IX: Unveil, the pasts of grim

"Hya!"

Kirito's Elucidator slashed across the goat's side, and a red slit appeared at the wound. The goat's health bar dropped down to red. It spun around, staggered, it's horn pointing front looking downwards, still looking for another charge. Kirito posed his sword and stance once again.

"This should be it."

Just as Kirito went in for another slash, the goat dodged to the side and suddenly ran past him, escaping the solo player, and dashed into the dense bush.

"Wait, get back here!"

The goat that Kirito was after was an S-class mob that has a chance of dropping the same class S-class meat, namely Whirlwind Ram.

The black swordsman chased after the goat with speed, into the bushes and forest. It was not a particularly fast mob, but it was known to escape when on low health, the dust it kicks up can also blind the pursuer. Luckily, Kirito is the player with the fastest reaction speed, whenever the dirt kicks up, he dodged it with relative ease. The goat then made it onto a dirt path.

"Now I got you!" Kirito activated the Rage Spike sword skill and dashing forwards.

"Kariryu!"

A white steel flashed right in front of his eyes, and pierced the goat, as it shatters into blue polygons in its scream. Kirito looked to his right, at the end of the pole, Presto stood there with his weapon extended. The sun behind him slowly lowers while in it's orange state.

"Um, sorry, did I just killed your prey?" Presto quickly apologized, retracting his weapon.

"Yeah, of course! That's an S-class mob!" Kirito faced the other solo player.

"Let's see… S-Class Whirlwind Ram's meat. Could make a nice dinner out of it."

"Wait, S-class meat? 10% drop rate?" Kirito pointed his sword Presto, "I'm not going to let it go to waste to someone like you then."

"And I'm not going down with a fight. All is worth it for the meat." Presto knew what Kirito's intention is, and with a few hand gestures, Kirito received the duel request. A half loss mode, for the S-class meat drop. Almost instantly, he accepted it, and the greyish clock hologram pulsed in the air between the two swordsmen.

Flop

Right where Kirito stood, Presto threw his leather glove at his feet. "Throwing down the gauntlet, pick it up, and we are set." Presto held up his greatsword, the blades sharp pointing at the enemy, and his hood and mask already covered his face, showing only the blue eyes gleaming in the dark.

Something is off with that weapon. Kirito's instinct kicked in. He slowly bent over and picked up the gauntlet, eyes still staring at his contender, and the blade pointing at him. With a quick throw, the glove flew across the air, and Presto caught it with one hand, storing it in the inventory.

30 seconds left, the nonchalant quietness made every single move so unsettling.

Black overalls, he must be the Black Swordsman. Is he hiding something else with that other hand left open? Presto prepared his stance as well, staring.

The clock ticks down. 5,4,3,2,1— A crow squawks and flies off the branch, so did the black and white, their swords on the right-hand side, sliding into the middle and while running at each other. The swords clash, but Kirito quickly realizes that the momentum of the greatsword was something he never felt. He let the Elucidator slide underneath the blade, sending sparks flying, and swiftly backstepping away.

"That greatsword, why it has so much momentum?" Kirito shouted out a question.

"It's a 30kg weapon. And the reason why I can use it even with one hand is that of my Unique Skill." Presto flipped his sword and dashed in for the kill again.

Knowing the Elucidator won't hold against the heavy attacks, Kirito dodged the greatsword whenever it comes close. A horizontal swipe comes in as Presto spun around for maximum momentum, bringing the sword to great speed, and Kirito took the whole hit at the abdomen. He regained his footstep and looked at the health bar. To his surprise, it did not deal over one-fifth of his health, and it rested at the green zone. But pondering is time-wasting in Presto's dictionary, and a diagonal cut came for Kirito. With reaction speed, he jumped and dodged the attack, landing a cut on Presto's right shoulder. The hooded man immediately stepped back, finding his health depleted by a chunk. He's good. Presto thought as he brought his greatsword to his hip, activating a sword skill.

"Hyakumai!" The steel of the sword glows green. Presto dashed right up Kirito's face, catching him off guard. The sword swiped from the right connecting a vertical slash, using only one hand, Presto quickly brings the sword up, and slashes from the top right diagonally, while Kirito was still recovering from the attack. Using the momentum, Presto spun around and landed yet another horizontal slash from the left, and he swiped up from the bottom, the sword slashing Kirito's avatar vertically, then his hand let loose, throwing the blade in the air. With one other spin clockwise, he caught it with the left hand, carving another diagonal from the left, then a right diagonal, and swiped to the right flat, switching hands, and returning the same move horizontally. Kiriro was already filled with red slashes one after another, but it doesn't stop there. Presto slashed downwards, and his blade stopped midday, with a great thrust, he landed another attack, sending Kirito flying.

Unique skill… do I also have to use that…? Fine, let's also return the favour. Kirito looked at his health, still a margin left half, even after all the dance-like furry slashes.

"This ends here!" Presto charged in once again. By a flash, however, Kirito spawned in a pale blue sword, and took it with the left hand, dodged the attack and hit Presto with both blades.

Two swords? Another unique skill user? Presto's health dropped by a huge chunk as well. Interesting.

"Let me show you mine!" Kirito held up both of his glowing swords. "Star Burst Stream!"

"Sensen!" Presto decided to use another of his sword skill. The blade gleams a blinding gold, from the right the greatsword swiped and hitting Kirito, whilst the black sword hit him as well. Spinning around, Presto's moves became faster and faster, every strike seems to have heightened his reaction. So is Kirito, adrenaline pumping his blood like never before, with another flip with his sword he slashed a cross at Presto's chest. The swordsmen unleashed the beasts inside them, trading blows and returning the damage. The afterglow of the swords left traces in the air, one blue, from all directions and angles, the other yellow, horizontal and circular. The blades, by miracle and prowess of the men, did not touch each other, for Kirito knew, even with both blades, it would not stand against a 30kg sharp edge coming at slicing speed. The blue gleam is lost when Star Burst Stream ended with a dashing slice.

Is it over…? Kirito looked up at the greatsword. It returned to its original position, but the glow did not extinguish, after 16 hits, same as Star Burst Stream. Locked in after motion, the Black Swordsman is met with one last cut at his chest, and Presto dashed behind him, then the gold glow disappeared.

The two looked at their health. Both are at 51.0%. They turned and tried to make one more attack—

Beep

The sound of the timer sounded, and they stopped in their tracks. The clock hit 0, and the result is "Draw" in the grey capital words, hovering above their heads.

Kirito thrusted the Elucidator into the ground, kneeling on his knees, still recovering from the duel. Presto, on the other hand, leaned on his greatsword, the blades have retracted, huffing and puffing, while removing the mask.

"So… what now?" Kirito asked with a cough.

"I'm thinking of making this for my dinner tonight. Don't worry, I maxed out my cooking skill ages ago. It won't go to waste." Presto's feet feel a tad wobbly from the exhaustion, and he leaned backwards, landing on his bum, and laid on the ground, looking at the twilight.

Kirito's face suddenly appeared in front of him upside down, without any warning. "Chef acquired."

"What, you want a taste of it?"

Furious nods

"Well then," Presto held the handle of the weapon and lifted himself from the ground, patted the dirt off him. "I guess with all the meat we got, it's enough for 4."

"Did you say 4?"


I didn't even think there is someone so powerful living right beside us!" Asuna stepped into the kitchen.

Kirito, Asuna, Philia and Presto were all gathered in Presto's house for the dinner. The layout is similar to Kirito's cabin, only a bit larger, and longer. The fireplace sits at the end of the living room, facing the open kitchen directly.

"And I didn't think that Asuna lives here as well." Philia closed the door behind them.

"You two know each other?" Presto asked.

"Yeah, we go out with other girls that Kirito 'picked up'." Philia jokingly said.

"Well, I can see where that comes from. That aside, Ms Asuna, do you want to try and cook the ram? Two pairs of hands are better than one." Presto threw his white coat on the chair and rolled up his sleeves after he put down the massive greatsword against a wall.

"Sure! It's real, really rare to get my hands on an S-class ingredient!" Asuna jumped into the air with joy.

"She has handled a Ragout Rabbit before. It was really great, you know? Now that I think of it, I still haven't written that 800-word tasting report for him." Kirito sat at the table, before leaving the chair to check something out.

"Yeah, Agil, you know him as well? What a small world we live in—" Presto laughed as he was preparing the ingredients.

Thud

A noise of a heavy object sounded to have crashed on the floor, along with shouts of pain from the living room. "Presto! This thing weighs more than 30kg! Help me!" Kirito was underneath the white greatsword, immobile at all as he laid in the living room. Philia and Asuna rushed over to see what happened, while Presto remained in the kitchen finishing up some cooking.

"Kirito, how did you even get squashed by this thing?" Asuna tried to lift the rectangle weapon with all might, her face went all red from the trying but to no avail. "It's no use."

"Wait, I'll lift the handle, Asuna, you stay there and lift that side! Ok? 3, 2, 1, heave ho!" Philia and Asuna both tried to lift the immovable, and for a slight moment, it seemed to be off Kirito's chest by a centimetre.

"It's… so heavy… uah ahh!" "A-Asuna- yah!" Asuna's strength faded quick and she let the weapon slipped away from her slender fingers and it dropped back right on top of Kirito, dragging Philia down as well. "I'm going to suffer even more if you don't help me out right now, Presto."

The chef sighed and walked to the three, after finishing what he had to do in the kitchen. He bowed down and picked up the gigantic greatsword of his with a single hand and placed it leaning on the wall again. "Should have told you not to tamper with her. Sanyouken weighs 30 kilograms, you know." Asuna then took Kirito's hand and pulled him back on his feet.

"So you have a skill, cough, that allows you to hold that goliath?" Kirito sat on the chair once again and asked between his coughs.

"Yes. I think it's a Unique Skill. It's called Feather Blade. It makes me feel the blade a lot lighter. But it doesn't change how others feel the sword." Presto explained as he went back to the kitchen. "It also comes with five extra sword skills. Reiki, Jurei, Hyakumai, Sensen, and Man-Rin. I'm sure Kirito have seen Hyakumai and Sensen before. By the way, what do you two do on the front lines? Is it harsh?"

"As a guild vice commander, it is ten times the harder we have to fight, not only for our lives but the others' are at stake as well. If we go down, it hits the front lines morale. But not Kirito." Asuna put the prepared pot on the stove and set the timer, and walked away to leave it to cook.

"That's not the case you know? It is way dangerous fighting alone."

"Yes, yes, but it doesn't really matter since you are so strong and all."

"Also, because your popularity is so high, someone's put a bounty on your head. You should be way more careful, better safe than sorry."

"Must be Rosaline's subordinates," Kirito muttered.

"What did you say?" Philia turned around, kneeling on the sofa and asked Kirito.

"Oh! It's nothing." Kirito jumped a little by the sudden question. Looking at the Sanyouken, he noticed a tiny wooden cross ornament tied at the end of the grip. "What is that wooden cross hanging at the sword? Are you a Catholic?"

"Ah. That." Presto looked up at the cross. "It's the relict of a good friend."

Philia can see that sadness brushed across Presto's face once again. It was brief, but it definitely was that look when she was drunk. "R-relict? I'm sorry."

"No, it's nothing like that." Presto once again looked downwards, "At least, this cross means his soul lives on."

"So he is a Catholic?" Asuna looked to the side.

"No, he wanted to be."

An awkward silence filled the room. Nobody was prepared that such a small cross can bring up such history. After a long while, Kirito decided to break the silence, "Presto, do you know about a red guild called—"

"Laughing Coffin? Yeah, the news has been all over the place. There is no way anyone can forget that name." Presto cut him off, "What, you guys are planning a raid?"

"Exactly, we know that they are holed up in a dungeon at the 10th floor. The raid starts tomorrow. So do you want to come? We won't force you." Kirito got straight to the point and asked the chef.

Presto's hand stopped moving and his grip suddenly tightened. Asuna looked at the hand. It was trembling, shaking. Not with fear, but with the look of his face it was apparent, hate and wrath in his zaffre eyes. A short while of silence later, the handle of the knife broke and shattered, as Presto asked in a silent voice, "... Tell me, is the leader's name called PoH… Prince of Hell…?" The mere thought of the Hollow PoH made him sick and disgusted. For one, even if it was hollow, what PoH did to Philia was unforgivable in his dictionary. Second, knowing PoH is a dangerous man, he couldn't risk another attack on Philia.

"Nao…" Philia said, "don't tell me… you are thinking about that…?"

"I am Philia. I am." Presto summoned another knife through his inventory, "And I am going on that raid."

"Well… I don't really know what happened… but if you are going to the raid, meet at the 10th-floor teleport gate tomorrow at sunset." Asuna resumed her cooking. The look on Presto's face still haunts her as her hand trembles. She grabbed hold of the right hand by the wrist with another hand and cut the carrot.

"If Presto is going, then I am going too." Philia jumped from the couch.

"No! Stay at home!" Presto's eyes widened and shouted at Philia. It was the first time for him to yell at her in such an angered fashion. And with that, Philia was taken back by a little as she stuttered back and fell on her backside. Immediately knowing that he let his emotions took him over, he took a deep breath and looked down, "It's too dangerous. I can't risk it."

The silence resumed and followed through the whole dinner. After that, Kirito and Asuna bid farewell to Presto and Philia as they strided back home. Presto slowly closed the door and sighed.

"So, what are you planning to do then?" Philia asked, still shocked from the yelling.

A million choices flashed through Presto, but only one can keep Philia safe.

"I am not going anywhere if you are going to follow me tomorrow."

"Then what are you going to do about PoH?"

"Leave him to the raid team. They will succeed after all." Presto turned to face Philia, "My duty is to keep you safe. That's all."

Crack

A deafening noise sounded after a blinding flash. The two looked out of the window. There was no moon, nor any stars. Only clouds. The blackest, thickest clouds layered one after another covered the sky. Another thunder echoed across the forest. Then, a raindrop landed on the window as it left a slashing trail. One after another the rain dropped from the sky, and in seconds the once pitter patter orchestra turned into a monstrous waterfall. All they can see is a curtain of water from the window.

"A storm… that reminds me, do Kirito and Asuna have umbrellas?" Presto asked Philia, only to be replied with a shrug.


"Argh! This is the worst!" Asuna covered her head, although she was drenched all over, same goes for Kirito, as they ran full speed back to the forest house.


A black figure in the woods, however, stepping closer to Presto's home. And she was there the whole time. Only the sound of rain covers her footsteps...