Sword Art Online: Akira's Arrows
Chapter 7: The Blue-Eyed Demon
Akira
"Oh my god, I can't remember the last time we saw a boss that huge!" I said, leaning my head back against the large white pillar as my back leaned against it next to Asuna, who sat in-between me and Kirito. "We'll need some major ranged support on this one."
"Yeah, and a least six rows of players total," Kirito sighed, trying to calm his breathing. "I only saw that big sword, but its gotta have some other special attacks."
Asuna nodded in agreement. "We'll have to keep switching our tanks in and out to keep them refreshed, to wear it down…"
"Yeah, and it would probably be good to have at least ten shield users…" Kirito said, and I nodded in agreement with him.
"It's too bad nobody else really uses bows…" I muttered, sighing as I looked at The Black Bow of Fate leaning next to me. "A row or two of them would probably be a big help."
I was the only person on the assault team that used a bow as their primary weapon. Of course, there were still people who used them, however, most only did for hunting purposes. Playing as an archer was really popular in most RPGs, but when it was actual life or death on the line? Most preferred to learn sword skills as opposed to bow skills. I even had to learn to use one in the end, so I couldn't blame them.
Still, having someone else, another sharpshooter would have been pretty advantageous.
Kirito chuckled. "Not everyone can be as silly as you, you know we're playing Sword Art Online right?"
I rolled my eyes which made him laugh even more. "Oh yeah, that's a hilarious joke, it's not like I've heard that exact same one a million times or anything."
Asuna chuckled herself from between us, before looking to Kirito. "Speaking of shield users…."
Her eyes were trained on Kirito, and I saw that look she normally got in her eye, that look when she was determined to figure something out.
"Huh? What… what is it, what's wrong?" Kirito said, clearly unsettled by her glare.
"You are," Asuna said, and I almost choked like Kirito as she went on. "You're hiding something aren't you?"
"Asuna," I told her. "What do you have cooked up in that brain of yours now?"
"Yeah… what are you talking about?" Kirito said, in a tone that really didn't help his case.
She cleared her throat, her eyes still trained on Kirito. "I just realized, the biggest advantage of a one-handed sword, is the ability to use a shield, but you know what… I don't think I've ever seen you using one."
I stuttered. "A…Asuna, where did-."
She looked at me. "The reason Akira doesn't use a shield, is that he only has two weapon slots, one for his bow, one for his sword. I don't use it because it'd slow down my rapier. Others don't because they think it looks dumb."
I looked over at Kirito and cursed myself for wondering the answer myself. My answer was, I just always assumed that like Asuna a shield would slow him down.
She didn't stop there. "And how come you're not using the sword you commissioned from Liz mhm? Very suspicious is you ask me…."
Her glare didn't stop, and I realized that Asuna often did a thing where I didn't know if she was being serious or not. Kiito was shrinking like a shirt in the dryer under her eyes, and I was finally about to try and defuse the tension, when I saw a smile appear on her face.
"Oh, forget it," She said in a suddenly cheerful tone. "It's rude to ask people to justify their skills, don't mind me."
Kirito breathed a sigh of relief and looked over at me, looking for some kind of explanation. I shrugged, sometimes even I didn't have the answer. Either way, I could see that Asuna had already forgotten about it apparently. I watched as she went to her inventory.
"Well, since it's already so late, we may as well have lunch here!" She said, as a basket popped into her hands and my mouth watered.
"Really?! Did you make it yourself," Kirito said, as I remembered he had finally gotten to taste some real Asuna cooking the night before.
"Oh man, I knew I came for a reason!" I said, just as excited, I hadn't eaten all morning.
She laughed and nodded. "Of course, I did, just make sure you take your gloves- Akira! You know the rules, take them off first!"
"Yes mother…" I said with an eye roll, putting the sandwich down and unequipping my gloves first.
I could feel her, and Kirito laugh at me, as I wasted no time digging into the sandwich she'd given me. It was as amazing as everything Asuna made, and I recognized the soy sauce seasoning she'd perfected. The taste helped remind me of the real world, the fact that there really had been something before Aincrad.
Half of my sandwich was gone in seconds, to which when Asuna saw she slapped me on the back.
"Chew your food it's not going anywhere!" She scolded. "That's all we have so make it last, don't make yourself sick you'll get a movement penalty!"
I rolled my eyes. "Again, thank you very much mother…"
Kirito chuckled and bit into his own, only for his eyes to go wide at how amazing I knew the sauce tasted. The two proceeded to have a riveting conversation about the cooking mechanics in SAO, which only made me smile even more. It surprised me, how much I smiled these days, despite being trapped in a death game.
Asuna brought up her dozens upon dozens of recipes and seeing Kirito's amazed face only made me laugh. Asuna had shown me dozens of times, and while I could cook in the real world pretty well, I hadn't gotten the hang of it in SAO yet. Each person seemed to have that one non-combat skill they simply leveled up to make their life easier. Mine was bartering, I already had the weapons and armor that would last me till floor 100, what was the point in bartering with player shopkeepers, when I could just abuse the bartering skill to get a better deal from NPC ones? The only exception was Agil, who I sold my higher-level item drops to.
"Cooking in SAO is really simple when it comes down to it," Asuna said with a smile, closing out the windows.
Kirito still looked amazed. "Amazing! It's perfect, have you thought about selling it?! You could make a fortune!"
"I tell her that all the time," I chimed in, leaning back against the rugged pillar.
Asuna blushed. "Ha… you really think so?"
She was looking at Kirito now, and I felt a pang of jealously. Not because I wished Asuna looked at me like that, despite how beautiful she was, and how highly I thought of her, I had simply never felt that way about Asuna.
No, the jealousy stemmed from the fact I didn't have my person here anymore to look at me like Kirito and Asuna looked at each other. It didn't make me any less happy for them, seeing their obvious infatuation and developing feelings for each other.
It only made me miss Kya even more. It had been nice spending the night with Argo… but I was realizing then that I didn't know if anything would ever replace seeing Kya's bright green eyes and cute smile looking at me like Asuna looked at Kirito then.
I looked and saw Kirito's smile disappear, a look of contemplation replacing it. "Wait… no, no you can't sell it."
"Huh?" Asuna asked, suddenly seeming offended. "Why not?"
Kirito shook his head. "Because…. Then there wouldn't be enough for me."
"Hey! And me!" I protested. If I lost Asuna's soy sauce I may really leap off a building.
Asuna-who sat between Kirito and I- look at us both before sighing. "Ugh… you're both so greedy. If you want Kirito-kun, I could always just make you some more. God knows Akira-kun eats me out of the stuff weekly."
"Hey!" I protested again as Kirito laughed. "I do not, besides, even if I did it's only because I'm at your place most nights anyway."
"Because you can't cook yourself," Asuna teased. "I can only imagine how crazy that drove Kya and Aki."
Her and Kirito both laughed, and I couldn't help but smile. If anyone else had made a jab at me using Kya and Aki they probably would have gotten themselves an arrow to the leg. Still, I supposed if I could have my closest friends make jokes and still be fine, it was a sign I was becoming more comfortable.
The real test would be what I'd do after I got out of this place.
"I'll have you both know," I told them, standing and stretching my legs, "I am a fantastic cook back in the real world. Japanese, Chinese, American food, I am a master of all! You need to be versatile when you live on the streets like I had too, I needed to feed me and Aki."
"That's right… I'm sorry Akira-kun," Asuna said, standing up after me and helping Kirito up off the ground. "I forgot… I didn't mean to be insensitive."
I shrugged and shook my head. "Don't apologize. It happened; I can't change anything about it. Aki and I… our last few years, they were well… happy at Kya's."
"Still," Kirito added in, a forlorn look on his face. "To be on your own in a still foreign country… it must have been hard."
They were both looking at me now. My stomach churned, I had never really thought about Aki and I's time on the streets alone for a while now. Kya had always said the same things, that it was 'amazing', how Aki and I were able to live as long as we did in Tokyo alone. That apparently it was 'brave' or 'amazing' of me that I managed to keep us from starving.
I appreciated the kind words, I really did… but still…
"I mean… I guess, but I never really saw it that way," I said, going to check my arrows, and health potions. "I never really saw it as some well… brave thing to do."
"But it was Akira," Asuna encouraged as I turned back to them. "You took care of yourself and your sister as a child, in a country you hadn't even mastered the language yet!"
"She's right," Kirito added in with a smile. "I know I never could have done anything like that."
It was my turn to laugh. "Ha, I didn't just take care of Aki. She could sew, make fire, cook herself, we took care of each other. I didn't do something amazing; I did what my mom always did… took care of the people I loved… and besides, in the end, you both know what happened to her."
A weight fell down my chest and I shakily sighed as Asuna, and Kirito looked at each other and then back to me.
"Akira…" Asuna said, and I could see she was going to try and cheer me up, but I shook my head to cut her off.
"No, it's okay Asuna, really, I know what you'll say," I said with another sigh, looking back out into the black void of the dungeon. "We'll disagree on it forever. I… let Aki and Kya down in the end, I'll have to live with that. But… but I have people I love still who I can help protect, mom used to always say, what's the point in living if we don't do it for the people we love?"
I smiled as I looked back at them. "I have you two, so I still have a reason to fight. So that's why, we're going to kill that boss, and then the next one, and the next one, all the way up to floor 100."
I saw their concerned frowns both turn into smiled which made mine grown even wider.
"And who knows, maybe after we get out, we can go to back to my neck of the woods," I said smugly. "I used to live in San Francisco, not far away from Disney Land."
Asuna had stars in her eyes, but Kirito was the first to laugh and slap a hand on my shoulder.
"Ha, I've always wanted to visit there," He said, squeezing my shoulder. "You know, whenever I think we may not make it out of here… I just think of what you've said before."
"He's right Akira-kun," Asuna said smiling as well. "When you say it… I really believe it."
"I'm glad…" I said, looking at them both before sighing and tossing an arm around them both. "Alright then, let's make our way back to Heathcliff and tell him what's up. I may not like him, but he's a tough player. We can figure out a plan for that boss."
"Right!" Asuna said next to me, along with a nod from Kirito.
But before we could leave, I heard the unmistakable sound of a teleport crystal. Instincts took over as Asuna, Kirito and I split, all reaching for weapons. I had just started reaching or an arrow to sling into The Black Bow of Fate, but stopped when I recognized familiar armor, and sighed when I saw Kirito go stiff next to me.
I had no idea why, but Kirito always did that with Klein. I never asked why, it was clearly a bad memory for him. But if it was a bad memory, clearly Klein doesn't think so.
Klein was all smiles as he looked up from his weary guild mates, he perked up right away upon seeing their group, and I'd have been lying if I didn't feel the same. After Kya and Aki died, I had basically cut myself off from anyone except for Asuna and Argo. Kirito, and meeting people like Klein, Silica and Liz had changed that.
"Ha! It's Kirito, and Akira too," Klein said, speeding up in front of his guild, his smile growing. "I haven't seen either of you since the Laughing Coffin Raid, how long has it been?"
"More then two months now," I said, smiling and holding out my first for the older player. With a fist-bump I laughed again. "Ha, it's good to see you too Klein, mapping today?"
"You bet," Klein said with a sigh, rubbing the back of his head. "Been as tiring as ever," he looked to Kirito next. "Ha, and don't think I forgot about you Kirito, how you doing buddy?!"
"Hey… Klein," Kirito said sheepishly, looking away from the man as he rubbed his head. "So… still alive I see."
"Ha… same as ever huh?" Klein said with an amused smile.
I nodded. "Oh yeah, he's as grumpy as ever let me tell- OW!"
1 HP point was knocked of my health bar after Kirito punched me, but it had been completely worth it. Kya always told me I was stubborn when it came to the people I cared about, Aki had gotten it especially hard from me.
I could still remember I time only a year or so before we came into SAO, that my sister had been having a hard time making friends at the new school Mrs. Tanaka had gotten us into. Aki's Japanese still hadn't been as clear and precise as mine was, so she had been worried kids would make fun of her.
So, in response, I stayed up with her for a week straight having entire conversations with her in Japanese. In public we spoke Japanese of course, but when it had been just the two of us, we spoke English. For a week straight I hadn't responded to my sister unless she spoke Japanese, and by the end of that week, she was more then ready for her new school, and like I had expected, the new friends she made love her.
There were dozens of other stories tucked into my mind like that. My sister and I wouldn't have survived without the kindness of our friends, teachers, co-workers, and most of all Kya.
And then even now of course, if not for the people I'd met in Aincrad, I don't know where I'd be, the answer was more then likely in the clouds beneath the floating castle. So, when I saw Kirito struggling to open up, or Asuna struggling to express her feelings, I was going to do absolutely everything I could for them.
If I had to lock Kirito in a room with Klein to help him get over whatever it was that was bothering him, I would.
"Haha, still the same as ever you two, so what… hold on," Klein said, going wide-eyed as he looked just behind and between Kirito and I. "I knew you partied with Akira a lot, Kirito, but what… what the heck are you doing with a girl…."
Klein's eyes widened, and I sighed. "Klein, you have literally both met before."
Asuna looked dreadfully confused, as Klein stood shell shocked looking at her.
Kirito sighed next. "Yeah, I thought you did… but I'll introduce you," he looked to Asuna. "Asuna this is Klein of the Furikazan guild." He looked back to Klein, "and this is Asuna, of the Knights of the Blood Oath."
I looked between the two of them, and saw Klein frozen, looking at the ground and started to shake. Kirito looked at the older player and seemed as confused as Asuna.
"Hey, what happened, Klein?" Kirito said, snapping his fingers and waving his hand in front of Klein's face. "Are you lagging?"
I rolled my eyes, if it had been anyone but Klein acting like this, I probably would have stepped in myself, but since it was Klein me and I'm sure Asuna could forgive his goofiness. If Kirito and I had been the main characters of an anime, Asuna would have been the badass female love interest for Kirito, and Klein would have been our goofy sidekick.
I sighed again when I saw Kirito snap in Klein's eyes once more.
"Hey? Come on say something," Kirito said, and I braced myself for what I knew was going to come, and readied myself to punch Klein and knock some sense into him. Kirito shook his head. "Klein are you-."
Klein stiffened and finally looked at Asuna, shooting out his hand like a robot. "Hi! My names Klein, I'm twenty-four and looking for a girl-."
I had punched dozens of guys for doing this same thing to Asuna in the more then a year since I've known her. She was one of the most beautiful girls in all of SAO, I believed that for a fact, she was a catch, one of the sweetest people you'd ever meet, I knew this all from experience.
I had lost track of the amount of guys who's marriage proposals were cut off by my fist in their gut over the last year. And I wouldn't even get started trying to count the amount of people I'd seen with their gazes lingering too long on Kya and even Aki when they were alive. I liked Klein, I really did, but I had all intentions on knocking some sense into him.
However, I laughed much harder than expected when Kirito did it for me. He punched Klein in the gut and knocked him back, making Asuna jump, and me wince.
"Yikes, remind me not to make you mad," I muttered to Kirito, laughing again. "Ha or move in on your girl."
Kirito only had time to glare at me, before Klein's guild tried to come to his aid. I knew better, but for a minute I got worried they'd try to avenge their boss.
But of course, I was proven wrong when they simply fanboyed wanting to know if Asuna was really Asuna, with Kirito and I having to hold them back.
"Come on you goofs, I know you all have seen a woman before, control yourselves!" I said with a roll of my eyes, which made Asuna laugh.
Kirito chuckled nervously and looked back at her. "Don't worry it's cool! These guys are okay, even though I don't really know about Klein- ARGH!"
"He's right, they're harmless!" I shouted back after him. "But you should look out for Klein, he's a bit- OW!"
"That's payback you weasels!" Klein joked after stepping on both our feet. He threw an arm around both of us. "Akira, I've been asking you to introduce me for weeks!"
"And I keep telling you to do it yourself, she's not an alien!" I yelled back, hoping on my one non-throbbing foot.
Klein scoffed but then looked at Kirito. "And you! Akira must me rubbing off on you, come on spill it!"
"He's not 'rubbing off on me'!" Kirito protested.
I rolled my eyes. "He's right, if anything it's the other way around. Ever since I met him, I've been even moodier and edgy then I already am!"
"Akira!" Kirito yelled back at me, before Klein squeezed the arm around his neck again.
"Come on man tell me! What are you doing with a girl?!" Klein joked as I couldn't help but laugh at Kirito's face. "If Akira introduced you before he introduced me I'm gonna be-."
All of Klein's guild and the rest of us were cut off by Asuna starting to laugh. It was cute, and looking at her sweet smile then, the same one that had saved me over a year ago, I was reminded why so many seemed to fawn over her.
She was really Aincrad's best hope, the best hope for all of us. My best-friend, Asuna Yuki. I realized, I was probably the only one to know her full real name, even before Kirito, but I assumed that would change later. Seeing my other friends flustered face, I could tell. I was good at spotting things like that, they really were crazy about each other.
"Come onnnn!" Klein urged, holding onto Kirito. "What's the deal man spill it!"
I scoffed and smiled. "Klein stop torturing him, he's embarrassed enough, and I do it to him enough already."
"Yeah you do…" Kirito complained.
Klein scoffed and turned to me now. "And what about you Akira? What are you both doing here, come onnnn spill it and tell-."
"Excuse me," Asuna said in her sweet voice, making all of the guys present finally turn around to her. She smirked and looked at me first. "Akira-kun here is my best-friend, that's pretty well known, I've been stuck with him free-loading on my couch for almost a year now."
"Heyyyy…." I complained, rolling my eyes at her, which made her laugh again. I knew she was joking, and hearing my friend laugh really did take the sting out of most days in Aincrad.
She giggled again and finally looked at Kirito. "As for Kirito, he's with us, because he, Akira and I are in a party again, we work well together, don't you remember coming to help us retrieve Akira's Taki sword Klein?"
"Takemikazuchi…" I muttered to remind her.
She waved it off. "Sword of Takis, whatever," she said, making Kirito laugh before she turned back to Klein. "But it is nice to finally meet you officially Klein."
Klein stuttered but bowed. "And… and you as well Asuna!" He turned back too Kirito and I now. "Okay, the both of you, come on how could you not tell me that was more than a one-time thing! So, which one of you are… well you know-."
"Not me!" I said far quicker then I wanted. The idea of dating Asuna wasn't a horrible one, but it was… Asuna, she was just my best-friend, the idea of trying to date her would have been like dating my sister.
Kirito on the other hand, seemed much more flustered then me, and I could only shake my head again. I need to get them together somehow, apparently a fancy Asuna made dinner with S rank food alone isn't enough, I'll need to take drastic measures.
I was close to simply locking them in a room together or teleporting away and letting them walk back to the dungeon entrance by themselves. If they were going to make me the third wheel, I wanted to be an official third wheel.
"Uhh… no! No it's not like that!" Kirito said, and I kept my eye on Asuna, who was amused at his flustered face. I winked at her while Kirito stuttered through the sentence, which only made her face go red, a tiny smile coming to her face.
Kirito finally shook his head after Klein smirked at him. "It really isn't like that! We… were just-."
Once again, my listening and perception skills being so high proved to be useful for me and my friends. I heard the crunching of armored boots before anyone else did, surprising everyone I slung The Black Bow of Fate off my shoulder and spun an arrow out of the quiver laying across the small of my back, horizontally across my waist under my blowing black cloak.
"Kirito, Asuna, heads up," I said, loading the arrow into the bow. "We got company…"
In a flash, Asuna, Kirito, and then Klein and his guild were at the ready, hands-on swords and other weapons as we turned and saw a mass of players coming towards us. I hadn't been sure if it was monsters of players at first, when I saw it was players, me along with my friends seemed to breath a sigh of relief.
But when I saw familiar armor, my digital muscles tensed again, and I squeezed the Black Bow of Fate.
"Oh man…" I muttered with a shake of my head. "Not these guys again."
The armor was recognizable as the armor from the ALA, the Aincrad Liberation Army. Next to me, everyone seemed to calm down, Asuna gave me an understanding look, I'd told her plenty of times about my run ins with them on the lower floors back when Kya and Aki had been alive.
Kirito however, looked at me curiously. "You have a history with the ALA?"
I grimly nodded and sighed as the group got closer. "Yeah… back on the lower floors, they claim to be "protecting" people, but in reality, they just extort from lower-level players down there."
"But this is the first time I've seen such a large group of them at the front since a bunch of them got slaughtered on floor 25," Asuna said next to me, her hand still ready to unsling her rapier. "I wonder what could have changed… I thought they were trying to build up there numbers."
Klein's face soured next to us. "Akira's right though… since then they've been 'rebuilding' and adding numbers, what are they up here for?"
"Guess they got tired of sitting back…" I said with a sigh. "They bugged Kya and me to join for months on end, and tried to get us to pay 'taxes' when we said no."
I wish you were here Kya… you'd know what to do, you always did, I thought as I gripped my bow tighter.
"AT EASE!" The general at the front of group yelled, which was followed by each of the players in the army falling to the ground with a thud, breathing heavily and looking utterly exhausted.
My breath hitched, the idea trickling at the base of my skull, they… they have to be just mapping, right? There's no way they'd go for the boss.
Before I could think further, their leader finally stopped in front of us.
"I'm with the Aincrad Liberation Army!" He announced, his helmet covering his eyes as he scanned each of us. "Lt. Cornel Corvatz."
Kirito next to me looked suspicious as well, he responded first. "I'm Kirito… solo."
I nodded next. "Akira, Vice Commander two of the Knights of the Blood Oath."
I hated using that title, since I didn't particularly like being in the guild, but as Asuna had told me dozens of times, players would still respect it if I told them I was in the guild. Normally I didn't care, but this entire situation made my skin crawl.
Sure enough, Corvatz stiffened at the words, he wasn't one of the ALA who would recognize me, but being Vice Commander two, the 'famous' Black Archer as I was known-thanks to Argo- seemed to carry some weight with the man.
Asuna spoke up after me. "Asuna, Vice Commander one of the Knights of the Blood Oath."
That got Corvatz to stiffen even more. In the Knights, you had Heathcliff as the commander naturally, with him being the most powerful player in the game.
The guild, however, was far too big for him to run alone, so he had six Vice Commanders-or as I liked to call them, lackeys- to sit on a counsel and help him run things. Asuna was the first Vice Commander, second in charge of the guild, I was Vice Commander two, right below her, which had always baffled me.
I never hid from Heathcliff how much I disliked being in the guild, and how much I disliked all of the Vice Commanders outside of Asuna. The only other one I could stand being around, was Vice Commander three, Mito, who I rarely spoke too, on account of the fact according to Asuna the two had been friends in the real world, before having a falling out in the game. Considering Asuna was my best-friend who I spent most of my time with, I rarely spoke to Mito. Still, the scythe wielder was the only other person in that accursed guild I could stand.
It was thanks to Asuna doing so much work as Vice Commander one, I didn't have to do as much. Even so, why Heathcliff kept me at that rank was a mystery.
It was certainly helpful then however, as Corvatz seemed to straighten himself in the presence of Asuna and me.
"Mhm… Knights of the Blood, eh? Well, tell commander Heathcliff we will be joining the front lines again soon," He said, looking at the path ahead then back to us. "Have you all cleared out the area up ahead?"
Kirito was the one to answer. "Yeah… we have. We also have a map with directions to the boss room."
Corvatz narrowed his eyes and held out his hand. "Mhm… very well. Then hand over that map data and we'll be on our way."
That surprised me… and worried me. What could he possibly now want the map date for if we told him we had already cleared the area?
"Huh?! You want us to just give it to you?!" Klein shouted back. "Do you know how much a pain in the ass mapping is?!"
"Klein's right," I said, stepping up next to Kirito and him. "Besides, Kirito's the one with the map data, and he's partied with Asuna and I. So, if you wanna get technical, the map is property of the Knight's of the Blood Oath. You'll have to go through our merchants or traders to get it for yourself."
I felt a bit dirty using tactics like that, but I looked closer at the group of exhausted players behind Corvatz, then remembered the massive boss that had even me, Kirito and Asuna running.
Corvatz however, didn't seem deterred.
"We share our information with civilian players all the time, and we don't charge a thing for it!" He yelled; his fist clenched. "We maintain order, so that all players can leave this world as soon as possible! So therefor, it is your duty to cooperate with us, hand over your map!"
My own fist clenched, and my stomach whirled like a blender. Was this man really coveting a fight so bad?
Asuna stepped up next to me. "Listen you, Akira is right! We don't owe you anything, you can get the information when it goes public!"
Klein stepped forward again. "You bastard, what do you-."
"It's cool," Kirito said in his calming voice, holding up his hand. He sighed and shook his head. "I was going to go public when we got back anyway… it's cool, right Vice Commanders?"
My hand was shaking as I saw Kirito looking at me and Asuna. Over the last few weeks as I'd gotten closer to him, as we'd fought and leveled together, Kirito and I had developed an unspoken sort of language that only we understood. I could tell then; he clearly didn't want a fight or anymore argument with Corvatz and his men.
Sighing, I nodded and looked to Asuna. "Asuna?"
Asuna chewed at her lip but sighed. "Okay."
Maybe we should follow them… this is a death wish, I thought as Kirito turned back to Corvatz.
Klein went wide eyes as Kirito pulled up a window. "Huh?! Oh come on you guys are being way to nice!"
Kirito shook his head as he transferred the data. "I don't care about making money off map data, like I said, it's cool."
Klein seethed, and nothing could stop the whirling in my chest. It amazed me how such a real feeling had become common place in this virtual world the last two years.
"Mhm… your cooperation is appreciated," Corvatz said, he nodded, before turning back to his beleaguered men.
I couldn't keep my mouth shut. "Listen here, if you're planning on hitting the boss, you need to hold off until the Knights and the rest of the assault team puts together a formal raiding party! You'll be welcome to join that!"
Kirito caught on and spoke up with me. "He's right! If you plan on doing it now I wouldn't recommend it, it's suicide!"
Corvatz stopped and didn't turn around. "That is my decision to make!"
"You damn idiot!" I shouted back at him, my hands grabbing onto my black cloak. "You can't fight the boss with your men in this state! Don't be stubborn, this is what the assault team's for, come back and fight with us!"
"He's right, we just looked in that boss room," Kirito said, his voice taking on a more worried tone as he looked at the other ALA fighters. "Look at them, they're exhausted from the march, they can't fight in this state!"
"Nonsense! My men are tougher then that, they won't stop until I say so!" The man yelled, turning back to the group of players. "On your feet, let's move!"
There was nothing that we could have done then. I watched each of the men slowly rise up to their feet, with their spears on their shoulders and get back into formation. The group only had spears, I could see a few with swords, but I knew more weapon diversity was going to be necessary to beat such a boss, and just more players in general to distract it. They slowly walked by, and I could remember the tragedy on the 25th floor that Asuna had been talking about before they showed up.
Almost the entire ALA had been wiped out by the boss, it had been in all the information reports and papers after that. At that time, Kya, Aki and I were still staying on floor 19. I remember we hadn't fought any bosses since the boss on floor 1, funnily enough if I thought hard enough, I could remember seeing Kirito and Asuna there well. We hadn't spoken, all Kya had told me was that Kirito was one of the beta-testers she had played with.
For so long, Kya and Aki had wanted to join the assault team, so that together with the rest of the players fighting we could prevent tragedies like the one on floor 25, or the 2,000 players who lost their lives the first month of the game.
Despite being a life-or-death situation, the two of them had been ready to sacrifice everything to help people escape… even my little sister.
Aki died to protect me… even when she was scared, she was ready to help people. Kya… you would have joined right away; you were both so much braver then I am.
But now, they were gone, I was all that was left. My fists clenched, I looked at the Sword of Takemikazuchi at my waist, and the Black Bow of Fate slung around my shoulders.
It takes a great deal of bravery to be willing to die Akira Miller… but it takes just as much bravery to live after tragedy has befallen us, I thought, remembering the words of the digital god Takemikazuchi.
And now, I had a reason to live, for the people in front of me, and for Aki and Kya's dream of freeing all the players. That included all the players in the ALA.
"Oh man… are they gonna be alright?" Klein asked, sounding concerned.
Asuna's skin crawled next to me. "I'm sure they know what they're doing, they won't rush the boss without checking it out first… right?"
I shook my head and went to check my arrow count. "I don't know… we-."
"Maybe we should go keep an eye on them anyway…" Kirito said, cutting me off and saying what I was going to say before I could get it out.
After he did, Asuna's head tilted next to me, before a smile came to her face. Next to us, Klein and his guild chuckled, and I joined them, looking at my friend.
The Kirito of a few months ago may not have said something like that… maybe the two of us were rubbing off on each other.
Kirito reddened for a second before sighing at us. "I don't know who's nicer… you all or me."
Before we could embarrass him further, he started walking down the path after the ALA with the rest of Klein's guild, who gushed about meeting the Asuna. I watched them, and saw Kirito trying not to look back at us, and that could only make me smile more.
Kya always said, just because we were stuck in this game… doesn't mean that we can't change and grow as people because of it, I thought with a smile.
"Who we are in the virtual world…who we become now," I said quietly under my breath as I watched them walk, "is who we'll be in the real world. We can always grow."
"Ha… so, Asuna, Akira," Klein said, gaining both of our attention. He rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "He may be hard to talk to… he's a loner and addicted to combat but… he's a good guy. You guys will keep watching out for him, right?"
I looked to Asuna who seemed to be blushing already. However, after a minute, she gave that adorable smile she was becoming so well know for.
"Okay… you don't have to worry, he's in good hands," She said with a smile, looking over at me now. "Right, Akira-kun?"
I chuckled and looked over at my friend walking away. "Yeah… that's for certain." I looked over at Asuna next with a smirk. "I'll keep an eye on the both of you, after all you'd both be completely lost without me, right?!"
She rolled her eyes, punched me in the arm and walked after Kirito with an amused smiled on her face.
I finished laughing and rubbed where she'd hit me. "Yeah… you both gave me everything I could ask for… you'll both leave here alive if it kills me."
"Ha, none of this dying talk Akira!" Klein said smacking my back. "We'll meet up and have a drink when this is all over!"
I rolled my eyes but smiled as I started walking with him. "Klein, I'm sixteen, at least I think that's how old I am now."
"Really? Gah dammit," He said with a sigh. "Still, all of us are going to meet up together after this is over, dinner for all of us, and you're buying Vice Commander!"
"Ha… I got quite a few dinners to go too," I said, a smile forming on my face. "And I'll make sure we all get to them."
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"I swear their respawn time is getting faster the more floors we climb!" I yelled, rolling over Kirito's back and letting an arrow loose into a lizard soldier. "We just cleared these guys out not even an hour ago!"
It had been my working theory since we cleared floor 70, that the respawn times on monsters, as well as just their general difficulty was naturally increasing. Kirito and I had shot down the idea that the mobs were leveling and scaling with us, since if we went down to floor 1 right now, we'd be able to sweep through just about anything with ease.
However, like in most MMORPGS, the mobs did respawn in areas, Kirito and I had plenty of farming spots were both liked to use. Still, in a situation like this, where we were trying to rush and find where the other players had gone, it was a nuisance that all the mobs Asuna, Kirito and I had just cleared out near the boss room were already respawned, it was a dangerous prospect.
I knew I had a limited number of arrows left, we had left so early in the morning I didn't have time to go to Liz for more, so I slung the Black Bow of Fate onto my shoulder and pulled out my faithful Sword of Takis and dashed forward next to Asuna who I saw becoming surrounded.
"Switch!" I yelled to her, after she was sent back from a clash of swords.
She gritted her teeth, her orange hair blasting back behind her as she ducked and rolled behind me. I leapt over her and brought the lightning katana down onto the lizard man's sword. It broke his guard easily enough, and I ducked down to cut across his stomach, the exp points popped up on my screen, but when I came back up, another was already on me.
Thankfully Asuna saw it too, and she dashed forward with her rapier glowing green, unleashing a three-hit combo, before stabbing her rapier through the mobs back. It disappeared, and in the top left of my vision, I saw her and Kirito's HP bars blissfully still in the green.
Asuna turned, breathing heavy but she smiled. "Ha, you're getting pretty good with that thing Akira-kun."
"Still not good enough," I muttered to myself, looking down at the gleaming sword, before sliding it back into my belt.
The Sword of Takemikazuchi was apparently the best in the game, with its ability giving it the power to grow in strength even further then Kirito's Elucidator, or th new sword Liz had made him. I didn't really feel like I deserved it, considering the fact I wasn't even really a swordsman.
I had tried already to give it to Kirito, thinking he deserved it as clearly the best swordsman in the game, but the item quite literally wouldn't transfer to his inventory. We had theorized perhaps because Kirito hadn't been given the sword by the digital god I'd gotten it from, he wasn't able to use it, to which naturally my friend had shoved it back in my hands assuring me that archers could use swords too if I tried really hard as a joke.
Either way, if it helped me end Kayaba's world, then I'd keep it with me.
Asuna looked like she was going to say something, but Klein cut her off after he sliced his own katana through a mob.
"Okay, I think that was the last of them," Klein said, the rest of his guild falling in besides him.
Kirito sighed as Asuna and I came up next to him. "Yeah… but there's still no sign of those ALA guys or Corvatz."
Klein shrugged. "Maybe they cleared out the area ahead and used their teleport crystals before they went into the boss room."
I chewed at my lip, that sounded unlikely. "I don't know, they seemed pretty determined. Asuna, you think we can call for backup?"
Asuna crossed her arms and contemplated. "We may be able to… but I think the commander took Bols, Harp, and Yato with him for a field boss raid today."
I nodded, but that left only one Vice Commander unaccounted for, not counting me and Asuna of course. I didn't know how to broch the question carefully, and we didn't have time, so I didn't.
"What about Mito?" I asked her, and the reaction was instant. "Did she go with him too? Even if it's just her, the backup would be useful."
Asuna stiffened for a moment and shook her head. "I… I don't know about her. I know she didn't go with the commander today, but don't-."
She was cut off, when all of us in the group heard it. A scream, a painful, frightened screamed that sounded just like the screams Asuna, Kirito and I had let loose after we saw the boss. It seemed to paralyze each and every one of us. My blood started running cold… and then I got angry.
Corvatz had to know leading all those men into the boss chamber was suicide for them all… so why had he? Some sick desire for honor, glory or some fantasy of self-sacrifice?
I'd known dozens of players that died for 'glory', or that twisted fantasy. Glory and honor did nothing for the dead. I think that's why I hate Heathcliff like I do… can't these people see that they're throwing their lives away? They're treating this like it's still a game, I thought as Kirito turned towards the sound.
I knew all of us as players had to fight and risk our lives… but there had to be better ways, safer ways.
The scream came again, and that was enough for Kirito to move.
"Asuna, Akira!" He yelled at us, before dashing off down the bright walkway towards the boss room.
"Right!" I yelled, as Asuna and I followed after him.
"Hey, wait up!" Klein yelled, and I turned just in time to see more mobs beginning to spawn, and Klein's guild clashing with them.
I wanted to turn back and help, but quickly realized a well leveled guild against a group of mobs had a much better chance then a group of exhausted players against the boss that I'd seen.
As we ran, I went and pulled up my inventory, I scrolled until I found my potions, and first topped off my health, then my stamina bar. After that, I pulled out a delightful potion that Yolko had helped me make, when I wanted to level up my alchemy. It was a speed potion, that would increase my agility and attack speed for a few minutes, and with how fast I already knew I was, it was a dangerous combo.
This takes forever to make; I was saving it for the next boss raid… I guess this counts, I thought, opening it and downing the contents in a flash, as I saw Asuna and Kirito come to a skidding halt in front of the boss room. I almost bumped into Asuna and kept my hand on the Black Bow of Fate as we came to the boss's chamber. Digital sweat dripped from my forehead, from my hands like I'd just been baking in the sun for hours.
Fifteen arrows left, I'll need to keep count if we engage, I thought frantically, as Kirito who was in our lead shouted into the room.
"HEY!" He yelled into the room, as the sounds of a fight and the roar of the boss finally started hitting my ears. "Are you guys okay in there, say something!"
The screams came next, followed by The Gleam Eyes roar, which shook the dungeon beneath my feet. My stomach went to the weight of a bowling ball and fell to my feet, when I looked and saw dozens of the ALA players sprawled out over the ground, their HP bars in the red, only a few of them still standing as the boss swung its massive sword and fired a deadly beam of purple light from its jaws.
My hand trembled near the arrows laying in the quiver across my back. I looked at Kirito, teeth clenched and staring, then to Asuna, her hands over her mouth watching in complete horror. Something in the pit of my stomach erupted then, and the eruptions continued all the way up my spine, into the base of my skull.
I won't let this world, this horrible thing that happened to us, change the person I am, because this is our reality now. Whether I survive or die, I want it to be as the same person I was before I full dived into the game.
"Kya…" I found myself whispering as I remembered the words, she said to me only an hour before she did indeed die, before I failed to save her and Aki both.
I had always thought she was better than I was, a much better person, but that wasn't what she had told me.
Promise me, no matter what happens, you'll still be Akira, the boy I fell in love with, Aki's big brother.
"Dammit…" I said through gritted teeth as the screams of the ALA filled my ears, followed by the roar of the Gleam Eyes, my hand shaking near the arrows even more now.
"What's wrong with you guys?!" Kirito shouted, his voice even more desperate now. "Use your teleport crystals!"
"WE CAN'T!" One of the men shouted, the crystal in his hand. "THEY'RE NOT WORKING!"
I noticed Kirito's face then, something horrible, something devastating came to his mind then, as if he was remembering a horrible day he'd had in Aincrad. It was similar to the look I got whenever I thought about that day with Kya and Aki.
"What?! I've never heard of a boss room having a trap like that before!" Asuna yelled next to me, as I heard Klein and his guild get closer behind.
"Dammit… you idiots…" I said, my fist clenching around the shaft of one arrow, as I screamed at myself in my brain to let go.
They're as good as dead anyway, don't do it, don't do it Akira! Asuna and Kirito will follow you and it could get them killed!
"But…but…" I said under my breath, as I saw what had to be Corvatz come up with his sword, his HP in the red.
"The Aincrad Liberation Army doesn't know the word retreat!" He said, his voice sounding much shakier then it had when he spoke to them. He steadied himself and raised up his sword with his remaining men. "NOW CHARGE!"
"NO! NO STOP!" Kirito tried to yell at them.
But the idiots didn't listen.
The Gleam Eyes still had all three of its HP bars full, and it reared back its head before swiping with its sword and unleashing a massive breath AOE attack. The first to be hit was Corvatz, his body flying backwards back in front of my friends and me.
I would never forget the look on the mans face then, as his HP bar finally hit zero. The haunting, grim realization, that this world was indeed reality.
"I… I can't believe it…" The man said, before his body exploded into blue bits of data, his brain fried to a crisp in the real world, his family and friends more then likely waiting for the day he woke up.
I didn't have anyone waiting for me to wake up anymore… but everyone else around me did.
"No… no…" I said, as I looked at Asuna who's shaky hand was near her rapier, to Kirito who looked like he'd bite through his lip at any second now.
The men screaming again brought us back to the cold reality. This battle wasn't over.
"Dammit…." I said, this time louder, as my hand went around the shaft of an arrow again. "DAMMIT!"
The Gleam Eye picked up one man with its massive hands, squeezing the life out of him. The man whimpered and screamed, and I screamed at myself internally again.
NO! I'll get my friends killed, you know you will, I tried to reason with myself, but my hand only wrapped tighter around the arrow, and slipping the Black Bow of Fate off my shoulder. If I go out there now to save them, I risk my friends, but… but I can't leave them! DAMMIT KAYABA, HOW COULD-.
"No…. no…. NOOO!"
My chest exploded, as did Kirito's next to me.
"ASUNA!" "ASUNA!"
It took only a second for me to rush in after Asuna with Kirito. Her rapier slung out from her waist and like a woman possessed she rushed for the boss as it squeezed the life from another player. Just before it did, I watched Asuna's orange hair fly back as she leapt and unleashed a Star Splash, one of her most powerful skills onto the boss, and sure enough with as powerful as Asuna was, its first HP bar too a massive hit.
The boss dropped the other player, but Asuna was stuck in the air.
"AHHH!" She yelled, as it swung back around and smacked her from the air like a fly.
"ASUNA!" I screamed, an arrow and the Black Bow of Fate out and ready now. She was still a good distance away from Kirito and I, but luckily, the speed potion had kicked in for me.
My legs moved like a machine, and tossing up a tailwind as I did, I rushed and got to Asuna just as the boss turned around and went to swing with its sword. I stopped in front of her, and drew the string back to my cheek.
"ICE ARROW!" I yelled, as the tip of my arrow cued up with icy elemental damage, and without any hesitation I let it fly.
The boss roared again, and the arrow hit home right on the hand it held its massive blade. Ice spread out across its hand and stopped the attack in its tracks. For a minute I thought that maybe it wasn't as strong as I had initially thought, but within another three seconds, it broke the ice and came back down with its attack.
"AKIRA!" I heard Asuna yell behind me, and as I saw the sword coming down I didn't hesitate. I knew the Black Bow of Fate couldn't stop that attack, and I didn't have time to draw the Sword of Takis, so I turned around and took hold of Asuna, putting my back towards the attack, which only made her scream even more.
I waited for the attack to come, to fry my brain back in the real world. If I had to go out, I could think of much worse ways then making sure Asuna survived.
"I'm sorry…" I said to her, as I felt the wind rushing behind me.
But the attack never came. A yell sounded out behind me, and I turned with Asuna to see Kirito had made it to us both. He had raised up his Elucidator, and as he screamed the boss's sword smashed against it, and Kirito almost fell. Seeing the chance, I shot up and rushed in front of him, this time pulling out four arrows.
"METEOR VOLLEY!" I yelled, letting the now purple arrows filled with explosive power fly forward.
They smashed into the boss's head, and exploded, sending it rearing back with a roar, and finally after the smoke cleared, I stood next to Kirito. We looked at each other, and I was about to say something, but after seeing the angry, seething look in his eyes after he looked at the boss, I knew better.
He met my eyes, and we didn't need to say anything. I only nodded, and then Kirito turned to Asuna, along with Klein and his guild as they rushed forward.
"Asuna, Klein! Akira and I will hold its agro, get them out of here!" He yelled back, and then I pulled out another arrow.
Only ten left… maybe… maybe it's finally time, that's the perfect amount, I have four left to spare, I thought, the very idea chilling me to my core. NO! I have to use it, I don't have a choice, if I don't…
I looked over and saw Asuna rushing towards other players, saw Klein and his guild picking the near dead ALA players off the ground.
And then of course Kirito next to me, his eyes awash with determination. I told him, I'd help him get home to have that talk with his sister, the talk I never got to have with mine…
No, I knew then I couldn't hold back. I didn't know how much unleashing that skill, the skill even Kya only used once herself, would take out of me… but if it was the only way, I knew I had to risk it.
I looked at Kirito as the boss roared and got back up. "I'll screen for you and keep its agro, my speed potions still going, move in and do some damage!"
"Right, I'll go left, you go right!" He said back, taking his 'Aincrad Style' stance.
I nodded back to him, loading up another arrow. "Let's go."
I held out my fist, and after a fist bump, we both started running.
"OVER HERE YOU UGLY GOAT!" I yelled, dashing towards its right side, and after it roared and turned to me, I came to a sliding stop and went like I was going to attack, I triggered the boss's reaction.
It roared and went to stab into the ground. I barely avoided it with a roll, smashing he Black Bow of Fate into its arm for minimal damage, but my job now was just to keep its agro off of Kirito. It roared back and with surprising precision and skill pulled its sword back and swung out at me.
I switched over to The Sword of Takemikazuchi. I had a party of three people, I looked and saw Kirito's HP bar near the yellow, with Asuna's well into it. With each blow that came, each blow of the boss's sword my arms erupted as if they'd been set on fire, and with each hit small bits of my HP bar started to drain.
And that's exactly what I want… I thought, as I finally saw my HP bar slip into the yellow, and the percentage bar beneath it drop to 34%.
After it did I parried one more blow and got sent skidding back, and as I did the Sword of Takemikazuchi began to crackle with lightning. The boss roared, only two HP bars remaining now, as it went to swing again, but just before it could bring its sword down on me again, a voice yelled from the other side of the room.
"SONIC LEAP!" Kirito yelled, coming and cutting into the boss with a massive combo. Its second HP bar dropped into the yellow, but it turned around and started swinging wildly at Kirito.
Kirito dodged and parried a series of blows, before it reared back for a breath attack.
"NO, YOU DON'T!" I had time to yell, as I rushed forward around the boss towards Kirito.
Its sword came down and stuck into the ground, and with the help of my speed potion, my legs moved at speeds I'd never be able to achieve again. I said a silent thank you to Yolko who had helped me level my alchemy and leapt up onto the boss swords arm.
Right away it tried to throw me off, but when I came into the air, lightning clouds erupted above me, lightning bolts struck down to the sword of Taki's in my hand, and I queued up the sword skill as I came back down.
"LIGHTNING GODS SWORD!" I yelled, as a crackle of thunder erupted and I cut down through the boss's arm.
It exploded, and its HP bar plunged, disappearing from the second stage, and going down to the third, only one HP bar remained, as it dropped its sword. It only had one hand now, and when I landed my legs shook and I stumbled to the ground.
"SWITCH! KIRITO!" I yelled as I rolled out of the way, the Sword of Takis hot in my hand.
"SONIC LEAP!" Kirito yelled, leaping in for another massive blow to the boss.
But as soon as I saw the monsters' eyes go red, I panicked. "KIRITO, THIRD STAGE!"
Kirito was already mid-air, and the boss roared, smashing its hand into the ground and sending me flying backwards and smashing off the boss arenas barrier. Kirito was in mid-air when the breath attack came, he just had enough time to maneuver out of the way to avoid a deadly blow, but the boss slammed its fist into his chest and sent him flying.
My friend smashed into me, and we both went flying in opposite directions. I dropped The Sword of Takis, and after my vision finally cleared, I saw my HP just starting to enter the red. On my screen, I saw Asuna's still in the yellow, and Kirito's there now as well. I struggled to my feet as the boss yelled, and even with one arm it roared with a new powerful aura. It had retrieved its sword and its eyes fell on me first.
I groaned as I climbed to my knees, pulling The Black Bow of Fate off my shoulders. Okay… I… I can't put it off anymore… it'll be risky, but I have to do it!
But the boss had other ideas. It roared and seemed to find me first. I could feel my speed potion wearing off and was just able to dash out of the way of a sword blow. I rolled back up and tried to pull out an arrow, but realized I needed to be higher up to use my best skill. The boss still had a full HP bar left, and if I could unleash it, I knew it would take off at least half, and the fight would be almost over.
"Come on… COME ON!" I yelled, waiting for the next blow to come.
It roared again, and went to attack, and I prepared myself, but the blow never came.
"STAR SPLASH!" Asuna yelled, coming in from my left, and hitting the bosses one good arm before it could hit me.
My eyes went wide, and I could feel my digital body almost depleted. "ASUNA!"
Asuna rushed up the boss's arm, her eyes narrow and leapt up towards its head. She unleashed another barrage of attacks to send the beast back, when another sword skill cut through the air. Klein came in and sent the boss stumbling back, just as Asuna got down and grabbed me under the arms.
"Never do that again, you understand?!" She screamed at me, as she got me to my feet. "If you ever think of sacrificing yourself again, don't!"
I managed a coughing chuckle. "Ha… promise."
I was lying of course; she was one of the reasons I was still here after all.
"ASUNA, AKIRA, KLEIN!" Kirito yelled from the other side of the room as the boss regained its poise and roared again. "I NEED YOU TO BUY ME TEN SECONDS!"
"THAT'S ALL I NEED TOO!" I yelled back to him, and then I looked at Asuna. "I need to get up higher, can you get me an opening ?!"
"Opening for what?!" She asked as we both turned to the boss. "You aren't planning on sacrificing yourself again, are you?"
"Not this time! Just trust me!" I yelled, as we both dodged the boss's sword.
Asuna nodded across from me and started sprinting around the boss. I stopped, pulled up my inventory, and then I looked and saw Kirito doing the same a good distance away from me. Did he have some skill he had been keeping secret as well?
I didn't have time to think on that, I double checked my arrows, made sure the skill was still in my elemental archery tree, and let out as relaxing a breath as I could.
Lightning will paralyze it… let's go with that, I thought, my brain starting to explode as in front of me, Klein had been knocked aside, but Asuna still stood.
"ASUNA, NOW!" I yelled to her, just as the boss's sword came down for her.
She backflipped out of the way and landed in front of me. "SWITCH!"
"YOU BASTARD, COME ON!" I yelled, as I saw the sword stuck into the ground, and rushed back up the boss's arm like I'd been doing the entire fight.
"AKIRA!" AKIRA!" "AKIRA!" I heard everyone yell, as the boss roared and flung me upwards.
It looked up and I saw the purple lightning breath prepared to unleash. I nearly hit the barrier above the boss room, but as the breath began to unleash, while I was falling I barely avoided it, and pulled out all of the remaining arrows.
Kya… this one's for you, and for all the players! I'LL MAKE YOUR DREAM COME TRUE!"
"HUNDRED ARROW LIGHTNING STORM!"
I pulled all the remaining arrows back in the Black Bow of Fate, and the skill erupted to life. They morphed and began to glow bright blue, and then for a minute I was stuck in the air above the boss. Around me, in the boss chamber massive clouds began to roll in, and from the clouds, blue light began to form.
And dozens of bright blue arrows crackling with lightning began to explode around me.
"ARGHHHHH!" I felt my arms erupt, my stamina and HP slowly drained as I let the arrows go and the barrage fell from the sky down onto the boss as I began to fall. I saw the baffled faces of everyone around me, even Asuna, who was the only one who knew about this ultimate skill elemental archery gave its user.
The hail of arrows fell in a line around The Gleam Eyes and its HP began to drop, it tried to block and knock the arrows away with its sword, and it was successful for a bit, but not before dozens of them found home in its back, lightning exploding with every landed arrow. It spread throughout the boss's body, and just as I fell to the ground it fell to its knees, only able to swing its sword, but paralyzed from the waist down due to the sheer amount of lightning it had to absorb. Bosses had high elemental resistance, but from the pure amount of arrows lodged into the boss, it was finally paralyzed.
As I fell to the ground, my knees buckled and I fell to one knee, and it was just in time to see Kirito rushing towards me.
"AKIRA BEHIND YOU!" He yelled to me. "SWITCH OUT!"
I spun and saw that just before the lightning brought the boss to the ground, it had enough power to swing its sword one more time, and it was coming for me. I fell back trying to avoid it, but I would have been hit if not for Kirito.
He came in with his Elucidator, and knocked the one sword away… before a second one appeared in his other hand. Dark Repulsor, the sword Liz had forged for him appeared in his hand, and with both swords he knocked the boss's massive blade away.
"KIRITO!" I yelled for him, as everyone else stood stunned by what they were seeing… a dual wielder.
Kirito stood with both his swords raised, his head towards the ground, as the lightning finally got to the boss, paralyzing it fully. It fell to the ground on its hands and knees.
"Thanks for the help, Akira…" He said, before his eyes narrowed and his head shot up towards the helpless paralyzed boss. "Now… STARBURST STREAM!"
What I saw next would never leave me either. Never in real life, or in a video game had I ever seen anyone move so fast. Asuna Kirito and I had always said, Asuna had the fastest pure attack speed, Kirito had to best reaction time, and I was the most agile… but Kirito blew us all out of the water then.
He attacked with both his blades, hit after hit after hit, I had lost track after twenty-five slashes slammed into the boss before its HP moved into the red, and the paralysis finally started to wear off. It was able to weakly swing its sword, but Kirito's attacks were so quick, so powerful that they were knocked aside with ease.
"FASTER, FASTER, FASTER!" Kirito screeched with anger, cutting a massive gash across the boss's chest as his combo still wasn't finished.
The boss roared as its HP got to the red, and swung out only for Kirito to parry.
But that was when I saw my friends HP slip deep into the red.
"KIRITO!" "KIRITO!" Asuna and I yelled, as despite the pounding and aching throughout my body I shot to my feet and tried to rush towards him.
However, Kirito didn't need help.
The Gleam Eyes, the largest and most powerful boss we'd seen yet tried to come for a stab to end Kirito's life, but Kirito knocked it aside with his Elucidator, and stabbed Dark Repulsor forward.
It cut through the boss, and with a massive roar, the boss exploded into blue digital data.
"KIRITO!" I yelled, my arms feeling limp as I stumbled up to him.
I somehow managed to get to him before anyone else, as he stood frozen in the same position with his two swords held in a fighting stance still.
Stumbling I made my way to him and grabbed under his arms.
"Is…is… is it over?" He stuttered, his HP hanging on by a thread, the same as mine. He slowly turned and coughed while he chuckled. "Ha… that… what was some skill."
"Could… could say the same for you," I told him back, my legs finally wobbling.
And like that, we both fell to the floor chuckling.
"Nice… nice work," He said next to me, holding up a weak fist.
"Thanks…" I said, weakly giving him a fist bump as we both lay on the ground. My eye started to get heavy, but I had time to look over at him. "You… you as tired as me?"
"Ha… oh… oh yeah…" He said, blinking furiously as I could hear Asuna rushing towards the both of us. Kirito groaned and shook his head. "Goodnight…"
His head fell back, and I laughed. "Ha… good… goodnight…"
I did something good… I'm still being me… Kya… I thought, just as I heard Asuna's voice.
"HEAL!" She yelled, breaking a crystal in front of us.
But even as me and Kirito's HP went back up, I couldn't help but close my eyes.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"Akira! Hey, come on man wake up!" I heard vaguely, before a slap to the face finally shot my eyes open. "AKIRA!"
"GAHH WHAT?!" I yelled my eyes shooting open, as I shot to a sitting position, which completely killed my back, making me groan. "Ugh… what the hell… Klein? What's going on?"
The older player looked at me absolutely stunned, and then I looked around to see the tired remaining members of the ALA, and Klein's guild. What was formerly the bosses chamber was now silent, and in the corner, I could see steps leading up to what was going to be Floor 75. I took a moment to scoff and fall back onto the ground completely.
We… we really just beat a boss on our own, we cleared a floor on our own, I thought, the idea completely baffling me.
"You and Kirito beat the boss that's what!" Klein told me, as he helped me sit up. "I've never seen skills like that before… you two really are something else."
I ignored the compliment for now, and between the throbbing off my head and my limbs, I started remembering exactly what had happening. Kirito with two swords, finally having to use my hundred arrows skill.
"Kirito… Asuna," I said, grabbing hold of Klein's shirt to try and pull myself up. "Where… where what-."
"Right here," A tired voice said, and relief washed over me, when I looked over to see Kirito… and Asuna.
I couldn't help but laugh. "Ha… gee, Kirito gets a hug when he wakes up, but I get slapped by Klein? I don't exactly think that's a fair-trade Asuna."
But still… it looks like her feelings are coming through finally, I smiled, as the crying Asuna turned from hugging Kirito, her eyes widening.
And in response, just like the Asuna I'd come to know and love, she gave me a glare that could have set me on fire at first, with tears in her eyes, before moving to hug me too.
"You idiot… you… you reckless, stupid, no good…" She muttered as she did, and I winced at how hard the hug was, but I chuckled and hugged her back with one arm.
"Ha… that… that sounds about right," I said, as Kirito drug himself next to me on the ground, before one of Asuna's hands gripped onto my friends black sleeves while she hugged me.
I smiled at it, and how Kirito's face got a redder, before sighing. "Oh… oh man my head. What happened, how long were we out?"
"Only a minute or so, I woke up not long before you," Kirito said in a pained voice, clearly as exhausted as I was. "We… we lost a few people."
My stomach dropped, my skin, despite the warmth from Asuna's hug ran as cold as ice. Even after all of that fighting, after unleashing the skill and nearly killing myself, after Kirito and I almost killed ourselves. After all of the pain and suffering we went through not just on this floor, but the 74 before it… we still couldn't save everyone from dying.
No matter how hard we tried, we wouldn't save everyone. That was a reality hard for me to accept, that some people weren't going to be able to make it back to the people waiting by their bedsides, get to go back to the world they once knew.
"We… we haven't lost anyone in a boss raid since… what, floor 67?" I said quietly to Kirito, my one arm tighter around Asuna now as skin began to crawl.
Kirito nodded. "Yeah… it's getting worse and worse."
It was deflating, especially for Kirito I could see. I knew now why he'd gotten that second sword commissioned from Liz, and I could understand why he was hiding it. Kirito wasn't the kind of person who liked a lot of attention, and having a special skill brought just that, it happened enough with my elemental archery, and Heathcliff having one had made him a celebrity.
And he also must have known how much that skill would have taken out of him, yet still, we couldn't save everyone.
A tense silence fell around the group, and Asuna finally pulled back from me and smiled. I remembered now, how willing I was to die for her, and for Kirito as well, and for everyone else in that room, only minutes ago.
"Never…never do that again," She said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Think… think about what you dying would do to us, before you risk it so willingly again…"
The words cut deep, as I saw her turn back to hug Kirito again. It was like a hot knife in my chest as I realized… what would Asuna and Kirito do if I died? They would survive still I'm sure, but… what about after that? If I did die, would they remember me fondly for the rest of their lives in the real world?
I knew the answer, since it was the same thing for me with them… but at least they did have other people waiting on the outside.
But… but I need to stop saying that, I realized in my head with a smile, as I looked at Kirito holding onto Asuna. I will have people back in the real world… the two of them.
"That… that wasn't a boss fight, that was suicide!" Klein said, his emotions seeming to finally spill over as well. He shook his head, his fist clenched. "Corvatz was a damn fool! There's no point to any of this if you die!"
I looked over at the ALA soldiers, all either on their knees or bent over, their HP gages dangerously low to having their brains fried in the real world. A few even seemed to be crying.
The sight made me angry.
Another two people, another group almost dead because people still want to treat this as a game, like their damn roleplaying!
It was the reason I couldn't stand most of the members of the Knights of the Blood, and why when I got back… maybe I would start to take my duties as a Vice Commander more seriously. Maybe between Asuna and I, we could actually clear the game, and make sure people survived doing it.
Klein grinded his teeth, before sighing and shaking his head, his old smile returning as he looked down at me and Kirito. "You two aren't off the hook either! What the hell was that you both just did?!"
Kirito and I looked at each other, and it was clear we both wanted to ask each other the same question. Since mine was probably easier to explain I sighed and held up my hands, before seeing The Black Bow of Fate laying next to me with The Sword of Takis.
"Well it's simple really, that's my trump card, the best skill for elemental archery," I explained, reaching over with a groan and grabbing the slender black bow. "Hundred Arrow Storm, I can use any of my arrows with it. You unlock it after maxing out elemental archery."
Kirito scoffed, a weak smile on his face behind his fatigue. "Ha… and you never used it before? Could have been useful before now."
I shook my head. "Nah, I only maxed out elemental archery a few floors ago. Even Kya only got to use it once or twice before she died. And it uses up pretty much all your arrows, six is the minimum, the more arrows the more powerful it is, so it's basically a last-ditch effort, I wouldn't be able to shoot after using it."
"So, if you had more arrows…" Klein said with a look of disbelief. "You could have taken out the boss yourself!"
I winced at the comment. "In theory yeah… but you saw all those other arrows appear, you can sacrifice your own HP and stamina to create more arrows, so it nearly kills me if I want it to be really powerful, that was my limit with what I had left, and oh boy… do I feel it now."
I plunked back onto the ground with a groan, looking at my stamina and HP bars, they were both close to being completely wiped out. A red penalty marker had appeared under my stamina bar, marking a penalty. I'd need to rest for at least a day before it went away.
I'll need to be careful if I ever use that again…
Klein scoffed. "You always say, 'don't underestimate an archer'."
"And you shouldn't!" I groaned out, before sitting back up and looking at Kirito, who seemed to be hoping we forgot. "Okay, your turn now, what the hell was that?"
"He's right!" Klein said, looking at Kirito. "Go on, spill it!"
Kirito finally sighed, Asuna content to hold onto him. "I… don't think you wanna know."
"Don't do that," I said to him, rubbing my arm to stop the numbing. "You're not getting out of this one Kirito."
"Akira's right!" Klein pleaded. "Don't be like that, I've never seen anything like that before!"
Kirito chewed at his lip and looked over at me. "It… it's a unique skill I picked up, like Akira's elemental arrows… it's dual wielding."
My jaw dropped, I never thought I'd be jealous of someone as much as I'm jealous of Kirito right now.
I scoffed. "Oh man, I've wanted to do that since the start of this game! You know, archers and rouges normally dual wield in other games like this."
I felt a bit childish wishing for things like that now considering the circumstances, but I was half dead so I'd allow myself this moment.
"Seriously, that's incredible!" Klein said, his eyes like dinner plates. "Are there pre-requisites? Or is it just for you?! It's not on the info broker skill list!"
Kirito scoffed and looked at us all. "Ha… if I knew I'd have went public with it. Like I said, I think it's unique to me, like Akira's arrows."
"Well Akira's the only one crazy enough to use a bow in a game like this," Klein said with a tinge of jealousy.
I rolled my eyes at him. "No need to remind me how crazy I am." Scoffing, I looked over at Kirito and felt a smile coming to me. "I knew from the moment I met you… you were way too good to not have a unique skill."
The truth of the matter was, that combo I saw from Kirito was the most powerful in the game, I knew it, even more powerful then my arrows. He was the best… even better then Heathcliff, I was ready to say it then.
I looked at Asuna still hugging him and smiled. The two of you really are our best hope.
"Ha, I can't believe it, you got a unique skill," Klein said with a joking laugh as he looked down at Kirito again. "Way to stay on the down low Kirito, how could you keep an awesome secret like this from your buddies?"
"He's right," I said with a groaning laugh. "Ha, I'm a bit offended you never even told me. Argo's going to have a field day with this."
Kirito looked at us nervously. "Ha… it showed up about six months ago. I didn't want to keep it a secret but well… if people knew I had a unique skill, some well…"
"They would get pissed you got it and they didn't," I finished for him. "Luckily for me like Klein said, nobody else is crazy enough to use a bow, but they might get jealous of a dual wielder."
"Well some people are like that, but not us," Klein said with a relieved smile, a smirk forming on his face as he looked at Kirito now. "But you are right some people would get jealous of that… and that."
Asuna either didn't care what Klein said or didn't hear him, but I picked up on what he said right away. I looked and saw Asuna still clutched onto Kirito and I chuckled.
"He's definitely right about that…" I told him.
Kirito flustered for a minute as he looked at us, but after a minute… didn't seem to care, a weak hand wrapping around Asuna as well.
"Well they say your character is built by life's challenges, so keep soldiering on my young friends," Klein said with a wink.
Kirito fidgeted a bit. "Easier said then done."
I scoffed a laugh. "Ha… thanks for the help today Klein."
Klein gave a thumbs up and gestured for the stairs. "We're going to go activate the warp gate, you three gonna come?"
I looked over at Kirito and we both knew the answer right away.
Kirito shook his head. "Nah… I'll catch up with you later, I think we need to rest for a bit."
Nodding in agreement I sighed. "Yeah… and besides, I should probably go and report back to Heathcliff what happened here. We're more then 3/4s of the way done, I'm sure he'll wanna get scouts out onto the next floor soon."
I looked over at Asuna and a smile grew on my face. Normally, this would be something I dreaded, considering I could hardly stand talking with Heathcliff and the others for more than five minutes at a time. Normally, Asuna would be the one to do it, while I stood silently behind her.
But… she deserves a bit of a break, a long one… I've been selfish up until now, whining about being in the guild. It's time for me to act, I thought, the weak smile growing.
I still didn't have to like being in the guild, but Asuna was always right, we were the best chance the players had. I'd change them if I could.
Klein nodded in understanding. "I hear that… have a safe trip back."
Kirito and I both nodded, and just before I could slump back to sleep on the cold hard floor again Klein stopped.
"And… hey, Kirito, Akira… by the way," He said, not turning around, "know how you both didn't think before rushing in to rescue those army guys?"
Kirito answered for us. "Yeah…"
Klein scoffed but still didn't turn. "Well… I'm glad you both did. You… may both be young, but you're braver then anyone I know…. Anyway, I'll see you both later."
I saw Klein wipe what I had to guess were tears from his eyes… and it almost made them come from mine a well.
Reaching over, I grabbed The Black Bow of Fate to lay across my legs, running my hand across the black sleek weapon… and I couldn't help but smile.
"I'll keep being me Kya, Aki… and clear this game for you," I said, able to remember both of their faces still… I'd never forget.
Kirito next to me shifted and smiled down at the girl in his chest. "Hey… what's wrong Asuna?"
Asuna sniffled and finally stirred. "I… I was so scared. If you died I… I don't know what I'd do."
Kirito looked taken aback, and looked at me first, as if he were asking permission to be happy about what Asuna said. I smiled and shrugged at him. I was half tempted to make a joke then… but I decided against it.
Of course, I knew Asuna cared about me as well, she'd just told me how me dying would affect her… but she'd just spoken about Kirito then.
This was my best-friend growing, finally being able to express her feelings after being closed off to almost everyone for so long… my jokes could wait.
Kirito seemed to relax, and shook his head, hugging her back. "Ha… don't say that. You were the one to rush in first, remember?"
"Yeah, you did right before I could, so now, I can call you the crazy one," I joked with her.
Finally, that got her to laugh, and Kirito to smile, and it made me feel like I'd accomplished at least something that day. Asuna finally pulled up from Kirito… and looked to smile over at me first, before looking back at Kirito.
"I'm taking a leave of absence from the guild," She stated, her voice still shaky from crying.
That floored both myself and Kirito… but I recovered first.
Kirito stammered. "Wh… why? And do what, sleep in all day?"
Asuna wiped her tears and shook her head. "No dummy… did you forget already? I said that I was going to team up with you…"
I managed a silent chuckle and looked at Kirito again. I couldn't forget the first time I saw the two of them together. According to them and to Argo, they'd partied on the first-floor boss raid like Kya and I had before going their separate ways.
But one thing Kya always liked to say to me, was that she was a huge believer in two people meant to be with each other, would always find each other.
And I liked to believe she was right. Kirito and Asuna were meant to find each other. Just like I was meant to find the two of them.
Kirito this time didn't look at me for approval, which made me even happier. He seemed to think for a moment, an amazed look on his face, before he finally nodded.
"Okay…" He said, before smiling in my direction. "And Akira too, right? After all, in his own words, we'd be lost without him."
Asuna giggled and wiped the rest of the tears from her eyes. "Of course, it wouldn't be the same without-."
"No… as much it's true you'd both be lost without me, I don't think I'll third wheel for this one," I said with a smile, groaning as I used the Black Bow of Fate to push myself upwards and finally back onto my feet. "Besides, I wouldn't want to interrupt your private time together, I do that enough already."
I winked for good measure, and of course they both went red faced for a minute, before Asuna shook her head.
"A…Akira-kun, what are you talking about? Of course we want you with us," She said, meeting my eyes and shaking her head. "We're partners, the three of us."
"She's right," Kirito added. "And besides, If Asuna's not with the guild, are you really going to stay with them while we're gone?"
"That's exactly what I'll do," I said with a sigh, dreading the task at hand. I looked over at Asuna who was stunned. "I know how much the guild means to you deep down Asuna. So, you won't have to worry. You and Kirito can go level up, relax, and try to have some fun. I'll hold down the fort back in Grandzam for you."
Asuna stuttered. "A…Akira-kun. You hate the commander; you hate half the Vice Commanders!"
"I think Mito's cool, I can work with her," I said with a shrug.
Asuna shook her head and finally stood up, shaking her head. "Akira… you don't have to do this for me. I'm serious I-."
"It's okay, Asuna," I said, holding my hand out on her shoulder, then helping Kirito to his feet as well before letting out a sigh. "For your peace of mind, I'd go further. I'll take care of things with the guild."
I sighed and looked down at my faithful bow once again. "Besides… I am Vice Commander two, and it's time I finally did my duty for the players of Aincrad."
Next time, Episode 8: Crimson Killing Intent: After the events of the boss fight on floor 74, the players of SAO are officially on three-fourths of the way through Castle Aincrad. With Asuna and Kirito's desire to go and party together for some time, requiring Asuna to take a leave of absence from the Knights of the Blood Oath, Akira finally decides it's time for him to take his duties as a Vice Commander seriously, and offers to take over Asuna's duties. However, Commander Heathcliff has other ideas, and Kirito, Asuna and Akira will realize, that the only enemies they must watch out for, aren't just the mobs of Aincrad.
A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry for the extremely long layoff, but we're back with SAO: Akira's Arrows, the Aincrad Arc! And first off, lets all get excited because as of this chapter we are now officially more then halfway done with the Aincrad Arc!
As I've said before, I plan on Aincrad being 12 chapters, that number has changed to 13 chapters, since I decided to add one in that's not based off an episode of the anime, but still, that means were more then halfway there! Aincrad as I've said before will probably have the least amount of changes from the anime/Light Novels. It's going to focus much more on the bonds between our characters as they clear the floors and set up some future plot and character threads.
You can see in this chapter if you pay attention, one is already in motion! Next chapter we'll be seeing Vice Commander three, Mito! I decided to bring Mito from the SAO movie Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night into this story! Why you ask? Because she has such an interesting story with Asuna in this non-progressive timeline, AND I loved Mito in that movie.
Plus she has a beautiful character design, and scythes are cool xD
Mito is in this story, and I decided to give a little more depth to the Knights of the Blood Oath, I always wondered watching Aincrad 'who the heck are those other guys sitting next to Heathcliff, and why the heck does it seem they have more power than Asuna who's supposed to be second in command?'
SO, I developed their Vice Commander system, six Vice Commanders are in this story, Asuna if VC 1, which means she's second in command, Akira is VC2 Mito is VC3 and so on, I just think this adds some cool depth.
I tried to make this chapter both epic and big for Akira, as he unleashes his best archery skill, and finally decides to take action with the guild and work harder to clear the game, I hope you all enjoyed!
To wrap up, incase you all haven't read in previous ANs, Akira is going to be paired up with Shino/Sinon in this story! That is the main cannon pairing for Akira in my timeline, I'm sorry for everyone who wanted Sugu or anyone else, but I just felt it was the best option for the character I'm developing to fit his story.
BUT, that being said, who knows, perhaps in the future I'll write some 'Alternative' timelines where Akira falls for other girls in SAO other pairings, girls like Sugu, Alice, or even Mito and Argo. Sort of like Fate Stay Night if any of you are familiar with that anime/series xD
HOWEVER it will never be Asuna, Akira will never fall for Asuna xD She will forever belong with Kirito.
So, that's it for this AN! I promise a much shorter time between updates next time, I'll talk to you all soon!
