An earth-shattering roar rumbled inside the ice cave as the Northern White Dragon has been resurrected when the Blue Rose Sword was touched by the Salamander leader, who was not the quest taker. Everyone had halted their fights and was all staring shockingly at the berserk dragon.
"Damn it!" Kirito cursed at the unfavourable outcome that had unfolded while still trying to shake off the enervation that was still lingering on him. Unfortunately for him, there was no time to rest as the ice rubbles from the shattered ice crystals before started to levitate and assemble on their own, forming ice golems. The ice golems were closer to where the Underworldians stood and began wobbling towards them with the intent to attack.
The Underworldians tried to fight them off but there were too many of them, so Alice rushed to their aid with Asuna following closely behind. Kirito was about to follow the two girls but couldn't help but to worry more about the rampaging dragon above the Salamander leader. He turned towards the said man and saw him gathering his team around him, getting ready to fight the dragon.
"Get into formation C! Even though we lost one man, we can still do this! Let's kill this thing and get all the loot! We'll be rich after this!" The team members yelled back in agreement as their leader gave the encouragement. It was clear that the Salamander leader was underestimating the situation.
"S-stop!" Kirito yelled but they had already charged towards the dragon unleashed multiple coordinated assaults to narrow down the opening for the dragon to retaliate. When all of them had finished their first sets of sword skills, all of the attackers had become frozen from their sword skill's post-motion delay. The dragon let out a loud roar before lunging towards the group. Two tankers, who have yet to attack, were standing by to counter the dragon's moves. They stood before their teammates with gripping their shields to brace for the impact. However, things turned ugly when the dragon easily sliced through the two tankers like they were nothing, turning them into remain lights on the spot. The others were petrified in fear, wanting to flee but they were still frozen, vulnerable to another incoming attack by the dragon. With one tail swipe, the remaining members including the leader were all wiped out within seconds.
Kirito and the others saw everything, stunned with disbelief. Kirito knew that those guys were lower levels compared to him but their strategy was not something that could be easily underestimated. To witness them being crushed like ants, made him realized just how impossible the fight really is. He could only speculate that, in order to ensure there wasn't any interruption for the quest, the system must have formed an undefeatable opponent to prevent such from happening while at the same time appearing as part of the quest story. The system was probably the original Cardinal System from SAO that still remains in ALO. Yui had once explained to him on how the original Cardinal System was able to auto-generate unique one-time quests, which was how Kirito got his Excalibur.
With the intruders defeated, Kirito had assumed that everything would return to normal. Unfortunately, the ice golems were still attacking and the dragon remained agitated, roaring in anger. Static started forming on the walls of the ice cave, a sign of corruption in data. An invisible barrier was raised on the exit of the cave, closing off their means of escaping. Apparently this quest had too much data going on all at once that the system was unable to cope, unable to merge properly with ALO. The white dragon then banged onto the ice walls, breaking the ceiling of the cave, revealing the virtual sun of ALO. Dark clouds came just as quick, blocking the light rays and forming a gloomy hopeless atmosphere.
"This is bad." Kirito muttered under his breath as he watched the dragon glaring at them from above, preparing for an attack. Despite feeling drained, Kirito now held both his Night Sky Sword and his Excalibur in both hands, finding no other choice but to fight the dragon head-on. He then turned to Asuna, Alice and the Underworldians to see them doing their best to fend off the ice golems. They were weak and slow monsters but the numbers and their high defence were overwhelming. "Alice! I need you to help protect the others from the ice golems! Asuna, you'll help Alice too but focus on healing and support." Kirito yelled and the two girls only stared back in disbelief while blocking attacks.
"T-then...What about you, Kirito-kun?!" Asuna asked as if fearing for what action he was planning to take.
The black-haired Spriggan turned his back to them and paused for a moment before slowly spoke. "I'll fight the dragon." He said in a low voice but loud enough for them to hear, his grip on his swords tightened with tension.
"What are you trying to prove?! There is no way you can do this alone!" Alice retorted. The Underworldians were also against the idea of him fighting alone when a group of people was so easily wiped out moments ago.
"T-that's right, Kirito-kun! At least let me fight with you!" Asuna said while going back towards him.
"You can't!" Kirito yelled back while avoiding eye contact, Asuna stopped running as she heard the serious tone in his voice. "You can't. I need you to heal everyone. If you fight too then it'll put us at a much bigger risk. Please, do this for me?" He pleaded, finally meeting her eyes with a strained smile. "I promise I'll be fine."
Despite reluctant to accept this arrangement, Asuna knew Kirito was right. The Underworldians were finally revived. All of their efforts would be in vain if they let them get destroyed right here. There was still so much they are unsure of, it was best not to put their lives at risk. However, if Kirito dies in this battle, it would also mean failing the quest and there was no telling what could happen to the Underworldians.
"Alright, be careful." Asuna finally said before turning her back against him, heading back towards the Underworldians. Before reaching her own battlefield, Asuna faced Kirito's back once more and took a deep breath. "Kirito-kun!" She yelled, startling everyone, especially the black-haired boy. He looked over to her to see her smiling with a hand put a 'V' sign. It was the same sign he showed to her when she faced the 27th floor boss with the Sleeping Knights back when Yuuki was still alive. Back then, he sacrificed himself for her sake and showed her the sign as an encouragement. "Don't lose!"
Understanding the motion immediately, Kirito smiled and nodded with slight confidence. "Yeah, I'm gonna win! It's a promise!" Turning back towards the dragon above, Kirito took a deep breath to gain focus. Once his eyes were filled with determination and intensity, the black swordsman ferociously bellowed out a war cry that echoed through the cave. Everyone except Asuna was taken by surprise by Kirito's sudden change in aura. It was like he had suddenly turned into a fearless warrior. Asuna knew that persona of his very well, it was the same one he had back when he fought The Gleam Eyes back in SAO, fearless yet reckless. She didn't really like having him stressing himself out like that but she had no choice. But, she couldn't help but feel something was off about him. Somehow he was different from before.
Kirito's POV
As I let out a battle cry to get myself pumped up for battle, I bent my legs slightly. Fortunately for me, my Spriggan wings finally worked. It was probably due to the change in the battlefield. The ice cave was no longer concealed with the ceiling destroyed.
Charging upwards at a very high speed with my trusty Night Sky Sword, I released 'Rage Spike', a charge type skill that would allow me to close in on the dragon fast by shooting my body upwards by nearly twenty meters high, twice as much as normal due to the boost from my wings. My dark blade managed to stab into one of the dragon's talons, but only manage to injure it with an insignificant amount of damage. It didn't matter as I was only aiming to get close enough it to actually start doing some real damage.
As I gained balance in the air, the white dragon roared and seemingly charging for an ice breath attack. I quickly dashed in with my Night Sky Sword charging with an orange glow. Thrusting continuously for five times into my target's abdomen, followed by an upward then downward cut with full force, I unleashed my high-level fire-type sword skill, 'Howling Octave', to counter its charge. Without stopping, the Excalibur in my left hand glowed with a sky-blue light and I focused all my attention to initiating 'Horizontal Square'. Drawing a square around the dragon with my powerful slashes, I knew I couldn't stop here just yet. I was now behind the dragon with my black sword resting over my shoulder lighting up in blue. Before the dragon could turn around to attack me, I released my powerful 7-hit combo attack, 'Deadly Sins', dealing slash after slash at the hard skin with some spins.
Finally, I was reaching the limit of my extra skill, Skill Connect, and had to quickly use another fast attack against it. Charging my Excalibur once more with a crimson glow, I shot over to the dragon with a powerful ultra-high-speed thrust with the sound of a jet-engine, 'Vorpal Strike', my signature single-handed move. This move was so strong that it managed to push the dragon a few distances away from me as I became frozen from its long post-motion delay.
The dragon had had five Hit-Point bars which I had already brought down two of them with my Skill Connect. "I can do this." I encouraged myself as I turned back to glance at Asuna and the others below me. They were doing quite well too and the Underworldians were mostly wearing an astonished look. I figured it was due to me flying that had them looked so shocked. 'I'll have to explain myself later.' I thought to myself. I then noticed both Asuna and Alice smiling at me with relief showed on their faces, but that didn't last long when I saw the terror in Asuna's aqua eyes.
The dragon had recovered from its stun and just in time, I was able to move my body once more. It lunged towards me this time as I tried to block its attack by crossing both swords together. I managed to block the attack but its force was too much that I was being pushed back.
"Arrrrghhhhh!!!" I yelled fiercely while pushing back with all my might, barely managing to stop the dragon's force with my high strength stats. Taking this as an opening, I decided to use an extremely high-level sword skill that was inherited from the SAO's list of sword skills. A ten-hit combo one-handed sword skill, 'Nova Ascension'. Unleashing a barrage of powerful slashes, I managed to reduce its HP to half of its fourth bar. Seeing the dragon sway from my attack, I tried to chain my attacks again with my Skill Connect. This time, I used 'Meteor Break', hoping to deal severe damage as I made my final slash, aiming the dragon's tough neck.
However, the dragon's eyes suddenly glowed in red and regained its stance unexpectedly. The reaction caught me off guard and my Excalibur collided with the thick scales on its neck instead of the vulnerable flesh. My Excalibur flew out of my left hand as the hard impact caused me to lose my balance. Before I could react, the dragon used its tail and cruelly whipped me towards the ground. My scrawny body slammed onto the hard cold ground, causing me to gasp at the impact. "Kirito-kun!" I could hear Asuna's cry from afar.
Even with the Pain Absorber, such a hard impact would still cause me great discomfort. I could feel some bad memories had flashed through my mind as I felt the impact. 'It's okay, calm down. You're not in any real danger. This is ALO, not real life.' I tried convincing myself as I grunted in discomfort, trying to lift my body back up. Just as I was pushing my torso upwards with both arms, the dragon came flying and stomped on my back, crushing me against the icy floor, cracking the surface from its weight. I felt myself choking from the pressure as more horrible memories flowed into me, both from my tortures from Watanabe, which I thought I had moved on from, and my battles in Underworld. "Ah...ahhhh..." I could barely let out my voice as panic begin to rise in me.
The dragon's talons gripped onto my body tightly and I felt my energy being drained from me. I could see my HP depleting fast while at the same time restoring the dragon's life. It never occurred to me that there will be a boss able to drain HP for regeneration.
I was still holding my Night Sky Sword in my right but my grip was slowly getting weaker as my vision gradually became blurry. 'Is this the end? Was this the best I can do?' My eyes searched for my lover and saw her horrified expression. I could see my HP slowly dropping into the yellow zone and reaching for the red. 'I'm sorry...Asuna...I couldn't keep my promise...I'm pathetic after all...' I thought with a lone tear sliding down my face. I could barely hear her screams nor the others' as my consciousness was wavering.
Normal POV
"Kirito-kun! KIRITO-KUN!" Asuna screamed for her lover when she saw him being crushed beneath the white dragon. She was about to cry but had to hold it in while she recited the commands for a high-level healing spell at a remarkable speed. The aqua-haired Undine healed Kirito's HP back to the green zone to prevent him from dying but the depletion would not stop and the dragon's fourth HP bar was almost full.
"What is that idiot doing?!" Alice snarled as she continued to push back the ice golems.
"Alice-sama!" Eldrie came behind Alice and defended her by whisking away the incoming golem behind her. "Please be more careful!" He said, earning thanks from Alice.
"We have to get to him!" Ronye cried while defending herself from the monsters.
"But there's still so many of these..." Tiese was having a hard time fighting as well. Renly was by her side aiding her and watching her back.
"We have to quickly get rid of these creatures and get to Kirito!" Sortiliena said while managing to defeat one of the golems. Golgorosso, who was beside her, had defeated another one as well and nodded at her statement.
"Yes, we won't let another one of our precious underclassmen be lost again!" He said, referring to his disciple, Eugeo.
From a few distances away, the knights and the people from Dark Territory were also doing quite well in holding their ground. Iskahn was pounding fearlessly at the golems while Sheyta slashed the golems in half. The twins and the Four Whirling Blades worked as a team to keep some of the golems at bay while, Shasta, Lipia, Fanatio and Bercouli watched the back of their lovers.
"Oi, oi! This isn't the Kirito I knew at all!" Iskahn grunted in frustration. A minute ago he was enthused by his powerful assaults but now the black-haired boy had suddenly given in so easily that it angered him.
"Is it another panic attack?!" Fanatio asked.
"Little Miss, Little Asuna! You two go and help the young man! We'll handle this ourselves!" Bercouli yelled to the two girls and they nodded.
Before they could run towards the boy, the dragon roared at them and all the golems began to crowd them. Both Asuna and Alice brought out their fairy wings and dodged all of the golems with ease. The golems then gave up and went for the Underworldians as they had planned.
"Asuna! You help Kirito, I'll distract the dragon! Hurry!" Alice yelled while flying towards the dragon's head, dodging every single breath attack that was thrown at her. She was able to land a few slashed on its head, managing to stop it draining process even though it did not deal much damage.
Asuna landed beside the trapped Kirito, cupping his face in her hands, his eyelids were threatening to close. "Kirito-kun! Don't give up! Look at me! Kirito-kun!" She cried at her lover but he was being unresponsive. Asuna could recognize right away that he was suffering from his past trauma. Taking out her rapier, Asuna tried to slash the dragon's foot to release its hold on Kirito but the scales were too tough. Noticing the boy's HP reaching the red zone once more, she quickly used another healing spell on him to restore his health. "Kirito-kun, listen to me. I know it's hard to face your past but, please, you're not alone. We're here with you! Look around you, you're already this close to finding your answer. Are you willing to just give up and let everything go?!" She cried while healing him.
"A-Asuna...I...I..." Kirito tried to look at his beloved with little strength in him. He could feel the warmth of Asuna's spell flowing into him, supporting him. Once Asuna was done with healing, she kneeled back down before him and caressed his cheek.
"I know you never once see yourself as a hero but to me and everyone else, you ARE our hero. You'd always stand back up and fight for what you believe in. You're not a failure and you're most definitely not weak." Asuna said softly and stood back up. She began pushing on the dragon's foot, hoping to free Kirito. "But if you give up here, everything that you've been building up until now would have been in vain. You don't really want that, do you?" Asuna asked in a strained voice, pushing with all her might.
"No..." Kirito weakly shook his head. "I want to...bring them back...I want to tell them my feelings...I want to show them a better life..." He spoke with his voice slowly gaining strength as he starts to push both hands onto the ground and his back against the foot above him. "I'm sorry, Asuna...for almost giving up... I'm such an idiot...for always repeating the same mistake over and over again...it's the same when Eugeo died too..." Kirito grunted while pushing his body upwards with all his might.
"No, it's alright...because I'll always stand by you...I'll be your light...that's why!" She cried while pushing, starting to feel some movements.
"Yeah! I'm gonna fight...after all...I promised you I won't lose!" As Kirito yelled at the top of his lungs, the giant ice boulder in the middle of the cave started glowing again, along with the Blue Rose Sword wedged to the ground in front of it. Everyone was too caught up in their own battles to notice the change.
With a burning determination and newfound strength, Kirito pushed the dragon's foot upwards until his body was loose and Asuna swiftly pulled him out from under the talons. The couple then took a short while to catch their breaths from all the pushing. Meanwhile, Alice was slowly being pushed back from the harsh attacks from the dragon. When Kirito managed to escape from its hold, the dragon raged with a loud roar and used its wing sent Alice flying in the opposite direction.
"Alice!" Both Kirito and Asuna yelled in unison as they watched the golden-haired knight crashed onto the ground near the Underworldians. Selka quickly went to her side to check on her while Eldrie protected them from approaching golems. Before Kirito and Asuna could stand up, they felt a shadow loomed over above them and looked up. The dragon had lifted its foot above the couple, about to crush them with a stomp in full force. Kirito, who was still crouching on the ground, did not have enough time to get up and dodge, could only watch in horror when he saw Asuna, pulling him close to her body.
"Kirito-kun!" Asuna was kneeling beside him, swiftly hugged his head to her chest. They could no longer escape so Asuna decided to shield him with her own body as she didn't want him getting hurt again even if it was only a game.
Just as the giant foot was about squash the couple, a bright blue light shot towards the white dragon with full speed. The impact was strong enough to throw it a meters away from the couple. Kirito and Asuna remained in each other's embrace as they moved their eyes towards the blue light that had halted above their heads.
It was the Blue Rose Sword. It has somehow moved on its own and saved the couple from impending doom. Slowly hovering downwards until it reached Kirito's chest level, the beautiful white blade stopped in front of the black-haired boy. A familiar masculine yet gentle voice then reached both Kirito's and Asuna's ears. "Now, stand up, my hero. I know if it's you, I know you can do it." Kirito's eyes widened at the voice, his body became tense as he hesitated in reaching out for the sword.
"Kirito-kun? Is that...Eugeo-san's voice?" Asuna asked with a hand placed on his shoulder. Kirito nodded and eventually wrapped his left hand around the hilt of the white sword. A message 'Temporarily equipped Blue Rose Sword' appeared before them. Kirito inhaled deeply with closed eyes and exhaled before standing on both legs. Asuna remained worried about his condition but stayed silent.
"Asuna." He called, catching her attention. "Thank you. I'm going. Please go help Alice." He turned his head towards her, no longer showing any weakness in his eyes. "I promise I'll be fine this time. I'm going to finish this." Kirito flashed a smile at her and she tearfully smiled, nodding before turning towards Alice's way. Turning his eyes back to the dragon that was getting back up with two and a half bars of HP left, Kirito brought the white sword close to his face while he gripped the Night Sky Sword tightly in his right. "Let's do this, partner." He whispered to the sword and it shined as if reciprocating his feelings.
Bringing out his wings once more, Kirito charged at the dragon with full speed pushing it back with a consecutive attack of 'Vorpal Strikes'. As the dragon's HP dropped to the fourth bar once more, Kirito took the chance to recover from his post-motion delay and took the stance for an original sword skill. Both of Kirito's swords glowed in light blue at the same time when the dragon charged at him.
"STARBURST STREAM!!!" Kirito yelled out at the top of his lungs and charged straight into battle. With a routine of heavy slashed from both swords, Kirito executed the sword skill as if he was doing a swords dance. This was his favourite dual-wielding skill during his SAO time and he had painstakingly recreated this skill and recorded with ALO's Original Sword Skill system. With this heavy assault, the dragon was finally brought down to its last HP bar.
However, due to the high-level skill, it has a very long post-motion delay which left Kirito vulnerable to attacks right now. The dragon took a few seconds to recover and used its tail to whip Kirito to the side walls. The impact itself halved his HP. After remaining stunned for a few more seconds, Kirito was finally able to move but the dragon had gotten too close for him to prepare for another sword skill. He could barely deflect all the clawing and ice breaths thrown at him, further decreasing his HP.
Suddenly, a barrage of ice arrows was shot at the dragon's head to stop its thrashing. Kirito looked to the owner of the spell in surprise. It was Asuna. She had fully healed Alice and decided to provide Kirito with some support from a distance with the little MP she had left, hoping to create an opening for him to attack. Kirito smirked to himself and quietly thanked Asuna in his heart.
"It took me awhile to recall this based on vague memories and to finally complete it, but I guess it's time to finally use that skill." Kirito mumbled to himself and took his stance. "The final dual-blade sword skill, The Eclipse." Letting out one last battle cry, Kirito charged at the dragon with his remaining strength and unleashed a relentless barrage of highly devastating slashes with both swords, not allowing the dragon any chance to attack while pushing it back to a corner. This move was accidentally activated by Kirito back then when he had his final battle with Heathcliff in SAO on the 75th floor. As Kirito was going for the final attack of the set, he brought down the Blue Rose Sword and mercilessly stabbed the dragon's abdomen. With one weak roar, the dragon's form spasmed before shattering into blue light particles.
Softly landing before the glowing ice boulder, Kirito stabbed the Blue Rose Sword into the cracking boulder and broke it into pieces, revealing a bright light. The light then slowly died down, leaving a form of a human before Kirito. Kirito could not believe his eyes as the person standing before him was his best friend, whom he met and adventured with his Underworld, Eugeo. The flaxen-haired boy slowly opened his closed eyes and green orbs were met with the onyx ones. He gave Kirito his usual gentle smile and spoke. "I knew you can do it, Kirito."
"E-Eugeo..." Kirito stuttered, still afraid to believe it was real. But after a few more seconds of processing, his brows softened and a smile finally formed on his lips. "Yeah...I finally did it..." After uttering those words, Kirito felt all his strength immediately drained from his body as he dropped onto the ground on his back. His hands releasing the grip on both swords as they dropped to the ground with a clang.
"Kirito!"
"Kirito-kun!"
Those were the words he heard before everything went black.
I'm finally back guys! Thanks for your patience. It's been a busy week and I was getting so frustrated that I couldn't update my story.
Anyway hope you enjoy this chapter, stay tuned! :D