Floor 75
*kat-chink*
"Heeyaaah!"
*Fwish*
*Clank*
The fight rolled on like thunder. The three blades rained against each other endlessly; Two swords versus one. In terms of numbers, the black swordsman should have already held victory as his prize. Yet his opponent was never meant to falter. The monster he now faced was ruthless; singlehandedly murdering thousands of people trapped inside a sick and cruel world that he had created.
*swoosh*
*Clang*
*thud*
*groan*
The two men locked in combat slashed and roared, both attempting to destroy their opponent. Kirito, the one I called friend, the one Asuna called husband, and the one they called The Black Swordsman, threw every ounce of willpower and strength into every strike and counter-attack. The tension in the room was thick, but everyone looked on in admiration at the man who they knew would defeat the monster, Kayaba Akihiko. With each ring of metal on metal, victory came that much closer to Kirito.
*rapt*
*crunch*
*fwuap*
Swing after swing, parry after parry, Death was coming swift to the man in the red armor. A new round of bone breaking attacks slammed into the shield of the older man and slightly staggered him. The people looking onwards took and held a breath as they saw the unbreakable titan stumble beneath the hit of the smaller boy. Seeing the falter, The Black Swordsman took his advantage and lit up the most powerful sword skill any of us had ever seen.
Light burst from every place the boy's dual blades touched, yet Kayaba had recovered from his stumble and now deflected the blows with ease. I could see the sudden turn the battle had taken well before anyone else had the chance. I saw the look of achievement on the rotten pig's face as he saw Kirito's combo coming to a close, knowing that when it did, there would be just enough of a delay to finish Kirito off.
Seeing it all play out in my mind, I forced myself to push with all my strength against the paralysis effect that held us hostage. Focusing with all my might, I could feel the system pushing back, keeping me down, but I wouldn't surrender. Raising to a crouch, I slowly forced the paralysis back. But that's when I heard it. The sound of Kirito's sword smashing into Kayaba's shield and breaking.
I raised my head in horror, and I witnessed Kayaba's blade begin to fall in slow motion towards Kirito's fatigued figure. And then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw another figure break out in a mad dash towards the two. It was Asuna! She must've also broken from the paralysis! I silently encouraged her brave move, rushing out to join Kirito in the fight. Yet once again, something was wrong. Her pace was too irregular, her eyes were too frantic. It was the look of someone already in mourning, yet also apologizing. I couldn't stop her. I understood what action she would take. Her rapier was not even in her hand as she sprinted up to Kayaba, her arms outstretched in a protective gesture, and caught his downward blow with her torso...
And then the world was silent...
(X)
Kirito, her chosen hero and dearest love, held her dying figure as tears streamed uncontrollably down both of their faces. He couldn't let her go. He tried to hold her closer, to keep her safe from the inevitable. But Death had indeed come, yet instead of finding the man in the red armor, his unmerciful grasp closed on the soul of the most precious. The splintering sound of shattering polygons echoed throughout the large cavern. They shimmered brightly as they floated off in a nonexistent wind, before disappearing altogether.
The world was silent once again...
(X)
no...
No...
NO!
I screamed it in my mind, though no sound escaped my lips. I fought harder to break the hold the paralysis had on me. I saw Kirito, broken and sobbing, swinging slowly and weakly at the demon who had slaughtered his wife. It was a pathetic sight, seeing him beaten down so low. I pushed further, and made it to one knee. I didn't need to look up to know that the fight was over. I understood the rage and fury had drained from Kirito who now stood straight with Kayaba's sword protruding from his stomach.
In a more glorious plot, Kirito, my bravest friend, would have taken the sword and plugged it back into Kayaba, or simply carried on with his attack, wounded. But this was not the case. He stumbled back from his opponent before coming to a halt and collapsing before me. I lifted him up onto my raised knee. I tried to speak softly to him, and even attempted to summon a health potion from my inventory, but with desperate fingers he opened a trade menu and deposited all of his and Asuna's shared inventory and closed the trade. With all the items now sent directly to my inventory, I watched his health bar sink into nothingness and he too exploded in a dazzling shower of shattered polygons...
The world was silent...
(X)
"RUUAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!"
With unworldly rage I shrugged off the forces that held me, breaking down the system that restricted my movements, and shattered the game engine itself as I burst from my crouch and tore up the ground with a flurry of motion. No human being in existence experienced the speed at which I reached my target. In one of his hands was a teleport crystal, in the other, the cursed blade that struck down two of my dearest friends. In blind fury I swept up Kirito's fallen Elucidator as well as Asuna's rapier and let my hands take over as they both brought the two swords down against the fiend, Kayaba Akihiko's hand.
*KA-BOOM!*
His wrist vaporized at the sheer force of the strike, and the teleport crystal rolled away across the ground.
"KEERRRAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!"
An upward slash to the head, then a horizontal cut to the waist. A back spin kick to his chest, and a dual plunge into the wicked man's gut. I stared into the monster's eyes as I drove the blades deeper into his abdomen. He stared back with a infernal blaze. Then, with one hand, he delivered a swift blow to my head which sent me hurtling backwards. I regained my feet slowly, the system still attempting to weigh me down with the paralysis still in effect. By the time I reached him again, Kayaba had summoned a second crystal and vanished in flurry of light.
He escaped!
HE ESCAPED!
HE! ESCAPED!
I slammed my fist down in rage at my failure. Each time I did, more tears came to my eyes. I had watched my friends die...And I couldn't do ANYTHING!
The world was silent...
(X)
Somewhere, across the border of reality and the virtual world, two innocent teenagers lay on hospital beds in seperate hospitals on two seperate sides of town. To anyone looking from the outside in, it would look as if they were sleeping. At both hospitals, a nurse comes in regularly to check their vitals. At both hospitals, an alarm rings suddenly as the green light on the front of both helmets attached to both teenagers' heads turns red. At both hospitals, doctors scramble frantically to resuscitate both teenagers as their heart monitors flatline. At both hospitals, a family mourns by the bedside of both young adults. Niether family will ever know that the one they mourn had shared a life with another whom they had never had the chance to meet in real life.
At both hospitals, a tragic love story comes to an end.
(X)
The paralysis wore off, but I remained still. I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. All I could do was cry. I remember spending the last five minutes in vain, trying to use the crystal Kayaba had dropped to teleport directly to the 100th floor. I figured, if this was his crystal, it would still have admin permissions to go anywhere. In broken frustration, I slammed it to the ground, where it shattered on impact. I don't remember being dragged by Agil up to the 76th floor. I don't remember having a mental breakdown. I don't remember embracing Asuna and Kirito's swords. All I remember is running. I ran fast and hard. I deleted my entire friend list. I never wanted to be found. To the rest of the world, I was lost, and quite possibly dead.
It was two months until my return...
I am Klien, and I will have vengeance upon the man that murdered my friends.