Ratzxen

"REMMINGTON!!!!!!"

Kirito immediately tried to rush over to Remmington only to have Karasu intercept him.

"Now now, it impolite to interrupt other people's battles," Karasu said while swinging his blade down at Kirito forcing him to stop in place and raise his own blade to block. The hit forced Kirito to take a step back as sparks flew from their blades.

"Like you are doing right now," Kirito snarled as he tried to swing his blade at Karasu while keeping an eye on Remmington who had fallen to his knees and was still screaming.

"Not quite seeing as you have already taken care of your opponent so therefore I am not interrupting anything," Karasu said like it was perfectly obvious. Kirito gritted his teeth at that but said nothing as he tried to find a way to get past Karasu quickly to get to Remmington. Kirito saw Baor standing over Remmington kicking him.

"Hey, that can't be all you have, For someone who was yelling and claiming you were going to kill me and my group your pretty boring," Baor said with his foot on Remmingtons head. Remmington just had to grit his teeth but couldn't say anything due to the pain.

"REMMINGTON GET UP!!!!" Kirito shouted as he kept fighting with Karasu, "DIDNT YOU SAY THAT YOU WOULD AVENGE SHAUN, HOW CAN YOU DO THAT WHILE LAYING GROUND!!"

"HAHAHAHAH EVEN IF HE COULD STAND WHAT GOOD IS HE WITHOUT ANY ARMS," Baor laughed. He then raised his blade ready to impale Rem in the head.

"NOOOOOO" Kirito screamed feeling utterly helpless as he watched the sword move towards Remmingtons head.

*CLANG*

Just before the blade pierced through Remmingtons skull Z jumped out and threw their sword at Baor blade with enough accuracy to hit it and send it off course and stab into the dirt next to Remmingtons with nothing more than an angry red slice on his cheek.

The clearing was silent for a moment as everyone just stared at the one who intruded on this before Remmington rolled over and threw Baor off-balance before he scrambled to his feet and retreated. Z rushed at Baor trying to attack while he was still unstable but Baor managed to pull his blade out of the ground and deflect Z's blade.

"HEY WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE INTERRUPTING MY FUN!!" Baor angrily yelled as he continued to block Z's attacks. Z didn't bother with a reply and just kept attacking. Kirito watched in amazement as Z kept Baor busy but in doing so gave Karasu a chance to slash Kiritos chest making him scream out in pain and fall to his knees.

"You really shouldn't look away from your opponents while in battle," Karasu said," that must have hurt quite a bit."

"Shut up," Kirito growled trying to hide the pain in his voice as he struggled to his feet. Glancing at his health bar showed that he was already down to the red and couldn't keep fighting for too much longer.

"WHOOHOO YOUR AN EVEN BETTER OPPENTENT THAN THAT LAME GUY LAYING THERE ON THE GROUND," Baor said to Z.

While Kirito was fighting he failed to realize that Horse had snuck over to Ushi and was using a health potion on him.

"What should we do Ushi?" Horse asked as he helped the man get up. Before the man could answer a couple of players burst into the clearing all dressed like Z.

"Dammit Z your not supposed to run off on your own like that," One of the players shouted.

The 4 masked players all shared a look and fell back upon seeing the new arrivals. Horse held Ushi while Karasu and Baor stood on either side of the two.

"Well it seems we will have to continue this at a later date," Karasu said taking a small item out of his inventory.

"I HOPE WE GET A CHANCE TO FIGHT AGAIN,"Baor said to Z.

"What makes you think that we will be letting you go anywhere," Kirito said leaning on his sword as he tried to stand.

"You are in no condition to fight us and even with these reinforcements your friend is outmatched 4-3," Ushi said calmly. Horse glanced at Remmington still on the floor still unresponsive before Karasu threw down the item which exploded in a cloud of gray smoke.

"We shall meet again young swordsman," Karasu's voice echoed out. and when the smoke cleared a few moments later the four were gone. Kirito wanted to collapse but instead, he managed to lift his sword and point it at Z and the newcomers.

"Why did you help?" He questioned keeping his sword trained on Z and the others.

Z stared at him for a moment before saying," I have my reasons." Before motioning the other two to follow. Now that he wasn't in a fight for his life he noticed what the two newcomers looked like sort-of. The one who had spoken was a large man with a huge mace strapped to his back and the other was a small feminine figure with light blue hair peeking out of the hood she wore.

Kirito watched them leave before collapsing to his knees and taking a health potion out of his inventory and drinking it. He watched as his health bar rose and felt the pains of the various wounds he had received faded. He then went to check on Rem who was on his knees staring at the ground with a blank expression on his face.

"Hey, you ok buddy?" Kirito asked him carefully as he approached him, when he got no response he lightly tapped Rem on the shoulder which made the man jump before he looked over at Kirito. He just stared at the potion in Kiritos's hand for a moment before taking it. They sat in silence for a moment before Rem whispered,

"I failed him."