The fight lasted for another minute or so until Simon got a sneak attack in on Shiroi. As someone who's experienced in powerful area of effect attacks and big flashy moves, Shiroi can't go head to head with someone proficient at close combat range. That's why every time Simon sneaked up on her, she would be backed into a corner and forced to waste her energy on powerful ice moves. It didn't take long before she got cornered with no choice but to forfeit.

On the other hand, Fuuka stood a chance against Satoshi had she played her cards right. In the end, she couldn't beat him as well since he could somehow anticipate her next attack. No matter how much she tried to hide her presence, or lessen her movements so Satoshi wouldn't sense her invisible attacks, nothing worked on him. It's as if he had eyes everywhere, ultimately forcing Fuuka to waste her energy until she was too exhausted to go on.

"Satoshi and Simon's team wins," Knighthawk announced before heading out of the stadium. He didn't want to be part of the match in the first place, and he just took it upon himself since the responsibility falls on him if something goes wrong.

"That was a great match," Shiroi was the first one to speak up as she offered her hand to both Simon and Satoshi in a handshake. Fuuka followed her lead.

"Yeah," Simon responded before heading towards his pet dog Ava, who had been tied on the corner of the stadium, obediently waiting for his master to finish his engagement.

"Let's have a match again some time," Satoshi commented, telling everyone his sentiment since he really wanted to have a rematch with anyone in the group. The three of them responded with a nod.

As Satoshi bade goodbye to everyone else including Ava, Simon's dog, he felt a slight nudging feeling in his mind as if he was forgetting something. 'Well, I forgot about it so it's probably not that important.' He said to himself as he headed home.

Halfway there, he met Emma, who was actually looking for her. She was with Aira, and somehow Aira was fully clothed for running. When she saw Satoshi walking toward them, a beam of a smile formed on her face and she quickly ran, giving him a tackle hug before showing off the new clothes Satoshi's parents got for her.

"You're almost late for an internship, and you also missed training." Emma casually pointed out, walking beside Satoshi and matching his pace as the two of them headed home.

"Ah, right! I forgot! Dad's going to chew me off when I get home." Satoshi said with a troubled expression on his face. Even though he knew that his dad wouldn't actually nag him about it, he still felt guilty that he left his dad hanging. He may be his dad, but to Satoshi, he also is his role model, the number one hero that he had always looked up to ever since he was born. That's why he held great respect for him and doing something tha might disappoint him actually gave him a bitter taste in the mouth. Without further ado, he increased his pace as the three of them headed home.

,m ...

While everyone was going on with their daily lives, daily training, and for the case of the students of USA, their internship, a storm was brewing by the Sea of Japan. Well, it wasn't that much of a storm, just a rising pillar that came out of nowhere.

This pillar was all-too-familiar to everyone who lives on Earth. Why? Because this wasn't the first time a pillar appeared in the world. While this may be the first time it appeared on the sea, everyone already knew what to expect of it. And that's why the Japanese Government, in association with the SAO, decided to announce ownership of the said pillar before it completely rose out of the sea.

A Dungeon.

Throughout the years, Earth has experienced many catastrophes— Alien Invasions, Worldwide Incidents, Otherworldly Threats, Threats from other Dimensions, the recent incident of Gates... then there are the dungeons. The dungeons were the first global catastrophe to ever appear on Earth when superpowers were beginning to surface. Needless to say, no one was prepared for the catastrophe and a lot of casualties occurred back then. The people who managed to awaken superpowers managed to put a tight leash on these dungeons though, and after a few years, they've already cleared all the dungeons that appeared all over the globe. From time to time though, dungeons would appear and it is up to anyone who wanted to clear it.

However, after everyone realized the shocking truth about the dungeons and how valuable they were, disputes between nations began to erupt. After all, who wouldn't want the rare equipment, familiars, treasures, and otherworldly items that existed therein? Everyone, of course.

Everyone wanted to get ahold of a dungeon. Wars began breaking out in a lot of countries. And adding to that, other major incidents and alien invasions didn't really help. The world was in a state of chaos back then, and the fighting aggravated even still.

In a desperate attempt to put a stop to this madness, a number of countries agreed to what's called the Territorial Dungeon Act today. This act states that the dungeon would automatically belong to the country where it spawned. And it is up to the government of that country whether they want to ask another country for help, or if they want to sell or give that dungeon to another country. This rule brought equilibrium to Earth once again, and finally, the dispute between ownership of dungeons was greatly reduced. Yes, wars still occurred but it's not as common as before.

Pretty soon, news about the new dungeon was circulated all over the globe, and once again, Japan was put in the spotlight. Everyone was curious as to what sort of treasures and challenges lie inside the dungeon, and more importantly, which heroes would be chosen to enter it.

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