“Say, is anybody free to play a game now?” Kirito asked within the chat. He continued, “Somebody sent the game to me under Akihiko’s account.” My eyes widened. Akihiko? Wasn’t the man dead? The mad man that decided to make Sword Arts Online into a brutal death game. A sense of unease crept behind me. This felt off. Immediately, Suguha messaged, “Sure thing.” “Same for me here.” Ah damn, these people were typing so fast. What do I say now? Of course, I wasn’t going to let the others play with him alone - their feelings for him were clear as day. As I changed my clothes, my worries kept doubling. On instinct, I just replied back, “Why, Kirito? Are you scared of playing the game by yourself?” The chat group went silent for a while with Kirito’s avatar being displayed typing before deleting his message multiple times. I could almost imagine his reaction. His mind rushing to try and come out with a response, only for his embarrassment to overcome him. Repeating this cycle a couple of times. I giggled once his message came out, “Why yes. I do need a talented archer to beat this game.” “Well if you put it that way, how could I ever reject you?” Putting on the NerveGear, I waited for Kirito to invite me. Memories drifted within my mind as I closed my eyes. How long has it been since we got together like this? Felt like an eternity after all of the events that transpired. My face blushed red with some of our earlier encounters surfacing in my mind like how I thought he was a girl. There, a notification popped up, causing me to jolt awake. An invitation to a game called “Project Alicization” but the letters were all glitching out. Some of them were capital letters while the others sometimes disappeared. Obviously, this was a rip off from the original Project Alicization. Yet, my worries were doubling. In the past, these games, although dangerous, were well polished and were of high quality. But this… This felt like those dark alleyways that your parents would forbid you from walking. Regardless, I wasn’t going to let my crush enter alone. As I opened my eyes, a plain of grass greeted me. The brush of cool wind and the fragrant scent of the lilies reminded me of how it felt to play virtual reality all of this time. This overwhelming immersion that compelled me. However, the oddities were starting to add up. There’s no character customisation - my avatar was just my real life body. Scanning the region, I couldn’t find any trace of civilization. Just more plains of grass. Hell, I couldn’t spot a single monster through this land. Everything just seemed off. “Sinon!” Kirito called me, “Glad you could make it!” I ran towards him, giving him a warm hug, “Kirito! Good to see you again!” Was he always this tall? I could’ve sworn he was only three inches taller than me, “Did you grow up or something? How did you get this tall?” “You could say that,” His face blushed, as his eyes darted downwards before raising back up immediately, “I guess you also have grown in some ways.” “Perv.” “Oh that’s where you guys were!” Suguha ran forward with a spring in her steps, “It’s been a while since everyone’s reunited like this, hasn’t it?” “What are you talking about, Suguha? It has only been a few months since we met, isn’t it?” Asuna said, her eyes shifted towards Kirito, “So Kirito, how has life been for you?” While the three engaged in their small talk, I scanned the region. Using the settings button, the game title card switched into “Project P”. Strange. Why did the title card change? I scrolled all the way to the end. Please. Let it be there. Please. My stomach sank deeper than ever. The game didn’t have an option to exit. It was the same bullshit that Kirito experienced the first time round; all of us were trapped here. Ok, calm down. This wasn’t the end. All of us were experienced gamers after all. “Sinon, what’s wrong? You’re looking kinda pale,” Kirito asked, walking towards me. I gulped before taking a deep breath. It’s fine. We had been through harder before, “So I just changed the settings and let’s just say…” “We’re trapped here?” Asuna interrupted me, crossing her arms, “Typical Akihiko.” “Isn’t he dead, though?” Suguha asked, “That's how Kirito escaped the first time round, didn’t he?” “Well who knows what the hell is this?” Asuna faced Kirito, “As much as we’re your closest friends Kirito, I can’t help but ask, what the hell compelled you to play this game?” Kirito stayed silent. He scratched his hair before sitting down on the grass, “I suppose you girls deserve the full story.” We sat around him in a circle. All awaiting his response with eager eyes. Surely, he had a good reason for putting himself and us in this dangerous game. At least, I believed in him. He sighed, “So this morning, I received an email from Akihiko’s email address. In it was the file to this game and a message.” “It read out how before the first game, he had created a prototype. A simpler game to trap other people that didn’t fully establish the ‘death game’ technology. And so he tested it on five hundred people. None of them got out.” My jaws widened. Cold sweat dripped down my back. 500 people, trapped in this glitchy game; this fact just rang within my head. That’s when I noticed how Kirito was terrified, trembling. My hands instinctively placed on top of his shivering ones, “Guess we’ll just have to beat it then.” “Yeah, you’re right. With the four of us here, I don’t imagine we could lose this.” “Still would be nice if you could tell us beforehand,” Asuna flicked her finger on his forehead, “Was thinking this was just a nice chill game with the four of us.” “When has it ever been chill? There’s always some crazy developer out there,” Suguha shrugged, stretching her hand to the back, “But it’s always a good time to beat them up!” With that, the four of us started to explore the endless plains. The weather was somehow perfect - warm sunlight with the occasional cool breeze that brushed past us. At times, I was tempted to bask under the sun. Just to have a nice summer nap. Of course, I resisted and kept up the search. During this time, certain doubts emerged. It had been about an hour but there didn’t seem to be any signs of life. If there were really 500 people here, surely a town or two would be built. Or maybe just something like weapons or hell, even basic clothes. Yes, they might have been teleported somewhere else but… where? As I shot a glance at the panicking Kirito, the seeds had been planted within my heart. Eventually, Asuna shouted from afar, “Hey, I found a cave here!” My tongue clicked; if only it was me that found something. Walking towards the cave, the entrance was narrow, with only two people being able to walk at a time. Yet, aside from the first few steps, it was completely pitch black. Looking to the side, I noted how there’s some writing on the walls where Kirito and Suguha were reading them. “Well, what did it say?” Kirito shook his head, showing a blue orb in his hands, “Something about needing all of us to touch the orb together for the game to officially begin.” “Well, what are we waiting for?” Asuna quickly slid her hands underneath his while I followed alongside Suguha, who was looking a little paler than before. A flash of light blinded us. As I rubbed my eyes, I saw a hologram of some woman floating in the air, laughing. She was wearing a lab coat with a petite figure, appearing just a couple years older than us. “Oh my god, I cannot believe you idiots actually went through with it!” She laughed, wiping her tears away, “This is madness even for me!” “Oi! Do you think this is a joke? Now that we’re here, free those damn people!” He clenched his fists, his veins popping by the sides, “Do you think we’re just a game to you?” The woman covered her mouth as she calmed herself down, “Oh wow, I didn’t think it was that easy to trick you, Kazuto.” Kirito blinked for a few seconds… His frustration came crashing down as I immediately followed up, “So what’s the deal? Why did you send him this game?” “Awww Shino, speaking up for your boyfriend huh?” A wave of warmth surged through my cheeks before I immediately suppressed them. “Answer the question, woman!” She scanned the room, adjusting her specs, “Oh my, you even have Asuna and Suguha here. Was thinking you would do this all alone, Kazuto,” The woman tilted her head to the right, our glares still staring down at her, “Now where do I begin?” “You can begin by letting us out of here, bitch!” Suguha shouted. “Nah, that’s boring. See the thing is dear,” She leaned forward, “I snuck into what remains of Akihiko’s laboratory and found out there’s so much more you could do with this technology. More so than just killing people. Ugh.” “Anyways, I did some modifications to his code. Changed a few functions here and there, scraped all of this death game nonsense and created this slop of a MVP. Then I hacked into his PC and sent you this game.” We glanced at one another. Sweat dripped from my back, feeling how tense the atmosphere was now. According to Kirito, Akihiko was a genius of his time, being capable of creating the headset and linking the virtual avatar to the real human state. And yet, this woman was saying it as if it was nothing more than a chore. My eyes stayed with Kirito for a moment more; though he was still glaring at her, his legs were quivering a little. He was the last guy that talked to Akihiko before he died after all… “Well, I answered your question. So it’s time for me to have some fun,” She snapped her fingers. Blue pop-ups appeared before us. Lists of paragraphs all detailing rules, “The gist is, I trapped the four of you here. And for you to escape, you’ll just need to take down four bosses and reach the end of the dungeon.” “But there’s a catch… for each time you take damage, you’ll lose a little more of your humanity. And once your HP reaches 0, you’ll just be a little cute animal.” “What bullshit is that?” Asuna interrupted her, “You’re telling me, you trap us all in here just so you could turn us into animals? Wel-” The holograph shot a flash of light from the screen which silenced Asuna, “Well I guess seeing is believing. For your case, it’ll be experiencing it first hand.” She twirled her fingers around as a status effect popped up from above her head: ‘Curse of the Mare’. Immediately, she covered her mouth before letting out an unintentional, “Neigh!” Her ears stretched out, doubling in length as they now twitched around her. Warm brown fur sprouted from behind them. The three of us stood back in shock. Why? Why do this in the first place? What compelled her to even come up with this sick plan? The upbeat Suguha was now trembling behind Kirito while Kirito’s anger was being fanned. “Alright, I had enough of thi-” Asuna closed her eyes with her avatar standing up in a T-Position, an indication where she was deliberately taking off her headset despite the dangers. However, she quickly came back, panting away, “How? How did you make my actual ears like this?” “Eh, just some tinkering around. If you really think about it, human DNA is just a bunch of data, easily manipulated in a program. Anyways, that’s besides the point,” She snapped her fingers, causing our status to change. Suguha was the same as Asuna while mine and Kirito’s were the ‘Curse of the Pussy’, “Then let me continue explaining the rules. I said that it’s a dungeon but it’s not quite that, it’s more like a tower with each layer being its own world. For you to climb up the tower, you’ll have to collect a key protected by the boss.” While she was talking, I started to appraise everyone, checking out everyone’s stats. Aside from a health bar, the stats didn’t tell me much. Not even the usual numbers like attack or defense… Asuna, as expected, had been dealt damage while all of us were still full. Kirito’s health bar was interestingly thicker compared to mine or Suguha’s. “Now here’s the best part about this game. If by the end of the game, at least one of you guys who haven’t fully transformed, I’ll change everyone that isn’t fully changed back to normal and you’ll clear this game. I’ll throw in my address if you want to have the authorities arrest me or something.” “Wait, so what happens if you’re fully transformed?” Asuna asked, her voice a little more shaky than before. The hologram leaned forward and poke onto her nose, “Wouldn’t you like to know?” “Answer the damn question!” “Well then it’s permanent and you can never turn back, duh. But you still must keep playing, otherwise the system might corrupt your mind, and umm lose yourself in the process.” Silence filled the room. Tension so thick that it felt like the air was suffocating us. The moment any one of us receives a game over, we’ll just be an animal. Completely. Never turning back. Her words had a sick pleasure ingrained within them, almost like she was having fun watching us struggle. Kirito broke the silence, “If you wanted to turn us into animals, you’ve done it already. So bitch, where’s our weapons to fight?” His eyes reignited his own fire, as he glared at the hologram, “Surely, you’ll be bored to tears watching us weaklings get wiped out by your creations, right?” She started to clap for him, “Oh my. This is exactly why I wanted you all to play!” With a snap of her fingers, items fell from the sky. From swords to bows and various armour, all of them were of low rank items, “Now go pick your weapons players. Once you’re done, just clap your hands and I’ll send you to the first layer.” The four of us quickly huddled up. Kirito immediately glanced at me, “Alright guys, since we have the same stats as our real life self, I say we can immediately give Sinon the ranger role, yes? She has been our residential sniper for the past few games already, I’m sure she’ll do great here!” His words cheered me up as the others all agreed with him. Something about their approval made me reassured. Like flickers of hopes reignited at the end of this tunnel. “Then I suppose you’ll be the fighter like you always do,” Suguha said, glancing at Kirito, “I mean, you do have twice as much health compared to us. Plus you’re an amazing fighter from the rest.” “By that logic, I should also be a fighter since I fought alongside him before!” Asuna rebutted. Curiously, I inspected Asuna’s stats once again. Interestingly right below her health bar, there was a full mana bar. Mana? Did that mean spells? I rechecked everyone’s stats once again. But only she has this bar, fully loaded and ready to fire. “What’s wrong, Sinon?” Asuna tilted her head to the side, her floppy ears twitching a little, “What’s with that smile?” “Oh it seemed like Sinon had found out the extra benefit that I’ve given to you,” The hologram said, leaning towards us, “Basically, Asuna you’re the only party member that can cast spells - something in return for your little accident,” She pointed to her own ear. Asuna rolled her eyes, “Great. So guess I’ll be the mage then.” Our eyes naturally gravitated towards Suguha, the last piece of the party. I knew that she was eager to go into battle. Unlike her step brother, she was more impulsive and bloodthirsty. The type to “fight first, ask questions” later. But with our humanity on the line, I would rather her not be a fighter. After a long silence, Kirito spoke up, “Suguha. I know how much you love going in and fighting but with how our team is arranged. I’m -” “It’s fine. I understand whatever decision you guys make. After all, you’re the best player that I know, Kirito.” “Then would you mind being our cleric?” He handed her one of the books on the ground. Religious text that was often associated with their healing properties, “See, we don’t know what to expect in this game. And I’m scared that there will be no points for us to recover. So…” Suguha grabbed the book from his hands. With an earnest smile, she replied, “Will do that, bro.” “Alright, alright, you’re making this sound weird,” Kirito averted his eyes. The four of us gathered up our starting loot. Mine was the simplest: A simple wooden bow and countless arrows for offence and cloth armor for defense. Kirito picked out an iron sword and chainmail armour while the other two grabbed their respective wands - one covered in the bask of birch wood while the other designed with a cross. Once completed, the hologram clapped once, announcing, “May the games begin!” Immediately, we teleported to an open level where a long tower was built in the centre. On the outskirts, multiple towns and villagers spawned from beneath. It provided some relief on how they were all NPCs and not actual humans trapped in the game. With the sun setting soon, we retreated to an inn and started strategizing for the fight. The plan was simple enough. We let Kirito frontline as our fighter while the rest of us supported him as the backline. Worries festered within my heart. The thought of Kirito getting hurt and changing was frightening to say the least. Especially with how the changes were being stacked on top of one another. That night as I tumbled in my bed, I couldn’t sleep. Yes, we’ve been through deadly virtual reality games before. And yes, we defeated them together. But this was somehow worse than death. At least for death, it would be the end of it. Here? We’ll have to live life as some stupid animal. I doubt that we could even talk properly after changing. I wasn’t the only one feeling this tension. Asuna tried to fold her larger ears, shutting her eyes out as she desperately tried to sleep. Kirito was still going through the plan once again under a small lamp, taking the paper that we wrote and adding more plans going into battle. Meanwhile, Suguha was the only one sleeping just fine. Snoring even. Eventually, sleep came for me. The rays of sunlight broke through the curtains, waking our party up. Kirito, his eyes all baggy and red, grabbed our bag, asking us to meet outside. He yawned just before heading out. Looking at his weary appearance tugged against my heart strings. Had he stayed up all night again? He used to do this, trying to account for all the scenarios within the layer. As I changed into my gear, I nudged him, “So how’s the plans looking?” “Nothing too complex,” He yawned, “Just a little shifting from the usual 1-3 formation to a more balanced 2-2 formation with me and Asuna in the front,” His eyes glanced over at Asuna, “Are you fine with this new system if I’m gone?” “Gone? What will happen to you?” Suguha gasped. Kirito merely scratched his head, “What I mean is… Hypothetically, if there’s some trap which caused me to be separated from you girls, I want Asuna to be your frontline. After all, she has more health than Sinon and you combined.” “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine with that plan, Kirito,” Asuna shrugged him off, her horse ears twitching still, “Let’s get this over with.” Wandering within the village, we eventually found ourselves inside the heart of the city - a large tower that spanned through the clouds. The governor opened up the gates, signalling the start of our first tower. “Wait, just a minute!” The same hologram spawned, chuckling to our makeshift party, “I think it wouldn’t be fair for you guys to only have one person front lining.” Just as the gates opened up, Satyr walked out, shaking his hooves to introduce himself, “H…hi… are you guys trapped in this game as well?” Kirito’s eyes burned with anger, “What the hell is this? Is this one of your sick experiments?” “Why yes, he is one of the only surviving test subjects. Such a shame that his other comrades all had perished in battle, becoming cute little pets for me,” Her eyes glimmered red, her words sending chills down my spine. How could she be this evil? This sadistic? “Well, have fun with little ol Takamura here. I’m sure you’ll be best buddies in no time!” Her voice echoed through the level, the last remnant of her hologram disappearing in time. I quickly inspected Takamura. His health bar was right dead in the middle while he had some special traits like Tough Skin - reducing all incoming damage by 50% and Taunt - all enemy attacks will be redirected towards him and surrounding areas. “Suguha, could you heal him up first?” Kirito said, his fists still trembling. But despite how vicious she was, this was amazing news for us. A tank fitted perfectly with our team composition. Especially with Taunt and Tough Skin, he could alleviate some of the burden Kirito was facing. As Suguha chanted healing prayers, Asuna glanced at me, “Don’t you find it a little… suspicious that she would do this for us?” “A little yeah.” “Like this person was just what we needed and he supposedly appeared to help us?” “What are you trying to say?” Takamura’s fur began to recede into his body, his hooves turning back to regular hands and feet, his height sprouted out of nowhere - a full 3 feet longer. He shed tears of joy, immediately hugging Suguha for healing him, “Oh my god, thank you so so much for this! I don’t know how am I going to repay you for this?” “Well, we could first have a nice meal,” Kirito glanced at the nearest tavern, “Hopefully you can tell us what had happened to you.” Takamura gobbled down the food like he had been starving in there for months on end. Asuna was still watching him like a hawk. Honestly, she was just being paranoid. How could someone who was starving like this be part of her plan? After eating, Takamura began describing the layout of the tower. He explained in depth about the enemies in there, the boss that they had to face, and how he survived as the only survivor. Apparently, he had just been wandering inside the tower, being undetected by the creatures in there. “So how about your old party?” Kirito asked, “Did they all change?” Takamura nodded, averting his eyes, “I could have protected them but during the boss fight, I ran away. There, they lost to the boss and I was left alone in that tower.” An awkward silence flooded the room. I glanced at Asuna, thinking how absurd her theory was. Really? He was some evil mastermind, trying to set up for our demise? He looked so scarred from all of the battles that I found it hard to believe he was working with her. “I understand,” Kirito stood up, reaching out his hand to him, “Then I guess this is your second chance to destroy this developer. It’s ok if you-” Takamura gripped onto Kirito’s hand, “No. This is my pleasure, working alongside you guys,” A grin widened on his face for a split second before he shifted the topic, “So I’ll assume that I’ll be the tank in this party?” The conversation shifted towards the strategy later down the line with Asuna sitting ever so close to me. I would admit, I did feel weird when he smiled like something was wrong but there wasn’t anything definitive that we had. Just gut feeling and conjecture. After buying equipment for Takamura, we headed back to the tower. From what he had said, there’s a direct path to the boss’ lair without any critters. According to him that is. “So anyways that’s when I told them that I was not going into a pit of fire snakes,” Takamura laughed. “No way, what did they say?” Kirito asked, laughing along with his new companion. Been a while since I saw him joke around with someone else other than us. He was always so reserved and quiet around strangers that it’s hard to believe that he had bonded with Takamura this fast. Takamura wiped his tears as he opened the tower’s gate, “They didn’t say anything. They just headed straight into the pit of snakes!” Both men erupted into laughter. Suguha was getting more irritated by the second while we were getting more skeptical of him by the second, “Anyways, so there’s a shortcut to the boss or the regular longer route, which do you want to do?” Walking inside the stoney labyrinth, I could feel the air thickening. Sounds echoed through the hallway. As the torches lit up, greeting our entrance, I found heart tightening around my chest. Butterflies emerged through my guts, causing my arm to tense up. Right. This was real. This would change us if we’re not careful. I should say something here, right? “Actually, let us go the normal route first. I think I want to get used to our formation first before attempting the boss.” “But we could quickly kill the boss first using my faster route,” Takamura argued, “I don’t want us to waste our energy on these small enemies. Please Kirito, I’ve spent so long inside these walls, I don't want a repeat of last time,” His eyes teared up a little. Kirito scratched against his chin, “Hmm but I don’t want us to be this unprepared. We haven’t even fought an actual enemy before and I want to use this chance to gauge how the combat system would work.” I tugged against his shirt, “Actually I have something I want to say in private.” “Like what? Just share with the group, won’t you?” “Like couple stuff,” On instinct, I grabbed Kirito's arm, pressing my body against him. Immediately, both of their faces flushed red. The only excuse that I could find on the spot…. My fingers slid across my lips, “Or do you want to hear all of the spicy deeds instead?” “No,” He covered his mouth, averting his eyes from us, “That’s fine. Just make it quick, alright?” The girls gave me the thumbs up underneath the waist as I dragged Kirito into a secure spot. He asked, flabbergasted at my action, “What the hell was that about, Sinon? This isn’t the time for that, alright?” “I’m sorry but I need to tell you something,” I glanced back one last time, ensuring no one was around to hear it, “Don’t get too close to Takamura, we suspect that he’s a spy.” “Spy? For her?” I nodded. Instead of brushing me off, he scratched his chin, “Do you guys have any proof of this?” “No but isn’t everything lining up too perfectly? Like how he arrived just before we were about to enter? Or how he claimed to survive alone in this tower through ‘avoiding the enemies’? Seriously?” Kirito let out a sigh, “But we can’t just cut him off now, can we?” “Yeah but just be wary of his actions. Maybe I’m wrong about this whole thing,” I glanced away, hoping that I was wrong. Betrayal hurts no matter how I sliced it. He brushed against my blue hair, “No worries, I’ll just keep an eye out, alright?” Once we returned back to the others, Kirito announced that he’ll compromise. He’ll use the shortcut only after we have trained enough, under which we need to level up to fight the boss. Takamura agreed and nodded along, no longer fighting back on his idea. With Takamura and Kirito standing before us, the three of us girls stood in a triangle formation, confronting some slimes as warm up. Takamura would first use his ability to taunt the enemies while Kirito and I would damage the taunted enemies. Asuna will then clean up with her magic missiles and we’ll wrap it up with Suguha giving us light heals. Noticeably, Takamura’s fur would come back as the slimes damaged his skin while Kirito’s skin becomes smoother upon taking damage. I didn’t know why or how but I supposed it was some bug. Takamura would often wink at us girls after battle, especially Suguha since she was healing him. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any experience points for us. So grinding like this only served to tire us out. At least they do give us currency to keep us afloat. “So Kirito, is this enough warm up for us? Can see that your skin is smoother after battle now,” Takamura teased the panting Kirito as his fur sprouted from the back, “If we keep this up, poor Suguha might not have enough heals for us.” Kirito glanced back at his sister, “Say, how many heals do you have left?” “Just a minor chant and a major heal left… I think Takamura’s right here…” Asuna sighed, wiping her sweat off her back, “Yeah Kirito, I think we have to take the shortcut here.” He shot me a glance. I shook my head - they were right. We couldn’t be wasting any more time on these monsters. Especially not after what Takamura had mentioned about the boss. Wait. What if… “Fine, we shall take the shortcut then,” His grip tightened around his sword, “Just… is everyone prepared for this?” Silence filled between the four of us. I looked down, away from Kirito’s gaze. Not to say that I didn’t trust our capabilities, but it was one thing to believe in ourselves at the start of our journey, it was a different matter when we were just inches before a boss battle. I rubbed against my trembling hands - it’s been so long since I had played at these stakes. “Don’t worry, guys,” Takamura stepped out, his toes glued to one another, giving his movements a weird limp, “The boss isn’t as hard as all of these slimes. After all, it's just a slime queen and if we maintain our formation, we’ll easily kill it.” “So why didn’t you kill it the first time?” Asuna rebutted, “If it was as easy as you proclaimed.” Takamura flicked against her longer ears, causing her to glare at him, “Less experienced team members. Lack of knowledge of the boss themself. And most importantly, I was a coward back then. So this time it will be diff-” “Sounds like you’re just delusional or something.” “Why you little,” Takamura clenched against his fists, tears brimming around his eyes, “Delusional? Me? I experienced this first hand and you’re the one calling me delusional? And who are you to even call me that? You’re just the side chick to Kiri-” A slap passed through his face. The mark imprinted on his face as the sound echoed through the walls. Immediately, Kirito rushed behind her, “Knock it off!” He pulled her back with her face flushing completely red. Asuna struggled to get out of his grip, “Let go of me! Do you even hear the man? Me? Your side chick?” “Calm down Asuna! You’re also at fault here!” While both me and Suguha watched from the sidelines, I couldn’t help but feel even more suspicion towards Takamura. His gaze towards Asuna was not one of anger but rather he squinted at her struggle. Like how I would against my target, “We shouldn’t be fighting right before the damn boss battle. Please guys!” Unease settled within me. If we suspected him as a spy, how could we even trust his words for the boss battle? Sure, everything that he had said so far lined up completely but a boss battle would be the perfect time to betray us. I gulped. Please let my wild imagination be wrong. Especially not in this case. Takamura tapped against Kirito’s shoulders, “It’s fine. She did make many valid points against me. I understand why she would be skeptical over…” “No! She was at fault here. Asuna, apologize to Takamura now! Please, he has helped us so much, why couldn’t you trust him?” The mage stomped against the ground, “Yeah with all of his made up stories. I’m not as naive as Kirito over here, Takamura. I know you’re working with the organiser.” “Me? Working with them?’ He burst out laughing, tumbling to the floor, clutching against his stomach, “Why would you ever think that? I hate her with every single fiber of my body and you really think I’m some secretive spy?” He continued, walking up to both of them. His voice rising with each subsequent word, “If I was a spy, would I willingly take damage for this team? Why would I even tell you guys about the layout and the enemies? I could have left and not risk my life for you fucks, you know that?” “Enough!” Kirito dropped his sword to the ground, causing our eyes to shift towards him. Both of them stopped fighting - Asuna looking towards the floor with guilty eyes while Takamura rubbed against his eyes with his stubbier hands. “Look, I don’t know why you girls are so skeptical over our new friend here. He has done nothing but be kind towards all of us. So is it too much for us to trust him this time?” “But… isn’t…” Suguha cleared her throat and muttered out, “I just don’t feel safe around him, alright? He makes me feel uneasy with how he acts.” “And please, he could be making all of this shit up from his arse,” Asuna chimed in, “You trust people way too easily Kirito, don’t you remember how Akihiko betrayed us back then?” Kirito glanced at me, “Any complaints from you, Sinon?” “Me?” I pointed to myself, a little startled. Glancing at my party mates, their eyes directly glaring into me like daggers. Shit. Something didn’t feel right. I shifted my gaze towards Takamura, who was clenching his fists in silence, hearing how everyone complained about him. Yes, my gut feeling was telling something was up. But the lack of proof made me feel bad for him. What if he really was just some kid, who watched his friends all change before him, leaving him all alone within this dungeon? That possibility was certainly not zero and I… I didn’t want to risk it. “No complaints from me here,” I shook my head, averting my eyes from the other girls, “He has been taunting enemies and played as our tank excellently so far.” “Bu-” “So Takamura,” Kirito, looking at Takamura, announced, “Could you agree not to be so creepy towards the girls? My sister especially,” He turned around, pointing his sword at Asuna’s neck, “And you. Apologise to Takamura right now. You have no proof but only speculations to go off.” Asuna bit against her lips. As she walked towards Takamura, she muttered out an apology - the words seemingly being choked out of her throat. Walking back, she glared at me as I fidgeted against my fingers. What was I supposed to say there? He was definitely a spy? “With this fight settled, I expect everyone to work together during the boss fight. No more stupid infighting over useless suspicions. Is that clear?” Kirito’s voice softened but the weight of his words hung deeply down my heart. Been a while since I had seen this side of him. This icy fury. Once that was said, we began to make our way towards the boss. Takamura bashed down some of the fake walls, revealing a spiraling staircase. Vines surrounded the cracks within the narrow stony steps while moss grew by the corners. Abandoned cobwebs scattered through the region as our steps echoed through the structure. Within the corner of my eye, I spotted some human writing by the corners. Markings left behind as though someone was counting the days down. I glanced at Takamura before Kirito rubbed against his temples, “Guess we’ll take a single file. Be careful of the vines.” Kirito led the charge while Takamura was right behind him. I quickly climbed after them - could feel the tension between the girls brewing underneath the surface. While climbing, Takamura glanced back at me, whispering, “Thank you Sinon for what you said. I’m truly sorry for acting like a creep to the other girls and what you said really made me feel better.” “No worries, I’m sure anybody would do the same.” “Such a shame that you’re not my type. You truly have a heart of gold,” I glanced down at my body. Not his type? The hell was he saying? For a split second, I peeked behind me. Ah. So that’s what he meant, “OK sorry, that was rude of me. I swear, I didn’t mean it that way.” “Uhuh…” “You’ll see what I mean later,” Leaving me with the image of his smirk, he started another conversation with Kirito. There, I felt a nudge behind me, “So I see you have chosen your side, huh?” “Suguha, it’s not like that. I swear I’m still suspicious of him but…” “But?” “But what if he was right? What if he really was trapped here for the past month, all alone?” “Yeah yeah, tell that to Asuna. She is like a volcano, ready to erupt at any moment now,” She softened her voice, “Then again, he is definitely a creep. He kept on flirting with me even though I told him to stop several times. And plus, you should see his look when Kirito was restraining Asuna, squinting at her for some sick reason.” Wait, but he had little to no interest in me. Even within that conversation, his words didn’t have the same enthusiasm as he had for the others, “Yeah… he is kinda creepy.” “Right! Just gives me this icky feeling. Like seriously, who does he think he is? At least Kirito likes him…” I nodded along as she continued complaining. It felt weird. Why the special treatment towards me? Physical traits? But Suguha was not as sexy as me (I would argue) with her smaller body. Personality? Both girls only had eyes on Kirito, Asuna even slapped him just now for crying out loud. Finally we reached the boss level. An abandoned temple that had been left behind, scrawling with vines and smaller slimes. Yet, the supposed slime queen was absent here. Kirito gripped against his sword, taking a fighting stance, “Takamura, keep your guard up. The boss will come in at any moment.” “Just calm down, the boss will only appear once you get rid of these smaller slimes,” He walked up to one of the slimes and hit them, “I told you this before, didn’t I?” “Yeah but maybe the boss cou-” “Or do you not trust me?” He turned to the side, taunting most of the slimes towards him. “It’s not like that, Takamura,” Kirito protested as we engaged in battle. While Asuna chanted her magic spells and I fired my arrows, Suguha stayed in the backline, behind us all. More fur sprouted on Takamura, taking chip damage with how the slimes eroded his armor. Yet, these slimes were easier to defeat. A single fireball evaporated the slimes into ashes, one single strike killed them all while my arrows could pierce through them like water. Even easier than the ones below. My gut feeling was stirring once more - the chills rushed down my spines. I scanned the region. Come on, there had to be something. What made this a boss battle compared to all of the other fights before? Takamura’s party lost at this stage, there had to be something hard about this. “Sinon! Focus up!” Kirito shouted. I looked back at Takamura, who was being overwhelmed and surrounded by the slimes. More black fur ripped through his shirt as his body grew larger and clunkier. I switched targets, aimed against the slimes, piercing them down one by one. Why couldn’t he kill the slime himself? He would've punched and their health bar would have been reduced to half. Unless… Lying on the ground, he whimpered as his mouth stretched out, “Neigh! Neighhhh!” He screamed, using his hands to grip against his legs. Suguha immediately rushed to his aid, chanting out a heal. A green glow encapsulated his body as his face retracted inwards. Bated breaths now slowed down as he regained his health. Opening his eyes, he reached his hands out to her, “Thank you Suguha, I would never forget this for the rest of-” “Knock it off! If you have time to talk, you have time to taunt!” Kirito shouted, now pushing back the swarm of slimes. Hair on his skin shedded off as he killed the slimes in one slash. “Alright, alright, chill.” Suguha protested back, “Go and do your job then! You seemed so laid back for someone who was at the brink of losing their lives.” “Well I have you after all. So it's fine,” He winked at her, causing us all to cringe, “I mean, the boss will come out soon enough once this last wave of slimes die off.” My mind was still rushing to piece together the truth. Everything didn’t add up. His behaviour. This boss battle. This entire scenario. As I continued shooting my arrows, I half haphazardly gazed at Takamura’s movements. He was walking back towards us instead of tanking alongside Kirito. “So Asuna, do you still think that I’m a spy?” He said with a smirk, “See how easy everything is if you guys just listened to me.” “Get out of my sight, Takamura. We’re still not done against the slimes.” “This is all the easy stuff, so just take it chill, alright?” As Kirito slayed the last slime, he panted, wiping sweat off from his forehead. His hair now strangely longer, reaching up to his shoulders. Speaking of his shoulders, they were thinner than before with more tender muscles. Was I going mad or was he looking more like a girl by the second. Regardless, within this down time, the others rested - some sat down while others were still bickering away. I slowly recollected the chain of events. From the moment we found him to this current fight, I didn’t understand why he was acting this way properly. If he was being sincere of course… If he was a spy like we had all suspected, most of this would line up perfectly. Explains why he wouldn’t kill the slimes, cause he wanted to waste our heals. Why he wanted to rush us to this boss stage, cause he wanted us to change. Why he was so relaxed at this stage, cause he already knew what was about to come. The pieces added up like a jigsaw puzzle, merging together to form a better picture. But why would someone want to work as some spy for us? Was he promised to escape after betraying us? Wait… the fact that he ‘wasn’t interested in me’ stuck out like a sore thumb. Why them instead of- Oh. Oh shit. The floor began to rumble as I shouted back at Asuna, “Come towards us now! Takamur-” “Seems like someone pieced together the truth,” His grin widened as he gripped against Asuna’s hand. A purple Slime smashed into the arena, overtowering all of us like we were ants to its rule. With each jump she made, the whole temple trembled. There, smaller blue slimes escaped through its skin, swarming the place with its offspring. “Takamura, what are you doing?” Kirito shouted, watching Asuna struggle to get away from his grip, “Come here now!” “Just fulfilling my end of the deal,” He winked back, “Now Asuna, we’ll both be happy together.” “Let me go, Takamura! I had enough of you!” Asuna pointed her staff towards Takamura, “Don’t make me shoot a fireball at you!” “Well, you have bigger problems to deal with than me,” On command, he used his skill to taunt all the enemies towards them, “See all of these cute slimes~” My hands moved on reflex, immediately firing arrows without any restraint. One by one, they were taken out, but I didn’t have any arrows left. Suguha was panicking on the side, completely overwhelmed at the current scenario while Kirito defended our healer. “Fine, jackass!” She fired her magic missiles towards the slimes, “The hell is your problem?” “Me? I’m just looking for a cute mare like you over here,” He rubbed against her horse ears, “Isn’t it lonely just being the only one cursed?” My mind still couldn’t decipher why he was acting this way. Did he actually want to be an animal? I ducked back while shooting from a safe angle, “Kirito quickly! I made a way for you to fight the Queen. Take her down!” “Yeah Kirito, do that!” Takamura chimed in sarcastically, “We’re all supporting you here!” “Shut up, Takamura!” From there, Kirito started to slash at the base of her while Suguha continuously healed him from the back. The other slimes were still being redirected towards Asuna, causing her to keep chanting spells to ward them away. I shifted my attention to the other two, grabbing the arrows on the floor and reusing them to kill the other slimes, “The hell is your problem Takamura? Do you really want to become some stupid horse that we found you.” “Sinon, shoot Takamura down! His grip is too strong to get me out!” “Come then, shoot me if you dare,” He laughed, “I’ll only receive 30% of the damage anyways.” “Sinon! I need back up! Could you start shooting from the back!” Kirito demanded as his voice increased by a couple notes. I caught sight of his stupid smirk before turning around and focussing myself to shoot for Kirito. “Asshole, just release me already!” Asuna shouted. “Can’t do that. Boss gave me orders to take you out.” “Bet your boss brainwashed you into serving her like a d-Arghh!” She screamed as his grip tightened around her arms. As he glared down on her, he pulled her towards the swarms of slimes, “Don’t you dare say that about my saviour. She changed my fucking life around from being some cripple who couldn’t walk properly to giving me a liberating body!” “If you want to be a horse so much then just change! Nobody’s stopping you! Don’t drag me inside,” She screamed, feeling fatigue on her body. Her every word was more strained than the last. “Boss told me to take one of you girls out and…” I readied my aim against the Slime Queen. With my last arrow, I just needed to pierce through her and have a critical shot against her. I breathed deeply and let the world fade around me. My eyes closed. My breathing slowed. And I pulled the bow. Then I released it. The arrow swirled in the air and rushed towards my foe, striking the Slime Queen down with ease. Her health bar reached zero yet her body still moved on like a zombie, “Wait, what is going on, Kirito?” “Oh that? That’s her final attack, guaranteed to kill anybody here,” Takamura explained as he started to use his taunt, “Well Asuna, any final words as a human?” “Shut up, asshole! I’-” The slime queen bursted into smaller pieces of herself, all directed to the pair. As it rained down on both of them, their health bars reached 0 in seconds. Yet they didn’t change. “Looks like the server needs some time to catch up,” He shook his hand, dusting off the slime parts, “Can't wait to become a horse again.” Asuna glanced around at us, her eyes brimmed with tears. Her mouth opened. No words came out of it with the exception of some grunts and whimpers. My heart twisted inside. Fuck, I should’ve trusted my gut when I had the chance. All of this was indirectly caused by me. By me. She fell onto the ground, clutching against her stomach. Kirito rushed towards her, “Asuna! Are you alright?” Before immediately crashing into some sort of invisible wall, similar to the first encounter we had. “Seems like one of you guys have perished in battle,” A hologram of the lady appeared, “Thank you Takamura for taking her out.” “It was my pleasure, Kira,” He bowed down, smiling ear to ear, “So Asuna, ready to be a mare? Or should I say, my mare?” Kirito bashed against this invisible barrier, slamming with every bit of force he had, “Release her now! This was all rigged from the start! If it was like that, I would never have wanted this fucking traitor in our team!” “Eh? Traitor? He served his role well, didn’t he? Constantly supporting you guys, tanking all the damage from all enemies. Plus, at any point, you could have just kicked him out. Left him to die, you know?” She said, “It’s not like you guys didn’t know. Right, Asuna?” Asuna and Suguha glared at both of us with fury, almost as if they were blaming us for her demise. Her downfall. Kirito sank onto his knees, where he continued to cry. Each bash was weaker than the last where despair clung around his neck. “Damn, you’re acting as if she’s dying or something,” She scoffed. “It’s all your fault, you fucking bitch! You had a choice! You chose to capture us for your sick fantasies and AHHH!” Kirito yelled before it came to a soft sniffle. Both me and Suguha approached him, both in silence as he continued to cry. “If you’re done with your little tantrum, we have a mare to make!” Her gaze shifted towards the horrified Asuna who was now pleading for her humanity, “Please, don’t do this to me. Or… maybe you could change me halfway or something.” This was the first time I saw Asuna so miserable before. I always thought she was the bravest among us, especially since she survived the first death game. “Nah, where’s the fun in that?” She snapped her fingers, teleporting right before her face, “Damn Takamura, didn’t know you were into feisty girls like her. Was so sure you’re into that cleric with how much you flirted.” He shook his head, “Nah, she’s boring, especially with how scared she was. Would be so much more interesting if Asuna was the one begging for it.” “It?” I asked, before stopping myself. I covered my mouth. No. No. No, “Stop! Fuck you two for doing this!” “You’re fucking sick, Takamura! I… I would never…” Asuna protested. Kirito gave one last bash against the wall, “If I defeat this game, I’ll kill the both of you if that’s the last thing I’ll do. I swear on my fucking name.” Takamura instead rolled his eyes, “Please. Where do you think the pink form the slime queen came from? It's a sort of aphrodite,” He placed his hands onto the ground - now on all fours, “Oh trust me, you’ll definitely want sex.” Asuna’s face turned red. Her eyes now darting around, sniffing the air around her. Floppy ears twitched around her as she looked at Takamura intensely, “N…no… I wo- won’t become like you…” “That’s a little too late to say that, isn’t it?” He shrugged. Using one of his hands, he ripped out his shirt as his body bulked up in size. Muscles stacked layer over layer on his body, widening his shoulder width, “Missed these bad boys.” Asuna, meanwhile, was struggling to stand on her two feet. It was like she was drunk and struggled to keep her balance. Especially with how she stumbled around in circles. She gritted against her teeth, trying her best to slow down the changes. Kira then snapped her fingers. Immediately, we watched her shoes ripped to shreds with her widening feet, “Eeeek! Make this stop!” She pleaded. “Oh please. Even a dedicate mare like you still needed their hooves,” He said, walking towards her on all fours, “How else would you stand-” “Get close to me and I’ll fucking bite you!” He gave her a little nudge, thick chestnut brown fur covered his limbs, as Asuna fell onto the ground. She fortunately caught herself before falling straight to the ground with her hands, “What did I say? Witho-” “Shut it, Takamura!” Her face redder than ever, “Have you ever fucking thought not everyone is a freak that wants to become a-Neighhh horse like you?” Takamura shot a glance at Kira, “See boss, this is why I would rather her than the boring cleric,” His mouth now elongated forward, stretched out to form his new maw. After a couple of coughs, he continued in a deeper voice, “Neigh- Neigh! Neighhhh! Ah, much better now. Can’t stand that human voice.” Stretching forward, his fingers fused together while his nails hardened up. Seemingly, the nails surrounded his hand, covering the underneath parts of it. A simple stretch backwards was all it took to widen his palms, creating him a new set of hooves, “Good ol hooves. How much I missed you.” Asuna’s eyes blinked at his change. She immediately tried to use the invisible barrier, trying to climb back on her two feet. But somehow, her fingers couldn’t grip onto it, making her look like a cat trying to climb up a door, “No… no… I’m not becoming a horse. Not here, not n-NEIGHHHH!” Cracks echoed through the temple. Her spine was cracked as Kirito immediately asked, “Asuna! Are you alright? Did it hurt?” “It’s fine… I think?” She still continued trying to stand upright only for her to whimper miserably, “Fuck… my pelvis… I can’t raise it up straight!” “Welcome to quadrupedal life, Asuna! You’re forever on all fours from now onwards, isn’t that nice?” Kira teased, “Say, what fur color would you like?” Asuna replied with a silent glare at the hologram. I jittered a little to the right while Suguha watched in horror. This is what’s going to happen if she’s not careful. Her fate as some stupid mare. “Seeing as you’re so fierce to poor Takamura, let’s just make your fur maroon red then. Just a little darker than your hair” Instantly, fur with her hair color sprouted through her skin. Her face winced a little as she tried to scratch her back, causing her entire body to wobble around. “That happened to me at the start. The trick is to get used to the itchiness or distract your mind away from it,” Takamura explained. He closed his eyes for a moment, stretching his neck out further. Brown fur covering it in an instant. He said with a grin, “So how do I look?” Asuna’s face flushed even redder as she turned away, “Shut up, why are you trying to flirt with me right now?” “Asuna, I can see you blushing, you know?” “It’s… it’s cause of the Neigh…that stupid pink slime shit…” Takamura clopped his way in front of Asuna, “Uhuh? So why won’t you look me in the face?” “Cause… cause…” She lowered her voice so much that I couldn’t hear it. But Kirito who heard it was furiously bashing against the wall, “Asuna! You can’t be serious, right! This fucking prick is turning you into a mare.” “I know that!” She shouted, “Neigh, neigh… neigh!” “See that’s the thing you’ll have to look out for,” A black mane strided down his neck, contrasting well with his fur, “Sometimes you’ll neigh out for others instead of speaking proper English.” Asuna turned around to us. Her ears twitching like mad while she closed her eyes. Her hands curling up into a fist, slowly flattening out - the bottom part touching the ground hardened into a hoove. “Neigh~” Takamura walked up, whispering right into her floppy ear. A grunt escaped out of her, causing her snout to widen out while expanding in size. Her teeth flattened while stretching out. With red fur covering every inch of her face, her neck soon stretched out longer. Whinnies and neighs escaped from her mouth as Takamura continued talking to her. Glancing away from Asuna, I found my cheeks warming up. As Takamura’s pants had long been destroyed from the changes, I didn’t even notice his cock when he first started. Yet it had since grown by a couple of inches in both length and width. Suguha covered her eyes, completely embarrassed at the sight while I averted my eyes away from it. Oh god, how was that supposed to fit in anybody? The finishing touches came quickly. His tailbone stretched out, penetrating his fur and sprouted out as a tail. Like waves, it swished from side to side like a dog meeting his owner. Kinda endearing to be honest. “So how's the view, girls?” He winked at us, only for Kirito to rebut, “Stand the fuck back, liar!” “Tch. Seems like the harem protagonist is jealous that his side chick is ditching him,” He shot a glance at the changing woman, “Neigh, nei-neigh?” She giggled on instinct before catching herself, “Takamu-Neigh! Neig-neigh-neigh! Neigh Neigh!” Her slender body grew bigger and thickened up as she kept talking. Brown fur now enveloped her body, her limbs still trying to stabilize herself, “Neigh! Neigh! Nei-all because of that shitty-Eigh! Neigh!” With each shake, her human breasts merged with her bigger chest, toughening it up with muscles. Shame was visible on her face. Her ass bumped up a few sizes while nipples emerged from below her stomach. They swelled and bloated up in size within moments - they were even bigger than her human rack. Her hooves, now tapping around the ground, were now firmer and solid. Contrasting her red fur, a brighter red mane stroked down her neck, “Ne-Neigh… Neigh neigh… Don’t look at Nei-e. Neigh ugly now, you guys must ne-neigh me!” She argued, still unsure of where to face everyone. “Asuna, don’t be silly! We don’t think that way of you! You’ll always be our friend no matter what form you-” “RIght so since your humanity meant so little, why shouldn’t I change everyone he-” “Shut your fucking mouth up, Kira!” He pointed at the hologram. Veins popped off from his neck as he breathed in deeply to calm himself down, “Sorry Asuna. I genuinely mean it. But I’ll take revenge fo-” Takamura now slid between them, “Yeah, yeah, quit your yapping. Asuna here has needs and I’m here to solve them,” He flashed another grin, “Neigh-neigh. Neigh.” Even within her maroon fur, her face turned into a tomato. She choked a little on her words before uttering out, “Ne-neigh?” Her eyes relaxed while her tail bone shot through her back, “Please…” “Please what?” He circled around her with a shit-eating grin. “Neigh…neigh…ne…” She softened her voice, grunting out in some neighs. Her tail grew out - less bushier than Takamura’s but still thick enough to fling fur all over. “Say it in English, Asuna dear. And make sure everyone can hear it.” Her tongue stretched out, panting. Closing her eyes, she gulped before saying, “Please… please breed me, Takamura. This is killing me! Please, I need you!” “Asuna! Snap out of it! This isn’t you!” Suguha chimed in, “Yeah, Asuna! At least don’t fuck this creep, he doesn’t even look good!” “Shut up-eigh! Neigh neigh neigh! I am going mad if I don’t have him inside me right now! Please Neigh fuck me!” Her hooves stomped onto the ground, almost like a plea to this heat of hers. Her tail was running wild - just like Kirito who had been smashing against the barrier, wailing and shouting for Asuna to stop. Takamura snickered, “Look at you, Kirito! The once famous boy saviour is now completely powerless to us. Where did all your gusto go?” What Kirito would have replied with a sharp insult, he instead stayed silent. I tried to comfort him, allowing his body to rest on my shoulders while Suguha was still throwing back insults at Takamura. His eyes now as dead as a fish, completely resigned to his fate. Completely wrecked against my heart to see him in this defeated state. “And you, Asuna,” He ignored Suguha’s screams, whispering into her ear instead, “Neigh… neigh…” Her ears twitched up. “I’m not… no…” She tried to argue back, “I’m not a naughty girl… I… Nei-” “Neigh?” She gulped. Her legs quivered, her eyes gazed towards his maw, she retracted her tongue… What was going on with her? What did this traitorous bastard say to her? Suddenly, he shifted his gaze towards me, “Oh Sinon, you don’t have to worry about it. I would never think about hurting poor Asuna here, she’s been through so much already.” “So what the hell did you tell her?” I hissed. “Nothing much,” He galloped, leering down at me, “You see, as a handsome stud now, I often get the feeling that mares like Asuna only want me for sex. And so I feel there’s little point to this,” His cock surged on, elongating with each word spoken. “Neigh! Neig-o you want me to give you a kiss? What are you Neigh-ne Neigh! You already made me beg for it, just Nei-e relieve me already!” He sighed, “Alright then, guess you don’t want it, do you?” Asuna glanced back and forth at us then back at him. She still was weak on her knees, evident by how much she was trembling. Her tail slowly paused as her nostrils flared up. Kira soon joined in the fray, “Oh sorry to interrupt your little soap opera but the tower is going to crumble quite soon.” “Huh? So what do you want us to do? Get out of here?” Suguha asked. “Well originally it would crumble immediately after Asuna had changed buttt seeing as how horny she is, I thought it would be nice for them to have some fun. You know animals tend to act a little feral when they are all horny like that?” Asuna opened her mouth yet no words came out. This time, her tail slowed down, perhaps due to shame for causing us these problems. Were they going to do the same for us as well? Seeing as we wrestle with our bodies for control? The tower rumbled as a door emerged by the corridor. I glanced around at my party and the elusive exit. Was this really the exit for us? Kirito finally showed signs of life and just proceeded to walk towards the exit. "Kirito! Where are you going? Suguha called out to the defeated man. His feet stumbling towards the exit; his haggard appearance and hollow eyes refused to even look back. Within the silence, Suguha caught up to him, trying to cheer him up. Meanwhile, I stayed behind, unwilling to leave her behind. I abandoned her once already. Not this time. Not when she was all alone here. Fear decided to take hold of me, refusing to let me look away at her fate. This could be my fate if I wasn’t careful. Asuna’s eyes dimmed as she watched the siblings leave the tower. I could hear a little whinny. A little cry escaped from her with her eyes still glaring down at me. My hands pressed against the barrier, “Asuna, please. I… I never wanted this for you. I didn’t think this would happen.” “Nei-” Her head dropped, looking back at Takamura; she then nodded almost in resignation before clopping her hooves towards him, “Neigh-know you’re a bastard, but… neigh.” “At least better than your friends that left you.” “Oh shut up and fuck me already,” She whined out, diving into his longer maw, her tongue now out to play. Mirroring her action, both of them had an awkward kiss, each of them not knowing how it was supposed to work. Their tongues licked each others’ snouts, almost trying to find that golden spot. She soon pulled away, “Neigh neigh. Neigh is stupid, Takamura. Neigh, nei-neigh neigh,” She glanced away, “Please.” “The pleasure’s mine.” Asuna turned around, raising her tail up and revealed her naked sex. Her cunt now swollen, a perfect hole for his boner. A part of me wanted to look away. To avert my eyes from them having feral sex. Yet, I felt like I needed this. I needed this to be my wake up call, to take some sort of responsibility for my own action, to realize that this wasn’t just a game. That this was our lives at stake. Takamura strolled towards her, his excitement conveyed through his tail’s intense swishing. There he carefully raised his upper body before mounting onto hers. Their fur now touching with one another, their eyes looked back at each other with her face blushing ever so red. With his face next to hers, he asked, staring at me, “Didn’t expect you to stay behind and watch us have sex.” “I’m not leaving her, jackass!” “Did you hear that, Asuna? She called me a jackass,” He softened his voice for the mare, “Nei… neigh… Neigh.” She gulped down, “Neigh… At least… you’re mine…” “Attagirl. Don’t worry, Asuna. I’ll try to be gentle,” He gently slid his cock into her cunt, causing Asuna to start letting out cries. Her eyes fluttered, her breaths getting faster than ever and especially how her tail was wagging like a dog reuniting with its owner. Kira popped right next to me in her hologram form, pointing at them, “See Sinon, this is because of you. If you had sided with them, dear Asuna here might still be human. Or maybe you secretly want this to happen? To make her into a horny mare that’s getting knocked up by a stud?” I tried to swat the hologram away, only for it to pass through my fingers. She was reading me like a book, saying all of these heavy regretful thoughts out for me to hear them. A tear streamed down my cheeks as she continued to provoke me. Now Takamura thrusted his hips towards her, rocking his body back and forth. Both of them appeared to be beaming, drowning in their pleasure. Her tongue now hung lowly out of her mouth while the moans kept on going. My face flushed red, now seeing this primal act in full display. “Imagine this but with you and Kirito,” Kira suddenly whispered into my ear, “Two feral cats fucking with one another without a care in the world. Would-” I pulled myself away from her, “That’s enough for you. Kirito and I will win your stupid game and we’ll crush you completely.” “You said the same thing before, what happened to poor Asuna here?” I fell silent. She knew what she was doing, rubbing salt into our fucking wounds. As I opened my mouth, I felt my throat dry up. “But don’t you see how happy they are?” Happy? She was being forced. Forced by her own instinct to do this act. This… primal… urges, “Neigh! Neigh! Shove it in me deeper, Takamura!” Asuna suddenly shouted as she leaned backwards, closer to his body, “Neighhh!” No. I shook my head. This was due to the slime. Asuna hated Takamura from the start. This… she didn’t deserve any of it. Takamura, after a snort, hastened his thrusting speed and shoved it inside deeper. Wait, was his boner bigger? In a climax, both horses shouted from the top of their lungs. Cum erupted deep inside her. He soon dismounted her, cum dripping from his cock and her cunt. And her gaze followed after his face with a gentle look. Feeling a tap on my shoulders, I looked up to see Kira giggling, “Well Sinon, hope you enjoyed that show. But the two of you need to leave now if you want to keep your humanity around,” The world around me pixelated; some of the pixels lost its color, appearing now as grey. “Two of us? Isn’t Asuna out?” She shook her head, “I said it before didn’t I? Even if you lose the game, you will still be forced to continue to play.” “What happens if she doesn’t come along?” “I’ll just teleport her there then.” I raised my eyebrow, “What about me? Why couldn’t you teleport me as well?” “If you want to become a cat right now, sure then.” I clicked my tongue on instinct. The actual hell was she saying? As Asuna giggled alongside Takamura, I quickly snapped my finger, “Asuna! We have to leave now!” “Neig?” “I said we have to go now!” Finally the invisible barrier was now gone as I grabbed her by the tail. Only for her to swish it, slapping my face, “Asuna! We have to go now! Else…” “Neigh, neigh-nei-neigh!” “Asuna dear, you’re neighing again,” Takamura interjected before giving me a side glance, “Anyways Sinon, you can go off first. Asuna here wants to spend more time with me.” “Bu-” “We’ll meet again soon enough. You should probably deal with that depressed crush of yours first.”