This took WAY longer than it should have.

I do not own Sword Art Online.

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3… 2… 1… GO!

These words flash on the sign above the lane, and Kirito takes off running down the lane.

The cowboy says "I'll kill you!" and a trio of lines travel from his gun to Kirito's head, right shoulder, and left knee.

Kirito leaps sideways out of the way of the bullets, skidding on the ground for a moment before resuming his breakneck run down the lane. Kirito begins dashing side to side, which seems to throw off the cowboy's aim, as he simply stands there trying to line up his next shot for a few moments.

Finally, he declares "You loser!" as another trio of lines travel from his gun to Kirito's forehead, left shoulder, and chest. As the gun fires, Kirito ducks down and left, avoiding the shots without even slowing down.

The aqua-haired girl on the sideline blinks in surprise. "That's…"

At that moment, Kirito passes a glowing line on the floor, and one of the onlookers exclaims, "She's already made it ten meters?" while another asks, "Who is she?"

The cowboy tells Kirito "Die." and pops out his empty bullets, throwing in a new set and firing it off only for Kirito to bob and weave past them, still not slowing his run. He speed loads another set of bullets and exclaims with a crazed look in his eyes, "Go to hell." An almost perfectly horizontal line of bullet lines forms through Kirito's chest, and he elects to simply slide under the next barrage.

Kirito tells the Gunman, "You're out of ammo!"

But something's wrong… the gunman's grinning.

Kirito leaps into the air as the cowboy swings his gun back around, the barrel now glowing neon blue. The crowd exclaims in surprise as a set of lasers shoot out of the revolver, but all they hit is he floor where Kirito would have been standing had he not jumped. Kirito does an elegant flip as he soars through the air, before reaching up and placing a hand on the cowboy's chest as he lands in a crouch.

Everything is silent for a few seconds as Kirito takes a few steps back from the building that the cowboy is standing in front of. The cowboy screams his defeat, "NOOOOOOOO!" before coins start pouring out of the building, completely burying him. The entire audience's jaws are on the floor as this newbie collects 302,000 credits for beating this unbeatable challenge. As Kirito accepts his reward, the coins disappear and the gunman leaps back to his feet, twirling his pistol and taunting, "Hey, chicken, come on."

Two men sum up the thoughts of the entire audience with the simple phrases, "What was that?" and "Who is she?"

The aqua-haired girl walks up to Kirito and asks, "What kind of reflexes do you have? At the end, in front of it, you dodged lasers fewer than two meters away. There's hardly any time between the prediction lines and the actual shots!"

"My reflexes aren't that impressive."

"What do you mean, your reflexes aren't that impressive? You just completed an unbeatable challenge! On your first try!"

Kirito looks away nervously, then looks down sadly. "Well…"

He doesn't get to finish, however, as a robot carrying a stack of newspapers zips into the room, blaring "News flash! Death Gun on a rampage! 17 dead and counting! News flash! Death Gun on a rampage!" as it rolls around, trying to sell its newspapers.

Kirito's eyes widen. "They… they weren't just rumors. This can't be happening again! No, no, no, no, no…"

The girl, recognizing the all-too-familiar signs of a panic attack, tries to get Kirito's attention. "Hey, we never did introduce ourselves, did we? I'm Sinon, what's your name?"

Kirito doesn't seem to hear her, however, and progresses to hyperventilation.

The now identified Sinon grabs Kirito's shoulders, practically shouting at him, "What's your name?"

Kirito does a complete emotional 180. Suddenly, he's completely calm. Too suddenly.

Kirito says "My name is Kirito. I'm called a hero, but that's a lie. I'm no hero… I'm a harbinger."

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Sorry for the short chapter, but I decided that I had kept you waiting long enough and posted this as soon as it could be called a chapter.