Sorry for the 1 day delay. Computer troubles hit at a bad time when I was finalizing and preparing.
Anyway, as you probably guessed this is a possible KiritoXLisbeth scenario. Beware. This story is darker and more complex than the others.
When I say darker, I mean darker, this would be very close the border of T and M, for character death, sadist characters, implied suicidal tendencies, and Kirito being emotionally numb. (More than you would expect)
I tortured out protagonist, to the point he has common nightmares, and fights to forget, so he is almost double his level in canon.
The poll should be up, and you may have noticed, but I changed some formatting for the stories. Ch 1 is summaries, Ch 2 is By an Instant, Ch 3 is Crossing Paths, and this Chapter (4) is From the Abyss, so there are the three stories.
Now, without Further delay
From the Abyss
"Hey Klein, do you know any good blacksmiths?" I said. Klein was an easygoing guy, he had red hair and the face of a cliché ruffian. He was the head of the Fürinkazan guild, and wore standardized red armor. His guild mates were similar to him in personality. They were one of the smallest clearing guilds with only 6 members.
"Yeah, a girl on floor 48, Lindas, why, don't you already have a blacksmith?" Klein asked with curiosity.
I glanced down and to the right. "He died, found out about a week ago, was working on a commission and got cornered by a field boss."
Klein's face sunk, "Sorry to hear that, but yeah, Lindas, floor 48."
I responded "thanks" and wandered away to look for it.
3rd Person
"Klein, wasn't she ..." The guild member tried to speak, but went silent when Klein rose his hand.
The group stood there for minutes, silent, waiting for the sound of a teleport crystal. When the sound came, Klein lowered his hand.
"Wasn't that Asuna's old blacksmith, that might just make things worse, remember floor 70?" Harry One asked.
"That is exactly why I am doing this, he won't forget unless somebody else pulls him up" said Klein.
"But, aren't you trying to get her to go out with you?" Harry questioned further.
With this, Klein looked down and to the right. "There are others, this is a sacrifice I am willing to make, he taught me how to survive in this world, before it was announced as a death game, I would be dead now."
1st person
I wandered into a medium sized shop, and within seconds a girl with pink hair wandered in.
"Welcome to Lisbeth's blacksmith shop" She said with a proud face and brave smile. But there was something behind those cheerful eyes, the torture of losing one's greatest friend. I knew that feeling, it had hit once before, and once with a level higher.
However, as a blacksmith, she probably forged nonstop until her mind left the thoughts behind. I, however, trained the pain away. As a result, I was level 143, one of the top 2 players in the game.
"I would like a new sword please, do you do commissions?" I began, "what is your skill level?"
She looked me up and down, and mumbled to herself "my skill has maxed out, and yes, but the thing is the price of metal is extraordinarily high lately" she said with concern for her wallet. "What kind of sword do you need?"
Pulling out my blade and sheath I handed her my Elucidator, which was clearly too heavy for her. She then analyzed it with blatant wonder.
With skepticism she grabbed a long bladed sword, but it was simply to light. "Can I test it, you know, its durability?" I said holding her sword and my right hand and bracing mine against the table.
Swinging the sword downward I split the blade, destroying it.
She swiftly was angered, and challenged me.
"As for metal, I would like a one handed longsword from this" I pulled out a solid black ore with red veins in it.
"This is death ore, damn, it can only be gotten from the field or floor boss on floor 65." She exclaimed, like just seeing it made her day.
"It will cost 150,000 col, because if I fail it will be expensive."
It hit me, I had 4,100,000 col, but everything but the 100,000 was frozen for a contract. "I'm sorry, I only have 100,000, and the rest is in a contract that is pending.
"Very well, but you must help me obtain a mineral called crystal ingot, up on floor 55." She pronounced proudly, "I'll go get my mace."
"No, I should go alone" I stated
"Yeah, but you need a master smith to get the ore." She said with a sly grin.
"Fine. Don't get in my way and stay back."
"EXCUSE ME!?" She yelled.
I began walking out the door, "you coming, Lizz-beth?"
"If you're going to be an asshole about it, just call me Liz," she stopped for a second, "but if you wear it out, my sword won't be the only thing broken, GOT IT?"
-Floor 55-
"Why is it so goddamn cold here?!" Lizbeth screamed.
"Should've brought a coat" I yelled back.
"Fuck you too" she mumbled.
I sighed and looked at my custom coat. It was hand made by Ashley. This was my second winter style coat made by Ashley. Pulling out the first, a slightly smaller coat, and threw it at her. "Put it on, shut up and stop whining." I growled at her.
Soon we reached a field of crystals. "Liz, when the dragon comes out, take cover, I will handle it." I said
"Hey! I can..." She tried to speak, but I cut her off.
"No.., just no, I won't happen, not for a third time, it can't happen. I cannot let it happen."
"Ok, Mr. Gloomy, whatever."
A mere instant later a roar echoed out through the mountains.
"Take cover!" I yelled
"Already on it, sheesh" she yelled as she ducked behind a bluish crystal.
The large, fat dragon flew up. It had crystals on its back, and was a broad winged variant. It was pale blue, with a set of arms.
A bluish wind formed at its mouth, and it whipped its head and an ice elemental blast flew at me.
My sword glowed white, indicating a high level counter skill, divine barrier. The attack flew back at the dragon, and it started to fall.
Leaping forward and up, I activated my skill, negative crescent.
Performing a front flip I removed its front left arm, then doing a back flip I removed the tip of the dragon's wing.
That's when things went wrong.
Lisbeth stepped out, and as the dragon fell it flapped its wings. Its crippled left wing caused it to turn to the left, but that was just enough.
The force of its wings blew Lisbeth into the gaping hole in the ground. The dragon's nest.
I landed on a crystal, and leaped into the pit.
Around half the way down I caught her, and rotated underneath her. The ground raced towards us, until I blacked out on impact.
I awoke, and glanced at our health bars. Both of ours were around half, mine was slightly higher. Lizbeth was just awakening as well.
Checking the time I saw it was around 4 pm. She blushed "thanks for saving me"
"No problem, nice to see you're alive" I said with the first genuine smile in a long time.
"What did you mean not again, I won't let it happen a third time." She inquired.
I looked down and off to the side to hide my eyes. Sachi and Asuna, both dead. The girl I swore to protect and the girl I loved.
"Never mind, it wasn't my place to ask, sorry." She said with clear sadness.
"No, never mind, it is ok, but I will only tell you about the lesser of the two."
She seemed disappointed, but accepted t quickly so she could listen, staring straight at me.
"It was early in the game, and I was on my way to a date with someone. I found the cornered without any teleportation crystals. They had been hunting some Cursed Lizards when they found a high level mob called The Goblin King, but when they killed it about 40 Goblin Swordsmen appeared, and although they were twice the level of the little dark green monsters, they were outnumbered 8:1. I saved them, and grew fond of one girl in the group. Her name was Sachi.
We had a shared inventory tab, which drove my girlfriend insane. I promised I would protect her, her and the guild.
But I lied from the start, more than halved my level, and hid my status as the black swordsman. In the end, the got stuck in an anti-crystal trap and perished, all of them. They all died, because I failed."
Lisbeth just stood there motionless. She was stunned, and could feel the gloomy air. After about ten minutes she spoke up. "Where are we, is it a trap?"
"No," I said "it's a dragon's nest, I got stuck in a smaller one on floor 61."
"How did you get out," she questioned "and why are you stretching?"
"I ran up the walls" I said, kicking off. Activating my skill, wall run, I accelerated rapidly.
Ten meters, 9, 8, 7, 6, Five meters, 4, 3, 2, ONE meter. My right foot blew out, and I could just feel the ledge. One more step, and I would have been able to rescue us.
"Damn, so close, just needed a little more of a running start."
She stared at me with wonder, like she was trying to figure something out. "Who are you, exactly, other than a weird-o?"
I sighed, no point in hiding it anymore. "I am Kirito, the black swordsman, also known as The Beater."
She looked like it finally clicked in her head. "The Beater, from floor one, why would you do that, create another player class."
"It's not that simple, but ok." I sighed, this was the first person who I would be telling newly in a very long time. "The commander was killed in an attempt to get the last attack bonus, but it was different from the guidebook. I tried to warn him. But he was hit, and refused a health potion. He died and after the battle I was accused of withholding info. They were going to hunt down all the beta testers, so I took the role of beater to ease the tensions."
"You took the burden yourself, for the other beta testers." She summarized
"Yeah" I said, glancing at the now night sky" Opening my menu I took out a set of sleeping bags, both jet black. I activated a fire item, which provides for a no damage zone until morning. And such night passed, we held hands (her idea) and morning came. She awoke to me digging a series of holes.
"Turns out that ore is just dragon crap, I got about 30 pieces, pack up, it will be back soon."
We packed up and pulled into a corner of the hole. And not one second later the large dragon appeared. As it flew down I used my sword to throw up dust to block vision. "Hold on to me, Liz!" I said running around back of the dragon and driving my blade into its back.
It screeched and flew upwards, reaching the top of the nest and beyond. Flaring its wings it threw us off.
Lisbeth yelled something, which I couldn't hear, and hugged me, as we were falling.
After we landed, I stood up and faced the dragon. "Take cover, Liz"
She headed off by saying "right" pulling out my sword I leaped at the dragon, completely serious this time. Using my negative crescent, I removed an arm and a wing. And such it fell. Using an impalement strike I dropped its HP into the red. But then I froze. "Damn, stun blood, son of a bitch" I mumbled. Then I saw something, an orange wind with black fangs, "fuck, a 1hko attack"
It began to activate the attack, but stopped and rippled into sparks, Lisbeth just saved my life. "Thanks" I said
"No prob, it gave me a ton of exp and col, plus an S dragon skin ore, so I should thank you for weakening it. Well, pretty much killing it." She said with a laugh.
"To Lindas?" She asked, pulling out a crystal.
"To Lindas." I responded, pulling out my own crystal.
"Teleport, Lindas" We yelled, and were engulfed in a blue light.
Lisbeth's Blacksmith shop
"One handed longsword, any boosters?" She asked playing the role of businesswoman
"These please" I said pulling out a set of five materials.
"Ok, power plus 100%, Durability plus 100%, Deflection plus 50%, Piercing aptitude, and Principle forge, ... The Fuck!?" She was evidently surprised, "These can only be gotten from the Fatal Scythe field boss, oh, wait, thats right your the beater, anyway, lets get to work" She said, finally regaining her composure.
She forged the sword, creating a long black blade that seemed to suck out the light around it. There were red veins throughout the sword. As I swung it there were red streaks left in the air.
"What are it's stats?" I asked
She activated her evaluation skill, and gasped at the stats. "Its name is Absolute Shadow, one of a kind, not identifiable by anyone who didn't forge it or doesn't own it. Only the owner can equip." She continued for five minutes, listing a large set of stats.
"She was interrupted by a message icon that appeared in front of me. I laughed, then remembered something.
"Lisbeth, my contract just freed up, could you please create a sister blade from the dragon skin ore. I have 1 million, and a copy of the Boosters."
Sure, one second, let me get it out. Such she forged a second blade. "Done, its name is Dark Repulser, mirror stats."
I paid her the large sum of col, and she begun to speak again, but I knew what she was going to say. "Kirito, can I be your exclusive blacksmith, and, do you want to go on a date."
I already knew my response. "A date, we will try, floor 57, 5 pm, tomorrow, but first I want to visit a grave, that of the second girl. As for my blacksmith..." I paused for a second. "Sure, you can be my blacksmith."
"Ok, there has been a grave I've been meaning to visit too, so, see you tomorrow" She said cheerfully.
"See you then" I said as I walked out the door.
Floor 64
It was the autumn season, and there were a flurry of orange and red colors around. I was kneeling down next to a white marble gravestone. On it said Asuna, in memory of the flash who changed the game. Died on floor 19.
"Oh, Asuna, what have I become?" I whispered.
The Past
"You get Grimlock, I will handle any players who have been hired." I said.
"No, I can get there faster, you get Grimlock"
"Asuna, no, that's to dangerous." tried to protest, but she wouldn't. Finally I gave in.
In the middle of the dead forest I found the man, far off I heard the clashing of swords, and sped up.
Grimlock tried to make a break for it, but I caught him and picked him up. Carrying him like a set of lumber I jogged to where Asuna was. Bursting into the clearing I saw Asuna there, with the head of the Laughing coffin slicing at her.
There were two other men, one of which had a sword, the blade that cut off Asuna's arm from behind. I ran in just as the butchers knife flew sideways through her neck. Just like that she rippled and burst into shards of light. Where she was a poison dagger fell and banged against the ground with the sound of sheet metal.
My mind started to go fuzzy and my conscious went to the back of my head.
Pulling a weapon from my quick access menu, a light, speed type rapier, white with blue veins in it. Made from the sister material of the Death ore.
"Activate skill, dual form" I said
My elucidator glowed black, and the rapier white.
Exploding forward I used streamline pierce, a double horizontal to remove the legs of the two men. Then I activated my highest level skill, time bolt.
Up, down, left, right, negative circle, low down, diagonal up right, high left, diagonal down left, (hourglass shape) negative horizontal.
At the end of the attack the path of my swords highlighted, and activated the damage calculation.
The red cursor flickered then vanished, ending the life of a murderer. My mind went blank, and the other two found themselves impaled from the head down, before rippling and dying. I saw a message from Heathcliff, "going to fight boss, bring Asuna"
At the end of it I ignored the two, remaining members of golden apple and left. My mind was to blank to remember the name of the now dead lancer. I vanished, and went to the headquarters of the KoB.
Later I would personally terminate the remains of the Laughing Coffin, but that did not seal the wound. I was still in the Abyss of despair, blaming myself.
One Week Earlier
"Heathcliff, now that the field boss is dead, I would like to discuss something."
"What Kirito? Is it about Asuna?"
"Yes sir, we have been dating for over a year now, and I was wondering something. You're the closest thing to a father to her in this world, as you are the head of her guild. I was hoping for permission to marry her."
"Thank you for asking, but two things. One, yes you may, what are you proposing with?"
I smirked, "these" I said pulling out an Agility ring, engraved, with a crystal gemstone. And a long white rapier, made from life ore I got during a field boss fight." I mastered rapier, got principle boosters, and got the top blacksmith to do this."
He showed no emotion, "Very well, second, please wait one week, I would like to clear this floor first, fair?" He asked
"Yes, in that case I would like to propose after clearing the boss, can you make sure Agil, the Fürinkazan, and such to fight, I would like a good atmosphere without any deaths."
"Acceptable, good luck Kirito" he said
"Thank you sir" I said and left.
Further Back in Time
"Let's maintain a party, god dammit Kirito, Its, floor two, please."
I sighed, looking around the restaurant, "no, Asuna, I play solo, and what about the new KoB, they can't even join boss fights yet, or won't."
"A duel, if I win a date and we party, if not, you stay solo." She challenged.
Our duel began, but she knew she would win, just before I got the hit, she spun over my sword and won. "Good, a date it is she said smiling, with a mixture of arrogance and joy.
"Damn, I let me guard down thinking I had won, and lost because of it." I muttered.
After Asuna's Death
Everyone but Heathcliff and I had left the funeral, and then he showed just a touch of emotion. "I'm sorry Kirito" he said, and then left.
Present Day
At the grave I was crying. Checking the time it was around 3. Yet, it was winter in Aircrad and sunset was here.
I did not notice who was behind me when I stood up and turned around. In front of me, about two to three meters away, a girl with short pink hair.
"Kirito?"
Author's Note: Ok! Story 3 is up. As usual please review. Also get used to me ending chapters like that, it is fun to drop it right before anything happens. Anyway, if you want to vote it is very important that you read this.
1- Please vote for you favorite story, not pairing. Whatever story you think would be best, don't vote for Crossing Paths because you ship KiritoXAsuna.
2- No flaming if you story doesn't win. Do I even need to elaborate? My favorite story is From the Abyss, although it is my least favorite pairing.
3- Vote honest, pick of you favorite story, not because someone asked you to vote for one, and don't ask people to vote, just please make this fair.
Please review, and definitely vote.
Later
UPDATE The poll is now on my homepage at the top underneath my pen name, just click on the link.