Chapter 21 - Shell of a boy
T/N: Chapter contains strong language.
There was no time to alert Klein anyway. He couldn't have helped.
That was what I kept telling myself, as I dashed across the plains of Maogen. I felt like I was reliving a nightmare, except this time, the scenario played out at night instead of the evening. Just to make it that bit darker. The wind whistled in my ears as I think back to the message. "Same time, Same place." It had to be the cave, and I had to get there before midnight, or... I didn't complete that thought. I couldn't.
As I dashed across the fields like a madman, the only rational part of my brain took notice of my knives.
The Secret Edges had turned colours, from tinted green to a dark violet, almost black colour. It was very strange, but every other part of my mind was screaming blue bloody murder at the rational thinking part, for daring to distract me from my current situation. The rational part cowered, then sunk below and didn't resurface.
I got to the tunnel entrance and a feeling of ominous foreboding struck me.
Here goes everything!
I ran in as fast as the narrow tunnel would allow, and came out the other end.
CLANG!
My knives came up just in time to stop a meat cleaver splitting my head in two. I grunted, then threw the attacker off. I looked up, and just as I had dreaded, the cloaked figure of my nightmares had returned.
"It seems you've gotten stronger boy. I didn't expect you to get here so quickly." PoH remarked.
"Where is she?" I growled, blood pounding in my ears.
"You'll find out soon." He grinned evilly. "Or not."
"Why...?" I croaked. My throat was dry, though my blood was pumping through it. "Why are you doing this...? I never wanted trouble from you. Why me?"
PoH seemed to genuinely consider the question, then tilted his head. "It was all originally a plan for revenge... For putting the Laughing Coffin away, when we're all going to die in this world anyway. We served as the people who offered quick, painless death. Then you got in the way. Argo the Rat was your fastest source of information for taking us down, therefore she was picked as the hostage. " His gaze sharpened on me. "But the original plan is no longer in effect. The Laughing Coffin is dead. Simply put, my blood boils for yours."
"Then fight me like a man!" I roared. "Not the cowardly dog you pretend to be!"
His expression goes dead. "Very well." He activated the menu, and I knew what was coming before it came. "So be it."
Player PoH has challenged you to a duel!
Duel type: Deathmatch
Safetynet: 0%
Safetynet. It was the duel stopper. When a player's health went below the safetynet's percentage, the duel ended, and the winner would be announced. By setting at zero, this was no duel.
This was a fight to the death.
I clicked 'accept', and a countdown timer appeared. 20 seconds.
20...19...18...
"This ends now." I growled.
"Indeed. I won't lie, you are no weak opponent, boy." He acknowledged. "But this is a last stand for one of us here. Make it count."
10...9...8...
I gripped my knives harder, ignoring their purple-black state.
5...4...3...
I charged up a skill, and planted my feet into the ground.
2...1...
No slow motion this time.
Let's do it.
GO
-Rising Fury-
My right knife came up in a powerful arc, which PoH blocked with his cleaver. My left knife followed up the slash and struck the arm holding the chopper.
PoH grinned nastily and charges Ito me with his shoulder, throwing me to the floor, then leapt up and charged up his own skill. The same skill that one killed me.
-Knife pound-
The weapon sliced straight down, and I only barely managed to dodge it. My right leg flipped over to the left, then came back at him in an unarmed skill.
-Reversal-
The back if my foot stuck his head, and he backed away, dazed. I grabbed both knives and leapt forward. Then he grinned again.
He was feigning his daze!
His infamous knife came up in an uppercut, and I could do nothing as the knife went through me, and took a chunk out of my health. I flipped backwards and regained my breath, as did he.
PoH's health: 84%
My health: 68%
"Not bad." PoH grunted.
"Save your breath." I snapped back, then prepped another skill. As I anticipated, PoH jumped upwards, cleaver now in a more defensive position. I darted, not towards him, but under him, then struck upwards as his knife came down. Deflecting his knife, I jumped up and stabbed both knives at him, similar to a pencil jump. But much deadlier.
He spun around just as the knives made contact, and the blades went shearing off his armour. He fell on top of me and used his empty hand to hit the square of my back, and I fell forward. At the same time, he reached the ground and landed on his shoulder, forcing him to roll away. As he did, I drew a throwing pin and threw it straight at him. It scratched his face and sheared off, missing the intended target of his eye.
We both found ourselves six feet apart, crouching low as we regained our breath.
"Still so valiant… yet fighting for a lost cause." He murmured.
"You shut up about Argo!" I yelled. "You're the last person who has the right to insult her!"
He rose, and his knife fell to his side.
What?
"You misunderstand. The information dealer is truly a lost cause." He smiled malevolently. "This will either make you fight better... Or drop dead." He whispered the last part in a dreadful hiss.
"W-what?" I stuttered, for the first time, fear creeping into my voice. "What is it?"
He opened his mouth and spoke the words... Those terrible, terrible words that haunt me to this day.
"She's dead."
My breath caught in my throat. I forcibly unstuck it. "Who's dead?" It was a stupid question, but I couldn't believe it.
"You heard me, and you know what I said." PoH insisted. "Argo the information dealer is dead. I killed her."
"Bullshit!" I yelled valiantly. "If you think you can throw off my fighting by spewing all this crap, then you got another think coming-"
"Confirm it for yourself. You have her on your friends list, do you not?"
I wanted, more than anything, to attack him and end his lies. But something in that calm, satisfied expression stopped me, like a friend who was about to tell a sick, dark joke. Warily, I opened out the friends menu.
Argo was greyed out on my list…
…!
"I told you. Argo is already dead. I made that mistake once, letting a hostage live, I wouldn't make that mistake again." PoH smirked to himself.
ARGO... IS DEAD...
I KILLED HER...
ARGO THE INFORMATION DEALER...
DEAD...
Killed...
The worlds echoed in my head.
That wasn't a typo. The worlds were echoing in my head. And they begun to fall apart.
"No... Argo… Yuri... Is dead? No... Yuri... Yuri Kunikida... She was right with me a few hours ago... She can't be..." I whispered. I felt my grip loosen, and... My knives falling from my hands. I brought up my hands to my face... Then fell to the floor.
"No. Yuri isn't dead... Yuri... She isn't... She told me that I had to buy her a year's worth of Ramu soda... She wouldn't let go of a debt, she needs to be repaid, right? She's not..." I rambled on for a moment, panic rising in my voice.
"Ohhh..." PoH mused, clearly pleased with his work. "You must have been close to her, to know her real name... I don't even know the names of my own guild. Just their online names."
"She's... really... gone?" I mouthed. PoH kicked me while I was down, and I skidded the length of the floor.
"Ahh..." I felt pain. And it wasn't pain from his blow. A pain in my chest so real, so terrible, no wound could replicate that damage. "Aaa...aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
I screamed so loudly, I thought my throat would tear in two. My throat already felt raw, but I kept screaming, desperate for some sense in the world...
"Oi, Yuri!"
The girl turned at the sound of my voice, brown hair flicked into the air with the motion, and smiled. I smiled back and handed her a glass bottle, with a blue stopper and a marble in the bottle.
"Thanks Ka-bou. You know me too well." She smiled charmingly. I couldn't help blushing. She really was a sweet girl, once you got to know her. Though admittedly, before you did, she was very quiet.
"Not as well as I'd like to." I chuckled, and she laughed with me.
"True." She giggled, then sat down on the wooden bench. I followed suit.
It was just another Friday evening, but the sun was already down. Of course it did. It was winter, after all. The sky was grey and dark by four in the afternoon. Of course, that didn't stop every eighth grader from hanging out with their friends, us included. Heck, it was Friday! She sipped her soda by the light of the street lamps, and shivered. I sighed.
"You know you should really wait until you're in a warm place to drink something cold." I chided her gently.
"Hey, if cold drinks are bad in the cold, why do people drink beer to keep the cold out?" She pouted. I could have argued, but I didn't even bother. Why bother questioning broken logic?
"I am a little cold though." She admitted, then looked at me. I wasn't wearing much. School uniform and jacket, plus a light sweater. That was all. I was a naturally warm person, after all.
Without warning, she snuggled up to me, jacket and all, basically pushing her whole body onto my form. I was pretty short for my age, so she was actually heavier than me, and I started in surprise.
"O-oi! What are you doing, Yuri?" I yelped. Even if I wasn't a naturally warm person, the blush creeping through my neck would have heated anybody up.
"You're warm!" She exclaimed. "Hey, lend me some of that heat, I need it right now."
"You silly girl..." I muttered, and she giggled again.
"Hey, what are friends for?" She exaggerated. I frowned a little, then smiled again.
"Right. Friends."
"Are you done yet?" PoH's voice dragged me back to reality.
I gasped, tears refusing to stop leaking from my eyes. I looked at my health and realized I had only 52% left. PoH had clearly been trying to get me back to reality for a while.
"No... It looks like you're too far gone." He sighed. "Well then... Time to die."
"She's not dead, PoH! She would have fought!" I roared at him, still refusing to accept what so blindingly obvious: the truth.
"She was easily subdued. Pathetic. I hoped you would put up a better fight than her." He taunted.
Something snapped within me at that second.
"NEVER -" I thundered. "INSULT - YURI - KUNIKIDA - IN - FRONT - OF - ME!"
And I rose, tears still dripping from my face. My knives protested with the strength I gripped them with. My knives weren't just her black now, clouds of darkness surrounded the blades. But I didn't care. I leapt at him, and lashed at him with all my might.
-Close Crush Combat-
PoH's eyes widened as my attacks came one after the other, blocking a few and taking a few hits, then leaping back. "What on earth-"
-Wraparound-
The skill allowed me to appear behind the murderer.
-Quadrastab-
Four stabs straight to the back, and I made a special note to hit him critically in the back of the neck.
-Cross Lunge-
PoH managed to pull himself away from the onslaught of attacks, and my final knife skill barely grazed him.
"You fool!" He roared. "If you let emotions take over, I will win easily!" Backing up his claim, he tossed himself fearlessly into an aerial skill.
-Skull crush-
The cleaver hit me directly in the shoulder, and I roared, mindlessly,
PoH's Health: 36%
My Health: 23%
I was in the red, and by all rights, I should have been very, VERY worried about my own life, but I was only focused on one life right now. Ironic how that life didn't exist anymore. But the person who took that life away…
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TALK ABOUT MY EMOTIONS, YOU SELF-SATISFIED FUCK!" I screamed indecently at him, then raised my right knife and landed it right into his neck. PoH gasped as the critical hit took him down below the 10% range, but I didn't care what he had to say. "You want to offer people quick, painless death? Like you guys are some divine crusaders? Yeah, well FUCK THAT, PoH! You're a murderer! There is no other word for your pathetic excuse of a cause!"
I left the knife in his neck and used my other knife to impale his knife-hand into the the ground, then stood up and made him watch my final actions. The dagger in his neck induced huge amounts of Damage Over Time effect, but I had to finish him in a more personal manner. His eyes widened as he looked up at me and realized his helpless situation. I made sure to look him in the eye.
"Repent on your sins, and I pray you choke on every single one." I whispered, then stamped on his head.
His entire body blew apart into blue polygons.
I felt no remorse.
No regret.
Only the shell of the boy I used to be, being expelled from my body as I howled like an animal to the heavens, my voice echoing all around me in that small, nightmare-ridden cave, crying for the loss of the sweet girl who had done nothing wrong but love me.
I had sent about 3 messages to Klein, who was worried when I didn't respond to his first message. He'd exploded when he realized what I'd done, and I'd told him all sorts of truths, none of them very detailed. Instant replies, and I really couldn't be bothered to read them all. It was about 3 in the morning, and I was nowhere close to getting sleep, despite getting back to my own house. I didn't feel very bright, even though the house looked it, so I turned off the lights, and pretended that I was going to get a good night's sleep.
At school, I was constantly teased and asked whether I liked Yuri in that way, as more than a friend. I became a method actor and insisted that we were just friends, maybe even like siblings, but that was it. Albeit very good friends. That's all we were. I definitely remember one girl asking me whether we were dating, and although I said no with a smile, my internal voice said "I wish." Eventually, I stopped. It hurt like hell, but I wasn't willing to spill my feelings and risk one of my only friendships. That was the weird thing. I never had many friends. Unless you counted Tess, but she was practically and biologically my other half anyway. Then there was Yuri. We knew each other and knew how to comfort and hurt each other. We could almost guess each other's thought trains before they reached their stations.
We were waiting for the train to take Yuri home, since I often saw her to the train station. It was the summer term, so train tickets for students cost next to nothing.
"Sorry for always dragging you to the train station, Ka-bou." Yuri remarked, trying to get me to face her.
"Huh?" I quickly turned to her. "I've been seeing you to the train station for half a year, and NOW you're sorry?"
She looked hurt, and I was already feeling guilty. "I-I didn't mean it like that! It's just that I thought there was no need for an apology, the station's practically on the way home anyway!" I blurted in one breath.
She continued to look hurt. "I've said my piece, Ka-bou. It was all I wanted to say. In the end... It's up to you what you do. Silica or me."
Wait, what?
"What does Silica have to do with it?" I asked.
A deep voice came from the left, causing me to turn away from her. I saw a huge, cloaked figure with a cleaver in hand. Even as he spoke, it took two seconds for the words to stop echoing. "She's dead."
She's dead…
She's dead...
She's dead…
"What? Why is Silica-"
"Not her, you fool!" PoH snarled, then threw the cleaver at Yuri, who was no longer Yuri, but dressed as Argo the Rat, hoodie, whiskers and all. The cleaver caught her in the chest, and she exploded into billions of white fragments. The white filled my vision, and rang with a tinkling of bells.
"YURI!" I shouted, waking with a start. Then I realized where I was, and that it was barely past four in the morning.
I sighed, my mind no longer focused on the land of the living, or even the death game, but a single, kind soul in the realm of the dead.
T/N: So… yeah. Ummm… I had planned to wait it out, then release this chapter a little later, but I was too eager. I want to know what you guys think.
It actually burned my own chest when I wrote this chappie o.o Owch. Can someone get me ice? That burns like shit hell.
So this is PROBABLY the last chappie before school starts, and updates will die down, etc etc etc… So I hope you enjoyed the onslaught of about… what, 3 or four chapters in the last couple of week?
I'm opening the boarded box! By that I mean, you can ask me any question you like, whether it's about this story, fanfictions in general, or my personal life. I will respond in kind with a PM, just to make up for the fact that I'm probably gonna be missing for a while.
Review responses
PCheshire - Welp, It looks like I completely ignored this request -.- Sorry. I just think Tensei needs a darker mindset, it's a little too bright in there, and I promise it's all gonna work out.
Satoru Tomaki - Let the heart bleeding commence. I will drop by soon, haven't had the time lately.
Blaze Shadow - Searched up Celtic Longswords on Google. They look like they'd give Kirito's Elucidator a run for it's money. o.o. So glad you didn't sharpen yours. Yet. As you can see, Tensei's had enough of girls for a while, so you want him to pick? You'll have to wait for him to stop breaking things. I don't really know why talking about myself in third person feels so odd. But hey, I wish I did all these things in SAO! Sure as hell I didn't. But talking about Tensei in a third person perspective just feels WEIRD. xD. On a more serious note, Tensei did have to PK PoH, but since it was a duel, no statuses… statii? Statiises? Well, no red status was incurred. You said to take as long as I needed, but I actually pumped out this chapter on the same day I finished the other chapter, so… I hope it's as good in quality.
Sorafireice - You might regret your eagerness now. We have a dead girl on our hands.
That's all for now guys! Time for the preview!
PREVIEW
If Yuri had never known me… Maybe that would have been best. She would be in the death game, with one less person to worry about, maybe fall for someone more responsible, someone genuinely concerned for her. And she wouldn't have been in danger of being kidnapped, then killed.
I killed her.
Skyridge has always been known, not only for it's gravity-bending structures, but it's eternal drop into nothingness at the edges of the map… Without handrails.
And as I stare down into the blue yonder, I wonder if jumping down will be less painful than trying to live with myself. Because there is a lot of pain. Ache, agony, torture, torment, discomfort. Whatever you need to call it, it hurts.
So maybe a quick drop wouldn't hurt.
END PREVIEW
That's all for now guys. See you soon.. or not.
Tensei Out.