Sword IX: Downpour
"Looks like the gang's all here," Klein said as looked around the large Inn room where everyone was situated in. "All right, as Second-In-Command I hereby bring the very first meeting of the Final Rebellion guild to order! Guild Leader Ragna, you now have the floor."
"Klein, we're just meeting up to talk about floor three," Ragna reminded his over eager friend with a sigh as he crossed his arms and sat moodily in his chair, his favored sword BloodScythe leaning against the wall behind him. "Argo, what've you got for us?"
"I managed to find a few leads… but most of it's jus' rumors," the group info gatherer explained as she adjusted her hood leaned against the back wall. "So from what I've been hearin', this floor is one where you gotta complete a set of quests in order to proceed and find the floor boss… the only problem is there are a lot of quests and no one's really sure which ones are part of the set… or if they've already done it."
"You mean that they don't know if what they were told can actually help them to find the floor boss?" Silica asked as Pina rested on her shoulder.
"That's certainly possible, but what I've been hearing is that you'll receive better rewards occasionally when you complete a job than what you'd originally get another time," Asuna informed, having done a little research into the game herself. "Several teams have worked together in order to figure out what's causing the change… but they haven't found anything solid."
"So as far as we can tell it's RNG based…" Liz sighed. "Great…" The Blacksmith hadn't been planning on attending today's meeting, but when it had started raining she realized that she didn't have much choice besides closing her shop and helping the others out for today.
"RNG? What's that?" Ragna asked.
"It stands for Random Number Generator; it's basically a part of the game where you need to hope to get lucky," Yuuki explained.
"Shit," the Reaper crudely swore, knowing how bad Lady Luck seemed to have it out for him. "Nothing for it then, so what are we going to do?"
"Fer now I saw we split up into teams and take care of as many quests as we can," Argo explained. "It ain't the best plan… but what else are we going to have to work with?"
"I guess we don't have much of a choice…" Ragna muttered as he got up, getting a few cricks out of his neck as after he'd risen. Grabbing Bloodscythe from the wall, he placed the chipped and scratched blade back on his weapon's belt. "I was hitting the west side of the floor all day yesterday so I know that part well enough; I'll hit any quests I can and message you guys back if I find anything."
"Hey, you mind if I go with you then?" Leafa asked him as she too got to her feet. "There was something that I wanted to ask you about and there's a small town on the west side that's perfect for it."
"Can't you just tell us about it right now, whole guild's already here already here in fact," Ragna told her as he glanced around at everyone.
"I know, but I kind of want your opinion with fresh eyes," Leafa told him, before looking up at Ragna with large pleading eyes. "Come on, please?"
'There go any chances I had of going all out today…' Ragna thought to himself with disappointment. "Fine, fine, just remember what we're trying to do, alright? This isn't some field trip."
"Please, says the guy that only goes out, clears dungeons like a mad man, and doesn't know the meaning of rest," Leafa reminds him teasingly as the two exit the meeting room, leaving the rest of the Final Rebellion guild to coordinate their own efforts towards finding quests and clearing the third floor for good.
Later -Floor Three: West Side-
"There's the town up ahead. I gotta say, these new travelling cloaks Liz made for us was a welcome surprise."
"Well she thought you'd need something to keep dry in the rain… though she did say something about you deserving to get soaked," Leafa told Ragna.
"Is this about that boyfriend comment from yesterday?" No response was given, yet a confused blush appeared on the blond swordwoman's face. "It's nothing… I… Look, just don't read too much into it…"
"I-If you say so," Leafa told him, though her blush remained.
"Tch… grow up…" he muttered, earning a small but deserved scowl.
Since it wasn't that far away and the Reaper knew the area well enough, the two of them had elected to walk to the town and save the cost of a teleportation crystal. The rain wouldn't have been too large of a headache, but Liz's traveling cloaks would keep their heads dry and as a bonus it hit Ragna's ideal style nicely. The design was plain and what you'd imagine for a cloak; it covered his front and his back, went down almost to his ankles, and wrapped nicely around his head for needed rain protection. While Leafa's shorter poncho was light green, Ragna's much larger cloak was midnight black making the already enigmatic Reaper seem all the more mysterious while he wore it. The only strange part of his cloak's design was Bloodscythe, which remained visible in its usual holding place while its belt part remained inside the fabric.
Walking into the town, the two saw that despite the weather there were plenty of people walking the streets and talking with NPC's asking for quests. The Reaper saw an unoccupied quest giver and was about to go for a job, but that's when Leafa grabbed his clock to stop him as she gestured for him to follow her to the small inn. Grunting in annoyance, he followed her and hoped that this would be dealt with quickly. The inn was on the larger side and from a quick glance it looked packed with people eating their meals, making agreements, or just hosting a short meeting between friends.
"Table for two?" the NPC waitress asked them with a smile as Leafa unequipped her poncho and sent it to her storage.
"Dunno," Ragna muttered from beneath the folds of his own dark cloak. "Depends on what the lady wants I gue-"
"THE HELL DID YOU SAY TO ME!?" came a sudden shout from the center of the restaurant… sadly it was a voice both of them recognized.
"Don't tell me…" Ragna began before looking and confirming his dread. "...Dammit… Just… God dammit…"
The owner of the voice was none of than Kibaou, the Beta hater from floor one. His armor looked like it had gone through a couple of upgrades as it seemed have a bit more of a shine to it along with a few metal plates that covered his legs. He'd also swapped out his single-handed sword in exchange for a much larger two-handed blade. At the moment he was surrounded by three guys and two girls, all of which looked like flunkies with their own pissed expressions.
'Idiots flock together then, no surprise…' Ragna thought as the sounds of Inn ceased while everyone in the establishment watched the scene play out. 'But with my luck…' "Hey, that girl they're threatening…"
"Yeah, she's who I wanted you to meet," Leafa told him with something of a guilty smile. The sound of Ragna's hand making contact with his own face was probably loud enough to be heard throughout the entire town. "Will it help if I buy you lunch?"
"Ask me after the meal..." he muttered, knowing no quality of food was worth this.
"Don't just ignore me, you bitch! What the hell did you say to me!" Kibaou shouted again at the woman seated before him since she hadn't responded to the first round of shouting Ragna had heard.
"I wasn't insulting you; I'm just saying that I don't want to work with you any longer," the woman said in response, her tone passive and unprovoked.
The young lady's most immediate feature confirmed something about Sword Art Online that Ragna hadn't exactly been questioning up to that point; it was possible to wear glasses in the game. She had short dark hair that was braided at the front to keep it out of her dark eyes. A spear rested next to the table within arms reach and it's unique and slim design told Ragna that she was an agil type of fighter. Her armor appeared to be a black sleeveless turtleneck sweater that wouldn't provide much protection, but looks were deceiving and the heavier chainmail woven between the fabric had been often proven to be light, durable, and effective. Of course she also appeared to be around the age as the girls in Final Rebellion, making Ragna wonder what was bringing all of these young ladies his way in the first place.
"Don't give me that crap!" Kibaou shouted as he continued to rant at the woman. "And don't for a damn second think that you're better than us! Half the time we were out there you didn't do a damn thing but freeze up! And now you're saying that we're not what you're looking for!? You got some damn nerve!"
'I could stay out of this… but his voice is torture on my ears,' Ragna thought reluctantly to himself as he walked forward, quickly getting attention from Kibaou's new group.
"Huh? And just who's this douchebag!?" one of the girls asked as Ragna approached. He didn't offer a response.
"Get outta here you goth, you're not scaring anyone," Kibaou said to the hooded figure as he glared at the folds around his head. "Tch, are you deaf or are you trying to start shit? You want to go with me!?"
"Like he could last ten seconds with a sword in that condition!" another of the women mocked. "With all of the scratches on it I doubt it could cut through a loaf of bread!"
"Scratch-" Whatever Kibaou had been about to say died in his mouth as he finally looked at the oversized blade the enigma was carrying, his eyes going wide as he immediately recognized the weapon. Looking back at the folds, he prayed to high god that he was wrong.
"Get lost."
There wasn't any mistaking that voice. Trying to keep himself composed, Kibaou took a deep breath. "She's not worth it."
"But Kibaou-" one of the men in his team protested.
"I said let's go, dammit!" Kibaou shouted as he started walking off.
"...Guess she is a lost cause," another of the men said as a final insult before following their apparent leader with the rest of his team. With the scene having ended, the rest of the restaurant patrons went back to their business, the sounds of chatter and business echoing throughout the Inn.
"Thanks for stepping in I guess, but do I know you?" the seated girl asked the Reaper.
"Well I assume you know Leafa, otherwise this meeting's gonna get even more awkward," he answered from beneath the folds.
"Leafa?" she repeated, before noticing Leafa approaching with a bit of a cheerier smile than Ragna was used to. He didn't have any idea what was going on, but he figured he may as well go along with it after coming this far. Not long later the three of them were seated at the table with their lunch orders placed.
"So… how did you know I was here?" the new girl asked Leafa, getting right to the point which was something Ragna could appreciate.
"Simple, just checked my friend's list and saw that you were in the area," Leafa told her. "You said you wanted to keep in touch, didn't you?"
"That was you who insisted on that," the spear user reminded, a claim that wasn't at all a surprise to the Reaper. "In fact you didn't give me any choice about it."
"Considering who you were working with, I think I might've been right to worry," Leafa muttered, thinking to Kibaou's presence. "But anyways, my real reason for coming here was to introduce you to this guy! I think he might be just what you're looking for, Sinon!"
"This… guy?" the girl now known as Sinon asked as she got an eyeful of Ragna, well as much as she could considering…
"Hey, why are you still wearing that cloak indoors? Isn't it rude?" Leafa scolded her guild leader.
"What can I say? Liz makes comfortable cloaks," Ragna shrugged off nonchalantly.
"You chose a heck of a time to start being shy," the blonde head told Ragna with a sigh. "He's a little on the weird side and doesn't like to mince words, but trust me when I say he's the absolute best this game has to offer in combat."
"Is that so?" Sinon questioned, apparently not believing the Leafa
"Maybe it would help if you explained what the hell you're looking for?" Ragna suggested crassly from beneath the folds, earning a solid kick in his shin from Leafa while Sinon thought it over.
"It's hard to put to words, but… I'm looking for someone that can throw themselves into battle without a care in the world; someone that isn't afraid to die, but they don't have any plans to do so… someone that can look death in the eye and won't flinch for a second."
"...Okay, granted that sounds a hell of a lot like me," Ragna admitted, trying not sound too arrogant at the claim. "So… you're just looking for a tough partner then? Is that it?"
"Maybe, but I'm only looking for a temporary partnership; maybe a week at most," Sinon told him. "You can take all of the rewards we obtain; I'll only ask for any spears you don't have an immediate use for."
"...One hell of a deal…" Ragna observed with heavy skepticism. "What's your real game here? Do you need levels that bad, or…?" Sinon didn't say anything, avoid contact with him and keep her gaze focused at the table. "...You're asking because of the flinching part, aren't you?"
"Hey! Don't be rude! She's offering us a good deal here!" Leafa scolded before turning apologetically back to Sinon. "M-Maybe if we all go out and clear a quest today, we can see if you two are a good fit with each other? Will that work?"
"I guess I don't have any objections," the spear user admitted as she tried to look at the mysterious stranger before her. "But… I don't even know your name."
"You can call me Ragna ...Ragna the Bloodedge." The Grim Reaper had been about to leave it at his standard name, but decided it was time he started using his proper title. Maybe this was a new life, but that didn't mean he wanted to forget about the old one, no matter how much hell it had been filled with.
"Bloodedge?" Sinon repeated with surprise at the intensity and seriousness that the name had been delivered.
"B-Bloodedge? Where the heck did that name come from?" Leafa demanded, equally as shocked by the developments of an added title.
"Just something I used to go by back home… after a while in here, it just felt right to start using it again," the Grim Reaper admitted hoping that they would drop the issue there. It looked like both girls wanted to question him further on the name (Leafa quite a bit more than Sinon) but luck appeared to be on Ragna's side for once in a long while as it appeared that their ordered food had finally arrived.
"Sorry for the wait everyone, I've brought your meals here for you," the NPC waitress said to the group.
"Great, I'm starved," the Grim Reaper said, eager for a change in topic and almost as eager to enjoy a nice lunch...only to be silent for a long moment as he stared at what he'd been given. "I think you got my order wrong…"
"I hope you enjoy your food!" the waitress said before hurrying off.
"Hey! Don't just ignore me! I asked for the special!" Ragna shouted, but to no avail. "God dammit…" He looked at the single loaf of modest bread and the goblet of cheap wine in front of him before comparing it to the meat pie Leafa had ordered. "...Mind giving me half of that? You can take my wine in exchange."
"I'm under the drinking age…" Leafa tried to tell him.
"Yeah, so is Liz and she tried to drink yesterday," Ragna told her, admittedly a little curious to see how the blonde would handle the drink. "No pressure either way…" Leafa didn't say anything in response, but she cut a good slice of her pie and gave it to Ragna and put it on his plate while he gave her his wine and half of his bread.
"Might as well," she said before taking a quick sip from the goblet. Since this wine likely wasn't nearly as strong as the grain beer Liz had tried the day prior, Ragna wasn't expecting Leafa to gag on it but was surprised when all Leafa gave was a small cough. "That's… stronger than I was expecting."
"Huh," he muttered in kind before cutting himself a slice of his pie and eating it through the cover of his cowl. It wasn't a bad taste… but the Reaper had yet to find any food in this game that he considered comparable to his own cooking.
The meal didn't last all that long and despite Leafa's best effort to get a conversation started, Sinon's passive nature along with Ragna's standoffish appearance made for a quiet dining experience. Nothing of substance happened, until the three were set to leave the restaurant.
"All right, let's see if we can't track down someone to get a quest from," Leafa said as she went into her menu.
"Finding a quest giver is the easy part," Sinon reminded. "The real problem is finding a quest that doesn't already have a dozen players after it."
"Right, this floor is already starting to get crowded, isn't it?" Leafa asked as she finished going through her menu and equipped her green poncho. She opened the door to head out, but then turned to Sinon. "...Aren't you going to put something on?"
"I would if I had something, but at the moment none of the store I've gone to have had any cloaks for sale and I lost my old one on my way back into the city."
"Seriously, and on such a rainy floor like this?" Leafa sighed. "We could take turns wearing mine, maybe that would work until we find something to cover you?"
"But then that would leave you out in the storm," Sinon told her. "I don't think that-" Before she could protest any further, a large mass of black fabric was thrown directly into her face. As she struggled to get it off, she heard the door open in front of her.
"I want that back once we're done," Ragna muttered darkly as he started walking out into the rain. Now getting her first good look at the Reaper (though the rain was already starting to get his gravity defying hair to droop), Sinon stared for a long moment at the revealed enigma standing out in the rain. "...Hurry up will ya? I'm not getting any dryer out here."
"You didn't have to step outside…" Sinon sighed as she put his cloak on (thankfully equipment adjusts to its users size). "...Thanks though."
"Like I said, I want it back later," he muttered darkly as his hair was already falling further and further from the rain. "Come on, let's get going."
"Right…" Sinon said as the two started to follow. 'Well… He certainly doesn't LOOK like your average player.'
Later -Floor Three: Bandit's Outpost-
"Hard to believe that we made it here without getting a single encounter," Leafa noted as the three stood at the front of the dungeon's entrance.
"Not really, with all of the players we saw on this floor it was clear that they were killing as many monsters as they could and fighting as fast as they can," Sinon said said from beneath the folds of Ragna's cloak. "Are we sure this is the place?"
"Yeah, headed this way yesterday so this should be the right place," Ragna told the two, a little miffed that they weren't heading inside yet since he was already drenched from head to toe.
The quest that the group had been given was your standard retrieval errand. The NPC's story had been that a group of Orcish bandits had invaded his home and had stolen his wife's wedding ring. He knew that one of the monsters would have the item on them, but warned that the Orcs had a powerful leader that should be avoided at all costs. Ragna himself hadn't actually delved inside this place the day prior; too many players were already here and he didn't want to feel crowded.
"I guess I should've asked earlier, but should we message Argo to see if she has the map data for this dungeon?" Leafa asked Ragna, who didn't say anything in response as he simply opened the large wooden door and proceeded into the outpost. "Okay then, guess I'll start mapping…"
'Did he forget that I still have his cloak?' Sinon thought as she looked at the piece of fabric before sighing and sending it to her inventory. 'I'll give it back to him later, once we've finished our job.'
This place had an impressive attention to detail with this dungeon and most of is was covered in dust or mud, there were cobwebs in the corners, and ale stains and broken beer barrels lie scattered around the place. From what Ragna could tell from his perception of the place, there shouldn't be any other players in the immediate area… the same couldn't be said for the monsters of this place.
"Looks like we've found our first target," Ragna noted as he took out Bloodscythe, using both hands on the oversized sword. This caught Leafa attention, for as little time as they'd fought alongside each other she could recognize that Ragna was much more comfortable using the blade in a single arm backhanded style.
The target for Ragna's serious nature was a usual orc of fantasy design; a green skinned brute that stood taller than Ragna and had obnoxious muscles along its arms, legs, and biceps. Two long tusk-like teeth emerged from its lower jaw and its glowing red eyes had a sense of evil about them… not unlike Ragna's own red eye, the Reaper mused. This one was clad in plate armor that only covered parts of its body since its main focus was attacking with its falchion. While the weapon would normally take both of a regular player's hands to wield, the Orc would have no trouble using it in one and only used elected to do so for additional power.
"I'll knock it off balance, Sinon will follow up with her spear, and Leafa will finish the bastard off." Ragna's plan was a simple one, but as long as their attacks all made solid contact the monster would be felled without difficulty. Both girls seemed to understand to role and simply nodded. The three of them then charged forward, Ragna using his blade to strike not the monster, but instead its weapon and breaking its guard completely. "Now!"
As Sinon rushed past him, Ragna kept a careful eye on her so he could get an idea of what he was dealing with. He wasn't sure how much of what Kaibou had said was true (he knew not to take those words at face value), so he decided it was time he'd get an assessment himself. While he saw he spear thrust towards her target, he saw that for a split second she had indeed frozen. It looked like it took some effort, but she managed to power through and strike the monster with her skill… effectively destroying it before Leafa even had a turn to act.
"Holy… that's some power," Leafa said in surprise as the team's result screens came up.
"I usually have to focus on finishing a fight quickly, so taking the first blow is important," Sinon explained. "Of course if it doesn't work… I might be in for a difficult fight."
'Something about her expression… Some sort of trauma maybe?' Ragna guessed. 'Guess I can't know for sure until I see more of her in action.' "We didn't the ring on this drop, so we're heading in further… keep your guard up."
"I understand, this isn't my first time exploring a dungeon," Sinon told him.
As Ragna would unfortunately discover, what Sinon had done in the first instance was a best case scenario. Occasionally, she would freeze completely or her nerves would send her attack off of its mark. Rescuing her normally wasn't too large of an issue, but it was starting to become something too frequent for Ragna's taste… one strange aspect of Sinon's curse was that when she was attacking a creature's back, she didn't seem to have any such issue.
'Her output with that spear of hers is on a whole other level though,' the Grim Reaper thought to himself as he sat at one of the dusty tables. The three were currently in a safe zone and Sinon had asked if they could take a break so she could rearrange a few things as they continued to search for the ring. Ragna swore that he must've killed just about every Orc in this place, but the ring wasn't showing up anywhere.
"Hey, got a moment?" Leafa asked as she sat beside him. Ragna didn't even get a chance to answer as she sat in the chair beside. "So?" She was keeping her voice down, to the point where Sinon wouldn't be able to tell what they were saying.
"She's got power, but if she didn't have us to cover her whenever she freezes she'd have died twice over," he admitted. "Which is why I'm guessing you wanted me here, to keep an eye on her?"
"Something like that, but it might be easier to convince her to join us if you… show off a little?" Ragna wasn't sure what she was implying. "You've been using your sword in both hands when you could be using it in one, you've been relying on the two of us to help you fight, and you haven't used any of those special skills of yours…"
"Yeah, 'cause I still need to know what she can do," Ragna tried to argue, but Leafa wasn't buying it.
"Just go all out on our next monster, okay? Show her what you can really do." He didn't respond, but Leafa took that as a sign that he was reluctantly agreeing with her. Smiling and standing from her seat, she headed back over to talk to Sinon.
'Go all out, eh?' Ragna thought to himself as he brought up his right hand and looked at his BlazBlue's palm. 'Well if she's asking… then I guess I can do it this once.'
Soon enough the three were walking down the dusty hallways once more with Ragna taking point at the front. The three were now descending down the stairs, heading into the deeper parts of the dungeon. Opening the door to a large open area, Sinon and Leafa were about to step forward, but Ragna arm shot out and stopped them. Walking from the far wall towards them was an Orc, much like the ones before only this one stood even taller and his armor was a more intimidating set of plate mail. He wielded a two-handed great axe which had a few human skulls wrapped around it as a threatening display.
"I guess that's the boss that we were supposed to avoid," Sinon whispered to keep the boss from noticing them.
"Yeah, it sure looks like a tough one," Leafa said, thinking about what she'd just asked Ragna to do. "Maybe we should look for a different monster to fight before we-"
She didn't have a chance to finish as Ragna rushed forward, running straight for the boss at amazing speeds. The boss seemed to realize that it was about to be attack and brought its axe back to charge a weapons skill, but it was far too slow as Ragna quickly closed the gap and didn't even bother to go for his own blade. Giving a violent roar, he brought his left arm back, caused black flames to be channeled into it, and smashed it into the boss's face. The Orc's face was violently torn from the single punch, much like Ilfang had been in his final moment, right before it followed in kind and exploded into light shards.
"O-O-One punch?" Leafa asked with shook, eyes wide with her surprise as Ragna went into his results screen.
"He… does he usually do that?" Sinon asked, she herself unable to keep from staring at Ragna closed his menu. She tried to find her voice to ask something else, but found that she couldn't speak. The only thing that broke her out of her daze was when Ragna flipped something towards her, leaving her to struggle to catch it after it hit her forehead. "Is this… the ring?"
"Yep, turns out it was the damn boss that had it," Ragna sighed as he crossed his arms. "I thought the NPC said that it had been taken by one of the Orcs, not their damn leader…" 'Then again with my luck should I really be this surprised?' "Guess we're done here then. Ready to head back and..." The Reaper paused as an idea formed in his mind, something reminiscent of his time training with Jubei. "Actually, there's one last thing we need to do here."
"We've already checked the rest of the rooms and we've opened every chest that we've come across; what else could there possibly be to do?" Leafa asked, right as Ragna unslung his sword from his belt. She figured that there might be another monster nearby, but that was when she noticed the Ragna was holding his weapon in a single hand and pointing it directly at Sinon. "Wh-what on earth are you doing!?"
"Breaking whatever the hell's keeping her from going all out," he explained crudely as he kept his weapon pointed at the surprised spear user, his eyes narrowed in a challenging glare. "I might not have a damn clue what keeps freezing you, but I'm stopping whatever shit that is right here."
"By threatening to kill her!? Are you insane!?" Leafa demanded. Realizing he'd screwed up a bit but managing to stay composed, Ragna quickly went into his menu and issued a duel challenge to Sinon. "I… still…"
"You're not the one I'm going to be fighting Leaf; you told me yourself you didn't want to see anyone else die, so stay out of this," Ragna said in a low serious voice as he kept his blade up.
"...After what you just showed me, you really think I can stand up to you in a fight?" Sinon asked Ragna seriously, her eyes returned in an annoyed glare.
"I don't remember giving you a choice," the Reaper told her. "You think you can power through the rest of this game like you are now? Wake the hell up, your life's on the line." Sinon didn't say anything, only giving a reluctant sigh as she accepted the challenge and brought her spear out and stepped forward, a small barrier forming around them that would both serve as a boundary for the fight and effectively keep Leafa from interfering.
"I've already tried dueling before to try and cope with the game's combat and it didn't do anything," Sinon told him with her spear readied as the countdown lowered. "What makes you think this is going to be any different?"
"Easy, because I won't be giving you a damn chance to flinch," the Reaper told her as the countdown reached zero.
Sinon could barely react as Ragna barreled forward, much like he had when he'd destroyed the boss, reaching Sinon and slashing his blade at her before she could even begin a counter and forcing her to dive to the side in order to dodge the blade. Ragna hadn't given her a chance to recover and brought his sword down on her spear's guard, sending her skidding back from the force.
Sinon fought her hardest and actually managed to shakily recover from the force of the impact. Charging up her sword skill, she managed to begin to throw a counter strike against Ragna… only for her to freeze once more. It was only for a split second and she managed to power through, but that split second was all it took for Ragna to send her flying into the duel boundary with the blunt side of his own weapon.
"Sinon!" Leafa cried with worry as the spearwoman slowly made her way to her feet, feeling a completely winded from the impact of the move. Even though the match had ended in Ragna's favor, he was already issuing another challenge. "Stop this! You're going to kill her!"
"Not with the way I have the duel set," Ragna told her as Sinon accepted the challenge once more and readied herself. "Any damage I do in our duels is going to be healed afterward and her health won't go below ten percent… meaning we just have to do this until it sticks!"
This time Ragna didn't charge forward, this time letting Sinon take the initiative to close the distance between the two… that didn't mean he didn't use said time to switch BloodScythe to its titular sickle form. With new menace and additional range, Ragna made a huge swipe to the spearwoman, who had to leap over the attack at the last second to dodge the move. Readying a lunging attack, she closed her eyes at the last moment for she wouldn't have to see the impact… only to receive a fist to her face as she was blasted out to the boundary.
"Closing your eyes to it ain't going to accomplish jack shit," Ragna muttered as he quickly went and reset the duel before he could even give Leafa a single chance to protest. This time Sinon was struggling to get to her feet, but trying her hardest to break through all the same. "You're stubborn at least, let's see how far that will get you."
Much the same as the first time, Ragna took off charging at Sinon with his sword, holding it back-handedly in his left hand. This time the spear user had managed to charge her skill up and thrust it forward to stop his attack… only to freeze as she looked at his face and her eyes grew wide at the memory of-
"SNAP OUT OF IT DAMMIT!" Ragna crassly told her as he knocked her spearpoint up and sent her off balance. Before she could react, Ragna threw out a roundhouse kick that caughter square in the gut and sent her stumbling back, this time still carrying enough health to keep her in the fight. Leaping high into the air, Ragna roared as he brought his sword down only a split second after Sinon had dodged to the side. Turning to face her, the two thrust their respective weapons at the same time… only for Ragna to be impaled by Sinon's longer reach.
"Ragna!" Leafa cried from the sidelines, seeing as the spear point poked out of Ragna's back. Even if this had been his intention, it still felt horrifying to look at.
'I… I hit him…' Sinon thought horrified as she looked at her weapon piercing through through Ragna's chest. Even though it had hit him dead on, Ragna's health hadn't dropped to the red and was only slowly descending. Shakily bringing her gaze up, she forced herself to look at Ragna's face and imagined something horrifying from her past… only to see the Reaper's smug grin.
"Sure as hell took you long enough," he told her cockily. It was an expression Sinon hadn't been expecting and only stared at him in awe… right before getting struck back into a boundary with another powerful punch from the Reaper. "Come on, we're not done here."
"Ragna… isn't that enough?" Leafa had to ask.
"No… I need to keep doing this…" Sinon responded as she got to her feet. "I… I think it's working… somehow… Please, keep going."
"Tch, if you want to go through hell that badly, I won't say no now," he promised as he rose his sword and the two charged each other once more.
Truthfully Ragna didn't hold that big of an advantage over the spear user in terms of levels and stats given she had an additional two weeks in the system compared to him, but Ragna's raw experience and history of fighting gods or god-like opponents was too much for her to handle and the rest of their fighting showed it. Sinon wasn't here to win though, she was here to give her all in curing whatever was holding her back. In the end the two of them ended up dueling in that room for close to half an hour, leaving Leafa to watch feeling helpless.
"...That'll do for now," Ragna muttered as he walked up to Sinon who had again been flung back into the barrier and was now having trouble getting up. "So… feeling any-?"
SHING!
In an instant, Sinon's spearpoint was right in front of his face. She hadn't hesitated for even a split second in her move and glared at Ragna with eyes of both annoyance and conviction, both her grip and her eyes holding steady.
"Glad that you're over it and all… but we're not in a duel so that could've killed me," Ragna said, sweat dropped slightly at the detail she'd overlooked.
"R-right…" Sinon shaikly responded as she cringed at her own overeagerness, only for it turn to a blush as Ragna ruffled her hair.
"Pretty badass of you all the same," he commended with a snarky grin. With that dealt with, he turned his attention back to Leafa whose scowl at him was intense. "What? You're the one that was worried about her whole freezing thing, I'd say I fixed it."
"By scaring me half to death!?" Leafa shouted at him angrily as she crossed her arms. "You're lucky you both managed to live through that!"
"We were in a duel…" Ragna weakly defended, but again the blonde swordswoman wasn't having any of it. "I'm sorry alright, it just felt like the right thing to do after what my… never mind."
"After your what?" Leafa demanded, knowing she was deserved answers after what she'd been put through.
"Well… let's just say what I did was child's play compared to what my teacher used to put me through," he admitted darkly, seeming to strike a chord with both of the young girls. "We ready to head back then?"
"More than ready," Leafa told him, still a little cross with Ragna's actions. Sinon herself seemed to be rather passive about the situation… but she still had to hand it to Ragna; he had helped her in the end.
Later -Floor Three: West Side-
"You realize you could have taken you cloak back?" Sinon told him as the three walked through the harsh downpour, Ragna starting to grumble about the damn rain on the floor. "I already wore it on the way out…"
"I've already got Leafa pissed at me as it is, I don't need to make it worse by leaving you out in the rain," he told her, not earning a response from Leafa. "That aside, a little rain never hurt anyone."
"...It's still enough to get you annoyed," she noted casually.
"Eh, I'm usually pissed anyways. Not a big deal," Ragna told her as they made their way back into the town. "Come on, let's find that NPC and see if our reward tells us anything about the floor boss.
The NPC was exactly where they had left him, standing out in the rain next to one of the inns. Ragna had to give the game credit; the NPC looked so pathetic standing out there in the rain that it would be hard to turn down its begging… like sad, lost puppy almost. He kept such thoughts to himself, but they still persisted.
"Did you manage to find my wife's ring?" the NPC asked is it recognized that they had taken the quest.
"We do indeed," Sinon said seriously as she handed the NPC the ring that the farmer had requested that they return.
"That's the one… It's the last thing I have to remember her by after she passed away a few years ago," the quest giver sadly. Ragna figured that this was just rambling some already generated dialogue and that there'd be another team to take the exact same quest soon enough. "You've done me a great service, but I have little to give in return."
"That's okay, we were happy to help all the same," Leafa said as she gave the brightest smile she could manage in this gloomy weather (and with her ire towards Ragna). This shouldn't have affected the rewards they would receive, only something she thought she would do to appear present. A results screen appeared in front of Ragna to show their reward… negligible experience and a meager amount of Col along with-
"A loaf of bread?" Ragna asked as he looked at the item.
"I told you, I was afraid that I couldn't pay you much," the NPC told them before bowing. "Thank you so much for your support."
"Go figure," Ragna sighed. "Well whatever, I guess-" His eyes narrowed as he thought he saw a spark appear around the NPC's entire body.
"What is it?" Leafa asked, apparently unable to see what Ragna had.
"Actually, now that I think back on it I do have a something that you might be interested in," he promised before sending over a second item. Looking over the screen, Ragna saw that it read Medallion of Lightning. "It's an odd item that I found when I was checking my wife's grave earlier, but perhaps it could serve you well."
"...Who could say?" Ragna said passively as he closed the screen and started walking away. "Stay dry."
"What was the other reward?" Leafa asked as she followed, curious what they'd gotten.
"Couldn't tell ya… probably going to need Argo to look into it," he admitted with a sigh. "It's getting late though… should probably grab dinner and maybe turn in for the night. What about you, Sinon?"
"I… was hoping I could travel with you a while longer," Sinon asked. She didn't have a blush on her face, but she did seem to be showing a bit of her awkward side in asking the Reaper.
"Huh, so I guess this means that I qualify for what you were looking for?" he asked, his cocky smile returning in full.
"By the skin of your teeth," Sinon told him humorlessly, causing his smugness to disappear almost immediately.
"Try and be a nice guy," Ragna sighed as Leafa giggle at the comment. "Alright, I guess you can stick with me and my team. I hope you're ready to work your ass off on this floor though."
"I plan on doing so," Sinon told him as she held her hand out. "Thank you, Ragna the Bloodedge."
'...Damn… don't think I'll ever get used to hearing THAT,' Ragna admitted as he shook the young maiden hand.
Author's Note
I LIVE!
...Seriously though, a few of my readers showed concern when I didn't post for over a month. I appreciate the concern guys, so thanks for making me feeling needed (even if it's just so that you can get your fanfiction fix).
Shorter chapter this time around, but I felt like I needed to start SOMEWHERE with my comeback. Don't expect and Awakening chapter anytime soon I'm afraid… some serious work's going to need to be done on that to appease that fanbase. Anyways, let's get the Reviews squared away.
Wlyman2009: You say right before I go silent for a month.
Armedlord 2.0: Shhh! Spoiler for those that didn't read that version!
PersonaQeminod1: I haven't, but then again I don't have a Switch either.
ENDDRAGON369: ...Masses have been a little… quiet.
Ryoken Uchiha: Yeah, there wasn't much of a 'story' point to that chapter, more of a fun happening between friends.
Touhoufanatic: I know how difficult it is to type on a phone all too well. You have some interesting ideas, all of which I'll consider.
A Special Kind Of Stupid: It's an experiment, just something I wanted to try out.
Doraemax: Eh, some floors had large buildings that were meant for guild halls, but I guess not everyone has millions to spend on a venue.
Netto567: ...About that…
Lightkirinhuruname: Jeeze, with your addiction I can only guess how you've had to cope.
Reclusive Dork: Eh, I try it myself.
RedBurningDragon: Far from a perfect revenge though.
The Unplanner: Heh, he's not the worst of the 'generic Anime protagonists' though. There are far worse than him… Far, FAR worse.
Guest (1): This guy sees it.
ImmaNumber1: Not really… it's just an expression.
MIDNIGHT The Fallen One: Thanks for a lengthy review, as always.
Zaralann: Maybe… but his healing factor is pretty OP.
Until Next Time! CIAO!