Title: The Black Knights
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Asuna or Liz or Silica or Sachi or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: When Asuna sees through Kirito's speech after the first Boss fight, she makes a decision that changes the fortunes of many.
"Damnit." Kirito muttered as the sword in his left hand shattered.
That was the third damn time. He was hunting solo on Floor Twenty-Five to try and get his new skill up. Just before the Boss Fight on Floor Fifty-Five, Kirito had been scrolling through his skills and found a new one, Duel-Wielding. Only Asuna knew about the new skill so far, so here he was in the early hours of the morning on a much lower level trying to skill up. The problem was that the only swords he had to use in his off hand were older swords that were much less durable than his main sword, so they had a tendency to break. Two more casual strikes finished off the Monster.
Kirito sighed as he turned away from the field dungeon. He was out of spare swords to use in his left hand. As he walked out of the area he noticed a group of five players walking towards the field dungeon Kirito had just left. They had a mix of weapons. A female player and a male player both armed with spears; a male who seemed to be in charge with a two handed staff; a mace and shield wielder and a shorter male armed with a dagger. To Kirito's eye, these were obviously mid-level players.
"Watch out for the grey ones. They have much better defence, so you need to try to flank them." Kirito said as the Guild passed.
"Thanks man." The leader with the staff said.
"Don't you know who that is?" The dagger wielder asked. "That's Kirito. The Black Swordsman. Leader of the Black Knights."
Kirito simply ignored the whispering as he walked, more focused on trying to figure out where to get a better sword for his left hand.
It was almost three weeks after Kirito and Asuna had come off the Front Lines after the Floor Fifty-Five Boss Fight when the entire Black Knights Guild gathered in Liz's shop. Liz herself was on one side of a long table covered with cloth while Agil, Asuna and Kirito stood on the other.
"So, have you finally finished whatever you were working on?" Asuna asked. "You have had us getting some pretty weird materials the last few weeks."
"Yes, but something unexpected happened." Liz replied. "I am sure you all know about the rare mineral drops Kirito gave me. Because of those we needed some exotic additional materials to be included in the crafting."
Liz paused for a second looking over the others.
"Tell me, what do you know about Equipment Sets?" Liz asked.
"They are complementary groups of equipment, usually armour and weapons, where in addition to whatever stats the item itself had, the user gets more bonuses the more of the items in the set they have." Kirito supplied. "I've only heard of two in SAO. One was a quest based set on floor five that was geared to dagger wielders and the rumour is Commander Heathcliff's current load out is an equipment set. Probably a scaling one as he got it back on floor forty-nine and has not upgraded since."
"Scaling?" Asuna asked, confused.
"It's where, at least for a while, as you level up your gear gets more powerful to match." Agil explained.
"Hence the unexpected. I was making gear for everyone and they all ended up to be not only scaling sets, but unique and…. Player Specific." Liz admitted. "Only we will ever be able to use this equipment. I normally put a lot into my work, but this was almost as if the System was shaping what I was making more than I was."
Liz pulled the cloth off the table and everyone was drawn to one of the groups of gear, both visually and something deeper. Asuna was the first one to move, heading to the Rapier and half-breastplate. Every item on the table was some variation of black, but to Asuna the Rapier and half-breastplate were beautiful with their black being reminiscent of the black night in the instant after a lightning bolt. Upon closer inspection they had tiny stylised lightning bolts on the basket handguard of the Rapier and the boarder of the half-breastplate. Clicking on the items she discovered the Rapier was called Thunderclap and the half-breastplate was called Echo Protection and both the individual equipment and equipment set bonuses were to speed and accuracy.
Liz saw Kirito moving to his equipment and she felt the need to speak up. The breastplate was simple and functional, with a muted black sheen, but there were also two one-handed long swords which appeared almost identical.
"Kirito, I don't know why your Set has two swords. They are called 'Manus Sinister' and 'Manus Dextra'. The breastplate is called 'Lorica'. I don't know what that means." Liz admitted, getting a laugh from Asuna.
"They are Latin, after a fashion. Manus Dextra means right hand, Manus Sinister means left hand, roughly, and Lorica, again roughly, translates to breastplate or coat." Asuna explained.
"Thanks, Liz." Kirito said. "Just before the last Boss Fight I discovered a new skill. Duel Wielding. I have been trying to train it up by using older swords in my left hand but they kept breaking."
Having a look at his new weapons, Kirito saw they individually had damage modifiers on the swords and an agility boost on the breastplate, but the Set bonuses were speed and reaction time.
Agil's gear was a massive two-handed Axe, though the axe head was different than his old Axe in that one side was a tradition crescent shaped blade, the other side was a heavy spike instead of the second blade like his existing Axe had, and was called Giant Cleaver. The heavy breastplate would cover Agil from shoulder to waist, both front and back, but also had armour that extended down his left arm to just above the elbow with an almost shield like shoulder guard which provided some neck protection. This was called Stonewall. Agil's bonuses were all to damage and protection.
The final set of gear was for Liz. Her gear had the slightly oily black look of coal and had subtle flame motifs. The weapon was a one-handed morning-star with a head that had four solid bars coming out of the sides at 90 degrees to each other and a short spike at the top of the head. It was called The Star. The round shield, called The Bright Anvil, was larger than her old shield but no so large to throw off her balance, and the face was almost mirror like. Her breastplate was called The Ember Cuirass, had a prominent motif of flames and Blacksmithing Hammers. Most of Liz's bonuses were to protection and accuracy, but the set also had a passive bonus to her Blacksmithing skill as long as it was in her inventory, she did not even have to be wearing it.
Kirito was the first to don his new armour and weapons. He moved into an open space in the shop and began testing the feel and balance of the swords.
"These are perfect." Kirito said.
"Huh. There is space at the bottom of the list of Set Bonuses." Agil observed.
"Probably means there will be more items in the Sets when Liz, or someone else, makes them. Probably boots, coats and such." Kirito mused as he sheathed his swords on his back.
Agil moved to the clear space as Kirito leaned against a wall. The big man swung the Axe a few times, feeling the weight and trying to figure out the best way to incorporate the spike into his generally sweeping style.
"This is going to take some time to get used to this." Agil said.
"And I am going to need to train up my Duel-Wielding. Especially if I am going to use it in a Boss Fight." Kirito mused.
"Is that wise?" Liz asked. "Don't get me wrong. I am all for you using it, but once you go public… there's no going back."
"Commander Heathcliff has a unique skill, why can't we?" Asuna countered.
Kirito just grinned.
TBC…