Like I said last chapter, double whammy this time, so not much left to say, however, I can proudly say that my final OC will make an appearance this chapter.
Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit, fan-based fiction. Sword Art Online is owned by Reki Kawahara. Mataras the Red Swordsman belongs to Mataras the author. I only own my OCs.
Chapter 11: Angel may fall
The guild arrived back at their base in high spirits, Asuna, Sachi and Silica went to the kitchens, and made a feast worthy of kings.
Ion sighed in relief, when he watched the guild mingle, Liz and Diavel were muttering together, Kirito and Asuna spoke quietly, and Mataras and Sachi had gone off to bed, tired from the long day.
In silence, he went up to his balcony, he casually leaned against the railing again, watching the Aincrad day/night routine begin to shift. A knock came from the door, and Silica walked in.
"You ok?" She asked, coming out to stand with him.
"Yeah, just… thinking," Ion sighed.
They both sat down on their designated chairs, enjoying the quiet that came from this spot.
"You addressed me as big brother earlier," Ion said, eyes closed.
"Oh my god, did I?" Silica said, putting a hand on her mouth, "I'm sorry, I mean, you're so amazing to look up to, and I've never had a sibling before…" She said. Ion put a hand on hers.
"It's ok, call me what you like, if it makes you feel better," He said, smiling at her.
"I guess, hearing me say those two words brought back a lot of memories," Silica figured.
"Yeah," Ion nodded.
A bit later, Asuna came up to the sleeping quarters, she was walking past Ion's room, when she remembered he looked glum at dinner, and then took off. Knocking gently, she was surprised to find the door open, she could hear the sounds of light breathing, coming from an open retracting door. Peeking out, she found an adorable sight.
Silica was sleeping on Ion's shoulder, while the latter had his head slumped against hers, they both had one hand grasped tightly to each other, and their faces carried peaceful traits, not wanting to disturb them, Asuna left quickly.
The next morning came, Ion walked into the sitting room, having gone for his morning run, Silica, Kirito and Diavel were milling around, preparing for another hard day in the fields.
A lot of the members had new outfits. Silica was now wearing a black sleeved, ice blue coat, with white trims on the cuffs and collar, a white sash was wrapped around her waistline, white leggings went up to her thighs, and she was wearing black and ice blue boots, lastly, two ribbons held her brown hair tied up in two short pig tails. Her dagger, Dragon Talon, was strapped to her waist.
Diavel was wearing a really dark shade of blue, in the form of a jacket, over a grey shirt, he was also wearing black combats and boots, grey fingerless gloves were on his hands. His sword, called Liberty Star, was at his belt, hanging ready, and his cavalry shield was on his left arm.
Ion too was sporting a new look, a new, white long jacket was worn over a black polo-shirt, and he, like Diavel, was wearing black combats, gloves and boots. The sword he had gotten from Liz, Crystalline Razor, was horizontal across his belt-line.
Kirito was sticking with his Blackwyrm Coat and boots, Elucidator and Dark Repulser sat in an X across his back.
Soon enough, the other members came in, loaded to go.
Asuna was wearing a red coat over a white blouse. Black leggings went all the way up, and out of sight, black boots finished the look, a simple outfit. Lambent Light, her rapier, was at her left hip.
Lizbeth was wearing similar gear, a black undershirt was covered by a red combat skirt, which had golden lines sewn neatly, her sleeves were separate, consisting of the same colors from her upper arm to her wrists. Her mace, called Miracle Worker, was clipped to her belt, and her small buckler was on her left wrist.
Sachi was wearing a light blue blouse with short sleeves, dark blue trims were on the collar, base and ends of the sleeves. She was also wearing white gloves with dark blue cuffs. A silver jacket was over the upper half of her blouse. Her sword, Crescent Moon, was on her back.
Mataras was wearing an updated Red trenchcoat, black shirt and pants, he wore black fingerless gloves and black boots. Guilty Thorn was spun in a reverse circle, before being sheathed on his back.
"Even though our party is full of hotness, we're still a bunch of geared up meatheads," Ion smirked.
Halfway through their grinding route on floor seventy, they stopped to take a break, Asuna distributed the sandwiches, and they ate in peace. They were just setting up to continue their trek, when Ion felt something hit his shoulder, making him collapse. Checking his HP gauge, he saw that he had been paralyzed. In quick succession, the entire guild soon dropped, all equally frozen.
"Eight down! Man am I good!" A crazed voice laughed.
Knives, "Is that… Johnny Black?" Asked Lizbeth.
"No… I'm not Jon Jon, he was my brother! And you're the guild that caused him to get thrown behind bars," A man, wearing the trademark, grimy outfit of the worst guild walked up, "Call me Knifeman Nick."
Another laugh sounded from the treeline, and out came a familiar face, "So, you threw in yourself with this maniac?" Ion grunted, as Kuradeel stepped into the light.
Kuradeel laughed again, he wore similar gear to his KOB uniform, but the color scheme was that of the murder guild… "Laughing Coffin," Silica whimpered, spotting the insignia.
"Good job immobilizing them, now men, let's do this," Kuradeel said, five more cloaked figures walked out of the shadows. All were carrying an assortment of weapons ranging from swords, spears, daggers and axes.
Ion glared at the former KoB member, as did Asuna, the seven members of the dark guild moved to stand over different members of his guild. A figure holding an axe was standing over me, poised to kill.
"Ready?" Asked Kuradeel, his sword raised to impale Silica.
As he was about to make the command, a cry was heard, "You won't escape this time Kuradeel!"
A whistle was heard through the trees, and suddenly, a projectile shot from the bushes, straight at one of the Laughing Coffin grunts. Unable to react in time, the weapon went straight through him, and stabbed a tree behind him.
At that moment, Sachi kicked the legs out from under her would-have-been killer, and jumped to her feet, she then fished as many antidote crystals from her pockets, and tossed them carefully at her comrades.
With those people able to grab the crystals, they felt the paralysis vanish, rendering them able to stand too.
Silica stood, just as a grunt of the red guild recovered, and narrowly avoided getting stabbed, using her natural height and her high agility stat, she ducked and weaved around each swipe and stab her opponent tried. A sudden long blade burst through his chest, shocking both combatants, Ion was standing behind them, a pissed off look on his face.
"Usually, I'd take you on fairly, but you had to try and kill my sister!" He yelled, and ripped out his blade.
Mataras was fired up, after almost no activity from the red guild for nearly a year, he was looking forward to crack open a few skulls. Kirito stood, with his face displaying no emotion as he prepared for the next fight, Asuna stood back to him, equally stone-faced.
The owner of the long spear finally emerged from the trees, recovering her weapon and standing among Ion, Silica and DIavel.
"We're the Moonlit Black Cats, the name's Ion," Said the Arctic Swordsman, settling into his third stance.
"Solo player, they call me 'Daughter of Darkness' Angel," The owner said, Ion glanced at them, a female player, she was wearing a black jacket over a purple blouse, black boots and gloves covered her feet and hands. She had long blonde hair, and had a black cowl over her eyes.
"Save the introductions until after we remove our enemy from this plane of existence," Mataras growled, and rushed forward.
Needing no further invitation, Ion ran in himself, and attacked an enemy estoc user, thrusting forward with three stabs, two on his left, one on his right, the opponent surprisingly managed to deflect them all, and launched a sword skill, his blade an icy blue. Ion weaved between the thrusts of the Quadruple Pain, then finally landing a decent hit on the enemy's left flank.
To his right, Silica was facing off against a user of the claws, however, thanks to the help of Argo the Rat, Silica was able to keep with her foe. Her dagger blocked the woman's swipe from the left, then quickly it spun around, almost on its own accord to parry off the other, she then ducked under a double swipe from both directions, and slashed across her opponent's leg.
Angel was more of a demon, her spear was spinning around so fast that her opponent, a single sword user, was having trouble keeping up. She bashed him in the head with the blunt end, then casually blocked the blade with the metal handle of her weapon, spinning while in the lock, his sword flew out of his hands. She then twirled around on the spot, forcing her spear through his chest with vigor.
Diavel was not faring as well, his opponent was using a mace, and was bashing heavily against his shield, he slashed back, but the member of LC ducked back, then started the motion for a skill. When it hit his shield, both combatants were startled when it suddenly shattered. Diavel steeled himself, he preferred a shield, but could fight with just his sword, barely catching a heavy swing from the mace.
However, this was not a good idea, the recoil from blocking such a strike cost him, as the blade was forced back across his chest, caught off guard from the shock of his own sword against his digital flesh, he dropped his blade.
Ion whirled around too late, as the mace came hammering home.
The sudden sound, they all knew it, the sound of a piece of glass smashing to tiny pieces.
Everyone paused, the Black Cats with looks of horror, the Laughing Coffins with looks of utter joy.
"DIAVEL!" Ion yelled, watching the polygons float into the sky.
The murderers laughed, none more than Kuradeel and Nick, "Yes! About time one of you kicked the bucket!" Kuradeel grinned sadistically.
Some of the Black Cats lost the will to fight, seeing one of their own finally fall. Others began trembling, these were Ion, Kirito, Mataras, Asuna and surprisingly, Silica.
"Aww… what's the matter? Are you afraid you'll join him?" Asked a member of LC.
"Oh… we're afraid alright," Kirito started.
"We're afraid of what we're going to do to you!" Ion added.
"Who wants first honors of meeting the business end of my blade here?" Mataras asked. The three men all had shadows covering their eyes.
"Ion…" Silica asked quietly.
"Go ahead," Ion nodded. Silica understood, and clasped her hands together.
"O mighty one who rules the winds, she who makes the ground freeze over with a single breath, heed my beckoning call, I ask that you come… and cleanse these creatures of sin!" She said, finishing her chant with a yell.
For a second, nothing happened, which caused the laughing coffin members to laugh, then, a distant roar filled the air.
"Why is it getting cold?" Asked Asuna, shivering.
The roar was heard again, and it was closer, louder.
"What's that sound?" Asked an LC member.
"It's getting closer!" Noticed another.
"It's nothing… carry on," Kuradeel said.
"Pina/Litrosh!" Silica and Mataras both said respectively. The two dragon tamers leapt up, Ion quickly followed.
"Code D!" Ion yelled, Pina gripped her claws tightly on Silica's clothing, Litrosh doing the same for Mataras, at that moment, something big, white and scaly soared over, and Ion promptly vanished.
The white thing circled around, and some of Laughing Coffin started recognizing the shape.
"What's Code D?" Asked Asuna.
The white thing came to a halt, hovering above the ground with two massive wings made of pure ice. A massive icicle was protruding from it's tail. A blue gemstone shone on it's head as it reared it back to roar again.
"It means Code Dragon!" Kirito answered her question.
Blizzardwing had arrived.
Kirito: No...
Silica: He's... gone.
Ion: I know, I'm sorry, but I had planned this from the start, to make it so our guild wasn't invincible, one of us had to go.
Mataras: And you chose Diavel?!
Ion: Again, I am sorry, but focus Mataras, there are still seven members of the most dangerous red guild in Aincrad in front of us.
Angel: Next time: Devil May Cry