My breath ran ragged as I sped towards the center of town to the inn.

        SLAM!

        One of the trebuchet shots catapulted through the roof of an NPC-owned shop to my right. The buildings were no longer indestructible objects. This was bad. This was very bad.

        There were no centaurs near me, but they were beginning to invade the town. Plumes of smoke rose from all directions in the city as the centaur's trebuchets shot comets into the town. I froze in fear and scanned the sky. The projectiles twinkled like stars at the apex of their journey through the air, only to grow frighteningly and slam into the ground. I doubted that I could take a direct hit from one of those things and live.

        How did they destroy the Safe Zone?!

        This shouldn't be able to happen. Safe Zones were the only safe places for players, and if they could be compromised, then there was nothing left to protect the players. There was no safety net.

        I shook my head and resumed my race to the inn, where my teammates were sleeping. They were unaware of what was going on. I had to get there, and I had to get there quickly. My feet stomped the ground, and buildings became a blur as I passed them, moving more quickly than I ever had before. My heart raced, and my already tired muscles screamed for me to slow down, but my will screamed louder to go faster.

        Within ninety-four seconds, I was in front of the inn, and didn't hesitate in throwing my shoulder into the lobby door and taking the stairs two at a time. My friends all slept on the third floor, and I knew which rooms were there. Normally, the only way to wake someone up would be to send them a message, or to knock on their doors. The rooms were inaccesible, but it seemed as though the mechanics that protected the city had broken down with the barrier, and so I gave Izak's door the same treatment as the entrance to the inn.

        My shoulder hit the door and knocked it open, slamming it against the wall it was hinged upon. "Izak, get up now!" I yelled. I saw his form lean up at look at me, and what I could make out of his face was a look of extreme puzzlement. "The city is under attack! Get dressed now!"

        I turned and headed out of his room, repeating the process in Jada's room. She seemed equally bewildered, but I didn't give anyone a lengthy explanation. There was no time. I repeated the process, and had awakened Izak, Jada, and Mike, and as I headed towards Rianna's room, there was a hand on my shoulder. A fully dressed Izak siezed me by the pauldron. "What the hell is that noise?" He demanded. "What's going on?"

        I shook my head, and told him to gather everyone in the hallway that we were in, then turned back to the door. Shoving open the door to Rianna's room, I found a very much awake Rianna, who was fully dressed in her armor, and was in the process of sheathing her rapier. "I know," she said simply and pushed past me. The attacks must have woken her up, or she heard me waking up the rest. It was unimportant.

        As she pushed past me, I turned to look down the hallway. Jada, Izak, Mike, Daniel, and now Rianna stood in the hallway, and each of them were dressed in their armor to my relief. I would only need to show them what was happening now. I started towards them and forcefully said, "Follow me."

        I took off down the hallway and descended the stairs and pushed out of the doorway. Checking my surroundings, I saw that no enemies had made it this far into the city yet, but the increased amount of smoke that appeared to be coming from the rim of the town was alarming. They were besieging the entire city. My guildmates followed me outside, and several sharp gasps ensued at the chaos. The catapults had appeared to have stopped firing for now, but the damage that they had caused was more than evident. Many rooftops were completely caved in, and several buildings within my line of sight were burning.

        "The Safe Zone's been destroyed. There are hundreds of centaurs attacking the city right now. I don't know how, but I saw it happen myself." I spoke quickly, turning to my comrades. "We need to get out of here, now. But-"

        "There are at least two hundred in Gnaaros," Jada said. "We can't just leave them."

        Izak nodded gravely. "Two hundred clearers of the game, no less. Losing them would be a devastating loss."

        They were right. But saving them would involve staying in Gnaaros during the attack. That was a bad idea, to say the least. "There are three inns in Gnaaros," I began. "The other buildings don't have lodging, so those are the only important ones. The rest can burn without consequence." I looked at Rianna and pointed towards the inn that we had just gotten out of. "Go back in and check all the rooms. Wake everyone up, but be quick about it. We'll need a place of rendesvous-"

        "The center of town." Izak spoke up again. "That's where reinforcements will come from—through the Teleport Gate. That's the best place to stay in and defend from. There're only a few entrance points, and we can still have an escape route." He was right, and I nodded.

        "Fine. Wake everyone here up, and take them to the center of town." I thought for a moment, mentally locating the other two inns within the layout of Gnaaros. One was in the center of town, where we were. Another was on the very southern rim of the town, and the last was near the western edge. Both of the latter two inns would be dangerous to get to.

        "Izak, do you think you can handle going to the southern inn? It's on the edge of town, and the centaurs are nearly there by now, no doubt. Do you think you can handle it?"

        Izak didn't answer, but instead pulled his hood over his head and took off towards the south. He knew the value of the time we didn't have.

        "I'm going to the other inn. I know exactly where it is." Jada said, beginning to take off to the west. "I'll be back soon!" Seeing the other two take flight, Rianna ran back into the inn in front of us, and I looked at the remaining members in front of me. Daniel and Mike both stared at me. Daniel looked like he hadn't slept, and I didn't like the way he was eyeing me. He had attacked me while I wasn't looking earlier, and I no longer had a Safe Zone to protect me. I'd have to be extra careful around him. Mike stared at me almost in what seemed to be admiration. I didn't know why, I'd done nothing other than wake them up.

        "We need to get to the rendesvous point, and call for reinforcements as quickly as we can." I said, and turned and began running to the Town Square. While I was running, I opened my menu and sent a Dialogue request to the person I knew could probably help the most: Umber.

        The dial tone rang several times before a very awake-sounding Umber said, "Hello?"

        "Umber, this is Dakota. I have Mike with me, and Gnaaros is under attack. The Safe Zone broke down somehow, and we need your help."

        The Dialogue box snapped shut, and I knew that she'd be here as soon as she could. I trusted her to be there.

        I opened my menu again and contacted another person in my Contacts: Chandler. The dial tone rang several times before it was picked up, and he did not sound happy to be hearing from me at all. It was nearly 2 in the morning, and I couldn't blame him. "What the hell-" He began tiredly.

        I cut him off and repeated my message that I gave to Umber, but omitting the detail about Mike. "I need you and your team to help me. We have reinforcements on their way from the inns, if they haven't already been killed. We have to protect this place, though. There are so many of them, and I don't know what to do."

        "I'll be there soon, love. Don't worry." His voice changed from annoyed to reassuring, and the dialogue box vanished as I realized I was in front of one of the four wide bridges that served as the entrance to the Town Square. It was quiet here, and the moat-like river that surrounded the Town Square streamed quietly. I entered the Town Square, and repeated the process of sending out S.O.S. signals to everyone in my Contacts, while urging both Mike and Daniel to do the same.

        After nearly five minutes of contacting friends and acquaintances, I closed my menu for good, and took the axe from my back and paced nervously. I felt useless, just waiting here. People were probably being killed or fighting for their lives in different parts of the city, and here I was, holed up and waiting for help. I was useless.

        After several minutes of pacing and swinging my axe aimlessly, the Teleport Gate behind me shimmered and a short girl clad in black appeared from the construct. It was Umber. She saw me and walked up to me quickly, looking around and seeing Mike and Daniel. I thought I saw a bit of relief when she saw Mike, but I couldn't be sure, and my interpersonal observations weren't very keen at the moment. I stopped and stood up straight as she approached me, like a soldier being greeted by his superior.

        "Okay, what the hell is going on?" She snapped, looking at the signs of destruction that were evident in the night sky.

        I shook my head. "Centaurs. They shot down the barrier of the Safe Zone, and now they're in the city. Burning it down. I didn't think this could happen, but it definitely is."

        Umber looked at me and her face contorted. "Wait. Where is everyone else? They're not..."

        "No." I interrupted, unwilling to let her even state the notion. "They're fine. They each went to an inn to rally everyone here. We can launch a counterattack if we're all together, but fighting dispersed would get us killed without a doubt. But they'll probably have to fight they're way back, and I should go try to help. If another group gets here and I'm not here, though-" I began to ramble nervously, and Umber silenced me quickly.

        "Shut up." She snapped viciously. "Don't start with that. Calm down."

        She was right. I needed to calm myself, or I'd psych myself out and have a panic attack. That couldn't happen. I straightened my posture and slapped my cheeks. "Sorry. I'm fine, now."

        Just then, I heard ruckus behind me, and I whirled, holding my axe defensively. I let my guard down when I saw that the approaching figures were not hybrids of man and horse, but a group of over thirty people led by none other than Rianna. Most of the people in her wake looked like they'd been dragged here, and none looked more than half-awake. I breathed a bit easier knowing that we now had at least some sort of manpower.

        One of the people behind Rianna yelled. "We're here now, what the hell is going on?!"

        Rianna whirled angrily and kept her voice low. "You'll wait for orders from that guy." She jammed a thumb towards me, and suddenly I felt extremely self-conscious. Every eye in the group that she led looked at me, and I felt the need to straighten again. I was in way over my head.

        The crowd ambled toward me until they were surrounding me, and I cleared my throat loudly, which drew silence from the people. "The city of Gnaaros is under attack." I stopped and waited for their reactions. That was a stupid thing to say. Of course it was under attack. They reacted minimally, and so I continued on. "The Safe Zone has been destroyed, and as such, none of us are protected here. This is a battleground, now. However, before we can retreat, we need to save as many as the people here as we can." It took everything I had to keep from stuttering. I couldn't stammer aimlessly in front of people that were looking for direction. I couldn't be weak. Not now.

        "Scouts have been sent to the other two inns, and will be coming here with the people inhabiting them as soon as they are able. I urge all of you to contact all of your friends and acquaintances on different floors and urge them to help us defend Gnaaros. We can't lose this city."

        Umber stepped up beside me, and tapped me on the shoulder. I looked at her, and she motioned towards the Teleport Gate, which was shimmering again. Another familiar form appeared, followed by four others who were less familiar, but were obviously with the first to come through: Chandler. He scanned the crowd and located me quickly.

        With a stern look on his face, he approached me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Good to see you're still alive, friend. Now, what's going on exactly?"

        I explained all that I knew as quickly as I could to Chandler and the rest of his guild. Chandler chewed on his lip while I was speaking, and when I finished, he nodded slowly. He then issued quick commands. "Annabelle, go to the southern inn and make sure they're okay. Travis, you go to the western one." With brief nods, two of the people behind him nodded and took off out of the Town Square. Chandler then faced me. "What's your plan?"

        I shook my head and rattled off the fragments that I'd had placed in my mind. "Honestly, the best thing I can think of is to group up the reinforcements and station them at each bridge. That isn't a very flexible plan, though, and-"

        Chandler put his hand on my shoulder again with a tight grip. "That's fine, mate. Just get it done."

        I stared into Chandler's unyielding stare and almost lost myself for a moment before clearing my head and nodding. I turned back to Umber. "Do you have a head count?"

        "Thirty-four." She said simply. I knew she'd have a grip on the situation.

        I nodded and looked at her. "Help me put them in groups of eight, then put each group in front of a bridge to defend against enemies."

        As soon as I said the word "enemies," I noticed out of the corner of my eye three centaurs running in the streets around the Town Square. They were moving towards the east bridge, with the undoubted intention of crossing. I positioned my axe in front of me and began to move to the bridge, but Chandler stopped me.

        "We'll take care of them, just work your formation!" With that, he and his two other guildmates sped towards the bridge, unsheathing their weapons.

        Umber had already started separating the people by way of shoving them into groups. I stepped towards the crowd and raised my voice. "I'm putting you in four groups to defend the entrances to the Town Square. Defend the bridges with everything you have, and do not let them near the Teleport Gate. If they destroy that, our escape route is gone, and we all die!" My last proclamation seemed to grab their attention, and they seemed to be much more malleable, as Umber's progress in grouping them accelerated greatly.

        I began to worry for Jada and Izak. Statistically speaking, Jada was the safest. The western inn had the most people in it by far, and was always overcrowded. Once she reached the inn, she would have the biggest force protecting her, and would be the safest. Izak wasn't safe, though, by any means at all. If centaurs had already made their way to the centaur of the town, that inn must have been one of the first places hit. Knowing Izak, he'd jump into an impossible fight in order to try to save people, too. Damn it. I shouldn't have sent them alone.

        I cleared myself, and looked at one of the groups in front of me. "You all, get to the south entrance. If any people approach, make sure to filter them through quickly and send them to me. Don't let any enemies pass."

        I repeated the command thrice, in the order of south, east, west, and north. Within three minutes, each of the bridges had a force of at least eight men guarding it. I felt a bit more at ease with a fairly organized layout, but my heart still raced. Chandler appeared in front of me, not looking very inconvenienced  by the three centaurs.

        "How were they? I haven't fought any since Floor One, but I assume that they're much more powerful up here." I asked.

        He nodded and said, "Yes, they are each probably the equivalent of a Level 25."

        I grimaced and cursed. "We'll need more people. There were hundreds, Chandler. They still have their catapults, too..."

        He looked surprised. "They have catapults?!"

        I nodded. "It's how they broke down the barrier. There are at least fifteen to twenty of them."

        He shook his head. "Not a good situation. I'm worried about the people in the other inns."

        "As am I," I said. "And especially about Jada and..." A pang struck my heart at the thought of Izak in danger. I cleared my throat. "They'll be fine. They have to be. The monsters won't take this city." I straightened myself, as if by habit, and looked around the Town Square. No more enemies were in sight yet. Perhaps the group that made it were aberrant, and the rest were still around the edges of the town, preoccupied with the NPC-owned buildings. I could only pray at this point, though.

        "Commander!" I heard a man shout, along with the sound of people entering from the Teleport Gate. Turning, I saw something I hadn't anticipated or prepared for. Kibaou, along with at least twenty-five soldiers. He wore a grave expression, and he scanned the area. After a few seconds, he gave directives to his band of soldiers, and they divided into four groups and dispersed to the four bridges, save for two who stayed with Kibaou.

        It wasn't long before Kibaou's eyes saw me conversing with Chandler and Umber. He strode up to me confidently, a bit of annoyance showing in his face. "Would you like to explain what the hell is going on?" He said, his voice matching his facial expression.

        My own tone was identical to his, but I told him all that I knew regardless of my disdain for him. I didn't feel like I was in much danger, as he didn't attack me on the front lines, and there were plenty of witnesses here, so I just made sure to keep my axe out.

        He scratched at his soul patch and cursed. "I didn't think that could even happen..." He trailed off. I shook my head in response.

        "I didn't either, but it's happening." For a moment, I didn't hate the man, and was actually glad that he was here. He brought quite a force with him, and we were much safer for the moment. However, to counteract any safety that Kibaou brought, chaos began to ensue.

        "They're coming!!" A woman cried out to my left, at the western bridge. Sure enough, charging toward them was a group of seven centaurs, galloping at full speed. The people in front of the bridge seemed to falter, but Kibaou yelled at them. "Defend your point! They can't defeat all of you!" That group had twelve people in it, and they all seemed to have decent weapons and armor. They were clearers, for sure. They could handle it. I hoped.

        Within one minute of the conflict at the west bridge, two more groups of similar quantities had showed up at the northmost and southern bridge. We were holding relatively well so far, but we wouldn't last like this. When I'd get a chance, I'd send Chandler or Kibaou to one of the groups that seemed to be having trouble. Surprisingly, Kibaou obeyed me. I believed he knew the stakes, and what the result of infighting would be here.

        A glance toward the western bridge showed something promising, though. I jabbed Rianna and Umber, who were standing next to me, and pointed towards the west bridge.

        "Is that..." Rianna started.

        "It is!! That's Jada's group!!" I yelled excitedly, rushing towards the bridge. There were still three centaurs left, and I charged at the nearest one, disregarding the struggling players fighting it off. "Die!"

        I engaged Cleave twice in rapid succession, and it slashed at me once with a large club, but my attacks did it in, since it was already weakened. The rest of the group converged on the last two centaurs, and they were destroyed in less than ten seconds.

        I turned to the advancing people. Jada led the group, and she had a larger group of people behind her. Maybe... Sixty people? It was nearly twice the size of the group that Rianna led. They filtered through the guard of the west bridge, and Jada stopped to talk to me.

        "That was not fun," she said. "We had to fight off at least ten of those things on the way here... And they are so much tougher than on Floor One."

        I nodded in response. "You made it, though. Good job. Head to the middle and stay with Rianna, I need to divide these people up to guard the bridges."

        As I divvied the people into groups of six and sent them off to the bridges, three more groups of centaurs came. The groups seemed to be increasing in number, with the largest of them being nine in a single group. The waves were increasing, too. Still no sign of Izak.

        Finally, I finished sending the people to the bridges, and opened my Contacts. Izak's icon was still lit up. A wave of relief swept over me, and I sent him a Dialogue request. Within the moment that I sent it, it was denied, and the box closed. That didn't bode well. At all.

        I shook my head. Couldn't worry about that right now. I needed to keep the troops rallied and alive. "Rianna!" I called, and she turned her head towards me. I opened up a trade window and dumped all of my healing crystals but one into the trade. She accepted and looked at me questioningly. "Run around and use these on the people with the lowest healths. Be frugal, though, supplies are very limited for now."

        I looked at Jada, and pointed towards the north bridge. "Please go help the north. Their party is a bit on the weak side, and they're almost all heavy-attackers. Your aerial style will complement them." She began to run towards the bridge where twelve players hammered away at five centaurs. I grabbed Jada's shoulder to stop her before she left. "But be careful."

        She nodded briefly, and then went off to help the north bridge. I was next to the east bridge, which currently had no assailants, and I looked into the city for any signs of Izak. Nothing.

        I gritted my teeth and inspected the four groups around the Town Square. There had probably been around thirty of them killed without any human casualties. However, there had to have been at least four to five hundred centaurs. We'd barely touched the tip of the iceberg.

        Just then, a war horn's note filled the air, and all the fighting stopped for a moment as heads turned to the source of the noise—a spot just to the south of the southernmost bridge.

        To my horror, there stood a massive centaur with an elaborate headdress, unmistakably the chieftan. Just behind him stood a band of what could not be less than a hundred centaurs. He finished blowing on his horn, and he placed it back on his hip, then motioned forward with a large spear. At his gesture, the hundred plus centaurs charged at the southern bridge.

        I looked around quickly. People looked as though they were ready to run away, even the ones that weren't on the southern bridge. I roared above the thundering pounding of hooves. "Stand and fight! The city is burning—this is do or die, people!!" I looked at the people in the middle of the Town Square. Umber, Chandler and three of his guild, Kibaou and his two guards stood, watching the southern bridge in horror.

        I snapped at them loudly. "Move to support the southern bridge!! Quickly, before they're overwhelmed!!" They didn't hesitate, but instead sprinted for the bridge. The bridges were only thirteen meters in width, or so. All of the beasts wouldn't be able to fit through at once, and the bridges ran over deep moats that they couldn't cross. We'd just have to hold the bridge and keep it supported.

        The incessant clashing of steel began to intensify as all of the centaurs made contact with the people at the southern bridge, and I watched, standing a few feet back from the bridge. There wasn't exactly a place for me to step in and attack, and I needed to watch the other fronts as well. If one of the other bridges were broken through, and enemies hit players from behind, it could be the end of all of our defenses.

        Scanning the area, I saw that the east, north, and west bridges were adequately defended, and that there didn't seem to be any less players than there were when I split them into groups. I watched the south bridge closely. Only about eleven centaurs could attack at once due to the width of the bridge, and there were twenty-one players defending the south bridge, taking turns ducking back to heal and stepping in to support the other players. Their defenses were thin, though, and I was tempted to send reinforcements from the other bridges. However, just as I was about to call for that, I noticed the chieftan standing back about where I was on the other side of the bridge. He was watching with his arms crossed; his eyes darted from bridge to bridge. He was searching for a weakness. If I weakened the other bridges, he'd send a large force to overwhelm them and break through. I couldn't afford that.

        More waves were hitting the other bridges with increasing intensity. The players were still holding the topmost three bridges fairly well, but I didn't know how long that would last. The south bridge seemed to be doing exceptionally well. The large numbers of the centaurs were working against them. Looking around the city caused me to forget about the progress in our defenses, though, as the town was even more decimated than it'd already been. There were no buildings in my sight that hadn't been at least partially destroyed, and fire rose from at least twenty different locations from where I could see.

        A low scream came from my left, and from the west bridge was thrown one of the defending players. He was thrown back by the mace of a centaur, and the man slid on his back towards me. As he halted his skidding across the brick ground, I noticed his HP. It was completely gone. The man looked at me, reaching towards me with an outstretched hand. I reached out to him as if by instinct, but before I could grasp his hand, he shattered into thousands of shards of light.

        I was left, holding my hand out to the spot where the man had been a second before. This was the first human death I'd ever witnessed. The first? Would I witness more? This was beyond messed up. I stumbled backwards, and clasped a hand to my forehead. I raked fingers through my hair in order to pacify myself. No weakness. No weakness. No weakness.

        I raised my gaze to the western bridge, where the deceased man had been thrown from. The rest of the players weren't looking so hot, and I raced towards the large wooden bridge. I let out a battle cry that I didn't know was welling up inside me as I began to swing my axe. "Raaaaaaahh!!!"

        I engaged one of my most powerful combos immediately on the closest of the six centaurs attacking this bridge. "Earth Rend!" I shouted as my axe swung over my head and buried itself deep within the horseback of the centaur before it could react. Following through with the combo, it arced to the right and slammed again into the centaur, this time causing two of its legs to buckle. Arc to the left. Hit. Arc to the right. Hit and kill.

        The beast shattered like glass, and I whirled on the centaur that was beginning to round on me. I activated another of the skills I hadn't used in front of others, and executed a combo called Vault Crush. My axe went to my right hand only and slammed into the shoulder of the centaur in front of me. The momentum of the blow, as the name suggested, vaulted me into the air, where I did a forward somersault and landed a devastating blow to the back of the beast, knocking it down and nearly depleting its health. I landed on my feet roughly and turned, engaging Cleave for the final strike. The beast shattered like the last one had, and I realized that the remaining four centaurs had seemed to lose interest in the other fighters, and begin to gang up on me.

        When would these things learn that surrounding a battleaxe-wielder was not a good idea? I fired Eviscerate quickly, and cut into flesh a series of times, causing a flurry of knockback damage to the centaurs around me, and then leaping backwards behind the other players. The fun was over for now. I issued a quick command as I began to turn. "They're dazed, finish them off and keep defending."

        I quickly moved to the center of Town Square to get a look at the situation and reassess if need be. My first inspection was the southern bridge. The massive crowd of centaurs barely seemed thinned, and the collective HP of the group seemed to be draining steadily. I clenched my teeth and flagged Rianna down, who was administering healing crystals to people at the eastern bridge. I pointed to the southern bridge and told her to stay down there and keep people healed for as long as she could manage. A part of me thought that the people defending the southern bridge seemed to be less than the people I had sent. I shook off the thought and hoped it was just my mind playing tricks on me.

        The northern and eastern bridges seemed to be doing very well in holding their positions. I ran my fingers through my hair and determined that we couldn't hold the Town Square like this for much longer. Something had to be done. The centaurs simply weren't dying fast enough. Should we retreat? Several lives would be lost in the process, for sure. Not to mention that the four bridges would have to evacuate at the same exact moment, and pulling that off would be difficult in itself. Fighting off centaurs while doing that would be insurmountable. But what would be an alternative?

        I stared towards the chieftan. He would be hard to kill. Even with all the people I had. It was only by the grace of God that he didn't join in the fight right now. I kept scanning the battlefield, and saw Umber fighting a centaur. Fighting was a bad word, honestly. She was dancing with it, really. She'd wait for it to strike, leap out of the way, then strike while it was vulnerable.

        That was it. A counterattack. The centaurs near the southern bridge were too busy trying to push their way into the Town Square to defend against any kind of assault, especially from one of their flanks. A small team could take out ten to twenty of them within a few minutes if they fought seamlessly and quickly. I couldn't mount a force like that, though. I'd have to take the best from the battlefield and abandon my role as commander of the defense. It simply couldn't be accomplished right now. I shook my head fiercely. We might all die here, but I'd be damned if I died while idle.

        I rushed to the southern bridge where one of the warriors looked for an opportunity to step back and heal, and grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back. There were two centaurs in front of me that were wedged together. I did my best to imitate Umber's evasiveness while I got within attacking range of the two.

        I engaged Eviscerate, and spun rapidly while cutting into the flesh of the monsters. I chopped into them twice each, and they were stunned for a moment. I took advantage of this and started Earth Rend on the left centaur. It shattered into death at the second-to-last attack in the combo, and I managed to keep the combo going and started the last hit to use on the right centaur. As I flew high into the air, I noticed something very interesting. In the middle of the bridge, in the thick of the group of centaurs. A gap. There was a tiny, one-person sized gap.

        Going in there would be suicide. Unless you could stun all the enemies around you. As I reached the highest point of my jump, I cancelled the combo and dove forward, towards the gap. The centaurs around the area noticed me, and raised their weapons. I ignored them, and as I approached the ground rapidly, I engaged a skill that I hadn't used in a while: Ground Break.

        Crash.

        Like one of the centaur's meteors, I collided with the ground with a thunderous crash, slamming my axe into the wooden surface of the bridge. A visible shockwave rippled around the point where my axe touched the bridge with extreme force, and at least twenty centaurs were knocked away from me. I shouted at the top of my lungs so that the nearby players could hear me. "Attack with everything you have—they're stunned!!"

        As tempting as it was to chain eviscerates and kill as many centaurs as I could in the few seconds that it would take them to recover, I chose safety over bloodthirst, and turned around and used Vault Crush on one of the centaurs that was in between myself and the Town Square. I flew up into the air, soaring over the heads of several of the hybrid beasts, and clearing the group entirely. Several explosions of polygons satisfied me and told me that the plan had been fruitful. The group of players managed to push forward a bit and gain some ground on the centaurs, and at least ten of them had been thinned out. We just needed to keep going.

        I was concerned, though. Where were the rest of the centaurs? I pondered this thought as I scanned the three other bridges. They seemed fine, and there were very few centaurs assaulting them. I was tempted again to have them move to the south bridge, but I couldn't afford any fewer players per bridge than I already had. I opened my menu and tabbed over to my Contacts. Izak's icon was still lit. But where was he? He had me legitimately concerned and worried. Even if he did manage to get here, it'd be difficult to get into the Town Square.

        "C-Commander!!" A feminine voice screamed over the sound of battle from behind me. A woman from the north bridge was looking at me and pointing behind her. Another massive group of centaurs. This one wasn't led by a chieftan, but looked more like a series of smaller groups that were moving together by coincidence. This group was considerably smaller than the southern one, and probably only had fifty centaurs. However, fifty centaurs would be deadly against the sixteen soldiers guarding the north bridge.

        I looked at the south bridge and saw that they were having trouble again. Shit. This was bad. Shaking my head and mentally cursing, I charged at the north bridge. I ran past the line of players, watching the approaching horde in awe and fear. I readied my axe as they approached, and gestured for the players to come behind me. I readied Ground Break as they approached, and figured I could at least stun the first group and get them dispatched. Any advantage for us was one I would take.

        They became within range, and I slammed my axe down, and a much smaller shockwave then the previous rippled around the bridge. They were knocked back momentarily, and I engaged Earth Rend. It took every hit in the six-hit combo to kill the centaur I was attacking, but by the time the combo finished three of the other centaurs were dead. The first group only had five centaurs, so we'd had a decent start, but by the time I landed, two more groups were upon us. They began to pile and clog the area like they did at the southern bridge. This was where we needed to succeed.

        I threw myself between a group of three centaurs and engaged Eviscerate twice in a row before being knocked to the ground behind the line of players. I still had over 90% of my HP, and I threw myself back at the centaurs. I fought relentlessly, attacking over and over. I'd killed nearly nine centaurs by myself by the time I was thrown back again. This time, I stopped to catch my breath. Almost twenty of them had been killed in this group. If this group could endure fifteen more minutes, we'd have fought through all of them.

        Just to my left, two centaurs managed to plow one of the players over, and a third jammed a spear into the players face twice before I could lunge forward and Cleave it off of the player. The white wound mark covered all of her eye, and the pink bleeding effect made for a somewhat gruesome sight. The last of her HP drained away, and she dissolved into multicolored fragments. I gritted my teeth and threw myself at the centaur with the spear.

        It died within the minute, and I stepped back for a moment to look around at the other bridges. As before, the west and east bridges were fine, but the southern bridge looked worse for wear. I saw Umber leaping around rapidly, striking centaurs quickly and lightly. Kibaou and his soldiers hammered away with maces at any that got too close.

        Jada stepped back with me. I'd almost not noticed I was fighting alongside her. She panted worse than I did, and looked at me with fear in her eyes. "We can't last much longer like this..."

        I shook my head. I refused to let despair be the source of our defeat. "We don't have to. We're nearly halfway done with this group, and then... And then we'll keep fighting. We have to find a way. We won't lose Gnaaros."

        She shook her head, seemingly annoyed with my positive nonsense, and jumped back into the fray. The north bridge would hold if it kept fighting the way it did. The south bridge wouldn't last much longer, though. Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it all.

        I shook my head and breathed in deeply. I was so tired. My muscles ached supremely, and my even the muscles in my heart seemed to be tired from working so tirelessly. Adrenaline was waning, and my energy would be depleted soon. If I was feeling like this, then everyone else was, too. This was bad.

        Suddenly, a hand grasped my shoulder from behind. I whirled, and it was Chandler. He was breathing heavily, and he looked straight through me. He saw my defeated expression and he shook his head vehemently. "Not now, mate. That's the opposite of what these people need. Go around and fight with each group. Give them all a pep talk. Renew them. I'll watch the reigns for a bit and let you know if anything happens. These people are looking up to you. Give them something to look up to."

        I stared at him in unbelief for a moment. He looked just as bad as I did, but his head was so level. But he was right. His rallying speech had left me wanting to fight more, and I'm sure I could have the same effect on the others. With that, I ran for the eastern bridge, and began swinging my axe at one of the beasts, ducking through blows, and letting the minor ones scrape across the surface of my armor.

        "Come on, men!" I said while swinging at a centaur. "This is the first real battle that we've had in Aincrad. Let's show Kayaba what we're made of. We don't take kindly to bullies!" I kept hacking away at the creatures, and the few glances I stole at the people fighting with me didn't seem to yield much. I couldn't give motivational speeches the way some others could, it seemed. "I've seen two die in front of me," I began less enthusiastically, not sure where I was going. "Two people have already fallen. Who knows how many more have died so far. I don't know about you all," I hacked into the neck of the centaur in front of me, causing it to splinter into thousands of polygons. "But I'm not going to let their sacrifices be in vain!"

        The fighting after that seemed to increase in intensity, if only a little. It was enough, though, and I was satisfied that I'd been able to rally my troops by that much. I gave one last battlecry and slammed my axe into the torso of a centaur to my left, and then stepped back and headed for the opposite bridge.

        I followed my previous pattern of leaping past the unsuspecting players and taking on multiple centaurs head on. This costed me nearly 15% of my HP, but I was still over 60%, and could keep attacking. "Everyone," I started deliberately through ragged breaths. "Why are we fighting?!"

        No answers came from the other players as I cut down one of the centaurs. Another stepped up to my right, and I rolled to the left from the blow of its sword. "We're fighting because we refuse to surrender. We're fighting because we have no other choice but to die, and we refuse to die. We refuse to lay down and hand our lives to these monsters!" I took the brunt of a mace's swing to the pauldron, and countered with a Cleave, knocking it to the side. "Let's show Kayaba that we don't need his Safe Zones to survive. We're above that. We are stronger than them!" To dramaticize my last statement, I used Vault Crush to leap into the air, and used Ground Break as I descended towards the ground. "Keep fighting," I said to the soldiers in the midst of the stunned centaurs. "We're nearly there."

        I then decided to head to the north bridge before hitting the big one—the south. The crowd was significantly thinned, and only sixteen centaurs remained. The north bridge would be fine. There were no less players there than when I had left it, and Jada seemed to fight with even more fire than earlier. She leaped into the air with a battlecry, and dove down into one of the centaurs, landing in the spot where thousands of brightly-colored polygons exploded from. Rounding on another centaur, she didn't seem to notice me come up behind her.

        I tried to think of another way to motivate the players, but decided after a few moments that nothing would motivate the soldiers more than defeating such a large crowd of centaurs with virtually no help.

        I decided that I would accelerate the process. As per usual, about ten centaurs were lined up, trying to push through to the Town Square messily, and only five to six centaurs were behind the initial front line of centaurs. Taking advantage of the low number grouped behind the front line, I vaulted myself into the air with what was quickly becoming my new favorite skill, and used Ground Break to stun the monsters temporarily. I began my work on the group of centaurs behind the front line, killing one in a matter of seconds, and then having to dodge and defend against three more. Within a few minutes of being on the defensive, the front lines of the centaurs were broken through, and Jada and two other players rushed through to help me finish off the ones that were locked onto me.

        Within five minutes, the north bridge was cleared. More centaurs would come soon, but not in a group that large. At least, I hoped they wouldn't come in another group that large. As I turned towards the south bridge, though, Chandler appeared in front of me and grabbed my forearm and pulled me to the south, but to the edge of the Town Square rather than the bridge.

        When I tried to ask him what he was trying to show me, he simply pointed. The direction of his outstretched finger was the direction that the major group of centaurs fanned out in as they were funneling onto the south bridge. However, more interesting than that was the group of shadows that was hiding behind in an alley between two buildings and seemed to be watching the centaurs. Just as I saw them and begin to ask Chandler what they were, I got a Dialogue request from Izak.

        I accepted immediately and opened with a shocked, "Izak?! Where are you?!"

        He replied in a hushed voice. "You're staring at me."

        My jaw dropped as I tried to identify the shadows. Could that really be Izak? And were those people...? "I'm... staring..?"

        "In the alley. That's me. I have exactly forty people with me, and we're ready to launch a sneak attack on that group of centaurs. That chieftan worries me, though. Can you distract him?"

        I looked at the chieftan, who was still refraining from battling, but seemed to be a bit more jumpy than he was before. His forces were beginning to dwindle, after all. Finally, I replied. "Give me one minute, and then when I start attacking the bridge closest to you, hit them with everything you have."

        Within a minute, I had gathered Jada, Chandler, Rianna, Daniel, and Umber and had briefly explained to them that we needed to cause a major distraction to the centaurs' reaction time to Izak as much as possible. "Any ideas?"

        Umber was the first to reply. "Bait. We entice them into shoving forward and then they all get slaughtered."

        "How are we going to bait them more than they already are, though?" Jada asked.

        I thought for a moment, and an idea popped into my head. A very dangerous idea. "I can vault into the middle of them. I can stun them when I land, but it'll only buy me a few seconds before they converge on me."

        The five stared at me incredulously. I smirked and said, "I'll be fine, as long as you all can get to me in time. The ones near the back that are starved for combat will crawl over themselves getting to me, and won't even notice when they're being attacked from behind."

        They continued to stare, but finally, Chandler spoke. "You're insane, mate." He extended a hand. I took it, and we shook. "Here's to this working, and being easily the craziest night of my life."

        I smirked at his charismatic gesture and turned toward the south bridge. Izak was still in a Dialogue with me, and I spoke to him. "Izak, are you ready?"

        "Yes." He said quietly.

        "Wait three seconds, and then charge." I closed the dialogue box and shouted, this time at the centaurs. "Let's do this!" I rushed forward, engaging Vault Crush on the frontmost centaur, and soaring into the air. I managed to jump even higher into the air than I had before, and reached the maximum height that I would reach in the vault.

        As I began to race towards the ground, with my axe blade slicing through the air towards the wood of the bridge, I couldn't help but smile recklessly.

        This was so not procedure.

[A/N: Holy. Chestnuts. This chapter. This is just. Oh my God. I'm simultaneously sorry and thrilled. I hoped you liked it, even though it probably took you ten years to read it. Please vote and comment, this is all I have. My family left me after the second year of writing this chapter. *squawk*]