I had once though that Ricochet was destined to be the leader of SAO. He had meticulously and deviously garnered a select group of players determined to leave this world, thus determined to be the strongest, and he had led this group to victory time and time again. Ricochet kept his position through honesty and trust in his companions, and they in turn put their trust in him.
But Ricochet wasn't trying to become a political leader, he was trying to become a military leader, and he led through violence. He had no notion of how to structure the perfect faction.
Arthur, on the other hand, had laid a giant net beneath the players of SAO, and was just now beginning to enclose and claim his haul. Gathered in this particular room was thirty-eight players, none of whom were acquainted with one another. Each player in the room symbolized the leader of a party. Arthur would only allow one player per party to join in the boss fight, and thus that one player became his first level of subordinates. They became his Knights.
The Knights were typically the highest leveled player out of each party, and therefore were classified as the leader of each party. Because Arthur had taken the leader of thirty-eight parties under his wing, Arthur technically had control of thirty-eight parties. There were six people to a party, and that meant that Arthur now controlled an army of over 200 players.
Arthur knew how to keep his faction happy too. The players who were not Knights now became the second level of subordinates, the Soldiers. Arthur had reign over the Knights, and split the income from fights between those thirty-eight players, who in turn split their income between their party members, the Soldiers. Everyone benefitted from the hierarchy, and everyone was pleased, especially Arthur.
Ricochet may have garnered the most powerful forty players in the game, but that was where his influence ended. Arthur's influence currently extended over 200 players, and was steadily growing. As soon as a formal guild could be formed, I was certain that Arthur's faction was going to exponentially skyrocket. Ricochet may not know it yet, but he was way out of his league in this fight for power.
Prince sat beside me, brooding quietly while his eyes intricately examined the surrounding players. Iris sat beside him, currently lost in a daze of thoughts, probably traumatic thoughts about the massacre that occurred yesterday. I pushed the memories out of my mind before they threatened to overwhelm me.
"What do you think, Prince?" I asked, knowing full well that Prince's eye for detail far surpassed mine.
"They're all weak," was his response, and I raised an eyebrow as I waited for him to continue.
"They average about level thirteen, which is about four levels lower then the Serious. The Serious usually have difficulty fighting a floor boss, these players are about to get decimated," Prince said. I thought he was done, but he continued to analyse the situation, clearly surpassing my abilities.
"Worse, the room is too quiet. There's not enough communication going on. The player's don't trust each other yet, in fact, they probably don't even know each other at all. In a boss fight where you have to trust the player behind you without sparing a look, mistrust will kill them.'
Prince looked at me, seeming to look bored, but there was a smouldering fire within his brown eyes, waiting to be released. "Although I understand that Iris and I are only level twelve, I think that us two, and you, will be doing the brunt of the work. We're possibly the only group here that knows what it means to work as a team."
"Impressive, you got far more then me," I said, praising Prince. The praise didn't appear to affect him at all, and he turned back to his quiet brooding and analysing. I sighed heavily. This kid, just like Iris, was also heavily traumatized by the massacre, but he was hiding it behind a cool demeanour. I did not want to be nearby when he finally exploded.
"What do you think Iris?" I asked the Asian girl, who remained in a daze.
"Iris!" I said louder, causing her to snap out of her thoughts. She looked around slightly shocked, before realizing that it was only me calling her.
"What do you think of this Iris? Still want to fight?" I asked.
"Are you going to fight?" She asked, to which I nodded immediately. "Then I'm fighting too. I'm not losing anyone else I know." Again, I sighed heavily. I felt like I was babysitting two emotionally disturbed teenagers. Actually, that was exactly what I was doing. Despite being only two years older, I was definitely the closest thing they had to an adult figure to depend on in these hard times.
"Alright, I guess we're good to go then," I said quietly to myself. "Hey, Arthur, let's get started!" I shouted loudly across the room. The wizened old man looked at me, slightly irritated that I was ordering him around, but he let it pass and began speaking. I zoned him out. He was just talking about the necessity of formations and parties, stuff that I already knew clearly.
My party would involve Arthur, Prince, Iris, Martin and Arthur's second in command, a formidable looking dark skinned player with a war hammer slung over his back. I was pleased that Martin would be in my party, as other then me, and possibly Arthur, he was the second strongest player in this midst. More so, he was probably the most powerful defensive player in the game at this point, and he would be essential in the upcoming battle. Martin was the selected leader of his small band of friends, so unfortunately for him he was forced to fight without them for once. Martin looked as pleased as I did to be fighting alongside one another though. A trustworthy friend at your back meant everything in a fight.
The crowd of players were getting progressively louder, and I zoned back in to listen to the culmination of Arthur's speech. "…And now, we shall march to the eighth floor boss arena!" Arthur bellowed loudly, and his Knights began a loud, thunderous cheer. This was Arthur's plan to fight against Ricochet. We would steal the boss fight from him, steal the invaluable experience and rewards that he always claimed for himself and his fellow Builders. This tactic was far less… violent then what I originally had in mind when I agreed on fighting Ricochet, but I had to admit, it was far more moral. I felt that I had murdered enough players in this game already.
And so we began to march through the eighth floor major dungeon. Prince and Iris stayed close to my side, far away from Arthur. At first, Arthur had been adamant in his refusal of the two, claiming that they brought no benefits to the faction. They were not leaders of a party, and unlike me, they were not obscenely high leveled. It had taken quite a bit of convincing and shouting until I reluctantly won Arthur over. Prince and Iris desperately wanted the experience boost from the boss fight. They wanted to be stronger so they could track down and avenge the source of their friends' deaths. Similar to me, they were convinced that this was all Ricochet's fault, and they were more than happy to join me in my fight against Ricochet.
I sighed heavily, as I had been doing a lot lately. How had it come to this? I had once trusted Ricochet completely. That had been just two weeks ago, fourteen days, but now, he was number one on my list of most wanted. How had he changed so fast, and become so despicable?
Martin saw me brooding miserably, and gave me a forceful pat on the back, trying to cheer me up. When I told him to bugger off he just released his colourful laugh, unaffected by my hostility. The Spaniard was a great friend, I just wish he didn't have to call me 'amigo' all the time.
"Are you going to take it out?" Prince asked me, and I knew exactly what he was talking about. Last night, I had showed Prince and Iris the treasure I had found a week ago when I befriended Goldor. Goldor, who was currently draped around my neck, fake-sleeping like usual, opened a lazy red eye in impatience. It appeared that even Goldor wanted me to start using the treasure the dragon had led me to.
"Not yet, I'm going to wait until I really need it," I said back to Prince.
"Really need it? We're going up against a floor boss here Sirius. What other time could you possibly need it more?" Prince asked, irritation colouring his voice when he realized that I was potentially endangering the party, more importantly Iris, by not going full out.
"Probably when I fight Ricochet," I said, answering Prince, who looked sufficiently pleased with my answer.
"Fine, just don't get yourself killed out there, old man," he said, and I smiled at the small insult. Sure, it was offending to me, but I was more pleased by it symbolizing Prince's recovery.
"I'm not an old man, rather, you're just a young kid," I said back, and he gave me a quick smile, the first one I'd seen since the massacre. The healing would be slow, but it was already beginning. If only I could keep nurturing it.
"We're here," Iris said softly. She was no longer fazing out. Instead, her eyes were narrowed in concentration, and her hand was running softly up and down the hilt of her spear. We all quietened down in preparation for the fight. Everyone checked potions and equipment one final time, and with a loud bellow from Arthur, he pushed the large double doors open and we marched into the arena.
A variety of several different coloured sabre-toothed tigers patrolled the edges of the arena; to which about half of the assault team split off to quickly deal with. My party was the first boss strike team, and so we were glancing around the room for the boss that should appear any moment.
With a loud boom and several crashes a giant ape fell from the ceiling into middle of the arena. The snarling, slobbering ape was called "King Kong", in honour of the larger, prehistoric, movie-habituating ape. This primate was about three meter tall, with large, long, muscle ridden arms hanging loosely. Saliva trickled down the ape's chin, which he licked away with his long tongue, displaying an uneven but needle sharp layer of teeth. Four health bars appeared in rapid succession above the beast signaling for the battle to begin.
I was to be the distraction, which was quite literally the most difficult job possible. To be a distraction to a boss, one had to constantly unload high damage dealing attacks, most often sword skill based attacks on the boss. This meant that the distracter was basically the highest damage dealer on the field. The job was insanely difficult, near impossible, because the boss would be viciously targeting one sole player, me, who had to keep up a barrage of attacks while dodging.
Even worse for me, I was certain that one direct hit would mean instant death for me. I was truly playing one of the most dangerous games of tag in my existence.
The reason why this distraction tactic was useful though was because while I was the centre of attention, other players were completely free to target and unload sword skills on the ape without fear of being targeted. Compared to my attacks, their damage would be minimal, (they were all about five levels lower then me), but it stacked up overtime. Martin refused to join the 'damaging' group, and instead became my lifesaver when it was needed. It was needed far more often then I would have preferred.
The ape's attacks were fast and brutal. I had at first been able to easily dodge the attacks that had come one at a time, but just like all other bosses, this oversized monkey quickly adjusted his tactics, and begun chaining several martial art like moves together.
A low kick that threatened to not just sweep under my feet, but also crush my body up to my shoulder, swung out at me. I pushed my Agility and Acrobatics to the limit and launched myself up vertically. The ape was waiting for this though, and in the momentum of his low kick, swung his fist around in a backhand aiming at my chest.
Unable to manoeuvre in midair, I had little choice left but to interrupt the attack with my own sword. Activating Vertical Crush while jumping was difficult, but not impossible, and my glowing white broadsword smashed into the ape's fist. The ape had a higher strength stat then me unfortunately, so not only did my stun effect refuse to activate, but I was pushed backwards slightly as I fell to the ground.
Another fist, this time from the other direction, was swinging towards me, but this time I had momentum in the air. I curled up into a ball, just dodging the incoming fist, and crashed into the ground. The collision chipped away at my health, a laughable event for someone at my level, but I was more threatened by the foot that was about the squash me. I tried to roll out of the way, but my Legion Broadsword was stuck in the ground, and I couldn't leave it behind. A large shadow fell over my face, threatening me with death.
Then the Spaniard was there, red cape billowing out from his heavy, solid, steel amour. He had an enormous kite shield in his left hand, which he had dug the tip of into the ground, and created a powerful, temporary shelter for us. Martin's health fell about 10% from the first defended attack, but then the ape grew into a raging frenzy, and consecutive, powerful punches began to quickly drain Martin's health reserves.
Yanking my sword out of the ground, I side stepped out of Martin's protective shield, and began tilting towards the ground. King Kong had two hands entwined in each other, raised above his head , and was getting ready for his most powerful , hammer-like attack that would be highly damaging, but not quite fatal, to Martin. The move had a slow preparation rate, and was usually easy to avoid, but Martin had his shield dug into the ground, and was still hastily trying to remove it.
The world exploded around me in a blur as I activated Ghost Strike. I sped along the ground, almost vertically, until I was a meter away from King Kong. I dropped my right foot, and using it as a pivot point, I swung my body upwards, simultaneously ripping my blade vertically up the ape's chest. King Kong screamed in agony, and his powerful move was interrupted. The second part of Ghost Rush, the vertical downwards slash, pushed the giant monkey off balance, causing it to stumble back several steps. Martin yanked his shield out of the ground and downed a health potion.
"Thanks amigo," he shouted happily, pleased to be fighting with his friend once again.
"Stop calling me that!" I demanded, but Martin just laughed it away.
"Give me sixty seconds and I'll be back in. Hold on until then amigo," Martin said, more seriously this time, and I didn't have time to berate him as I rolled out of the way of an incoming fist. This hectic, overly dangerous battle plan continued for about twenty minutes, until finally the constant damage inflicted by Arthur, Prince, Iris and the second in command, depleted the first health bar. Arthur gave a solid cheer, which every one in the room responded to, but then I was ordering us to fall back and let the second and third assault groups to take on the boss.
Arthur looked displeased, even though I explained that I needed to rest, that this kind of fighting was mentally exhausting. He couldn't understand. He had literally been standing there for twenty minutes hacking at the calves and the ass of the giant monkey while I played a game of death tag with the fierce beast. He had little choice but to retreat with me though, because once I was no longer the distraction, Arthur had begun taking the heavy monkey blows.
"I want this over as soon as possible," Arthur snarled at me, a side of him I had yet to see before. Usually he was gentle and sympathetic. Had that all been an act?
"Listen old man, a normal boss fight takes hours. The rate we're going at is both ridiculous and suicidal, but I'll put up with it. If you try to speed it up any more though, we're all going to die," I shouted back at Arthur, who looked less then pleased to have his authority challenged.
"You tell him, one old man to another," Prince muttered from beside, to which I smacked him over the head playfully.
"We'll go back in once assault groups two and three need to replenish health," I said. I looked at the assault group that had just begun fighting against the boss, and I blanched when I realized that they were already ready to switch out. The other assault group rushed in to replace them, and the first group began eagerly drinking potions.
"Great, looks like we're back on in 60 seconds," I said, extremely disappointed. I was beginning to get a headache. There had been far too many close calls, even with my mind clear. Now that I was getting distracted, Martin was going to have to be even more on his toes.
"It's fine amigo, I've got your back," the Spaniard stated proudly.
"I know Martin, I know," not bothering to berate him. He'd saved my life enough so far that he deserved to call me whatever he wanted. For today, anyway.
The third assault group began screaming as their formation came apart, and they began a hasty, foolish retreat that exposed their backs to their enemy. I interrupted King Kong with a Ghost Strike before he could finish off any of the fleeing players, and once again this dangerous death game I was playing continued.
"That took far too long in my opinion," Arthur claimed, standing in the middle of the room looking disdainfully at his Knights, particularly me.
"Watch what you say, old man, people died today because of your haste," I snarled at him loudly, unhappy about his attitude.
"I will not allow you to speak to me like that!" Arthur bellowed loudly, his face contorting into rage. "The Knights that died today died nobly!"
"They wouldn't have had to die in the first place if you'd just slowed down," I shouted back, furious as to the way Arthur was treating his Knights like dispensable toys.
"How was I supposed to know that King Kong would equip a giant wooden log as a weapon during his last health bar! The scouts information told us nothing about that," Arthur said in his defence.
"Obviously the scouts never told us that. It's impossible for scouts to lower the boss's health that far to see that happen. This isn't like fighting on Beta information. You should have expected it! I tried telling you that something would happen on the last health bar, but you wouldn't listen," I shouted.
"Sirius," Prince murmured softly.
"Don't stop me Prince," I said, never tearing my gaze off Arthur. "There is no such thing as Beta information anymore. Every fight from now on will rely on our own skills. This was not a difficult boss battle. How on earth do you plan to fight the rest of them if this is how you react to surprises!"
"Sirius," Prince said louder, grabbing the edge of my cloak, but I ignored him.
"Your way of fighting is stupid and suicidal. At least Ricochet doesn't purposely kill off his fighters during boss battles," I shouted at the quickly blanching Arthur. He didn't seem to be blanching from my words however, but from something else.
"Why, thank you Sirius. I never expected to hear such a compliment from you," said a familiar voice from behind.
I spun around on my feet to face the new arrivals. 42 players had spread themselves around the southern point of the room where the entrance was located. At the centre of the players was Ricochet.
"Yeah, well, you were never meant to hear it," I said, the words spitting from my mouth viciously. I turned on Prince. "Why didn't you tell me he was there!"
"I tried," Prince said bluntly, one of his eyebrows raised in irritation.
"Right, sorry Prince," I said apologetically.
"I must say though, I am surprised to find you with this group Sirius. I never thought you would have accepted a hierarchy-based system. Why, it seems to me that's the reason we had our big conflict." Ricochet's tone was mocking, and unlike the last time I'd seen him, he was currently incredibly calm. A calm Ricochet was terrifying, because it meant he knew exactly what strings he was going to pull.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, I think that's how it goes," I said to Ricochet, who looked at me incredulously.
"I don't see what I've done that's made me your enemy," he replied, and then I lost it. All of the fury, the sorrow, the anger, that had been building up inside me since the massacre. Before anyone could stop me I was sprinting, my feet slamming into the ground, before rocketing me off at ridiculously high bursts of speed. My Legion Broadsword was out of my sheathe and swinging through the air seconds after my movement began.
I saw Ricochet flinch at my sudden display of anger. He instinctually stepped backwards while trying to draw his hammer, but he wasn't going to be fast enough. We weren't in a safe zone either. We were in a dungeon. Nothing was going to stop me from cleaving Ricochet into two pieces.
Nothing was going to stop me, except for a blur of black that rocketed towards me at a speed faster then mine, causing my feet to screech against the ground in protest as I stalled my movement else I be impaled on the incoming blade. A sword bathed in black whipped vertically upwards, and I arched my spine backwards to avoid the strike by no more than a finger. I was familiar with the move. It was Ghost Strike, and I knew very well about the second chain attack in the sword skill. Knowing full well that avoiding the move would be far easier then blocking, I arched my back even further until my hands were on the ground behind me, and I flipped myself backwards in a back-handspring.
The sword bathed in black slammed harshly into the ground in front of me, creating a single, loud, clang that echoed around the room. I had known the trajectory of the attack perfectly, just as I knew the wielder of the black bathed sword perfectly.
"Out of the way Rhythm, I have no need to fight you a second time," I said, my voice trembling as the lust for battle built up in my body.
"I don't know why you're doing this Sirius, but stop now!" Rhythm's voice was steadfast and solid. His eyes told me that he would not hold anything back if we fought each other.
I feinted right, activated Horizontal bolt, and felt my body being ripped towards the left. My broadsword arched out in from of me, ready to tear into Rhythm's chest. Rhythm's sword was suddenly slammed down into the ground beside him, created a solid and sudden defence. There was a loud clash as my moving sword slammed into his stationary sword. Rhythm pulled his claymore out of the ground, and with his sword bathed in pure black, activated a Vertical Crush. In an effort to counter his attack, I activated my own Vertical Crush, and our two weapons, mine coated in starlight white, his coated in midnight black, collided heavily. I was stunned when I was violently pushed back several meters.
"You can't win with that sword Sirius, not when I'm using this," Rhythm said, while holding up his giant claymore for me to see. It looked like it was made of some sort of silver material, as it shone brighter than any steel I'd ever seen. More shocking were the veins of ruby red that ran down the weapon. It was definitely a new weapon that Rhythm had acquired in the past two weeks. It obviously outclassed my Legion Broadsword, especially it's weight,
"There, there, I'm glad that's settled now. Let's have a more peaceful conversation," Ricochet said, clapping his hands as he spoke. I remembered my reason for fighting again. I remembered wanting to dismember and decapitate Ricochet.
"I won't lose," I said quietly, but everyone in the room still heard me. "I won't be stopped. I won't let you stop me." My glare pierced Rhythm's eyes, who for the first time since he'd seen me today looked slightly nervous. He was reading my eyes, just as I could read his, and he read that I was currently dangerous to him.
With a swipe of my menu and a quick navigating through my inventory, my Legion Broadsword disappeared from my hands, and in its place spawned a pure golden two handed broadsword. It wasn't actually made of gold, but the Golden Grass Dragon scales that composed the weapon were as close to real gold as one could imagine. The only part of the weapon not gold were two large red orbs on each end of the hilt guard that looked familiarly like Goldor's red Irises. It was only to be expected that the blade would be comparable to Goldor, as he had been the one to lead me to this particular treasure.
Goldor squawked happily at finally seeing the sword being released from my inventory. He slithered off my shoulder and down my right arm. He wrapped his long tail and thin limbs around my forearm and rested his head on the hilt of the weapon beneath my palm. Goldor's golden scaled body camouflaged with the gold of the blade, and to an observing eye, he almost seemed to be part of the weapon itself.
"What is that?" Rhythm said, staring at the glittering blade in awe.
"This, is Grasswhistle," I said softly, saying the name in reverence. The fact that I had acquired the weapon recently, and that I hadn't bought it at a shop, but found it in a treasure chest meant that it was an incredibly high leveled weapon. It's incredible weight felt discomforting in my hands, especially after months of fighting with the much lighter Legion Broadsword. That was the main reason I had been so reluctant to switch weapons. The foreign feel of a new sword was an awkward feeling, and it would probably be weeks of fighting before I finally felt comfortable with it again. Of course, I would have to repeat the whole process again once I found a better weapon. That was just how this world worked.
I was suddenly tilting my body towards the ground, preparing myself to activate Ghost Rush. Rhythm hastily copied my movements, preparing his own sword skill. A white glow wrapped itself around Grasswhistle, but the faint gold of the sword could be seen pulsing through the surrounding starlight. My body began accelerating forwards, the wind tearing at my body, the world at my sides blurring and distorting. The only thing that was clear in my vision was the black ghost hurtling towards me at a speed rivaling my own.
White gold and midnight black collided, the two handed swords smashing into each other as they rose upwards. The difference in weapon quality was observable immediately, with Rhythm being lifted a foot in the air from the impact. Because he was in midair, he had no support for the second chain of his attack, and when our blades collided again, Rhythm was thrown back several meters, rolling painfully to a stop.
With Rhythm incapacitated I immediately moved onto my next target, Ricochet. This time Ricochet was ready for me, his one handed hammer out in an offensive position, daring me to approach. I advanced with no hesitation, activated Sword Play, and the quick, three chain flurry broke Ricochet's defence. Leaving no time for recovery I activated Vertical Strike, chaining the two sword skills together. Ricochet raised his buckler in defence, but it slammed into the ground violently, unable to absorb the impact of Grasswhistle.
I was frozen in lag for a moment as control wrestled its way back to my body, but Ricochet failed to press the advantage, as he appeared to have contracted at least part of the stunning effect from my move. With no sword skills left at my disposal, the remaining skills recharging, I simply executed a powerful, horizontal slash to Ricochet's chest. He raised his hammer in defence, but it was obvious that it was far too feeble to defend with. My attack would have landed, but I had not anticipated for a ruby veined claymore to aid the solitary hammer in its defence.
Rhythm had recovered, and now, with the help of Ricochet, was able to push the advantage in his direction. I was put on the defensive, slowly retreating as the two advanced players dominated the battle. After a particularly heavy barrage of sword skills my defence was finally shattered, and the two players, Rhythm on my left, Ricochet on my right, began a joint sword skill assault on me from two directions, preventing any escape or avoidance on my part.
This was it for me. With my low Vitality, even just one of these sword skills could probably kill me. To be hit with two at the same time would mean certain death. I didn't feel ready to die though. I felt dissatisfied. Surely my life was going to accumulate to more than just this! I had at least wanted to see Red one last time.
With a sudden loud series of clashes and clangs, two cloaked players violently interrupted the incoming sword skills at my body. They pivoted around Ricochet and Rhythm and stood protectively beside me. With their weapons raised, one sporting a serrated dagger, the other a rapier, they deflected the second assault of sword skills. The resulting impact blew the hoods off the newcomers' faces, and my two saviours became visible.
Crystal smirked at me from my left, her platinum white hair flowing down her body while her violet eyes sparkled mischievously at me.
Red, still gripping her serrated dagger firmly in her right hand, slapped me across the face with her spare left hand.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Red demanded of me. Her green eyes were flashing dangerously, while her fiery hair seemed to be alight in her rage as it cascaded down to her chest. I was glad I got to see Red again, even if it looked like she was now going to be the one to kill me.
Yay, Red's back. I'm so happy. I have so much fun writing scenes with her and Sirius. I don't know if that goes both ways, but I hope you enjoy.
In all my writing I'm starting to mix things up. and I'm forgetting which floor I may be on. If anyone notices any mistakes, please please tell me :)
And finally, to those people who reviewed who don't have an account, or disable responses (can you even do that?)... MAKE AN ACCOUNT. I love responding to you guys, but I don't feel like bothering everyone by doing it the bottom.
Cheers
-Council