"You lied to me, Shade!" Alex's choked voice broke the deep silence of the room as she approached her former guild-leader. "You lied and you cheated and you thought that I would be so dumb to go along with it all? You think you can just hide in secrecy for the rest of your time here? I'll tell them what you've done! You'll face justice when you get out of here!" It broke her heart to even have to do something like this but what the Nightshades had done... What she had done, was wrong. They needed to be punished or something needed to change.

"It was never meant to be like this." Shade's voice seemed full of emotion but after an age of lying, it was like second-nature to him. "We all started with the intent to punish the guilty but that won't get us anywhere! We have to stay alive!" His argument tempted her to side with him, to let it drop like everything else that he had done but she was just so sick of it all!

"I cared for you, Shade! I-I loved you and this is how you pay me back? You could have told me what we were doing and who we were killing!" They were only separated by a few centimetres of air but he didn't try to even make any form of gesture or movement that would make him look remotely sorry - he changed in those last few moments to a side that Alex never saw before.

"Well, isn't that just a pity. You seemed to have completely bought the whole act yet it was a complete waste of time!" His words paralysed her, locking her in position as she struggled to try process what he was saying. "Shame." Was all he said before he filled the space between them with a sharpened piece of steel that was quickly stabbed forward.

Her mouth fell open, her previous breath stuck in her throat as she staggered backwards, dragging the blade from his hands as it followed her, too far into her stomach to fall free. Her next breath failed on her as well and the third only served to carry a sharp intake of oxygen. "You were such a good fighter as well, Alex. And your body! It's a shame that I have to waste such a good specimen but rats must be exterminated." The alien feeling of the cold metal buried in her stomach and the pain that was exploding from there added to the emotional trauma she was going through caused her to cry out, a deep, regretful moan of disbelief.

Her journey lasted only for a short while as she fell back, fortunately away from him. Alex was a fighter though and she wasn't going to just roll over and die. Gathering her remaining strength, she ignored the feeling to lay down and let her miserable life pass and instead, dragged herself to her feet, weakly limping out out of the door and towards the exit. Her former comrades lined the way, not taking part as they watched on, a few smirking. "No no, Alex, couldn't have you going to find a gutter to end your miserable life!" Shade chuckled and she cried out in agony as another knife imbedded itself in her right leg, causing her to buckle and collapse.

It was over - she was going to die in this horrible game and then she would never wake up. She would never live a life outside of Sword Art Online. This would be her tomb. "We were thinking about sending you out to the front lines as well! I have a friend there who could have really used your... services. Pity you had to go and stick your nose in others' business!" He snarled at the last part, cracking her peaceful posture with a kick to the stomach. Alex reeled back, allowing a sob of anguish to escape.

It was almost like the warp-crystal she had equipped earlier became heavier in her inventory because there was no other way to describe it - maybe it was the desperate part of her mind that didn't want to feel the nothingness of death that reminded her of it. "I suppose you're not going to die like this... are you?" Her health bar was on a low yellow but she was still alive. "Now, the choice remains. Quick or slow?" Shade seemed to take his sweet time deciding whether to make her death agonisingly slow or fortunately quick.

Her limbs were weak and her mind was hazy but that didn't stop her from silently drawing a warp-crystal from her inventory. Shade took note of this a little late as she quickly pressed down on it, beginning to teleport. With the speed of no other warrior, his blade descended in a sharp arc and caught her in the stomach just before she was warped completely.

For a game, the pain she felt was pretty realistic - granted, she had never felt what it was to die before. It would definitely be something she was going to partake in - she had warped onto a dusty path that shown no evidence of life. The poison that had tipped his blade was what was killing her now - removing the other daggers was pointless. Quite a peaceful place to die, Floor 24.