Jason and Alphard heard Suto’s question, and promptly ignored it. It wasn’t that it was a bad question or that they were disrespecting him, it was simply a matter of the outcome not affecting them. They would continue on as a team whatever the outcome of Kazaro’s decision. They had fought through four floors away from the rest of the team, why would they separate now? As the last <Dark Reflection> was vanquished, a series of stone bricks along the back wall dematerialized, forming a stairway up to the next floor of the Tower. There, the party encountered another long hallway lined with glyphs and torches. This hallway also terminated in a rotunda bearing coffins. This time, the coffins were twelve in number and their occupants were far more lifelike and fluid in their movements. With Alphard leading the charge as always, these <Reflections> were also swiftly dealt with and the party moved down.

After finding the third floor to be nearly identical to the previous two, Jason began to feel a bit nervous. The feeling had no solid grounding, they were clearing the floors at tremendous speed and with little damage to the players. There was no reason that Jason should feel anything but relieved. At most, he might feel a little bored! Then why did he feel more and more uneasy with each passing second? When the coffins, sixteen this time, opened on the third floor, Jason hit on the cause of his distress. It was the Reflections. This time, they had skin tones matching those of the real players and moved with far more grace than any other monster encountered yet. The foes even screamed in pain when injured. It was far too realistic for Jason’s tastes and, glancing about, he noticed that the others clearly felt the same.

Six floors later, even Alphard with her eternal readiness for battle was tired of fighting the <Dark Reflections>. The monsters’ features had only become more and more lifelike as the floors went on. Now, as the adventurers approached the rotunda of the penultimate floor, Alphard thought that after this was all over she and Jason might just need to take a bit of a break from the front lines. This time, the rotunda was larger and more well-lit. And it only contained two coffins. These two coffins were carved from sheer obsidian and ornately decorated with gold and jewels. The party cautiously entered the room and, as always, the coffins slowly crept open. 
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Out of the two beautiful sarcophagi loomed two of the worst things ever seen by Jason or Alphard. Out of the rightmost coffin climbed a monster labelled <Kenshin Takami> by the player HUD. And indeed, the beast seemed to be Alphard’s husband. It even wore the wounds that cost Kenshin his life. First, the large, jagged hole in its abdomen oozing ichor onto its laquered wooden armor; second, were the terrible burns coating the entirety of its body. The other coffin’s inhabitant was titled <Mizuki Yukimura>. This being carried the body of the friends’ other lost comrade, Yari. Her armor was crushed and crumpled in many places, oozing blood from the joints. Her face also bore terrible bruising and tears, one side of her head being completely caved in. <Kenshin> bore a great scarlet and black katana. <Mizuki> bore her two handed spear. The horrible shadows of the warriors spoke in the voices of the lost companions and used them to casually taunt the party into fighting them. And drew steel to combat their erstwhile companions. 

Alphard looked at the thing using her beloved’s body and felt something break inside. The thin veneer hiding her ever-present rage in check shattered, letting it all pour out into the surrounding world. She gripped her scythe tighter and raised her shield into position. Alphard looked to Jason and trusted that he knew what she needed; she was too deep into her rage now to speak. Luckily, her Knight understood and spoke aloud what she could not. “Kenshin is ours, stand back!” Alphard let loose a primal roar and dove into combat.