Chapter X
Five minutes later, Lindas, Green Leaf Inn:
When she arrived at the inn, Sakumi found Kirito at one of the tables, checking his inventory for a weapon replacement. She walked toward the table and sat in front of him, making Kirito noticing her presence and closing his inventory.
''So, how was the meeting between you two? Did you get the weapon you asked for?''
She then began to look nervous as Kirito was asking her the question.
''Well, not really….''
A curious face appeared on Kirito.
''What is it?''
''Well, she wants me to bring her the materials. At first I said ''Okay, its fine!'' but now I'm like ''I don't want to risk my life for a sword!'' and…eh…''
''Why do you mean by risking your life?''
''She wants me to retrieve some Soul's Dream Ingot.''
At the moment, she was thinking that Kirito would have panicked or would just stand up and get out of the inn. However, she noticed that she was still calm as he was equipping a replacement for his Elucidator: The Twilight Blade. Sakumi decided to let her question out as she knew that Kirito is not a coward.
''So, um…..could you help me?''
''You know that I'm not a coward, Saku-nii-san. It's all right, but we'll just have to be careful with this boss, don't forget he has killed a lot of players.''
The two stood up of the table and began to walk toward Sakumi's map marker, of which she sends the coordinates to Kirito. But, on the road, she remembered him representing the boss as an ''he'' and not with the usual ''it''.
''What did you mean by ''he''? Is he a player?''
Kirito turned his head toward her as they were still walking on the road where the sun was seen slowly descending in the virtual sky.
''He's not a player, but worse than that.''
''Worse than that?''
''This boss is supposed to look like an adult using a hammer and his own ''soul'' to fight. What I mean by that is that he can ''use'' his soul to produce special electrical powers with his hands. And you know what's the worst thing about him?''
''What?''
''He can even talk.''
Sakumi began to suddenly feel something that she never had for at least a year now: fear. The Soul Crusher was starting to scare her as much as the other players and Kirito saying that he could talk didn't convinced her to regain her courage. Kirito noticed his friend shaking with fear as they were almost arrived to the cemetery.
''Hey, are you all right?''
''Y-Yeah, Kirito-kun. It's just that it is getting cold a little bit.''
''Are you sure? I still think the temperature is all right, but maybe that's just me.''
She still thinks that it was a bland excuse that she had made there, but she was surprised to see that Kirito was still calm and brave enough to stand versus the fear of being killed.
Fifteen minutes later, they finally arrived to the cemetery…..where 200 tombstones could be seen lying around. The moon was high and the sky was dark, but a little white fog was just around the cemetery, making the dreaded place look like it was shining in the night. Tears of sweat began to appear on Sakumi's forehead as they were entering the cemetery to arrive at the center of it where there was only a plain field covered with dirt. Sakumi approached Kirito and she suddenly began to take his arm.
''O-Okay, I got to admit that I'm a bit scared by ghosts.''
Kirito turned his head toward her and smiled.
''It's all right, nothing will happen to you. I promise.''
She got to admit that what he said was beginning to take effect and she slowly calming done. Suddenly, snakes and spiders began to appear in front of them, activating a reflex of unsheathing the weapons of the two players.
''What's happening?''
Sakumi could only say these words as she was looking at the beasts slowly forming a purple circle in the ground. Then, a shadowy figure appeared from the circle and the circle disappeared from under him, also making the beats disappears as well. When they were gone, the shadows slowly cleared out of the figure, finally revealing the boss's appearance.
At first, he didn't look really dangerous. But, on second thought, a hammer could be seen in left hand and his right hand was shining in blue as little sparks were getting out. The man had white hair and he was wearing a white doctor coat with stitches along with glasses where blue eyes were shining behind them. The boss began to talk.
''Who are they, Medusa-sama?''
Sakumi looked at the boss curiously. Finally, he was not that scary as she was thinking.
''Medusa-sama?''
She turned her head toward Kirito.
''What is he talking about?''
Kirito was still looking at the boss, ready for a possible attack.
''I don't know, but don't let your guard out, he can attack at any second.''
She returned her head toward the boss and he prepared herself for combat once more with her sword in hand. The boss looked like he was talking, somehow.
''Afreet eggs? They are Afreet eggs, Medusa-sama?''
Sakumi looked at him with a serious eye as she knew what was going on. Kayaba Akihiko had surely gain partners in the making of the game to include some references to some old mangas. This is one of the characters of one of those mangas she liked when she was still young, around 12 years old. He is supposed to represent the doctor and a professor of a school created by ''Lord Death'' to chase the spirits of the damned, people becoming ''Afreet eggs''; they were kind of like demons. But the character was beginning to be crazy around the middle of the series and she guessed that this boss was based on this part.
Suddenly, the boss shouted.
''THEN SO BE IT!''
Then, four health bar appeared on the side of him and the words ''Frank the SoulCrusher'' appeared above his head. Sparks of electricity appeared around him as he was ''charging'' his soul. Sakumi shouted to Kirito.
''Watch out! He's gonna attack us!''
Then, as soon as she said that, the two players jumped on the side just before the boss touched them with his attack. In the meantime of the jump, Sakumi and Kirito had slashed his tights with their swords, draining one of his health bars to three. Sakumi was thinking about something.
''Wait, that's it? No, that boss is surely hiding something behind that madness. There's maybe a trap at his third or last life bar.''
The boss suddenly jumped toward Kirito and tried to hit it with his hammer. Kirito evaded his attacks pretty easily, slashed the boss with a combo of which it was staggering Frank and kicked it on the ground. He didn't even have to do a Sword skill that the boss's actual health bar dropped to 50%. Sakumi took the chance. She jumped in the air and planted her sword in the boss's stomach, dropping his health to two bars remaining. Suddenly, while he was still on the ground with Sakumi's sword in his stomach, Frank lifted his head toward her with a twisted, crazed smile and soon began to laugh. She took her sword with right hand and she was suddenly electrified as the boss was taking her sword out of him, dropping her health bar to 90% as she was noticing that she was stunned by the attack, leaving her stuck in this position while her health was slowly going down.
''Aaah! Let go of me, you ASSHOLE!''
''Sakumi!''
Kirito shouted, stomped on the boss's face to stop his shock attack, helped Sakumi to take out her sword and kicked the boss away with his foot. When Frank got up, he was beginning to laugh maniacally as he was throwing his coat on the ground, revealing a grey t-shirt. Then, the sky suddenly became red and three demon-like eyes began appeared in the air, shining in red. Kirito shouted to Sakumi.
''What is happening?!''
Sakumi could feel that he was also scared of the actual events. Even if he was a beta tester and a solo player, this boss was obviously made for a raid and not for two players only. Suddenly, the boss threw his hammer on the ground, shattering it into pixels, and took another weapon from his back that looked a scythe. Then, two shadows appeared alongside him with each looking at the two anxious players with bright red shining eyes and the words ''Genie Hunter'' and ''The Snake Witch'' appeared above their head, respectively. Genie Hunter was a shadow of teenager-like girl with ponytails along with a scythe in her hands, wearing some sort of dress. The Snake Witch was looking like a hooded woman with bright red snake-like tattoos on her arms. Sakumi looked at them while she was shaking with fear.
''….K-Kirito-k-kun….''
Kirito turned his head toward her with a calm attitude.
''Stay calm, it's maybe just an illusion to scare us.''
But he was wrong. The Genie Hunter looked at Sakumi for a second, and, suddenly, a twisted smile appeared on her face and she rushed to her, preparing a strike with her scythe. Sakumi anticipated the attack and she parried it at the right time, giving her the chance to attack the shadow by slashing its belly. But the attack just passed through the shadow like it was just a piece of air and the monster riposted with a kick in her belly, launching her back on the ground and destroying five tombstones in the progress. Sakumi stood up as fast as she could, reassuring Kirito for a minute as the Snake Witch were launching him shadow arrows pointing in his direction as he was evading them.
Suddenly, Sakumi noticed something weird. When the shadow kicked her and launched her back, she noticed that her health bar didn't dropped. She then slowly walked toward the Genie Hunter, suddenly stopping the battle as the enemies and Kirito turned their look toward her with all a curious look on their face. Even the Genie Hunter looked surprised for a second and she stopped smiling. Kirito found the situation a little bit weird.
''Saku-nii-san?''
She arrived in front of the Genie Hunter, who looked like it was still questioning itself about its enemy's behavior and she put her hand in front of the shadow, preparing for a hand shake.
''I know you are not what you think you are. You are not the monster you seem to be.''
The shadow suddenly talked with a voice she could recognize for miles.
''Really?''
It was a girl voice, a voice of someone who looked like she was scared of what's happening.
''The one you are working with are not what you think they are. They are not your friends, but I could be yours if you want too.''
Sakumi smiled and she laughed happily, trying to act one of the scenes of the manga where the hero convinces one of her enemies to be her friend. The shadow looked at her with a suddenly sad face and she put its hand into Sakumi's hand. The Snake Witch suddenly shouted ''NO!'' and she disappeared from this world, ironically killed by emotions, surprising Kirito.
Then, when Kirito joined her to know if she was still okay and not having a shock from the boss, the shadow suddenly began to look like a human and he noticed in shock that the two players were right in front of a character of an Anime that ended years ago: Maka Albarn.
The girl, who was now looking like she was a ghost, smiled toward Sakumi and tears began to fall of her eyes.
''Thank you for freeing me of his madness. In return, there is something I should do to help you.''
Kirito couldn't believe what was happening: he was right in front of an AI with emotions! Sakumi nodded toward Maka and she turned toward Kirito.
''It's all right. I finally understood what the meaning of the situation was. She will not attack you anymore.''
Kirito understood and left off his guard with Sakumi right at her side, watching the AI returning herself to the boss. The boss looked at her with a scared face, knowing what his fate would be, even though he still had two health bars.
Maka did a stylish move with a scythe as she was preparing an attack.
''Franken Stein the SoulCrusher, your soul is mine! Soul Resonance!''
Then, her scythe began to shine in blue as she was charging her Sword Skill. She began to run toward the boss as she was shouting.
''WITCH HUNTER!''
Suddenly, her scythe transformed into some sort of giant war-axe shining in blue and she hit the boss with all the strength she got. The boss didn't even resisted and he lost all of his remaining health, making him fall on the ground and shatter into polygons. The only thing that was remaining was a red orb floating above the ground. Maka took out and threw it to Sakumi, making it transform into an EXP screen with the words ''Congratulations!'' floating in the air, just where Maka was standing. The EXP screen was also rewarding Sakumi with a bonus item called ''Hunter's jacket'' the she decided that she would equip later. She also got the ingot she was looking for, Soul's Dream Ingot, in the reward list.
The AI, then, began to walk toward Sakumi and Kirito.
''I assume you certainly want to know what I am supposed to be, right, Saku-nii-san?''
Sakumi looked at her with a curious face.
''What? But I just know you because I just watched the show you were in. I didn't even know you existed for real!''
Maka shook her head in disagreement.
''I'm not the actual person you are looking at right now. The thing is that I am an AI used by my creator to control the security of the game's program and I am just using that skin data to match the boss's style.''
Kirito looked at her with a curious face as well.
''Then, why weren't you able to log out the players two years ago?''
The AI turned her head toward Kirito.
''That is because I do not have a total control on the system. My job and to verify and analyze any player to know if there is a hacking program in his personal data. I'm, sort of, the anti-virus of Sword Art Online.''
Sakumi took the speech this time.
''But, why were you on the influence of that boss back there before you killed it?''
''It's because my creator assigned me to this boss and he directly canceled my previous assignments to be part of its data. That's when he changed my personality to make me become an enemy to players like you and your friend.''
''That's horrible!''
''But, just before I was assigned to this enemy, I was secretly a wandering player of this world and I shortly joined a guild to know what was like to have friends. That's when I saw you, Saku-nii-san.''
''Eh?! B-But who are you?''
The AI pointed its tombstone and Sakumi slowly approached it to read the name on it. What was written on it shocked her and she freeze for a second. What was written on the tombstone was the name ''Taron'' with the usual letters ''R.I.P.'' above it. Sakumi calmly returned herself to the AI.
''So, you are Taron?''
The AI nodded and she talked with her still calm voice.
''I didn't told you my real nature because I think that it would have scared you or that you would think that I'm crazy.''
''So that's why you were gone from the guild for some time. B-But where will you go now?''
''To the tomb the system wants me to rest in now. I attacked and killed a boss with my powers, directly confronting the Cardinal system rules. Now, it wants me to rest in there and to be deleted afterwards. Goodbye, Saku-nii-san.''
Then, Taron began to walk toward the tomb and Sakumi ran to her to stop her march.
''No, wait!''
But, as she put herself in front of the AI, she passed through it and she then realized that she couldn't do anything more to stop the AI's death.
Taron stood on the tomb, returned herself to Sakumi and Kirito while waving her hand in the air and she passed through the ground. When she finally disappeared completely, the AI program known as ''Taron'' was now deleted by the Cardinal system. Sakumi could only watch the tombstone as one of her friends died and she stood up with a calm figure on her face. Kirito got in front of her.
''Saku-nii-san, I…''
But she suddenly hugged him and she began to sob as tears were falling on the ground.
''Kirito… (sob)''
''It's all right, she's in peace now.''
He looked at the tombstone for the last time with a sad figure on his face and the players directed themselves toward the exit as the sky was clearing out to reveal the bright shining moon once more. While they were walking on the road toward Lindas, Sakumi was thinking about something in her head.
''So, that's what the song meant by ''burdened by a royal test''? Is it to see everyone that I live fall in the grip of Death?''
When the two arrived to the Green Leaf Inn in their rented room, Sakumi sat on her bed and she wanted to admit something to Kirito before they were going to sleep.
''Kirito-kun?''
Kirito returned himself while he was putting his civil clothing on.
''Yes, Saku-nii-san?''
''I wanted to ask you something since we've met two years ago, just before we've got into this game.''
''What is it?''
''I…I…..I-l love you…''
Kirito looked at her with a surprised look on his face.
''You…love me?''
''Yes….I love you.''
The two just stand there without moving for a minute. Then, Sakumi stood up of her bed, slowly toward Kirito and she began to kiss him. At first, Kirito was even more surprised to see her, a guild leader, do this, but he let her do it and closed his eyes.
February 27th, Lizbeth's blacksmith shop, 10:00 AM:
The two players arrived at Lizbeth's shop in the morning and they arrived in front of the counter where Lizbeth was placed behind it.
''Ah, I welcome back to my shop! Swordsman, your Elucidator is up and ready, there you go!''
She made the sword appeared on the counter and Kirito took it in his hand, noticing that it got lighter.
''I see you've made a great job. Thank you.''
Then, she returned herself to Sakumi, who she noticed that she was holding Kirito's hand with a little grim on her face. She also noticed that she was wearing a different jacket than the one from yesterday, but the only thing that was different is that there was a little silver heart that was placed on the bottom of the shirt, just before it ends right at the middle of Sakumi's body.
''Do you have the material?''
Sakumi opened her inventory, made the Soul's Dream Ingot appear in front of her and she threw it toward Lizbeth, who catches it right in the air. She suddenly looked at the weird shining white ingot with shock.
''A-Amazing! I never thought you would actually get it!''
Sakumi looked at her with a bothered and angry face as Lizbeth was slowly getting a little bit nervous.
''Kirito-kun, could you stay here for a second? I need to talk to my precious little friend here.''
She took Lizbeth by her arm and her friend slowly followed her to the backroom as she was closing the door behind them. Sakumi looked at her with the same bothered face she had when she entered the shop.
''You could have warned about the damn boss! I could have been killed, do you know that?''
Lizbeth looked at her with a nervous face.
''Hey, calm down! I told you that were not obliged to do it!''
''You didn't said anything like that! You even forced me to do it!''
''Y-Yes, but I didn't wanted you to die!''
Sakumi, then, suddenly realized that maybe it wasn't entirely Lizbeth's fault. She got to admit that she rushed toward the boss without knowing how he looked or even how he was fighting. She calmed down and she apologized to her.
''I'm sorry, I shouldn't have infuriated myself like that…''
Lizbeth looked to her with a calm face, understanding what her friend was meaning.
''Don't worry about it. I would have acted like that if I were in your position too.''
The two girls then hugged like they used to do it in the real world after being angry toward themselves like that. Even if they were arguing angrily in certain situations, they soon forget about it very quickly. Lizbeth decided to change the subject.
''So, let's get that sword done.''
She took the ingot in her hand and she approached her anvil, taking with her the best components she had in her storage. Sakumi sneakily got out of the room to join Kirito as Lizbeth was forging her new sword.
''So, how's your new sword?''
Kirito didn't notice her going back and he felt a little bit surprised to see her.
''Oh, well, it's really good. It feels much more lighter than before, so I can be a little bit faster now.''
''That's cool, but there's still something I wondered about when we were going back to the inn yesterday.''
''What?''
''I wonder if you are good enough with your sword to beat your sister in kendo in real life. I bet she's really good!''
''I saw her fight in a tournament once and she always was beating her opponent only 30 seconds after they've began to fight.''
''That's incredible!''
''What about your sister, Saku-nii-san? What is she doing at the moment?''
''She goes to school very often to be able to become a doctor. But, for some time, I think she is drifting more toward becoming a Virtual Reality game creator than what she previously wanted.''
''Why do you think of that?''
''Because I noticed that she's beginning to miss some classes and she plays a lot of video games. She even said that she wanted to buy a NerveGear just before I entered SAO. Thank god she didn't, I wouldn't had like to see her trapped in here as well.''
Kirito nodded as he was completely agreeing with her on this statement. He wouldn't have wanted to see Suguha here as well.
Lizbeth got out of the backroom and she arrived behind the counter.
''There you go! Your sword's done!''
She gave the sword to Sakumi had she gazed at it in awe while she was taking it with her hands, feeling its very light weight. She pressed on it and the stats of the sword appeared. The weapon was called ''Angel's Eagle +15'' and had 1000-1050 of power and 2000 points of durability. The silver hilt of the blade was very stylish and had a center guard representing the Alpha Squad logo along with a diamond stone encrusted in the center of the eagle, with the wings of the eagle forming the right and left guard. The blade was shining in a blinding white as it was slightly going up like a samurai sword and a little silver eagle was embroidered into the flat of the sword, just before the tip.
''Wow, Lizbeth-san, you really surpassed yourself this time. How much will this cost?''
Lizbeth smiled and formed a zero with her fingers.
''Absolutely nothing! The ingot will count as the payment as well for the upgrades on the sword. Feel free to shop again at my shop!''
''Thank you, Lizbeth-san!''
Then, the two players got out of the store with what they came for. Inside the store, Lizbeth was walking toward the backroom and she arrived in front of the table where she usually works on weapon schematics. On far end of the table, to the right, there was a picture of a male player with short spiky brown hair and brown eyes, smiling.
''Oh, Keita-kun, you don't know how much I miss you.''
She looked at the picture for a minute straight and she stood up when she heard other clients getting into her store.
''I'm coming!''
Just before she got to the backroom's door, she took a last look to the picture and she walked toward the counter to greet them with her usual merchant speech and smile.
''Hello and welcome to my shop! What can I do for you?''