People are liking this story quite a lot! Hopefully I can live up to all your expectations. I've been watching a few videos about where Sword Art Online went wrong, and I think I got a decent idea. But still leave a review about how Sword Art Online could've been better and what I should do to make sure this fic doesn't flop.
Disclaimer: I don't own Assassination Classroom or Sword Art Online. Assassination Classroom is owned by Yusei Matsui and Shuiesha. Sword Art Online is owned by Reki Kawahara and Shuiesha.
"One! Two! Three! Four!" Hotaru called out. She swung her knife, practicing her drills. She and Nagisa were out on the fields of the second floor. It looked much like the first floor, but the grass and weeds were taller, giving off the impression that it was older, more aged. The town was similar, with vines and moss being all over the place.
"Hotaru! Sparring!" Nagisa said. Hotaru responded by attacking Nagisa. He slapped her hand to the side and countered with a palm thrust. Ever since the boss raid last week, Nagisa had upped the difficulty of their training. Everytime Hotaru made a mistake, Nagisa instantly made sure she knew that she did.
"What's the most important rule of knife-fighting and why?" he quizzed as he threw Hotaru over his shoulder. She grunted as she slammed into the ground.
"The first strike is important, but always expect your opponent would be able to dodge. Always be prepared to attack again. This is because a knife-user has less range and defense than most fighters." she groaned. Standing up, she attacked again with a three strike combo. Upward slash, downward slash, forward thrust. Nagisa blocked it easily, but he had to dodge to the side as Hotaru thrusted.
"Excellent. Your form was good, but we still need work on your precision. Again!" Nagisa said, falling back into a defensive stance, pulling out his own knife. It was just a kitchen knife, but he held it with the elegance of an expert assassin.
Hotaru stood and attacked again. Nagisa moved forward, but dropped his knife. Hotaru, startled, looked at the knife as it fell. She jerked back as a startling sound came out of nowhere. She fell back, surprised. As Nagisa moved in, she tried to move, but she couldn't so much as twitch. Nagisa maneuvered around her and caught her. She was paralyzed for a few seconds, but managed to move after a few seconds.
"Wha, what was that?" she gasped. Nagisa helped her up.
"One of my favorite assassination techinques. The clap stunner. I wasn't sure whether or not it would work in this world, so I decided to test it out while teaching you another lesson. Never take your eyes off your target. This technique, when used by itself, only works when the enemy pays more attention to the weapon or object." Nagisa said firmly. She nodded and stood shakingly.
"Can you teach me?"
"Sure, but not right now. Only when you reach a certain level in your knife skills." Nagisa told her.
"Hey Nagisa." the two turned. Kayano and Karma were walking over to the two. The three assassins had reunited with each other after the boss raid. The two joined Nagisa as he told the players in the town about how the boss had been defeated and as he and Hotaru went to the floor above.
"Hey Karma. Hey Kayano. What's up?"
"Someone located the boss room. They insist that we're the ones who go scout it." Karma said. "Wanna come with?"
"Sure. You coming Hotaru?" Nagisa asked. His student nodded and sheathed her knife.
"Yeah. I'll bring some potions."
"Great. We'll meet at the town gates in thirty minutes." Karma said.
-Line Break-
"Uhm, Nagisa?" Hotaru spoke up. She and Nagisa were at the inn in town. They were equipping themselves with potions and a few pieces of armor. Nagisa was equipping a leather tunic over his shirt. Hotaru was equipping herself with a pair of arm guards.
"Yeah? What is it?"
"How did they find the boss room so soon? It took a full month last time." she asked. Nagisa hummed thoughtfully.
"It must be because we're getting used to this world. Before, people were afraid. They didn't want to risk too much. But now, it's like what Diavel said. People now know that this game can be beat."
"So they feel more confident?"
"Precisely."
"That makes sense." she grabbed Nagisa's hand and pulled him after her as they left the inn and headed towards the gates. She had become more and more affectionate of Nagisa after the boss raid. Nagisa didn't mind. She reminded him of Sakura in certain aspects.
"Ready to go scout this boss?" Karma asked. Nagisa and Hotaru nodded. Kayano was quiet, looking at the intertwined hands. Hotaru noticed and quickly let go, to Nagisa's confusion. He shrugged it off, and the group left, heading to the located boss room. They walked for a few hours, before Kayano fell back to walk with Hotaru. The boys were in the front, while the girls hung back.
"So, uh, what's your relationship with Nagisa?" she tried to ask nonchalantly. Hotaru smiled sheepishly.
"He cares very deeply for me. He's like the brother I never had!" she said cheerfully. Kayano unknowingly let out a sigh of relief. Hotaru gave a wry smile. "You like him don't you?"
"Wh-wha!? N, no I don't, I don't, I, I uh, wha!?" Kayano stuttered in surprise. Hotaru giggled and waved her hand as Nagisa looked back.
"I can tell. I worked at my mother's bar for a few years now. Plenty of people come in to get drunk off their romance life." Hotaru giggled. "I have plenty of experience listening in on people with romantic problems."
"I, uh," Kayano stammered some more before sighing in defeat. "Fine. I like him. I just wanted to stay out of his way. Nagisa, whenever he sets his sights on something he just focuses on that. It's not fair for me to distract him when he needs to focus."
"Nagisa is a great multitasker. He's handling surviving this game, teaching me, and making sure I'm taken care of. I'm sure you can have a relationship with him." Hotaru assured Kayano. Kayano looked unsure, but nodded reluctantly. They walked after the boys in silence until they came across a dungeon.
"Here it is. This should be the location." Karma said. "Weapons at the ready everyone!" They all took out their weapons. Karma had traded his sword with a long spear. Kayano still had a knife. It was longer though, looking more like a sword rather than a knife. Nagisa and Hotaru still had the same weapons as before.
"Alright. Let's see just what this boss had in store for us." Nagisa muttered. They barged in, ready for a fight. Immediately, Kobold Sentinels began to spawn, attacking them. The group quickly fell into pairs. Karma with Nagisa, Kayano with Hotaru. They fell into a pattern, attacking, countering, and switching, swapping partners as they fought. In a matter of seconds, they defeated them all. Nagisa looked around, ready for a fight, but put his sword away as he saw that there weren't any around anymore. He turned to the three and gave Hotaru a pat on the head.
"You're definitely getting faster. Good work!"
"Thanks!" Hotaru gave him a smile. Karma looked at the two teal heads in amusement.
"You two are definitely like sisters." he teased.
"You mean siblings?" Hotaru asked.
"No, I mean sisters." Karma said, sticking his tongue out. A few seconds later found him bent over, Nagisa slamming a knee into his gut. "Uh, tr, totally, hrk, worth, tuh, it!" he grunted with each hit.
"Nagisa, stop." Kayano said, pulling him back.
"Let's just go scout this boss." Nagisa grumbled.
-Line Break-
"Weird. These are the coordinates people told us was the location." Karma said. Nagisa narrowed his eyes. The four had been walking around for a while, but even though this was the location the boss room was supposed to be, there wasn't any sign of the doors of the boss room. Just a deadend. A bad feeling settled in his stomach.
"Karma."
"Yeah. Stances!" Karma barked. The three assassins quickly settled into their stance, weapons drawn. Hotaru was confused, but followed suit. The assassins eyes were narrowed and focused, looking around.
"What? What is it?" she asked nervously.
"An enclosed space, only one way out, this was a trap." Karma said, shifting his eyes around. A cold and cruel laugh echoed out.
"My, aren't you guys sharp." Several cloaked figures appeared. They surrounded the group, weapons out. Nagisa looked and counted several swords and butcher knives. There were at least twelve people around them. A few had recording crystals in their hands. All had red icons above their heads. He grimaced.
'Red players. They've killed other players.' Nagisa thought, bloodlust leaking out of him. Every player had an icon above their heads. Green ones indicated that they haven't performed any form of crime. Orange ones indicated that they attacked the innocent players. Red, meant murder.
"I have a feeling this wasn't any attempt at a tea party." He said sarcastically. The leader laughed cruelly.
"Nothing personal. You four are definitely some big names. Cherry head and loli girl over there are some big names amongst beginners." Kayano glared at the leader. "And you two are known for being part of the boss raid that beat the boss. Killing you four will be a great debut."
"Hah! Dude, you talk like a cliche villain from a movie." Karma taunted, his eyes displaying immense bloodlust. His smile became twisted. "And you'd do better than to underestimate any of us!" Nagisa and Kayano gave their own, eerie smile, their eyes sharp and insane. The skull man gave his own smile, though not nearly as creepy.
"We're the Killing Clan, Laughing Coffin! We're the player killing group, who's main goal is slaughter!" he laughed.
"Oh please." Nagisa smirked. "Let's skip the cliche."
"Sounds good!" the leader said, charging forward with their butcher knife. Karma followed suit. He stabbed forward, the red player blocking it. This spurred the other players into moving.
Hotaru yelped as several members of Laughing Coffin descended onto her, but they were quickly intercepted by Nagisa. He threw them off and swiped at them with his sword. They cried out in pain as he left massive gashes in them. A few recovered and tried to attack, only to find themselves paralyzed when he glared at them. Nagisa disappeared, and was replaced with a gorgon, its snake eyes looking at them with hunger in them. This was his bloodlust, so intense, it made his victims hallucinate. They fell back in fear as the gorgon disappeared and was replaced with Nagisa. He quickly stabbed forward several times, disarming them.
Kayano became a blur, zipping around the players as they attacked. She stabbed and slashed as she fought, causing her opponents to cry out as she sank her blade into their bodies. She ducked as another tried to take her head off. She flipped, kicking several as she did so. Blocking a knife slash, she followed with a quick combo, not unlike the one Hotaru used against Nagisa just a few hours earlier. Red marks were all over the players she fought. Flipping back, she came back to back with Nagisa and Hotaru, the latter regaining her courage. Their opponents were the same as hers, but Hotaru had a few as well.
"You okay?" Nagisa muttered to his friend. Kayano nodded.
"How the hell are you guys so strong!?" one of Laughing Coffin asked angrily. Nagisa gave an intimidating smile.
"Oh please. You all are just a bunch of amateurs pretending to be Micheal Myers. We're fully trained experts. Don't even pretend to be on our levels you moron." he snarled. He leapt forward, katana raised. The players attacked, but were overwhelmed by Nagisa's immense speed. Nagisa danced around their knives, and countered with the butt of his katana. They fell down, concussed.
"Ugh!" the leader grunted as he was knocked back. Karma smirked at the man, spinning his spear with confidence. He charged forward, the psycho charging as well. Karma dodged his thrust and swung his spear, hitting him over the head. The leader fell down, grunting from his goons being tossed on top of him.
"What the hell!? How are you guys so good!?" the man asked angrily. Karma smashed the collected crystals with his foot.
"We're asking the questions here." he snarled. "Who are you morons, and who set you up to this. I highly doubt that you schmucks could've set this up, considering how you guys revealed and introduced yourselves before attacking us."
"And what makes you think that-" Kayano stabbed him in the leg, causing him to cry out in pain.
"We won't kill you, but you will feel some pain." she said coldly. While she may act cute and bubbly, Kayano has a darker side of her that shows up whenever she's angry. Neither Karma or Nagisa could judge, as they were both the same. The psycho growled, but when Kayano gripped the knife and began to twist it, he cried out again.
"Alright, alright! We've been killing people for a while now. Some masked dude came to us and offered us a shit-" he was caught off by a slap, courtesy of Nagisa.
"Language." he growled. The man glared, but stopped as Kayano shoved the knife deeper.
"Ah, stop! Alright, alright, I'm sorry! The man gave us a lot of money, told us to kill you four. He said it would be a good way for us to finally debut. We've been killing from the shadows for a while, and wanted to make a name for ourselves, so we really didn't have a reason to refuse." the man groaned in pain. Karma gave a cruel laugh and gripped the man's face, forcing him to look at the redhead.
"Here's a reason. You'll die." Karma growled.
"We, we're not going to actually kill him, are we?" Hotaru spoke up. Nagisa and the other two exchanged looks. They may have been assassins, but the only one who actually killed someone was Nagisa, and the only person he killed was already on the chopping block. At the same time however, they couldn't just leave them where they were. They were murderers, and they targeted them.
"We-" Nagisa was cut off by the sound of footsteps. A group of people dressed in armor jogged into view, carrying spears. They were lead by a man similarly dressed with a different spear.
"Hey, are you guys alright?" the leader asked, panting. The four exchanged looks in confusion.
"Yeah, we're good. Our friend is a little hurt, but she'll be fine." Nagisa said as Hotaru drank a health potion. As if to prove his point, the red marks on her disappeared.
"Great. My name is Artor. We're the Assault Team. We'll take these bastards." Artor said as he took out several coils of rope. He and his group tied up Laughing Coffin.
"How did you guys know we were here?" Karma asked. He and his friends still had their weapons at hand.
"Someone told us. A player with lilac hair and blue eyes." Nagisa's eyes widened. He looked at Karma and Kayano, seeing similar expressions.
"Where are they?" he asked, turning back to them.
"Behind you!" they whirled around. There, standing behind them, seemingly out of nowhere, was a familiar face.
"Ritsu!?"
And there we go with Chapter 6. Hopefully it was a good return to this story. I'm going to update this continuously until I reach chapter 12. After that I'll be updating both this and my other two stories twice every week. Leave a review telling what you think. If you liked it, favorite and follow! Azure out!