A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. I'll be honest, I had this chapter ready over a month ago, but after some rereading; I felt unsatisfied by the formatting. I couldn't figure out how I wanted things to progress: I was debating between putting a flashback in the middle of the chapter, or have the "two months later" thing in the middle. I'm not too confident with my ability to track time, so I just went with the more straight-forward approach and went with a linear timeline.
Anyhow, enjoy! :)
I landed hard on the road as I hit the invisible wall preventing me from entering the town
That's when I remember that since I'm now an orange player, I won't be allowed to enter the town. I also remember that since this is my first time as an orange player, my cursor would return green in 24 hours. That means I need to survive out in the wilderness overnight.
Had I still been on the first floor, I would be fine since the mob levels are already pretty low compared to mine, and after a month on the first floor I've grown accustomed to the enemies attack patterns.
This was a new floor; with brand-new mobs and higher levels.
I'm going to have to be careful.
Carefully considering my options, I've devised two different plans. The first and safest plan would be to head back to the boss room and return to the first floor, where I could sleep in the field without much worry. Only problem is, that I could run into the raid group on my way there. And who knows what they'll try to do to me if I get caught.
The second and most dangerous plan would be to stay on this floor, relinquish the thought of sleep for the night, and potentially have to fight for my life just to live to see another day.
I did not like my odds so far… to make this easier for me; let's assume that I'll be fighting regardless of which option I choose. I'd much rather fight against multiple mobs than try to fight a 30-man raid group.
I quickly open my inventory to count the number of potions and crystals I had. I've only got 4 health potions and 3 health crystals, great – now I have to be even more careful than before (if that's even possible).
Also, it's only a matter of time before players reach the town, so I need to act quickly and I can't stay near the outskirts if I want to avoid people.
With a long sigh, I adjust the mask on my face and draw my sword, keeping a tight grip on the hilt. I then slowly walk away in search for a defensible position for the night.
.
By the time that my brain left autopilot-mode, a few hours had passed since night had fallen, and I had been fighting non-stop since then. These new mobs, Wind Wasps, are ruthless; they hide and wait to ambush me, stunning me for a few seconds; and then dozens of them swarm out of nowhere and switch between themselves to compensate for their long cool down.
The wasps themselves are smaller than any mob I've ever seen before, being only approximately 50cm tall – they might be the smallest mob in the game, but if they were real, they'd be the largest insects on Earth. Just that thought alone was enough to send a shiver down my spine.
I am extremely tired, and my fighting has become sporadic; my movements flailing around without my usual precision. Eventually, all of the wasps that had surrounded me have been taken care of, and since no more have been spawning to attack me, it finally gives me the time to breathe and relax my muscles; which are sore beyond belief. I take this break to check the time, 3:30am; it has been almost 8 hours since I had started fighting.
I look at my inventory…
I only have 1 health potion left, and about 8 hours remaining as an orange player.
I'm really pushing my luck fighting recklessly like this; if I don't focus soon I'm going to end up getting myself killed.
My eyes scan the area for more enemies, I find a large and rather comfortable-looking rock and I am overcome by the desire to sit down and sleep. The temptation is just too strong; my muscles ache and beg for rest, my mind starts to slip between consciousness and unconsciousness, and my eyelids weigh as much as lead.
The debate between my body and my mind was quickly finished as my body pushes itself towards the rock.
That's it… I've given up… I'm going to die out here, sleeping on a rock. Hopefully someone won't find me huddled in the fetal position, just to laugh at how pathetic I am for dying like this.
Oh… right… video game; my body won't be left behind.
Chalk up another point in my table of depressing thoughts.
A loud scream wakes me up, my mind fully alert and my body suddenly rejuvenated.
With my new-found energy, I run towards the source of the scream, run past some tall bushes, finding a clear and open field; an open field with a powerful bull and a female player, a female player with long flowing black hair, deep amethyst eyes, and a large two-handed sword.
"Kitiara!" I yell.
I dash towards the bull with my sword leading, activating the Sonic Leap skill as I slice a straight line through the bull's right flank; taking a position next to my former partner. I look at the monster's Hp bar and notice that my attack had barely produced any real damage.
"Damn, that thing is strong!" I mutter.
"Tell me about it! I've been fighting him for 40 minutes already." She sighs back. I freeze in place from shock, 40 minutes of constant fighting and this thing's HP is barely at the halfway mark. What is this thing? Is it a field boss?
"Let me try something," I tell Kitiara, switching in to take her place against the bull.
I launch myself forward and take advantage of the bull's hesitation to land a series of sword skills; a zigzagging jumble of Vertical, Horizontal, and Diagonal attacks. I jump back just in time to avoid what looks like a powerful head butt.
In another swift movement, I sheath my sword, grab my dagger and drop myself into a crouching position; pretty much forcing the bull to prepare a charge attack. The bull charges at me full speed in an attempt to run me over, but I activate my acrobatics skill to jump onto the bulls back; fiercely jabbing my dagger into his neck and shoulders over and over again.
The bull starts bucking and flailing around; forcing me to leave my dagger embedded into his neck as I grab his horns and hold on for dear life.
The more the bull jumps, bucks, kicks, flails, or whatever else it's doing; the more I get the hang of it, and the more fun I'm having. I cheerfully yell as though I'm on a roller coaster and start laughing. Despite all this fun, I'm scaring myself shitless by doing this – I mean, one wrong move and I could be killed in an instant.
Just for fun, I yank hard on the bulls left horn, tilting his head to the right and in turn, forcing him to veer to the right. A huge smile forms on my face. "No way!" I yell, "I can control him!" I laugh excitedly.
I'll be honest; I'm not doing this solely to save myself or Kitiara from danger. No, I have a much more ulterior motive behind risking my life and riding this crazy bull. Simply put – I want to impress her.
Slowly but surely, the bulls HP bar keeps decreasing as it keeps flailing around uncontrollably. One thing I had discovered a little while back is that a weapon like a knife will continuously deal damage for as long as it is embedded into the target; a common video game term known as DoT or damage over time.
So in the end, keeping the bull distracted is probably the best choice to keep Kitiara safe from danger. My own safety, however, not so much, but I don't care about that right now.
I can't remember exactly how much time passes before the bull's HP is nearly empty; I'm quite impressed that I have managed to hold on top of the thing for this long. I grab my dagger and pull it out of his neck, and then I start maneuvering the bull.
"Kitiara!" I call out, "I'm going to bring the bull towards you, and I need you to finish him with a Cleave attack!"
"Alright! I'm ready!" she tells me. I jerk the bulls head towards her and give a strong slap on his rump, almost throwing myself off by the sheer force the bull suddenly puts as it charges towards Kitiara. I veer the bull slightly to the right as to just avoid the poor girl.
As soon as the bull and I are within range, Kitiara unleashes a powerful two-handed sword skill. Killing the bull instantly and barely missing me. The bull explodes into a multitude of blue polygons and I am thrown to the ground by the sudden lack of a physical body underneath me. I hit the ground face first and I slide a few meters as my legs bend and twist over my head. This right here is a notorious wipe-out pose called the scorpion – and let me tell you something, it really hurts.
I decide to stay on the ground since my legs feel like they're made out of Jell-O and I'm afraid that I'll fall back down pathetically if I even try to get up.
Even if I want to get back up, the soreness and exhaustion from earlier came over me. Looks like I had managed to keep myself awake for just long enough to save Kitiara from danger.
"Earth to Archangel," I hear faintly. I want to respond, but there's a large blackness overwhelming my vision and I desperately try to fight it. It feels that if I answer Kitiara, my concentration will slip and the black tunnel will overlap my vision completely.
It's cold and dark and silent.
.
Comfort is not something that I am entirely comfortable with; it's too relaxing, too peaceful, too carefree, and too reckless. Comfort is something I strongly believe to be a privilege to have, something that a certain someone such as myself is not entitled to, not allowed to experience; especially after the events leading to my parent's deaths just over 5 years ago.
No matter how self-degrading I am, my mind can't help but feel at ease when I come to. There's an odd warmth presented to the back of my head and neck, and it feels like there is a hand cupping my right cheek and another hand softly ruffling my hair.
As a kid, I had a weird tendency to act like a cat when someone touches my hair, I would usually end up doing stuff like meowing or purring. It started as a joke, but then my mom, my sister Mikaela, and my best friend from childhood Alicia all thought it was cute, so I kept doing it. It never got annoying or out of control for me or anyone else, it was a "relief that there's a silly side to the strict little boy" or so mom would say.
So as I am laying down in the middle of I don't know where, doing I don't know what, being petted by I don't know who; I squirm in place as I let out a soft "meow".
Suddenly the hand brushing my hair and the hand cupping my cheek jerks away and I feel my face grow extremely hot.
That's when I realized that something wasn't right.
I slowly open my eyes and the very first thing I find (other than blinding light) is a pair of amethyst coloured irises staring at me, and I am instantly mesmerized by their depth; they seem so full of emotion, so full of fascination, and so full of… wait! Is that desire?
Slowly my focus widens and the tunnel vision disappears, giving me a full view of Kitiara with a pretty flushed and embarrassed face.
As it turns out: she's leaning against a tree and has my head resting on her lap, I guess I must have been so tired after that fight with the bull that I just passed out from sheer exhaustion afterwards. While I was sleeping, Kitiara must have removed my mask. Oddly enough, it doesn't appear as though she has noticed that I am awake yet.
Her hands reach back to rest on my hair and she starts petting it softly once again. I subconsciously close my eyes once again and relax to her touch, and within minutes I'm nothing more than a purring mass of melted goo. Kitiara giggles slightly as she starts scratching my head a little more vigorously with both hands now.
Just as I am about to call it quits and tell her I'm awake; she lets out a surprised gasp and she defensively wraps her arms around my head and tries to hide my face in her stomach. Without any idea as to what is going on, I decide to keep pretending to sleep.
I hear a set of footsteps heading our way, stopping pretty close-by. "Can I help you?" I hear Kitiara ask aggressively.
"Yes, you can." The stranger tells her, equally as aggressive. "You were in the Boss raid," he states. My shoulders tense up when I recognize the voice, it's Kibaou. My guess is that he's looking for me.
"You're that chick who was with "The Angel of Death". Where is he?"
I exhale gently three times against Kitiara's stomach in quick succession; in attempts to let her know that I'm awake. The exhalations are gentle enough that Kibaou would not notice, but strong enough for Kitiara to notice. The tension in her arms relaxes slightly, most likely her way of acknowledging my message.
"Could you be a little bit quieter? You're going to wake him up if you're this loud," she states calmly.
"Who is that, anyways?"
"It's your mom," snaps Kitiara, making Kibaou take a step back in shock. "Relax, it's my friend, you dumbass."
"Who is your friend?"
"Didn't your mom ever teach you to mind your own business?" she says loudly. Kibaou hesitates for a mere moment, but that was more than enough for her to take control of the situation. "She didn't? Wow… well then, your mom is as pathetic as you are. The apple really doesn't fall far from the tree." She adds.
Kitiara lets out a sadistic laugh before continuing. "No sense of honour, no sense of pride, no sense of loyalty, and no sense of privacy. You must be the paragon of deadbeats."
"You bitch!" yells Kibaou. I feel Kitiara's entire body tense up.
"Kibaou!" I hear far off in the distance, "We've got a lead!"
"This is not over!" he says before he leaves to meet up with his friends.
I wait until Kitiara relaxes her muscles before I do anything. In the short amount of time that I've known her, I've already figured out to not be on her bad side. She doesn't just bark; she's got quite the powerful bite to back it up.
When I feel it is safe to do so; I slowly escape from her grip, sit up straight facing her and place my hands gently on her shoulders.
"You really are amazing!" I tell her with a smile plastered on my face.
"What do you mean?" she mumbles as her face flushes a bright red and she turns her head to look away from me.
"Thank you." I say, wrapping my arms around her and hugging her tightly. "Thank you for protecting me from the monsters… and from Kibaou,"
"Think nothing of it. That was just to repay you for saving my life earlier." She responds as she places a hand on the back of my head.
"Then we're even?" I ask her.
"Not quite, I've got some good blackmail material against you now. Imagine what people will think when they hear that the mysterious Archangel acts like a cat when his hair is touched." She says with a grin. My eyes widen in horror and a loud gasp escapes my lips.
"You wouldn't dare!" I exclaim as I push myself to my feet and place a few feet in between us.
"I think it's really cute…" she laughs.
"It's a subconscious reaction, I can't control it." I explain. I take a short pause. "By the way, two can play that game," I extend my hand towards her.
"Huh?" she asks as she grabs my hand.
"What would people think when they hear that Kitiara will spend the night with any guy she meets that day?" I say as I pull her to her feet. Her eyes widen in shock and her face flushes a multitude of different shades of pink and red.
"It appears as though we have reached a stalemate." She says with a soft giggle.
Without having to say any words, we both decided to start walking towards the town. I'm not sure about Kitiara, but fighting all night long has made me pretty hungry.
.
*Two months later*
.
It is now February, three months after this stupid death-game began, and two months since the first floor boss was defeated, two months since Kirito had been branded as a Beater, and since I had been given the nickname "The Angel of Death". For the first month, I had been hiding in the shadows; waiting for things to calm down. During that time, I couldn't risk being in town since people would have recognized me, there have been four incidences; two of which the players had tried to arrest me, and two of which where players had tried to kill me. In the end, it was my fault; and I couldn't help but hate myself because I've given more than enough opportunities to be recognized by the general public; the mask and the black cloak that only Kirito and I wear are the two most obvious clues pertaining to my identity.
The second month was a bit different, Kibaou (of all people) had written me apology in the newspaper MMO Today for everyone to see. He had explained his side of the story concerning the First Floor Boss Battle, and he was even nice enough to say that without me; the raid would have fallen and the Boss wouldn't have been defeated.
As much as I didn't want to take credit away from Kirito, who was the true hero in that battle, I felt somewhat relieved to know that I was no longer being chased for a crime that I didn't commit.
On some more happy news; the front lines have just started on the twentieth floor, we are safely clearing floors at a much faster pace now. People were getting organized and were getting the job done, their cohesion much better now that Diabel (or Elidab, if I'm going off of his Beta-Test name) is no longer with us to screw things up.
I hear a twig snap directly behind me.
I snap out of my daydream and prepare for a fight. But before I could even draw my sword, what looks like a pair of hands reaches around my face and takes my mask off, then proceeds to cover my eyes; all the while a soft chest presses hard against my back.
"You sure look gloomy today, Archangel," I hear a familiar voice say right beside my ear, a subtle laugh accompanying her voice. My entire body relaxes and my hand leaves the comforting grip of my sword.
I regain sense of my surroundings; I had been level grinding on this floor since 23:00 last night, almost twelve hours ago, and needed a short break from the constant fighting. I must have zoned out for a while, I really need to stop trying to get myself killed.
No matter how much I've leveled my hiding skill since we had defeated the first floor boss, Illfang the Kobold Lord; she has always been able to find me.
This "cat and mouse game" recently became a game between the two of us.
Ever since we defeated Illfang, two months ago, our relationship had slowly grown… No! We're not dating or anything, but rumours have been saying otherwise. We've been told multiple times that we make a "cute couple", which would instantly make the two of us yell out in embarrassment, babbling complete gibberish in a desperate attempt to tell them that they're mistaken.
I am violently woken from my reverie as I am suddenly thrown off balance as a sharp pain appears on my nose, resulting in a very terrified and involuntary squeal as I flinch and jump backwards and fall on the grass. Kitiara then places her hands on her hips; trying to look intimidating, however her face is bright red and she's desperately trying to hold back her laughs from my recent outburst.
Unable to hold her composure any longer; Kitiara bursts into a long and loud fit of laughter, she kept on laughing for a few minutes – even getting to the point where she had to clutch her sides as though in pain. I take this time to get up and lean against the very same tree that I had been hiding behind less than a minute ago. After what feels like a few more minutes, Kitiara finally manages to calm herself down to the point where I can now talk to her rationally.
"Are you done?" I ask condescendingly, crossing my arms over my chest. Kitiara lets out a few more giggles before placing her hands back on her hips.
"I think so," she answers while letting out a long sigh, apparently still trying to calm herself down. Geez, I didn't think getting flicked on the nose was so funny. Or was it my reaction that was so funny?
"by the way, why did you sneak out of bed last night? I would have trained with you if you had just asked me," She comments.
My stomach growls really loudly, basically stopping the both of us with whatever we were just about to say. I ask Kitiara if she had eaten yet and after she had denied doing so, we had unanimously decided to return to town for lunch.
.
Because of the nice apology from Kibaou, I was no longer a target. Meaning that I could walk freely down the streets and people would not try to attack me anymore. Sure, some of them still gave me dirty looks, and some would back away in fear. At least they left me alone for the most part.
I am fine with dealing with the looks and with the uneasy silence everyone gives me, what I can't stand is when someone tries to get in my way and give me his opinion.
Which is exactly what happens today.
Just as Kitiara and I were about to enter the restaurant on the main floor of the inn, I was cut off but a small group of 3 young boys; probably two years younger than me.
"Where do you think you're going, "Angel of Death"?" asks the boy in the middle, obviously the leader of the group, despite being the smallest and most likely the weakest one.
"I'm here to have lunch," I answer calmly. "Even an idiot would have been able to figure that out."
The kid scowls as he grabs the collar of my black dress shirt. This intimidation tactic clearly does not work on someone taller than you, but whatever, let the kid think he's got control.
"Let's settle this like men," he says, still trying to act intimidating.
"Like men?" I laugh, "Oh, please! It would take all three of you to be able to count as a man."
"That's how you want to play? Fine then, how about you go against all three of us. right here, right now. If you win; we'll leave you alone. But if you lose; we take the girl with us." He says as he points to Kitiara, who was staying quiet at my side. Her hand reaches up to my back and creates a fist, bunching up a small amount of my trench coat.
"You've already lost," I tell him. Making the group of kids step back with shock and confusion. I take this time to walk over to the middle of the street, setting the location for our duel. I want people to see this. I want people to know that they cannot take Kitiara away from me.
The three kids reluctantly make their way to the street. It seems as though they now understand that they've really pissed me off.
I summon the UI and challenge the group to a Battle Royale, because I was the challenger, the team of young boys got to choose the setting; to which they take Near-Death-Mode. The 60 second countdown started immediately.
Near-Death-Mode, the duel style that requires you to bring your enemy's HP to 1, no rules, no exceptions. Much more aggressive and much more dangerous than First-Strike-Mode; where you only need to be the first to land a solid hit, or make the enemy fall to half HP.
Because we are inside a town; we are protected by the AREA, we cannot die, even if our HP is down to 1, which means that I don't have to be careful about not killing them – I could go all out and not regret anything. That also means that my opponents have no need to hold back either.
I draw my sword within an instant and point it towards the ground as I start pacing from side to side. Ten paces left, ten paces right, repeat; my gaze never leaving the group of idiotic kids. My opponents are clearly terrified of me since they haven't even started getting ready for the fight; they just stand there frozen in fear.
By the time the counter hits 30 seconds, a large crowd of no less than 100 players had formed around us. Whispers could be heard from all corners, wondering what's going on. Things like a 1v3 Battle Royale were so rare, that they were the talk of the town for days.
Regardless of the outcome, tomorrow I would be pestered by the member of MMO Today.
With 15 seconds left, I dash towards my opponents – my movements so quick that it looks like I had disappeared from my spot and appeared in their faces. "You should get ready," I tell them, clearly trying to provoke them even further. I return to my previous spot as fast as I had left it.
I hear the sword being drawn with 5 seconds to spare. Upon looking at my opponents, I determine that their weapons consist of an Assault-Spear, a two-handed axe, and a Sword & Shield.
The timer reaches zero and the loud noise informs us that the match has begun.
Before the kids could move, I Activate my Sprint ability to increase my speed and move in a completely random pattern, trying both to confuse and provoke the group in order to force them into making a mistake. My strategy grows bolder as I start nearing the group and give off a few slashes and a few nicks all over their bodies, slowly reducing their HP bars.
My Sprint ability stops after around 30 seconds and I am forced to retreat and give a little distance between us.
I check my health and notice that I have taken a few hits of my own, although I was still well within the green zone, all three of my opponents were nearing the half-way mark.
The three kids take advantage of my reduced speed and of my hesitation to start running towards me in a straight line; each behind the other with the shield leading. I decide to keep my ground and see what their tactic is; I am curious as to see what kind of cohesion these guys have with each other, and their coordination is a vital piece in my counter-attack.
As soon as the shield-bearer is within reach, he attempts a shield-bash. Immediately afterwards, he strafes to the left and the axe-wielder activates a mid-level vertical slash and tries to chop me cleanly in half. Instantly after that, the spearman launches a series of pokes and stabs towards my torso.
Obviously, none of their attacks have hit me. My Acrobatics skill sure is useful when I let it fully take over my body and dodge everything with minimal effort. Although I have to say, that was a really good coordinated attack – it's really effective against single monsters. But it won't work on me.
I somersault backwards a few times to give myself some more distance. As soon as I set about 10 feet worth of distance between us, the three kids commence their attack – going for the exact same tactic as before.
I smirk as they charge full speed ahead. This is too easy.
I stab my sword into the ground and charge at the shield. Same as last time, as soon as we are within reach, the leader attempts another shield-bash – but this time, I grab onto the shield, and using his momentum, send the shield-bearer over my head and tumbling to the ground behind me. As he was in the air, I take his sword from his hip.
I step side just enough for the axe to barely miss me, digging itself into the stone road. The axe-wielder tries frantically to pull his weapon from the stone, but I had beaten him to the punch. I take this opportunity to fiercely kick the shaft with all my strength, shattering the axe into two pieces. I take the sword I had stolen from the shield-bearer and cleave it through the axe-wielder's back, leaving it embedded as he falls to the ground.
I had just enough time to avoid the spear as it stabs my way, the spearman launches off a long series of pokes, stabs, and slashes. With no weapon to block or parry the attacks, I am pretty much forced to dodge every one of his attacks with the use of my Acrobatics skill. The spearman, clearly not giving up, roars loudly as he starts flailing uncontrollably; giving me the perfect chance to take advantage and disarm him. Before the spear could hit the ground, I had caught it, performed a few spins, and stabbed it right through my enemy's heart. I dig the spear's other end into the ground and leave the spearman impaled in the middle of the road, his mouth gurgling as it fills with blood.
I turn back to the tumbled shield-bearer, who still hasn't gotten to his feet yet, and give him a massive kick to the side of his face – rewarding me with a loud and very satisfied "crunch" as I shattered his jaw and every bone in his neck. He stopped struggling instantly and slumped to the ground, almost lifelessly.
The game had announced the end of the duel and had declared me as the victor.
I walk over to my sword, pick it up and return it to the sheath on my back. I look back at the gruesome scene I had created and smile diabolically.
I pause for roughly 20 seconds before my smile disappears and I let out a loud sigh. I walk back to the group of kids that I had mercilessly defeated mere moments ago, pull the sword out of the guy's back and throw it beside him. Grab the Spearman's chest and yank the spear out of his heart, gently sitting him down. I then place a health crystal his shoulder and activate the healing, restoring his HP to full, and repairing all damage I had caused. I do the same for the other two.
The three kids moan in pain and sluggishly make their way closer to each other, staying seated on the road and leaning against each other for support.
I kneel down in front of the leader. "Do you know why you lost?" I ask him, loudly enough for the crowd (who hasn't left yet) to hear.
The kid shakes his head.
"It's because you got 'Her' involved," I tell him, lifting my thumb over my shoulder to point towards Kitiara, who is still near the doors to the inn. "You never, ever, get in between a man and his woman. You never threaten her in front of him, because he will sacrifice everything in order to save her." I finish.
I stand up and turn my back to the kids.
"It's a fundamental rule that we have, although you guys wouldn't know about it. You're all too young to start having to protect your girlfriends. Hell, you aren't even old enough to have girlfriends." I say with a laugh as I walk away from the middle of the street, leaving the make-shift combat arena, and leaving the entire crowd in expressionless shock.
.
The rest of the day was not nearly as eventful as the morning was. Quite frankly, it was just a typical afternoon for Kitiara and I.
In the two months since the Floor 1 boss, we held this 'weird' pattern where we would meet up for lunch, spend the afternoon together (mostly training, fighting monsters, or exploring dungeons). We would then share an inn room and go to sleep. In the morning we would go our separate ways; and then meet up again for lunch.
This cycle repeated itself almost on a daily basis. So like I had just said, our afternoon had remained the same as always, today we had spent about 4 hours exploring this Floor's dungeon.
We ate dinner in peace, and when the time came, we called it a night and went to our inn room.
Just like usual.
I woke up suddenly for no reason in the middle of the night and noticed that Kitiara wasn't in bed. Not particularly concerned for her safety, I let it slip and returned to sleep.
.
Two days later, sure enough, on the front page of MMO Today, was an article regarding my 1v3 duel in the middle of town.
What I didn't expect to find was that there was also an article concerning Kitiara on the next page. That night, she had snuck out around town to track those three kids to give them an ass-kicking of her own.
Rumours were saying that she had tracked them down from the smell of their blood, and chased them down like a ferocious hunting dog.
From that day forward, they started addressing her as: Kitiara "The Bloodstalker".
""The Angel of Death" and "The Bloodstalker", huh?" I mutter out loud to myself as I set down the paper onto the table. "Sounds like a nasty piece of work."
"What sounds like a piece of work?" I hear Kitiara ask me behind my back.
"It appears as though there's a certain woman, who is now called "The Bloodstalker" is less forgiving than "The Angel of Death" could ever be. I personally thought I had given those kids enough of a beating" I tell her, trying to be as facetious as I can.
"They call me "The Bloodstalker" now? Oh well," she sighs. "It's a good thing red is one of my favorite colours. Plus it will be easy to paint my armour; all I need to do is kill a bunch of things." Kitiara places her hands on my shoulders and stands directly behind me.
I couldn't help but let out a loud laugh. "You're unbelievable" I sigh.
"Hey! Blood is an excellent source of protein and iron, two substances in which I currently lack in my diet."
I let out a few throaty chuckles. I couldn't help but find her quoting me to be actually pretty funny.
Without even thinking, I lean my head back to look up to Kitiara as my hand reaches around her neck and gently pulls her down to me.
I kiss her.
A/N: Another cliffhanger guys, sorry... I understand if you didn't like that duel, It took me a long time to try to write it down, and rewrite it (over and over again) and after a while I just gave up trying to make it better - and that's what it gave me.
I will try to improve my fighting scene writing skills, hopefully I'll have something better by the next couple of chapters, and hopefully none of you are as disappointed as I am...
See you next time.