Chapter Eight
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"I'M NOT QUITTING! I need some time to get over it, that's all." I was livid. I saw a tiny hint of red in my vision.
My breath hitched.
"It…it happened again. I saw red. Why me…?"
"Whoa, that's crazy! We have to help you learn to control it. I don't wanna be on the receiving end of your rage," Klein said.
What an idiot. I'm in emotional trauma here, and he wants to make me fight the source head on? Wait… that could be a good idea if we structure it right.
"All right. I'll take you up on that. We'll beat this fear out of me, and at the same time, I'll learn to control my rage. Bring it on, Klein."
It's been three days now.
We tried over and over to get me comfortable around weapons, to no avail.
"Kirito, I think that it'd be best for you to just duel someone. Then you wouldn't be able to run away." Klein said, sounding foolish.
"Are you an idiot? It's obviously a bad idea to fight it like that. Just look at our poor Ki-Bou," Argo chastised.
"I'm not helpless, Argo," I grumbled.
"Oh, is that so? Then how about you take on one of us?" Cirdan asked, already plotting how to achieve his victory.
The only other people who knew about my… problem… were Klein, Cirdan and Argo, two of whom were hell-bent on getting me better regardless of the methods that were used.
We were currently walking through the shopping district of [[Ciudad Tercera]], looking for a new weapon for Klein. He had been battling Cirdan in all their free time. Klein still couldn't match Cirdan's strength, but had sorely outclassed him in speed, thus making them tie the majority of the time.
They were arguing. I just ignored them and let Argo lead the way. When we got to our destination, my blood ran cold.
There, in the weapons district, stood a girl with long white hair—with the tiniest hint of pink—pulled back in a braided ponytail. She had vibrant blue eyes and appeared to be trying to sell an abundance of rare weapon drops obtained from item farming, just as she did biweekly in the beta.
There, in all her radiant glory, stood Aria, Rita's older sister.
I just know that girl is Aria. But she's smiling! That's impossible!
Walking over to us, she said, "Hey, you guys look strong. You wouldn't happen to have seen another girl that looks exactly like me, but with red eyes and her hair down, would you?"
"That depends, how much are you willing to pay to find out?" Argo inquired mischievously.
"Here," Aria replied curtly, materializing a sack filled with Col and tossing it to Argo.
"All right, here we go. I've never seen her before in my life."
"Why you—"
"Relax, relax. I'll answer you if you can answer my question. Did she have oversized cloth armor that was always falling off of her?" Cirdan inquired.
"Ye-yeah. That was my sister, Rita. My name's Aria, nice to meet you all," Aria said happily.
"My name's Cirdan. Everybody, introduce yourselves," Cirdan matched her happiness.
"K-Klein." Is Klein… blushing?
"Argo, the best Information Broker around, at your service!"
Everyone looked at me.
If I tell her who I am, then she'll hate me. If she hates me, then when she realizes they're all my friends, then she'll hate them too.
My fear becoming insignificant in comparison to the fear induced by their stares, I finally relented.
"Ki-Kirito."
"Kirito? So you're… you're the Kiri-chi I know from the beta?" Aria inquired, stunned.
"Yeah…"
I'm screwed.
"OHMYGOD you're so CUTE!" she exclaimed. She then proceeded to run over and sling her arm around my shoulder.
The heck?! This isn't her at all!
"Look, I don't like this either, but this Cirdan guy is really cool, and I don't want my chances with him ruined just because of an idiot like you, so play along, okay?" she whispered in my ear.
And there it is. The old Aria is back.
"T-thanks… I guess?" I stuttered out, still having trouble digesting that Aria could ever fall for someone.
"Whoa, check it out; the ever-calm Kirito is blushing! Go Sis!" A girl said from behind me.
"R-Rita? This isn't what it looks like!" I said before turning around.
When I did turn around, I found, much to my chagrin, that Rita wasn't the only one watching. Asuna was watching as well, along with half of the weapons district.
"Okay, first of all, he's not always calm. You both saw what happened," Cirdan… well, sort of… came to my defense… in an insulting way.
"What's he talking about?" Aria asked with genuine innocence, a rare scene to see.
"I'll tell you about it when we get home."
"Waitwaitwait! You have a HOUSE?!"
It was nightfall by the time we got to my house, and no one was around. The people from outside the beta feared leaving the inns at night, for reasons I'll never understand.
"Here we are," I said, pointing to my prince house.
"It looks perfectly normal though," said three female voices, belonging to Asuna, Aria and Rita, in unison.
I forgot, it does look normal on the outside.
"You should see the inside. The reason it looks normal on the outside is because it's based around a [[Chain Quest]] that you need to complete to get it. Most of it is underground to draw less suspicion."
"What kind of chain quest was it?" Asuna inquired.
"Helping a kid running from the law," Cirdan said, a little too enthusiastically.
"Cirdan! Not in front of the kids!" Argo scolded Cirdan.
"What? It was!" Cirdan shot back.
"Yeah, it was." I confirmed.
(Aria)
I wasn't sure whether to be super impressed that Kirito got the house, or super pissed that he got it first.
Y'see, Kirito and I had this rivalry going on back in our beta days, and he would always end up beating me to the prize. At first we were just competitive friends, but as he continued to outclass me, my competitive friendship towards him turned into mild irritation every time he beat me. The irritation grew and grew, until finally, I started to hate him.
As we walked in to the house, it seemed to be a pretty normal room. However, as we walked toward the west side, I noticed a small set of stairs leading underground.
Doesn't look like they were lying so far…
"Now just follow me down these stairs. You'll see a real wonder, lemme tell you." Cirdan said in his oh-so manly voice.
Haaah… his voice is so nice, I could just listen to it forever and ever.
"What the heck was that?" Kirito whispered tensely in my ear. He looked fairly disgusted.
Oh shit.
"Did I say that out loud?" I whispered, appalled.
"Yeah. No one but me heard it, though. They're all downstairs. You just kind of stood there like a lovesick schoolgirl while everyone else left," Kirito half-smirked, half-grimaced.
"Just rub it in, why don't you. Wait… was it that obvious?" I asked edgily.
"Well, I seemed to be the only one who noticed. That and the fact that no one else was here when you voiced your thoughts like an idiot," Kirito said, starting to crack up near the end.
"I would challenge you to a duel, but you're way too afraid to even try, apparently," I shot back, noticing him flinch very visibly.
It was all too obvious. He was too terrified of weapons to be of any use in clearing this stupid death game.
"You know what? I'll fight you, just to prove you wrong. Let's go outside, Aria."
Too speechless to even come up with something to say, I merely followed him outside.
Is he really doing this? Is he truly going to follow through with this challenge?
"You're thinking out loud again."
"Right. Okay, let's go, Kiri-chi," I said, pulling up a duel invitation and sending it to Kirito.
(Kirito)
"Right. Okay, let's go, Kiri-chi," Aria said, pulling up a duel invitation and sending it to me.
What an annoying girl. Wait, what have I gotten myself into now? Well, I won't back down to Aria. No, I can't back down to Aria. My pride is at stake here and I'm not losing it.
I chose [[First Strike]]and touched the Accept button.
As the clock counted down, I started to manipulate my menu to try to find my sword, the [[Anneal Blade]].
When I found it, my hand started shaking, hovering above the equip button in fear.
Can I really handle this? I'm really not sure anymore. But I have no choice. I have to do this.
I pressed the button and my sword materialized, falling gently into my right hand, light as a feather due to my focusing my stat points mostly on strength and dexterity.
When I looked up, I noticed that Aria had equipped a one-handed claw on her left hand, and a short-sword in her right. Damn, this'll be hard to deal with. A short-sword and a claw sub-weapon? This doesn't look good.
As the timer counted down, we both tensed up, our battle reflexes starting to kick in to ready us for the fight.
Three, two, one…
Aria smirked cockily.
GO!
She charged with incredible speed, and in my traumatized state I barely had the time to block, let alone counter.
Damn it! I could've countered it if I weren't so afraid! I've got to get over this stupid frickin' fear!
I started to move faster, somehow obeying my own orders.
Left, right, diagonal up, down-
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
Any attacks that didn't get dodged were blocked in loud clashes, resulting in showers of sparks flying everywhere.
Diagonal up, down, left, dodge, right, parry, up-
I suddenly realized something game-changing. She hasn't been using her claws at all, which means…
"Your claws are (Crimson) class, aren't they? Come on, show me your claws' power, Aria!" I yelled over the deafening sound of our clashing blades.
"If you say so, Kiri-chi!"
She fell for the taunt!
Her claws began glowing white.
"[[Force Swipe]]!"
Just barely dodged.
The heck? That skill is supposed to increase speed, but she got slower, and her attack strength felt stronger! Wait, I get it now! The [[Crimson Effect]] of her claws increases attack, but lowers speed! That has to be it!
"Perfect," I muttered.
She backed off, saying, "Wait, what—"
"It's time to END this!"
"I couldn't agree more, Kiri-chi!"
Damn annoying girl!
"[[Anneal Driver]]!"
"[[Mad Gash]]!"
[[Driver]]—a three-hit combo - has varying effects, power, and speed, depending on the weapon used. My [[Anneal Blade]] version gave slightly increased speed, moderately increased attack, and slightly lowered defense, with its effect being a 100% weapon knockback chance.
[[Mad Gash]]—the fifth strongest out of seven hundred claw skills thus far in the world of SAO. It's a one-hit strike, but it's extremely powerful.
Right-
I blocked her skill, knocking her clawed hand to the side.
Left-
I hit her sword out of her right hand.
As I started to deliver the final blow and end the duel, I stopped, my blade just inches away from slashing through her chest.
I just can't do this! I thought to myself. "But we HAVE to! She stepped on our pride, so we have to prove her wrong!" another voice in my head shot back, taking the role of defending our honor and pride.
Like I have any…
"Tch. You hesitated, Kiri-chi. Bad move," Aria sneered, wasting no time to go back to the offensive.
She tried to slash at me with her claws. I barely evaded.
Close call. But how can I expect to be of any use on the front lines if I can't even follow through with the final blow of a harmless duel? Aria was right, I'm of no use on the front lines now.
"Kirito-kun!" Asuna…
"Kiri-kun!" Kamiko…
"Kirito! Don't hesitate, just use your instincts! FIGHT!" Cirdan…
"Ki-Bou, you better not lose!" Argo…
"Kirito, don't you dare lose to her! Don't you DARE!" Klein…
They're right, I can't give up hope! I've got to WIN!
"KURAAAGH!" I screamed in fury.
We started back up, clashing, clashing, and clashing some more.
Right, left, diagonal up, down, thrust, spin-
All deflected by her claws in a shower of sparks.
Swipe up, swipe diagonal down, swipe right, swipe diagonal up-
All blocked by my sword.
We eventually tired of the useless clashing that comprised the fight so far, and proceeded to use Sword Skills.
"[[COMET SLASH]]! KEURAAAEH!" I screamed, red encroaching in on my vision.
NO!
"Whoa, that's crazy! We have to help you learn to control it. I don't wanna be on the receiving end of your rage," Klein said.
That's right! If I want to get over it, I have to learn to control it!
The skill made contact… with her claws.
I jumped back quickly.
The sound of an item shattering crashed loudly in the air.
I had broken her claws.
Aria ran towards her sword and scrambled to pick it up. Right as she grabbed hold of it, I had my sword to her neck from behind, snarling, "If you surrender, I'll stop. If you don't, I'll make this as painful as possible for you, Aria."
"You're bluffing! There's no way you could've gotten over it so fast," Aria said confidently.
"If you say so, Aria. It looks like it's over," I said smugly, my vision still slightly red.
I pulled back.
"See, I knew you were bluff— AAGH!"
I slashed her in the back.
I made a clean hit.
Her health dropped to the yellow.
I won the duel.
"Whoa, that hurt like freaking CRAZY! What kind of in-game steroids are you taking, Kiri-chi?" Aria queried agitatedly.
I smirked.
"None. I don't like to brag, but it's just that my strength and dexterity are through the roof, and I'm level thirty," I boasted.
"So what, I'm level thirty as well. Levels don't matter much to me, it's all about speed, skill, reaction time and mindset."
Wait, what? Her as well? That's insane, someone else is level thirty this early in the game?!
Her words slowly repeated in my mind. Suddenly, memories of voices flooded into my consciousness.
"Splendid reaction time," I heard someone say.
"And that shield of yours is too strong," I replied.
I felt my memories skip further into the future.
"Dual Wield is given only to the player with the fastest reaction time." The same voice said.
The memories stopped coming.
What was that? I know I've heard that voice before, but I can't place it. Who could it be?
"Kirito! Snap out of it!" Klein said, his words doing their intended purpose.
"Okay, what the heck were you thinking about?" Cirdan said, annoyed.
"Don't worry, it's nothing. Is Aria okay?" I queried.
"Ugh, I'm fine," Aria said, giving me a glare. I'm familiar with that glare.
That particular glare said 'I'll kill you in your sleep, you jerk'.
I shivered, suddenly terrified.
"Anyway, that was an awesome fight! You guys were perfectly even for most of the duel!" Klein said earnestly.
"Yeah, but I still lost," Aria pouted.
"The reason you lost is because you chose to use claws that lowered your speed. The point of using claws is that they're lighter, so they let you move faster. Your (Crimson) class claws may have boosted your attack power, but at the same time they lowered your speed, defeating the purpose of using claws in the first place.
"On top of that, you chose to use a one-handed sword as your main weapon, negating the other advantage of claws, which is versatility. It may look intimidating, but once I noticed the flaws in your movements, which were increased by your weapon choice, I was able to block and counter a lot easier.
"One last thing. Though you're the same level as I am, and your raw skill is as good as mine, I have no doubt that you distributed your stat points evenly, which is a very bad move. You need to distribute your stat points in the way that would fit your weapon build the most efficiently."
"… Wow, Kirito, I didn't know you had so much knowledge about all the weapons in the game," Cirdan said, bewildered.
"I'm an MMO veteran. I think that explains it. Now, what do you guys think about going to sleep?" I asked, yawning loudly afterwards.
When I woke up the next morning, I found that Cirdan, who had been sleeping on the other couch, had disappeared.
Where could he be?
I then noticed a note on the side table. Going over to it, I read,
"Kirito, we're going to a strategy meeting on the second floor boss. I didn't want to bring you because you need time to prepare for your little plan. Asuna is going on a quest that I told her about so she can get a new rapier, and she'll be meeting up with us in a little while. Since you're the only one with the map data of the boss's location, I presume you'll be able to get there quickly enough to start your plan early.
PS: If you get injured, I will NEVER forgive you, you got that?! You'll taste my wrath!
-Cirdan"
I felt a shiver go down my spine at the thought of Cirdan's wrath. At the same time, some far-off, demented part of my brain wondered what it would taste like.
Thanks, Cirdan. Now, I guess I've got to go. I'll see you at the boss room, my friends.
As I approached the boss door, I started to question myself.
Should I really do this? I'm not sure I can survive. But… I have to do everything in my power to keep the casualties to a minimum in this world!
I PMed Cirdan, saying only three simple words:
"I'm going in."
With that I walked toward my fate, and quite possibly the last room I would ever see.
A/N:
I'M SO SORRY!
This took FOREVER to post, and I can't say how much I regret that, 'cause there's too much to put in words! Anyway, it's explanation time.
I realize that: 1) I had Kirito win a duel AGAIN, even with a handicap, and 2) he got over his trauma rather fast.
To explain #1, well… Kirito already did that didn't he? Aria had a HORRIBLE choice of weapons to begin with, so they were both handicapped to some extent until Kirito got over his trauma.
#2 is a harder one to explain. The sole reason I had him get over it in two chapters is because I needed to progress the plot without focusing on time consuming things, like those that give me writers' block.
As of this chapter onward, the entire chapter titles will be in hex. Use a hex-to-text converter to figure out what it means!
Oh, and I also have two polls up on my profile page concerning the branches of ESR.
YES! I finally get to say my parting phrase!
May happiness be with you,
OMG