Author's Note: Okay! I've got a reeeaaally good one for ya today! Enjoy!

Also, I do not own Sword Art Online or the Lord of the Rings.

Chapter Thirty Eight

Dual of two Broken Hearts

"I'm not gonna die, got that? I can't die because...I have to protect you."

—Asuna Yuuki, Sword Art Online

Asuna was leading the defense of Minas Tirith well into the unhealthy night. The blackness was growing with the combination of shadow, fog, and the time of day, and with it the fear of every man in Gondor was slowly rising.

However, for every torch or flame they saw in the sea of orcs before them, none were brighter than the one lighting the heart of their figurative queen, who was now patrolling the front lines of the wall to make sure all shots were making their marks.

"Keep arrows high! Leg shots on trolls won't do us any good…make sure those catapults are aimed right at the tips of the towers, and make sure they hit over top or right down the center." The battle was getting harder and harder to manage, and even her vice-commander Chrysheight was having a hard time keeping his lines in check.

"Asuna. The towers aren't taking enough damage from our shots!" He yelled out quickly as he looked her in the eye.

Asuna did a double-take to find two large towers were now looming right over the wall and were quickly preparing to board.

Then she held her longsword in hand and nodded. "Draw swords."

Chrysheight nodded and withdrew Glamdring from its scabbard, and right away he turned his attention towards the tower on the far side of the gate. Asuna kept her focus on the near side tower, and right then she lowered her weapon with the bridge of the tower.

"LET NOTHING PASS INTO THE CITY!" The Blue Wizard charged forward with a line of Godor men holding great rectangle broad shields, and just as they drew longswords and pikes, the orc forces of Mordor poured onto the battered walls of Minas Tirith in overwhelming numbers. Asuna delivered several skilled kills to many orcs, but more swarms were picking up and driving the Gondor men back to the edge of the rampart.

Most of the archers stayed unaffected by the whole invasion to her luck, and without command they kept shooting at the swarms of orcs covering the great black gate to the city down below. There was now a great mound of orc flesh and armor sitting in front of the doors, and at this rate there was almost no chance the gates would be properly breached.

Then it came. A great monstrosity being dragged in by rams or other foul creatures was quickly being wheeled into the foregate of the city. Large Olog-hai trolls were pushing it into position, and in the center was a great hanging ram, fit as a wolf's head and a flaming mouth finished its depiction as a horrible weapon that would bring down anything in its path.

Asuna cleared out her flanking enemies before she gave it any attention, and just then she also heard loud screeching sounds coming form the back of the Mordor host. She then saw several large black fell beast flying into the battle, and many of them swung low and took out idle Gondor warriors standing on the walls.

Asuna weighed both threats, should she challenge the flying menace in the sky, or the key to their defeat down below? She then looked over to the south side of the main gate to find Chrysheight looking right at her.

"I'll take the wraiths! You take the ram!" She yelled over to her comrade in a quick haste.

"Sounds like a plan!" Chrysheight whistled for a moment and then greeted his all white legendary horse that was kept below a wall watch tower. He then gave it a buck and watch Asuna take the opposite exit off the wall and onto the upper levels of the city.

Now the blue wizard road like the wind as he rallied a great host of master swordsmen to his back, and right when he approached the black gate he could already see the chains and wood shaking from the outer assault.

Chrysheight tried calming his exaggerated breathing but then looked to his men, who each looked more frightened than the last. He then re-drew Glamdring and stared down the gate.

"You're all defenders of Gondor, and this city. You've taken up arms to help Asuna, and you all wish to see Kirito make it out of this game alive…show them you mean it."

They all swallowed their pride and fear and each drew swords and spears, and a line of archers took the back of the courtyard in preparation of anything to come.

Chrysheight held his staff higher and lit off a spark of blue light. "No matter what passes through that gate you will all stand your ground and show no mercy!"

*SLAM!*

The wooden shrapnel filled the air with fire and the clinking sound of the chains as the gate slammed open and broke way for the enemy host to pass. All the Gondor men prepared themselves for the worst to come, but they never imagined anything quite so terrible.

In he rode, the dreadful Lord of the Nazgûl. A great black shape against the fires of his magic he loomed high, grown to a vast menace of despair. In came his armies to follow, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all allies fled and cowered before his face.

"I will NOT let you into this city!" Chrysheight made his demands, though he wondered even to himself whether they would be respected.

The Witch-king fatefully, and rather easily, marched into Minas Tirith from atop his mighty fell beast, but he was quickly confronted by Chrysheight on his white steed. The Blue Wizard forbade his entry, but in a quick flash of arrogance, the Witch-king laughed and put on a show of power.

From the dark nothingness that hid behind his steel helmet, the commander of the enemy laughed in shadow. "Fools...This is my hour."

Chrysheight tilted his head and sighed. "Eh…that's quite the new voice you've got there Kirito…if that really is you in there." His skin crawled just thinking about it, but even the blue flames in his staff did not halt the Morgul Lord's progression.

He spoke again. "Don't you know Death when you see it? Die now…or become cursed in vain!" And with that he lifted high his sword, and orange flames ran down the blade, wrapping it in a cloak of sacred fire.

Chrysheight held up his staff and tried to counter the black magic from Kirito's sword, but the shock wave that followed his flames and booming voice shattered the wooden staff into many shards of splintering crumbs.

Chrysheight still held Glamdring, but he was quickly losing faith in his men now that the black captain had entered the court yard. The looming lord of shadow went to speak again with heavy words of death and despair, but just then he looked to the skies, and noticed his second and third Nazgûl had lost control of their mounts.

More honestly, they were shot in the necks from high atop the Citadel, just over the great flat stone that cut the city in two. The Witch-king angrily held his sword in his gloved hand, and then raised the reins of his beast high.

"I'll let the hordes take you…" And just as he flew up, the swarms of orcs and trolls followed from behind, leaving Chrysheight to raise his sword in a warcry, and his valiant men of Gondor to follow.

Meanwhile, just seconds ago atop the Citadel flat stone yard, Asuna held two spears in each hand, but quickly shot them through the necks of two approaching fell beasts, which left them to turn about towards the fields and land safely in the orc armies.

Asuna took a deep sigh and held the sword Andúril in her left hand still cloaked in its sheath, and just as she took her exhale, a black dragon of dread floated into view from down below.

Asuna turned part of her glance away from the White Tree to her back and now fully addressed the menace before her. She closed her eyes and made a silent prayer as she readied her mind and body for the fight to come. In the mean time the Witch-king made no hesitation in making his presence known to the shortcoming queen, and he landed his beast on the ground and gave her a fair warning.

"This city is mine. Leave it, or die."

Asuna never wavered, her will remained strong even with the surrounding black and shadow accompanying her enemy. She held the full sword by the top of the scabbard in her left hand and continued to look the menace in his supposed eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere…you and I are going to settle this."

The black beast lifted his reins and let his flying mount rear its head with a fell shriek of its voice, and then followed after with another confrontation, but this time it was rather irregular.

Instead, the Witch-king pulled up his own inventory, and then summoned a sizable silver great sword form the Realm of Gondor, just like the one Eugene carried.

He tossed it out in front of his beast and let it smash into the ground, which left Asuna to stare at it with a silent voice and heavy eyes. He spoke again afterwords.

"This world will fall. The world of Fairies will fall…any who oppose this will die."

Asuna rolled her eyes and put her foot down. "KIRITO! I know it's you in there! Please! Stop saying stuff like that!"

The Witch-king made no recognition of that name and marched his fell beast forward. "Do not stand between me and victory. I will watch that Tree burn, and the city along with it."

"Then you'll just have to burn with it." Asuna drew her longsword and tossed the scabbard. She lunged forward and powered on an unknown red sword skill and immediately charged for the beast's neck, and gave it a swift chop which decapitated it whole, leaving it to die and its master to fall.

Asuna carried on after collecting her breath. "I'm saving Kirito, and whatever you are…I'm going to finish you once and for all."

Asuna picked the tip of her sword off the ground, but stood in a less courageous manor as the fell beast withered and died, but as it did, a small spiral of black shadow flickered around its back, and up came the Witch-king ready to strike.

In one hand he held a black Morgul Steel blade of the Nazgûl, and in his other was a long and menacing black mace that looked to weigh more than Asuna's whole body and armor combined.

Her eyes lit up but never flickered in fear, though her body did stutter in its own wake of terror. She held Andúril with a bold resilience, and with her free left hand she snapped open her inventory screen, and summoned a large, black rectangular broad shield with the Tree of Gondor depicted on the front.

She choked up on the handle of her great sword and charged her opponent, and he provided a quick counter by lifting his off hand and sending the great chain mace flying right towards her, which forced her to ditch her attack and jump for her life.

Asuna rolled while dropping her shield, but quickly picked it back up just in time to block the mace that came crashing down from the sky. She knocked it away, and felt a sharp bruse on her arm afterwords, and then stood again to reaffirm her stance.

In a quick pace she stutter-stepped forward and charged up her weapon for another sword skill, this one was called the Will of Gondor. It glowed white and sent a straight beam of light right for the chest of the Witch King, but as he shifted his stance, his sword deflected the attack and knocked her's out of position.

Asuna quickly wedged her shield in front of her body and took another hardy blow from the mace, which caused her to fly back a few feet without touching the ground, and then once she landed back to the earth she took a sigh of composure.

"Ah-hahh…yea…this is Kirito alright." She could not doubt this player's sword fighting abilities by any means. The only person in her entire life that gave her this much frustration in her time as a fighter was Yuuki, and her good companion Kirito was not far off from her level of skill.

Asuna collected both thought and breath as the mighty Lord of the Nazgûl returned another shot for her body, and this time she tried hitting the chain with her sword. The Witch-king had a bizarre reaction to that gesture by letting off his swing a bit and pulling back his follow through attack.

Asuna blinked a few times before she remembered he had a sword as well, though she quickly blocked that attack with her great shield, however as the blade smashed against the safeguard, the figure in black gave her another remark.

"You fight like that General I killed at Osgiliath. He had strength, but I had more power…"

"AGH!" Asuna held up her shield in a fit of rage. "SNAP OUT OF IT! KIRITO WOULD NEVER SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"

The black foe with a wicked metal mask looked her right in the face overtop her shield. "Do you not know death when you see it, girl? This is my hour!"

He began to lift his other hand with the handle of the mace, and Asuna just got a glimpse of this action in the corner of her vision. She shoved off from her shield and spiraled around to block the second attack, but as she did a spike in the mace sank deep within the lower edge of her shield.

Asuna used that as a step in the next direction. She powered on her great sword Andúril for its third and final sword skill—the Flame of the West.

Just like the Witch-king's blade taking the form of fire in the courtyard, Asuna's sword of Gondor lit up with a magnificent golden flame as she held it high. She then brought it down like a great battle ax and smashed it into the chain of the mace, shattering the metal link into several pieces and breaking the great weapon once and for all.

She tossed her now heavy shield and met the Witch-king's sword with Andúril, but because he was better with this weapon, he managed to get some better leverage on her attack. He swung his blade around and in a quick instant both swordsmen lost their weapons to the periphery of the battlefield.

Then Asuna took a long and deep breath as her lungs felt like they were about to burst. The Witch-king looked at his empty right gauntlet and then turned to give his shining opponent what was most likely a scowl behind his blackened face.

Then both duelists opened their inventories, and out they came. Lambent Light and the black sword Elucidator emerged onto the field and took the hands of their owners.

Asuna unclipped the strap on her chest plate, which caused it to fall to her ankles, and now she was wearing her regular, light-armor command outfit from before. She then spun around her rapier with pure comfort like it was a part of her flesh and then charged her enemy with a flurry of attacks.

"AGHHHH!" Asune made no room for quarter as she tried landing death defying blows to his chest and face, but the quick paced Nazgûl Lord was just as fast, if not faster. He knew every move she'd make before it came, and even laid in his own attacks form time to time.

Asuna would try and retreat from each confrontation, and continue her powerful Star Splash swordskill to do any damage she could against his armor, but no flurry of attack seemed to damage his great outer shell of black steel and shadow. She had never faced off against such a hardened opponent before, and when adding that with the same skill level and speed of Kirito, he truly made a formitable adversary.

But Asuna had resilience, she had conviction, and she had hope. The Lightning Flash Commander of Gondor was not about to wither away to some fake impersonation or puppeteered version of her best friend and partner, and she definitely wasn't going to let him beat her in a fight.

As the Witch-king came back in to close the gap, Asuna realized she had no other choice if she ever wanted to end this fight. She had charged up a fair amount of XP with light use of her sowrdskills, but now she had to unleash it all in the ultimate combo attack.

And so, she did just that.

It began with five consecutive stabs in a straight line from the top right to the bottom left, each of which positioned themselves somewhere on the Witch-king's chest. Asuna quickly drew her sword back and performed another five consecutive stabs in a straight line from the top left to the bottom right, perpendicular to the prior five. The two lines together formed an amethyst-colored X shape with their third hit overlapping, and this sent out an incredible shock wave right for the Ringwraith's chest once again.

Finally, Asuna tilted her body and used all the strength collected in her arms to perform a last second stab directly at the intersection of the cross-shape created by the former ten strikes, which finished the totally tally at 11, and executed the finest Original Sword Skill known to man—the Mother's Rosario.

Asuna pulled back and watched a grey cloud of dust swirl around the air, and just as she looked passed the target, she began to notice the night' sky was starting to light up, though it was still slightly shaded with all the smoke rising in the air.

However, her eyes returned to the battle and were quickly greeted by doubt and confusion as the mighty Witch-king emerged completely unscathed and without injury.

"N-No…that was…that was my best sword skill…"

The Nazgûl Lord ignored her and smacked the sword out of her hand, and then butted her in the chest with the end of his Elucidator. He then watched her fly backwards into the back of the strairway entrance at the back center of the grounds, and then as she tried coughing up in pain, he slowly marched over and grabbed her by the collar.

Asuna took his hands and writhed around in anger as she smashed her fisted into his well-armored hands, parts of which left Asuna's knuckes bloodied and wounded.

She now had tears forming under her eyes, and her breath was running low as she had very little fire left in her veins. "AGH! PLEASE JUST STOP!"

She cried out with more anger and frustration as the Ringwraith just stood there and let her tire herself out. She sobbed uncontrollably for a short period before her arms began to feel weak and painful from the scars on her hands.

Then, she began to notice, the monster was once again producing black shadows just like he and his 8 companions did in Dol Guldur. The thick fog of evil took the air like poison, and left Asuna choking on more than her sorry tears.

"AGh…this…is dark magic…" She tried rationalizing it in her mind, but it really didn't matter as the energy in her bones and muscles was quickly being drained from her body. She began to feel tired and weak, and her mind was quickly beginning to slip, so much so she passed under to a different place for just barely an instant.

"I…I…" Asuna talked herself through the evil moment as her vision changed to black, and then, she was taken to a whole new world.

~ The Night before Kazuto Kirigaya left to play MEO

Asuna felt like she was floating on a cloud. She had no real thought outside of her lazy dream that tried to steal her focus away, so as a result she just laid in her little moment undisturbed for as long as she could.

Then she felt a tiny dot poking her in the cheek. It started out as a curiosity, but now it was becoming more of a nuisance as it quickly distracted her from her slumber.

Then her eyes craked open to reveal a dimly lit bedroom, illuminated only by the light of a setting sun piercing through the window. The room lights were turned off, and there was a light shining in through the hallway underneath the crack of the door, but the scene inside the bedroom was quite calm and serene.

Then a voice spoke up. "Good morning sleepy."

Asuna blinked a few times before she recognized the voice as Kazuto's, and then felt her body begin to grow warm with nerves. "What?! It's morning?"

Kazuto laughed. "Nah, it's like 9:30 at night. I just wanted ta see ya freak out is all."

Asuna took a pillow from beside her head and smashed it into his face, which prompted him to hold his hands up in fear.

Afterwords she dropped the pillow and lifted her body up on one arm and rubbed her eyes open. "Eh…we're still in my room."

"I know. I'm kinda weirded out your parents haven't tried knocking or waking us up…I guess we dozed off after our little trip to the park."

"That's right…" Asuna softly smiled for a brief moment. "I knew this day wasn't just us sleeping here in a boring room." She then reached out and grabbed his hand. "I enjoyed that. I like it whenever we get to go out alone."

Kazuto nodded. "Yea me too. I-I mean, don't get me wrong, but sometimes it's nice to escape everyone else's crazy attitudes."

Asuna giggled. "Nah, they're all fun, I think we can be the crazy ones in the group on more than one occasion too."

They sat in silence for a little bit and continued to hold each other's hands, but then Kazuto turned away to a darker half of the room.

"Well…I figured I should probably get going. I told the family I would be home by 8:00, and they're probably freaking out by now."

"I understand." Asuna gave him a smile, but never let go of his hand. "Hey listen…"

She took a long pause to make sure Kazuto was looking right at her, and then she continued.

"You start playing that game tomorrow, right?" She lowered her head back down to her pillow and waited for a response.

He nodded to let her continue speaking, but his eyes looked worried to hear what she had to say.

"When you beat the demo, or whatever this Klint kid wants you to do…you won't linger around in the game without me or the others, will you…?"

Kazuto used an ample amount of time to get his answer straight. He took a few blinks and then turned towards her and smiled, and as he did he leaned over and put his left hand under her right cheek.

"Asuna, the moment I'm finished playing through the demo, I'll come get you and the others. Then we'll play the real game together."

Asuna's face lit up with joy, and she instinctively reached up and placed her hand over top his. She looked him in the eyes for the longest time, until she began to notice his face grow darker and darker.

Kazuto then quit smiling and leaned in closer as he stiffened his left arm to get a firm hold of her cheek and jaw. He then lowered his hand down to her neck and began squeezing tighter and tighter.

Asuna's reaction went from blissful to horrified as she grabbed his arms and tried prying them away from her skin, and just then a cloud took over her room, and in a quick instant she was snapped back into the reality of the Minas Tirith Citadel as the Witch-king was still strangling her over the stone ground of the yard.

Asuna tried prying his hands away from her neck, but his grip was getting tighter and tighter. She could barely breathe at this point as her forehead began to turn blue and her eyes began to widen to large orbs.

Then as she reached around his metal gloves, she felt a bizarre lump around his left index finger, and as she traced it with the tips of her own she had no doubt in her mind that it had to be his very own Ring of Power, the very same one that was manipulating his mind in the first place.

Asuna tried swiping open her own inventory for a new weapon, but nothing was working as the strength in her arms was fading. It was almost coming to an end for the poor Gondor Commander until she lowered her right hand to the ground beside her, and felt the very edge of the handle from her old sword, Andúril.

"A-gh!" She cried out realizing this was her only shot at life, and with all the strength in her bones she tried shifting her hands closer and closer to the large sword to deliver a surviving blow.

Then, as Asuna turned her head all the way to the right, she could see the sword was closer than she thought, but just as she went to stretch her arm out more, she heard a horrible screeching noise coming from the shadowy mouth of the Witch-king.

Asuna felt the grip on her neck slightly loosen, and then turned her head about the left side of her body to find her salvation did in fact come, albeit in the worst way imaginable.

Yui, the little sprite from her necklace, and virtual reality daughter from Sword Art Online, had picked up her mother's fallen sword, Lambent Light, and shoved it into the abdomine of the Witch-king, leaving him to yell out in pain from the piercing hit, and then turn his attention on the tiny little girl.

Her eyes were all puffy and red, and tears had taken over her face as she held the handle of the rapier longer and longer. "MOMMY! GET AWAY!"

Asuna felt her own tears form underneath her eyes, but then turned back towards the right to regain her composure, and by using all the strength left in her hand she reached out and grabbed Andúril.

Without hesitation, Asuna followed the legend told to her by Klint in the throne room and grabbed the Witch-king by the wrist of his left hand, which was still loosely strangling Asuna's neck at this point. She then took her free hand and yanked his from her neck, and pried her great longsword in between the middle of their confrontation by taking its blade closest to the hilt, and swiping over his left fingers, cutting them from the rest of his hand and removing the black ring from his presence.

Asuna let go of the sword and fell back as the Lord of the Nazgûl shrieked with the worst sound known to man, and just as the sound hit a certain pitch her brain stung inside her head, and sent Asuna back into a deep passive sleep.

However, just as her head fell back, she noticed during the entire confrontation, a little sliver of the morning sun was now visible over the Witch-king's shoulders, but even with its golden radiance, she made out a glimpse of another fell beast landing behind them.

The sight was slightly depressing, but quickly changed to bizarre as she could have sworn Lisbeth and Silica jumped off its back and ran to her side, but all vision was lost as she finally fell to her stupor and laid her head back to rest.

Well that was heartbreaking...new chapter tomorrow.