Blade XI: Origins
Ragna let out a yawn as he made his way out of his bed the next morning. The Reaper cricked his neck before he opened his menu. He looked over the time for a moment before his eyes grew wide. '8:30? Shit! I've got to get moving!' Ragna thought to himself in panic before he ran out of the room and headed for the lower floor of the Inn. Sadly he was out of luck as the entire dining area was crowded with players. 'Looks like there's no breakfast today,' Ragna thought to himself as his stomach growled causing him to reevaluate; if he didn't eat now he was going to have a bad time. 'Damn, maybe I can run around town to find a place that isn't booked.'
After heading out of the Inn, he was further irked to find that all of the restaurants were swarmed by players and many of the places had lines that lead outside the buildings. Waiting was probably going to take at least a half hour if not more, and he didn't have that kind of time. Ragna considered heading back to floor one, but he'd probably run out of time and be late for the meeting. Acting in desperation for a decent meal, Ragna decided to trying running down on of the streets to find a restaurant or someplace that sold food. Funnily enough as Ragna was running along he found a strange building that he swore hadn't been there before. From the outside he could tell that the place was set up as a restaurant due to the tables and chairs, but it seemed to be completely deserted.
"Might as well," Ragna groaned to himself as he walked inside. Upon closer examination, the decor was more modern day, very out of place for a game like Sword Art Online. "Weird... Hey! Is anybody here? Paying customer at the front! Hello?" Ragna called out as he looked at the counter. The place had several coffee machines as well as several pastries like donuts and muffins on display, something Ragna hadn't seen in SAO before now. Seeing all of the other players walking past the building without even giving it a glace, Ragna was starting to realize he was the only one who could see this place.
"I was wondering when someone would decide to show up," the apparent owner of the restaurant said as he come out from the back room.
Even just looking at him, Ragna could tell that there was something VERY wrong here. The man stood a little shorter than himself, had a skinny build, somewhat pale skin, whiskers, and unkept black hair. He was wearing a white button up dress shirt without a tie with a black vest covering it and slacks. Instead of wearing regular shoes, he seemed to prefer wearing black sandals and wore sunglass that rested on his nose, not covering his eyes. He kept both of his hand in his pockets and acted at ease, but that didn't make Ragna feel any better.
"Welcome to WildKat, home of the best cup of coffee you can find under the heavens. I'm Sanae Hanekoma owner and only worker of this place, but call me Mr. H if you want. So how can I help you, Spikes?"
"You can explain to me who the hell you are," Ragna told the enigma with his eyes narrowed in a glare. Ragna had trained his senses to perfection a long time ago (it was part of how he'd survived this long) but his top ability was the ability to perceive how dangerous and powerful his opponents were. He wasn't getting a sense of danger from the coffee owner in front of him, but he could feel his power and it was intense, almost reminding him of the first time he'd faced Hakumen.
"...Huh, I guess you're pretty observant, despite everyone calling you an idiot," H said with a guilty smile. "I guess for starters you could call me an observer, but my observation range is pretty large. Different realities, different worlds, different timelines, I can see a lot. Makes you remember a few people doesn't it, Mister SS class criminal?"
"So you know about where I'm from," Ragna said, now having one of his theories confirmed. "What else can you tell me?"
"... I could tell you a lot," H admitted, his expression turning more serious. "But I'm guessing you're strapped for time if you came in here of all places, so I'll keep it brief for right now. I've been looking at your world for a while now, it's a pretty interesting place, but I can't enter it. No one can. It could cause... unforeseen circumstances."
"What do you mean?" Ragna asked as he took a seat. He realized that this could cause him to run a little late, but answers beat keeping time at this point.
"We were afraid," Sanae told him, starting to brew a cup of coffee. "The group I belong to, everyone I work with, even the people above me, we were afraid what would happen if someone from your world were to get out. But for the most part it was a very particular person..."
"Izanami? The Master Unit?" Ragna questioned.
"Actually no. They were large threats to be sure, we probably would've lost everything if either of them made their way out of your world, but they weren't what we were worried about. We were worried about someone much worse; someone completely sadistic, someone who kills people out of boredom, someone you can't predict because they've seen every possibility."
"Yuki Terumi," Ragna said, gripping his first in anger. "I'm just glad I managed to finish that bastard off before I had to face Saya. We don't need him coming back."
"It's not that simple I'm afraid," the barista said vaguely. "You managed to kill that Terumi for good, which was really fun to watch by the way, but your world is still one with several different realities, even without the Continuum Shift there are still an infinite amount of possibilities. At this point it's almost a guarantee that there are Terumis in other worlds, raising up trouble."
"What's stopping them from getting out then?" Ragna had to ask.
"A little something that I like to call the house theory," Hanekoma said as he handed Ragna a finished cup of coffee. "My own personal blend, and feel free to take a muffin or two. You certainly earned a free cup of Joe after all you've been forced through."
"Thanks," Ragna said as he took one of the blueberry ones and started eating. "So what's this theory?"
"Imagine a large suburban city and each house there represents a world, their walls are considered 'boundaries,' and the area outside those houses is known as the 'Traveler's Plane,' where you have to go through to reach different worlds. With me so far?" Ragna nodded. "All right, now imagine that every house is just four walls and a roof. How do you see inside?"
"Break a wall down, make a hole" Ragna told him without humor.
"Er... I guess?" Hanekoma told him with a cringing smile. "But I'm actually getting at windows. You make a window to see inside. And in order to walk inside..."
"You make a door," Ragna answered before noticing what he was getting at. "And doors and windows go both ways, meaning someone on the inside could use it."
"You caught on pretty quick Spikes. In order to keep any Yuki Terumi or Hades Izanami inside their own world we only make windows to observe what we're doing. I don't care how strong someone can become, making a door or window into another world is specific trait only a VERY select few are qualified for, and not even Terumi fits the bill."
"Tch... And you really think he's going to stop because of that?" Ragna argued back with a glare. "You weren't the one fighting against Terumi, I was! And let me tell you, it's a lot different watching from the seats instead of facing the bastard yourself!"
"I know, that's why we're trying to prepare for when one of them does figure out how to break out, but that's for another time." Speaking of time, Ragna checked his clock and realized he had to get going if he wanted to make it on time. Hanekoma noticed the gesture. "We'll be sure to talk later, but I think I know the question that you're begging to ask me; 'How the hell did I wind up here?'"
"It'd be nice to know," Ragna admitted passively as he took a sip of coffee. "Something tells me that you're somehow responsible for it."
"Part of it," Hanekoma admitted. "When you finally managed to finish off Izanami, the vortex of energy that was let out as you fell was enough to send anyone within 20 feet directly into the boundary, but you were dead center. It staggers belief, but you were thrown out of your world without the need of using a door or even a window. But you're not a traveler, and without being in your own world to belong in, you started to fade from existence itself. Even I can't give someone the power to be tied to an entire world, but I figured letting you fade would be pretty unfair, even by your standards. Since you were almost gone and close to this world, that left with only one choice; I tied you to Sword Art Online."
"So you saved my ass," Ragna said. "I guess I owe you one, but something tells me this is only temporary. What happens when I clear the game H?"
"...That's where things get ugly," the Hanekoma told him with a sigh. "I've studied SAO's programming, and I've seen variants of this world enough times to know what happens when it's cleared; the game goes up in smoke."
"And me with it," Ragna sighed as he finished his muffin. "Well that sucks, but I can't say I'm surprised. Guess I'll just have to be ready to make my peace when the times comes."
"It's bad I know, but my hands are tied on this one Ragna, there's nothing I can do. But you should know that you can fight the system. It may be what's keeping you alive right now, but it's not impossible to get some leverage out of it."
"Kinda already figured that one out," Ragna said with a smirk. "I've learned enough about the game to know I should've had to reached a pretty damn high level before I got my Darkness Fang move, but with a little elbow grease (and an insane amount of stubbornness) I managed to beat the system and get it early by refocusing my BlazBlue."
"Not bad for figuring it out on your own. Now I know I couldn't stop you from clearing the game if I wanted to," Hanekoma said with a laugh.
"I 've never really been known to half-ass anything," Ragna admitted before he finished his coffee. "Speaking of which I need to get going." The Reaper quickly opened his menu and equipped the Knight's of the Blood Oath garb he'd received from Heathcliff.
*Author's Note: Still waiting on that Ragna in Order Sol clothing fanart! Also Sanae Hanekoma is from the Square Enix game The World Ends With You.
"So that's where that ended up," Hanekoma observed. "Now that I look at you, you kinda remind me of the guy I got it from, though he seemed pretty eager to get rid of it... well the uniform anyways, the headband I had to replicate."
"So you brought this here?" Ragna asked looking over the outfit. "I guess it does have that out of this world look, but does it have a name? Every time I try to have Agil identify the cloak or the headband he doesn't find anything; no skills, and the name only comes up as question marks."
"Oh it has a name alright," Hanekoma told him. "The name of the outfit is Sacred Order of the Holy Knights Uniform. The headband is called the Flame of Corruption's Sigil Guard."
As soon as the otherworldly observer spoke those names, Ragna's gear was given an identifying names and his skills came up.
Sacred Order of the Holy Knights Uniform Level 10 Armor
Breath Resistance Lv. 2 Reduces damage from breath attacks
Endurance Lv. 2 Armor has a much higher durability
Slash Reduction: Lv. 2 Reduces damage from slashing attacks
Piercing Reduction: Lv. 2 Reduces damage from piercing attacks
Flame of Corruption's Sigil Guard Level 10 Accessory
Critical Guard Lv. 3 Decreases the damage taken from critical hits slightly
Improved Headbutt Lv. 3 Increases the damage given by headbutts.
Endurance Lv. 2 Accessory has a much higher durability
"I guess the skills on this thing are actually pretty good," Ragna observed as he looked through his gear, why could you identify it though? I'm pretty sure Heathcliff didn't even know anything about it."
"I guess because since this coffee shop is technically my world, I can give you access to certain information that you'd normally wouldn't get. At the same time though, I'm afraid I can't give you knowledge about what's about to happen next, that kinda goes against my orders to the extreme and I'd end up getting erased completely."
"I'll manage without it; I'm already used to being kept in the dark," Ragna told him before grabbing out his teleport crystal. "I'll probably have to come back and bug you for more answers some time or another, but thanks for the coffee and saving my ass."
"You're welcome, and as a last gift I'll make sure you aren't late to your meeting." Before Ragna could question the barista, Hanekoma swipped his hand and Ragna vanished from the spot without a trace. "For a destroyer of worlds, he seems to value this place and the people here a lot. Maybe giving him a second chance was a better idea than I thought. I just hope he continues to make it count. Now then..." he arched his back and stretched his arms. "How should I tell Joshua about this one?"
Elsewhere
Ragna blinked twice and observed his surroundings. He was now on floor four's Tent Town, right in front of Knights of the Blood Oath Headquarters. There hadn't been the usual shimmer from when he normally teleported, and teleporting didn't let you specify certain town locations, you were only brought to the teleportation platform. 'That guy... he's got some power... Pretty sure I could take him, but I'm not looking forward to what kinds of trouble he could cause.' Deciding it was better to worry about it later and focus on the game for now, Ragna headed into the headquarters.
Inside the headquarter he was subject to several stares and whispers from the guild members, some of them talking about his apparent victory on floor eight, or the idea that he might've joined the guild officially now. The Reaper did his best to ignore it as he headed for the back of the tent toward Heathcliff's office. Once he was there, he saw Heathcliff sitting at the table expecting him and Asuna sitting a little off to the side. He also noticed the dark haired swordsman that had tried to propose to Asuna last night there as well. Ragna couldn't help but notice the friendly smile that Asuna gave him as he walked inside, he also noticed that the other guy, Reku, had seen the change in Asuna's attitude and had retorted by scowling at the Reaper.
'Someone's got the wrong idea,' Ragna thought to himself as he remained passive to the hostility. "All right I'm here, what's the damn mission supposed to be anyways?"
Reku looked absolutely appalled at Ragna's disrespect for protocol. He was about to shout his head off at the Reaper, but a single knock on the table and a stern look from Heathcliff was apparently enough to silence him.
"I apologize for calling you here with so little warning," Heathcliff told him. "As it stands there was actually a change in plans. My first intention was to hire your efforts to help us with clearing the ninth floor, but it seems that the job is no longer necessary. I do have another job for you however, one that will provide substantial information for our guild. How much of the new floor have you explored?"
"None, since I'd only heard it was unlocked last night. Don't tell me you want me to clear it in one day."
"No, that'd be asking too much, you've already garnered too much of an unwanted hero reputation." The action of Ragna rolling his eyes did not go unnoticed by the commander. "Since most of our members are behind on their level quota's, I don't think we'll be able to start exploring the floor for a few days, but that's still time lost and I can't afford us to lose our current momentum we have towards clearing the game. Your mission's simply going to be scouting the floor to find out what opponents we're dealing with and dungeon locations. Just put in a good six hours and I'll see that you get both whatever money you make as well as the usual bonus."
'That's it? This seems too straight forward even if it is going to take all day.' "Anything else?"
"I suppose I'd prefer it if you took Asuna with you," Heathcliff told him. "I've noticed that the two of you seem to have a certain amount of respect with each other's work and if the status of those new recruits is any indicator, you two can definitely show me the results I need. I'd go with you two myself, but I'm afraid I have to attend to a few training exercises with some of the officers."
Ragna waited for Reku to burst out and say that he wouldn't condone Asuna going with a punk like him or some shit like that, but the swordsman didn't say anything. "All right, if Asuna's alright with it I'll take her with me." Noticing the nod the second-in-command gave him, Ragna had the answer he needed. "All right, we'll start getting ready now, c'mon Asuna."
Outside the guild, Ragna and Asuna headed for the teleportation zone so they wouldn't have to spend a teleport crystal in order to get to the floor they wanted. Ragna noticed that there were fewer people since the last time they were in tent town, probably because there were more towns opened up to stay in. They still came across the occasional player who always seemed to be shopping for discounted gear, but other than that the streets were empty.
"Hey Asuna, the boss you fought last night on floor nine, what was it like?" Ragna remembered what Diabel had told him about the dungeon bosses on floor nine and how they didn't seem to come close to what Asuna reported the floor boss of Floor Eight was like.
"It was some sort of heavy armored werewolf," Asuna told him. "The thing started off by attacking the players with a greataxe before its health dropped to the halfway point. Then it lost it's weapon and armor and started attacking us with it's teeth and claws. It' attack and defense might've decreased, but the boost to speed made it hard to get a hit on."
"I guess you were fast enough though, given all of the praise you're getting for beating the damn thing," Ragna commented. "But was that thing easier to take down than Grendel?"
"It didn't even compare to that monster. I may have had a few close calls with some of the players, but back on floor eight I just felt helpless, like there was nothing we could do against it." Asuna was silent for a moment before turning to Ragna. "By the way, what was the last hit bonus reward when you beat Grendel?"
"Didn't get one," Ragna told her. "It's weird, I got a crap ton of experience and col, but no items. I still don't know what the deal was with that monster. We were lucky we could beat it, but how the hell were you supposed to face something like that for 90 more floors?"
"Why say 'you' instead of 'we?' You're a part of this too Ragna." The Reaper didn't answer her. "Well I guess we'll just have to stick with leveling up right now, if we can get to the point where we can one shot most of the basic monsters on the floor, we should have an easier time dealing with the bosses."
"I guess..." was all Ragna said.
Floor Ten: Teleportation Stand (Cue Sonic the Hedgehog End of the World)
As the light from the teleportation died around them, Ragna and Asuna walked off the teleportation platform and observed the ten percent point for completing the game. This floor was different compared to the other floors. It looked like the theme was an abandoned city that spanned across the entire floor, the weather was a heavy rainfall that showed now signs of letting up. Even from this far away, Ragna could see lights coming from a few of the buildings here, probably to serve as a safe point for some of the players.
The Reaper opened up his menu and sent Asuna the party request, which she accepted, before going into his inventory and bringing out Blood-Scythe. Because the uniform didn't give him a place to set the weapon when he wasn't using it, Ragna elected to simply rest it on his shoulder when he was walking around. Asuna also went into her inventory and grabbed out a cloak that was similar to the one that she'd been wearing when she first met Ragna during the floor one boss fight. Since Ragna didn't have a coat, he decided to be as content as he could be getting drenched.
The two began walking down the streets, their feet splashing in the puddles that covered the ground. It looked like the two of them were alone on this floor for the time being, no other players or monsters seemed in the immediate area, despite the two being well outside the safe zone.
"I don't get it, where is everyone?" Ragna asked. While the Reaper's borrowed uniform was darkening slightly from the rain, his hair had begun to droop making it so that it was much less 'gravity defying' now. "I know that we shouldn't be having too many players up here, but I'd think we'd encounter a pack of monsters or something."
"I don't really know what's going on either," Asuna told him. "Maybe they travel in large groups instead of being spread out like the other monsters?"
"Well I say we focus on the outskirts first before we have to waste time and fight our way through god knows what," Ragna said as he continued walking faster pace. "C'mon, the sooner we're done with this damn job, the sooner we can get out of the rain."
A few blocks down the two encountered their first group of enemies, Goblins. They were tiny, green, and were travelling in a much larger pack than some of the other monsters they'd encountered, around 15 goblins in a standard group, all of them wielding daggers. As the Second-In-Command and the Grim Reaper fought off this threat, the two were able to study each other's fighting styles and see just how far they'd come.
Ragna saw how Asuna had managed to improve since he'd first met her. No longer did he see the girl who simply wielded a Rapier and thrust the blade mercilessly at her opponents, now she carried her weapon with grace and technique. Her speed and range were her biggest advantages and she utilized both of them to overwhelm her opponents with swift and well aimed attacks to their heads or other parts of their bodies. Defensively, Asuna was hard to catch, the Goblins could try for as long as they liked, but they still couldn't get a single hit on the swordswoman.
Asuna also managed to observe Ragna and noticed that the Reaper was starting to change as well. She was expecting him to bring out a new technique he'd learn and massacre the Goblins with it, but the attack never came. Ragna was only relying on his sword, wiping out a unit of Goblins with every devastating slash he performed. His attack speed was something to be fear as well as Ragna continuously proceeded to push his opponents with his slashing, leaving next to no time at all for his enemies to even attempt a counterattack.
"Well you've gotten better," Ragna said once all of the enemies were cleared. He then hefted Blood-Scythe up and placed the blade on his shoulder.
"And you've gotten pretty vicious," Asuna told Ragna, her tone slightly shaky. Asuna didn't realize that Ragna's attitude in fighting was just a way to compensate for his armor without worrying about increasing his corruption gauge.
"Eh, if it gets the job done," he said before starting to move on.
'Maybe Ragna's been spending too much time on the frontlines,' Asuna thought to herself. 'I've heard of this before, players who start to get so addicted to combat they seem to get absorbed in it when they fight. Maybe once we're done here, I can try to come up with some way to take his mind off of all of the fight he's been doing.'
Author's Note: I don't own any series that I've used here... which may add up to a few.
Looks like I'm still getting a lot of love, even after I made this a cross-over.
First up a challenge, if you have any artistic talent or know someone on diviant art who's good with a pen, give me an order sol Ragna picture and I'll use it to set my story. This isn't a demand, I just think it would help.
Second, I know I said no more OC's, but Sanae ties Ragna's orgin in this world pretty easily and he can appear in sort of the guide role pretty well. Rest assured, he won't have a very prominent role in the series, just a character that shows up from time to time.
Third, the Review Responses:
Guest (1): Yep, Azure throne is next one the list.
Neutral40: Thanks, I thought that included a flashback scene like that would make sense.
Animeandgamerlover2 and Greyjedi449t: Thanks, glad to see you enjoyed it.
White Knight of Truth: ...Seriously, why is everyone calling him Ragna the Pimpedge. He's not try to attract girls, it just happens to him. But I agree, it was a balanced chapter.
X the Reaper: Sorry, SAO only. That's the series I know best, that's what I'm sticking with.
Skirosaki: Thanks for the reviews, always good to get your feedback.
Ultima-owner: Only time will tell (hint hint).
Marconator360: Good idea, but I think I already have another ability in mind for Ragna, but I may keep that in mind for a refrense. Rest assured, I'll let you know if I use it.
SargentFalco: Glad you approve.
BloodedgetheReaper2113: Laughing coffin won't show up for some time, but I'll try to make it interesting.
Sir MIDNIGHT The Fallen One: A katana wielding nun? Sounds tempting...
Zaralann: Thank you.
Moby Trick: I don't know how to say this, but I actually hate the dual wielding skill. While I love a two-weapon style itself, the fact that the skill is so exclusive really ruins it for me, and it's just using two swords IT'S NOT THAT DIFFICULT! So... not sure what I'm going to do with that just yet. Maybe give it to another character or something.
TheGrayKing27: Two out of three... not bad.
Guest (2): Not sure what you're trying to say there. It almost sounds like you're saying that Ragna has eight losses against a dungeon.
Guest (3): After getting abused so much with ARC, I think Ragna's through with taking this kind of crap. Nothing for it but to let him break all hell lose.
DarkNoct93: I already have a final boss in mind, but I don't think anyone can just grab Ragna's memories, even if he is tied to the game.
Until next time everyone, Ciao!
