Supposedly, the wall only kept me out of trouble until my icon changed back to green. Since I missed my last day, today's going to be a makeup day. I guess I'm happy that I don't have to be on the wall for eight hours a day after today... But I did get all the way to level 20 out there. So, my first day both free and updated was spent wandering on the eighth floor. It's a nice forested area, with plenty of places to relax and get away from other people.
I was thinking about my options. Being a strong player, I know I really should either join the Army or the Clearers, but I keep going around in circles as to which to sign up with. Both are mutually exclusive too, which doesn't make the decision process easier. And then, if I join Clearers, who I should join. Sure, Klein offered, but Furinkazaan wasn't exactly on the front lines much anymore.
I'm currently inside of a cathedral, one that was rarely used. No one is sure why these buildings were built, since nobody ever uses them except when there's too many refugees from a floor that just got captured. So, I figured I was going to be safe in here. I snuck past the guard with my fancy new weapon that gives me a huge boost to concealment (called Thief, appropriately enough) and climbed up into the bell tower to look around as I gathered my thoughts. I was there for a while, until it was almost time for me to go back to the wall. Oh, and give Lizbeth a chance to fight.
That was when the Army barged in.
At least, that's what I thought they were at first. The Army issues out the same type of armor to every member, so when you see a group with that armor on, you immediately assume that they're part of the Army.
It wasn't until the first one pulled off their helmet that I recognized something was wrong. The army is pretty much all we have for law enforcement on all levels. They're the ones who were in charge of enforcing my sentence after all. So, that means there is absolutely no way that a red player would be allowed into their ranks, let alone...
Are all of these people red? Only two of the twelve have helmets on, and every single one of the others is red.
I figure staying hidden is the best option.
"What a haul!" Says the first guy to take off his helmet, a guy in his late forties with bright red hair to match his marker. He pulls out a bag of stuff and sets it on the table in front of him.
A female on his right agrees. "I can't believe he called himself a Clearer! What a joke!"
A few other laugh. The red haired guy opens the sack and pours out their spoils.
"Ooh! Look at this!" The female says. She holds up a crown-like object. "It's got a large bonus to perception!"
One of the larger guys, black with a bald head, who has a heavy looking axe strapped to his back smirks. "Right. Too bad for him he wasn't wearing it."
The girl puts on the crown and looks around. "Doesn't seem to work too well. Is it broken?"
"It's not going to have any effects in the day, or in such tight quarters." the red haired man says. "Well, maybe if there is anyone invisible, but yeah, not likely."
I slowly pull Thief closer to my body, as if that would make me less invisible.
Once I'm sure that it is currently giving me a boost to my already decent hiding skills, I resume listening to the PKers downstairs.
"...who is our next target?" The woman asks, hands clasped together in childish glee.
"There's this blacksmith on floor ten. She lives in an isolated area, and reports are she's recently come by a windfall of money. She's purchased a lot of high priced smithing tools."
"That sounds like a haul and a half!" One of the two helmeted guys shouts, his tone leaving no doubt he found the whole situation enjoyable.
"Yeah. Unfortunately, she has this friend who is getting very strong. We need to make sure he's out of the way, and it won't be easy. Guy's on the top of the leader-boards."
The bald man shrugs. "So was this guy." He gestures to the loot.
"Uh huh. Still, we need to be careful. This guy almost took out Driver."
The girl snorts. "What kind of name is Driver anyway?"
One of the guys with a helmet on growls. "It's an old term."
She rolls her eyes.
On the table, the pile of loot is being distributed into twelve portions. To my eyes, two people are definitely getting to best of everyone else since they kept opting for the not so shiny objects. You know, the ones that actually increase your stats, combat ability, that sort of thing, and not just the item with the highest col value.
"So, this guy. Is he like, red or something? I mean, most people would rather die than be branded a killer." A blond teenager plays with his share of the loot distractedly as he speaks.
"No, he's just a regular swordsman. My informant said he has a strong protective streak though."
The woman waves her hand dismissively. "Whatever. We can handle anything anyone sends after us."
Driver snorts, his mask muffling the noise somewhat. The woman whirls on him, but is stopped by a blade at her throat. The red haired man holds the hilt, and is giving her a warning look.
She huffs and backs off, and the red haired man turns back to the table. "It's almost noon. As soon as night falls, we're gonna hit this place."
The bald man leans against the wall. "Who's the owner? I used to know a lot of smiths."
"No problem there, buddy. She just started around a year ago, so you wouldn't know her."
The blond teenager opens an eye from his sleeping position. "Is she cute?"
Chuckles come from the surrounding PKers.
"What? I haven't had a date in, like, a month!" He complains.
"Search for her with your menu then. Her player code is-"
Huh? ...Oh crap. Player codes can't be overheard in any manner, so it gets magically censored whenever someone says it out loud.
The blond types something into his menu-
Why is Lizbeth... Their target is Lizbeth! I need to warn her!
Wait, that makes me the guy they need to get rid of!
You would think that I'd immediately rush out and warn her, but... Well, as soon as they got over looking at her picture for a minute, they drew watches and started guarding entrances. That is why I'm still stuck in a bell tower three hours later, panicking internally so as not to alert them of my presence. Oh, and I'm sure I'm going to be in deep shit now that I missed another day on the wall.
I had already tried my warp crystal, but it had decided not to work. This place must be in an anti-crystal zone. Which is always convenient. Who decided a cathedral needed to be an anti-crystal zone in the first place? It doesn't make sense!
Worse, these guys are definitely professionals, with one or two exceptions. In the past three hours, I saw them pull out a map, organize a decent perimeter, and generally act like... Well, parts of the Army. If they didn't have red icons, this could pass as a unit passing through.
Red icons and plans to kill my friend.
I touch me cheek where she had kissed me. What was she trying to do anyway? I mean, if she liked me in that way, why wouldn't she just say so? And if not, why-
I'm going to go insane if I keep thinking about that.
Suddenly, an opening presents itself. The bald black man abandons his post to the back door. He opens a message window, and after surreptitiously checking to make sure nobody can see him, he starts typing. As soon as he stops looking around, I descend the steps of the bell-tower as silently as I can, and still grasping my sword, sneak up to him and around. He's still paying all his attention to his message, whatever it is. I can only see a purple box since he still has his privacy setting up. I slide up against the wall and press myself as flat as I can go. With one more glance at the man, who looks massive now that I'm down on his level, I cross the threshold of the building. I can feel my crystal buzzing in my pouch as it resumes function. I hold in a sigh of relief and take a few more steps away from the building.
Glancing back at the man, who is still looking at his message, I pull out the teleport crystal.
Whispering, I tell the crystal "Teleport, Rockport."
A blue glow surrounds me. That's not good.
A hand clamps down on my shoulder with enough force to cancel the teleportation crystal. I look up to see the man finished with his message. His axe is still lying across his back, and I have my sword drawn, but I still feel at a disadvantage.
"Uh, hi! J-Just passing through." I say feebly.
"Sure. And you just happened to stumble upon our temporary hideout and listen to our whole conversation." He says with an easy smile.
I gulp.
"Look, kid, I'm not gonna kill you. If I was, you'd have been dead in that bell tower." He lets go of me. "I know you can't trust me, but we can't talk in the open. I'm going to tell Verde to go screw- tell Verde that I'm taking a break. When I'm done with that, I'm going to go to the back of the cathedral. If you happen to be there, we'll talk."
He turns and walks back to the doorway he was watching over.
Well, he's probably getting his friends right now. I should teleport out... but he did notice me in the cathedral, and I'm not dead. Maybe it was a bluff?
Standing out here in the open isn't going to help anything either. I go around to the back of the building. Maybe I should wait for him, but have my crystal ready to go? Yeah that sounds good.
I hold out my crystal and wait. After about a minute, the man comes back. He nods to me.
"So, you decided to hear me out."
I show him the teleport crystal. "Maybe."
He smirks. "Good choice. Let's see, you're Kirito, aren't you? The boy Verde was warning us about?"
"...How did you know that?"
He opens his menu and presses the privacy button, turning it off. He point to the message box, and I can see a message from Thinker. I can't read the smaller text while it's reversed though.
"Thinker? Isn't he the leader of the Army?"
"Yeah. He's my superior. I've been tasked with making sure the Laughing Coffin guild kills as few people as possible. I'm Agil, by the way."
I remain a good distance away. "Charmed."
He nods. "Hey, I get to meet Kirito out of the deal. You may not know it, but on the lower three floors, you're almost a hero. Thinker personally told me about you saving the daughter of one of the Clearers."
"Uh huh. Say I believe you, then why are you allowed in the Army? Red marked people are strictly prohibited."
"Uh huh. I was green when I joined, but... I was tasked with locating the Laughing Coffin, and when I did, one of their members noticed me. He and I fought, and I accidentally killed him while trying to protect myself. It honestly was an accident, and it's not a feeling I want to revisit. The rest of the guild heard and came out trying to kill me. I managed to convince them I was there to join them, and it was convenient that one of their members had just kicked the bucket. That's how I got a red marker. I messaged thinker and he told me to continue with the LC and see if I could stop them from killing people."
He looks over his shoulder. "I've been kind of successful, to the point that our numbers keep going down because of 'stupid mistakes' and pre-warned victims." He focuses on my face. "You need to warn Lizbeth, then get away from her shop. We're going to hit it hard with all the new stuff she's been purchasing."
"I'm fine with warning her, I was going to do that anyway."
"Good. Now, you might want to talk to Thinker when you teleport out to confirm my words. You should go now though, and get Lizbeth out of that building."
I nod and lift up my crystal. "Teleport, Rockport!"
This time, I blink and find myself standing on the giant pad in the center of the floor. I quickly orient myself and dash off towards Lizbeth's shop.
Along the way, I send a message as suggested to Thinker. It doesn't take long for a response.
Huh. Agil was telling me the truth. That's... Good, since I know what's going on. If he hadn't been telling the truth, then we would have a massive problem, since their plans would currently be changing.
Thoughts of defensive strategies cross through my mind as I race the rest of the way out of the city and to Lizbeth's house.
Once I reach it, I grab the front door and slam it open. "Lizbeth! You need to... Asuna?"
Lizbeth and Asuna both blink at me, then look at each other. Then they both burst out laughing.
"What? What's so funny?" I look around, but nobody else is here. "Ahg, Nevermind that. A red guild is coming to raid this shop."
Both girls fall silent. "Huh? Why?"
I sigh. "I overheard them saying that you bought a lot of new equipment recently. They want to take it. Every single person in that guild is red too."
Asuna stands up abruptly. "What were you doing hanging around a red guild?!"
"Uh, I wasn't-"
"Yeah! Kirito, I thought you had more sense than that!" Lizbeth stands up less abruptly and puts her hands on her hips.
"Look, you're missing-"
"Kirito, you need to be more careful, what if they saw you?"
"One of them did, but-"
"They did?!" Asuna sinks back into her chair. "How did you escape?"
"I-"
"I don't care how he did. If you ever hang around-"
"Would you both shut up!" I cover my ears and yell.
They both cross their arms and look at me with barely restrained expressions. It's kinda scary, to be honest.
"Look, I was inside an abandoned cathedral and they trapped me inside. I wasn't able to get out. I overheard them talking about coming here. When I saw a chance to escape, I did, but the guy guarding that door is actually a plant for the Army and a lot higher level than he appears. He saw me, and we talked for a bit. I confirmed with Thinker that he works for the army as well."
They look at each other. "That's an amazing coincidence." Lizbeth says.
"I know. Technically, it's my fault since I bought all that stuff so you could make better swords. Anyway, Agil said to clear out so nobody dies."
Lizbeth lowers her hands back to her hips. "So, where do you suppose I go?"
"I don't know. How about my parents' shop? I'm sure they'll take you."
Asuna pushes her lips out and narrows her eyes. "So, you're going to be with her then?"
My neck under the collar of my shirt starts to sweat. "Uh, no. I'm going to be here."
"Didn't Agil say to clear out?" Lizbeth echoes my words back at me.
I draw Black Ice and Thief. "I can handle myself."
Asuna taps her hand against her rapier. "So can I."
I look at her askance. "I wasn't planning on you being here."
"Well, I am. So there. I'm not leaving unless you do."
Lizbeth muddles through her menus for a few seconds before a mace appears strapped across her back. "I can't let you two fight without-"
Both Asuna and I turn to her at once and say, in perfect unison, "NO!"
Lizbeth sighs, but leaves the mace across her back.
I throw up my hands in the air. "Fine, we're all leaving. Lizbeth, lock the door on the way out, we don't want them to have an easy time of it. We'll head to my parent's shop, and they should be willing to accommodate us for tonight."
Lizbeth nods glumly and heads to the back of her shop. Asuna follows her to the doorway, but no further.
I look around the shop. Aside from the times after my update, I'd only been in this shop once when Lizbeth first opened it. That was about a year ago, when she had gotten her update.
Huh, didn't Asuna get her update about a year ago? I think she mentioned it while slaying the monsters out on the field.
I toss the thought into the back of mind as Lizbeth comes out from the back loaded with swords and maces and axes. She dumps them onto the counter in front of me. I just stare at them blankly. "Planning to equip the Army?"
She snorts. "Pick them up. I'm not going to let them take anything I don't have to. The machinery and stuff isn't feasible, but I can still bring my entire inventory with me. It would suck to have to start over entirely from scratch."
I nod. "Hey, at least we got advance warning. Otherwise, you would have to start over from scratch."
Lizbeth nods glumly and shoves more stuff onto the counter, all of which I tuck into my quite massive inventory. It goes up with levels, and at level twenty I had about triple that of the level one people. Normally I would've just scooped up all the stuff and tucked it into my inventory, but Lizbeth wanted me to put borrowed labels on all of them so I wouldn't keep them. I assured her I wouldn't have a problem, but she insisted. The borrowing process took a good five seconds more, and loading around a hundred weapons into my inventory took substantially longer than it should have. After I'm completely loaded up, Asuna starts piling weapons into her inventory. She had reached level fourteen through her smithing, so she has a decent carrying capacity as well. After we both have our item space loaded down with Lizbeth's goods, the blacksmith looks around her shop.
"Well, we can't carry more. The rest of this is pretty low level stuff to, so it isn't going to be too massive a loss.
Asuna places a hand on Lizbeth's shoulder. "Don't worry. You'll be back in business soon enough."
Lizbeth nods, but I see tears in her eyes.
"We should probably go. They're going to be here in an hour." I say quietly.
Asuna gently starts guarding Lizbeth out the door. I follow behind them as they turn down the path towards the town. Lizbeth sniffs before closing and locking the door, but she has a smile on her face before she turns around. "Okay! So it's like a sleep over then!"
She seems to be really good at hiding her pain. Asuna barely reacts but to blink. "Okay, yeah! That's a good way to think of it. Let's get going, we don't want to be outside the walls at night."
She wasn't referring to the walls on floor twelve of course. Each and every city has walls around it, but since floor twelve is the only one under constant assault, it's the wall people refer to most often. Most people understand which wall is meant by context.
We walk at a slower, more leisurely pace, taking time to look at flowers. Lizbeth seems to be forcing her expression less and less as time wears on. She and Asuna get to chatting like they've been friends for years. I follow a few paces behind the two. Smiling slightly as they get into discussing the merits of different rapiers. I tune them out and look up at the bottom of floor eleven. It's nice to be out during the evening, where all the filtered light is reddish in hue, and the breezes pick up. I pause my walking long enough to turn towards the sun and marvel at the ball of fire that governs our sleep cycle.
Basking in the light of the golden orb, I decide to make myself a promise. I'm going to figure out what's on floor one hundred and make this place safe for everyone live.
I've already said that I was going to do as much, but now with that promise, I wasn't allowed to back down. I wouldn't let myself back down.
"Kirito?" Asuna asks. I look back down the path to see Asuna and Lizbeth both looking back at me with inquisitive looks.
"Ah, just looking at the sunset." I rub the back of my head. "Sorry."
Lizbeth smirks. "Not trying to sneak off, were you?"
I glare at her. "With the punishment you'd dish out if I did? Hell no!"
Asuna's face scrunches up. "Wait, isn't Kirito higher level than you, Lizbeth?"
Lizbeth's smirk gets bigger. "Technically, but he's also dependent on me to service his weapons. If he hurt me or my business, he would need to find some other smith." She slides up to me and wraps her arm around my neck pulling me down as she locks in the hold. "And besides, I've had permission to beat him up for as long as I remember."
From my awkward position facing the ground, I raise a hand. "I wasn't the one who gave her permission, by the way."
Asuna tosses us both an unbelieving look before turning back towards Rockport. "Either way, let's get to the city. It's going to get dark soon."
Lizbeth releases me and I stand up straight, slowly following behind them.
We reach the edge of the city without any problems. It's kinda disconcerting that I feel the need to clarify that for each journey. I guess getting attacked does that to you. At the gate, Lizbeth checks her clock.
"Only a few minutes now." She says glumly. "Oh well. Nothing we can do about it now."
She turns to me. "So, I'm going to stop by a friend's house real quick, then I'll meet back at your place."
I shrug. "Okay."
Asuna bites her lip. "I should probably inform dad I'm okay as well."
They both wave bye and head for the teleporter. I watch them go holding my smile in place until the last shimmering lights disappear. I immediately reequip my swords and turn around.
Judging from my sprint before, I can make it to Lizbeth's shop in ten minutes.
The sun is going to fully abandon this world for the night in fifteen.
The path flies by underneath me as I reach speeds that any level one sprinter would be jealous of. For the second time today, I arrive at Liz's shop.
I draw both of my swords and stand in front of the door. It isn't long before the Laughing Coffin shows up.
Almost all of them have surprised looks on their faces. I guess if I was planning on robbing a place, I wouldn't be suspecting there to be people waiting for me, ready for a fight.
I meet the red haired man's eyes as he draws near.
"So, the boy shows himself." He sneers.
I smirk back at him. "Uh huh. I heard someone was planning on attacking my friend, so I decided to stop that from happening."
The leader laughs, followed by his subordinates. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Agil laughing heartlessly.
His look seemed to be conveying the thought, "You idiot."
I straighten up and point my swords at the incoming troops. "I challenge you to a duel!"
The leader rolls his eyes. "Right, I'm not that stupid. One on one is never a good idea especially against an unknown."
"Who said one on one? I challenge you all to a duel at once."
The man loses his cool. "You can't be serious."
"I am. Hell, you can choose the rules."
He narrows his eyes and looks around at the rest of his guild. The female clenches her fists in anticipation. Agil is frowning at me, but not making a move to stop me. The blond teenager is edging away from the rest of the group. The two helmeted men stand there stoically. The rest just kind of stand there bored.
"You know what? I'll accept your challenge. All of us against you, and we'll turn on kill protection. The deal is, you beat us, we let you go, and if we win, you give us all of your items."
I shrug. "Suits me."
Kill protection is a thing in duels that limits the damage done to a person. It is impossible to lose the last hit point on your health bar, so nobody dies, even when severely outmatched.
Of course, now I don't have to hold back whatsoever.
He presses a few keys, and I receive a confirmation window. I press yes-
"Hey! The blond kid is out of the duel!" I yell. He had managed to sneak outside of the deal radius before we had finalized the deal. A timer starts ticking down from sixty directly below the phrase "11 on 1 duel"
"Kagamine!" Red hair yells. "What are you doing?"
"I'm sensing someone out here. I'm gonna check it out. Don't worry, I'm not going to attack anyone." The blond kid, Kagamine, responds.
The rest of the Laughing Coffin spreads out to create a crescent moon around my spot in the circle. I watch as they all ready weapons and prepare for light combat. Not a single one reaches for a crystal of any kind.
Thirty seconds.
I quickly grab both swords into my left hand, open my menu with my right, and summon a healing crystal. It would come in handy after the battle is over, whether I win or lose.
Twenty seconds.
The leader turns back to the fight and stands in front of me, five subordinates on either side. "My name is Verde. What is yours?"
I almost laugh out loud. "Verde? Then why's your hair red?"
His left eye twitches. "Your name."
"Kirito." I tuck the crystal into my pouch and regrip Black Ice in my right hand, leaving Thief in my left.
Ten seconds.
I relax into a stance that will allow me to enable my fastest sword skill almost immediately after the timer goes to zero.
Five seconds.
I slide my eyes back and forth as I watch the others fan out even further to surround me.
Two seconds.
I watch Verde's feet shuffle as he sinks into a stance.
One second.
I blink.
The timer drops to zero.
My swords both immediately start glowing blue, and about seven of the eleven weapons around me activate as well.
Too bad for them my skill is built to handle crowds. I unleash the full fury of a bladed tornado as I whirl around towards Verde at top speed.
The man barely dodges my initial attack. As I abruptly change direction, I clip several of the other members of the Laughing Coffin. Three of them, despite the blow being a glancing one at best, fall down, only the barest sliver of health keeping them alive.
As my attack finishes, the Laughing Coffin stops looking so laid back and start looking a lot more focused.
"Not as easy as you'd think I would be, huh?" My mouth curls into a nasty smile.
"Lucky shot, kid, lucky shot." Verde says. He gestures with his left hand and Agil, Driver and the other helmeted man all approach me threateningly.
Agil catches my eye. I nod my head in understanding. He can't go easy, because then his cover would get blown.
I take two measured steps back and ready another sword skill.
Driver makes the first move. He unsheathes his long sword, a two handed affair that looks like it was designed to inflict pain, rather than just cut. His swing takes him around in an arc which I easily duck under. That's when Agil's axe comes for me down low. Instead of jumping straight back up, I leap for Driver and knock him back with me as the second helmeted man's mace comes crashing down on the spot I would've been in. Instead of smashing my head in, all he succeeding in doing was losing his balance and falling into Agil. Both go down in a pile. I roll to my feet and stab Driver, reducing his health to the knockout point. I draw Thief from the damaged armor and face Verde.
Verde isn't looking too hot, to be honest. His smirk is completely gone, replaced with a grimace of determination.
"So, you are as powerful as the rumors say." He comments.
"I wouldn't know. Spent too much time out on the wall fighting things. What do the rumors say?" I taunt.
"They say that you're less than a month from your update. They say you're level 15 already. They say you're on the leader board."
"I can't say anything about that last one, but the first one is true. My level though? I'm not level fifteen."
I let Black Ice slip into a single handed strike while I prepare to guard with Thief. The blade glows brighter and brighter until I release the skill. My feet leap ahead and my sword flies straight and true-
Only to be deflected by another sword from the side. I instinctively raise Thief up to deflect the new blade, but its wielder is strong. A quick glance to the side reveals the female Laughing Coffin member in a full on rage, blood vessels almost popping out of her face as she grits her teeth hard.
I disengage our swords, and her falls and cleaves the earth where it hits.
"Meet Lisanna. She's my personal bodyguard." Verde says calmly. "She's the second member to join the Laughing Coffin, and easily the best sword fighter here."
She lifts her blade back up to ready position and spits to the side. "If you want to get to him, you need to go through me."
I ready Thief and Black Ice. "Gladly."
Both of our weapons glow with energy, mine blue and hers red. Her attack is a massive swing at my head, one I'm hard pressed to dodge, and instead have to take on the blade of Thief. A warning pops into my sight about a massive drop in durability of that weapon.
I have heard of that move, called sword breaker. Normally, a swordsman or woman uses a buster sword for it, but it seems Lisanna has managed to repurpose it for her long sword. I back away a few steps and watch her closely. She readies for another strike but doesn't start charging a skill yet. She's probably waiting for the sword breaker to recharge.
I subtly look around at the rest of the field. Out of the original eleven, only six are left standing. Agil had stood up, but the guy that stumbled into him hadn't. I wasn't sure if that was on purpose, but it certainly helped.
I tuck Thief into my sheath across my back and quickly pull out another blade, one of the many backups Lizbeth had made me. It gleams in the dull light from the stars. It looks like it's identical to Black Ice, but it doesn't have a name and isn't as powerful.
Suddenly, Lisanna's sword starts glowing red again. She charges at me with speed rivaling mine. I bring up my spare just in time to deflect the attack, and it shatters upon impact. Lisanna is left slightly off balance, and I take the opportunity to swipe of her ribcage. I get in a few slashes, but she's got too much health for me to take her out like that.
It does get her to take a step back, and I exploit the opening as best I can, stabbing Black Ice into a hole in her guard.
This time, Verde deflects my sword away from Lisanna. I don't waste time leaping away from him as he guards Lisanna as she recovers. He motions with three of his fingers and the four remaining henchmen, including Agil, close in. I don't let my eyes wander from Verde as they close in. I quickly pull out yet another backup sword and hold it in an upside down fashion, so one blade is facing forwards and one backwards. Then I sink low and jump straight up.
Six faces watch me soar up, spinning majestically in the air.
That's when the four henchmen left drop. Verde's eyes snap back to my position, the illusion gone.
My coat ruffles in the breeze. I smile as Verde's eyes bulge and his hand clenches around the hilt of his sword.
"You... What are you?" He says brokenly.
"I'm just your average swordsman." I ready Black Ice and my backup.
"No, you can't be. Not with skills like that. Are you from a guild?" He raises his sword halfway, putting up a pitiable defense.
"Nope. Fresh out of the city. You're just that bad." I flip the blade around and take a running leap at the crimson haired man.
Mid leap, his desolate expression morphs to one of glee. Too late, I realize he wanted me to active my sword skill.
He drops below my lunge and brings his sword up into my chest. It doesn't pierce my light armor, but the impact is enough to knock the wind out of my lungs. I go stumbling backwards as he strides up to me. "You seem to be powerful, but you're too arrogant. You just said you're fresh out of the city? You need to learn to bow to your superiors. Challenging me bought you some time, but Lisanna and I are more than enough to handle you now."
I regain my balance and watch as Lisanna also gets to her feet and lifts her sword into the stance for another sword breaker.
I pull both of my swords close to my body and wait for them to make their move.
Predictably, Lisanna swings first. Her sword comes around in an arc, but this time I know how to dodge it. I let the blow swing quickly under me and slice downwards at her head. The blade connects with her skull with a crunch.
Her eyes roll up and she passes out on the ground, defeated.
I swipe my blade back into position as I bring my guard up and face the last remaining member of the Laughing Coffin.
He readies his blade, but I have an easier solution.
"You were smart not to do one on one." I comment as I sheathe my backup sword. "It wouldn't have ended well for you."
Verde snarls. "It's not over yet!"
I flick my left hand at him, glowing needles streaking towards him with unerring accuracy. He manages to deflect two of them, but the third spikes him in the arm and causes paralysis. His limp form hits the ground and loses grip on his sword. I walk over unmolested and kick away his sword, sending it skittering along the cobble road outside of Lizbeth's shop.
"Actually, for you? Over. Completely over."
Instead of wasting my durability on him, I punch his face in, causing him to black out and for the duel to close.
"Winner: Kirito" flashes in the air above the time the duel took to finish, 3 minutes and twenty eight seconds.
I look at the bodies strewn around. I don't have the means to restrain them, really. I better send a message to the Army. The real Army.
I type up a quick message to Thinker and remain with my swords drawn, just in case one of them decides to wake up.
"Kirito!"
I whirl as I hear... Is that Asuna? If it is, I'm in deep trouble.
"Kirito! Hel-"
Yup, definitely Asuna. What was she doing here?
Suddenly, my mind leaps back to the start of the duel. Kagamine! I had forgotten him!
I plow through the bush and-
Oh hell. Kagamine is standing with a sword in either hand, one at Asuna's throat, and one at Lizbeth's throat.
"I wouldn't come closer if I was you." He smiles nastily. "They're both so pretty. How come you get both, and I get neither?"
I lower my sword until its point is almost scraping the ground. "What do you want?"
"Oh, I'm giving you a choice. You can only have one of them, and I get the other." he swings his blades about, such that Asuna has to lean backwards a bit to avoid being cut.
As my mind resists panic, a small portion of my logic continues to function well enough for me to pick up that Asuna and Lisbeth are both tied and gagged.
I look between the three of them. "So, I have to pick, huh?"
His smile splits his face. "I knew you'd see it my way-"
His eyes widen as the sword sticking out of his chest slowly sinks deeper into his form. "Huh? But... How'd you get over here?"
"Coat of illusions. It's pretty useful, wouldn't you say?"
He collapses to the ground. I hurriedly untie Asuna and toss her sword off of Kagamine's limp form. Then I untie Lizbeth.
She gets up and promptly smacks me. I have to actively resist swinging my sword at her.
"What were you thinking?! You could have been killed, Kirito! I don't care if you're high level, badass swordsman! You can't just go against a red guild!" She screams in my face.
I pull up my health bar, which is less than half gone. "I defeated twelve of twelve, taking minimal damage."
"You. Could. Have. Been. Killed!" She screams, punctuating each word with a swing. I drop my sword so I don't reflexively cut her head off.
"So could you! You weren't supposed to be here!"
"Uh huh! Neither were you! You were supposed to guide us to your parent's house, and help me pick up the pieces in the morning! Instead you go off on your own, giving the both of us a heart attack. Good thing I figured out what you were doing-"
"Good thing? All you did was get captured! If you hadn't been here, Kagamine would've been in that duel with me! Every single one of them would be up there, and you two would be nice and snug in bed."
"Um, guys?" Asuna says weakly. Lizbeth and I look at her, still huffing from all the shouting.
"He isn't breathing."
As we watch, Kagamine shatters into a million particles. The glasslike faces dance in the dying breeze, blowing past my face and blurring my vision.
With a mounting sense of dread, I look up.
My marker, green for less than a day, has turned red.
