Author's Note

I would have released this earlier, but I kept having problems with the individual scenes, and then I considered scrapping it because it didn't accomplish my original objective for the epilogue, but then I just decided to let it stay as is since it was taking way too long to release.

This kind of ended up as more of a setup for the second part of the story than an epilogue for the first… I guess I just suck at bringing closure to stuff. Oh well, at least it'll give you an expectation of what is to come in the opening arc of part two…

By the way, there's a poll on my profile asking which stories you'd like to see me continue during this one's hiatus. There are ten options, but to make sure it doesn't get too crazy you can only pick your top five at most. I ask that once you finish reading this chapter, you go and check out the poll and cast your votes!

That's about it from me. Now then, go ahead and read!


Gun Gale Online: The Swordswoman

Chapter Forty-Six: Chasing My Shadow (Part One – Epilogue)

"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.


Splish

The float bobbed up and down through the water's surface as the hook at the end of the fishing line I'd just cast continued to sink. Of course, I still didn't have the «Fishing» skill even purchased, let alone equipped and leveled a decent amount, so I had no chance of actually catching anything. I knew there wasn't much point to just casting a line out every time I visited this pier on what had become my days off of clearing dungeons, but I didn't care all that much.

Catching fish isn't the point, anyway…

Holding my recently-bought high quality fishing rod in one hand, I lay down on the pier with my back to the wood flooring, my legs dangling aimlessly off the edge. I closed my eyes to avoid having to stare directly into the sun, despite the fact that in this VR setting, my eyesight would be no worse for wear from doing it.

Got to admit… this breeze is kinda nice. Weather's pretty comfortable today… you can tell that spring is finally here.

The day was Saturday, March 23rd, 2024. A month and two weeks had passed since I faked my death. In that time, PKers both in and outside of «Laughing Coffin» had gathered together and completely taken over zone 24, making it impossible to advance the game without mounting a full-scale assault on them. But without the presence of the game's strongest player, Kiriko, to give them hope, the clearers wouldn't mobilize an attack force to get rid of them.

The number of living players dipped below sixty-thousand not too long ago. The longer this situation wore on, the worse it got – Johnny Black had told me a few days ago that the power balance between the clearers and PKers would crumble soon if I didn't do something about it, but…

No one knows who I am at this point. There's not a whole lot I can do, really…

"So you're the player who moved in two weeks ago, huh? You've got a bite, you know."

My eyes fluttered open and looked up at the familiar whiskered face of the person who called out to me. Our eyes met for only the briefest of moments, but in that one exchange, I learned all I needed to know about the lover I'd left behind. Her eyes told me the story of a girl going through the motions of life without really living. Those mirthless eyes… she looked dead inside, a hollow shell of the clever, spunky woman I'd fallen in love with not too terribly long ago. It pained me greatly to know that I'd been the one to do this to her, but I didn't allow it to show on my face.

"Argo… of «Thousand Eyes», I take it?" I asked, knowing full well that I had to pretend this was our first time meeting. "Been wondering if you'd eventually show up to get a look at the new resident here, but now I see why it took so long."

Argo… I'm sorry.

For a few moments, both of us remained silent as we stared at each other, unblinking. She seemed to be trying to figure out what I meant by that last comment I made, but I had no intention of answering her with my eyes or facial features. If she wanted to know, she'd have to ask me straight up.

Eventually, she gave up, changing the subject entirely. "You a foreigner or something? It's not often I see players with pale white skin, blue-green eyes and blonde hair… and since you can't change your skin color in-game as far as I know, you're clearly not Asian…"

Looks like she doesn't know about the «Samsaric Stone of Reincarnation», then… not surprising, considering it's a zone 24 exclusive item and the PKers control that zone now.

"My mother is Japanese, but my father came from someplace else," I answered her before my expression dimmed a little. "Not that I ever got to talk about it with either of them, though. They both died before I was old enough to speak."

What I'd said was actually the truth. My father was born in America and actually moved to Japan later on. According to his family, which I'd spoken to a few times since hacking the national registry to find out who my real parents were, my dad had been convinced he was asexual until he met my mother in college through her trip overseas to study abroad… and by the end of that trip and their time in college, they were close enough that he ended up moving back to Japan with her.

Kinda reminds me of my own journey to discovering my sexual preferences… guess I really did inherit his personality, after all. But then… no, that's not quite what happened, is it…?

My eyes closed again as a pensive frown danced across my features. If my mother and father didn't die… what would I have been doing right at this moment? Would I still have gotten trapped in GGO? Would I have even been the same person? So many of the things I'd been forced to endure which had shaped my personality, for better or worse, only happened because I was living with my aunt and cousin. If you took away all of those experiences and replaced them with others… what would remain? Who would I have become instead…?

"Sorry. Life at an orphanage must've been rough on you," the girl staring down at me offered, her tone showing a degree of raw emotion that I rarely saw in her as Kiriko. "I remember what it was like for me before I got adopted."

While the pieces of information that Argo had been in an orphanage and was later adopted were certainly news to me and heart wrenching in their own right, something about how casually she'd been able to talk about them, with a perfect stranger no less, didn't sit right with me. Unlike the last similar experience I had to compare it to, there was no real reason to be jealous of myself, but… it was concerning that she'd ended up dropping so many of her ever-present barriers around someone she'd only been speaking to for a few seconds, maybe a minute or two at most.

"I wonder… living in an orphanage might have been better for me than what actually happened," I replied with a shrug, compelled by her open honesty to respond in kind. "My aunt took me in, and I was raised with my cousin as if she were my little sister… but my aunt has openly resented me for as long as I can remember… because to her, I was just one more reason for her to hate my real mom. But that's not even the worst of what I had to deal with… far from it, in fact."

After I stopped talking, the silence hung in the air. It was clear she wanted me to explain what else I'd had to deal with… but I had no intention of reliving that memory. She wouldn't be aware of this, but this is the second time she wanted this information from me… and the first time, I didn't tell her even when she tried to force it out of me.

"Although I suppose even with how bad things got, I had my fair share of blessings come my way thanks to living with them…" I mused in an effort to change the subject. "Even getting trapped here had an upside… it allowed me to reconnect with someone who would later become the love of my life, and even helped me find love again after she died. Even if all my friends are dead now… it could have been worse, I guess. I had fun with them while they were still around."

Sachi… I've accepted it. I've come to terms with the fact that I'll never see you again. I'm no longer stuck in the past, in my memories with you… I'm finally able to properly face forward and move on. Are you happy for me, I wonder…?

"How did you cope with it? The death of the love of your life… I'll even pay you for the information… I just really need to know, before the despair consumes me and I go against her farewell message and follow in her footsteps just to see her again…"

My eyes snapped open at the fragility of her voice in her last sentence. There were tears gathering in the corner of her eyes… the sight brought me back to reality and reminded me of the consequences of the path I'd chosen. To her, I'd committed suicide. In her eyes, I was gone forever and the only possible way she could see me again was to do the same thing she thought I did.

I didn't know she loved me that much… she's not just overly vulnerable, she's falling apart at the seems…

"The «Demon King» meant that much to you in the end, huh…?" I asked her with a wistful look, casually throwing out my beta nickname to out myself as a beta tester. "Now your article and TV news cycle defending her so long after the first BoB make more sense. Don't get me wrong, she's more than proven her innocence by now, but, well… that's the only news article «The Rat» ever wrote that took a side, and so blatantly at that."

She just told me I was the love of her life without realizing it. And here I was, lying to her about who I was, pretending the real me is dead so as to not endanger her. And yet I had the nerve to build a house in the player community she created specifically so that I could see her again and be forced to keep up the façade for her safety. Who did I think I was fooling? Half the people whom I wanted to protect by doing this were in love with me… it's a wonder none of them had already tried to "follow in my footsteps."

It's the least I can do to comfort her and help her move on… but I have no right to try and regain the relationship we had before. She deserves better than a liar who would keep secrets from her even when we were supposed to be lovers.

"Well, secret's safe with me. That information is too destabilizing to be made public," I concluded my half-pretend analysis before moving onto answering her question. "But anyway, back to the topic at hand… to be honest, mine isn't an example you should take notes from, and it's certainly nothing to charge you for. But I guess I can tell you my story, if you really want to know."


"Hey, Sinon. Bet you weren't expecting to hear from me when I should be captured, right?"

Once more, Kiriko's parting message to her began to repeat itself in the mind of one blue-haired sniper. She had an orange player in the sights of her rifle. Had to be the thirtieth or fortieth in that morning alone, but it was the first one she'd found after setting up at this location. She pulled the trigger during a pause between lines, and the player disappeared shortly thereafter.

"Thanks to a schism within the «Laughing Coffin» upper ranks, I managed to escape."

Sinon zoomed out a little and refocused her sights and aim onto one of the dead criminal's panicked party members. Looks like they'd heard the stories of her already, because they were already looking around to see if they could identify the location she had shot from.

"But…"

Too late for them now. The second member of their party to die in one hit scared the rest of them into scattering in all directions. She paid the two item selection windows which had popped up no mind for the moment – she could save the pilfering of their remains lights for when she'd taken all six of them out.

"But I'm tired of letting myself be PoH's plaything. This time you were made to suffer and potentially die for my mistakes… so it has to stop."

Two seconds later, one more down. If there was one thing the Burst System was no good for in her build, it was adjusting the sights and aim of sniper rifles to track moving targets. She had to take it slowly if she wanted to hit them.

The one running in her direction noticed the shot fired past him and began running towards the castle tower with renewed vigor. But unfortunately for him, he'd never make it to her in time. Because he would be the next to go down, before he even had a chance to try to dodge it with the Burst System. The sniper absently noted that the sniper rifle she'd stolen off an orange sniper on this frontier zone really did make evasion impossible – even though he'd been Bursting and actively trying to dodge, he'd barely moved a few centimeters by the time the bullet pierced his skull. Even Kiriko would have had to use a Burst-tier Original Sword Skill to deflect bullets moving that fast.

"So to keep you and my other friends out of harm's way… I'm afraid I'll have to terminate our partnership."

Four seconds later, two more of them bit the dust. Just one left and she'd be done with this party. She'd gone through dozens of full parties of orange players in this same fashion since acquiring this gun, but it would never be enough. After all, it was these bastards who… it was because of them and people like them that…

"By the time this recorded message arrives in your inbox, I'll be dead."

The sixth and final gunshot dropped the curtain on that party's history. Six more down, several thousand still waiting to be slaughtered, drawn to her building reputation like moths to a flame. Of course, she didn't honestly expect to kill all the PKers zone twenty four had become infested with – but in the end, she'd be getting exactly what she signed up for by taking up the mantle of vigilante.

"If you could try to do one thing for me… move on. Find someone else to be your partner, on and off the battlefield. Find the happiness I couldn't."

She would die in battle. And if there really was an afterlife, she'd walk right up to Kiriko and tell her not to ask for the impossible. Because no matter how much Kiriko wanted her to…

There's just no replacing you… idiot.


Author's Note

So, to take stock of what's going on: Argo's desperately fighting the urge to commit suicide, and Sinon is intentionally provoking the fuck out of the PKers on zone twenty four just so she doesn't have to be the one to kill herself. The other characters' takes on Kiriko's "death" will be revealed over time in part two, so expect more on the subject post hiatus.

By the way, with regards to that poll I told you about up top? Keep in mind that some of them will be worked on regardless, but also that how many stories I end up focusing on is directly tied to how long this story's hiatus will last. Basically, the hiatus will last until all stories I am working on instead have progressed by at least one arc, exempting oneshots and drabbles. So the more stories I end up working on, the longer the hiatus will last. But be advised that if you simply don't vote, I'll have free reign to pick up any of them that I want to and may end up working on more stories instead of less – the votes tell me what you want me to focus on, so if I don't get any, I can do whatever I want.

Anyway, see you in my other upcoming stories!