"Asuna!" - Regular Speech
'Kirito-kun!' - Thoughts
"Starburst Stream!" - Authority Chant
"Godslayer!" - Heretic God/Empowered Campione
Chapter 1: Mundane Life Shattered
Morning, January 15th, 2025
Kazuto's Room, Kirigaya Household
"Onii-chan! Come on down, breakfast's ready!"
Kazuto looked up from the magazine he'd been absently skimming through at the sound of his little sister-slash-cousin's voice echoing up the stairs.
"Coming, Sugu!" he called back. Stowing his magazine on his bedside table, he stood up and made his way downstairs. Being back in his real body, in the real world, still felt so very strange even after two full months of re-acclimating.
'I really hope Kikuoka-san stops pestering me soon.' he thought with a sigh. His apparent death and 'revival' in the hospital during the final moments of SAO had turned into a major pain in the rear. The Head of the Sword Art Online Victim Rescue Unit (SAOVRU), one Kikuoka Seijirō, had constantly been pulling him in for 'concerned discussions' about it, trying to get more information on what had happened and convince him to submit to more thorough testing. For his own good, of course.
Yeah, the guy gave Kazuto some majorly bad vibes and he was doing everything in his power to avoid being alone with the spook. He didn't want to disappear into some government lab after all.
After all, he was the only SAO Survivor to have their body not only completely restored to the same physical condition it had been in on the day that SAO had, but had actually had it improved by the process.
His physical reflexes, strength, stamina, endurance and pain threshold were all far above what he had previously possessed, although it wasn't quite to the level of being superhuman. It was more along the lines of a trained athlete, but the main issue in Kirito's mind was that the upper limits were rising daily.
Hence, why he was avoiding the government employee at all possible angles. The story he'd given them about Kayaba doing it as some sort of final 'prize' for defeating the final boss had thankfully been believed, even if the resulting questions of how were causing him way too much stress.
Not like they'd believe what really happened either way. He still wasn't sure he believed it himself.
As he entered the kitchen, he caught the sight of his sister. Kirigaya Suguha had been only thirteen when he had entered SAO and she had been pretty then. Now, at the age of fifteen, she was without a doubt beautiful. A small surge of irritation burned through the back of his mind as he thought of how many boys would likely be trying to hit on her because of that, before Kazuto quickly quashed it down with practised determination and joined his sister at the table.
'I'm dating Asuna, dammit!' he scolded himself as he began to eat.
"Onii-chan, are you going to be visiting your friend again?" Sugu asked during a break in her rhythm.
"Yeah." the black-haired boy confirmed once he swallowed his current mouthful. "Asuna's still stuck in rehab, and she needs someone there to support her."
'Gods know that her family wasn't going to do it.' That rather bitter thought was left unsaid by the formers Black Swordsman.
"...I see." his sister said softly before she carried on eating.
Frowning, Kazuto finished his breakfast and then gathered the plates, as it was his turn to do the dishes. Sugu had been reacting like that ever since she'd found out about Asuna, and he didn't quite know what to make of it.
Unfortunately, there was a more pressing issue that was worrying him. Namely, the words that Morpheus had left him with before he had vanished, that he had become a Godslayer. Every time he slept, he was vaguely aware of someone trying to reach him. And when he was awake he could feel these three glowing sources of power humming within his chest, and growing stronger with each passing day.
He'd tried reaching out to them, but he couldn't quite touch them, not yet, but he could feel that he was getting closer and closer, and…
The boy shook the thoughts away. Something was definitely off with him, he just wished he knew what it was.
"I'm heading out!" he called as he headed to the front door. Getting ready wasn't hard and took only a few minutes.
"Grab some milk on the way back." Sugu replied. She sounded irritated for some reason.
Yeah, he needed to sort out what was up with Sugu, and soon. He loved his sister/cousin and didn't like the distance that was developing between them again.
As he biked over to the hospital where Asuna was undergoing rehabilitation, he noticed movement out of the corner of one eye. Resisting the urge to turn and look, Kazuto suppressed a sigh. This was something else that had been irritating him since he'd been officially discharged from hospital by the (frankly stumped) doctors and nurses who had gone over his body like a fine-toothed comb after his 'resurrection and rejuvenation' post-logout: he was being stalked.
Well, technically, he was being observed, as whoever it was only started following him after he left his home and didn't follow him back. Distinction without a difference aside, it made the situation no less freaky. And whoever it was that was following him was so skilled that he could only ever catch blurred glimpses of whoever they were.
Well, so long as the people watching him didn't do anything to him or to anyone he cared about, they could look all they wanted. If they did step over that line, he'd deal with them.
Something primal inside him seemed to pulse approvingly at that thought, but he quickly put it out of his mind with practised ease.
After arriving at the hospital and securing his bike, Kirito walked the familiar corridors of the hospital until he found the physical rehabilitation area, where his girlfriend was already hard at work under the supervision of a nurse.
"Kirito-kun!" she greeted him happily, perking up as soon as he entered the room.
"Hey, Asuna." he said with a smile. "You're here early."
"I want to get better as fast as I can." the former Sub-Commander of the [Knights of Blood] said with a glare at her weak legs as she slumped back onto the chair behind her.
"Pushing yourself too much too soon can slow you down though." he reminded her gently. "And no using game handles IRL. It's Kazuto, remember?"
"Sorry. Old habits and all that." Asuna blushed.
"So, how's things at home?" he asked faux-casually, knowing that there had been an enormous fight between Asuna and her mother once the laundry-list of Sugou's crimes had been made public. He'd managed to get ahold of a screenshot of the site before it had been confiscated by the authorities, and some of the things he'd done turned Kazuto's stomach. Blackmail, conspiracy to commit murder, embezzling...and those were some of the milder crimes!
And the man had apparently been fixated on his Asuna? Yeah, if Kazuto ever met the bastard he was going to die…painfully.
Again, there was a pulse of approval from somewhere in his chest
"Mother isn't talking to me. At all." the girl sighed. "And Father is reacting by burying himself in his work yet again. Kō-nii-sama is the only one who's actually helping deal with everything aside from you and the mansion's maids."
All Kazuto could do was hold her hand and let her know that he was available if she wanted to talk.
His own family situation was complicated enough. His birth parents, Narusaka Aoi and Narusaka Yukito, had died when he was only a year old and the Kirigaya family, his only living relatives, had taken him in. When he'd found out accidentally when he was ten, it had driven a wedge between himself and his family, particularly between himself and Sugu that they'd only been starting to repair when SAO had happened.
He still felt small twinges of guilt about what he'd put her through when he though about it. Sugu hadn't deserved it, she hadn't known the truth herself, but at the time he'd felt so betrayed, that he'd been lied to his entire life.
"Ah, Yuuki-san, and Kirigaya-kun as well." the specialist doctor that Asuna's parents had hired came bustling in. "Let's get down to business, shall we? If you'll be kind enough to take the usual role here, Kirigaya-kun?"
"Of course." Kazuto nodded, squeezing Asuna's hand slightly before gently releasing it and moving over to sit on the chair a few meters away and directly opposite of her. He acted as a destination and a goal for Asuna in these sessions, which helped a lot, because Asuna was a very goal-oriented girl.
After a carefully monitored session that left Asuna weak and trembling by the end of it, Kirito waited patiently as the nurse got her changed back into her normal clothes and then trotted her out on crutches so he could walk her out of the hospital and to the car that would take her home.
He was slightly annoyed that he couldn't spend much time with her outside of these sessions, but he was betting to himself that she would badger her father (and ignore the protests of her mother) into sending her to the SAO Survivor School that was going to open up soon. That would mean a LOT more time with his girlfriend.
Saying goodbye to Asuna for the day, Kirito retrieved his bike and started for home. He still had to figure out a way of getting Yui up and running from his NerveGear, after all.
Same Time
Apartment Building, Ninomiya Town, Kanagawa Prefecture
To look at the man who was standing in front of the small set of apartments, you would think him to be nothing more than your typical, albeit somewhat scruffy, office worker. Nothing could be further from the truth, however. His name was Amakasu Tōma, and he was a representative of Japan's History Compilation Committee, the Mage Association which basically ruled Magical Japan in the absence of its Lord Campione, Kusanagi Godō.
Taking in a deep breath, the descendent of Ninjutsu Magic headed up the stairs, his trained senses taking in the subtle traces of spellcraft that were layered on the building, most of which were wards of some ilk. The practitioner responsible for them was obviously an extremely talented mage, despite the fact that she was only fifteen years of age.
Even as he reached the door to the apartment he was looking for, it was already swinging open, revealing his quarry for tonight. A very unimpressed expression was on the short girl's face, which was framed by golden-brown locks of hair and had a set of discerning brown eyes that looked him up and down dismissively. She was barefoot and dressed in a set of shorts, a vest and a hoodie.
"Whaddya want, Amakasu?" Hosaka Tomo, better known in Sword Art Online as the Information Broker Argo the Rat, asked sharply. "I ain't got time to deal with th' bullshit of yer little 'Committee', so make it quick."
"...can I come in? This isn't something to be bandied about for all and sundry to hear." the man asked plaintively.
Tomo snorted, very unsympathetic with the man's plight. "I'm th' only person who lives here, an' I have enough wards laid down ta make sure no one hears anythin' I don't want heard. Ya ain't gettin' inta my home, so start talkin' about what brings th' Dog of the Sayanomiya Bifauxnen to my door."
Wincing at the scathing tone in regards to the current head of the Sayanomiya Clan, Amakasu tried to keep calm. "It shouldn't be that much of a surprise; you are related to the Sayanomiya Clan, after all."
"I'm th' last livin' member of th' Hosaka Family, which is th' last existent branch family of th' original Sayanomiya Clan." the honey-haired girl deadpan-snarked. "And the high an' mighty Saynomiya've ignored us for two centuries unless we literally begged for help. Even when me, an' a good fifty other freelance magic users, got trapped in SAO, nothin' was done. I know that the Five Families coulda tracked down that bastard Kayaba in less than a month and hypnotised him inta lettin' us go, and no one did! Almost four-thousand dead people an' two years later, an' you think I care about what you people think? I'm only hearin' ya out because I don't want ta bring the HCC down on my head."
"...to correct you, we did try to find him. Several times." Amakasu said carefully. She obviously had something of a chip on her shoulder in regards to the Sayanomiya Clan, so being blunt about a different part of her little rant there was the key to proceeding. "We were totally blocked. Not even Sayanomiya Kaoru-sama or Mariya Yuri-sama's [Spirit Vision] were enough to locate him. And the only existences which could accomplish that..."
"...are Campione an' Heretic Gods." Tomo agreed begrudgingly. "An' th' only Campione left on Earth is the Sixth, Salvatore Doni, who was in a coma last I heard."
"That remains true." the Ninja confirmed with a nod. "King Kusanagi is also absent, looking for his fellow Campione across parallel worlds. This meant that either a Heretic God was shielding Kayaba-san for some reason…or…"
"Yer kiddin' me." Tomo said flatly. "Kayaba Akihiko has birth records, schoolmates, PhD's, everything. He can't've been a Heretic God!"
"We believe that he was possessed by one, in a slightly different way than how Sir Salvatore was possessed by the spirit of Saint George the Dragon Slayer before his ascension as a Campione." Amakasu corrected her. "The fact that whoever the god was, they were defeated. And you know what that means..."
"A new Campione...who?" Tomo asked, eyes narrowed.
"By all accounts, Kayaba Akihiko was masquerading as the leader of a guild in-game, the...ah, [Knights of the Blood Oath], I believe they called themselves." Amakasu stated. "And the one who duelled him to the death was one 'Kirito the Black Swordsman', who I believe is someone of your acquaintance."
Tomo just STARED at him for a moment. "Nope. There is absolutely no way that Kii-bou is a Campione. He's about as far from a tyrant as you can get."
"Regardless of your own prior knowledge of the person in question, there are statements from over three-dozen people stating that 'Kirito' faced down 'Heathcliff' in combat and even managed to, and I quote, 'keep fighting after his HP was reduced to zero', end quote." the Ninja stated firmly. "We also have proof that the Ceremony of Epimetheus was performed, and that Kirigaya Kazuto, Kirito's real-world identity, was clinically dead for a handful of minutes before reviving and recovering almost instantly from the deprivations of two years of physical inactivity. We were even able to learn the name of the god he slew; if Kayaba's naming scheme was true, he defeated an amalgamation of three of the Grecian Gods, Morpheus, Phobetor and Phantasos."
Hosaka Tomo just stared into space for a moment before shaking her head to clear it. "OK, fine. Say that ya aren't just yankin' my chain. So what? What does it have ta do with me?"
"As you can imagine, the fact that a new Campione has arisen in Japan during the absence of Lord Kusanagi has people...concerned." Amakasu said, drastically understating the situation magnificently. "Fortunately, the members of Lord Kusanagi's Mage Association, Round Table Alliance, are mostly in Italy at present, with the exception of the Mariya sisters."
"Yeah, that's a good thing." Tomo snorted. Although King Kusanagi had formally left Japan to start his own Mage Association in Italy, he was still of Japanese descent and thus could rightfully claim Japan as a part of his domain. She doubted that the womanising Campione would be best pleased to have another Godslayer setting up shop in 'his' territory when he eventually returned.
"Indeed. That being the case, many are hoping to arrange things with the new Campione so that he will leave Japan as quickly and peacefully as possible." Amakasu said with a nod. "At least, that's what some of the more...conservative members of the Committee hope for. Most of the rest wish to have this new Campione to take up the place of Japan's magical ruler, including Kaoru-sama."
"If she's plannin' on tryin' ta seduce Kii-bou, she'll be in fer a shock." Tomo smirked. "The boy's already got a girl, and if there's one word that you can use to describe Kii-bou than it's loyal. Plus he's got at least three girls who'd be in line after her if they did break up, for whatever reason."
"...that isn't information that I was aware of." the Ninja replied carefully. "In any case, it was Kaoru-sama's hope that, as you are familiar with King Kirigaya, you would-"
"Nope. Like hell I'm gonna let myself be used as a honey trap." the girl shot him down mercilessly.
"It was anticipated that this would be your answer." Amakasu sighed. He really didn't want to say what he had to next, but needs must when Oni drive you. "It has been two months since his ascension, and some members of the History Compilation Committee are...sceptical...about his status, and are proposing that we send a mage to test him."
Instantly, Tomo's eyes narrowed and a dangerous aura started to permeate the area. "Did you just threaten Kii-bou in front of me?"
"I am merely stating that some members of the HCC are wishing for solid proof of Kirigaya Kazuto's status as a Campione." the Ninja replied, subtly preparing an escape spell just in case the girl overreacted. "And that some of them would prefer a trial by fire method of discovering the truth of the matter."
"Ya wouldn't be sayin' any of that unless th' womanising lady-killer who's yer boss told ya ta say it." Tomo stated assuredly. "What's yer game, Amakasu? There ain't no way that this'll go over well if Kii-bou IS a Campione; he'll beat whoever is sent at him down an' then treat all of ya like enemies at best."
"Sadly, there are those in the Five Families, some members of the Seishūin especially, who are resentful of Kaoru-sama's position, and wish to undermine her however they can." Amakasu replied.
"Don't see how they could manage it." the SAO Survivor stated. "En-chan's the only one who could possibly press a Campione, and she's a part of the Round Table Alliance these days. Ya also don't have Sun Wukong ta sic on anyone these days either, so I ain't seeing anything ta worry about."
"...they plan on summoning a Divine Beast of some sort." Amakasu confessed. "We managed to confiscate almost every grimoire that they had access to, so a Heretic God is unlikely in the extreme, but..."
"Knowin' Kii-bou's luck, that might just happen." Tomo facepalmed. "Urgh...those old idiots...it took that crusty old bastard Voban over two-hundred Witches, Hime-Miko and other magic users to summon one Heretic God; what the hell do they think they can do to match that kinda output?"
"The kind of Divine Beast they plan on summoning are a step down from a Heretic God, the likes of a Hippogriff or possibly a Sphinx." Amakasu said reassuringly.
"That ain't comfortin' in the least, ya know." the lead Info Broker of SAO sighed, lowering her hand and spearing the man with a Look. "OK. I'll help Kii-bou out. BUT...I ain't gonna do it for free."
"As I thought. State your demands." the Ninja nodded. The Hosaka Family was infamous for their bargaining abilities and for refusing to do anything without suitable compensation or a threat to their lives.
"First, ya do what ya can ta stop those idiots from summonin' whatever the heck they were plannin' on summonin'." Tomo stated firmly. "Second, ya find me an apartment complex for sale near Kii-bou's house so I can buy it. Third, ya arrange my transfer ta the new SAO Survivor School that they're settin' up in Nishitokyo when it opens. Fourth, leave me, Kii-bou, and any of his friends, the hell alone. No sendin' Miko, Mages, Ninja, Witches or Hime-Miko ta try ta seduce him, ya hear?"
"You are aware that there are still a dozen or so SAO Survivors who are magically inclined, not including yourself, and that at least one lives in the same area as Kirigaya Kazuto?" Amakasu pointed out. "That one isn't a member or associate of the History Compilation Committee, so I cannot make any promises about her attendance."
"Heck, if she was gonna attend anyway, fine, but no pullin' strings ta make things go yer way." the girl warned him. "So, we have a deal, or are ya gonna have ta go cryin' back ta yer boss to get authorisation?"
"I have been given plenipotentiary discretion to make almost any trade for your cooperation." Amakasu confessed before inclining his head inquisitively. "Did you say that you don't wish us to buy an apartment for you? It would certainly be easier."
"Kaa-chan left me a good series of investments when she and Otou-san died in that 'car crash' when I was a kid. I've been maintainin' and improvin' them over the years and even without me ta guide 'em while I was in SAO, I still have a whole lotta cash at hand. More than some small companies, truth be told." Tomo stated flatly. "I don't want any kinda debt between me and the HCC. I'll guide Kii-bou about bein' a Campione and I'll SUGGEST to him to CONSIDER workin' with the HCC, but it'll be on MY terms and HIS terms, not yours or Sayanomiya's."
"Understood." Amakasu didn't let any of the very mild irritation he felt regarding the girl managing to deftly avoid well over 90% of the possible leverage that Sayanomiya Kaoru had hoped to gain over Hosaka Tomo show on his face. Without breaking several laws, there was very little they could do about the girl's own funds. And why hadn't he been briefed on the fact that the girl had investments?
"Good. Now, I've gotta start packin' and plannin', so if you'll excuse me..." the girl said flatly.
Recognising the not-so-subtle dismissal, the ninja bowed his head and swiftly beat a retreat out of the many layered wards that Hosaka Tomo had surrounded her home in. While individually weak, each one was placed in such a way that suggested that they were merely the most obvious ones, something that worried Amakasu quite a bit.
How in the name of all things magical had she managed to put all of them up inside of the month she had been out of hospital? Granted, her magical powers had likely been useful in healing the damage done to her body at an incredibly fast rate (by comparison to the human norm), but he had been here several times while Hosaka Tomo had been trapped in Sword Art Online and there hadn't been so much as a shred of a ward present here over those two years.
'My goodness...young people these days are quite frightening.' Amakasu thought as he got into his car and started driving away.
Inside, Tomo felt the man retreat from her wards as she shut the door. Sighing in relief, she headed back into the living room of the apartment and sat in front of her computer, turning back to the video chat screen she had been talking with someone on before Amakasu showed up.
"Argo? You were gone for a long time." a girl's voice said from the speakers, a head of light-brown hair tied up into a pair of short twintails and an intelligent pair of light brown eyes set in her young face.
"The History Compilation Committee sent a stooge to speak to me, Silica-chan." Tomo said, getting serious. "We have a new Japanese Campione and boy, is his identity a doozy..."
Three Days Later
Streets of Tokyo
Kazuto's eye twitched as he biked along the path to his house. The people who had been following him were becoming less and less subtle as the days went on, although he still hadn't been able to spot them for more than a handful of seconds. Rather, the number of times he'd managed to catch sight of them had been increasing rapidly.
To the former Black Swordsman, this meant one of three things; the people who had been shadowing him had gotten sloppier, they had been replaced by less skilled people, or there were more people watching him now than there were a few days ago.
In all honesty, Kazuto wasn't certain which of those options concerned him more.
He was drawn out of his thoughts as he came to a halt in the middle of a park, which was more than slightly odd since he had been heading home after meeting Asuna for another session at the hospital. Spotting a sign, he blinked. It was a park about halfway between his home and the hospital, one he would've had to have deliberately turned left instead of going straight ahead to have reached.
'I did turn left at one point to avoid a 'Road Closed' sign...I really have to stop letting myself go on Autopilot.' the boy thought with a sigh. He wasn't one to watch anime (much) but this positively stank of an ambush scenario from one, not only because he had been not-so-subtly redirected here, but because there wasn't a single other person here.
Dismounting from his bike, Kazuto looked around warily for signs of anyone hanging around. His patience with his mysterious watchers was starting to wear extremely thin and he was getting close to snapping just to see if he could force a reaction. Seriously, flitting around just barely visible but not for long enough to actually see anything...it had gotten to the point where he had started twitching paranoically whenever he saw them, which worried his sister whenever she was out with him.
Just as he was thinking that, a scream and a flash of light came from his right. Turning, he gaped as a cone of fire erupted from the trees there, swiftly followed by a loud bellow. Kazuto didn't even have a chance to shield himself from the flames before they washed over him. He cringed expecting to be turned to ashes, but then the flames stopped and he looked down at himself in disbelief, seeing only a few burnt and charred areas to his clothing.
"What on...?" he muttered before another bellow made him look up and widen his eyes in shock.
Standing nearby, at the origin point of the flames in fact, was a massive bull, made entirely of what looked like bronze. It was about the same size as an elephant, it had what looked like rubies for eyes and its horns were made of silver. It stamped on the ground and scraped it with its hooves, jets of fire erupting in bursts from both its mouth and its nostrils.
"...what is with this sudden Field Boss encounter?!" was what Kazuto wanted to say, but he was quite stunned by this whole situation. His bafflement was rather swiftly overridden by his survival instincts as the massive bull finished pawing at the ground, lowered its head and charged right at him.
Hurling himself out of the way, Kazuto rolled on the ground and came up running as the massive bull charged onwards without stopping.
'What the hell is going on?!' was on repeat in his mind as he ran into the trees. He had to find that much out at least. His only clue was the scream that he'd heard just before he was almost flambéed by the bull, so presumably whoever it was that screamed had something to do with the oversized bronze bull that was currently smashing through trees like an impromptu deforestation project.
"Whoa!" Kazuto grunted as he skidded to a halt next to a pond. Leaning against a nearby tree was a young woman in her twenties. With shoulder length black hair and casual clothes, you wouldn't think to look at her that she had anything to do with summoning a bull, but the carved stone tablet at her feet depicting a bull immediately contradicted that assumption.
"Auuuu~!" The woman was groaning, and looked a bit dizzy, but Kazuto didn't have either the patience or the inclination to be polite.
"You're the one who summoned that thing, aren't you?" he demanded, striding towards her angrily.
"Eep! Th-The Campione!" the unknown woman squeaked and hid behind the tree.
"OK, that word definitely confirms that you're involved with whatever's going on the people who've been stalking me." the SAO Survivor stated, eyes locking her in place with an even glare.
"E-Eh?! You saw my sempai?!"
"Only someone who was blind, deaf and dumb wouldn't see all those people flitting around in the edge of their vision!" Kazuto growled. "Now, who are you, why are you people stalking me and why did you summon that damned bull?!"
"Er...I-I'm...Kōzuki Sakura of the Japanese History Compilation Committee...you were, er, 'stalked' because you're a Campione..." the girl said rapidly. "And I didn't mean to summon one of the Khalkotauroi! I was aiming for something else, but that thing came out instead!"
Filing most of that away for later perusal, Kazuto focused on the two parts that were pertinent to the current threat. "Does that stone tablet have anything to do with the bull?"
"Eh? Yes...I was told to use it as a catalyst..." Sakura said in surprise.
"It has a bull carved on it and you summoned a bull. I think whoever gave it to you meant for you to summon it." the boy deadpanned at the older woman. "So it's a...what was it again?"
"A Khalkotaurus." Sakura said as she crept out from behind the tree at the relaxing of Kazuto's aggressive stance. "Better known as one of the two Colchis Bulls. Gifted to King Aeetes by the Grecian Smith God Hephaestus, they were tamed by the Hero Jason to plough a field so he could sow Dragon's Teeth. It's a high-level Divine Beast that no mortal can slay...only a Campione such as yourself and my cousin Godō are capable of slaying."
"And what is a Campione?" Kazuto demanded. "Morpheus kept using that word, but he never explained what it meant?"
A lie, of course; he wanted to see if what this woman said matched up with what the so-called 'Heretic God' had told him.
"A Tyrant." the older woman replied solemnly. "A King of Kings who stands above mortals, mages, witches and miko alike. A usurper who slew a god and stole their divine power and made it their own...no one who isn't either a Campione themselves or a Heretic God can stand up to them because all mortal magic is utterly useless against a Campione. Even the Authorities of other Campione and Heretic Gods are somewhat disempowered when set against the magic resistance of a Campione."
"...I'm going to just leave now." Kazuto said flatly. This was just too much. He was being stalked and feared because people who hadn't even met him were treating him like Kayaba Akihiko? He was so done with today.
"Wait! If you don't kill it, the bull will go on a rampage!" Sakura yelped.
"The JSDF exists for a reason." the boy threw back at her.
"No one without magic can even see Heretic Gods or Divine Beasts, let alone hurt them!" the woman tackled him from behind tightly, making Kazuto flush bright red at the sensation of her breasts pressing into his back.
"We-well what about other Campione? There have to be more than just me on the planet!" the flustered boy tried to pry her off as he replied.
"There aren't! Five of the seven Campione were banished to parallel worlds over a decade ago, with the sixth in a coma and the seventh, my cousin, is searching for the missing five!" Sakura wailed. "You are literally the only one on the planet who can do something about this!"
Well...that put things into perspective!
"Let go." he sighed. Slowly, Sakura let him go and stepped back.
"The main problem is that these...'Authorities' that you've been talking about...I think I've felt them, but I've not been able to activate them." he admitted to her.
"That...that shouldn't be possible." the girl stammered. "All Campione have instant access to their powers from the moment they're reborn by Lady Pandora! How is it that you can't even..."
Before she could continue, the familiar bellow of the massive bull echoed, coming closer this time. Kazuto grimaced.
"Look, by the sounds of it, that thing is targeting me. You get out of here." he told her. "I'll draw it's attention."
"B-but without Authorities, you're-!" Sakura said worriedly.
"Just a gamer who frequently throws himself into harms way." Kazuto laughed slightly. For whatever reason, this situation wasn't making him panic or afraid at all. It felt just like when he was about to take part in a Boss Raid in Aincrad, except he was alone this time. Like when he'd Soloed [Nicholas the Renegade] to search for a way to bring back Sachi.
'Looks as if I might be coming to join you, Sachi.' he thought with a sad smile, thinking of the girl who had died because he had hidden the fact that he was a Beta Tester.
"Better me than you." he said aloud. "Go. If nothing else, this Campione thing has given me a stronger body than you do. Tell your bosses that if I survive this mess, I'll be coming to kick their asses for doing something so stupid."
Gulping at the serious look in his eyes, Sakura nodded, grabbed the stone tablet, turned and started running.
Closing his eyes, Kirigaya Kazuto breathed in, held it for a moment and let it out before opening his eyes.
Time to face a boss.
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Next Chapter: Return of the Black Swordsman
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