Project Ragnarok: Chapter 3

"I'm afraid... that code is wrong."

Everyone in class was flabbergested, shocked to silence by the fact that this new proffesor had made the unimaginable become a reality. The deafening screech of the chalk as it was pressed and dragged hard against the blackboard made their faces twist in such a sour expression. The aura wasn't certainly something to be happy about. Ever since she had returned to school, Kaizawa Raiko aced anything and everything academical. Math, Science, English, and of course, Computers. Whoever comes running to her with a difficult question would surely get the correct answer 99.999% of the time. She would always be filled with overfluous information. She was the ace of the class. In fact, she shouldn't even be in this class, but in some big programming company.

And today, on the 26th of January, year 20XX, this newly-arrived professor had blown their brains out. None of them had a background of him, nor even a small idea about this guy. He just stood there, with that smirk plastered on his face, and stared at their Class Ace as if mocking every bit of her existence. If he was doing this intentionally, or if the code was really wrong, they couldn't tell, for the code -- err, codes written in that rectangular piece of wood had occupied every inch of it, and surely is that of high-level of intelligence. Ryuu was already getting dizzy from just looking at it, and trying to find whatever the mistake in it is would be like searching for a needle in a mountain of hay. Even Takaro, their 2nd genius, was at the verge of giving up.

"It is a very advance program, and a single error could be fatal. You do understand that, don't you?" He spoke, yet again.

Rai's fuse finally blew up, like Mt. Vesuvius erupting and burying the entire city of Pompeii under tons of ash and molten rocks. "Well then, if you're so smart, why don't you do it?!" The chalk she held in her fingers, barely the size of her thumb, was then thrown to a rash projectile, hitting the desk and landing at the man's feet. The temperature dropped to We're-doomed degree Celsius as the other stomped her way to her own seat.

Today was history. Raiko had never been this pissed, ever since the day they forced her to sing. She had a pretty nice voice, though. "Ah," he said, as if nothing had happened. "I forgot to introduce myself. How rude." Judging from his physical appearance, he isn't too far in terms of age, and seeing the earlier events unfold, he must have had a pretty wide experience in terms of computer programming and related fields. "I am Wolfram Larcia, your programming professor and class adviser for the time being."

Ryuu could have sworn he witnessed every bit of color drain from Rai's face, before she hissed in the purest of irritation and typed on the keyboard before her. It was, of course, it was a series of codes. FUCK, written in bold letters, Impact as the font and size 72. She really is mad.

"There was nothing wrong with the code," she told them, still not being able to move on from the recent embarrassment. "He just wanted to mess up with me. The programs not even part of our curriculum as of now." The carton of milk was crumpled with just bare hands, and was thrown to the nearest dust bin. It had been four hours since the subject ended, but she was still fuming in anger, and poor Ryuu and Chiyoe had to put up with her rage, being good friends they were. Where's that perverted geezer when hes needed? The sniper mumbled to herself, as she tried to reason out on how the other had gotten such a treatment on the first day of that professors job. "Dont you remember anything you could have done to offend him in the past?"

"I havent even met him until toda-" Green eyes stared hard at the chocolate-flavored ice cream in a cone presented right before her face. Shaking hands took the free treat, eyes practically sparkling. All anger, irritation, aggravation and frustration had been washed away by a single sweet. Chiyoe flashed Ryuu a smile of gratitude. Raiko had transformed from an exploding atomic bomb to an overjoyed child. And yes, this is the guild captain and founder of one of the high-level guilds in Sword Art Online. This is one of the geniuses who hacked into the almost perfect system of said game and cheated her way out of it. This is also the person who was invited by Ymir to work as a GM for New ALfheim Online, to which she refused.

Ryuu Takeuchi, no matter how stupid or annoying he gets, can really become a lifesaver.

"Are you sure you havent met him?" Chiyoe asked again, but the answer was once again negative. "Like in SAO or something?"

Raiko had been knocking hard at the back of her head, but true enough, she had nothing. But this event really took a toll on her nerves, and she wasn't one to forgive that easily. She will certainly play his game.

Life was surely having fun bombarding her with problems. First is her mother coming home more often than usual, resulting in even worse heated arguments. But she already had that sorted out, as long as Ryuu's willing to let her stay in his place. Second is the growing number of job offers she was getting at such early time of the year. After she had went from NEET to student, and joined a few contests here and there, those offers just wouldn't stop. Apart from Ymir's, there was nothing else that got her groove. And then there's this too-egocentric (at least in her opinion) of a substitute teacher that was already looking down at her from his damn high throne. Lastly, the upcoming Ragnarök. And the very fact that she lied to her most trusted allies. She had shared a few lunches with The Black Swordsman even before this entire ruckus, and had grown quite fond of him as a little brother after seeing just how many things they share interest in. Although they weren't part of each other's circle of friends, they are comrades. "But we surely will get a sign or two that Ragnarök is to begin, right? I'm not too fond of mythologies so I can't really be that sure."

There goes their difference, because Rai is a big geek, mythology-wise. "Like, probably we get a quest to retrieve Heimdall's horn and he will blow it to signal the beginning of the end?" Gwenhwyfar shrugged. "We didn't really get a notification when Thrymheim and Jötunheimr became available, did we?" Perhaps, if she had accepted Ymir's offer before, she wouldn't be having troubles like this. "I should have been a GM."

Kirito chuckled a little. "But if you had, joining us would be unfair, and you'd be reprimanded." The statement earned a pout from the older. "The other GMs refused to disclose information, and Yui found checking the system useless. Whatever is Cardinal's plan for Ragnarök, it surely is keeping it a tight secret. A surprise."

"Like how when Kayaba just turned SAO to a death game."

"Yeah, a surprise like that."

But these kind of information isn't known to many of the players of ALO. They were lucky enough to have AIs that can gain even the slightest idea of what the Cardinal has in store. "What are your plans, senpai?" The other asked.

Kirito found her searching through her inventory, but none did materialize in her hand. She waved the menu off. "Ready my guild, what else is there to do? Ragnarök certainly doesn't sound like a simple event the Cardinal System can pull off. Ugh," she then groaned. "And I still have more problems to deal with outside of the game." Just being reminded of that Wolfram Larcia was enough to get her blood boiling. "But I don't want my items and equipment gone. I worked hard for all of these. And then there's my brother's Arondight. Our manor house, our Round Table, and everything else."

He was reminded of his own Excalibur, and the Sleeping Knights' names engraved on the Monument of Swordsmen. Yuuki had been a very good friend, especially to Asuna, and losing everything related to her would break his girlfriend's heart to pieces. "It's not the material things, but the memories they held," the Salamander finally said, before looking at the Spriggan. "Being the strongest player in ALO too, and 'clearing' the World Tree, have you been rounding up the Lords about this entire Ragnarök fuss? I mean, we shouldn't keep it to ourse-" She stopped upon seeing him rubbing his cheek. It's a no then. Gwen sighed. "Do your job." She even flicked his forehead, before uttering her goodbye.

"You sure are getting comfortable with the young ones."

"I'm not asking for your insight," she scowled, which was unusual since she would have hissed and hit him on normal occasions. "I'm not even requiring your presence, Tsukiyomi."

His eyes had a hint of envy and jealousy as he uncrossed his arms to wrap around her waist, and rested his chin atop her shoulder. Ryuu nuzzled the crook of her neck, causing shivers ran down her spine, and her face grow as red as her eyes. That was the weak point. She fumbled over the handle of her rapier, but the male had, in pure talent, flicked it off her hand. Ohmygodohmygodohmyfuckinggod, her mind raced, staring wide-eyed at her fallen weapon. His nose pressed deeper into her neck, the female writhing and squirming in his grasp. "'S-Sod off," her words came out as a squeak, which wasn't very convincing or threatening at the very least. Not helping when her face is burning up and her knees were starting to feel like they were marshmallows.

"Ek skýt fjórir ískaldur ör!" The anteroom of the guild manor house was enveloped in a blue light, and just as when that odd light had started to fade, Tsukiyomi brought his face up from her neck.

"Lance-" He didn't have time to react as a multitude of arrows pierced through him. It was followed by even more series of offensive spells homed right at him, casted in a manner that refused to let him heal. "Lae-" The furious level eventually heightens the attack power of an offensive spell. The Undine, completely in beast mode at the moment, materialized his great Arondight, swinging it around. The Spriggan fragmented into hexagonal pieces disintegrating in mid-air. "You okay, sis?"

Red eyes narrowed dangerously at the Remain Light left by the other.

"I'm not going to resurrect him," declared Laevateinn.

"Neither do I," seconded Lancelot.

"Let him rot. I don't give a damn," hissed Gwenhwyfar. "Him aside, how did the run go?" She asked, just as when the rest of the guild members appeared, newer and a bit younger than them. They scampered from the anteroom to the Great Hall just to discuss to their captain what had happened.

"We were carried," Misaki laughed. "But we didn't get to find anything else interesting in Muspelheim. It was just a wide field of volcanic fire filled with Fire Giants. And we constantly had to heal due to the flames eating up HP." She was a Sylph, and naturally, going into fiery dungeons wouldn't be good for her kind, just as Salamanders ain't for anything wet and watery. "Ah, we did find the stairs, but access was denied by the system."

"That's because map data isn't fully imported just yet." Merlin descended from the stairs, her heels -- and damn high they were -- clicking against the wooden boards of the staircase. "It'll take a while, but not too long."

The Guild Captain laced her fingers together. "Well, while we're at waiting, you have plenty enough time to level up for any surprise. I have a... an important real world matter to attend to."

"What is it, sis?"

"Murdering Ryuu Takeuchi."