Integrity Knights in ALO Shenanigans (One-shots)

Memorial (Slight Kirito x Alice)

A small one-shot where Kirito brings Alice to Floor 47 where he introduces to her his fallen comrades from the SAO incident.  No AU.

God I suck at titles -_-

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"Wow, this place is...beautiful," Alice says as she and Kirito step out of the teleporter.

Alice Synthesis Thirty couldn't help but just gaze at her surroundings in awe.  The sky was a perfect light blue with only a few puffy, white clouds drifting through the skies.  The ground was covered in lush green grass and large beds of brightly-colored flowers, obstructed only by a wide, red-bricked path.  Along the path were a few small groups of players who looked to be fighting off large plant-like monsters that arose from the flowerbeds.

It had been a month since Alice and her comrades first entered the world of ALfheim Online.  Upon entering the virtual world, they were immediately greeted with apprehension from the real-worlders, who populated ALO in large numbers.  It took the Underworld residents a while to settle in and grasp the basics of being "NPCs" as what the real-worlders called them.

However though, they did manage to adapt to their brand new lifestyles.  The monsters of the Dark Territory that remained from the War of the Underworld lived in relative peace with the civilians of the Human Empire under the governance of Iskahn and Bercouli Synthesis One.  The Integrity Knights, pugilists, and some remaining orcs worked part-time as their guardians, protecting them from real-worlders who would be cruel enough to randomly attack defenseless civilians.  No matter how hard the real-worlders tried, no matter how big a group they attacked or the magic they used, they didn't stand a chance against the combined power of the Integrity Knights and the pugilists.  What remained of the Axiom Church made their message very clear: the civilians were untouchable.

The Integrity Knights and pugilists' display in power had triggered another effect though.

Upon seeing their seemingly infinite power and life points, the real-worlders started attempting to hire the Integrity Knights to help them in various expeditions and "boss fights" within a place called New Aincrad, a large, floating fortress filled with monsters and landscapes of many different kinds.

At first, the monsters and humans agreed not to deal with these real-worlders.  The risk of them having malicious intentions was high enough to them to warrant a quarantine from them.  

But then, the Underworlders ran into a problem: their own currency was practically worthless compared to the ALO currency.  The result was a quick economic shortage that led to a massive famine.

That was when they decide to start opening their city to the real-worlders and start the flow of business with them.

The Integrity Knights had quickly gotten reputations as being the strongest "NPCs" in all of ALO.  Their explosive weaponry made them perfect for taking out large groups of monsters and the single, large monsters the real-worlders called "bosses."  The Underworld citizens started spreading themselves far and wide, going to different towns to establish business there and interact with other real-worlders and NPCs.

So when Kirito asked Alice to come with him to New Aincrad one day, she accepted with slight skepticism.  She knew that Kirito was a very strong swordsman and even stronger than some of the Integrity Knights.  If he had requested for her to come with him, then there had to be a specific reason for doing so.

She hadn't expected to set foot into the, undoubtedly, most beautiful place she had ever seen.  

Not even the Cloudtop Garden on Floor 80 of the Central Cathedral could possibly compare.