Chapter 4:
August 24, 2023.
"Hiya! Raa," Kirito spun and slashed, cutting up the blue raptor that was swinging at his back with its long arm. A small window appeared in front of him notifying him that he leveled up, but he slid it to the side and went straight on to the next monster.
Ever since floor thirty, he had yet to go back to an earlier floor and continued moving up fast. He took the hardest quests he could find, whether or not they were recommended for a large party or not. Kirito battled dungeon bosses and giant forest monsters on his own, for months. The only times he came back to civilization for a few hours were when he needed to stock up on supplies or join in a boss fight.
"What were you thinking? You could've gotten yourself killed!" he remembered the day after he took down the floor thirty boss, Asuna chased him down and tracked him to an isolated part of the thirty-first floor's forest. He was sitting on a rock at the time and staring up at the sky when she ran over and started screaming at him. He rudely told her off and she stormed away after that. Now he ran towards another strong monster by himself, ignoring her words completely.
As he finished off the final monster in the dungeon before the boss, he thought about going for another floor boss fight on his own. He shook his head slowly, She's right, I need to be here to get everyone out okay. He tried to reason himself into not being so risky all the time, but as Ducker's body, getting stabbed over and over, appeared in his mind he snapped and sprinted towards the large lizard beast beckoning for him to attack.
"Hisssss, come here, hissss," the beast seethed as it moved fast avoiding Kirito's first attack. The boy anticipated its movements and followed up with a back slash, catching the monster in the side where he imbedded his sword. "SSSS!" it snarled angrily and batted him away with a swing of its long green tail.
The boy got back up and crouched down as the dungeon boss lunged. He shoved his sword up just as the monster was coming over his head and his sword impaled the beast. It struggled for a few seconds, trying to get away, but Kirito removed his glowing red blade and the monster fell to the floor and perished.
Good enough for today, he turned and walked towards the exit of the dungeon. He didn't even notice as a gunshot fired up above and a new face appeared in the sky. The sound didn't happen as often as it did in the early months, but it still wasn't a rare occurrence, so Kirito ignored it each time he heard the noise.
He walked back into the thirty-fifth floor's tavern and got himself a room for the night upstairs. When he laid on his bed he got to one side and stared at the other empty side of it in sorrow. It's been two months, he shook his head, not wanting to think about it again. There wasn't a single day that went by when he didn't regret his decisions that day, when he didn't wish he could see them all one last time. Sachi...
A few days after the Black Cats defeat, Kirito found one of the weekly newspapers lying on the ground on the side of a city street and picked it up. Anything that could distract him from seeing the faces of his guild members everywhere he turned would be good. However, that newspaper did exactly the opposite.
Inside the weekly paper, he saw a story about himself, at the top of the page was a title, 'Black Knight Kirito.' He didn't feel the usual urge to smirk and instead skimmed through the passage about how he defeated the boss room solo somehow. Then he saw another story about a fisherman on floor three who won a fishing contest and it did manage to distract him for a few seconds, maybe fishing would be fun. I've never tried leveling up my skills in it before.
His small smiled faded fast and turned to a deep frown as he saw the next column. On it was a list, that ranked the top ten strongest guilds in Aincrad. The top one for the third week in a row was the KoBO, with the DDA right behind them. Kirito saw that Klein's guild was in fifth place, and the Army was ranked third. They were stationed on the first floor, but they had thousands of members, and many of them went to higher floors to train.
Below them were a few smaller guilds, ones he didn't even recognize that were probably floors below the lead groups. Under the list was a small article about it and his eyes darkened as he dropped the paper and kept walking. The paper dropped on the floor face up, the article reading, 'The eighth ranked green guild drops off the leaderboard, surprising many who had seen them rise slowly through the ranks. Their guild was comletely annihilated and if you try looking them up, you'll find there's no longer such a guild as the Moonlit...' Kirito only made it that far into the article before he had dropped the page and had no idea how it ended.
It was now months later, but he was still struggling to come to terms with what happened. Kirito found that the only time he could find peace, was when he was asleep. He rarely had nightmares and barely dreamt at all, so the nine to ten hours he spent a day asleep, was the best time of his days.
The next day was the day of the thirty-fifth floor boss clearing meeting and he decided to go to it instead of just showing up outside the boss room three minutes before the other guilds went in to clear it. Last time, he'd gotten into an argument with one of the DDA officers who told him to stay back during the fight since he wasn't in on the plan. Instead of listening, Kirito joined the frontal assault and put more damage on the monster than any of the Divine Dragon members. Even though one of them got the final blow so the EXP was distributed among their party, the man he had been arguing with went right back at it, angry that Kirito was taking all the glory.
This time, they'll know I'm coming, He thought as he walked out of the inn and into the town. He arrived at the small park in the center of town where everyone was meeting for the fight. This time, the KoBO was taking charge of the boss fight and Kirito listened to Heathcliff give a small, concise speech about what information they had from the scouting reports. He listened from a tree that he was leaning up against and saw Asuna turn towards him with a serious look but he wasn't really paying too much attention, he just wanted them to know he'd be there.
The meeting ended and the fifteen year old moved away from the tree and started walking towards the tailor where he hoped to find a decent quest to take on. He felt a tug on the back of his cloak and turned around, seeing Asuna staring at him expectantly. He looked into her eyes and waited for her to say something but she just kept staring at him, "What?' he finally asked.
"What?" she repeated in an unamused voice, "Do you not remember the last time we met up?" He did and wanted to forget about it, he nodded his head, "Well I'm still waiting for that meal, so you going to take me out to lunch?" She asked, her epression softening as she looked for an answer. Please Kirito, you need to enjoy life again.
"Maybe some other time," he gave her a small smile and turned back around, walking down the street again to his original destination. The girl wouldn't leave him alone any time they saw each other, but he started realizing that she was coming to him less and less.
At first she begged him to talk to her about what happened, but within a few weeks, she just resorted to trying to get him to go on quests with her. They finally went on one two weeks earlier and the girl had made a bet with him, that whoever defeated more of the hundred monsters they had to kill would take the other out for lunch.
Kirito halfheartedly agreed to that and Asuna won, 51-49. When they finished, the two of them were panting, having used all their speed to get ahead of the other and keep the game close. She saw the boy smile for real that day, maybe for the first time since his guild was destroyed. But as soon as she saw it, it fell away and he frowned as he went and handed in the quest with her before disbanding the temporary party.
As she thought back on it, the fun times probably reminded him too much about his friends and the great times they had together, but she wasn't going to give up. However, as he once again gave her the cold shoulder, she sighed and turned back. Fine, keep self-loathing for all I care. Just do it somewhere else, she walked back towards her guild and joined up with them as they talked about some more specifics on the boss fight before leaving for individual quests that day. After about twenty seconds she couldn't handle it any longer and spun back around but Kirito wasn't there.
October 31, 2023.
In the middle of the special Halloween event, Kirito broke off from the massive party that was working together to gain the important scroll they were after. It was supposedly full of information about the next five bosses all the way up to forty-nine.
The reason he separated was because he recognized a short cloaked figure standing next to a tree on the twenty-ninth floor. He started walking towards her and she faced the other direction, walking slowly so that he could catch up and then they started walking with each other. Kirito didn't turn to her and she didn't face him either, they just walked in silence for a few minutes.
Argo finally looked out of her hood at the boy walking next to her and winced, seeing his face up close for the first time in a while. He looked troubled, but to a point where it looked as if his face just normally looked like that now. "I have some information," she started and before she could continue he made a quick transfer of a hundred Col towards her. Whoa! she wasn't expecting so much money for anything she had, although she did have some juicy stuff to tell.
"What's up?" he asked and kept walking. He had messaged her two days after his guild was annihilated and asked about a revival item, but she said it didn't and couldn't exist since their brains fried when they died in the game. His message sounded so horrible however, that she said she'd look around and tell him if she found anything.
She could hear the held back anxiety in his voice and she started speaking, "The Christmas event." He looked at her as they stopped walking near some trees and she pulled out a small file from her inventory and started reading from it. "Rumors are going around that the event boss is going to drop an item that can..." she stopped, not wanting to get his hopes up if it was bogus.
"Bring someone back to life?" he asked her and the girl nodded slowly. He had planned on chasing after the rest of the Halloween quests with the large group of combined guilds, but this was much, much, more important to him. Without another word he turned away from Argo and walked off towards the street before holding up a blue crystal and shouting, "Israphel!"
She watched as the boy disappeared, heading to the main city on the forty-fifth floor that they had yet to clear the boss room. Is he going to try to do another boss fight on his own? No. He wouldn't do that knowing that he might have a chance at bringing one of them back.
Kirito appeared in the middle of a desserted town. Anyone strong enough to fight on the top floor they had reached was working down below on finishing the Halloween event before the time ran out. He walked towards the town hall, which in this town was a giant castle with a king living in it. The man and his entire council had quests designed for full parties so Kirito went upstairs to the council chambers.
"Who is this man? Interrupting us at such a vital time in the war against the blood elves of Nissengail." The man with the golden crown said to one of his advisors who got out of his chair in confusion.
The NPC that Kirito assumed was the commander of the army stood with a battle axe in his hands and stated, "He must be an elven spy, we should eliminate him now."
"No," Kirito looked at the man standing behind the king. A tall pale figure walked around the table and looked down once he stood right in front of Kirito, "this man, he might just be the one foretold of in the prophecy."
"That's impossible, no one..." Kirito sighed and tuned out to the long introduction, he waited for the room to finally become quiet. Each of the council members stood awaiting him to walk up and ask them what he could do to help in the war effort. The plot line of these quests actually sounded pretty cool and he would have enjoyed it if it wasn't for the fact that he had the chance, Sachi. I choose you. I'm going to need to step up my leveling fast. If I do the Christmas event with a party, the item could be given to any of us, so I have to do it alone, he finally left the castle with an array of high level missions that all gave huge amounts of Experience rewards. I NEED THAT ITEM!
The next day, the entirity of Aincrad was disappointed to hear about the Christmas mission's failure. They let the boss escape when he was down to only a fraction of his health and as a result, they wouldn't get the secret information on the floor 45-49 bosses.
Kirito was on his way back to Israphel to hand in his first completed quest which took him the entire night and he spotted a group of five members of a top tier guild. He tried to avoid them but they saw him as well and scowls came over all of their faces. "You! Where did you go last night?" one of them shouted angrily as they walked towards him.
"I'm sorry," the mission could have been successful if I had just stayed with them. No, this is more important, I don't regret the decision. He looked up with cold eyes, silently threatening the men to say more.
The one in front grunted and walked away, muttering curses at Kirito behind his back. He ignored them and went back to the castle, and as he handed in a quest to the man with the battleaxe, the door behind him opened.
"Who are these people? Interrupting us at such a vital time in the..." the king started speaking but Kirito was heading back out of the room to avoid any contact with other players.
When he was about to reach the door, he felt a hand lift his head up and he saw Asuna staring straight at him. Before he could say anything, she slapped him across the face and knocked him out the door of the room. The look of disappointment and anger on the girl's face, who had spent the full twenty four hours of the previous day running between floors trying to complete the quest, made Kirito feel guilt tearing at him.
He was being selfish, trying to get stronger so that he could have a miniscule chance of bringing one of his friends back to life. Kirito knew that it was probably impossible, but even the one percent chance was enough to make him stake his life on it. "Where were you?" she charged out of the room, leaving the small party of Knights behind to pick up the quests. "I saw you hand in one of the quests from in here, you spent the whole night on it didn't you?"
He nodded, looking up into her eyes softly, but there was no look of understanding and she only became more furious, "Asuna, I..."
"I don't want to hear your excuse. That information could have gotten us so much further in such a short amount of time. It would have saved dozens, no hundreds of lives, and if you were there we could have beaten it." She looked up at the ceiling as she clenched her fists, "You don't understand how close we were. All the side quests giving us the clues of where to find him, finally leading up to the boss fight itself. Rrggh," she punched the closest wall and an icon appeared telling her it was an immortal object. "If you were there..." she stopped and composed herself.
He stopped trying to cut in and explain and instead just sat there accepting her wrath. There was nothing he could say that he felt would justify his actions and he just looked down at the ground as he got back to his feet. "Kirito," she whispered as she turned away from him and back at the door to the council room, "I don't want to see you, for a long time." He looked up but she didn't turn back around, she just grabbed the doorknob and let herself in.
I understand why she's so mad, so many are going to die because of my decision. Sachi... his determination suddenly overwhelmed his guilt and his face hardened. Let her hate me, let them all despise me, I'm still going to bring her back. I'm going to hear her last words.
December 12, 2023.
It was over thirteen months since Sword Art Online started, and the end was still a good distance away. A girl wearing a white cloak was surrounded by six others dressed similarly as they marched towards the floor forty-eight boss room. She turned and saw the Fuurinkazan coming from a connecting street where they merged into the party and the two groups made a small raid group.
"Good to see you Klein," she greeted as the man walked up to her. They each had six members of their guild behind them and the man gave her a small smile in greeting. The fourteen of them started the long trek from the city to the tower where the boss room was situated. A few smaller parties and solo players joined in with them as they walked.
When they were about ten minutes away from the boss room, Klein broke the silence and said, "Have you seen him?" The girl winced, knowing who Klein was talking about and feeling insanely guilty. She shook her head slowly and they kept walking as Klein sighed in disappointment, "He's missed a couple of boss fights in the past, but never two in a row, let alone three. This is the fourth time in a row we're attacking without him showing up." They both were hoping that he would be standing in front of the boss door waiting for them to show up, but when they got to the dungeon their hopes were crushed as all the monsters leading to the door were still there, and Kirito wasn't one to sneak around.
Asuna slashed another monster backwards and called for one of her subordinates to run in and finish it off. She stood there staring at the door in front of her, her mind wandering. Kirito, where are you? I can't stand feeling this guilty, a week after she told the black-haired boy off, a girl approached her seemingly out of nowhere.
She recognized her as the information broker Argo and the girl walked towards her and yelled at her straight to her face. Asuna was so surprised that she almost fell when she stumbled backwards, most people knew of her and her reputation as being one of the strongest in the Assault team. Normal people didn't normally just go up shouting at someone else either.
"What did you say to him?!" the shorter girl yelled at Asuna as the second in command of the KoBO regained her composure. "Why won't he answer my messages?"
"If you're talking about the Black Knight," she started, not even referring to Kirito by his name, "He is the cause of the failure of the Halloween event. He knows not to show his face to me again, I made sure of it." The girl in front of her did something surprising to everyone who watched the scene unfold in the middle of the forty-sixth floor town. Argo slapped Asuna, exactly as the girl did to Kirito a week before. She reached up with one hand and grabbed her cheek which was now red.
"If you're going to blame someone for the mission failure, blame me not him," she whispered to Asuna. Argo didn't want everyone around her turning into an enemy as she wasn't as strong as Kirito and couldn't hold off the masses if they decided to turn on her. In a lower voice that didn't lose any of its sadness, Argo stepped closer to the taller girl who had a hand on the hilt of her rapier. "I told him about the next event that he's now off training for. I should have waited for the Halloween mission to be over, but I didn't."
"What are you talking about?" Asuna asked her angrily, shooting a glare at a few of the bystanders who got the message and scattered.
"Do you want to know why Kirito is off right now, fighting monsters and taking quests that are too high for any one player to be attempting on his own? It's because there's a revival item going to be dropped after the next event." Asuna gasped, a revival item? Could that really exist, but why would Kirito... he just... oh no. The understanding look came over Asuna's face and Argo growled at her, "I don't know what you said to him, but right as I thought I could raise his spirits, you crushed them worse than they've been for months. Hope you're happy," Argo had said what she needed to say and spun, walking away from the stunned girl.
"Hey Asuna?" she snapped out of it and saw that the hallway was cleared, leaving a path right to the boss room. One of her party members continued, it was a man recently added named Kuradeel, "Are you alright? You spaced there for a little My Lady." The new recruit treated her like a celebrity, and while sometimes it felt good to be adored, he was a little too much for her.
"I'm fine," she assured and walked towards the door, snapping back into fight mode as she prepared to challenge the floor's boss.
sc
Down below the tower, in a dungeon specifically made for a three man group, Kirito was fighting off all three of the mid-level bosses at the same time. A single one would have been difficult for a high-level player, but three at the same time was near impossible.
He'd never seen combinations like theirs before as they used each other for support. It's like they're players, he thought as one knocked him back and another charged forwards, using his friend's attack to catch Kirito off-balance with a hard kick in the face. Really good players.
The third red ogre was behind him and the kick sent him flying towards it. No need to hide it any longer, he used one of his sword skills, a new one that recently appeared on his list. It had just popped up one day as he was scrolling through to track a monster for a quest, the Duel Wielding skill. So far, he hadn't heard of anyone else obtaining it, so he guessed it must have been an original sword skill that only he might have, like Heathcliff's Divine Blade.
As his back was about to slam into the boss, he spun in midair and became a blur as his two blades crossed around the monster's neck, slicing its head off in a combo attack. The other two didn't falter as the third monster went down and they charged Kirito simultaneously.
The boy kicked the ground with one foot and started spinning around as he held out his swords. The two ogres ran towards him but the spinning swords slashed them both and knocked them away. He followed up by charging one while it was separated from its friend. In a few hits he had taken it down and sensed the other one right behind him. He flipped his left-handed sword and slammed it backwards without turning, feeling it collide with its mark and sink into rough ogre flesh.
"Urrgg," the monster groaned as it vanished just like its comrades. A window appeared in front of him that read, 'Level 67-68, congratulations.' He dismissed it and left the dungeon, going to hand it the quest that would also give him a huge amount of EXP since it was usually split between three players.
December 24, 2023.
Kirito walked through the bustling city of Mugien. The forty-ninth floor was in the middle of its winter season and people from all of the different floors came up and decorated the main city there. The previous Christmas was only a month after the start of the game, and most people weren't in the mood to celebrate as two thousand people had just died. This year however, most people had become accustomed to their game lives and were going to enjoy the holiday.
Mugien was covered in Christmas lights, and fighters had taken off for the night to celebrate. During the past week, people went into the pine forest and chopped down the biggest tree they could find, standing it up in the middle of the town square. The whole town was filled with people excited and happy about Christmas. There was one fifteen year old who wasn't feeling the cheer going around however, and he went and sat down on the bench near the main square.
His hair went down over his face to about his nose but had cracks that he could see through and watched some happy shoppers going around buying each other presents. Finally he heard a voice and didn't even turn to the right as his peripheral vision picked up a figure leaning against the back of the bench. He had no idea how she always snuck up on him, even when he was at such a high level. "Lately you've been taking big risks with your level raising." She was frowning and looking the other direction instead of looking Kirito in the eyes because she didn't want him to see the concerned look on her face.
Ignoring the girl's statement, Kirito questioned in a soft voice, "Did you get any new information?"
She knew that was why he called the meeting but she didn't tell him over a message because she wanted to see if he was alright. She looked up a little, "Nothing worth charging money for."
"You're giving information brokers a bad name," he stated as a small joke and she smiled.
A smile came over her face, he's getting better. I hope tonight works out for him, he could really start healing. Then she realized what he said and retorted quickly, "This wasn't in the beta test, it's a first time event. There's no way to get information," she continued, actually having a little more info than she led him on to believe. "At midnight tonight, the event boss, Nicholas the Renegade, will appear. He'll be beneath a fir tree, but all the leading guilds are searching frantically for it."
Her warning was ignored as Kirito got off the bench with a grunt. She turned a little, seeing his unwavering stature and asked, "You have an idea where it is, don't you?"
"Maybe," he started walking away.
She knew that it wasn't a smart idea to tell information brokers where something good was, because they were going to sell your secret to the highest bidder. Argo wasn't planning on doing that however and she turned completely, calling to Kirito as he walked away, "You're seriously going to try and solo it?" He didn't respond and just walked out of hearing distance before disappearing in the crowd.
The girl sighed, please don't die Kirito.
The boy in the black cloak made his way back to the inn he was staying at in Mugien. He went up to his room and had a few hours before the boss would be appearing. He equipped his strongest armor and took out his strongest sword. In this world, the dead can never return. Kirito had made it to level seventy and was finishing up his final preparations. But the rumor that Nicholas the Renegade will really drop something that can revive a dead player is too good to let pass. If I try and fight him alone, I'll probably die.
He looked into his sword and stared at his reflection in the metal. It wasn't his face he saw though, it was Keita's. He remembered watching the man jump off the world, too distraught to keep on living. I'll die in a place where no one will see me, leaving nothing behind. He clenched his eyes shut as he saw their faces, each of them, one by one.
The Black Cats flew through his mind until it stopped on Sachi and he just watched her disappear over and over. That's right, I... my arrogance... killed you all. If only I hadn't kept my level secret, that one secret cost five people their lives, and he didn't think he'd ever be able to forgive himself.
Kirito finished preparing and went to the center of Mugien, teleporting fourteen floors down to the thirty-fifth floor. He ran out of the city he appeared in and then slowed his pace as he walked into the Forest Maze.
He got between the rows of trees and saw the tall fig tree in the distance, knowing that that was where the event would be taking place. He continued walking forwards while reading a map he got off of a strong opponent on the forty-eighth floor. If I can kill Nicholas, Sachi's soul will return, and I'll be able to hear her last words.
Kirito had spent countless hours recalling Sachi's death, trying to read her lips in his memory to figure out what she told him, but the only word he was able to make out was, 'blame.' He looked up at the huge shadow of the fig tree, knowing that it was almost always hidden from sight. Even now he could barely see it, only an outline through the blizzard he was walking in. Whatever words she uses to curse me, I've got to accept them.
He started sprinting towards the tree and passed through a barrier. Suddenly the tree became much more visible and Kirito knew he was close. His warning senses flared and he jumped to the side, staring near a few trees where a bunch of blue lights appeared. Klein? "Yo," the man called over to him.
"You followed me?" Kirito asked, glaring at the six man party.
"Well yeah. Are you after the revival item?" The samurai and all his buddies were dressed in red and had on their best equipment. Klein was talking casually to Kirito, but the rest of them seemed a lot more on edge being around the Black Knight who'd been missing for a few months.
"Yeah," Kirito finally stopped looking like he was about to bolt for the boss as he decided it would be difficult with Klein's group on his tail.
"Don't risk your life over what might be a bogus rumor." Klein told him although Kirito knew the man was there for the same thing, even if he did bring reinforcements with him. "This death game is for real. The moment our HP reaches zero, our brains in the real world..."
"Shut up," Kirito whispered just loudly enough for Klein to hear him. I know it's true, but, IT CAN'T BE TRUE! It sounded like Klein was warning him to be careful at first, but the hidden meaning behind his words was clear, he didn't think reviving anyone was possible.
The man was taken aback by the coldness in Kirito's voice but he wasn't going to let the fifteen year old run to his death, "Enough with your reckless solo raids!" he scolded him, "Join us," it was the first time in many months since Klein had offered that same thing to the kid. "Whoever gets it to drop the revival item keeps it, no hard feelings. That should be fair enough, right?"
The older man knew that Kirito was hurting because of his guild, but he had lost friends too, good friends. He knew a lot of his party members had as well, and if there was even a small chance that it would work, he wanted them all to have an equal shot at getting the item.
"Then there'd be no point." Kirito reached up and grabbed his sword, seeing that Klein was not planning on moving aside for him. "I have to do it myself."
The group in red all tensed up and readied their weapons but Klein held up a hand stopping them. "I can't let you die here, Kirito!" That sounded like he was going to try and restrain the teenager so Kirito pulled his sword but only got it about halfway out of the sheath when over a dozen blue lights appeared around the Fuurinkazan.
The group fell back towards Kirito, who they felt safer near than the new arrivals. Men in silver armor with swords and shields appeared all around them with smirks on their faces. "So, you were being followed too Klein."
"Looks that way," he was vastly outnumbered by the opposing guild, but he reached for his katana anyway and grinned at the enemy. Klein's alliance members started wavering as they saw it was the Divine Dragons who followed them. "Tamu," the bearded man whispered in a growl as a man wearing earrings and holding a knife stared at him with a wicked smile, licking his lips.
Kirito got ready to draw his sword but Klein did first and shouted, "Damn it!" his plan had backfired and it was obvious his guild wasn't going to get the item now. That didn't mean he had to ruin Kirito's chances, "Go Kirito! Go on, we'll hold them off!"
"Klein," the boy whispered. He nodded and turned, sprinting for the fir tree and thanking the man mentally.
The DDA members looked pissed that the boy in the black cape was running off towards the tree but the one in front, Tamu, called out, "Don't worry, that one's just running to his death. After he fails and we incapacitate this pathetic group, we'll head in and do the job right."
Kirito ran towards the tree and out of sight as the two guilds clashed. There was an unwritten rule not to let someone drop below the red in a skirmish so once players reached yellow, it was known to back away. Nobody wanted to become a red player, or kill another player over something trivial, but sometimes violence was still the answer and the Fuurinkazan and DDA proved that by attacking each other.
It seemed like Klein's guild was going to be taken down fast, but as the members who dropped below half health went to the side, they used the potions they had stored for the boss battle and joined back in. After about an hour of fighting, Kirito and Tamu were glaring at each other, both panting as all the members of each of their guilds lay on the snow, too tired to keep fighting.
"Why haven't we heard the gunshot yet?" Tamu shouted as he casted a glance towards the tree.
"Haha, you don't really think that Kirito would go down so easily did you?" the member of the DDA suddenly realized who the kid that charged towards the event was and lowered his knife, a look of anger coming over his face.
Tamu shot one last nasty look at the Fuurinkazan before calling for a retreat. Him and his men disappeared and Klein finally collapsed on the ground, panting with his men and waiting for Kirito to finish the mission.
Earlier, as Kirito made it to the tree, he saw that from up close it was actually illuminated from the inside, making it look quite beautiful. The bells started ringing, something on that floor that signified the strike of midnight. As soon as they did, Kirito heard sleigh bells up above him and saw blue streaks moving across the starry sky.
A huge figure dropped out of the sky that landed on the ground shooting snow up all around him. It looked like an ugly, zombie-like Santa Claus with glowing pink eyes. It roared at the lone fighter before it who glared up at the monster in absolute, unadulterated fury. "Shut up."
It raised its axe in the air and stretched out, showing to be several stories tall. Kirito sprinted towards it and screamed a bloodthirsty yell. He connected his sword with the monster's weapon and blocked it. Nicholas the Renegade was faster than his giant body indicated though and met with Kirito's follow up attack.
The two of them clashed weapons over the next couple of hours, each getting a few hits in occasionally with a special attack or a sword skill. Kirito had both of his weapons drawn, he had to replace his second strongest with his third strongest after the second hour because it cracked in half in a parry with the monster's axe.
When Nicholas reached one health bar, an alarm sounded and Kirito's health went back to full, but an indicator appeared in front of him letting him know that health potions were no longer able to be used. With this new development, the event boss dropped his weapon and it shattered on the ground into blue pieces. The long sleeves the monster was wearing opened and two long, sharp blades extended an he grasped on to them with his gray hands.
The pink eyes from before turned a deep black and the roar it let out was much lower and scarier, probably meant to intimidate players. The only thing Kirito noticed however, was the weapon change and he switched his strategy accordingly.
He was brought down to half health as Nicholas slashed at him with his left spike but as he was thrown backwards, he saw that the boss's health was decreasing steadily. The weapons were digging into his hands and purple blood dripped down from the monster as it hurt itself with the new, stronger abilities. Use that, Kirito got back up and started stalling for time. He only blocked attacks and ran in circles around the beast as it tried desperately to hurt him.
It swung one blade down really fast and Kirito couldn't dodge it so he held up both of his swords in an X and sparks flew as the weapons clashed. He didn't see the other spike until it was too late and the left spike slammed into his side and made him tumble across the snow.
Kirito was dazed and got on his knees, watching his health bar lower through the yellow and stop just as it hit the red. One more hit like that and I'm dead, he didn't hesitate to stand back up and start charging at the monster for one final attack. They both had close to no health but Kirito's swords glowed red and he ran forwards and slashed at the monster's legs with as much speed and strength as he could muster until the Sword Skill ran out.
He saw the monster's health almost drop to zero, but it wasn't there yet, and he wasn't ready for another attack. Nicholas was ready however, and he raised his sharp spikes into the air, holding them directly above the kid who lowered his swords to his sides, closing his eyes. Kirito could feel the weapons coming down on him and couldn't do a thing, but all of a sudden, the feeling stopped.
The boy opened his eyes and looked up, seeing that the sharp weapons in Nicholas the Renegade's hands had dropped him down to zero health. Its eyes rolled back into his twisted head before the giant monster exploded into millions of light blue shards, mixing in with the snow falling from the sky.
Something else was falling from the air and Kirito saw it coming down. He ran over and jumped, the fatigue he should have been feeling not even present as he caught the spherical object and held it in his hands. A large smile came over his face as he held it up and saw that it was exactly what the rumors said it was. 'Divine Stone of Returning Soul,' Kirito read the description fully and his smile stayed on his face for a few seconds before it started to tremble and the corners dropped down making his face look emotionless as he walked towards the exit of the event.
As he got away from the tree, he walked through a barrier again and kept walking straight ahead towards Klein. The Fuurinkazan all looked exhausted but as the man saw his younger friend he shouted, "Kirito!" a smile came over his face as he saw the younger boy was holding a small item. The kid wearing all black walked towards the man with the small red beard and tossed him the item. "H-hey," Klein wasn't expecting it and bobbled it in his hands.
"That's the revival item," Kirito whispered, his eyes looking dark and void of life.
"Let me see," Klein wanted to see for himself if it was true. "The target player..." he read, and then his eyes went wide, "Within ten seconds!" the other guild members who heard this sighed, knowing that it had been too good to be true.
"Use it on the next person who dies before your eyes." Kirito told him in a grim voice. Klein shivered, it having nothing to do with the freezing snow falling around them, but because of the tone of Kirito's voice. The kid looked away and started walking slowly away from the man.
No, Kirito no, what are you thinking about? Klein got to his knees and scrambled towards the kid, reaching out and grabbing on to the back of his coat. "Kirito..." he whispered, "Kirito," he said it again louder, standing up. The boy wouldn't turn around and face him, I've seen that look on many players faces, it's the look of someone who gave up. All those players died soon after. "You, you've got to live!" he pleaded as Kirito turned his head slightly and made eye contact with his first friend in the game. "Survive until the end, please."
The man started to cry and released Kirito's shirt, his words doing nothing. He fell to his knees as Kirito whispered back to him, "See ya." He felt it would be the last time the kid ever said goodbye to him. His squad members watched in sadness as Kirito walked away and vanished through the Forest Maze.
The boy headed back up to Mugien where he went back to his inn and sat at his desk. He crossed his arms on it and put his head in them, sadness washing over him, stronger than anything he'd ever felt. It was the hope, the hope that at least one of them would be coming back, that hope was stronger than it had ever been, and then it was ripped from him, leaving an empty hole in his heart.
Sachi, maybe you'll tell me how much you hate me when I see you. Don't worry, it won't be long, I'm heading to the level fotry-nine boss right now. He didn't go and restock on supplies, he only armed himself with one sword, preparing to go down fighting. As he was about to get out of his seat, a small yellow light started blinking in front of him and he tapped it with one finger.
'Gift Box from Sachi,' the message stated and Kirito blanked, his mind so confused that all he could do was say, "Sachi?" in a low whisper. He was shocked and tapped the message, making it disappear and in its place, a small black double pyramid appeared in front of him. He reached towards it and tapped the small button at the top and the button glowed red as the rest of the object glowed green.
Suddenly the room got bright as a yellow light shone from inside the object, "Merry Christmas, Kirito." He gasped, her voice exactly as he remembered it. A pre-recorded message? Did she make this months ago planning for me to open it tonight? "By the time you hear this, I'm guessing I'll be dead." His eyes opened even wider, "How can I explain it? Um, you see, to tell you the truth, I never really wanted to leave the Town of Beginnings. But since I fight with that attitude, I'm sure I'll end up dying one day, right?"
The black-haired boy started trembling in his seat as he stared at the object. Her voice sounded so calm, so peaceful, even as she talked about dying. Sachi, "It's no one's fault. It's my own problem." She sounded like a smile had formed on her face as she spoke in a happy tone, "Kirito, ever since that night, you've been telling me night after night that I won't die. So if I ever get killed, I know that you'll really blame yourself. That's why I decided to record this." He bent his head over his desk and stared down at the object as her voice ripped away at his resolve. She doesn't blame me? "Also, I know how powerful you really are. You see, a while ago I peeked accidentally. I thought really hard about why you would hide your level and fight with us, but I never did figure it out."
She laughed and he could feel himself slipping as he could imagine her face with a wide smile on it, giggling and blushing. "But when I found out how strong you really were, it made me so happy. I felt so relieved. So even if I die, you do your best to go on living okay? Live to see the end of this world, and to see why it was ever created." his thoughts about leaving and attacking the floor boss on his own vanished as he stared down at the voice recording, his whole body shaking as he clenched his fists tighter. "The reason why a weakling like me ended up here, and please find the reason why you and I met. That's what I wish." I will fulfill your wish Sachi, he trembled in his seat, I'll do everything you say.
Her voice sounded cheerful again as she smiled, "Looks like there's still plenty of time left. Alright, since it's Christmas, I'll sing you a song, okay?" Words stopped coming out of the crystal, but Kirito heard joyful humming start from the other side. It was to the tune of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer.
A small smile formed on Kirito's face as he listened to the girl's sweet voice. Sachi I, I'm so sorry. But I'll try to stop blaming myself, because it's what you wanted. The water building up in Kirito's eyes started to spill down his face and a drop hit next to the floating crystal he was staring at. I'm crying, he thought in surprise, but once he started, there was no stopping the pent up pain that had been building up for the past six months.
More tears dropped on his desk as his breathing became staggered and he choked back his tears. The humming stopped and Sachi's voice returned again, "Bye, Kirito. I'm so glad I met you, that I could be with you. Thank you," she paused, "goodbye." As she said it he thought back to the room she died in and the way her lips moved as she tried talking to him before her death. He finally realized what words she had said to him, she was repeating the message. 'Blame,' wasn't that she blamed me, it was that she didn't blame anyone. He'd been thinking horribly of himself for half of a year and for the first time in a while, he stopped thinking of himself as a horrible person and more like the one that Sachi described in her message. The crystal lit up a few more times and then dropped to the desk, the recording finished.
January 1, 2024.
Kirito was walking down the main street of Mugien, handing in a quest and about to head down a few floors when he heard a gunshot and sighed. He decided to look up at the sky but it wasn't anyone he knew. However, another gunshot followed the first and an image appeared next to that one.
People started rushing out of buildings after hearing the third shot and they stared up at the sky in horrified awe as more than ten pictures appeared in the sky before stopping. "What was that? There wasn't a scheduled boss fight today was there?" One woman asked and received no answer from the crowd.
They're all from different guilds, some aren't even in a guild, what happened to them? Suddenly everyone on the street turned around and looked towards a nearby building where a screen appeared on it and a man's face showed up. The man had silver hair and a look in his eyes that sent chills down Kirito's spine.
"We are Laughing Coffin," the camera zoomed out a little and showed a bunch of men in black cloaks surrounding him as he started laughing like a maniac for all the world to see. Many of them had orange diamonds above their heads and a few had green ones. "You better watch out, we're coming for you," he cracked up and the image turned to static before disappearing.
A new red guild? They came out of nowhere. How did they orchestrate such a synchronized attack? He looked up at the sky and at the fifteen faces, They're going to be a problem.