Shield And Swords

Chapter 21— Twists and Turns

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Original Title: Sword Art Online(ソードアート・オンライン)

Original Concept by: Kawahara Reki

written by: wrathie

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Author's Notes: An earlier update for you guys.

Thank you, bowpurity for the beta!

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'I'm sorry.'

Kirito said softly to Argo, his eyes still trained on the floor as Argo looked up to him silently as well. The two of them knew what they were talking about and Argo for one was not going to shield herself away from the fact that she had killed someone.

'Don't be. I made the choice, Kii-bou. I know... that you won't be able to do it. Someone had to do it though... and since I was the only available...'

Argo trailed off with a mischievous smile before she narrowed her eyes and told Kirito bluntly that she did not regret it.

'It's like what Heathcliff said, they are monsters who attack us to kill us. It's not about forgiveness or rights or whatever excuses they might have, the fact is that they killed people. They have been killing people, and if we don't kill them, they would kill us. It's that simple. It shouldn't be simple, but the sad thing is that it just is right now.'

Argo sighed in a defeated fashion even as she pulled her dagger out for it to shine in the fading sunlight while Kirito looked on.

'Look, I know that it's harder for you to accept it considering what happened in the past, Kii-bou but we don't have time to talk about this right now. We'll talk a bit later on, alright? I promise.'

Argo turned away from Kirito to look at Asuna who was tending to the group of players that were no doubt Arinori's friends. They had ran away earlier when Kirito shouted at them to do so but they had hung around nervously instead of just abandoning them. Argo wasn't sure if that was courage or guilt on their part but what matters was that they were all fine and none of them besides their leader had died from the ambush.

'I am going to return to where we left Sachi-san and Arinori-san... Something might be amiss... The two of them should have regrouped with us by now. Would you come with me to see what is going on, Kirito-kun?'

Heathcliff announced softly to Kirito and Argo, the two members of the [Black Cats of the Full Moon], both of whom stiffened a little before nodding.

He was right of course, Arinori should have known that his friends were fine when Kirito and Asuna had stopped the attackers from them. Even if she had determined it being too risky to approach just yet, that should have changed when the remaining four PK players surrendered to them. They had taken some time to strip them of their equipment, removing all of their crystals by forcing them to trade with them and that took time. It was a bit faster than they had expected as they had cooperated but that didn't mean that it still didn't take a while.

Argo and Heathcliff was actually very surprised to have taken four individuals captive and having all of them being restrained in such a crude manner. They were tied up with ropes and bound together in a group at the side. However when one considered how they were all cowards who only fought in an advantageous situation, it made sense they wouldn't want to die either.

The other alternative was that there were more of them and they were waiting for backup, now that was a sobering thought.

That line of thought was indefinitely more dangerous and it made Kazu and Kasumoto the crazy stupid ones, which wasn't a stretch seeing how their suicidal charge were just that. Argo had killed Kazu with a few well aimed needles that knocked off the last of his HP while Heathcliff simply stabbed his sword into the mid-section of Kasumoto after parrying his initial attack.

It was... disappointing to say the least, perhaps it was true that the two of them didn't believe that they would really die if they died here in SAO.

It was a theory that none of them wanted to experiment or even think about.

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'Keep an eye on them, Argo-san. If worse comes to worse, teleport them back to town. We're... in hostile territory right now.'

Heathcliff continued with a quiet voice, not wanting to alarm the group of players they had just rescued with even more stressful situation. It was also not lost on him that the situation was turning out exactly like what had happened earlier, with them leaving a guard or two to safeguard another group of semi-helpless players while they helped another group. Only this time for insurance it would be better if they left more than one individual behind in case things started to go wrong again.

The part that made him the most uneasy about this situation was that by admitting that there was something wrong was admitting that something had happened to Sachi as well.

She was a great forward, one of the best, if not the best shield user besides himself... they had not formed a party together due to their haste to help them, a great mistake that Heathcliff would remedy immediately after this situation was over.

'Got it... I'll get some of my contacts to secure the town's portal as well... the last thing that we need is to get specific targets on our own heads. They'll be gunning for us for 'revenge' or what not. But Sachi is fine, Heathcliff...'

'She's fine... you can see her status? How is she faring?'

'Still in the green, she's probably fighting someone but she's holding up no problem for now. Go, hurry.'

Argo said softly to the two boys with a worried expression on her face. The two didn't waste their time as they nodded and headed off, Kirito taking the lead as always while Heathcliff pushed himself to move fast as well. The two were just a few minutes away from Sachi but he felt dread bubble deep down in his heart.

Something was very wrong with the situation here. What was it? What was making him so uneasy? Was it Sachi being in danger? Or was it something even more that he has forgotten?

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'She's a tough nut to crack!'

Sachi did not even waste time to respond to the comment made by one of her attackers as she simply shrugged off yet another attack by him and to shoved him away by swinging her shield in a sweeping fashion.

The move dealt negligible damage as a shield was not a weapon and granted zero attacking bonuses to Sachi's attack stats. But it was still a solid equipment, even sturdier than a sword and the move was enough to give her breathing space while the players circled her warily with Arinori probably still cowering behind her.

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Heathcliff had the right idea to leave someone to guard Arinori as a few minutes later she sensed other players approaching them, perhaps with very unsavoury intent in mind.

Oh hell, there was no doubt that they belonged to the same group of players who had ambushed Arinori's friends seeing that they were 'orange' players after all.

Sachi had faith in her friends and she wouldn't want to distract them from their unenviable task of rescuing a group of trapped players. She had the easier job of just defending and guarding Arinori for as long as he stayed behind her, it would be similar to many of the duels she has participated in the past. All she need was to stall them long enough for her friends to come to her aid.

A forward has to place trust in the very people they were guarding after all, it was a lesson that Heathcliff had reminded Sachi numerous times in the past few weeks they had been training together.

But most importantly, she was just a shield. She had to believe in her sword to come and aid her in combat.

Most importantly however, she had promised to guard Arinori and she wordlessly stepped up to cover him even as he swallowed nervously at the group of three players who simply walked casually towards them.

They were right to be confident as they outnumbered the two of them...

Sachi's eyes narrowed even as she looked back cautiously behind Arinori to check if they had more reinforcements coming from behind them. Even she would be hard-pressed to survive if they had more players to step up the plate behind her. Sachi wasn't a AGI based player like Asuna or Kirito, she was a tank player who was just tough and durable by default.

Added on to the fact that she did not even equip the [Parry] skill and instead choose the [Guard] skill which would as it's name suggest, reduce damage significantly with her shield but never full negate it.

It was a poor-man's [Parry] as it relied on the same principle as [Parry] only it did not require precision or perfect timing to execute. Which was fine with Sachi, as taking damage did not hurt at all in SAO. Sachi might have started off by imagining that it hurt, and it would rightly hurt her if pain was implemented in SAO, in fact Sachi would have needed that all the pain receptors in her to be numb to stand up to the damage that she was forcing her body to take with her insane tanking style.

'…'

There was no one behind them, which was good as if Arinori could still help her in combat (unlikely), she was actually in better shape than they thought.

'So you're the one that got away earlier... and you came back with some offerings? That's good! Very good! We might even allow you to join us after this, eh?'

One of the players, Koshiro chuckled darkly while revealing his weapon of choice, a large hammer that made Sachi wince inside. A hammer was part of the blunt-weapons and it was especially good against shield users as they dealt crushing blows instead of cutting attacks like swords.

Shields were naturally good against swords and spears as although swords were very good in attacking monsters exposed bodies, they were unable to pierce or to slash through shields unaided.

The two weapons were frail and brittle, sharp edges tended to be like that after all and when faced with the forged and tempered steel of shields which was designed to be as strong it could be, they were no contests.

Blunt weapons like hammers and to a certain extent, heavy bladed weapons like halberds and axes were good with shields as they dealt damage not by cutting, but by the sheer crushing weight upon impact of their weapons. The weight of the weapon, the strength of the individual as well as the power of the swing all added up to attacks that would just crush and break through weak armour and shields to do their damage in the form of blunt force trauma.

Sachi's chosen shield was a medium sized one, meaning that it did not provide the same protection that Heathcliff's tower shield would have. Normally that wasn't necessary as Sachi's skills with her shields was sufficient to counter the lack of defense that the bigger shields would provide and her HP regeneration was arguably better than Heathcliff's in a pinch.

But that was when they were all against monsters of varying levels of strength, this was against another player with stats that would still be formidable and would learn faster than monsters.

If they were using swords or spears, Sachi wouldn't have batted an eyelid but if they used hammers... she's in definite trouble.

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'So you will kill me.'

Sachi asked calmly after downing a potion of her choice right in front of them. A well-timed regeneration potion always works wonders for her in any situation.

It was more of a statement than a question as the PK Players, they wouldn't want any witnesses alive, especially one who resisted them. Would they spare Arinori if he surrendered and joined them? That depends, but it was his choice to make.

'Well, if you join us we might not. What do you say, huh? You're obviously not one of those sheltered or helpless girls that desperate players want to protect. Pfft, those aren't real women at all.'

Was... this guy, Koshiro hitting on her?

'So she's your type huh? Well, she can bite me any time, that's I'm saying.'

'A little too wild for my liking, but that's good, she at least got some character in her.'

The others chuckled as well while Sachi simply shook her head while offering another offer instead.

'You may leave now. And we won't pursue you.'

Sachi's words made the three of them pause in mid-conversation before turning back to grin at her again.

'Really now? And why would we do that? There's just one of you, plus that guy I suppose... and three of us. Your friends won't last against the others and they'll be here soon. What makes you think that we should follow what you say, hmm?'

'As I am Sachi, leader of the [Black Cats of the Full Moon].'

Sachi knew that Argo was trying her best to promote their and her name to others, now was the time to see if Argo's efforts had paid off. Sachi herself hadn't had many battles in her name even if she was famous within the Knights of the Blood. The only outstanding battle she had under her belt in the eyes of the clearer group was the battle against the Behemoth a few days ago.

'Wait... that's... the Guild of the [Rat]? You're the Guild leader of the [Rat]?'

It seems that at least they recognized the name of Argo's guild but they didn't recognize her. Koshiro seemed surprised and wary for a moment as he studied Sachi curiously.

'You might have something there... but if we kill the [Rat] and you, then it doesn't matter. But if you surrender to us... we'll spare the [Rat] as well, or maybe you can persuade her to join us, how about it?'

Koshiro either had taken a shine to her as they rather recruit than kill her. Sachi wasn't Argo and she couldn't analyse or come up with why they rather do that.

Still it worked in her benefit as she could stall for just a while more like this.

'She would never agree to do that. You are a group of blackmailing cowards.'

Sachi did not mince her words, which really wasn't the best way to buy for time but it seemed to work for the group laughed and nodded their heads.

'She sure got a mouth on her, ya?'

'This one got guts, much more than the earlier one who just begged for his life.'

'We might break our policy and just drag you back with us... Sachi, is it? I look forward to hearing your scream.'

Koshiro's line was as clique as it could get before he swung mightily with his hammer, wanting to break through Sachi and her shield in one hit.

'[Shield Bash].'

His attack was countered by Sachi slamming her shield straight into his gut while he was in mid-swing. The blue outlines around her shield showing that it was a sword skill hung about in the air even as Koshiro slammed into the dirt hard in front of Sachi due to her attack.

Despite the advantage that she had gain, Sachi did not press on and retreated instead. Sachi spun around quickly and pulled Arinori with her while back pedalling towards a part of the forest that was denser and would give her more advantage in battle.

'Stay behind me at all times, Arinori-san.'

Sachi spoke dispassionately while popping the lid off another potion, this was going to be another battle of attrition.

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It did not take long for them to find Sachi, who had her back against Arinori even as the Adventurer covered his head helplessly with his back against a tree to stem off potential ambushers.

It wasn't ideal, but Sachi had decided that rather than having to deal with the threat of Arinori-san being attacked, she would rather him simply hide behind her. The likelihood was too high that he would be killed while she was being bogged down by two of their attackers to keep track of his moments. Having him fight beside her was not viable due to the fact that she knew next to nothing about Arinori and the same goes for him, the effort and concentration needed to maintain synergy and teamwork was just not possible in this situation. Besides she picked the spot, so they were trying to attack her on her turf.

Still as the battle-plan was akin to be trampling on Arinori's pride, Sachi was relieved and surprised to have him agreeing to the battle-plan without complaint.

'Done with running, bitch? Eat this! [Pendulum Swing]!'

Koshiro grinned even as he hefted the hammer on his shoulder before he rushed forward even as he swung his hammer in a circular arc and aiming for Sachi's mid section. He must be hoping that the momentum of his running charge together with the weight of the hammer would brush aside Sachi's shield to knock her flying. Added on with the fact that he was aiming for the middle of Sachi's body meant that she would not be able to duck below the blow if he aimed for a higher position.

It was a good opening move and he struck true, the hammer slamming into Sachi's shield but to Koshiro's shock, Sachi was not sent flying at all.

It would be one of the those small things that earned Sachi the title of [Iron Steel Wall], where she would never give ground to others as Sachi's sword skill, [Shield Bash] was activated again, cancelling the momentum like how she had done so so many times before.

It seemed like Sachi was only a one-trick pony, but that one trick that Sachi had up her sleeve was enough to give Sachi yet another advantage. As her follow-up attack, she stabbed Koshiro viciously, her sword sword entering his shoulder before she twisted it and wrenched it out when Kohiro gave a howl of rage.

There was no pain in SAO, or Sachi's vicious attack would have caused him to lose control at the pain he would be feeling at having such a grievous wound on him.

But as it was SAO, the damage wasn't as significant as the wound seemed to be. But the psychological effect was making the three of them hesitate even as Sachi waited patiently, seemingly taunting them as she pulled the wolf-skin hood a little down and firmer on her head.

'You said that you will kill me. Are you coming?'

Sachi did taunt them in the end, she readying a potion with her left hand even as her shield stood ready and waiting.

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The battle of attrition between Sachi and the three PK players only lasted for a while, but while it lasted Sachi was more than capable of holding the three of them off.

It definitely helped that they were all taking turns to attack her, they were underestimating her and using very powerful sword skills to try and deal the most damage they could in one turn, probably to try and demoralize Sachi at the futility of the situation.

The down side of that strategy was that the cool-down for those skills made it that they could only use those skills once before someone else had to take over. The fact that those more damaging skills were flashier and require quite a bit of room meant that more often than not, Sachi was only fending one attacker at any one time.

She might not be the fastest player with her build, but she was more than sufficient to guard the more debilitating hits and allowed those that were minor to strike her. It's nothing that she hadn't taken in the course of her duty as a forward after all.

The three of them finally seemed to notice that this particular strategy was not working as Sachi's health hadn't even dropped below the safe/green zone despite their continuous attacks.

'Very tough. She's got got stamina, maybe in other areas too.'

The joke sailed over Sachi's head but the rest of them grinned before they charged again, changing their strategy to attack as one. It seems they were finally ready to attack her for real. The opening salvo was what had been done before, a swing to her side with the hammer while the other two tried to cut Sachi down with their axes instead.

The hammer blow struck her without anything stopping the attack and try as she might, Sachi still staggered for a few steps at the force behind the blow. The hammer blow finally managed to chip a chunk out of her HP as she had chosen to raise her shield to block the two axe strikes instead. To the satisfaction of her attackers, Sachi's shield shattered upon impact, dispelling to a shower of pixels. Their sense of victory was short lived however as Sachi's short sword lashed out, delivering a few short jabs before she flung the weapon at Koshiro like a throwing dagger.

'Sick freak!'

As her two attackers jumped back in reflex, Sachi swiftly equipped another shield before leaping back to her original position, not even looking phased as her HP bar was regenerating itself again, she had to hold her ground.

'She's stalling, as much as it'll be fun to make her cry, the other two is coming... We don't have time to fool around. Time to end this and now.'

Koshiro announced surprisingly while he actually lowered his weapon. That, wasn't a good sign and Sachi tensed even more when the two players beside him did the same. There was just this feeling of triumph and victory about them that she couldn't understand and answer.

'At least you'll be famous for real this time, Sachi-san.'

Arinori's voice sounded different and that was the only difference that Sachi needed as she stabbed behind her blindly and in reflex. She wasn't a particular strong player, not when compared to Kirito or Heathcliff but Sachi did invest in some strength for she needed them to wear her shield and armour. But it was still a shock to see her short sword being stopped by the new armour that Arinori was wearing behind her.

Sachi was too focused on what was happening in front of her that she neglected to check up on Arinori. From the way that he was holding a large war axe in one hand meant only one thing.

'It's always easy to get the ones that plays hero. To think that we would get the leaders of two guilds is amazing really, don't you think so, Sachi-san?'

Arinori sneered while Sachi just narrowed her eyes in reply. This was not good.

So occupied was Sachi that she failed, or was not aware of the way her own name was labelled orange from the attack against Arinori.

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'Seriously, what the hell! How many of them are there?'

Argo gave another complaining cry as she was forced to leap from tree to tree while covering Asuna's retreat from the ever growing group of players wanting to slice them to ribbons. It wasn't enough as besides the original seven, there were the addition of three more players after them now.

The group of players had turned on them after the two boys had left and it was only thanks to Asuna were the two of them still alive at this point.

Argo was doing her best to coordinate the efforts of the Aincrad Times to publish the names of the PK group. Her attention was shot and she was in the midst of yet another string of instructions when Asuna had appeared out of nowhere, her rapier flying about in the air in front of her.

There was a moment of silence when several throwing daggers that had obviously been aimed at her dropped on the ground in front of Asuna. Argo however recovered first and didn't miss a beat as she hissed and hurriedly muttered that she'll call back later.

'Great, just what we need after being so noble. Fuck it.'

Argo swore a blue streak even as Asuna fought the urge to sigh sympathetically but she agreed with her. Argo and Heathcliff had just killed two of players. Although it was the right choice, it was of better comfort to know that they had done so to save someone as well, knowing that they had just killed to save themselves.. wait, they were still murderers so the point was rendered moot.

But what really stung Argo was how she of all people had been caught off guard by this sudden betrayal.

There was the distinct possibility, heck it was practically almost impossible for the group of PK Players to operated without unmarked 'orange' players. They were organized, were well trained and knew what they were doing as they left no evidence behind them all of the time. That meant they had information on their targets, were able to lure them to places where they could not seek help... Arinori was the bait and they had taken it.

'… You killed Kasumoto and Kazu... We'll be taking that and more from you two.'

One of them sneered even as Asuna shifted her stance to signal that she was about to run for it. It was suicide taking the three of them on right now. Not to mention Kirito and Heathcliff didn't know what was going on. Not yet anyway.

'I'll cover you, Asuna.'

Argo whispered softly just before the two of them bolted in the same direction that Kirito and Heathcliff had did while leaving the group of Players behind them in their dust.

Author's Notes: Did you see that coming? Just curious...