SWORD ART ONLINE: THE VELVET SWORD
CHAPTER 4: MOURN FOR ME LATER
FLOOR: 19
MARCH 13TH, 2023, THE VERY NEXT DAY
"It's not your fault..."
That very line bounced through every corner of my mind, it wasn't my fault?
HOGWASH!
Of course it was my fault! If I never joined in the raid then Oliver wouldn't have had to slow himself down to help me.
All these thoughts ran through my mind, I hadn't slept that night. how could I? My best and only friend was gone, what did I have to go back to now? A school that hated me? A crappy existense?!
I sulked in a new bed, a one bed room at the same inn. I didn't wanna go back into that other room and see the bed that would now forever lay empty.
This room had a window atleast, to show that the virtual world felt just as down as I, rain drops lightly sprinkled the window.
*knock* *knock*
"Come in" I whispered as I still stared at the window. I saw orange hair!
"OLIVE-...oh." The orange I had seen was merely the candle light reflecting off of Kirito's hair.
"I- I heard what happened...nothing I can say will make this any easier, but he wanted me to gi-."
"Wh-Where were you?" I said stammered coldly, so coldly it even caught Kirito of guard, I never spke with such a tone, and the fact that I was giving it to Kirito of all people? This was something that I could only tap into when I felt dead inside.
"Training, but he wa-."
"TRAINING?!" I got off the bed and pulled Kirito into the room and slammed the door, no one else needed to eavesdrop.
Doors were soundproof after all.
"Tell me, how the hell does a beater need to train?! We're supposed to be stronger than the rest of the others! Most of the solo players are dieing off Kirito!" I weakly banged against the boys chest with tear filled eye and half hearted punches.
The dark haired boy didn't flinch nor move while I vented my pent up anger, he knew venting was the best way to get rid of this.
"What'd you think was gonna happen? huh?" He said calmly.
"Wh-What?" I unknowing dropped back onto the bed.
"Velvet, incase you aren't aware Aincrad, SAO, this isn't a game, people are dieing all around us. Sure we lose a couple of close friends but we keep going, you wanna know why?"
I stayed silent.
"Becuase we learn from these deaths, because we use them to build up ourselves after we break down. Oliver died yes I know, and I'm dam well gonna miss him too but you cant let this pull you down, Mourn for him later, when we're out of here." Kirito pulled me off the bed and dusted and patted down my armor, and opened his menu.
"What're you doing?" I asked, I was still mopping and depressed but what Kirito said made sense, sort off.
"Alistar left me something, a recording cube, for you." He opened a trade menu and I instantly remembered the item Oliver sent me when he was struck down.
"AND not I'm not leaving until you listen to them." Kirito said as he pulled over a chair and plopped down in it.
I opened my inventory menu and saw the 2 recording cubes.
:Recording from: Alistar *STATUS* Alive*:
:Recording from: Alistar *SETTINGS* *Incase of player death*:
Both the titles put a knot in my throat and stomach.
I equipped the first one and a small blue cube materialized midair in front of me. I tapped the surface to get it to play.
"Hello? Uh is this thing on?" Oliver's voice, it hurt to even hear it.
"Well um, I'm not sure how to start this but I'll say it flatly, if your hearing this then that means Kirito gave this to you...AND I'm dead."
*I know and its all my fault* I thought.
"And your probably saying this was all your fault."
*what?*
"If your wandering how I knew what you'd say its cuz i've known you for years Kirsten, since we were kids, and don't try talking to the recording, Kirito will think your crazy"
Kirito grinned when I glared at him.
"Kirst, I want you to know that this isn't your fault, my death was my choice, whether it was me saving you or me doing something stupid it won't be your fault, so I can tell your probably crying your eyes out but stop...oh and play the next recording."
The cube fell to the bed and I opened my menu to put it away and pull out the other.
"Yes I made a part two of this recording to say, I'm sorry, sorry that I'm breaking your heart into fragments but remember this. I had nothing to go back to in the other world if you die. what would I go back to? who's gonna miss me?"
*Your best friend will.*
"If your thinking your the only one who's gonna miss me smack yourself, ALL our friends here are gonna miss me, so don't think I was your only friend, you have friends all around you, you just haven't met them yet.
"What' cha think?" My voice was in the recording.
"Goodbye, and good luck." The recording ended and fell to the bed, he had did this right before we argued, he knew this might happen.
"Velvet?" Kirito's hand plopped on my shoulder.
"Theres someone here who wants to say sorry" Kirito opened the door and 3 people walked in, One a boy with pink hair, another boy with blue hair and a girl with glasses. It was Kiri, Sai and Kjelle, the people who organized the raid that killed Oliver, only now they no longer wore their Aincrad army armor.
"What're you doing here" I questioned as I wiped a tear so they wouldn't see it.
"Kirito asked us to come, and I wanted to as well, I went around saying sorry to everyone who lost a friend during that raid. But I felt I needed to fully say sorry to you. You and Alistar are Beaters, we need beaters to stay at there best. So I'm sorry." Kiri said, his pale blue eyes were down cast.
"Your friend made a choice that not many can willingly do, he raised a weapon to a boss and struck back even though he knew he would die" Sai said, my eyes widened
"Wait say that again!"
"He would die?" He raised an eyebrow.
"No the other thing about raising a weapon to the boss! when the shield users and tanks went in they didnt even stand a chance, the only time the boss recoiled was when Oliver blocked the buster sword with his axe!"
"What're you getting at?" Sai and Kiri asked, but Kyelle's eyes widened when she knew what I meant.
"She's saying that in order to block the bosses swings we need to use a weapon, not a shield. The Minthrel is a true knight, it needs to be dueled head on, however there's no telling how much clashing his sword will deteriorate your weapons condition" Kjelle said as light seemed to reflect off her glasses.
"We need to go now" I said hopping off the bed and going towards the door, Kirito's hand stopped me.
"We aren't sure if thats even true, you could die, I'm not letting you leave." Kirito dragged me back to the bed.
"We can arrange another raid tomarrow but I don't think we'll have many people, morale is pretty damn low and with our termination of service to the Liberation Force we no longer have troops." Kiri said as the 3 of them left the room.
"Kirito, you and I can do it, tonight!" I said again getting off the bed only for him to force me back onto it.
"Your not gonna kill youself on my watch."
*YOU wont be able to stop me*
3 HOURS LATER
My eyes shot open, I had only waited for Kirito to start snoring, I'd slept in the same room as this boy for months, i memorized his sleep patterns. Sure it took a few hours but he had fallen asleep, I didn't need Kirito's help to defeat the boss, surley I could handle it now that we knew how to handle it.
I equipped my armor and sword but not my boots, atleast not until I got outside, I couldn't risk kirito hearing me leave.
"Where do you think your going?" A voice called from behind me when I was in the inn's lobby.
With my Hare's gift equipped I knew the voice was coming from my left, I looked over and realized the man was talking to some other girl.
The walk to the boss dungeon was uneventful, except for purchasing a slash blocking enhancement for Petal's Scream, If I died I didnt care, atleast i'd be liberated from SAO.
I pushed open the bosses room door with Petal's Scream drawn, I was going to avenge my friend and all the killed players.
The moon shinned brightly in this room, but only in one spot, the rest of the room was engrossed in darkness, I saw The Minthrel sitting still on its throne, I would make it come to me.
I opened my menu and equipped a small knife, Throwing Blade was a skill swordsman could use, I happened to start using this skill alot as of lately. A belt was wrapped around my right leg that held multiple throwing daggers.
I activated a peircing Sword Skill with the dagger and with all my might threw it at the boss.
*Clank*
The small blade inserted itself into the helmet of the boss, almost like it had a small unicorn horn.
I didn't laugh this time.
The boss stood quickly and drew its buster sword. It was obviously upset that it wasn't triggered by distance but an attack.
It hefted its blade on its shoulder and scanned the room until its gaze fell onto me.
It stepped off its pedestal and I threw another Sword Kkill dagger, this time with a blue slashing sword skill. When this one hit it I saw it's first health bar was slightly lowered.
"Come at me you metal bastard!" I yelled and pulled out 3 more daggers, each with a different Sword Skill, when they got close the boss used its sword as a shield and 2 of the daggers didnt make contact.
I stayed still as the boss came towards me, Petal's Scream was pointed slightly to the floor infront of me and my left hand remained at the back of my waist to hold my posture.
The boss made a grunting sound and it rose it's blade and prepared to swing.
*Time to test this theory*
I activated a duelist Sword Skill, these were used mostly for when you go up against another sword weilding enemy. I swung straight up and the 2 sword made contact, the bosses arm was knocked back leaving it completley open, I took my chance and put the blade against my shoulder and activated a yellow warp Sword Skill which pulled me straight at the boss, my sword slashed against its leg and I dug in deeper to use the friction to turn me midway, I grabbed onto the bosses back and prepared to stab deeply into the boss.
This boss knew what I was gonna do and swung its sword behind itself to make me jump off its back.
"Faster" I muttered.
The boss made a horizontal strike and I ducked under it, it recovered with a swing of its left arm trying to crush me. I barrel rolled out of its path and it smashed the floor where I had been. I acitvated a slashing sword skill and did a flurry of striked at its wrist hoping to injure it.
The whole time my eyes stayed locked on its health bar and I stayed emotionless.
The boss swung its arm to the right in an effort to stop my attacks but I used that to grab into its arm, I pulled myself up.
Thanks to the spikes on the bottum of my boots I ran up the smooth metal plates, with each step I slashed left and right next to me leaving jagged X's across the bosses arm.
The boss swung its arm and I plunged my blade into a gap in the armor and grabbed onto what I could in an effort to hold on.
"CRAP!" I yelled as it shook my off and I hit the floor hard. I stood up quickly and grabbed Petal's Scream off the floor, the boss ran up to me and tried to down swing this time I raised my sword with a slash Sword Skill.
*CRACK*
My eyes widened, I hadn't payed attention to the condition of Petal's Scream and the sword broke, all weapons and armor break after being used for so long, the boss just had really strong armor which broke it faster. The remainder of the sword broke into fragments and flew away.
The boss had recovered and walked up to my helpless form.
I stood my ground prepared to die.
"Go ahead, do you worst, I sure as hell did mine" I said letting my hands fall to my waist and closed my eyes as the boss activated a whie Sword Skill.
This was it, i'd be free of this world and my NerveGear would kill me.
*Clank*
"What th-" The Minthrel's sword that would've killed me collided with something metal instead of me, when I opened my eyes I was face to back with a person slightly taller than me, the person was a boy, his platinum blond hair was short but swept into his face his pale milky blue eyes looked at me with mixed emotions, he wore a high collared long sleeve shirt with a large spade shaped shoulder pauldron and gauntlet on his left arm, his right arm wore only a brown leather glove, his waist was adorned with two belts that sagged against his black pants which were loosely tucked into his light grey metal plated boots.
His most notable feature was he weilded a large Nodachi, that was taller than him, it was black and purple and he grasped it at an angle to show he had blocked The Minthrel's attack.
"Idiot." He muttered and as if it weighed nothing he swung the Nodcachi deep into the bosses knee and spun around swinging another attack into the back of The Minthrel's knee. causing it to stumble.
"Wha-" I was at a lose for words, I had been so ready to let myself die mere seconds ago but now that my death involved another player I ditched the idea of killing myself for now.
The tanky boy ran between the legs of the boss and still swung the seemingly weightless greatsword, he swung in arcing spins letting momentum do most of the work.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR GET A DAMN WEAPON!" He yelled at me and he blocked the boss with his Nodachi and retaliated with a strke of his own.
As quickly as I could I opened my menu and equipped the first weapon I could, the sword was just a Katana from a Savage Hallow, the sword wasn't the best thing I had but it would do, I wouldn't let this strange boy fight the boss on his own...even if he was yelling at me.
"About time." he said as he activated a Sword Skill from the Nodachi and swung in a circle knocking the bosses sword up, I activated a warp sword skill and launched myself at the boss. I repeated my last attempt and got on to the bosses back, when the boss tried to swing its sword at me the boy unleashed a flurry of strikes at the Minthrel's knee joint preventing the attack and gave me the chance to activate a peircing sword skill in the Minthrel's back.
The sword plunged deeply into the bosses back and it burst into countless fragments, I landed not so gracefully and looked around for the boy, she walked over to me and instead of helping me up he used the barbed pommel of his sword to pull me closer.
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!? YOU COULD'VE BEEN KILLED! WHY WOULD ANYONE GO AFTER THE BOSS ON THERE OWN!?" He yelled and shook me but I didn't say anything, I let him yell for a bit until he calmed down.
"What were you thinking soloing a boss, how did you hope to live?" he asked.
"I didn't" I said quietly.
"What? You mean that wasn't the boss?."
"No,No that WAS the boss, I just didn't plan on living." The last part was nothing more than a whisper, I was still bad at talking to new people.
"Becuase your friend died?" He said bluntly
"Huh wha-"
"Everyone knows the shield using Beater died, that doesn't mean you have to kill youself" he said plainly and my thoughts collided with my suicidal thoughts, I TRIED TO DIE?
"Oh gosh im gonna be sick" I said as I dropped to the floor and placed my face in my hands.
"So whats the real problem here?" He asked while leaning against his sword.
"I have nothing to live for."
"You wanna know what i think about when im feeling down? I think of all the disturbingly weird people who get to live their life while we're in this place. Your a beater, I was part of the Boss raid earlier today, It'd be hell of a lot more dull up here without you Y'know?"
"Y-You make it sound like it's easy to just pick up and keep going." I muttered
"Nothing easy is worth doing." The boy smiled
"I'm Gin." he offered me a hand
"I'm velvet,which you probably already know, uh how did you find me?"
"She told me" Gin pointed to the door of the boss room and a hooded head popped out.
"Argo?" I asked as the small girl walked over to us.
"Hey Velv, long time no see" She said with her usual calm attitude
"your with her?" i asked Gin who nodded.
"She hired me, the pay wasn't something someone could just turn away from." It finally dawned on me, this boy, Gin, was a mercenary!
"Wait you didn't really want to do any of this?!"
"A jobs a job, if i need to inspire someone or fight something it's what I do."
"O-Oh" I looked away, I had truly to thought someone cared.
"Check it already!" Argo yelled and flaied her arms.
"Uh what?"
"She means the boss's final strike reward" Gin pointed to the icon that showed I got items.
"Oh right...OH DAM!" I yelled happily as I read the swords description.
Name: Crocea Mors
Type: Straigh sword, Jian
Description: Crocea Mors, a sword that adapts each time the user levels up, each level the sword becomes gradually stronger.
This weapon could last me the whole game!
My eyes were wide until I equipped the sword, The sword looked like a normal long Jian straight sword.
The handle was bounded with blue leather and the cross guard, the fancy thing where the blade and the handle met was gold, well a dirty gold. The blade itself was a pale grey metal, however it looked weathered and the blade had chips in it.
The difference between broadswords and straight swords were like rectangles and squares, boradswords had a triangular shape from the hilt to the blade, while straightswords were thinner and were rectangular shaped until it neared the point at the end.
The blade was sharp but at my current level the stats were great, it just uh didn't look overly great, yet.
"Wow, that's a Crocea Mors!" Argo fan girled over the sword until I sheathed it onto my back.
"So the sword evolves when you level up?" Gin asked as he poked the weapon, I hadn't even noticed he was behind me.
"what about your blade?" I asked pointing to the weapon he had on his back.
"Oh, say hello to "Phantom's Bane" a custom made Nodchi, weighs almost nothing." he handed me the sword, I expected it to pull me down but it weighed nothing more than what Petal's Scream did.
"You weild it so easily." I said in disbelief.
"Enhancements duh" Argo said as she opened the teleport gate to floor 20.
"Okay well nice meeting you Gin but uh I gotta go" I said running out the boss room back to the inn.
"He doesn't seem like a Floor clearer nor a Beater." Gin inquired to Argo as I left.
"whatever you got your pay your free to go." Argo shot back.
"Kirito!" I yelled.
"Huh wha-?" He was confused that I had so quickly changed from broody and depressing to happy.
"I beat it!"
"Beat what?" he yawned
"The boss!"
"You what!"
AUTHORS NOTE: HEEEEEEY THERE EVERYBODY!
OK SO AFTER THIS PART WE CAN GET BACK INTO THE MAIN STORY LINE, IN THIS CHAPTER AND THE LAST I INTRODUCED THE WINNERS OF THE OC CONTEST, THEY WILL ALL MAKE DEBUTES SOON!
THE OC'S ARE
GIN, NIX, DEX, KIRI, KJELLE, SAI, LARVATUM "THE MASK", AND MIZUNOKEN!
ENJOY THIS CHAPTER, THEY MIGHT BE LONGER NEXT FEW CHAPTERS