General Governor Office
Sinon has just come in the general governor office. Then she noticed there was a crowd gathering ahead of her. She decided to walk to the crowd to find out. When she was near she looked at the target and narrowed her eyes at the figure.
The figure in front of her was none other than Shin. But she noticed something felt different about him. Also she felt somewhat happy when looking at him. She shook her head out of that thought and approached Shin.
Shin looked at Sinon, as she approaching him. Sinon stopped in front of him and pointed her finger at his face.
"Today I won't lose"
"Neither will I... You have change a little. You seems like you are complete now" said Shin then he narrows his eyes and analyze her.
Sinon smirked at that and said.
"I am not the girl you know any more. I've become much stronger"
'Thanks to you' she added as afterthought.
Time skip
At the table
Shin sat in his sit and began to think.
'Death Gun showed up after the second BoB. Both times, the murders occurred where others could see them. Before that, he probably worked on leveling up his avatar, so he wouldn't stand out. And of course 'Death Gun' was just a nickname he created to prove his action, not actually his avatar's name. What I need to do now is to find his avatar's name. BoB is the perfect stage for him to kill me then prove his power to the rest of the people. I'll find his avatar name and kill him'
He looked at the time and decided to go to the panel terminal to register to the tournament.
Scene change
Shin went to the panel terminal then he blinked when he noticed Sinon was there. He went to the one that near her, after the registration he decided to talk to Sinon.
"Sinon"
"Sinon-sama.."
Sinon still ignored him.
"Sinon-ojousama?"
Sinon has a tick appeared in her forehead then she turned to Shin and asked annoyed.
"What? I already greeted you. What else do you want?"
Shin scratched his head nervously and said.
"Well, I think it will be very wonderful if we could exchange informations"
Sinon just looked at him with apathetic eyes.
"W-well, actually it will be very useful for me" said Shin nervously fidgeting.
Sinon looked at him with the same expression for a while then she sigh and said.
"It can't be help. I will give you the second lecture, so try to remember everything"
With that Sinon walked away from Shin.
"That wasn't my intention... Entirely"
Shin decided to catch up to Sinon.
Starter area
Shin went in and began to look in wonder. There were so many people there.
"Wow. Never knew there will be so many people here"
"The main tournament is always like a big party" said Sinon standing next to Shin.
Sinon and Shin walked ahead while the crowd discusses to themselves who is the candidate to the winner of BoB this time, as Zexeed is no more. Then the same American soldier player noticed Shin walked pass him and exclaimed.
"H-hey, isn't that Shin-san?"
"Yeah, it's definitely him. What a fearsome guy, he didn't even has a scratch on the qualifying round"
"Yeah, also he is the wielded of the Hades"
Shin just sigh loudly at all the attention. While Sinon glanced back from the corner of her eyes at him and smirked.
"Seems someone has become too popular huh?"
Suddenly, he bumped to someone while deep in thought. He looked at the person and decided to apologize. The person saw who he bumped into and freak out.
"I am very sorry Shin-sama" shouted the person in fright and bowed his head lowly.
Shin just walked pass them then he decided to stop and slowly turned to the person he bumped into. The person gulp loudly and wait for the worst to come.
"You! Bet all your money on me and when I win this tournament we will share" said Shin grinning widely and point at the person.
The crowd just blinked owlishly at Shin's behavior. Sinon just sigh loudly and hold to her temple and muttered.
"You are such an idiot"
Scene change
Shin and Sinon sitting at the table sipping their drinks. After Sinon had explained the information about the main tournament, Shin decided to ask her again to be sure.
"So there will be 30 players that will be randomly placed on the same map? Then all 30 will fight each other until only one left, that will be the winner. Am I right so far?"
"Well, yeah. All the 30 players will be placed on the same map. The starting locations are random, but you'll be at least one thousand meters from the other players"
"O-one thousand meters. The map is that huge?" asked Shin in bewilderment.
"What did you expect we are playing the shooting game after all. The main tournament's map is ten kilometers in diameter. It has mountains, forests and deserts. The stage also starts in the afternoon, so no one has advantage or disadvantage due to equipments or stat
type" explained Sinon.
"Can even find someone in such a huge place, I wonder?" muttered Shin putting his knuckle beneath his chin.
"You are shooting at each other with guns. So it needs to be that big. Also the participants automatically receive an item called a 'satelite scan terminal'. said Sinon.
"Satelite? I've read about something like on the web" muttered Shin.
"It's a spy satellite that will pass over the stage every fifteen minutes. Then it transmits all the location informations of each player on the map to the terminal" explained Sinon.
"So it means you can only hide in one place for fifteen minutes?" asked Shin.
"That's right"
"But didn't this put a disadvantage on sniper like you?" asked Shin.
Sinon just smirked and said.
"Fifteen minutes is enough for me to kill the target and leave the place"
"I-is that so?"
"Well if that's all that you want to know then I will be on my way. The next time I find you..." said Sinon and was about to stand up but Shin in panic didn't want her to leave just yet, embraced her to the waist from behind.
Sinon blushed bright red and slapped Shin on the face and shouted.
"W-what the heck do you think you are doing?"
Shin received a slap stumble a little then rubbed his face, where Sinon has slapped and said.
"S-sorry, I didn't mean to grab you like that. It's just I still need your help with something"
Sinon recovered from her blush then sat down and turned to Shin with annoyed expression.
"So what else do you want to ask me?"
Shin looked at her for a while then decided to ask.
"Um... This may seem strange. But how many players participating in BoB for the first time have names you don't recognize?"
Sinon was surprised at the question.
"Ha? What are you talking about?"
"Please... Tell me. This is important" plead Shin.
"Well, it's only names, so I don't mind to tell you" said Sinon.
"Other than a certain annoying sword wilder that sitting next to me. There are only three new players" said Sinon and rolling her eyes. While Shin sweat dropped and laughed nervously.
"Three? Can you tell me their names?" asked Shin hurriedly and moved closer to Sinon. Sinon tried to suppress the blush that was about to reveal. Then she opened the list of the participants.
"There is... Gunner X, then... Pale Rider... Oh and this Sterben is also new" said Sinon showing the three names, that Shin suspects that one of them is Death Gun.
"So mind to tell me. Why do you suddenly interest in those names?" asked Sinon.
Shin is hesitating to tell Sinon about his past with Death Gun. He just played with his cup by turning it around. Sinon began to gain a tick mark on her forehead.
"What? Do you want to tell me or not? You behavior really pissed me off. Or is this actually your strategy to piss me off huh?" asked Sinon with irritating voice.
"N-no, I didn't mean anything like that. It's just..." answered Shin and waving his arms in deny.
"Is it a reason that you tell me at the final of qualifying round and when you meet that skeleton mask guy?" deduced Sinon and looked at Shin.
Shin sighed loudly and nodded his head.
"Yeah. You know that I told you that I was the survivor of SAO right? What you don't know is that, except me there is a red guild that enjoyed to kill off the other players. In order to stop that madness I decided to hunt them down. In the end, the whole guild was destroyed, but ten members managed to escape. Then one fateful day, I accidentally met them. After that the battle started. I managed to kill seven of them, but because I had become softer the three others managed to escape. And one of the three is known here as Death Gun. Also He wanted a revenge against me"
Then Shin clutch his fist tightly and said solemnly.
"Zexeed, Tarako, Maelstrom... those people wouldn't have died if I killed those remaining three. But I became too soft that's the price are the lives of those three. That's why I didn't want you to get involve, Shino-chan. This is my and my battle alone" Shin said then looking at Sinon with solemn expression.
Sinon looked at Shin's solemn expression and wanted to comfort him, to say that's not his fault, but she couldn't do it for some reason. Maybe because the tournament was about to start and she didn't want to feel even more attached to him then she is now.
"This time I will definitely correct my past mistake. This time I will end things with my past once and for all" said Shin seriously than stood up and about to walk away.
"Oh here you are, Shin-san. And Hecate too" said Mana approaching their table.
"What are doing here, Mana" asked Sinon raising her eyebrow.
"I came here to tell you guys that I will be the winner of this tournament. And I hope you guys can withstand until the time we battle each other" said Mana smirking.
"I don't have any attention to lose to you Mana. I need to settle things with that annoying sword-master, so I can't lose to any one" declared Sinon looking at Shun with narrow eyes.
"We will see about that. Well I'll head to the standby area now" said Mana and began to walk away.
Sinon turned to Shin and said.
"We also need to go"
Shin nodded his head and they walked to the direction that Mana has left.
On the lift.
Shin was standing before Sinon and looked ahead at the door in front of him. Sinon was silent for a while. When the lift nearly arrived at the place, she went behind Shin make a gun with her hand and pointed at Shin's back.
"I know you have your reason. But my promise with you is a different matter. I-I won't forgive you, if you were shoot down by anyone or even killed by that Death Gun. I'll never forgive you, understand?"
"I understand. But you must promise me . Never engage the skeleton mask guy no matter what" said Shin then turned around and put his hands on her shoulder and looked deeply into her eyes.
Sinon looked away when he looked at her so intently. She just nodded her head.
"Good" said Shin and turned back.
The lift arrived at the 20 floor, Sinon and Shin walked out of the lift and went in further.
One the centre screen was the same reporter on the MMO Stream.
"You battle junkies who love the smell of
gun oil and gun smoke, are you ready?" asked the reporter of the MMO Stream on the screen.
The crowd was busy putting their bets on their favorite.
"Now let's see who is the toughest player of the hardest VRMMO, GGO is!"
With that the crowd began to cheered loudly.
"Also MMO Stream will be showing live footage of the battle!"
The crowd began to cheer even louder.
"Now, time for the countdown"
The players began to tap their weapons to the ground and began to count together with the reporter.
"Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. And... One. Bullet of bullets, start"
The crowd began to cheer as louder as they could. Outside the fireworks were shooting rapidly to the sky.
ALO
Yggdrasil City
Kirito looked at the screen in front of him. He was about to log out but Asuna suddenly ask.
"Kirito-kun? You won't watch the tournament with us?"
"Um... No, I have some business outside so I need to log out. I will watch the tournament on the computer though" answered Kirito.
Asuna narrowed her eyes at that and asked.
"Did it have anything to do with Naruto?"
Kirito just stay silent. Asuna take the silent as yes and said.
"Alright, Kirito-kun you can go. But when everything is over I want the full explanation, ok?"
Kirito nodded his head and logged out.
Kazuto's room
Kazuto woke up and went to sit on his computer and began to recall the talk with Naruto the other day
Flashback
"... Here is the plan... But first I need you to know the trick that Death Gun used to kill the players through their avatar. The trick is simple. Death Gun is actually not one person but two or even more. He used his mantle to spy on the players on the panel terminal and managed to learn their location. Then he used his 'death gun' and shoot at type avatar. IRL his companion wait for Death Gun to shoot with his gun at the victim and injected the drug that stopped the heart" Naruto explained through the phone.
Kirito listened carefully and asked.
"But if the companion of Death Gun is near the victim. Can't he just inject the drug in the victim not really need to wait for Death Gun to shoot from his gun?"
"No, because all the three past victims were shot first only then their avatar disappeared. I deduced that Death Gun has some kind of agreement with his companions, that they will inject the drug after he shot at the victim. That action pretty much created the illusion like he has sine supernatural power that could kill a person in game" said Naruto
"I understand now. So what is that plan of yours?" asked Kirito.
"I called this operation- Cheating Death. It has three phase. First phase, I will kill as many players as I can in order to prove how dangerous I am, thus forcing most of them to stay away from me. Second phase, I will approach Death Gun, then let him shoot at me with his gun. The companion of Death Gun will definitely be at my old house by that time. You will watch both the situation in GGO and in my house. I have put a mini camera at the corner of my house that will transmit everything to your monitor. Agil will hide at the secret room, that was directly under my room. When Death Gun shoot from his gun at me. You will inform for Agil to act and stopped his companion before he could inject the drug into me. With that action I will prove to all the people that Death Gun is mere faker that doesn't have any supernatural power. Thus I will break the fear in the players that participate in the tournament. Final phase, I will kill Death Gun in the tournament. His name we can learn by interrogating his companion. That's the operation Cheating Death" explained Naruto the whole operation to Kirito.
Kirito was speechless at the operation that Naruto has created.
"Well, I admit that the operation is very effective. But you put too much risk on yourself. What if I was late to inform Agil even a second? You will certainly die" said Kirito.
"I trust you, Kirito. The operation will succeed and everything will return to normal. I promised" said Naruto
End flashback
Kirito turned on his computer then open the MMO Stream and the view of Naruto's old house. On the camera, nothing had happened yet. Naruto still lying in his bed with Amusphere on his head.
"Operation Cheating Death, start!" said Kirito and began to observe the tournament.
BoB tournament
Shin's location
Shin looked around and saw that there is still no one around him. He opened the terminal and saw that there were five players closest to him. He decided to approach them slowly.
Jigen, kaeeeede, Pancho, Ten-Q, Raiden looked at the terminal and saw one figure was approaching them. They looked at the name and horrified so they decided to make a temporary alliance in order to defeat Shin.
They wait for a while until Shin's figure appeared before them. He was slowly approaching them with Murasame Z0 in his hand. The five of them decided to open fire at one. Shin saw the bullets that flying to him very clearly so he dodges some and deflects some with his sword. Then he charges forward and muttered.
"First phase, start"
With that he charged at Jigen with ridiculous speed and used Ryuukansan:
Tsumuji to drill a hole in Jigen's body killing him. Then he felt a shot from behind and saw Pancho was shooting at him. He jumped up high in the air then used Ryutsuisen:Zan stabbed Pancho in his forehead killing him instantly. After that he rushed to the direction of Ten-Q and used Soryusen to cut him in half. Raiden and kaeeeede were scared of Shin's skill such they decided to retreat. But Shin used Shukuchi and appeared in front of the in a blink of an eye. Shin charged at Raiden and used Hiten Mugen Zan to cut and blow the avatar of Raiden away because of the force of the attack. Kaeeeede decided to take out a grenade to throw at Shin but he was too late as Shin use Hiryusen to shoot the Murasame from its sheath at huge speed and force. This strike forced kaeeeede to drop the grenade and detonate himself.
Shin turned back when the grenade explode. He has the same cold expression when he was Hitokiri Battousai.
With Mana
Mana hides herself at the top of the tree and shot at the player to his head using a silencer. She decided to turn on the terminal to check how many players left. She was very surprised when 5 players are already out of the game.
'Who the heck can kill 5 people in such a short amount of time?... It can only be Shin-san!'
Mana's eyes widen in realization.
With Sinon
Sinon was hiding in the bush not far from the mountain location. She is trying to snipe the player that ahead of her. But because he moved constantly she couldn't aim properly to shoot at him. Then she looked through the scope and noticed the mini grenade on his hip. She shot at the grenade at his hip thus detonating it, killing the player as well.
"Bingo"
Standby area
The crowd began to cheer loudly as they watched the battles. Some looked at the screen of Shin's battle and was astonished.
"W-what the heck? He alone took out 5 person at he same time. Is he some kind of monster or something?" asked a random player.
Some players though recognize those moves that Shin has performed and began to shake.
"T-those moves. I-in the whole VRMMO history only one person can move like that. H-Hitokiri Battousai is in GGO!" stuttered the person with wide eyes.
And just that the crowd began to murmur about the reappearance of Hitokiri Battousai in GGO.
With Sinon
After defeating the player, Sinon decided to take a break under the huge tree and check out the terminal.
'Eighteen players remained huh. Looks like Dyne is being chased. Richie's on standby and wait for anyone to go near him to shoot them down with a heavy machine gun. So he won't move. Mana is doing a perfect job as always. She may find put where I was soon enough. It's better to go after Dyne and Pale Rider. I wonder of Naruto is alright?'
Then she widen her eyes and then shook her head.
'Why the heck am I even worry about him? He is my main target in this tournament. I don't care what happened to that jerk. Yeah, not a bit!' Sinon tried to convince herself.
She turned off the terminal and decided to go where Dyne is right now.
With Dyne
Dyne is running away from Pale Rider. He is sweat dropping nervously as Pale Rider has pursuit him for a while now.
"What's with that guy"
Then he looked ahead and saw a bridge in front of him. He run to the other side then lied down and prepared to shoot Pale Rider when he appears.
"Now, come out. Then I will pump you with holes" said Dyne looking at his scope. What he don't know is that far behind him, Sinon was aiming at his head with Hecate.
"You should always check your six, Dyne..." said Sinon
She was about to press on the trigger suddenly she felt a presence behind her. She decided to take out her gun from the back and shouted.
"Who's there?"
Shin quickly disarmed her and pressed his body on hers. Sinon was surprised at the person atop of her.
"Shh... Don't move. I want to watch this battle. Don't interfere unless necessary" said Shin looked down at her.
"Ha? Why the heck should I listen to you? You are my main target, you know!" replied Sinon.
"Please... Be silent. I don't want for them to find out our location. It's really important to me. I need to check if my deduction was right or not. For that I will need to watch this battle" plead Shin looking deep into her eyes.
That gaze makes Sinon to watch away to suppress her blush from such intense gaze.
"O-ok. But when it all end I want you to battle me seriously. I don't want to win against you by shooting at your back. That I won't satisfied me at all. I want to battle you fair and square" said Sinon narrowing her eyes at Shin.
Shin nodded his head then he lied down next to Sinon and took the binocular to watch the battle. Sinon lost the warmth of Shin's body and felt a little disappoint. Then she looked into her scope to look at the battle as well.
"If he tries to move. I will shoot him down first" warned Sinon.
"Fine"
Shin looked in his binocular and noticed there is one figure in white military uniform with some kind of helmet on his head. In his hand is a hunter gun. He is walking calmly to Dyne's location.
Dyne looked at the figure that calmly approaching him and felt enrage. He decided to open fire at Pale Rider. Pale Rider used a wheel movement and dodged all the shots. Then he did some acrobatic move to dodge the billets continuously. He moves like that of a monkey and moves really fast.
Dyne was cursing and tried to shoot at Pale Rider, but all in vain.
'This person is very strong. He used the lighter equipments on purpose so that it won't hinder his movements. Because his acrobatic skill is very high, he can dodge practically all the shots and continued to move at his opponent then finished the battle with one shot of his gun' analyzed Sinon while Shib just looked into the binocular observe the battle silently.
Pale Rider continues to rush like mad while Dyne continues to shoot at him. Suddenly, Dyne was out of bullets, do he decided to recharge hurriedly. But Pale Rider was faster he shot from his gun at Dyne's shoulder injured him. Dyne winced in pain and began to kneel down. Pale Ruder pressed his body to Dyne's and shot one more. Dyne kneeled down to the ground and gritted his teeth. Pale Rider recharged quickly and pointed his gun at Dyne's head. Dyne only managed to curse before he was shot down to the head. And just that Dyne was out of the game.
"If he had time to swap the magazines, he should have shot down from the hip" said Sinon
"The pale dude is ridiculously strong. Was he the one who wore the cape?" wondered Shin with narrowed eyes.
"I am going to shoot him down now" said Sinon.
"Ok. But if he really is that person..." said Shin.
"You think that he really can dodge at this range? As far as I know only you will able to dodge my shot from this range" said Sinon definitely displeased with the fact.
Suddenly, Pale Rider was shot to his shoulder out of nowhere. Shin widen his eyes at that and muttered.
"Kuso, it's him. He is hiding himself in the invisible mantle do that nobody could see or detect him"
Simon turned to Shin to ask curiously.
"Who are you talking about? I don't see anybody near us"
Shin turned to Sinon and said seriously.
"Death Gun. He is hiding under his invisible mantle and wait for the chance to shoot a stun bullet. No matter what happened don't come out. I will handle this situation"
Sinon was about to protest but looking at Shin's serious eyes she decided to listen to him. Shin looked to the left corner of the bridge and noticed the figure standing there. He gritted his teeth when looked at the skeleton mask with two red glowing eyes of the figure that wore a black metallic cape.
"So he was there from the very beginning of this battle. And only now decided to show up. But what for! He already knows my identity? So what is he planning?" wondered Shin.
Death Gun slowly began to approach Pale Rider. The wind blew a little and reveal what is under his cape.
"Silent Assassin?" wondered Sinon in surprised.
"So that's the name of that rifle?"
"Yeah, it's a high-level sniper rifle that equip with a silencer. I heard rumors that it actually existed in GGO, bit it's the first time I seeing one. If he can use a weapon like that. Who is he actually? answered Sinon.
Death Gun is standing near the Pale Ruder. Then he took out the Black Stat type 54 from his back and point at Pale Rider.
"What? He was going to finish him off with a handgun?" wondered Sinon surprised.
Death Gun began to make some kind of strange praying sign.
Shin noticed that and took out his Hades. He changed it to extreme mode, so it could shoot a railgun.
"I need to act now before too late. Even though it's the first time I use this mode" said Shin then hold Hades with both hands and pressed on the trigger. The result was a railgun heading to the direction of Death Gun and Pale Rider with great speed. Sinon looked at the shot in shock. After all it's the first time she saw a railgun was shot in this game.
"Disappear" said Shin with cold eyes