The Captive Swordsman

Chapter 11— Butting Heads

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Original Title: Sword Art Online(ソードアート・オンライン)

Original Concept by: Kawahara Reki

written by: wrathie

Author's Notes: The Alternate title would be: 'A Legend Once Again', but I'm saving that.

Thank you, bowpurity for the beta and the support for such a long time.

..

'If you are only concerned about your reputation, then I'm glad that I asked Leafa to party with me for a short while. With an attitude like that, you'll never earn the respect of those who are following you.'

Asuna's words caused Leafa to freeze in shock and even if she was aware that Yui was pumping her hands in support of her inside her pocket, Leafa just stood there dumbly as Asuna defended her. She couldn't react to it for she found herself a little mesmerized at how captivating Asuna looked as she glared back at Sigurd, one of her hands still holding hers as she stood in front of Leafa defiantly.

'What... did you say?'

Sigurd finally took his eyes off her and into Asuna instead, the stern and larger Sylph looking first disinterested and then a little annoyed as he demanded, or perhaps challenged Asuna to repeat what she said.

'I believe I made myself clear earlier, but to reiterate myself. I am saying that I am disappointed in how you, as a leader, is more concerned about your own reputation than the feelings of your fellow allies, team mates and comrades.'

Asuna replied calmly, looking almost disinterested as Sigurd's face changed. Despite Asuna being polite, even smiling at Sigurd while repeating herself, there was no doubt that Asuna was tramping on Sigurd's pride and reputation even more than what Leafa apparently did.

'Who are you? Are you a new player? I've never even seen you around. Newbies shouldn't take advantage of their status to get others to help them.'

Sigurd finally managed to spat out, his hands already on the hilt of his sword before he calmed himself down with extreme difficulty. Asuna had to give him a little bit of credit for being able to do that, but she supposed that she could dislike him even more because of that.

Even if Asuna were still using basic equipment like the low leveled rapier and a low-leveled player crafted armor, that was no reason for him to try and insult and dismiss her like she was a newbie.

In fact, if she had to argue, it was precisely because she was a newbie that the experienced players shouldn't dismiss them. It's only natural for they to seek advice, and even if they were unable to help them, as fellow players, they must still respect each other! If one forgot about that, like how the [Laughing Coffin] guild or the [Titan's Hand] guild behaved, they had lost touch with humanity.

Sigurd tried to do just that however, walking forward and even trying to grab Leafa's hands to pull her away from Asuna, only to stop when Asuna blocked his path and his outstretched hand.

'What are you doing, newbie? Give way.'

'I refuse. You have no right or authority to force me to do that.'

'Do you know who I am?'

'I have no interest in who you are, what you came from, and what you feel about this situation. All I am interested in is how to publicize you making a fool of yourself in the middle of the tower.'

As expected of the sub-leader of the Knights of the Blood, Asuna wasn't just in charge of planning raids on bosses, she was also an active player in the player politics that tended to occur between large guilds in the clearer group. Asuna didn't display most of those traits simply because she disliked it, but if her father was to see her now, he would definitely be proud.

'Shut up! I'm the second in command to the Sylph Lord, Sakuya-san herself. I can declare you as a renegade for disobeying orders. Now step aside and stop pestering Leafa with your demands.'

Sigurd snarled but Asuna never moved, her eyes only growing harder as she shook her head slowly, expressing her refusal to his outrageous offer.

'Like I mentioned before, I refuse, Assistant Lord or no, you are clearly trying to use your authority and power to cow a new player in the game, is such blatant abuse of power allowed in the game itself? I wonder what the Sylph Lord herself would say if she found out about this.'

As Asuna was a member of the Sylph race as well, there's no way that her demands or her complaint would be fully ignored, especially if Sigurd was fond of doing this.

..

Asuna's words seemed to give Leafa courage or at least to snap her out of her funk as she spoke up as well.

'Don't be rude, Sigurd-san, Asuna-san is my new partner. I trust her, and she is not bothering me. I choose to help her.'

Leafa announced to Sigurd, causing him to start a little even as Asuna gave her a proud smile in standing up like that.

'Leafa, don't tell me you are abandoning the agreement that we all made with Sakuya-san? Are you turning back on the alliance made between all of us to work together to clear the game? You are defying the orders of the Sylph Lord, Leafa!'

Sigurd's words was confusing to Asuna, but from the way the same complicated expression appeared on her face, it was a big deal. Asuna wasn't able to think much on that line of thought as Sigurd tried to reach for her collar as he raised his voice.

'And you! Did you seek out Leafa on purpose to instil discord amongst our ranks? You must be a spy! Who hired you, the is it the Spriggans? Or was it the Gnomes? Answer me!'

At least, he tried to as Asuna simply jumped back, pulling Leafa with her as Sigurd's lunge came up empty. With a bigger distance between the two of them, Asuna dusted herself off before placing a hand on her hip while glaring at Sigurd.

'If that happened in real life, you'll be in custody right now. How could a male player try to touch a female player in that manner? I'm no spy, and I asked the Leafa-chan for help out in the forests, which she kindly agreed to do so. Regardless of the orders, players are supposed to be free to do what they want, it is Leafa-chan's choice to make. Leafa-chan... would you want to return to Sigurd-san's party?'

Asuna asked her calmly even as she fingered the pommel of her rapier cautiously as well, if need be, they might have to fight their way out of here.

'… No, I wish to help Asuna-san. I've promised to do that, and besides, Asuna-san helped me when I was ambushed by the Salamanders. I should return the favor.'

It took a while but Leafa definitely voiced out her own wishes, this time more confidently as she held Asuna's hands as well. This was enough to probably cause a blood vessel to burst in Sigurd's forehead as he unsheathed his sword in a practiced fashion to threaten the two of them with it.

Asuna wasn't really impressed, she had fought the Gleam Eyes face to face after all, and compared to that, a pissed off swordsman was nothing. That and she was present when Kirito fought the commander before, that was terrifying as well.

'… I was going to ignore you for your insolence since you are obviously a newbie! But I cannot overlook a thief. I do not know who you are, or who you claim to be. But nothing can save you now... let me show you what is the difference between a newbie and one that is experienced!'

Probably in a fit of rage, Sigurd started fiddling with his interface even as Leafa paled, the younger girl trying to interrupt when Asuna shook her head, a terrifying grin on her face as she tightened the grip on the pommel of her rapier.

'Okay.'

Asuna answered cheerfully even as the window for a duel popped up in front of her.

'Hmph, I will not hold back, even if you are a girl, you thief.'

'… People are not equipment, friends are not equipment... I can't steal anything that I don't possess. Since you view people as things, I would be more than happy to show you what separates us.'

Asuna gave a very confident smile even as Leafa started groaning in annoyance instead of feeling afraid or intimidated. It was an odd feeling, seeing how she had been a cowed earlier on, but Asuna's words were right, and Leafa had faith in her that she would do just fine. He was defeated by her quite easily after all but so much for not making a scene.

'Yui-chan... is Asuna-san always like this?'

'Uh... Uh... Its normally Papa who gets into situations like this... At least, I think so. But Mama was very mad that time that someone bullied some children.'

Yui whispered back quietly as Leafa released her to sit on her shoulder instead.

'Ahh... I thought as much. But wait, aren't you a child as well?'

Leafa had to stop the urge to facepalm even as Asuna and Sigurd left the tower together to start the duel.

..

'As I'm a newbie, would you be giving me any handicaps?'

Asuna asked in a conversational tone as she studied Sigurd and his preferred stance and choice of weapons. She wasn't bothered, but she would like to squeeze a little bit more out of him to teach him a lesson.

'Hmph, are you afraid now? I guess I could offer you a handicap or two, seeing that it would be over in an instant.'

Sigurd had returned to his haughty ways after calming down a little, the two of them standing in the plaza in front of the tower even as Asuna shook her head in negative.

'No, no, that's not it! I mean, it's precisely because I'm a girl that you have to go all out, I wouldn't want you to give an excuse that you were holding back because I'm a girl. No, no, what I meant was that could we settle this on the ground, and spare me from the aerial combat for now? I can't fly without the controller after all.'

Asuna gave a helpless smile even as Sigurd snorted, finding it both amusing and insulting as he sheathed his sword again.

'Very well. I would not want my reputation to be stained just because you are unable to put up at least token resistance.'

Sigurd scoffed even as he took up position himself, Asuna did the same before she paused when making her selection on the duel invitation.

'Say... let's make this a death match.'

Asuna mentioned casually, causing the spectators to give a confused cry at how a newbie was asking for a Death Match against one of the strongest players in the race.

'After all, there's no way that you'll lose, right?'

Asuna goaded him while the crowd gossiped amongst themselves, but as she expected Sigurd only grinned as he barked orders at the crowd to not revive her if she died in battle.

'That'll teach you to show some manners. Very well then, a death match it shall be.'

As the two of them pressed the icons to reaffirm the duel, and the thirty second timer started to count down, Leafa's eyes was on Asuna even as she took a deep breath and readied her hand on her rapier as well.

Sigurd might have been defeated by her, but that was only during a simple first-strike duel, and not a death-match. But then again, knowing what Asuna-san was doing...

'DUEL-START!'

The system announced dramatically and was instantly rewarded with a flash of light as Asuna, the flash, darted forward towards Sigurd before he could even register what was happening.

It was only because Leafa was anticipating it did she see Asuna literally kicking herself forward before delivering a sharp chastise to Sigurd's neck, stabbing it without mercy before she followed it up with a quick slash to deflect the half-hearted guard that Sigurd had tried to raise in response. The duel was on!

..

In the end, to everyone's surprise and shock, besides Leafa of course, Asuna had came out triumphant as she was just too fast, had gotten into Sigurd's guard and had disarmed him by striking his sword-arm repeatedly till he dropped it, just like how Asuna did so before in the previous encounter. With his only offensive weapon and equipment gone, or at least, him being rendered unable to even wield his weapon properly before he could really put up a counter-attack, it had been a total crushing, and humiliating defeat for Sigurd. At this point, the death penalty was nothing compared to the stain on his reputation at being beaten by a 'newbie' with inferior weapons.

What was painful to watch however was how he had been literally stabbed to death slowly due to Asuna's weaker weapon and Sigurd's better armor. The last few minutes was Sigurd telling Asuna to stop, or trying to as periodically she would stab Sigurd on the neck to stop him talking and trying to negotiate a surrender.

It was, actually quite pathetic really how it all ended, with many of the spectators leaving at seeing the sight of a well-known player being humbled by the other. A portion of the spectators were also shivering in fear of how Asuna was literally killing Sigurd, and might be having pleasure or joy in doing so slowly. Death by a thousand paper cuts indeed.

'Ahh~ I guess I proved my point~'

Asuna smiled cheerfully even as Leafa gave yet another sigh as she shook her head at the memory, Sigurd, flat out on his back and begging for mercy from Asuna as she continued to stab him with her sword. Leafa had wondered why Asuna had switched back to the basic rapier she bought back in the the first town, now she knew it was to just prove a point.

In ALO, the game was focused more on one's own capability and muscle memory and less about grinding for levels, and statistics. Thus it was highly possible that a newbie, who was a veteran of other VRMMORPGs, might be much better than a so called veteran in ALO, where basic combat wasn't heavily dependent on statistics as much as it was about careful strategy, planning, and individual skill and experience. There was still a steep learning curve after all, seeing how ALO's battles were constantly taking place in the air and not on solid ground. Not to mention how when casting magic spells in ALO, the Caster would have to stand still and to recite those spells before they could cast it. There's no stats that would help to reduce casting spells and one's proficiency with spells was tied directly to the language and speed of tongue.

But since this was a sword fight, and one that was taking place on solid ground, Asuna had effectively taken away all the advantages that Sigurd might had over her besides his equipment, which in the end had simply prolonged his humiliation at her hands.

Leafa should have remembered what Yui had told her about Asuna, that she was one of the strongest players in SAO after her Onii-chan, the two of them were responsible for clearing the game and saving everyone after all. And all that was achieved despite having not being trained in any sports or martial arts form. It must have came from talent, and even if Asuna did home those talents in a life-and-death game, it made Leafa feel extremely complicated at seeing how strong Asuna truly was.

..

For Asuna she wasn't exactly 100% sure why she went all out in her duel with the braggart Sigurd, but after seeing the complicated expression on Leafa's face immediately after the duel, she leaned closer to hold Leafa's hands even as she pulled the younger girl towards the tower again.

After the duel had ended, Asuna had glared at the subordinates that tried to revive Sigurd till they had backed off, some even fleeing from her before she crossed her arms and huffed. She was of course, somewhat embarrassed by how most of the Sylph spectators cheered and applauded her performance, most of them shouting encouragement even as Asuna went back to Leafa's side. There she had found the young girl gripping her own arm in worry even as Yui greeted her Mama cheerfully as she rubbed her small face against her cheek affectionately.

'Leafa?'

'A-Ah, s-sorry...'

Leafa squeaked in reply as she looked up to Asuna before she looked down again, her eyes fixated on her own feet for a moment even as a blush started to spread down her neck, a sign that she was really embarrassed, and that caused Asuna to tilt her head slightly in confusion even as she waited patiently for her to speak.

'I'm sorry... because of me, I... Asuna-san you have to duel with Sigurd-san... now he'll no doubt be targeting you...'

Leafa's words made Asuna frown, but Leafa wasn't done yet as she finally looked up even as her hands clasped Asuna's hands as well.

'I don't want that to happen to you because of me, Asuna-san... I should have said something earlier, then maybe Asuna-san wouldn't have to go to that extent... Sigurd-san, he is the assistant lord after all, if Asuna-san gets into trouble because I didn't inform Sigurd-san...'

Leafa bit her lip in worry but she couldn't meet Asuna's eyes when the older girl chuckled softly before again pulling Leafa towards the tower. They might not have much privacy due to the ruckus that Asuna had kicked up, but it was still a good idea to at least maintain an image of calm and normalcy to not attract more attention.

Asuna also felt that Leafa was a little too hard on herself seeing how she was not behaving like the usual confident girl that she was. Asuna had seen how she had stood up to Sigurd at the start of their conversation, the guy named Sigurd wasn't being reasonable in any way, but she had wilted somewhat when Sigurd mentioned about being the Assistant Lord of the Sylph race, and even more so when he declared about something regarding a renegade. Asuna had no idea what a renegade was, but she supposed it was a bad thing when Leafa hadn't said a single word edgewise, or even made a move to stop them when Asuna had continued on with the duel anyway.

Asuna had assumed, quite wrongly in fact, that Leafa was simply supporting her course of actions. She meant what she said of course, that she truly looked down on Sigurd. The man treated individuals like they belonged to him, no one truly belonged to anyone unless they wish to do that. Just like how she belonged to Kirito-kun, and Kirito-kun belonged to her willingly. For someone who obviously had no interest in the concept of 'individuals' or 'self' and was only concerned about himself, it was amazing that he could even climb up to the position of an Assistant Lord, whatever that was.

She too hadn't been impressed by the way he looked down on newbies, treating them like they were nothing more than dirt to be scraped off from his foot. In all of honesty, perhaps it was Asuna's own pride and reputation that made her a little angry at being dismissed like that. Especially since he didn't even look at her properly in the eye even when she was speaking to her. He obviously was fixated with strength to, but out of all the reasons. Perhaps the most important reason of all, that she had just realized but had acted on unconsciously, was perhaps due to Leafa.

'If there's one person to blame, I guess it's Leafa-chan.'

Asuna's words caused Leafa to flinch as she looked back at her with a betrayed and horrified expression.

'Well, he was making eyes at my sister-in-law, of course I had to defend her from perverted older men. Kirito-kun would never forgive me if I didn't.'

Asuna gave a mocking pout even as she crossed her arms while glaring at Leafa for being too adorable for her own good.

'W-Wha?'

Leafa was apparently incapable of speaking coherent words even as Asuna frowned while scrutinizing Leafa's dress with a speculative glance.

'Leafa-chan is very cute and adorable after all. I'm sure that Leafa-chan would have many suitors by now? I remember that time I had 5 different individuals try to propose to me.'

..

So Asuna was perhaps exaggerating that point, it was just around 2 per day for about 2 weeks straight after she made her grand 'debut' as part of the Knights of the Blood, but she digressed, that was something that she would never admit to Kirito for as long as she lived. Never did she dream that Kirito had swore to himself that he would never admit to having an entire group of female fans chase after him after his own 'debut' as the Black Swordsman in one particularly grueling boss battle that took place near the town of that particular floor.

'With Leafa-chan so adorable, I wouldn't be surprised if that pervert wanted your body instead of you. That's what men does after all, they just treat women like that till one teaches them a lesson.'

Asuna continued on with more gusto till Leafa stopped her by pulling her hand hard, stopping her still as she told Asuna that she didn't really go through with all that, because of her, did she?

'Sigurd-san is a very hard person to get along with, but he is... without a doubt, a very powerful individual in the Sylph Race and in ALO as well. Even if Asuna-san was able to defeat him in a duel this time, the next time... he'll try his best to make things difficult for Asuna-san...'

'Well, Leafa-chan would also be a target too, I guess I should have thought things over a little.'

Asuna dismissed Leafa's fears easily, causing the younger girl's eyes to widen at how casually she was taking the entire situation in. Sure, Sigurd was being quite a mean and arrogant braggart, but there was no real reason to humiliate him to that extent. It was exactly like what Agil-san, Thinker-san and Asuna's father had warned Asuna about in the first place, that she should always be concerned about the entire picture. In this case, was aggravating and teaching Sigurd-san really worth the troubles that he might cause for the two of them in the future.

Perhaps Leafa would be off the hook due to how Asuna had obviously been the person who had 'dragged' her along, but as she was still accompanying Asuna anyway, Asuna's actions made have just made their task indefinitely tougher. Especially if Sigurd wielded that influence of his to make Asuna a renegade, or to even send others after her.

Asuna was strong, there was no doubt about it, but she was a player who was focused more on Agi/Dex than on the other stats. That meant that if she didn't have a better weapon, she would take ages to defeat a veteran with much better equipment than she did. Time was of the essence in this mission. Asuna had told Leafa that they only had a week, perhaps even lesser before Noboyuki Sugou would effectively take over the entire company, shutting her out and probably trying to squeeze Asuna dry till she submit to him.

Not that she would ever do that.

'That's not enough, Asuna-san! What if Sigurd-san sends someone after us? Or what if they raise a complaint to Sakuya-san? We... cannot afford any more setbacks or distractions!'

'That's indeed true, but even before that, what I said was true. I would still have challenged Sigurd to a duel because he was treating you badly, Leafa-chan.'

Asuna gave a sigh as she pulled Leafa to a hug, squeezing her slightly even as the younger girl simply froze in shock at the sudden hug out of nowhere. It wasn't that she imagined Asuna to be a cold person, but having her initiate the contact was also quite a shock.

'Kirito-kun told me before that he would never allow anyone to die in his party ever again. Leafa-chan, your brother was someone who valued his friends more than anything else, to the extent that he would forget and neglect himself if his friends needed it. Kirito-kun, he... became that way because of many things that happened in SAO. But it was that part of him that I love the most too, for he is always so loyal, always so thoughtful... and always cherished his friends. That's why, when I saw someone ill-treat their party members, even if they aren't their friends, I couldn't stop myself. In battle, we rely on each other and we must always remember that just as I am guarding someone's back, someone else is guarding me as well. You'll never enjoy the game under the command of someone like Sigurd, Leafa-chan. And I don't care what he says, or what he does... all I know is that, I would never hand over my adorable Leafa-chan to someone like that, I definitely won't!'

Asuna teased even as Leafa turned redder than ever, finally pushing her away as she crossed her arms haughtily as well.

'A-Ahaha! T-That's r-really... really?'

Leafa's retort feel flat when Asuna nodded solemnly, and the image was reinforced deeper into Leafa's mind as Yui followed her mother's example and nodded her head sternly while mirroring her actions.

Author's Notes: Actually the most embarrassing part is that I'm not 100% sure there's a death match setting in ALO at all.

Whoops.