Sword Art Online

After The Incident

Chapter 52 - Blades of Conflict

~Kyouji's POV~

I frowned quietly and took a deep breath, gazing over the battlefield that Kazuto had prepared within the nervegear space that he had prepared. It was a lush forest filled with trees and foliage, a pleasant breeze running over the area and russling the fauna around me.

It was a beautiful place. Kazuto had a certain artistic flair, or at least a talent for level design. This place was almost perfectly made, plenty of power positions like boulders and cliffs, river banks and groups of trees. It was not just gonna be a duel in a vast, empty space. There were plenty of spots where you could retreat to and figure out a strategy while your opponent was distracted.

This worked in my favor. I usually prefered to use my brain rather than my fists anyway.

"So, who wants to fight him first?" Kirito asked with a grin.

The others seemed hesitant to step up. Until Klein sighed a little bit and finally drew his katana from its sheath, the sunlight filtering through the overhead canopy shining off his armor.

I smiled a little bit and nodded, drawing my rapier as well. I was kinda nervous. I did prepare to fight every last one of them, but i was not sure if i was going to be able to last that long. The human body does have its limits, and VR or not, I would probably get tired fairly quickly.

Therefore it made sense to take out the most capable warrior first, and Klein seemed to fit the bill. From what Kirito had told me, he had been fighting alongside him and Asuna on the frontlines back in their SAO days. And while I had nothing bad to say about the girls, I doubted that their time casually slaying monsters on the lower floors or working in a blacksmith would give them as much fighting experience as Klein probably had.

It was weird, he constantly came off as the comical punching bag of the group, but he was probably one of their most capable individuals. It was a weird dynamic but i assumed that they all felt most comfortable with the way their group worked, so I was not about to mention it.

I had to concentrate. If I wanted to show them how capable I was and at the same time allow them to vent their frustrations with what had transpired in the past, I had to go all out. No bars held, no holding back.

I wanted my feelings to reach them as well after all. I knew that they didn't trust me after what I had done, I wouldn't have trusted me either. But I still wanted to reach a hand out to them in solidarity, that I wanted to be their friend from now on.

And most importantly of all, I wanted to break the feeling of distrust between us so Shino didn't have to feel like she had to choose between me and her friends. That was the last thing that I wanted to put her through, and the last thing she needed right now.

So in a way, I was not just fighting for myself, I was fighting for her too. One might have said that I took this a bit too seriously, but it meant a whole lot to me. And to her.

As Klein and I squared off in the center of Kirito's homemade arena, I took a quick look over his armor and his stance in order to find any potential weaknesses. I could probably slip my rapier in between the plates that made up his armor every now and then to deal greater damage, but it depended on if I could find any openings.

As for his stance, there was really nothing to take note of. With both hands on his blade with his sword tugged to the side of his head, his right foot forward and firmly planted in the ground, he had taken what I would assume would be a proper samurai stance.

There were basically two options. Either he waited for me to attack in which case he would plant both feet firmly in the ground to prepare a side step. Katanas really didn't work for blocking stab weapons. Or he would attack himself, kicking off the ground with his backfoot to give him more momentum.

'If i were to guess, he is probably gonna-'

I didn't even manage to finish my thought as Klein suddenly burst forward with a battle cry. I frowned quietly and jumped backwards, having prepared for that eventuality from the beginning. My rapier would probably snap in two if I tried to block an attack from his heavy katana, so I would just have to stay out of range and dodge his attacks, then counterattack with a few stabs and sword skills.

That was really all I could hope for in this instance.

I roared as I dodged out of the way of his followup attacks before twisting my body and using the momentum to send an attack straight back at him. I grinned a little bit as my sword connected squarely with his hip, his heavy armor and weaponry not allowing him to dodge nearly as nimbly as I could. That gave me a huge advantage.

I kept up my attacks but Klein countered with one of his sword skills. He drew two fingers over his katana which sparked red, before he suddenly brought it down on the ground. Not a second later a wall of flames appeared between the two of us, denying my chance of doing any further damage.

I reeled backwards in surprise from his sword skill, not realizing that he had used the opportunity to jump through the wall of flames and continue his earlier assault. He brought his sword down and I widened my eyes as I attempted to dodge out of the way. It was a bit too late though. His blade just managed to clip into my leg for a second as I jumped out of the way of his swing.

"D-Damn.."

I frowned quietly and looked back up at Klein who wore a confident smirk, brandishing his sword, the last few bright red flames still dancing on its blade as he moved to continue his assault.

"I am not as dumb as I look you know!?"

He smirked and continued his attacks. Despite him being a slower and heavier fighter than me, I could not find an opening to counterattack, forcing me to stay on the defensive and continue to dodge out of the way for now.

"G-Get off me!" i yelped in a panic, activating one of my own sword skills.

Dark pellets of magical energy began to shine upon my weapon and I swung my sword in quick swipes, shooting the pellets into the ground and kicking up the dirt. Klein was forced to cover his face to keep himself from getting blinded, giving me the perfect opportunity to fall back and retreat.

"H-Hey, get back here!"

I could hear him right behind me on hot pursuit, refusing to give me enough breathing room to come up with a plan. If I couldn't distract him long enough he would quickly close in on me and finish me off.

I growled quietly and suddenly stopped dead in my tracks, catching Klein by surprise. I grinned a little bit and lowered my body downwards before swinging my leg outwards, kicking his own legs out from under his weight and making him collapse on his back with a heavy thud.

"OOF!"

He grunted as his virtual body connected with the virtual ground below him and I smirked a little bit as I rushed off to find a hiding spot.

"ARGH DAMMIT, GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE CHEAT!"

I sighed a little bit as I hid behind a nearly tree trunk, taking a moment to catch my breath. He was definitely faster than I had anticipated him to be, what with all that heavy armor and the fighting style I assumed he would have as a result.

"Alright, I can't keep staying on the defensive" i mumbled quietly, a thoughtful scowl on my face "how do I go on the offensive without risking getting my head cut off?"

I looked around the area. Was there anything in the environment I could use to gain an advantage?

I smirked a little bit as an idea struck me.

If I managed to pull this off right, there would be nothing he could do to counter. I looked through my inventory to check which sword skills and abilities would be necessary to pull it off.

"Yes, this could definitely work"

"YO, KYOUJI! Get your ass out here before I find you and FORCE YOU!"

Klein was closing in. If i wanted this to work, I needed to put my plan into motion right away. It was really the only idea I could come up with, so it was my only chance.

I frowned quietly and activated one of my most unique sword skills. It was unique in a way that it was technically neither offensive, nor defensive. It was made to confuse your opponent. It basically created clones of you based on how much mana you invested in it. Every 75 mana points would result in one clone, and since I only had 250 mana points left I decided to invest 150 points.

Not only would that give me a great opportunity to distract Klein, but it would also allow me to have a few options in my arsenal in case this sneak attack didn't do the trick.

I smirked a bit as I activated my sword skill, two exact clones of me popping out of a thin veil of smoke besides me. I sent them out of cover, hearing a surprised yelp from Klein a short while after.

"Wait what the hell!? Woah!"

I couldn't help but smirk a little bit in delight. Not only was this entertaining and exhilarating, but it was fun! It was so much fun! I felt a rush that I hadn't felt in a long time. While the boss fight against Kirito and Asuna may have been more intense and much more grand, this just gave me a feeling of excitement and exhilaration that I hadn't felt since Sinon and I started playing GGO together.

This was the kind of feeling I was searching for. The excitement and epicness of a proper fight. Sword Fights and gun battles were not all that different in that regard. They both were about outsmarting your opponent by using discipline, tough training and a stable and clever mind. Positions, weapon types, stances etc, it was all the same.

It had all been so boring. It felt like things were falling apart around me ever since my brother died. My enjoyment of life, of the games and hobbies I had once enjoyed, my friendship and eventual blooming feelings for Sinon, had all felt so meaningless after that. It almost felt like my emotions had died alongside my brother that day.

But now I had finally found my old self again.

And it felt amazing.

The sound of metal screeching against metal rang through the air as my two clones squared off against Klein at once, leaving him perfectly open for me to take a swing at his HP. I smirked as my rapier connected with his avatar, but a pout soon followed as I realized I hadn't been as precise as I had hoped, the tip weakly bouncing off his plate armor and just barely taking off some of his health.

"Tch, you may have the upper hand in terms of attack, but my armor is perfect to block your weapon, Kyouji!"

Klein taunted me with a smirk as he brought down his blade, my two weaker clones soon disappearing in a puff of fiery smoke. I grunted a little in annoyance, having realized that my grand plan had gone up in ashes.

"Fine then, man to man" I said with a frown.

I brandished my blade as we once again squared off, a confidence in my chest. I was not entirely sure if that confidence was misplaced, but it certainly wasn't unwelcome.

"Oh so NOW you decide to drop the tricks."

Klein smirked as he held his blade in both hands, the sun shining off of the polished digital metal.

"Alright, let's do this then!"

~Meanwhile in ALO, Yui's POV~

While daddy was working on setting up Kyouji's fight with the others, mommy had taken me with her back to ALO to meet up with my friends. I was nervous. I had already bought a shield on the way to today's meeting, though the thought of investing time into an entirely different skill tree than I was used to honestly intimidated me.

Daddy had often told stories about how he always prefered to just keep to a single short sword back in the days of SAO. That lasted until he unlocked his dual wielding skill. From then on he used two short swords.

I suppose I took after my dad in that regard. I had started ALO with just a basic short sword as well. It WAS an option that the system itself supported. In contrast to SAO, where it didn't make much sense to use a sword without a shield, in ALO it would allow you to move faster and attack with stronger swings. It basically gave you a speed and strength stat boost, while knocking your defence stat down a peck or two.

And while I realized that my choice of weaponry always had consequences, I always figured that since I could move faster I would simply avoid damage, not having to worry about my lacking defense.

Now, I had to adapt to an entirely different fighting style. While I did get to keep my sword, I had to get used to not fighting on the frontline as an attacker, but rather as a shield for the backline. Basically to allow the attackers to do their job, support them with spells, and at the same time defend the backline from any stragglers. The thought was a little intimidating, but i had already told daddy I would give it my best shot.

So that's exactly what I was going to do.

I smiled a little and waved as I finally spotted my friends near the town square area. Oni, our leader, a fairly tall guy with medium length red hair and a few freckles on each cheek, greeted me back with a matching wave, though he stopped mid-motion when he realized what I had strapped onto my left arm.

"Wait, are you serious Yui!?" he yelped as my mother and I approached them "You're gonna give the shield a try after all!?"

I nodded a little bit and smiled bashfully as I held up my arm to brandish my new piece of equipment. It was nothing special, not more than a plate sheet of metal with a handle on the back and a red gemstone in the upper center. Since I only had level 1 in my shield skill, I couldn't use much better equipment even if I could have afforded it.

"I figured I would step up as a good example for the team" I said with a small smile "Plus, it might be fun to try something different."

"Huh, that's totally different from what you said last time" Kairo, a green haired archer boy, said with a smile.

"My dad kinda talked me into it" I admitted with a laugh "So I figured i might as well give it a shot."

"Tell your dad thanks, we would never have resolved this otherwise" Oni laughed "Alright guys, let's head out! I hear there's a live event going on right now in Salamander territory that would make excellent practice!"

We cheered and I grinned happily as I moved to follow my group but stopped midway before running back to give my mommy a quick hug.

"I'm so proud of you Yui" She whispered gently as she tucked me in her embrace "Go have some fun okay? Let me know when you're done so I can make sure you make it home safe and sound"

"Of course mama" I grinned and pecked her cheek before rushing after my friends, nervously ready to finally get my first taste of shield combat.

A/N

I'm back bitches :D

So uh, what's up guys? Been quite a while hasn't it?

Well I have a ton of stuff I want to talk about but all in due time. For now I can please you all with the knowledge that I am back, and excited to continue writing all these stories.

I will try to aim for uploading once a week but due to certain things that might be a goal I can't always reach. As such, I once again ask you all to be patient with little ol' me :3

For now, thank you for reading, and have a lovely day/evening!

See you all next time!

- SebPoku