Author's Note

Merry Christmas, everyone! I actually finished this yesterday, but then I had to sleep before prepping it for release, so… yeah, at least I got something out on Christmas, right?

As some of you may have already noticed, I marked this chapter as the end of part one of this story. The spoiler free explanation is that everything up to part one's epilogue (next chapter) is part one, and there will be two more parts after this one concludes. For an explanation with light spoilers, check out the bottom author's note once you're finished reading!

By the way, one more thing before I turn you loose to read: once I finish with part one's epilogue, I'm going to put this story on hiatus for a while. This is mainly so I can focus on writing this story's rewrite until I've caught up by a few arcs, but I also plan to work on Transcendent Bonds a lot during this story's hiatus. I promise that I'll come back to this story eventually, but for now, I think I need to give my other stories some love.

That's about all for now. Go ahead and get reading!


Gun Gale Online: The Swordswoman

Chapter Forty-Five: Worth (Part One – End)


Chkchk

He might actually get off scot free after all— wait, what was that sound he just heard? Wait a damn minute! The thing this man had pulled out… it was a handgun! And he'd just cocked it!

"Over a month spent planning my dramatic entrance for when I revealed myself to her went to waste, thanks to your stupid plan," the man said as he pointed the gun right at Daizen's… balls?! This was gonna hurt! "The cost of ruining my perfect return forever… will be your life, I'm afraid. Tata!"

The sound of a single gunshot and of the following scream of agony and shattering glass sound which accompanied player deaths rang throughout the «Black Iron Palace Border Prison» for all the inmates to hear.


"And in he goes," Johnny commented as he and his only superior in the entire legion stared at the video feed captured by the newly-installed camera over Kiriko's cell door. "Looks like the show's about to start, huh?"

The two of them were seated in the castle dungeon which marked the end of the twenty-fourth zone's throne room – well, PoH sat on the throne, and Johnny sat precariously perched atop the back end of it, watching his boss's video feed from a slight distance. If either of them were to push the throne's pedestal aside, they would be greeted by the stairs leading to the boss door. This was one of the only parts of the castle where no monsters spawned – hell, even the prison area spawned a greatsword-wielding Dullahan mid-level boss which walked down the halls, as if making sure no prisoner ever broke out of their cells even though only one such prisoner existed.

«Laughing Coffin» had been using this dungeon to grind almost nonstop since their scouts found it shortly before Kiriko's capture. Naturally, since they had thousands of members and the fully spawned dungeon only spawned a few hundred mobs, they had to grind on rotation, but three members gained access to the dungeon twenty-four-seven: PoH, Johnny Black and Yamata, the latter of whom was actually shaping up to be comparable in skill and power to the late XaXa, except with a better build which wasn't created just to counter Kiriko. He still had a long way to go before he reached Johnny's level of combat prowess, but considering LC's ace only ever lost once, and to the strongest player in the game at the time, this much was to be expected.

I should be enjoying this, but…

PoH eyed the conversation taking place on video feed wearily. He couldn't fathom why, but for some reason, he couldn't fight this growing sense of unease… as if he knew something bad was going to happen, but he didn't know what it was. He'd had premonitions like this a multitude of times, ever since launch day, each one feeling like he was on the verge of remembering exactly what it was about, and every single time, they ended up coming true, and as they did, he would get flashes of the same exact thing happening, but with minor details differing, almost like he was reliving a memory. He'd been able to use this to his advantage multiple times, because the flashes of remembrance completed before the actual events taking place did, so he'd been able to avoid some really dangerous situations thanks to that.

Because of all this, he knew not to take the fact that he'd received a bad premonition now of all times lightly. "Johnny, be on guard. My gut's telling me something's gonna go wrong… and if she ends up escaping somehow, even though you took the weapons she had equipped for yourself, none of us will be safe. You saw the how the photon swords she used against Heathcliff completely changed the tide of the battle – she still has those in her inventory."

In response, Johnny's legs swung outwards and then upwards, until he fell off the throne and flipped into a sure-footed landing. He walked around the throne until he was standing across from PoH, looking him dead in the eyes.

"If you're really that anxious, then just leave," he replied. "A target I've been tracking using the «Marking» skill is on the move and not in a safe zone right now, so I'm going to go take 'em down. In other words, if she does break out, I won't be here to protect you."


"So I see you're still awake, then," came the voice of the person who acted as bait to get me captured as he confidently strode into my cell.

I did my best to appear indignant as I stared Yamata's feet down through my low-hanging bangs, my gaze downcast to avoid letting him see my eyes. I appreciated that, for whatever reason, he decided to cooperate with Johnny Black and assist in my escape, but I knew I couldn't show my gratitude – after LC's ace in the hole finished explaining how the escape would work, he installed a camera in the corner of the room over the cell door. My every move, and now Yamata's as well, was being closely monitored.

Johnny had said he did this under the pretext of having Yamata put on a show for PoH, who seemed to love to watch people suffer. But in reality, he did this to ensure Yamata didn't get killed under suspicion of defecting, so that he could continue to work in the PK legion as one of Johnny's double agents, like Lux.

"In case you've forgotten, this is a prison cell," I retorted, knowing full well that my bangs were covering the entirety of my bitter facial expression. "Not exactly the easiest place to sleep in, genius. Haven't gotten a wink since I woke up post-capture."

At my remarks, he began to chuckle, but the pitch and tone sent shivers down my spine. That sound… he sounded like he had a screw loose. What the heck was up with this guy…? Leave it to Johnny Black to hinge my survival on a total whacko…

"Such scathing remarks towards the person quite literally handing you your means of escape. You haven't changed a bit, have you?" he gushed, almost as if he were lavishing praise onto me. "Originally I'd planned to have my way with you in this encounter and let you die. Should I switch back to that plan?"

"He's gonna start the escape plan by talking about his original intent to rape you and let you die, which is what PoH thinks the show is about. To proceed to the next phase, look him dead in the eye and say this."

Memories of Johnny's explanation of the plan began to replay in my head as I looked up and met Yamata's upturned black eyes with my own stern gaze. "Go ahead if you're that bothered by what I said. You may be able to take my body, but you will never take my heart. And between you and me, you're not the first person to take only that by force, and you're in some bad company there."

"After you say that, he'll continue the conversation from there and materialize a dagger with a higher object priority than the immortal object chains which keep you bound to the cell wall. If you cut 'em with that, the chains will shatter, and you'll be free. Keep engaging him in conversation until he throws it into the air, and then…"


Now PoH was sure of it… he knew exactly what was going to happen from the moment he looked into Kiriko's eyes. They held a familiar glint to them which he'd seen in quite a few of their encounters. Those stormy gray eyes showed the burning spirit of a person filled with the will to live. In other words…

Kiriko still hadn't given up. He'd done all this to her, captured her, put the lives of herself, all of her friends and the hope of the game being cleared in such extreme jeopardy, and it still hadn't broken her will. And now, he could tell… she was about to make her move.

Kiriko was mere moments away from making her escape. He didn't know how, he just knew it would happen and that he couldn't do a thing to stop it. The prison area was too far away, it'd take him a solid five minutes to get there even if he sprinted. And thanks to the structure of the castle, the thin hallways and the many twists and turns along the route, and the fact that the walls were immortal objects, he couldn't make use of the Burst System to get there in time to stop it. Realistically, all he could do was sit in his throne and watch the event unfold.

Just as this thought crossed through PoH's mind, he noticed the flash of item materialization on the video feed. Yamata had brought what appeared to be a dagger out of his inventory… wait, that was— he'd seen this dagger before! It was one Johnny said Lux had found a copy of in a one opening per player treasure chest in a dungeon close by to this one! Its name was… the «Chaincuttter»!

Seeing this dagger was just enough to trigger a remembrance flash. He saw Kiriko reach out with her foot, latch onto Yamata's leg and pull him off balance enough to send the dagger flying into the air. With her other foot, she kicked the freefalling dagger at just the right angle to send it careening towards her before catching the handle with her mouth and using it to cut her chains apart.

After that, the flash ended, and PoH's vision returned to normal…

Just in time to see Yamata throw the dagger into the air of his own volition, as if to toy with her. But aas he did, the look in Kiriko's eyes intensified and she used one leg to push off the ground, then used the other to kick the dagger higher into the air before sending her foot down right onto Yamata's head, leaving a trail of blue light in her foot's wake and knocking him out immediately. PoH recognized this move – it was a part of the «Martial Arts» skill tree. He'd thought that by disarming her, he'd left her unable to attack, he'd underestimated her skill proficiency at that extra skill – its full mastery ability immediately switched it to the active extra skill if the user were to be disarmed! She'd taken advantage of that at just the right moment to tip the odds of survival in her favor…!

As her body collided with the floor of the cell once more, the dagger began to descend through the air again. As it fell, a piece of the vision he'd just had repeated itself through the video feed – she kicked the dagger at the perfect angle to send it flying her direction before catching its handle with her teeth, just like she had in the pseudo memory he'd just seen!

A moment later, her chains shattered like glass after being cut by the dagger, leaving her free to come after everyone stationed here and exact her revenge. This was bad… if he didn't get the hell out of dodge, PoH knew he'd be the first one she'd try to take down—

Huh?! She's…!

And just like that, instead of staying and coming after all the «Laughing Coffin» members stationed at this castle, Kiriko pulled a teleporter out and warped away. He'd been spared… at the cost of the most critical chess piece to his plan. But PoH knew he didn't have to let anyone know that… if he played his cards right, he could still end up taking the lives of the other five currently dancing in the palm of his hand.


After making my escape and teleporting to the town on zone twenty-one that Johnny instructed me to, I made my way outside the boundaries of the safe zone and into the southern end of the surrounding volcano-side forest. Johnny told me he'd be waiting for me there so he could explain his plan to remove my friends from PoH's target list.

To be brutally honest, I didn't have the highest of hopes for the guy. I knew Johnny was easily the best battle strategist in «Laughing Coffin», but he wasn't nearly as smart as, for example, PoH. So outside of a battle, I didn't trust him to be as good at planning things as his leader was. Because of that, if his plan wasn't sufficient, I had already mentally prepared myself to commit suicide right in front of him.

But unfortunately, I couldn't prepare for what I didn't even consider a possibility. And so, when I found Johnny Black in the forest holding a gun trained on the head of a girl who looked almost exactly like I did tied to a tree with her mouth taped shut, well… words could not describe my lack of preparedness for this scenario.

What the actual fuck is going on…?

"Johnny… who exactly are you about to kill?" I asked him as I rapidly began manipulating my inventory to pull out a weapon. The «Quick Change» skill which I'd used during my duel with Heathcliff would have come in really handy right about then, but I only equipped it specifically for that duel, it didn't regularly take up a weapon skill mod slot!

But before I even had the chance to get a weapon out, he pulled the trigger and depleted all her HP in one shot, killing her in a single hit. I saw the terror in her eyes as she realized her fate had been sealed for the brief of moments before her avatar shattered into countless polygonal shards which floated gently through the light moonlit breeze beneath the forest canope. The ropes once binding her to the tree fell until they hung slack by the tree's roots sticking out from the ground.

"You'll thank me for this later, Kiriko," he responded to what I was about to shout before I even managed to start. "With that 'Kiriko's' death, not only did I save the asses of all of your friends, I also just created your alibi which will allow you to keep your equipment."

For quite some time, judging by my own standards, it was all I could do to stand there in stunned silence. I was very fortunate that I didn't need to breathe in GGO, because I forgot to do it for a solid twenty seconds. Just what… what the hell was he even saying?! Why did she have to die so I could live, and why did he call her by my name?!

What the hell is going on here?!

"That doesn't answer my question, and now I have two more!" I shouted back at him, just barely able to contain my rage enough to keep it the activity restricted to mere conversation. "Who was that girl?! Why did you kill her?! And why the hell did you call her by my name?!"

I seethed, my breathing growing labored as I came the grips with the fact that I had once again been powerless to stop the death of someone who was killed right in front of me, something I vowed I would never let happen again after Sachi's death. It was why I saved Sinon after she shot at me on zone nineteen, why I killed XaXa to protect Argo from him, and why I'd rushed to save the life of Yui, a girl I'd just barely met, when she aggroed a boss. I could feel the tears pricking at my eyes as my vision began to blur with the tears of a once-again helpless bystander.

I had been careless. I had assumed that Johnny had had some kind of change of heart and reformed himself after he offered to help me escape, but that couldn't have been any further from the truth. When he'd talked about being unable to repay his debt to me right after I woke up, he wasn't using it as an excuse to do the right thing – he meant it in the literal sense. For whatever reason, he felt like he owed me a debt, and he was repaying me that debt. It didn't change the fact that he was a murderer and had probably killed so many people working for PoH that he'd been completely desensitized to the idea of using death to further his own ends.

And now, because I'd let myself trust him, someone else had to die in my place…

"Well, all things considered, you could call her your stunt double, so to speak," he responded to my anguish in the same nonchalant tone he'd used to criticize me walking right into PoH's hands.

I hung my head, my bangs falling over my eyes, just like back in the cell with Yamata. "My stunt double, was it… did I just hear you right…?"

In that moment, something within me snapped. All that agony I felt inside suddenly turned into a fierce rage that I could do nothing to contain. The next thing I knew, I'd rushed over and tackled Johnny to the ground, wrestled the gun out of his hands like his resistance hadn't happened at all, and then pinned his arms to the ground with my knees as I straddled the infuriatingly calm man beneath me.

"Don't fuck around with people's lives like they're worthless!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, my voice breaking as I began to punch him in the face over and over, switching fists each time. "She was a human being, not some cheap replacement for me! She didn't do anything wrong, so she shouldn't have to pay for my mistakes! We may not have known her, but other people did! Her life had worth—"

"It's because her life had worth that I was able to weigh it against yours!" he finally retorted, quickly and expertly evading the next punch with a speed that rivaled mine. I froze, waiting in silence for him to explain what he meant. "Listen, your anger is understandable, but you have to face facts, Kiriko. To the people who want to clear this game someday, your life is more valuable than someone pretending to be you. You're the one with the Unique Skill, not her. If one of you had to die, and the fate of the entire game's population hung in the balance, who would you pick?"

Tears began streaming down my face as I processed what he'd said. He'd killed her… because she had worth? Because she was less valuable than me? But even still…! All semblance of composure lost, voice shaking with every word, I summoned my will and pressed on.

"That doesn't make it okay for you to kill an innocent stranger for me!" I shouted back, my anger quickly returning to me. "But what's done is done. I couldn't stop you from doing it, so I'll at least hear you out. Why did you… why did you need to kill her for my sake?! What was the meaning in her death, huh?! Answer me that!"

I stood up and stepped aside while holding an arm over my face to hide my tears. I hadn't cried in front of someone else in what felt like such a long time… and to do it in front of him, an enemy, of all people… it was humiliating.

"That girl was one of your role players… a solo player who used an item obtained from a quest on zone twenty-four to change her appearance and name to yours," he explained ad he stood up. "Sure, the characters were different since no name duplicates are allowed, but the «Monument of Life» only displays names in Kana, so no one could ever tell the difference."

I could see through my bangs and tear-soaked vision that he only had a sliver of HP left… even though I'd only been throwing light punches, I'd nearly ended up killing him. If I hadn't missed the last time, he'd be dead… but how did this happen? I may have had a high attack stat and have had the «Martial Arts» skill active, but my attack was nowhere near high enough to put someone as strong as him on the brink of death from a few punches that weren't even part of a combo… it was almost as if I'd been Double Bursting when I hit him. But then, if that were what happened, how did he dodge that last punch?

Wait, did he just say…? That's what he meant by stunt double…? He did this so…

"Then… you're telling me to fake my death," I finished his explanation for him, wiping my tear-streaked face before lowering my arm and looking him dead in the eyes. "That's your plan to remove my friends from PoH's target list."

He nodded. For the briefest of moments, a bitter expression crossed his features. "Yeah… sometimes in life, you're going to get put in situations where there is no right choice to make. Lux and I both know that quite well. If word got out that she had helped you find and kill XaXa, you know she would have died. The only reason she didn't is because I stepped in and covered for her. She knew of the risk to her own life, and that helping you would mean betraying the person who she owed her life to, but she resolved to help you anyway, knowing full well she would almost certainly be killed. And as for me… you'll find out my story soon enough, too."

So she decided Argo's life was more important than her own… and helped me save her, believing she would die. She makes my resolve… look pathetic…

"All of the other players besides you whom PoH targeted this time are valuable assets to the front lines, so they'll never be off his target list forever," he continued, his expression having returned to normal, but his voice grim. "And even your actual death wouldn't change that. In order for this plan to work so you could continue protecting your friends in secret using Lux's and my intel to know when and where you're needed, she had to be sacrificed."

He returned my gaze with a hard, serious stare. "I won't pretend for a second that it was the right thing to do, or that I have any right to preach to you about morality after all the people I've killed, knowing full well that I've murdered more people than anyone else in the game. But whether you wanted it or not, that girl is dead now. It's the least you could do for her to make sure it isn't in vain."

For some reason, as I looked at him under the moonlight filtering in through the slim gaps in the evergreen bristles above us and my emotions began to settle down, it occurred to me that I no longer saw an enemy before me. Instead, I saw a fellow human being, as someone whom had dealt with more than his fair share of hard times and pain and suffering, just like me. Someone who was doing the best he could to honor his debt to me and help me, even if it meant making hard choices that he knew I couldn't.

I knew that once his debts had been fully repaid, he'd go back to being my enemy as if nothing had ever happened between us. We would undoubtedly have to fight again at some point, and unlike the last time we fought, where I owed him for sparing Asuna in PoH's zone eight war, I'd have no excuse to spare his life the second time around. He even said he was repaying his debt, so after all he'd done to help me, it would only make us even. But even so, that didn't stop me from thinking of him as an ally, just this one time.

"So, what's the next step?" I asked him, offering him a smile of thanks and acknowledgement, if nothing else. "She's dead, but I'm still alive… so there's more than one Kiriko etched into the «Monument of Life» on zone one right now, and my entry isn't crossed off."

"We get rid of your name using the same method that girl used to replace her name with yours," he replied before quickly materializing a seafoam-green spherical crystal with a radiant shimmering effect and tossing it to me. "That's the item she used to do it. I picked one up myself during the run up to your capture, having known of its existence already. It's called the «Samsaric Stone of Reincarnation». This doubles as an avatar and voice changer, exempting gender changes, so you'll be able to interact with your friends without them knowing it was you. Just delete your entire friends list before you use it and you'll be good to go."

I took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, steeling my nerves for what I was about to do. "All right… but I have to say some goodbyes to my friends first. I'll record audio messages to them which I'll set to send at eight this morning so that if they investigate my 'death,' they won't figure out that my death date and message send date don't line up right. But before I do, Johnny…"

"Yeah?" he looked up at me. "I'll stay quiet while you record, don't worry."

I smiled softly and shook my head. "It's not that, it's just… thanks. For giving me the resolve to keep moving forward and to do what I have to."

His gaze drifted to the ground as a conflicted frown made its way onto his face. "… Dumbass. Save your kindness… for the people who actually deserve it. We both know I'm not one of them."

"Too bad for you, I can't," I told him with a shrug, my grin widening a bit. "Because just like you are, I'm someone who honors my debts, no matter what. After all you've done for me, despite being my enemy, the least I could do is thank you."

"Hard to argue with that logic… just don't hold back when we meet in battle the next time, after my debt's been repaid. Because when that time comes, I'll be armed with the Unique Skill of the devil himself to combat your «Blademaster». I assure you, the playing field will be quite even, if both of us go all out."

After that comment which he refused to explain, he stayed silent until I was finished recording my goodbyes, then stuck around just long enough to see me use the stone before sparing a few parting words and leaving. But while hearing him say something like that he'd have his own Unique Skill might have alarmed me in the past… now, it only strengthened my resolve.

I promise, Johnny Black… I won't hold back just because you helped me, and I won't let you stop me, either. I know what the risks are now, but I can't waver because of them, or there'd be no point in staying alive. So I won't let you or anyone else stop me from clearing the game or protecting those precious to me until I do!

With those as my parting thoughts while I watched him leave, equipped in my full «Valkyrie Set», my new standard gear now that black clothes were no longer an option, nor did they suit my new avatar, I headed back to town, preparing to find an inn and crash.

At the time, I had no way of knowing that one of those goodbyes I recorded that night would be as costly as it would later become.


Author's Note

So yeah, Kiriko faked her death. If you're wondering why I didn't describe her new avatar's appearance of tell you her new player name, it's because those will be unveiled in the epilogue.

So anyway, uh, yeah, for the slightly spoilerific version of this story's three-part outline…

Part one is essentially the opening sequence, which is used to establish the core cast and relationship dynamics between Kiriko and everyone else. Part two is the part which is most heavily influenced by SAO light novel volumes one and two, though there will be enough differences that this will still feel like its own story instead of a direct copy. Part three is partially focused on Kiriko's encounters with other Unique Skill users, but also partially inspired by Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment, the PSP title. For those of you more familiar with Hollow Fragment for the Vita/PS4, it'd be inspired by that exact story except with everything related to the Hollow Area removed. All three parts will be contained in this story, by the way.

Not much else to say. Thanks to everyone who supported me this far! I promise you, this story is far from over… but I need to work on other stuff to improve my craft enough to continue writing the next two parts.

See you in the epilogue, and later in part two!