Not dead! Apologies for the wait. I'm sure you can imagine how crazy things have gotten as of late what with all the things that are going on in the world at the moment. Been kinda busy because of it. But, we'll leave that aside.
So yes, right out of the gate I want to say how absolutely touched I am by all of your responses to the last chapter. Especially with how varied they were. Some people saw it coming, some were completely surprised, and some caught on to the clues after the fact. That was exactly the kind of reaction I was hoping for ever since I first started leaving hints back at the beginning of the fic. Thank you guys, truly, for enjoying this ride with me. It's been an honor. Here's to more!
Chapter 20
November 6th, 2022.
The date was permanently branded in my mind, no matter how much I wanted to scrub it away. A few years ago, I rushed home with my prize in hand, a slim plastic case containing a harmless disc, and dove into what was sure to be the technological and scientific achievement of the century. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, crafted by a genius that had no equal, and little old middle schooler me was going to be able to experience it firsthand. It was a dream. I remember thinking that I was going to be the envy of all my classmates, that I'd regale them with stories about diving into a completely realized virtual world where you could live a second life. Fantasies of slaying monsters, exploring ruins, and conquering all one hundred floors of Castle Aincrad danced in my head from the moment I heard of the game to when I put the NerveGear on my head and uttered the words 'Link start'.
Turns out, those words damned me to two long years of imprisonment.
The sudden disappearance of the logout button, the teleportation to the Town of Beginning's plaza, Kayaba's speech, it was all one big blur to me now. I couldn't remember the exact words he said, or the way in which he said them, but I remember how it made me feel. Sick. Confused. Terrified. I felt like the whole world was closing in on me, that Death itself was breathing down my neck, its cold, lifeless fingers clenching around my throat. I imagine it's the same way people feel when someone holds a gun to their head. An imminent, suffocating fear of the absolute end.
I was going to die.
I was fourteen. And I was going to die.
Those first couple of days were pure havoc. Riots filled the streets. People tried to tear the Town of Beginnings apart, either out of a vain hope of finding something that would free them or to take what little amount of revenge they could for being held against their will. No one dared to venture outside the town walls save for a select few. Of them, roughly half didn't come back.
Looking back on it, it made more sense that they moved on to other villages to take quests and grind for experience, but their disappearance didn't help the fear festering among the rest of us.
A vast majority of the players in those days still held onto the hope that help was coming, that the police or the government would shut the whole game down before any more lives were lost. I was one of them. At the end of the first day, I rented out a cheap hotel room with what little Col I had, and waited for rescue.
Hours turned to days. Then a week. And the number of deaths kept climbing. It wasn't until the end of the third week that the cruel reality sunk in for me. We were trapped in SAO, and nobody was coming to save us. The fear multiplied tenfold among the playerbase, leading to a paranoia so thick that it clung to the air, becoming a near-tangible thing that weighed on everyone like a plague. People pointed fingers at each other for the smallest reasons and the ensuing fights did nothing but pour gas on an already blazing fire.
By that point, I had no more money to keep up with the rent. Eventually, I'd go hungry, too, but I still couldn't bring myself to venture out into the unknown. I resorted to completing basic fetch quests around town, putting the pitiful amount of Col towards just having a roof over my head. I picked fruits from an NPC's garden to keep myself fed. Whatever it took to keep my head above water, I did it.
But it wasn't living — I'd hesitate to even call it existing. I let my life be consumed by a hopeless routine with no end in sight, suffering under the weight of a death game, too scared to do anything more than cower and hope in vain, all while people despaired and died trying to escape our virtual prison. It was torture. Agony. But at least I was still alive, I thought to myself in those lonely sleepless nights. For whatever that was worth.
The more it dragged on, the worse the situation got. Hundreds of people died after the first few weeks and more than once, I saw people mourning at the foot of the Monument of Life, the massive slab of stone inside the Black Iron Palace etched with the name of every player in the game. More than once, I imagined my name being crossed off like so many others. I couldn't take the thought. Better to shut myself away and wait. For what? I didn't know. But it was better than dying. Better than never seeing the real world again.
Then the death toll hit two thousand. Two thousand innocent people were gone. A fifth of the players in SAO were dead and we hadn't even beaten the first floor. How does anyone stay strong after that?
I'm not proud to say it. I gave up. We were never going to leave SAO. We wouldn't ever go back to our families or live our lives the way we wanted to. All that was left for us was whatever cruel endgame Kayaba had prepared. Even the animal in the cage gets tired, reaches the end of their rope. I had reached mine. I locked myself up in my room, eyes red and cheeks stained with tears, and waited with dread for the next gut punch.
It came, but it wasn't what I expected. Someone came running down the streets in the Town of Beginnings one afternoon, shouting so hard that I could hear them through the sound dampened window in my room. The floor boss had been defeated. I couldn't believe it. A group of people banded together, despite everything that had happened, and not only pressed on, but achieved victory. They made a dent in SAO's death game. A small one, but a dent nonetheless.
A small, pessimistic part of me hissed that it was only a fluke. Even more people would die on the second floor. The frontliners were only delaying their own pointless deaths.
Then just over a week later, they did it again. The second floor boss was defeated.
The heavy despair that hung over the Town of Beginnings lifted like a curtain. Everything from the sun to the color of trees and buildings seemed to glow a little bit brighter, more vibrant and full of life. People hugged and laughed in the streets. And they were smiling again, talking like it was any normal day. More and more of them filtered out of the safe zones, survival guides were handed out with increasing frequency, and I watched it all through the window of my room, where I'd been cowering for over a month. The pessimist tried to whisper in my ear again. I shut it out and forced myself to admit it.
Maybe beating the game was possible.
I stared at my reflection in the window on that day, and made my decision.
Don't get me wrong, I was still terrified to the core, but I couldn't let it dictate my life. Kayaba may have trapped me in SAO, but I was trapping myself with every hour I spent weeping in my own room.
So I threw on my level one armor, picked up the iron sword I hadn't used since the game first started, and ventured out into the wilderness to play catch-up. I threw myself into the fire. I fought, and used every little trick in the book to do it. I observed monsters from afar and baited them into attacking to study their moves and the best way to counter them. When they were in groups, I drew them out with rocks or throwing picks, one after another, until none remained. I ambushed them from above or below, set traps to thin their numbers, brewed a variety of poisons and corrosions to destroy them from the inside out. After reading the survival guide several times over, I put theory into practice, creating and refining techniques to keep myself alive while putting my enemies down. I even accepted an invitation to join a guild, where I practiced my swordsmanship even further, sharpened my focus and concentration, made friends and allies, and became something more than the scared boy hiding in his room.
In the World of Swords, I carved my path.
The diligence, tenacity, vigilance, and undeterred willpower I cultivated day in and day out carried me through one harrowing battle after another, and it allowed me to see the end of Aincrad two years later, when it was suddenly beaten without warning.
I didn't know how or why, but once I opened my eyes and breathed real world air again, I couldn't bring myself to care. SAO was dead. I was all too ready to turn away from it. Who could blame me? The losses, the sacrifices, the devastating things people suffered — my memories of SAO carried too much pain in them. Not in the physical sense, but in the emotional, the psychological — invisible scars that were no less deep. To keep them from overwhelming me, I forgot them entirely. I moved on, and in the year since, I became a normal teenager again, putting my hard earned survival instincts to rest. They saved my life more than once, but I didn't need them anymore. I didn't want to need them anymore.
Until now.
You'd have to twist my arm to get me to admit it, but there was one good thing about being stuck in SAO. It taught me conflict. Born out of a desperation to survive and forced to adapt to a game of life and death, I discovered the true extent of my ability to fight.
Ikuchi was right about one thing. I was stronger now than I was before, but it wasn't because I'd been fighting tougher and tougher bad guys. It was because the need to protect the people I cared about outweighed the desire to let my talents waste away. Ikuchi made a grave miscalculation when he took Sinon. He expected either her or me to capitulate. He wanted a victory. Instead, he got me.
"What's the matter, Ikuchi?" I asked him. "Figured out that I'm more than just a winning smile?"
Everyone had gone quiet, and despite the situation, I felt an excessive amount of pride for knocking him off his game in front of his flunkies. I tossed a glance at Sinon and she stared back at me, lips parted in slight shock. I never told her about my time in SAO. It was just something I wanted to keep to myself until I was ready to tell her.
Ikuchi stared at me for a long minute, eyes lifeless as he stood forebodingly still, like an empty grave. His photon sword shut off with a subdued hiss, then he clipped it onto his belt, stepping towards me.
He punched me square in the face.
"You disgusting son of a bitch," he snarled. I didn't even have a chance to recover before he grabbed me by the jaw and slugged me again. "You think you can lie to my face and expect me to believe you?"
I spoke through clenched teeth. "Well if you wanna quiz me, I'd be more than happy to."
His fist drove itself hard into my stomach. Pain absorber or not, when something hits you in the gut, you feel the full brunt of it. The air was driven out of my lungs and I fell into a coughing fit, trying to double over, but Mezu's grip on my hair ensured all I could do was watch as Ikuchi reared another fist back.
"Akira, don't!" Serena pleaded. I doubt he even heard her. He punched me hard and pain exploded behind my eyes. Again and again, my brain pounded against the inside of my skull, reeling from the intense beating.
Ikuchi pinched my chin between two of his fingers and lifted my head up, readying another blow. That's when I caught sight of Sinon.
Her expression...words couldn't describe how ferocious it looked. The scowls she gave to people who annoyed her or got in her way were jokes compared to the death glare she was giving now.
"Get your hands off of him!" Sinon roared, and there was a scorching rage in her voice the likes of which I've never heard from her. I've seen her angry before, but this was a different kind of emotion altogether. Anger was a matchstick compared to the raw blistering hatred seething in her eyes.
Ikuchi tossed my head aside and looked askance at her, unperturbed. "Shout as much as you like, Sinon. You'll only tire yourself and accomplish nothing," As if to illustrate his point, he slapped me across the face with the back of his hand. I winced as the force caused me to bite my tongue. He looked back at her, waiting. "Nothing. See?"
"Shut up," she snapped. "Shut up!" Her lips peeled away from her teeth, and she thrashed hard against Gozu's hold, so much so that he had to adjust his footing to keep her from knocking him off balance and getting loose. "Your problem is with me, got it? You hurt him and I'll do a lot worse to you."
I smiled despite the situation. Sinon and I had worked together for several months. We grew close over that time and it stirred a protective instinct in me powerful enough to tear half a city apart in my mission to find her. I cared for her deeply. I wanted to shield her from harm. Of course, she'd feel the same way. The thought sent a warm glow flowing through me.
"My, the lengths you two will go for each other," Ikuchi rolled his shoulders. "Almost touching, really."
I heard Mezu grunt behind me. "Boss, the Alpha's giving the boys trouble. They're getting swarmed, badly. We oughta wrap this up."
"I agree," Ikuchi said in a low tone, turning away from me. "There's no point in talking anymore."
Serena's eyes widened. "Akira, I — "
"That's enough, Serena. You betrayed my trust. Far as I'm concerned, you're not worth my time" Ikuchi said. He wouldn't have gotten a stronger reaction out of her if he had slapped her. She forced down a miserable little sob, but it didn't stop the tears from falling down her face.
My fingers twitched like a jolt of electricity shot through them. The stun bullet's effect was wearing off. I'd have a scant few seconds to do something before they realized I could move again. My heart raced with a tense apprehension as a minuscule amount of control trickled into my limbs in the form of tiny shivers. I curled my toes inside my boot to make sure my commands were being followed again, but nothing more. Instead, I remained limp in Mezu's hold, keeping up the helpless charade until I had an opportunity to take advantage.
"You're a real piece of work, man. I mean, come on. You think Serena came here just to get in your way? Talk to her. That's all she wants." Ikuchi fixed me with a cold glare, but I kept going. "What, you think I'm bluffing? Oh, sure, you can convince yourself this whole thing is a trick by yours truly. You can pretend she's not your sister and that I'm not an SAO survivor, but it's the truth, no matter how much you want to deny it."
"Unlikely. You're scrambling for something to save you," Ikuchi said.
"No, I'm not. I survived just like you did," I said. "I've seen first hand how people rebuilt their lives, too. None of them did what you're doing. No, what you're doing here, it isn't gaining power, it's you squirming under the power SAO still has over you."
Ikuchi's face tightened in a contemptuous scowl. He stepped forward with a raised, reeled fist and threw a hard punch. This time I was ready for it.
With Mezu still holding me up by my hair and the back of my jacket, I raised both feet and kicked them square into Ikuchi's chest. A heavy thump sent him staggering back and at the same time, I reached back and fumbled for something, anything to snatch off Mezu's belt to use as a weapon. My fingers touched a polymer handle and I seized it, giving it a hard tug. I expected a gun, but instead it was a machete two feet long and black as night.
Mezu gave a wordless shout of warning and he lifted me up, preparing to body slam me into the ground. I swung the machete back in his general direction and the blade hit with a meaty thud. Mezu howled in a rage. I must've hit something important because he stumbled around and dumped me onto the ground instead of slamming me down.
I scrambled to my feet and faced Ikuchi as he recovered. I moved in, slashing the machete at his throat, but Ikuchi was faster than I anticipated. He leaned his head back as the tip of the blade came around and narrowly missed his neck. His photon sword sprang to life and made a straight thrust for my chest. I brought the machete back the way it came and slapped the attack aside. A searing whine hit my ears the moment the two weapons connected and the machete's edge came away glowing red hot. For balance purposes, the photon blade was set up so that it wouldn't cut through most weapons in one go, but the machete wouldn't survive a thrashing either.
Before either of us could make another move, a bloodcurdling wail came from behind me. The bottom of my stomach fell out. The Zerkers. Ikuchi and I both looked back at Mezu, who was on one knee and clutching the part of his face where I brought the machete down. A long angry red line ran down from his hairline, over his right eye, and down to his chin.
An open wound.
Blood.
"Oh crap," I said.
"Jatai, Teke-Teke, defensive positions. Orochi, Hanzaki, down the middle," Ikuchi said, his tone crisp with authority. With every order he gave, he made a series of elaborate hand gestures, and like clockwork, the men stationed on the levels above us drew their guns away from me and took up new positions, aiming towards the various halls that lead into the rotunda where the bloodthirsty howls echoed.
There were things moving in the darkness. I could barely make them out, but there had to have been a dozen of them at least, and that was just from the ground level. There was no telling how many more were on the second and third floor. The only thing I could say for sure was that we were outnumbered. Big time.
And here we were, surrounded on all sides beneath the only light source in the mall. It may as well have been a neon sign that said 'All-you-can-eat buffet'.
"You didn't think this plan through, did you?" Ikuchi murmured.
"Shut up, Ikuchi," I replied.
I heard the sudden hum of a photon sword being swung and quickly diverted my attention back to him, the machete catching his scarlet blade in a cross before it could cut me in half down the vertical. I dug my feet in and pushed him away.
"You've trapped yourself," Ikuchi said, keeping the point of his photon sword aimed at my chest. "Even if you get away from me, the Zerkers will slaughter you. Surrender, and I'll take you all to safety."
I couldn't help but laugh. "I don't much trust your idea of safety," I said, raising the machete to meet his blade. "To be honest, I'd rather gamble with the Zerkers back there. At least they don't resort to the underhanded stuff you're so fond of."
At that moment, a leonine roar far more powerful than anything a regular Zerker was capable of shook the ground and rattled the air. I recognized the sound for what it was. The Alpha Zerker had given its command. The fight was on.
Ikuchi made a noise of acknowledgement in the back of his throat, then he assumed a defensive stance, gripping his sword with both hands. "Suit yourself."
I looked over my shoulder, and like a rising tide, a swarm of pale mutated bodies charged towards us, all gnashing teeth and foaming mouths eager for the hunt, for the kill.
And I was first in line.
If you've never been in a large-scale brawl, consider yourself lucky. It's confusing enough when two sides are going at it, but add in a third and it becomes damn near impossible to figure out what's going on. Zerkers and Yokai, bullets, shells, claws and teeth — they all slammed into each other in one single terrifying instant. Every level of the rotunda lit up with the sounds of savage combat.
I ran to get away from the initial wave. Ikuchi tried to come after me, but a Zerker closed in on his exposed flank and he had to divert his attention to defend himself.
The photon sword wasn't for nostalgia, evidently. He raised the bright red blade above his head, waited a beat for the creature to swing a clawed hand at him, then with two decisive strokes, he sliced the beast's arm and head clean off. More Zerkers, some of them with their spines extended and quills brimming with acid, charged him before the first hit the ground in a lifeless heap, and Ikuchi faced them square on, his photon sword poised for battle.
One Zerker shot a cloud of quills at me and I dashed to the side to escape the worst of it, the pungent odor of acid burning my nostrils. It closed in, thrusting its claws at my face. I ducked underneath the attack and drove the machete into its ribcage, pushing my weight against it to force it back. The creature howled in torment as I twisted the blade, jerked it out, and sliced a clean cut across its face. The Zerker fell backwards, thrashing on the ground and whipping its arms around, shooting acidic quills in every direction. A few hit my metal chest plate and a dull numbness hit my stomach where more landed. I ignored it and rushed into delivering a final blow to the creature's head.
I looked around, slashing and stabbing any Zerker that came close as I searched for Ikuchi or Sinon. I found the former cutting down the remnants of a group of monsters. Our eyes met, and he came after me, fast.
Then the freaking ground started shaking, and out of the darkness came the hulking muscled form of the Alpha Zerker. Gunshots were spread over its body and part of its face was burned to a charcoal black, most likely from an explosion, yet despite its grievous injuries, it's power seemed to be no less hindered.
Ikuchi froze in place about a dozen feet away from me. The Alpha's gnarled face twisted at the sight of us. It slammed its boulder-sized fists on the ground and broke into a bestial charge straight towards us.
"You gotta be kidding me," I said. I dove out of its way before it could steamroll me and the creature slammed head first into the fountain on the rotunda's center. The stone cracked under the immense weight and power of Alpha Zerker's charge and a wave of water spilled out of the destroyed basin, reaching up to my ankles as it rushed over the floor. The statue that served as its centerpiece fractured with deep fissures and fell to one side, smashing into pieces upon hitting the ground, exposing the fountain's piping where even more water gushed out like a ruptured fire hydrant.
The Alpha roared, grabbed a chunk of broken stone, and flung it towards Ikuchi with all the speed of a major league pitcher. Yokai's stalwart leader was already moving, sidestepping the hurtling projectile and cutting a deep gash along the Alpha's arm as it tried to hit him with a follow up attack. It hissed in a rage and backed away by a step, watching the both of us intently. Then it charged again, this time raising both fists and bringing them down in a hammer blow.. Ikuchi dodged towards me and I barely managed to bring up the machete to stop a surprise swipe meant to take my head off my shoulders.
"We're doing this, huh?" I muttered to him as our blades locked in place. "Fine. Round one."
Ikuchi glared at me like he wanted to say something, but the Alpha wasn't going to give him the opportunity. It swung a tree-trunk arm at us and we broke the sword lock to duck underneath it, backing away from each other as the massive beast came between us.
I heard a series of rapid footsteps behind me and turned as another Zerker thrusted its claws at me. I backed away from its first strike, ducked under the second, and cut the machete across his abdomen from left shoulder to right hip as it wound up for the third. I shoved the blade into its neck, gave it a sharp twist, and heard bone snap. The Zerker gave off a throaty death rattle and died.
It's body burst into pixels, freeing my machete with enough time for me to face Ikuchi as he delivered a series of rapid thrusts to the Alpha, pockmarking it with a flurry of burn marks. The Alpha swung its arms in retaliation, but its attacks were too telegraphed, too slow to catch its smaller, more agile opponent. Ikuchi dodged towards it and cut wide swaths of its flesh, taking out its legs, goring its stomach, and slicing its chest. The Alpha let out an agonized scream, evidently having enough punishment, and retreated, barking out a series of shouts that rallied the nearby Zerkers towards it for protection.
Ikuchi was skilled. But there was more to it than that. The more I watched him, the more something nagged at the deepest recesses of my memories. I couldn't put my finger on it at first. The way he moved and the manner in which he swung his sword felt too familiar to ignore. It followed a rhythm, a certain beat that struck me as recognizable, like the tune of a song from my childhood.
He huffed a breath, turned, and closed in on me instead, photon sword singing through the air with a series of short, quick swings. I blocked the ones I couldn't evade, but it wasn't enough. Ikuchi pushed me back with relentless blows. The machete was almost completely red hot. Droplets of molten steel dribbled down its length, a visual warning that it wouldn't last much longer. If I didn't do something, and soon, it'd snap completely.
"This is the best you can do?" Ikuchi said. Even with all the fighting he was doing, there wasn't a trace of fatigue in his voice. "Stop defending and hit me. If you even can."
He spun in place. I tried to hit his exposed back, but his photon blade suddenly twirled around in a flourish, deflecting my strike away from him as he came back around. I felt the hot sting of his sword cut into my exposed side and cried out, more out of frustration than any actual pain. I backed away, clutching the shallow wound.
"You're flailing," he said, reverting back to a guard position. "You said you were an SAO survivor. You sure don't fight like one."
I grimaced. I couldn't assume he was an amateur in sword fighting, even if we were in a VRMMO where things like combat assists existed. He wasn't a pushover when it came to form. Every move was calculated and precise, right down to the footwork. He'd been a swordsman ever since SAO and it showed.
Then there was me. I hadn't touched a sword in over a year. Of course I'd be out of practice. On its own, it wouldn't be too much of an issue, but the problem was that Ikuchi wasn't. A fair fight would end quickly and I wouldn't be the one left standing.
Panic nipped at my already anxious state, but I forced it down with a deep breath. I needed something that would give me a fighting chance of, if not winning the fight, at least escaping it.
"Who did you lose in Aincrad? That's what it is, right? I can't imagine anything else," I said.
"That's no business of yours," Ikuchi replied.
"So you don't deny it."
Ikuchi growled and came at me again, all slashes and thrusts and flourishes, trying to overwhelm my defense with never-ending force. I redoubled my efforts, evading his strikes and circling around him so that he couldn't force me up against a wall, all while blocking only when I absolutely needed to. A Zerker tried to interpose itself between us at some point, but Ikuchi flicked his wrist and bisected the creature without so much as a cursory glance.
Then he slashed his sword at me four times. Each one going in a different direction, tracing the outline of a square. That's when it hit me.
Vertical Square. He was using Sword Skills.
GGO didn't convert those kinds of attacks into its gameplay. After all, it was a gun game, and the only weapon capable of replicating them was treated as little more than a novelty by a majority of the playerbase. Of course, that didn't mean it was impossible. After being stuck in SAO for two years, a survivor's muscle memory would have those attacks down pat. Especially if that survivor kept using swords long after the game was beaten.
Ikuchi was using Sword Skills, but he was doing them manually, replicating them without the aid of the game's system. That meant they could be interrupted, exploited, or even countered if timed properly. I just needed a decent opportunity to do so.
On the other side of the rotunda, I heard the Alpha gathering itself again, howling a vicious snarl. Gozu was still somewhere in the onslaught of Zerkers, if the sound of him giving orders over the clamor of battle was anything to go by, which meant Sinon was still around too.
I had a chance to turn things back in my favor. I just needed to focus and wait for a Sword Skill I recognized — then once it came, I had to execute the plan with perfect precision. No room for mistakes. Easy peasy, right?
I fine tuned my stance, putting the majority of my weight on my back foot while keeping the glowing red machete leveled at its normal position so as not to give away my intentions. "Ikuchi, we all did our best in that game. It isn't your fault that someone died. Taking your grief out on other people won't make things better."
"What the hell do you know?" Ikuchi snarled. "You didn't have to deal with incompetent leaders. You didn't have to suffer watching good people die because of petty politics."
Ding, ding. That drew my interest.
"Politics in SAO? Figured we'd all be working towards the same thing, to get out of the game. There's no room for something like that," I said.
"Then you're naive. As long as there's a group of people, there will always be arguments, especially when one party is so abhorrent that they'll institute taxes on children. They tried to extort them too, thinking no one would bat an eye. Well, I did."
I blinked. What the hell? I hadn't ever heard of someone forcing taxes on kids, let alone extorting them. "Didn't you tell someone? Find a way to arrest them?" I asked.
"What good would it have done? I tried to fight back, but they had all the power on the lower floors. They were…" Ikuchi shut his eyes, swallowing down the words, then he tilted his head forward with a scowl. "No. No more stalling. I've had enough of your drivel."
I grit my teeth, thinking furiously, calling on all my knowledge from back then. Sure, there were a few bad apples in SAO, bandits mostly, with the occasional player-killer, but Ikuchi spoke like he knew these people personally, not by running into them in a dark alley. Whoever they were, they had enough pull that they could get away with extorting players, and when Ikuchi tried to fight back, it most likely resulted in the deaths of people he cared about.
I tried to follow that chain of thought more, but Ikuchi lunged forward, swinging his photon blade upwards in a diagonal stroke, forcing my attention away from the questions rolling around in my head. They'd have to wait. I needed to focus on looking for a Sword Skill I could exploit.
I backed away from the photon sword's reach, felt the searing heat cross over my chest, and regained my posture as the blade shifted its course to cut me in half at the waist, the motion every bit as practiced as the others. It may have been luck or a hell of a good guess, but I knew what was coming next. Ikuchi would continue the swing, then bring it down to take my legs in another diagonal slash. The skill was Sharp Nail. I had my opportunity.
I kicked off my back foot and dashed to his right, away from where his sword would go, just before he began his final strike. Ikuchi's eyes widened. He tried to correct his swing, but it was too late. I grabbed his wrist and brought the machete down to sever his arm at the elbow.
Ikuchi spat a curse, then he lashed out and seized my wrist with a surprising amount of strength, stopping it cold. He shoved hard, forcing me on the backpedal, but neither of our weapons came closer to hitting the other.
Which meant we couldn't do a thing when the Alpha appeared again, swinging its massive arm at us again with a strength that was almost biblical. The blow hit us like a runaway car and the last thing I saw was Ikuchi getting tossed into the air with me.
Stars exploded behind my eyes. I felt weightless for what felt like hours, then I slammed into the ground at an awkward angle, rolling once, twice, three times before coming to a halt. Light flooded my vision. My muscles burned with exhaustion and I had to will myself to start breathing again. When I came to, I was lying on my side, staring aimlessly at a section of the rotunda with a distinct lack of Zerkers.
The reason was standing twenty feet away. Mezu, his face still bearing that harsh cut I put on him, had his pal Gozu, who was still holding onto Sinon, standing behind him while he pumped shotgun shells into whatever Zerker came his way. One of them, its spines fully raised, launched a cloud of acidic quills at him, scoring a clean hit on his body armor, creating dozens of pin sized holes in it. Mezu growled and turned his shotgun on the Zerker, blasting a hole the size of my fist into its chest.
Mezu spied me lying on the ground and with a contemptuous sneer, worked the action on his shotgun before turning it on me.
His entire right side suddenly erupted with red pixels. Serena walked into my field of vision, firing my MP7 in her quivering hands, her face set with a determined, if somewhat fragile expression as she emptied the entire magazine into him. Mezu took a step back and turned the shotgun on her, but to her credit, she knew to get out of its way, taking cover behind a nearby pillar as it went off.
I picked up the pieces of my consciousness and struggled to stand upright, knees wobbling. The Alpha had knocked some screws loose, but I managed to not fall over again while recovering the machete from where it lay by my feet.
Mezu started running. "This way," he shouted. "Go, go! It's suicide here!"
They made a break for one of the adjacent hallways that led back into the mall with Sinon still in their clutches. She kept trying to get herself free, but the arm lock Gozu had on her persisted. She had to run with them to keep from getting dragged along the ground, thus making her escape all but impossible. There wasn't a damn thing she could do.
Not yet anyways. They had gone into the eastern hallway. Which meant I had a chance at cutting them off.
"Serena, on me," I ordered. She was quick to join me, tossing me the MP7 as we ran after the two. I caught it with one hand and tucked the machete under an arm so I could reload it. "Rei, please tell me you got that third charge ready."
"I'm setting it up now, Master," she replied.
"Blow it on my signal," I said, my legs pumping furiously, though it was more of a drunken stumble than a dead sprint. I was still shaking off the effects of the Alpha's blow. The two Yokai ran into the hall, Mezu taking the lead. I did my best to follow. "Then come in. Targets on your right and we'll be right behind them."
"G-Got it!" Rei said. "I won't let you down."
"Where's Akira?" Serena asked.
"Dunno. We both got hit by that Alpha. Didn't see where he went," I said. I gave her back the submachine gun. Serena took it, but said nothing, her face set in a tense expression.
Mezu looked over his shoulder, said something to Gozu, then skidded to a stop, raising his shotgun at us while Gozu kept moving, intending to pass him.
Now or never.
"Do it, Rei!"
I didn't even finish the sentence when the hall shook with a thunderous boom. The wall next to Mezu exploded outwards in a hail of shattered stone, plaster, and drywall. The blast hit him dead on, the shockwave picking him up and throwing him into the opposite wall, punching a noticeable crater in it as dust fell from the ceiling. He let out a short rasping gasp and didn't move.
Rei stepped through the newly created hole in the wall, hood and cloak flapping against the stormy winds coursing in from outside. Smart girl. She turned to face Gozu about twenty feet away and pointed her hunting rifle at him.
Gozu stopped. The explosion and the subsequent appearance of Rei had surprised the big man for a moment. It bought me enough time.
I took three long steps, shifting my grip on the machete as I did, and leapt onto his back, driving the red hot blade down into his collarbone halfway to the hilt. Gozu's hold on Sinon went limp and she twisted out of it, lashing out a kick into his knee as she did. There was a hard crunch of impact and he fell to one knee, pain etched onto his face. I withdrew the machete from his shoulder, took aim, and thrusted it down through the back of his shaved head.
From my position, I couldn't see where the blade exited, but I suppose it didn't matter much. People don't tend to survive large bladed weapons going through their skulls. Gozu fell to the ground without a word and disappeared in a shower of pixels.
I sighed in relief. I looked up at Sinon and when our eyes met, her posture relaxed, her gaze softened. The emotions were as clear as day on her face. Relief. Gratitude. Reassurance. I swallowed a deep breath again. She was safe now.
"You okay?" I asked her. She nodded and a smile touched her lips.
"I'm glad you finally managed to show up," she said, working a teasing tone into her voice.
I snorted and tried my best to return the smile. "I was in the neighborhood. Heard they were having a sale," I said, easing into our old banter again. My expression sobered a little. "Sorry I couldn't come sooner."
"Don't be. I'm just glad you're here" she said.
I bowed my head in thanks, then said, "You armed?"
"No, they took my Glock when they captured me. Does Rei still have Hecate?" she asked.
"Yup. Let's get out of here. Rei, give her baby back," I said, rising. She nodded and opened her menu as we hurried out of the new hole she made.
On the other side was an empty parking lot situated behind the mall. It was smaller than the rest, likely the spot where the employees of various stores would park their cars for the day. Of course, Yokai had likely taken away any that had been around to use for their makeshift barriers, but that didn't mean we couldn't find one lying around nearby to use for ourselves.
"We should find a car. It's the quickest way out of here. Safest too," I said, looking around the immediate area for one.
Rei bobbed her head in agreement as she looked through her inventory. "I saw a bunch around one of the side entrances. We can use one of those."
"Perfect. Let's get a move on, people. Quickly," I said. We started to move, Serena and Rei taking the lead.
I only got as far as a couple of steps before something peculiar shot right past me and buried itself in the ground ahead.
At first I thought it was some kind of tracer round — a type of ammunition people used to watch the flight path of their shooting, making corrections when needed, but there was no gunshot accompanying it, and no tracer round was a pure beam of vibrant green light. Then I thought it was another photon sword until I realized the idea of someone throwing one of those would be rather silly.
I followed the trail of green light back to where it came from and came face to face with a flash of bright red. The tension in my body hadn't gone away and my reflexes were still working in overdrive from fighting so much. Those were the only reasons I was able to react quickly enough to wrap my arms around Sinon and pull her away with me as Ikuchi slid past us in a blur, his photon sword sweeping over where my neck had been just an instant before. He whirled to face us.
The beam of green light had come from a device in his other hand. It looked like a pistol at first glance, bulky and white, reminiscent of a Desert Eagle, almost. That's where the similarities ended. It's barrel was modified with two elongated prongs sticking out of either side, giving it the impression of a child's toy ray gun.
"I hope I wasn't interrupting," Ikuchi muttered. I let go of Sinon. She shot me a look of thanks and stood her ground with me.
"You weren't. In fact, we were just leaving," I said. I glanced over at Serena and Rei. I drew their attention with a short wave and gestured for Serena to go on without us. She looked hesitant, looking between me and her brother, then she gave a reluctant nod and ran.
Ikuchi watched her go. His eyes flickered with a faint emotion I couldn't quite discern. Sadness, maybe? Or regret. It was hard to say.
"Who is she?" he suddenly asked, turning his attention to Rei. She didn't dare move under his gaze.
"Sinon's replacement. I got bored without someone to throw one-liners at."
A low chuckle escaped Ikuchi's lips. It didn't sound amused, least of all friendly. "You are the most insufferable person I've ever had the displeasure of knowing."
"It's hard, but honest work," I replied.
Sinon frowned, tension mounting on her shoulders. "What do we do?"
That was the question. Having another confrontation with Ikuchi while Sinon was still around was just about the last thing I wanted. As long as they were both here, she was still in danger. I needed to get her away, back to the safety of Glocken. It didn't matter how. I just had to do it.
"How much health do you have?" I asked.
"About a third left. We can take him if we're careful," she said.
"I dunno. It'll be dicey."
"You have a better idea?" she asked.
I grunted. "More or less."
No sooner than when I raised the machete did Ikuchi reach into his jacket, his eyes silently daring me to try anything. "Ah, ah, ah. None of that. You're going to keep your hands at your sides, both of you."
I ground my teeth together and lowered my arm. I casted a meaningful look at Rei for half a second, before turning back to Ikuchi. I had to be careful. Any sudden moves on my part could make Ikuchi pull the Black Star, and then it'd all be over.
"You're making a mistake," I said.
Ikuchi tilted his chin up at me, his eyes turning flat. "No, I don't think I am."
"You think so? Because you're one wrong move away from — "
"You're not the first I've had to personally ruin," Ikuchi interrupted me. "You won't be the last either. I've been very generous with you in the past. You should have taken my offers when I gave them."
I glowered at him. "Wasn't ever an option."
"Of course not. You're firmly loyal to Sinon," he said, raising his photon sword at me. Drops of rainwater vaporized into little puffs of steam as they hit the blade. "Almost fanatically so. It's intrigued me for some time now. You two are always seen together, you didn't betray her and you made it abundantly clear you never will, and now you've fought through a whole city to get her back. Friends like that are hard to come by."
I said nothing.
"Yet the anger you displayed when I had her at my mercy seemed to suggest so much more than that. I saw it in your eyes. You were ready to kill me," Ikuchi watched me, then he lifted his eyebrows, lips parting in silent understanding. "Ahhh, that's what it is, isn't it? It'd certainly explain your behavior. You love her."
I kept my face impassively still. "Don't need to love someone in order to look out for them. If you keep coming after her, I'm going to be there to stop you. It's as simple as that."
Ikuchi's face fell into an emotionless mask. "Amusing. You're one person. You'll never be a credible threat on your own."
I barked out a laugh. "Are you serious? You're underestimating me again. Look at where we are, look at what I've done to get here. I outmaneuvered your bounty. I stole the vault's treasure right out of your hands. And what did you do? You laid a trap for me in the hotel, sent squads to hunt me down in the city, set up an impenetrable fortress guarded by every last man in your squad, and look what happened. I broke through it all. Every plan you had fell apart the moment I stepped in. Do you honestly, truly think I won't ever be a threat to you?" I shook my head. "You have a choice, man. You can walk away. No one else has to get hurt here."
"Why do you care so much about what happens to me?"
I glared at him. "Because I don't want SAO ruining more lives. I'd much rather have you rebuilding your life than have you wallowing and hurting people, including yourself."
"You oppose me, yet you don't want me to hurt myself," Ikuchi looked like he was legitimately lost for words. "What kind of backwards logic is that?"
"My kind," I said. "I'm a bleeding heart."
He stared at me with those same flat eyes and shook his head. "And I'm not a charity case. Your help isn't needed or wanted. The most you're good for is being crushed under my heel."
"Maybe you could, just for a second, realize how your actions are affecting people besides yourself," I said. "Take a step back and realize how out of hand things have gotten."
He regarded me in silence, his dull gaze lacking anything resembling life or spirit, like a part of his soul had been gouged out, the wound turning black and rotten. "Why should I?"
"It's the right thing to do. You keep carrying on like this and nobody is going to be happy in the end. It doesn't have to be like that. There's still time for you to turn a new leaf. "
We stood in silence for a long minute, rain pouring at a steady beat. Ikuchi narrowed his eyes, frown lines appearing on his face. He made a few attempts to speak, but words seemed to fail him. Then he sighed and shook his head, the gesture almost apologetic.
"No...I'm sorry, but there isn't. The right thing doesn't exist. If it did, SAO wouldn't have lasted as long as it did. Kayaba wouldn't have created that death trap to begin with. But he did. Because he had power. The ones who abused and taxed and extorted people in Aincrad? They had it too. They controlled everything," Ikuchi said in a quiet tone. He bowed his head at a slight angle. "Yeah, that's the only thing that matters in the world. It's the only way to heal. Everything else is just window dressing."
The way in which he said those words gave me pause. It sounded like he was trying to convince himself more so than me. He wanted control again. It was worth looking into later, though, when we weren't a wrong move away from the situation getting worse. For now, I needed to get away from him.
I looked over his shoulder and said, "Fine. Say hi to Gozu for me."
Surprise hit his face at the last possible second. He was too late to notice I'd been stalling the whole time, drawing his attention away long enough for Rei to slip behind him and level her hunting rifle at his back.
She fired and didn't miss a single shot.
In the span of five seconds, Rei emptied the entire magazine into Ikuchi's back. He stumbled forward, then tried to turn and raise his sword to defend himself. He was distracted, but not for long.
Sinon saw a chance to attack him and rushed to take it. I didn't let her. I reached out before she got away, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and pulled her up against me. She looked up at me, furrowed her eyebrows, and opened her mouth to speak.
I impaled her with the machete. Right through the stomach.
Her body went rigid. Her eyes flew wide open, filled with shock, confusion, and a little bit of betrayal."Wh-what?"
I gave her a small smile, bowed my head a little in apology, and said, "Sorry. I'll explain later, okay?"
She blinked at me, then grabbed me hard by the shoulders, her expression incomprehensible. "You better."
Then she disappeared in a lightshow of scattered pixels.
I killed her.
Holy crap.
There wasn't a single person I knew who ever came close to doing what I just did, and it wasn't for lack of trying. Sinon was all skill and steel nerve underneath an inflexible icy exterior. She was a BoB finalist. Someone who killed and made a fool out of some of the most high ranking players in GGO. It was a point of pride for her. She built her reputation on it.
And she just got done in by a Nobody.
She wasn't mad, right?
Right.
Ah, who am I kidding? I'm going to pay for it later.
The last of the motes of light vanished into thin air by the time Ikuchi got his bearings. He gawked at the now empty space Sinon once occupied, realized what I did, then threw me a seething, hateful look.
"You," he growled.
I spread my arms out wide and for the first time in a long while, a snarky grin spread on my face. "Ladies and gentlemen," I said, with all the grandeur of an announcer for a primetime concert. "Sinon has left the building."
"This isn't over," Ikuchi said. "I still have the Black Star. Nothing has been decided. You haven't won."
"Yap, yap, yap. You gonna whine some more, puppy?" I know I was supposed to be helping him overcome his demons and everything, but I couldn't stop my lips from flapping even if I wanted to. That's what happens when hours of anxious worry for my maybe-girlfriend are suddenly lifted off my shoulders. I stopped Ikuchi. Again. And damn it, I was going to let him know it. "I told you. Everytime I step in, poof. There goes your meticulously crafted plans. Maybe you should consider a career change. I hear the circus is hiring."
Ikuchi's face turned red with unrepentant anger. I gave him a smile full of jovial cheer in response. Suck on that, jerk.
"What was that?" he growled, the words almost unrecognizable from the anger tinging them.
"You got outplayed, Ikuchi. Game, set, match," I said. I reined in the urge to keep up the smack talk, but believe me, it was a challenge. "You see how pointless this is? We don't have to keep doing this."
"Yes. We. do." Ikuchi stalked towards me, murder plain on his face as he raised his photon sword.
Mezu's crushed corpse rolled to stop right in between us. It wasn't a pretty sight. The kevlar he wore had been ripped to shreds. Claw marks four inches deep stretched over his body and his deltoid muscles had been gnawed off along with the back of his neck. His eyes were glassy, unfocused. He was already dead. His avatar disappeared a second later.
All three of us, Ikuchi, Rei, and myself flinched when we heard a roar that was all too familiar. Rei's C4 detonation gave us a way out, but it also made a lot of noise. I hoped that it would keep any Yokai chasing us busy with Zerkers, but Ikuchi's interference cost us the precious time we needed to get away.
The scarred, hulking form of the Alpha Zerker suddenly appeared from out of the darkness of the mall, pushing itself through the hole we left through, stone fragmenting as it struggled to hold such colossal mass.
"I suppose this is it. We'll see each other again. I'm sure of it," Ikuchi said. An indignant scowl crossed his face, but rather than press an attack, he ran straight for the Alpha, drawing the white plastic gun from his coat once more. Rei raised her hunting rifle and fired as fast as she could. The shots went wide as Ikuchi shot another green beam at the roof of the mall, hauling him up and over the Alpha as it reached up and missed his dangling legs by inches. He made it to the roof and disappeared out of sight.
"Master!" Rei cried. I snapped my attention to the Alpha at the same time it did to us. Its back leg dug at the asphalt then it charged at my ArFA-Sys with a bellow of animalistic fury.
It seemed unfair for such a large slab of meat and muscle to move as fast as it did, but I guess it didn't become top dog because of a coin flip.
Rei saw it coming and froze in place, eyes wide, too paralyzed to do anything. I couldn't blame her. A behemoth monstrosity barreling towards you is intimidating. Most people would freeze up being in the same room with a hungry tiger.
I ran as fast as I could, but the Alpha was going to beat me.
"Rei," I screamed, my voice booming over the beating storm, "Rifle up!"
Rei jerked, snapping back into focus, and got her rifle up between the Alpha's jaws and her head. Its yellow teeth snapped down on the weapon and its massive weight forced her to the ground on her back. The Alpha whipped its head back and forth like a rabid dog, dragging her along the ground like she was its chew toy. Thick, viscous drool drizzled down her arms and sprayed onto her face as she let out little panicked yelps.
The Alpha raised its head and brought it down, pushing her harder against the ground, it's grotesque face inching close enough for its hot, putrid breath to hit her face. Rei's rifle creaked. The scope's glass popped, shattering into pieces. The wooden stock whined in protest as the strength of the Alpha's bite began to bend the metal barrel. Rei couldn't hold out forever. Eventually, it would snap its jaws around her neck.
Which is why it got a rude interruption when I jumped onto its back and stabbed the machete through its spine. It let go of Rei and howled in a rage. It twisted around in an attempt to buck me off, but I held firm.
"Go, go, go!" I shouted to Rei. She scrambled to her feet and got clear. Which left just me to contend
At that moment, the sound of a car horn blaring through the air hit my ears, and the Alpha and I were suddenly awashed with a bright light. It was coming from a pair of headlights mounted to a truck that looked like it ate other cars as a light snack. And it was speeding right for us.
Hardly needed more motivation than that.
I jumped right off the Alpha's back like a springboard. Not even a second later, the truck slammed into it with an ugly crunching noise, carrying it away and crashing it into a nearby wall. The truck's wheels spun in place, crushing the Alpha's body as it clawed at the hood of the car, shrieking an unholy wail.
A bang that sounded like a mortar round pierced my eardrums and the Alpha's head popped like a balloon filled with jam, pixelated blood gushing out in an arterial spray. The headless body twitched and spasmed, clawing at nothing, then it went still, disappearing in a scattering of pixels.
Rei lowered Hecate and got up from the kneeling position she was in, the pain of the recoil evident on her face. The ultra rare rifle demanded a strength stat that could let you bench press a bodybuilder and anything less was an affront to its status. "Monster defeated, Master," she panted.
I hobbled over to her and patted her on the arm, smiling. "I'll say. You did great, Rei. More than great, actually. You did everything perfectly. Thank you."
Her expression brightened and she gave me an enthusiastic salute. "I'm always happy to serve."
The truck honked its horn a few times and Serena poked her head out of the window when we came near. "Where's Ikuchi?" she asked.
"Escaped. Guess the rest of his unit got wiped and he figured he would get us later," I said. Serena spat a word under her breath.
"And Sinon?"
"Safe. I got her out. She'll be back at Glocken."
"Well, that's something at least," she said, and I couldn't help but notice the slightest touch of dissatisfaction in her tone. She sighed and said, "So are we done or what?"
"Yeah."
"Let's go then. I wanna ditch this place."
Rei and I climbed into the backseat. Serena put the truck in reverse and pulled us out into the street again, away from the destroyed ruins of Royal Gallery Mall and eventually into the grass plains that surrounded Old South.
I leaned out from the backseat and said to Serena, my voice a whisper, "Don't worry, we still have hope. I don't think Ikuchi is one hundred percent on this plan of his."
Serena kept her eyes on the road, her mouth working into a slight frown. "What makes you say that?"
"He had to convince himself that what he was in the right. Sounds like even he isn't sure what he's doing and he's grasping for the first thing that gives him any sense of control," I said. "If we steer him towards something that can do that without hurting anyone then maybe we can end this whole mess."
"God, I hope so," Serena said. "So do you have a plan?"
"Not yet, but now that I know a little bit more about him, I can cook something up. He let some things slip about SAO. I think I'll be able to use it."
Serena nodded. "Yeah, and while we're talking about that, what's the deal with you? You're an SAO survivor too?"
"Unfortunately," I said. "I don't have the fondest memories of that place. I'd rather forget it entirely, but the circumstances have changed."
"You did blather it to everybody," Serena said.
"Especially Ikuchi. He knows what I am now. Even if he denies it, it's going to be stuck in the back of his mind. Hopefully, that means he'll be more inclined to listen to me. Survivor to survivor, y'know?"
Serena remained silent for a while as she drove. I looked out the passenger window at the rolling grassy hills and the sea of storm grey clouds. It had only been a couple of hours at most since I met Sinon at the hotel, but it felt like years had gone by. I wearily leaned back into the comfortable leather seating, closed my eyes, and took slow deep breaths, feeling the tension drain away from my joints and muscles until what remained was a twitchy numb sensation.
"What was it like in there?" Serena asked out of the blue. "Ikuchi never told me about it, so I never found out. But..."
"It's different for everyone," I said without opening my eyes. "For some it wasn't that bad. They stayed behind the walls of the safe zone and lived pretty normal lives. Others, well, they have therapists at the survivor school for a reason."
Serena didn't say anything for a beat, just long enough for maybe a nervous gulp. "And for you?"
"Highs and lows. Except the lows were really, really low." I waved a hand out in front of me. "I'd rather not get into it right now if that's alright."
"Yeah, okay," Serena said. We passed the rest of the ride in silence until we reached the edge of the zone and left Old South behind us.
But the memories of SAO were going to stick around a little while longer.
