An Englishman in Castle Aincrad

Floor 25 - Epilogue 3 - As Above, So Below

Kibaou was not a man to be trifled with. In fact, he knew he had a temper, but it was one that could be backed up – certain people needed to learn to mind their words, and more importantly, pay for their actions.

Certain people like that bastard knight, for one.

He didn't know what made knights so insufferable, but it was his experience that anyone with that motif was bad news; Lind had always been a glory seeker, pretending to be noble, and the smug tone he took with almost everyone showed his perceived superiority above everyone else. An inaccurate way to look at it, he thought, as they were all stuck in this together. Why should anything but the strength you possessed give you a right to lead others?

Diavel was more affable, a far less smug and condescending character that he himself had followed initially; seeing value in what he was building with the original clearing team. It had only been after the near loss against Ilfang that Kibaou had seen Diavel for what he was – an opportunist. He'd taken his chance to play all three groups against each other; his ALS, the DKB and the ''Beater Squad'' as Joe had taken to calling them, in order to obtain the Guild Flag.

Whilst those two were just obnoxious, he'd found a hatred of the "Knight of the Wind" after the 25th Floor. That bastard Jet had left everyone to die, not even concerned to turn up in some vain effort to look like the hero... he'd let his little harem do it for him, and worse still, it had been his appearance that was used to draw them into that trap in the first place...

Needless to say, he intended to right the wrongs of the Dream Reaper. Chief amongst them was ending the existence of that miserable knight...

"Ah, you did come then." The first hooded man spoke as he stepped out of the treeline, almost surprised at his presence. "XaXa, you owe me 50 credits! Heh." He wasn't sure why, but he was already starting to regret his choice in associates. The hooded man was... well, there was no other way to describe it other than "insane".

"We did not bet on it, so you shall not receive anything but my blade to your trachea should you ask again." The second answered, a disconcertingly even tone in his voice as he threatened his ally.

"Awh, someone got out of bed the wrong side today..." The first laughed it off, as if the second, XaXa, wasn't reaching for his blade... "Still, the boss hears ya have a knight problem, Kibaou?"

"Ya ain't wrong. That bastard killed my whole guild."

"Tut tut, he's steppin' on our toes now!"

"Such treachery must be punished." XaXa stated.

"Yeah, well, whatever ya want from me, I have my limits." Kibaou began to explain, only to be interrupted.

"Oh, of course, a man of honour and decency, such as yourself, must have those..." If Kibaou had been a tad less angry, and a tad more intelligent, he might have detected the sarcasm in those words, and not treated it as a compliment.

"Yeah, well, just tellin' ya I ain't no pushover."

As he spoke, a third figure came out of the treeline. Taller than the other pair, and with a distinctive face, even though most of it was covered, he was almost certainly the leader of the group. "Oh no, no, Kibaou. You will be a valued member of our little group. For you see, we have a common enemy. The Knight of the Wind, as many so call him has made many allies... but also a good deal of enemies. You will understand when you meet Morte, that he is far from the hero he portrays himself as..." The wide grin on the man's face should've told him to run as fast as he could, but no, anger overrode such minor things as "common sense" and "self-preservation" in Kibaou's mind.

This was about revenge, and nothing else. No righteous crusade for justice, it was pure vengeance.

"Oh, Johnny, could you go and retrieve our leverage?" The first man, apparently named Johnny, nodded with a sick grin and disappeared into the treeline again.