance to witness more of your moves,” he said with confidence. “And it would be a shame to let such a bright flame of talent as yours burn out so young.”

I let go of his hand and began slowly walking away with shaky footsteps. “That so? Because I think your flame burns brighter than mine,” I said, the exhaustion in my voice overriding how bitter those words made me feel. “Anyway, I’ve still got some stuff to do here, so let’s part ways. I can handle myself from here.”

“Of course. I’ll head back, as I’ve concluded my business here. But, Kiriko…” he told me, his voice sounding further away by the second. “It would be in your best interest to change soon. You wouldn’t want to leak.”

In my exhaustion, it took me a full ten seconds to register what he said. As soon as I did, my face flushed scarlet. Setting aside that I didn’t remember going, just when… when—

When the hell did that perv see up my skirt?!


When I arrived back at my inn room, I collapsed on my bed right away. I sluggishly brought my left hand up in front of me and opened the menu, then wearily thanked all of creation that the SAO devs changed the menu to be accessible with both hands after I wrote them a lengthy, colorful support ticket in the beta period.

By the time I snapped back to attention, a minute had passed. I really need to sleep soon… I bemoaned, beginning to scroll through my menu. I pulled up my inventory and flicked my finger across the list until I hit the bottom, and my eyes zeroed in on a handful of items at the bottom.

Bladder Urge Increasing Potion

Bladder Tick Increasing Potion

Bladder Control Decreasing Potion

Bladder Ease Increasing Potion

Bladder Numbing Potion

I mixed them a bit special. Except for the bladder number which only lasted a few hours, each individual potion’s effect would remain for three days. I had five potions of each kind apart from the numbing ones, which I had fifteen of. I’d only take the numbers right before going to sleep to keep the urge from waking me, but I’d use the rest of them once every few days to keep me constantly under their effects until my stats caught up with Asuna’s.

I materialized one of each type, and immediately realized I’d wet the bed tonight for sure. Five potions’ worth of liquid… no way would I last all night after drinking that much. Looked like a diaper change was in order after I finished, just to make sure I didn’t leak…

I popped the cork off each one and chugged them down one by one, feeling positively stuffed by the end of the last bottle. A quick diaper change later and I settled in under the covers, drowsiness rapidly overtaking me.

As I began to drift off, my final thoughts were about the mysterious man I’d met that day, and how to surpass him before our next encounter.


Yeah, I had a blast with this one. Mainly because of two things: utilizing Heathcliff and the fact this was the first chapter in the entire story which was 100% original content. It was also super challenging though, both to come up with and execute the ideas. But you know, I’ll take that over the mind-numbingly repetitious manga adaptation I did up to this point, lol.

In other news, my drive is steadily coming back. Dunno if I’ll be ending the hiatus early, but I shouldn’t have too much trouble getting back to work after Christmas.

See you next time!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Merry Christmas, everybody! Hope y’all got everything you wanted today! I woke up several hours past the gift opening ceremony, so I have no idea what’s going on with the fam, but it’s setting up to be a pretty good, relaxed day.

As I promised when I went on hiatus, it’s effectively over now. Once I rebuild the reserve, I’ll go back to posting chapters a bit more frequently. Shouldn’t take too long, as I’ve been getting back into the swing of things the past few weeks and have been a fair bit more motivated to work on this story lately. With some luck, you might see an update or two in the near future.

Anyway, that’s enough from me. See you below!


Sword Art Online: Of Death Games and Diapers

Chapter Twenty-One: Pride Before the Falls


Asuna knocked on the door of her partner’s inn room before speaking. “Kiriko? Are you up yet?”

The fencer stood in the hallway, awaiting a reply. They agreed to meet up at Kiriko’s inn before heading out, but the black-haired beauty hadn’t been out front when they arrived. Did she forget to set an alarm? But even then, the clock struck ten AM a short while ago. Asuna knew gamers slept in a lot, but this much was a bit excessive, no?

She’d probably have to go in and wake her up. Argo and Nezha stayed in the lobby, and Asuna didn’t want to make them wait much longer. “I’m coming in, okay?”

Asuna entered through the door and carefully shut it behind her. After a quick peek, her gaze fell on Kiriko’s sleeping form, the covers slowly rising and falling with her deep, rhythmic breathing.   With a small grin, Asuna carefully walked towards the bed, doing her best not to wake her sleeping partner.

As Asuna slowly crept up to the bed as quietly as she could, she couldn’t help but remember that night they slept together on the first floor. Kiriko gave her special comfort that night… she couldn’t help but miss that tender embrace. When she finally closed in on the bed, she stopped for a moment to look at that sleeping face. She really did look beautiful when she slept… and peaceful. Must’ve been nice to sleep without nightmares.

A moment later, she realized something felt… off. Or rather, smelled off. A familiar scent, too…

Asuna’s pace quickened in her haste to know whether it meant what she thought it did. She soon found herself standing right next to Kiriko’s sleeping face. She paused for a moment, noting the serene happiness in her partner’s smile, before gently grabbing the covers with the tips of her fingers and slowly pulling them down to reveal the truth. She felt bad about invading her friend’s privacy like this, but she had to know—

She did… she really did.

Kiriko wet the bed. So much so that her diaper leaked and she soaked the sheets. She’s lucky she changed into pajamas before passing out, or she’d need to wash her battle equipment. She’d still have to pay a small fee to the innkeeper before leaving though… but more importantly, why did she do it? The fencer thought Kiriko still had kept her control mostly intact… she must’ve done something to herself.

Did Kiriko do it… for her? She said she wanted Kiriko to catch up with her the other day. Did that request cause this? Poor girl…

But it’s nice to know she’d go so far for me, Asuna concluded, smiling softly down at her. Well, I’d say it’s about time to get a move on.

“Kiriko. It’s time to wake up,” Asuna said, nudging her partner’s shoulders with a gentle smile on her face.

Kiriko’s eyelids clenched closed for a moment before they slowly opened, her bleary violet-eyed stare finding its way to look up at her chestnut-haired partner. “… Asuna? Nnn… cold. Why…?”

Asuna had to stifle a giggle at that. Kiriko looked so cute, half asleep like this. But they had to get going. Didn’t want Argo and Nezha to tire of waiting and barge in with her partner in this sodden state.

“Kiriko, you drenched the sheets,” Asuna said, tousling her partner’s hair. “Let’s get you changed into a dry diaper, okay?”

It took those violet eyes a second to register what the fencer said. But the moment they did, they snapped open wide, and her cheeks flushed a deep scarlet. Meanwhile, Asuna had to stifle a squeal. It felt nice to be the one taking care of Kiriko, instead of the other way around.

Asuna quickly materialized a changing mat, unfolding it and setting it on the floor. Next, she materialized all the changing supplies she’d need — wipes, rash cream, and a folded diaper. However, the diaper she pulled out of her inventory wasn’t a Starz. This diaper was significantly thicker, with a blue raincloud pattern on the white shell.

“Go ahead and take your wet clothes off and lie down on the mat,” Asuna requested with a gentle yet willing smile drawn on her face. Her partner did as requested, stripping down to her underwear and lying on the mat with crimson cheeks. She crossed her arms over her chest, and the fencer sighed. “You can put a shirt on if you want. Just make sure you don’t get it wet.”

She nodded slightly, opened her inventory with her left hand, and her black shirt she normally wore in the field flashed onto her frame. She visibly relaxed with her favorite shirt on, and lay there silent and demure, still looking half asleep.

I’m enjoying this too much…

Asuna sat down nearby, untaped her partner’s sodden diaper, took a wipe and set about her task. After a few wipes saw Kiriko’s privates clean, Asuna opened up the canister of rash cream and slathered a generous amount on her silent partner’s crotch — more so than usual, because with how thick and absorbent her next diaper would be, she’d probably wear it much longer than she would a Starz.

Once finished applying the rash cream, Asuna wiped her hands off, then spoke, an oddly stern tone lacing her words. “Raise up for me.”

“Okay.”

With a simple one-word response, the black-haired cutie raised her rear into the air. Asuna took the used diaper out from under her, before unfolding Kiriko’s new Rainy Day Kids diaper and setting it beneath her. After she made sure it lined up right, Asuna gently pushed Kiriko back down onto it.

“Wait a second. Why…?” Kiriko asked, finally seeming to come out of her trance. “This new one is so thick. Hiding it would be a nightmare. Why one of these?”

The fencer gave a bright, sunny smile. “Did you see the lake you made on that bed? You can’t take any chances with accidents like that on your record,” she gleefully said, watching as her partner averted her eyes at the mention of her leaking. “So you’ll be wearing these from now on, until your accidents aren’t so big anymore.”

Her partner reduced to a grumbling, sheepish mess, Asuna brought the front panel of the Rainy Day Kids diaper up between Kiriko’s legs, and the bulk of the thicker padding immediately forced them apart. That’d be something to adjust to…

Asuna only wore these ones when she slept, but she’d been through enough of them to know what they always felt like. Even while dry, they forced her walk into a babyish waddle without fail. She could only imagine how tough it’d be to fight in these… but surely her multitalented partner would get the hang of it in no time.

The fencer ripped open the diaper’s long blue tape and stuck it snugly into place on the landing zone, then repeated the process with the right tape. As she cheerfully admired her handiwork, she lightly tapped on each tape for good measure. “There. All done.”

Asuna rose to her feet and held out her hand. Her partner took it and pulled herself up, before quickly bringing up her menu and equipping the rest of her day clothes. However, they didn’t do a whole lot to cover her new underwear… you could even see it peeking out a little, just beneath the hem of her skirt.

What the heck? Asuna asked as she openly stared at her partner’s waist and widened legs, heart beating ever so slightly faster. She looks way cuter like this…!

Kiriko turned towards her in a waddle, giving the fencer a look. “You’re staring pretty hard. It look weird or something?”

Asuna immediately averted her eyes. “You might want to try wearing your coat around your waist…”


As if wearing this thicker diaper didn’t suck already… I couldn’t help but complain internally as we walked about the path up a frigging mountain. With my jacket around my waist on cover duty, I’m fucking freezing! Goddamn everything…

I heaved a sigh. That’s just what I got for being under the effects of four different bladder status effects at the same time… I shouldn’t have opened my fucking mouth. And when the hell did Asuna get that assertive, anyway? She basically forced me into this bulky, cumbersome thing…

I glowered at her back as she conversed with Argo a meter or two ahead of Nezha and I. You’d think she’d understand how humiliating this was for me, given how she had to face that same shame in the mirror herself… but she seemed all too happy to put me in an even more embarrassing diaper.

I crossed my arms for a few moments to quell the trembling. If I could make it a few more minutes, we’d enter the cave, a much warmer stretch of the journey. Just had to hold out a little longer—

Nezha piped up from beside me, interrupting my thoughts. “K-Kiriko-san…”

“What?” I sent a dry look his way.

He hesitated for a moment. But after taking a deep breath, he gingerly raised his index finger and broke the silence. “… How long have you and Asuna been incontinent?”

“We are not incontinent!”

I shouted on reflex at his outrageous question, face flushing bright red. Asuna whipped right around, blushing even brighter, but she kept opening her mouth and closing it over and over, struggling for words.

Nezha looked back and forth between us for a moment, mouth agape. “Huh? Oh, I’m so sorry for the insensitive question!” he forced out, his eyes widening. “There are so few female players in SAO, topics like this are standard fare conversation fodder. I didn’t think it would be so shocking…”

My eyes widened. “Wait. You mean to tell me people spread rumors about us? About this?!

“Rumors? It’s common knowledge,” he said matter-of-factly. I had to struggle to interject at the assertion. “No one has ever seen either of you enter a public restroom. And the people in the first floor raid party said you didn’t stop and go in the safe area like everyone else!”

I balked. “We’re girls! We can’t just point and shoot like you guys can, it’d get on our clothes! Ah—”

Right after I finished my retort, I gasped as I felt a familiar twinge, stronger than I’d ever felt it before. This is not the time, dammit! I shouted internally, gritting my teeth as the urge hit me like a wave; I could barely manage to keep a hold on it.

I had to pee, and my bladder wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“And people have seen up your skirts in battle many times! Some of those times, you’ve both definitely needed a change, too!” Nezha continued unimpeded, making hand gestures as if it was natural.

“That doesn’t mean we need them!” I countered, voice full of indignation. “We just…!”

Shit.

I realized my mistake right away. What would the default assumption be, if we didn’t need diapers? Even for convenience, wearing them and using them is still a really weird choice. I didn’t want him to think we liked them, but what else could he even think? I may have had an excuse, but I couldn’t in a million lifetimes bring up my deal with Argo in front of Asuna, who thought I wore them just for her—

My left hand shot between my legs as a spurt of pee escaped into the padding of my diaper. Close call… if I hadn’t jammed my hand against my crotch just now, I’d have completely lost control on the spot. But…

This conspicuous gesture makes me look like a child still not done potty training anyway.

“Last night, you pooped yourself right in front of me,” Nezha continued, carelessly trampling on what little was left of my self esteem. “And now you’re about to have another accident. It’s okay to admit it!”

My face flushed bright red at his words. I only pooped myself because of the strength booster Argo used on me making me push way too hard down there when I threw him and Asuna back over the balcony and into the house, but I doubted I’d have much luck convincing him of that… and now he expected me to just give in and wet myself in front of him too, as proof of the incontinence he alleged.

It’s humiliating. Infuriating— oh fuck!

Despite my best efforts to stem the flow, another spurt got past my hand’s pressure, warming the crotch of my diaper enough for my hand to feel the difference immediately. I wouldn’t last much longer like this…

I began to hop on one foot back and forth, switching feet every time, and it just barely alleviated the pressure enough to stop the flow. “Just because I have to pee doesn’t mean I’m going to make a spectacle out of it!”

Asuna giggled. “You say you’re not going to make it a spectacle right after starting to do the potty dance like an overgrown toddler?”

“Shut up!”

The pressure on my bladder continued to build with each passing second. It was only a matter of time before I lost it completely, no matter what I did. I knew that, but my pride prevented me from just giving in and giving Nezha the satisfaction of thinking he’s right about my purported potty problems.

“Kiriko, it’s okay! You need diapers,” Nezha insisted, giving me a meek yet supportive smile. “Everyone has things they can’t do. You can’t make it to the toilet. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

This guy is insufferable!

He was so convinced he was right that he went out of his way to comfort me about a condition I didn’t even really have. And I couldn’t properly refute his claims because of Asuna’s presence. It fucking sucked…!

Oh.

Another spurt warmed the crotch of my diaper, in spite of everything I tried to do to prevent it. This one lasted much longer than the others, and it wore down my sphincter significantly.

“But I’m not even— Aaah!”

Oh, no.

I froze up, finally hitting my limit. A moment later, the floodgates opened. A loud hissing filled the air as a golden stream began to soak the crotch of my diaper. I couldn’t even try to resist anymore — my sphincter lost the last of its strength already, powerless to stop the flow for even a second.

And all of this happened right in front of Asuna, Argo, and most importantly Nezha, someone I didn’t want to see this at all costs.

The stream seemed to go on forever. My diaper swelled more and more with each passing second. It showed no sign of leaking, but I just knew it’d make it even harder to walk. It already made me waddle when dry, so how much worse would it be while wet?

After a full minute, the stream finally died down. Asuna reacted first. “There, was that so hard? You don’t need to try to hold it in anymore, that’s why you’re wearing diapers like me.”

My cheeks flushed bright red at those words. But this day hadn’t finished with me yet. Nezha spoke up next. “Yeah. I’m sure it feels so much better to just let go, rather than try and hold it when you can’t make it anyway.”

Argo stifled a giggle. “Well how ‘bout that? Who would’ve known…” she said, giving me the smuggest smirk I’d ever seen. “That the «Demon Queen», the legendary strongest player of the beta was such a hopeless pottypants?”

I glared them all dead in the eyes for a moment each, before turning away and waddling forward on the path, utterly humiliated. I sighed.

“Piss off.”


“Wow, you’re right,” Asuna said as she stared around in the middle of the field of boulders behind a familiar shack. “This looks like a quest point all right…”

Before us, the old man NPC stood atop a boulder with his cane, an exclamation mark over his head like usual. Or well, I assumed those three saw the exclamation mark. I already took and beat the quest, so I didn’t see anything up there.

Nezha meekly piped up. “And if you beat this NPC’s quest…?”

“Yup,” Argo and I answered in perfect unison.

The NPC addressed us. “Ho ho! Do you wish to join my school, children?” he asked, sounding chipper for someone so old and gangly. “If you clear my trials, I shall bequeath unto you «Martial Arts», the core of this style.”

“I-It…” Nezha’s eyes widened, before he awkwardly bowed. “It would be my pleasure!”

“The road of training is long and fraught with peril,” the NPC dropped him a familiar line, a confirmation window appearing before Nezha’s eyes. “Are you prepared for it?”

His index fingers hovered over the prompt, but he turned to Argo before tapping it. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Just crack one of these bad boys, that’s all.” The informant knocked on the boulder in front of us a few times.

Nezha gulped. Poor guy… after what he’d done, he didn’t have a choice anymore. “W… what?”

Asuna rattled her own hand off on it once or twice, before raising a pensive hand to her chin.

“It’s just one level below an «Immortal Object»… but it should be possible,” she thought aloud, turning her head back to look at me. “You did it, right Kiriko?”

I nodded and scanned the field, before zeroing in on the boulder I took out. Not just cracked. I split that mofo clean in half for all the pain it caused every time I punched it. But it took me fucking forever to acomplish that…

When I turned back to my companions, I found Nezha eyeing my partner with a certain degree of nervous intensity in his gaze. She seemed to notice right after, backing away and sputtering in a high-pitched squeak.

“I-I’m not doing it, okay? It’d help me in battle, sure,” she stammered, voice shaky and uncoordinated. “B-but I’m having a hard enough time raising just my rapier skill!”

The NPC smirked. A very sleazy smirk. “What’s this, young miss? You’re bailing out on me? Ho ho, that’s your choice,” he said, that smirk on his face growing more disgusting by the second. “You are only a frail woman, after all. Surely incapable of mastering my mighty form.”

Oh Christ, this bodes poorly… I mused with a sigh. Has this geezer always been so sexist?

Asuna smiled up at him, clearly resisting stabbing him through the balls. “Excuse me…?”

His smirk widened. “Have a problem with that? Or…”

He jumped down from the boulder in a flash. I barely had time to process his movements before he chose death. “Shall I teach you a more useful type of bodily skill?” He said this…

While poking Asuna’s left breast with his index finger.

Not a moment later, Asuna backstepped into a crouch, drawing her rapier in an instant and sending a «Linear» so fast I could barely follow it with my eyes. I saw a flash of movement and heard the sound of her rapier bouncing off wood — he blocked it with his cane. In the followthrough, he used the collision’s knockback to jump backwards and land gracefully atop his boulder once more, supporting his whole weight with only one arm as his other limbs stayed perfectly still and balanced in the air.

“Ho ho! A livewire. Very well — then I shall guide you in the ways of my school,” he said, his voice complimenting his perverted actions magnificently. “By the arm… by the leg… in the proper order.”

The confirmation window popped up for her, and I immediately got a bad feeling. Before I could yell out at her to stop, she tapped yes, sealing her fate with an angry flourish.

“Fine then! Once I’ve learned this skill…” she shouted, glaring up at him more intensely than I’d ever seen her. “The first thing I’ll do with it is punch your head clean off!”

The old man laughed heartily at the promise. Asuna growled angrily, turning to Nezha. “Come on, you too now! Let’s finish this up quick!”

“R-right!”

As Nezha hit yes too, Argo and I looked on wide-eyed at this unfolding tragedy. But we couldn’t do anything about it now; we already passed the event horizon. Asuna would have to make a cruel choice now…

My partner seemed to notice our stares, turning back to us with an inquisitive brow. “What? It’s not that hard, is it?”

Before I could answer, the NPC spoke up. “Ho ho! Very well, children. Then you shall each break one of these boulders. However…”

He jumped back down off the boulder and sped behind Asuna in a flash, grabbing Asuna’s rapier with incredible speed. “You will not have the use of your weapons.”

“Wait, why?!” Asuna shouted indignantly, about ready to kill him.

She repeatedly grasped at her stolen weapon, but he dodged every lunge like she moved in slow motion. She didn’t once even get within thirty centimeters of taking it back. The old man jumped back to gain a few meters’ distance before beginning to speak.

“Until you complete my trial, I will hold on to your weapons. You must attempt this trial bare-handed,” he said, his cane resting against his collar bone. “Use your fists, your feet… even your head, if you must.”

He punctuated his sentence by tapping his bald head with his index finger. Asuna looked about ready to bash his skull in, but even if she tried, she couldn’t land a hit. The old man’s stats were variables — they changed based on the stats of the players he interacted with. No matter how much faster my partner became, she’d never catch him, since increasing her own speed would increase his as well.

The geezer flipped his cane into the air, and it fell and landed on his hunched shoulders, perfectly balanced so as not to fall. “Until you split this boulder, you may not descend the mountain. And thus, you must bear the sign of your trial.”

Argo and I eyed each other before we both broke out into a grin. If we couldn’t stop this unfortunate development, we may as well laugh about it… this would be pretty damn funny, after all.

Nezha gulped. “Wh-what’s that?”

“Look and see!”

As he spoke, the old man whipped out two paint-tipped brushes and swiped them across Asuna and Nezha’s faces before either of them could react. Nezha looked over at her, then shrieked at the top of his lungs.

“Aaah! Your face, Asuna-san!” he shouted in horror as he stared at her, wide-eyed. “You have whiskers!!

Asuna recoiled in horror, clawing at her freshly-whiskered face with both hands. “Eep, what are these?! They feel disgusting! Wait, Nezha, you’ve got them too!”

While Nezha yelped in surprise and grasped at his own cheeks, the old man continued. “That sign will not vanish until you break this rock and complete your training. I have faith in your potential, my apprentices. Ho ho!”

“Is it possible… to cancel this?” My partner turned to Argo, a horrified look on her face.

I sighed, and my informant friend bore a wide grin. “Not a one! This is how I became «The Rat» in the beta, actually. They wouldn’t come off, no matter what I did! That info’s on the house.”

“You should’ve warned me! I never would’ve accepted it if you did!” Asuna cried, voice a mix between desperate and defeated.

Argo smirked over in my direction. “Well. If you’re not sure what to do…” she said, smirking and pointing at me. “Maybe old Kiriemon would have some secrets to help out our poor young lady?”

I averted my eyes. Something about being pegged as a “pottypants” by all three of them didn’t exactly motivate me to help them out. But even so… we only had two days till the raid. Losing my partner for the boss battle would significantly reduce what I could accomplish.

Guess a compromise is in order…

“There’s a trick to it. You don’t have to seek that trick out,” I said with a sigh. “Wait long enough, and it’ll come to you. You’ve just gotta keep at it the normal way until that happens.”

Argo gave me a curious look. “A trick? One that finds you? First I’ve heard of it. Mind selling the deets?”

“I’ll pass. Can’t give away all my secrets.” I turned around and began to walk away. “The boss battle will probably be in two days. You’ll have to match my time in order to make it to the raid. Good luck.”

I should probably spend the next two days grinding for equipment. I needed a set of equips which would hide my new diapers better than my stupid miniskirt would. I knew of one set for my build which could, but farming for it was a fucking nightmare…

One I’m all too willing to put myself through, after the indignity I suffered today.

As I walked away, Asuna called out to me. “I’ll make it in time, I swear! You won’t have to fight without your partner!”

I smiled and waved without turning back. “I’ve got high hopes.”

And low expectations.

With that as my parting farewell, I left the mountain.


Yeah so I remember having a lot of fun with this chapter when I wrote it, lol. I don’t normally depict Kiriko like this, so it was a nice change of pace.

Not much to say that I didn’t mention up top, lol. Hope you liked it! And I’d love to hear your thoughts on the chapter, whether positive or negative. Catch you next chapter!

Ciao!

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I have to say, chapters like these reminds me of the fact that you were kind of one of my inspirations as to writing ABDL fiction. Even if I am the absolute opposite of a SAO fan, your enthusiasm for it was always contagious to me, throughout most of your stories. You can certainly sell a good desperation scene~. 

Hope you had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year (even if Kimiko didn't)!

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23 hours ago, PlusParsnips said:

I have to say, chapters like these reminds me of the fact that you were kind of one of my inspirations as to writing ABDL fiction. Even if I am the absolute opposite of a SAO fan, your enthusiasm for it was always contagious to me, throughout most of your stories. You can certainly sell a good desperation scene~. 

Hope you had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year (even if Kimiko didn't)!

Thanks man, I really appreciate it xD. In effort of full disclosure, I think canon SAO is trash (some of the worst execution I've ever seen), but the ideas behind it are interesting as hell, so I can't help but be drawn to them. I'm glad my work can serve as an inspiration to people, even if I don't find it terribly impressive sometimes.

Hope your Christmas was a good one too. And I wish you a Happy New Year! (Even if I have to humiliate my characters to make it happen 😛)

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  • 1 month later...

Eyo, happy Valentine’s Day, bitches! So what’s up guys? I’m in a little bit of a weird situation right now, so I decided to drop a chapter on Valentine’s despite not having the reserve fully rebuilt yet.

Basically what’s going on is, I noticed a pacing issue I created with the chapters starting with the boss fight. Or more accurately, the middle of it. And in order to fix that issue, I had to take several scenes from the original drafts of chapters 25 and 26. But given I think tossing the scenes outright would be a waste, I decided to put them in a one to two part omake/intermission which I’ll be posting after the climax of the floor two arc ends and the falling action begins.

But since I wasn’t even done with the now omake scenes in their entirety yet, this creates an interesting issue where I have two unfinished chapters for the same story at the same time. Issue with it is that it’ll take me a fair bit to finish both of them, and since that means you guys would’ve had to wait more, I decided to post this one now to tide you over while I work on them.

Anyway, that’s enough essay writing for now. Catch you at the bottom!


Sword Art Online: Of Death Games and Diapers

Chapter Twenty-Two: To Be a Yuuki


‘Whop!’

After striking the stone for the umpteenth time, Nezha paused, took a deep breath, and held up his hand. It hurt like hell. He’d felt this same pain for hours on end. But he couldn’t just rest… he didn’t have the luxury.

He lost count of the number of times he punched the massive boulder at around four in the afternoon. They’d already been at it for several hours by then, but the clock struck eleven half an hour ago, and he’d been at it the entire time. In spite of his efforts, the rock didn’t have a single crack yet. He only managed to scuff up the spot his punches all aimed for.

At this rate… no, I can’t think like—

“Jeez… I haven’t slept outside since I was in primary school,” a light, feminine voice called out from atop a boulder behind him. “I just wish I could see the stars from here…”

Nezha took a deep breath to gather his courage. After a moment to compose himself, he spoke. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault that you’re stuck here. That you can’t be with your partner right now.”

Asuna shook her head, eyeing him out of the corner of her eye. “Why is that your fault? It’s not a big deal,” she said, offering a smile. “The real tragedy is that I’m out in the wilderness without a bath or place to change myself in private. But I did that to myself, so you don’t have to feel bad about it.”

Change? Oh, right… for a moment, Nezha forgot that the girl taking the quest with him was incontinent, just like Kiriko. Guess that would explain why she wanted a bath… it must be disgusting to sit in your own waste because you couldn’t make it to the toilet in time. Not to mention the humiliation — in hindsight, Kiriko’s fervent denial made perfect sense. Maybe he shouldn’t have pushed her like that after all…

“Must be hard to let yourself be vulnerable to bathe or change yourself when so many «Trembling Oxen» surround this mountain,” Nezha affirmed her frustrations, going back to punching his boulder every few seconds. “And without our weapons, it’s too dangerous to go back to town, even if we’re okay with keeping our whiskers. Neither of us have a good enough «Hiding» skill for it.”

For a while, Asuna didn’t reply. As Nezha continued striking his stone in silence, he thought he could just barely hear a faint hissing over the sounds of the wilderness. Should he ask if she wanted him to look away? But then again, the hissing didn’t sound that far off from some of the other noises the forest around the field emitted every so often; it might not even be her.

If she asks me, I’ll move, he decided.

A few seconds after the sound died down, Asuna finally answered him with a sigh of discomfort. “… Good point. But it’s almost midnight. Aren’t you going to sleep?”

“I want… to crack this rock… as soon as I can,” he replied, pausing every few seconds to take another swing at the boulder. “Is it making… too much noise?”

Asuna smiled. “No, don’t mind me. I sleep heavily enough to w… wet the bed every night, you won’t wake me,” she told him, the admission ringing out awkward yet genuine. Her voice mellowed out soon after. “But if possible, I want to hear the sound of you hitting the core of the stone. You’re missing that sweet spot three times out of five.”

Nezha’s eyes snapped open wide. He stammered out, “Oh! S-Sorry!”

“It’s fine,” she replied right away, her voice calm and reassuring. “For someone without depth perception, two out of five is really good.”

Nezha looked back over at her, face blank. For how she came off at a distance, or even when they first met… Asuna the «Frontline Fencer» really was a kind soul. Kind and understanding.

“Keep it up. Good night.”

As she turned over on her side and to sleep, Nezha looked over at his transient companion, watching her breathing even out as she slowly drifted off. A few moments later, he turned back to his stone, clenching his fist with renewed determination.

“I want to hear the sound of you hitting the core of the stone.”

He struck the boulder again, this time hitting it as hard as he could, backlash pains be damned. And again. Again with his left this time. Over and over, he punched the boulder at full force, his hands quickly becoming numb from the pain.

I have to finish up. I can’t let them down! He shouted internally between strikes. Asuna, or the Braves!

Again, and again, and again some more. He couldn’t just sit here feeling sorry for himself with something so important coming up so soon.

I have to make it in time! No time to rest… not until after the boss fight!


As the clock struck eight AM, a certain fencer laying atop a boulder began to toss and turn in her sleep. She fell asleep on her back, but even with a sleeping bag, sleeping on a rock didn’t provide much comfort or quality rest.

Not to mention, she couldn’t tell in her sleep, but she had to use the restroom.

Badly.

After a few half turns, she rolled onto her stomach. Unfortunately, this added pressure on her gut proved too much for her bowels to take. She slowly grew silent and still, save for the back of her diaper slowly expanding and crinkling. But then…

‘Pfffrrrt!’

‘Hisssssssssshhhh…’

“… Huh…?”

The building sense of relief roused Asuna from her slumber. It only took her a few seconds to realize she just woke up in the middle of soiling her diaper. What’s worse, she didn’t just start wetting herself — for the first time since launch day, she started pooping in her sleep.

I need to find a toilet, now!

She clamped down on her disobedient sphincters, her left hand shooting to her bottom to try and hold the rest in. Her bowels listened for the moment, but her bladder continued to empty without a care in the world as to her dignity, and she could tell that even her bowels wouldn’t hold on for long.

She quickly tried to wrestle out of her sleeping bag to find someplace to relieve herself with at least some of her dignity left intact. But unfortunately, the more she struggled, the less progress she made, and the harder it became to keep holding her bowels. As her bladder finished emptying, her bowels began to painfully cramp up. She knew she didn’t have long before she lost control completely.

Then, she sealed her fate.

In her efforts to escape her sleeping bag using only one arm, she moved quite a bit from the center of the rock. Right before she got ahold of the zipper to open it up and escape to freedom and relief, the bag began to slide off the rock, taking her down with it. With a jarring thud, she fell to the ground.

And unfortunately for her, the shock combined with her bowel cramping proved too great a hurdle for her control to overcome.

Her bowel control vanishing in an instant, a warm, firm mess forced its way into the seat of her pants. Her diaper meant she wouldn’t have to wash the stains out of her clothes, but her loss of continence proved several times more humiliating than that. She could do nothing but wait for the misery and disgrace to end, all pretense of dignity she had vanishing in an instant as her body betrayed her once again.

As she helplessly soiled herself, body going limp in defeat, tears began to gather in the corners of her eyes. “This isn’t fair! If I weren’t asleep, this wouldn’t have…!”

She wouldn’t have let the urge get this bad if she weren’t asleep. She wouldn’t have been helpless to stop it from getting worse if she weren’t stuck in her sleeping bag. She wouldn’t have been stuck in her sleeping bag if she could unzip it. If she hadn’t failed to unzip it, she wouldn’t have fallen off the rock. And if she hadn’t fallen off the rock, she wouldn’t have lost all semblance of control.

Her vision began to blur from the tears, her breathing growing shaky and shallow. She only lost it because literally everything went wrong! Like the world conspired to make her soil herself, over and over and over again! To make her a slave to her own bodily functions, to trap her in a soft, absorbent prison cell and rob her of all her pride and dignity as her bladder and bowels regressed further and further into infancy!

But…

Even if I say all that… the accident started before I even woke up, she admitted, a single tear rolling down her right cheek. If I can’t even go one night’s sleep without losing control, then I…

Another tear rolled down, on the other cheek. She had to accept it. Accept that she…

… No!

Asuna couldn’t bring herself to accept that. She was a Yuuki! She had her pride, and she would overcome this! Diapers would only be a temporary, fleeting fixture in her life, just until she could reclaim her lost pride! She’d be back in normal panties in a few months at most. Maybe even weeks! She conquered the first floor, and she would conquer her continence. And that conquest started right here, right now.

She rubbed the tears out of her eyes in defiance, finally unzipping her sleeping bag just as her bowels finished emptying themselves. She stood up, burning the feeling of the mess between her legs into her memory, to remind her of what she had to prevent from here on out. The dampness in front, the bulky mess in the back — she swore this would be one of the last times she allowed them to fill her pants.

She began walking towards the martial arts master’s shack in a stubborn search for a bathroom to clean up in, away from prying eyes. But more importantly, a place to start trying to potty train in. She couldn’t just wait around, change had to start right away or it never would.

I can’t just wait on Kiriko and expect her to solve everything for me, she thought, shaking her head. That naïve reliance on Kiriko to magically save the day is what allowed her continence to degrade this much in the first place, without her even noticing until it was almost too late. I have to take control of my own life, take responsibility for my own mistakes, and achieve this by myself!

Today would begin a war. A war on Asuna’s degrading continence, to beat her bladder and bowels into submission. A war which would be hard-fought, littered with mistakes and slipups, but one she had to wage all the same. Her pride refused to let her fall to her knees in defeat, to become a slave to her diapers for the rest of SAO or even her entire life.

And I…

Her fists clenched, her tear-streaked gaze hardening in determination.

I’ll do whatever it takes to win.


“Fwah…!”

Crap, I fell asleep!

Nezha awoke to a puddle of his own drool, pooling around his face. Slowly rising to a sit, he wiped the drool off with his right hand before slowly looking around, trying to ignore the soreness all over from sleeping on the ground.

But then, a mighty thud sounded off from off to his right, followed by a more unexpected noise: a lengthy crack. His eyes quickly darted over just in time to meet the gaze of a certain chestnut-haired beauty, standing on one leg as the other recoiled off her stone.

The impact flipped her skirt right up, showing a starry-printed diaper… with some of the stars on the front a bit yellowed. He had to admit, he’d take waking up in a puddle of drool over waking up in a puddle of… that, any day. Must’ve been hard for her.

“Oh. Morning!” she called out to him with a heavenly smile. “I wondered when you would wake up. Must’ve been up late, huh?”

He could only nod dumbly in response. Last time he checked the clock before falling asleep, it was half past six… he felt like crap, but that’s what he got for trying to rush it… or even trying at all, in his condition.

Returning to a normal stand, she excitedly pointed at her boulder. “Check it out, I put a crack in it!”

He turned to it and, lo and behold, he saw a small crack in the stone’s center. Walking up to take a closer look, he couldn’t help but marvel at how much further past him she slipped in so much less time. The work of a true pro, someone who really belonged on the frontlines instead of here…

It’s because of me that she— no, can’t think like that.

“Wow! I punched mine all night and didn’t get a thing…” he breathed in awe.

“It’s all down to balance, concentration and footwork.” She pumped a fist, donning a prideful, satisfied grin. “Though the last one is just because I’m kicking it. Anyway, let’s eat breakfast.”

Nezha hesitated for a moment, before timidly pointing at her skirt. “B-Before that… you sure you don’t want a change?”

“What? But when did I…?” Asuna blinked, before lifting her skirt and bowing a little to check. “Oh. Don’t need a change yet, it can hold a lot more. It’s bad enough I have to wear them at all, but having to wear and use more of them because I change them so frequently is even worse.”

The former blacksmith rubbed the back of his head. “Is that how it works…?”

I’d imagine sitting in your own filth for long periods to be the bigger shame than changing out of it a little early, but I guess that’s fair…

“That does remind me though. I have a favor to ask,” she said as she walked over to her sleeping bag, mysteriously on the ground next to her boulder instead of on top. After she sat down, she continued, cheeks heating up. “If you see or hear me peeing my pants… please tell me. I uh… I can’t feel it anymore, but I want to fix that so I can start trying to hold it again.”

Nezha gulped. Reminded him of Kiriko’s resistance to admitting her incontinence, just a bit. She didn’t think of herself that way at all, and now Asuna wanted to stop having accidents too. Maybe diaper-dependence was a recent development for them… something caused by living and surviving in Aincrad.

Maybe I shouldn’t have teased Kiriko so much yesterday… he thought, suppressing the urge to smile. After all the things she said about the «Legend Braves» while interrogating him, he couldn’t resist the urge to get back at her, even if in such a small way. But still… It might be a soft spot for her… I’ll apologize to her when we next meet.

Back to the matter at hand, though… “Sure, I guess I can do that. But anyway, you mentioned breakfast?”

Her smile returned, brightening up the air around her, as she materialized a loaf of bread and a jar from her inventory. “Oh yeah! I have something I want you to try.”


The bread with cream tasted way better than Nezha expected.

‘Whop!’

After hitting the stone again, he paused to take a breath. He’d been hitting this stupid rock for hours since he tried that delectable treat, but the sweet, yet tart taste and that creamy texture still stuck in his mind, almost as if he could still taste it in his mouth. He wanted to try it again, but who knew how long it’d take him to beat this quest? Not to mention, they only had so long before the boss battle… it would be unreasonable to make her stick behind just for some food.

‘Hissssssshhh…’

The words left his mouth before he could even think to second guess himself. “Asuna-san, you’re peeing again.”

“Shit!”

As she jammed a hand against her padded crotch, hopping from one foot to the other in a preschooler’s potty dance, the sound gradually tapered off. She seemed to pee around every thirty minutes. By this point in the day, after all the failed attempts to hold it the normal way, Asuna had long since given up on keeping up appearances and resorted to stopping the flow by any means necessary.

Not that she had much success, mind. Just now, the sound probably died down because her bladder emptied out, rather than because she stopped the fl—

“Nezha, I stopped it!”

Well, for her sake, he was glad to be wrong this time.

He smiled over at her as she continued hopping around. “Good going! That’s the first time today, right? Looks like you’ll be able to recover your bladder control quickly.”

She flashed a toothy grin. “Yeah! If it’s like this, I can do it!” she proudly proclaimed, finally returning to a normal stand. “I’ll be back in panties before you know… it…”

‘Psssssssssssssssssshhht…’

Her face heated up as the flow resumed the moment she let her guard down. That had to be rough… to come so close to holding it, only to fail the moment she stopped dancing around like a toddler, right as she bragged about how quickly she’d be ready for panties again. Her eyes grew a little glassy, and upon noticing it, Nezha’s protective instinct took over.

“Hey, that’s still progress! Now you know what you need to do to hold it,” he said with a reassuring smile. “Besides, stopping it temporarily is still much better than not being able to stop it at all.”

As the stream began to die down again, she took a deep breath, then heaved a sigh. “Yeah… you’re right. If I want to go back to panties, I can’t let setbacks like this shake me. Even if it is frustrating…”

Nezha nodded and offered a thumbs-up. “That’s the spirit. Keep up that attitude and you’ll be back out of diapers in no time.”

Asuna nodded. “That is the plan. But real quick, can you please turn around and walk forward a good few meters…?” as she trailed off, her face flushed red again, and her eyes kissed the ground. “After all the wettings since you woke up, I kinda wanna change before I leak… I tried to use the pervy old man’s shack earlier this morning, but it went too far out of the quest’s range and prompted a cancel confirmation window…”

The former smith’s own face lit up red this time. “Sure, o-of course!”

He hurriedly turned around and stepped away, but after a few footfalls, he heard a familiar ringing jingle. He looked around for a moment, but he didn’t see a popup anywhere near him… so it must’ve been for Asuna. Did visible mode menus also make the sound FX audible?

A few steps later, Asuna’s voice tersely sounded out. “… It’s from Kiriko. The boss battle’s tomorrow morning.”

He instinctively looked back over at his boulder. He’d made several large cracks in it after taking mental notes of Asuna’s movements, but at most, they stretched halfway across the stone’s outer layer.

Not enough.

His voice quivered slightly. “Asuna-san…”

He ventured a dangerous glance her way, only to find her raising a hand to her chin instead of changing herself. “Look, I get it. It’ll take a few more days at this rate,” she said, gulping her nerves down. “So if the direct method won’t do it… but then…”

Nezha’s shoulders slumped as he left her to her thoughts and continued walking. It’s no good… He couldn’t just give up. He had to think. Think harder. I can’t keep her stuck in this place! It’s my fault… I have to do something!

But as he glared daggers into the earth beneath his feet, nothing came to mind. His hands instinctively curled into fists at his sides, as beads of sweat began to roll down his face. But what…

What can I even do…?


To the people who remembered my omo org comment about Asuna “whining pathetically while leaking like a broken faucet…” this is not and should not be interpreted as me keeping that promise. No, we haven’t even gotten s t a r t e d yet, bois and grills.

I was talking about shit that happens in the next arc, but here’s a nice consolation prize in the meantime I suppose. xD

I’m gonna keep this ending commentary brief, I’m playing that new game Omogatari, if any of y’all touched that one recently. Anyway, catch you next time!

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2 hours ago, Night Rain said:

That was very nice, I'm happy to see something new and Asuna's decent begin.

Lmao that reference. I'm still amazed how many people remember that story was a thing, let alone liked it lol. Honestly might be fun to try a rewrite eventually, but I'm gonna hold off on deciding for now, since this fic is a much bigger priority than starting a "new" project lol

As for the more general commentary on the start of Asuna's "descent" in this story... my only commentary is that:

Spoiler

You must first jump off of the floor in order to crash through it and into the basement. 😛 

 

Edited by WriterForce6XV (see edit history)
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  • 4 months later...
3 minutes ago, Unbeknownst said:

Huh, for some reason I never realized this got transferred to diapers/abdl section. Not sure why the possibility never occurred to me but I guess I've got a lot of chapters to catch up on now, lol.

Lol yeah, it's been here for a while. I should probably get back to rebuilding the reserve, I've been too focused on Detention lately. xD

Which btw, check it out if you like diapers, yuri and semi slice of life AU settings, it's been a lot of fun to work with so the quality is probably higher than normal for my work. lol

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've mostly been doing status updates for this story on my profile, but I figured this one needs to be a bit more accessible. Long story short, I'm finished rebuilding the reserve. The reserve is always supposed to be the next five chapters after whatever is currently public. I now have five unreleased chapters again, which means the reserve is rebuilt. Thus, as soon as I finish chapter 28 to maintain the five chapter reserve buffer, I'll be able to release another chapter publicly.

It actually didn't take very long at all to continue once I hit my stride. There was a period of about a week where I didn't work on it because a new Genshin patch went live, but after the buzz of that died down, I kept up a good pace with my writing and finished two chapters in a pretty short amount of working days. A big part of me maintaining motivation and momentum has been that the new arc I started a few reserve chapters back has been a lot of fun (it's less of an adaptation of canon arcs and more of an exploration of aspects of canon that the main story arcs left untouched, which I greatly prefer), so I don't imagine chapter 28 will take too terribly long to finish. I've also got some scene ideas I plan to go with, which is already half the battle.

Anyway, just wanted to pop in and let you guys know things are back in working order. I won't give an exact date for the next chapter, but there's a good chance it'll be pretty soon. Catch you guys next release!

Edited by WriterForce6XV (see edit history)
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  • 3 weeks later...

Yoooooooooooooooooo, I’m finally back!

Chapter 28, the third chapter of the next arc is more or less done, just waiting for my editor to approve one small, final revision later tonight. I figure that’s close enough to being complete that I can post an update, so here we are.

I’ve offhandedly mentioned this a couple of times, but the next arc has been really fun for me to write. It’s where this story first begins to diverge from canon, in a way that imo makes the story and the world a lot more interesting. As a result of how fun it is, I’ve had a much easier time writing it.

Even the gap between my status update on the Org saying that the reserve was finally rebuilt, which was three weeks ago, was largely because halfway through writing chapter 28, my editor and I noticed an issue with the past few chapters which suggested a larger problem with my writing as a whole, so he and I spent a while focusing on revising the chapters which had this issue. Once it was resolved, I got back to work on chapter 28, and finished it in short order.

So yeah, I think I’m in much better shape to push out chapters more consistently from here on out. That’s about all I need to say here. See you below!


Sword Art Online: Of Death Games and Diapers

Chapter Twenty-Three: Floor Two Boss Battle - Part I


“All eyes on me!”

In response to this familiar cry, I couldn’t help but scoff and roll my eyes at him. We were already all staring at him anyway, waiting for him to get this show on the road. I had my issues with Diavel, but I’d take him back over this clown any day…

Pumping a fist, he finally got a move on. “I am Lind of the Dragon Knights guild! As representative of the first party to reach the boss chamber…” First to arrive, he said? The nerve… “I am hereby the leader of the raid party on the second floor boss!”

Yeah, fuck this guy. Let’s wait for an opening, and then…

“We are just two short of a full raid. But the fact we have forty-six, more than last time…” he continued with a smile. “Gives me great pride as your leader! Let’s do this, gang!”

Right before I would’ve spoken up, Kibaou’s rough Kansai dialect sounded out. “Guild? We can’t even make guilds yet! Think yer so high ‘n mighty, just ‘cos you got here three hours earlier… the nerve!”

“The first to arrive assumes leadership. That was the agreement, no?” Lind’s smug retort coupled with a dismissive hand wave made my skin crawl.

I sighed. By that logic, I should be the leader — I found the boss room several hours before either of them. But I knew they wouldn’t accept that, so I didn’t see a point to protesting. Still, the whole situation bugged the crap out of me. I’d go up there and give them a piece of my mind, but…

I looked down at my waist. I spent two days grinding for a brand new set of surprisingly lightweight black plate armor to better hide my… protection, but I had no idea how well it even worked. Its tabard and leggings covered much more than my old black shirt and skirt did, but I still felt a little paranoid about the crinkling after Nezha’s whole spiel about everyone knowing already.

Not to mention, with all the potions in my system, I’ll probably wet myself during the battle… I just can’t make a big show of it like with Nezha before.

While farming for my new armor the past few days, I noticed I seemed to need to pee every hour or so while on my regimen of potions. I couldn’t delay an accident for very long like this, either, and my ability to hold it degraded further and further with every new accident. When I thought about how I sent Asuna down this path, I felt really bad, like I monumentally fucked up. I really needed to make it up to her after the boss battle… she deserved better.

Still… looks like she didn’t—

“What’s the story, highness?” A familiar deep voice called out from behind me. I turned around just in time to catch the dark-skinned giant wave. “Other princess isn’t with you, and you’re wearing actual armor now. What’d I miss while on my business run?”

I shrugged, averting my eyes like I was lying to the father I never had. “Just cause she and I are friends doesn’t mean we’re always together.” After I got that out of the way though, I turned back to face him with a smile and a wave. “Haven’t seen you since Illfang. You put in some real work in the first floor boss fight, so it’s good to see you here.”

He cocked an eyebrow, smiling in turn. “Means a lot, coming from the real MVP. We’ve only got four over in team H. Whaddya say, want to join?”

“That’d be great, but…”

As I trailed off, I instinctively looked back over at Lind and Kibaou. They glared back. They wanted me gone, yesterday, and I knew full well that I compromised anyone who associated with me. I couldn’t do that to Agil… couldn’t—

“Really? Bowing down to them? Who cares what those tools think?” Agil’s voice interrupted my thoughts, calling my eyes back to him. The staying power of those glares just now had nothing on his smile. “You bring the strength of a hundred with you. And I say we need all the strength we can get, haters be damned.”

He extended his hand. I took it and gave it a good shake. “Well, if you insist…”

I looked past him, over at his teammates, and they smiled back, one of them even flashing me a thumbs up. Huh… they didn’t get swept up in Lind and Kibaou’s antagonism. They didn’t mind having someone like me on their team… maybe the Assault Team had a place for me, after all.

I looked back to Agil, lips widening into a smile. “So what’s team H’s job?”

“Taking out the mob. Teams A to F take the boss, and they’re all Lind and Kibaou’s men, the Dragon Knights and Aincrad Liberation Squad,” Agil replied, shrugging his shoulders.

I smirked, closing my eyes in satisfaction. “Normally I’d protest leaving a mid-boss like Nato to only one party, but I did just get some solid gear to test out,” I replied, knowing I could probably take Nato down myself if his patterns hadn’t changed. But then, my eyes snapped open at a nagging question. “Wait… what about the last team? If the headcount is forty-six, there should be one more.”

Agil turned to point at Lind and Kibaou — more accurately, to the party seemingly begging them for something. A party I already recognized from the field boss fight. I welcomed their assistance then, but now, their presence alone made me feel uneasy.

“Over there. Newbies begging to put themselves in harm’s way and fight the boss,” Agil replied, a cautious look on his face as we watched them hassle Twiddle Dumb and Twiddle Dumber. “Their admirable enthusiasm aside, I worry they don’t understand the danger. They gotta be desperate to make a name for themselves.”

The «Legend Braves»…

Nezha claimed with every breath that the weapon upgrade scam was entirely on him. But it would make way more sense if the others forced him into it. But they didn’t look all that malicious. Desperate to fight the boss and make a name for themselves, sure, but deceitful? Manipulative? Exploitative? I had a hard time seeing it.

Still… Nezha didn’t look the part either. But he was the one who actually performed the scam, I thought with a sigh, closing my eyes for a few moments to clear my head. Can’t judge a book by its cover. Who knows what they’ve done outside the public eye?

When my eyes opened again, I found their group walking over to us. Their leader… Orlando, I think? He raised a hand to wave at us as he approached. “Thou art Team H, in charge of Colonel Nato? If it be not too much trouble, we wish to join thy forces.”

I had to suppress a giggle at his choice in phrasing. That’s right, I forgot… these guys role played even harder than the ninja cosplayers. Fuck, I could barely contain my laughter. But when I put two and two together that a bunch of people roleplaying as heroes might’ve forced Nezha to conduct a shady, dangerous scam, my amusement petered out pretty damn quick.

The voice of one of Orlando’s men piped up right as my focus returned to the situation in front of us. “O… Orlando-san! At this rate, we’ll never…!”

Cuchulainn… at least, I think that’s his name. Sounds like he’s in a bit of a rush to get their name out there.

“Fool! Quibble not with such shortsighted details! Is that what a legendary hero does?!” came his leader’s swift retort.

Had to admit — in spite of everything, his antics made me crack a smile.

“B-But we’re already so slow out of the gate…!” his subordinate countered, desperation clear in his voice.

In response, Orlando held up the first two fingers on his right hand. “It is still only the second floor. Ninety-eight lie above. No need to rush. The day will arrive, when all come to see who the true heroes are.”

As his men nodded in unison, I couldn’t help but find this poetic picture ironic in the face of what they might’ve done. Some strong words he used there. True heroes, huh…? I wonder where they’re hiding, then?

Because I didn’t see them anywhere.

Not in the Legend Braves. Not in Lind or Kibaou’s groups. And certainly not me, Asuna, or anyone else I associated with. We were all just ordinary men and women doing whatever we could to survive and forge ahead. In that sense, the only difference between me and Nezha was the level of underhandedness in our tactics.

“Now then… let us work together. It may be our first meeting…” Orlando said, turning to Agil and offering a hand. “But might I call thee: Sir Agil?”

Agil, someone with no reason to suspect him, could only chuckle and give that hand a firm shake. “All right. Good to meet you, Orlando-san.”

I had to admit. As little as I bought into their “hero” schtick, I had a hard time seeing them as villains either. That infectious cheer didn’t seem fake. The valorous speeches came off as corny, but not disingenuous. If I were to take them at their word, they really wanted to be heroes. But if I only considered their potential involvement in the scam, they might’ve been manipulative villains.

Hero, villain… somehow, neither descriptor feels accurate.

And then, Orlando turned to me. “And thee, «Black Princess».”

Excuse me, but fucking what?! That’s what they call me?!

I didn’t mind giving famous people nicknames in SAO. That’s fine. But did they have to be this dumb? Almost as bad as calling me a «Beater»… I really needed to start rejecting these names and substituting my own.

“Thy prowess in the field of battle is rivaled only by your exquisite beauty!” he continued, making grand gestures with his hands to accentuate his embarrassing words. “I can see thy reputation as a battle savant is duly earned.”

I need to stop this before it becomes even more of a cringefest…

“I appreciate the compliments, but I really don’t fancy myself a princess,” I replied with a smile up at his rather tall frame. “I think I’m more of a knight. A Starless Knight.”

He probably wouldn’t get the play on words, it only worked in English and I just said it in Japanese, but I still thought it had a nice ring to it even in our own language. Plus, it also made sense. A knight with no kingdom. No lords to protect. Like staring up into the vast open skies, only to find you couldn’t see the stars because of the city smog overhead.

His eyes flashed in recognition, before his smile widened and he extended his hand. “Ah ha. In that case, well met… Ser Kiriko.”

I blinked. Right… in medieval times, you referred to a knight as a ‘ser.’ Well, better than going by ‘princess’ or ‘beater,’ at the very least. I took his hand and shook it, offering a small nod of affirmation.

As we let go, his hand shot skyward and he gave a hearty grin. “Fret not! With the ever-triumphant forces of the Legend Braves at thy disposal…” Oh for god’s sake, another heroic speech. Should’ve seen this coming… “No ox-man, whether colonel or general, can withstand the might have my treasured blade, Durandal!”

At the bit about his “Durandal,” he drew his sword, a normal «Stout Brand», and held it skyward. I had to resist the urge to face-palm, but I couldn’t stop myself from cracking a smile for the faintest of moments. While he admired his gleaming blade, I had to wonder something in the face of that almost childlike enthusiasm for heroics.

Could they really… not know anything about the scheme?

But one look at the rest of his men, warily watching us from afar, and I couldn’t even pretend to entertain the possibility. No. They had to be involved… but how much did they know? And how many of them were in on it? The rest of the members aside, I had a hard time believing Orlando, the most outspoken one, knew anything about it.

From in front of the boss door, I heard a familiar voice cough to get our attention. We turned back to Lind, finally looking ready to lead us into battle. “Good, everyone’s assigned now.”

But he forgot something important.

He continued, seemingly unaware of what he missed as he turned to the boss door. “Then let us open… the door to our triumph over—”

“Just a minute.”

Agil’s deep voice cut him off, forcing Lind to look back. “Are you sure you’re not relying too heavily on the strategy guide’s information this time?” the dark-skinned giant continued unhindered by Lind’s blue-balled expression. “Shouldn’t we prepare for the possibility that they’ve made changes since the beta test, like on the first floor?”

Lind’s eyes narrowed. He looked at me, then at the ground beneath his feet. “Of course. I have no intention… of repeating that mistake.”

Agil’s reply didn’t miss a beat. “Then we need a clear plan for retreat,” he said, his voice calm, yet firm. “If we notice different patterns from the guide’s information, we need to be prepared to pull back temporarily and rethink our strategy. As our raid leader, is that all right with you?”

Agil phrased it as a question, but his voice made it perfectly clear how little of a choice we really had. A round of nods made their way through everyone in the room, until Lind himself gave a nod in concession.

“Yes, that will do,” he said, the impatience finally starting to show in his tone. “And with that, let us open—”

“Hang on just a sec!”

“What now?!”

Kibaou’s shout cucked Lind once again. I couldn’t help but smile. After the shit he pulled on floor one, seeing Lind get blue balled twice back to back felt really cathartic even though it came from Kibaou of all people. Almost wanted to laugh at the blue-haired bitch.

“I agree with Agil. The strategy guide’s a problem. I hate ta say it, but…” Kibaou clarified in a defiant tone. “it’s bein’ written by an intel broker who ain’t never seen the inside of the boss chamber. But we know we got at least one here with us who’s fought the thing herself. So I say we get her take on it, yeah?”

The hell’s he playing at?

The eyes in the room all zeroed in on me. I suddenly found myself quite glad I switched from a revealing skirt to black plate armor… because otherwise, I worry my diaper would show a lot easier.

I cleared my throat and began to speak. “The regular Tauruses in the dungeon have the same attacks they did in the beta. The boss should use sword skills which are an extension of that pattern,” I started off, looking around to make sure people understood. “Avoid getting hit with double debuffs at all costs. If you get stunned while already stunned, it becomes paralysis. And every player in the beta who got paralyzed, well…”

As the room descended into a harsh silence, a chilled breeze blew in. I saw many a face look unnerved, scared, and disheartened. But I could tell, they all knew. They could either die to this boss or die when their real body wasted away to nothing. Slowly, the resolve returned to their faces, and they all turned to the door.

“Avoid the second hit. That’s priority number one, then,” Kibaou affirmed with a nod. Without missing a beat, he stepped forward and pushed the boss door open without even waiting for Lind. “Let’s git goin’.”

The door began to move on its own accord soon after, and people began to walk forward, disregarding their supposed ‘leader’ entirely. He pathetically yelped, “Hey! Who said you could—?! I’m the leader here! Dammit, let’s just go! Hip! Hip! Hurrah!”

Though the raid stopped advancing, they didn’t respond to his rallying. They stared past him, mouths agape. Honestly, I couldn’t blame them — anyone would lose their courage after seeing that sight for the first time. In the center of the coliseum-like room…

Lind slowly turned around, his sword arm going slack at the horror. “They’re… huge…!”

The two Tauruses towered over us like gods. So tall they made us look like ants.

I broke into a nervous smile.

Time to put this new armor to the test!


“Pattern B! The three hit combo, «Thrice Blow»!”

Two slanted uppercuts crashed against the weapons and shields of Agil’s team H with a deafening clang, before the final uppercut swung his war hammer in a radiant upward arc, poised to activate «Numbing Impact» from above as soon as Nato’s delay wore off.

That skill’s ground-targeting stun effect bypassed shields completely.

I didn’t hesitate for a moment before leaping into the fray, the sword in my left hand glowing a brilliant blue.

“You’re mine.”

My blade’s rightward first strike tore through his kneecaps with a satisfying snap. The beast fell to his knees with a desperate yowl as I struck his pectorals with a slash in the reverse direction. I gracefully twirled around to Nato’s rear, striking his back with a third horizontal strike, before finally hitting his flank with a strike from the left. Four curved lines of blue light flashed outwards, tracing a square through the air.

In my tiny moment of reprieve before Nato responded to my assault, I panted lightly, wiping the sweat from my brow with my free hand. Damn… even after grinding for my armor and gaining a few levels, I still don’t have the stamina to fire «Horizontal Square» off casually.

Nato raised his warhammer high overhead, and it began to glow bright yellow sparks.

There you are… Numbing Impact!

I turned to face the tanks while jumping out of range. “Here it comes! Evade!”

As everyone jumped back, Nato’s hammer crashed against the stone-tiled flooring, sending tendrils of electricity in all directions. No one stood close enough to take damage, but the stun radius, shown by the sparks, extended much further out. One shot my way along the floor, but I jumped high into the air just before it would’ve made contact, and it faded out shortly thereafter.

I evaded the stun, and everyone else left its radius entirely. I smirked up at Nato while his skill’s animation continued. Nice try, shitstain.

“He’s in his delay! Switch!” I called out right as the glow faded from Nato’s hammer.

Orlando didn’t waste a moment. “Team G Braves, sally forth!”

While the Legend Braves assaulted the boss, I sighed, closing my eyes for a moment as I took deep breaths. “Man, if Asuna made it, we could’ve handled this thing by ourselves…”

“Ha ha ha! What’s wrong? You look lonely!” a familiar baritone voice called out from behind, his dark hand holding a stamina potion over my right shoulder for me to take. “Missing your partner?”

I turned to face him, snatching the offered potion out of his hand. “I already said why at the meeting. I need to be able to fight enemies like this on my own,” I replied, eyes narrowed. “But what about you? You’re using a cheapo store-bought axe instead of the rare double-sided one you had before.”

‘Fsssssssshhh…’

As we both glugged down our potions, mine for stamina and his for HP, I heard a familiar sound, and felt a familiar warmth below the waist. I instinctively tried to clamp down, but my weakened sphincter could do nothing to stem the flow. The burning sensation continued melting into the crotch of my diaper, unabated by my feeble attempts to hold it.

I didn’t even notice I was peeing my pants until it was too late to stop it. Just a few days ago, I could hold it just fine. Had the potions really affected me that much…?

Agil finished drinking his potion around the time that the stream died down. He sighed, before replying to my question after what felt like an eternity of me helplessly peeing my pants like an overgrown toddler. No, even toddlers were old enough to start potty training…

“Hey, shit happens,” Agil replied with a hearty smile. A knowing grin, one that almost made me sweat under the pressure. “Don’t worry about my performance. I’ll keep up my marks and then some — I spent half the floor power-leveling for these SoBs.”

Draining the last of the stamina potion and tossing it aside, I instinctively cast a glance over at the Legend Braves and forced a smile. “Not what I’m worried about.”

Even Agil fell victim to the upgrade scam… his answer made that obvious. He tried to upgrade his axe, they secretly stole it, and then he spent the rest of the floor power-leveling to make up the difference in time.

Should I tell him?

Agil struck me as a chill guy. I could probably trust him not to go overboard. But still… if someone overheard us, that could spell disast—

Agil followed my line of sight, giving them an appraising smile as they hacked away at the boss until his second HP bar disappeared, leaving only one more. “They’re not just for show, huh? Hope you can keep up with that waddle slowing you down, miss Starless Knight.”

My face flushed scarlet at what his words implied.

Fuck! He knows…

“Oh, piss off…” I replied, rolling my eyes.

He had a good laugh at that. “Not judging, but that’s your thing, not mine. Anyway miss Soggy Knight, I think the Braves might need a Switch soon.”

Pinching my nose to force myself to ignore the jab, I nodded, looking back over to them. Looked like for now, they had Nato sorted. “Thing is, it’s not the force wailing on Nato that concern me. It’s them.

I pointed over to the main force. As if on cue, right as Agil and I looked over to them, Baran raised his double-sided war hammer high overhead with both hands. Kibaou, Lind, and their entire force froze up in terror, unable to even cry for help.

Man, Lind and Kibaou are hopeless… if only Asuna were here, she could lead the clearers fighting Baran while I took care of Nato.

The massive taurus swung his battle hammer down, sending half a dozen men flying in all directions from the point of impact, then crashing down to earth, yellow lights spinning around in the air above their heads. That many stunned in a single blow…

Agil nodded at my assertion. “They don’t look so good…”


Gonna be honest, with how long ago I wrote this chapter, I don’t really have much in the way of commentary. I’m more focused on the new arc, and idk how many people even read these author note blurbs, so I’ll probably just keep it brief.

See you next time!

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