Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online
A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed!
The Path of a Beater
Chapter 4
A part of Kazuto was beginning to regret what he had done. His black eyes stared focused on his monitors. On one of them were two different conversations going at once. One was for the Holy Knights Allegiance and the other was for Dragon's Kings. He was invited to both of their chats so he was aware of their plans that they were discussing for the raid tomorrow.
After he finished with Holy Knights Allegiance earlier, he went to meet Redwing again and told him how Ridwig and his guild were planning to raid the dungeon at one tomorrow. With that in mind, Redwing decided to raid the dungeon at twelve. That had perfectly set up both guilds to raid the dungeon tomorrow with an hour between them. Now he just had to lead them to where he wanted without them knowing that he was setting them up until it was time.
The problem was helping both of the guilds. He had to work with Dragon's Kings first, then Holy Knights' Allegiance. He wasn't sure if he would have enough time to get Dragon's Kings set up and then get to Holy Knights Allegiance. Gaining the trust of both of the guilds was actually the easy part in all of this. Tomorrow was going to be the hardest part so he needed to have all the information about the raid strategy from both guilds memorized and pray he didn't mess them up.
He was sure that after tomorrow both guilds would be much more careful about giving information out to anyone, especially solo player mercenaries who held loyalty to no one.
Sighing, Kazuto grabbed his water bottle and started to guzzle down the refreshing liquid. After hours of gaming, his body always felt so drained and exhausted. It was mentally exhausting and left him starving and dying of thirst. Staying in virtual reality for so long was dangerous for the body which is why he always tried to take breaks after playing for so long so he could take care of his body. He was a hardcore gamer, but he wasn't going to neglect his health.
But that wasn't to say he wasn't reckless with his gaming for SAO. He took those breaks, but the longest he stayed logged off was about five to six hours. And those hours logged off were just to sleep. His love for the game didn't let him sleep longer than six hours because he wanted to be logged back into the game.
Looking at another one of his monitors, Kazuto scanned through the private SAO forums that were just for beta testers and the development team of SAO. It required a password to get on it since it was a place for the beta testers to discuss the game and any bugs they found so the developers could work on repairing them. Another one of the forums on this private site was a place for the beta testers to discuss the game and what they liked about it or what they encountered.
Of course, hyping the game was a part of beta testers job if they really enjoyed the game so a lot of beta testers, Kazuto included, spent time on open forums to talk about how great the game is to make it more popular with those gamers who didn't get picked for the beta test. Seeing as it took time away from playing SAO, Kazuto usually got on the forums during a small break from the game and just left a quick comment and would reply to anyone who responded to him in his next break from the game.
"Akihiko-san really knows how to make a good game." Kazuto mumbled to himself, determined to never let Aki-nii-san accidentally escape his lips again. He said it to his mom the other day, but he wouldn't do it again. He got the game from Akihiko-san so there was no way he would call him that again. With a smile, he scrolled through the messages on the forum about the game and about floor six. Just like the floors before it, it was amazing with new creative ideas. To think, Akihiko-san and his team made 100 floors like this. He couldn't wait to see them all. "I wonder where this dream of a floating castle came from. I have to ask him sometime."
Looking away from the forums, Kazuto looked back at the guild conversations about the raids tomorrow. It seemed that each guild had managed to gather up eight parties of six. That would make 48 players from each guild but adding him would make it 49. It was a decent number for a raid. Well, if all the players they chose were able to keep up in a raid and not get killed. Some players just weren't cut out for raids or boss fights.
Not that it really mattered though.
Neither guild would be making it to the boss room tomorrow.
*Beater*
Kirito stood back, reading his map of the dungeon while two of the parties for the Dragon's Kings raid took care of the monsters that appeared during their trek. Yesterday he informed Redwing and Siren how to deal with the «Salamander Slaves». Afterwards, they informed their guild members that were coming to the raid. Being told how to handle them wasn't the best. They needed actual experience fighting them. Luckily, Kirito knew some of the top players of this guild have been in this dungeon before so he knew they already had an idea and they could help their guild mates who needed it.
Which is why Kirito was hanging back and looking at his map. Since he was a solo player, he didn't bother to join any of the parties and was just working on leading them through the dungeon to the "boss room." Normally he would be more than eager to jump into the fights, but it would take him longer if he soloed them. He needed to get through this quickly so he was letting the parties annihilate all the mobs that were getting in their way.
"How much farther do we have to go?" Redwing asked Kirito. He had the map as well since Kirito gave it to him, but since the mercenary had already been there, it would be easier to just follow his direction.
"We're almost there." Kirito replied as he closed his map. "It's just around this bend up here." He pointed ahead of the group, though it was hard to see as far as they needed to since the only light was some lanterns on the walls.
"Then let's move. I want to be taking care of «Smot» before Ridwig gets here." Redwing replied.
"Hmm, sounds good. I doubt Ridwig will interfere in your battle against «Smot». He would prefer you all to get killed in the battle and then his guild could take a shot at him." Kirito said as he folded his arms casually behind his head as he started to trek forward.
A smirk spread across Redwing's face. "Too bad we are not going to get killed today. We will be the ones to conquer this floor!" He declared loudly so his guild could hear him. The declaration got him the excited cheers he was hoping for that would pump them up for the coming boss battle.
As they walked down the pathway, a traitorous part of Kirito's mind started to tell him he still had time to cancel his plan. He didn't have to go through with making both guilds hate him. If he stopped and took Dragon's Kings to the real boss room right now, he would only make Holy Knights Allegiance mad at him.
But the other part of Kirito was screaming at him to do it, to go through with this plan. He might regret it later. He might not, but he just had to know how this story would end.
Dismissing any hesitation that he had, Kirito led the guild around the last bend and stopped in front of the towering stone doors that were there. The stone doors had a strange design going up and down them that looked like some strange language.
Redwing looked at the door in awe but also with a frown. "What is this? It looks like some type of language."
Behind him, Kirito's eyes narrowed with dark amusement. That was part of the reason he chose this room to be where he set his trap for both of the guilds. No one knew this language and it would be impossible to decipher. Only those who found the quest for this particular room could understand the words. And as far as he knew, he was the only one to have found it. So as he stared at the door, those words shifted only for his eyes and told him the hidden message.
Traveling warrior,
To gain that which you desire,
It takes more than the strength you possess.
In the end, to gain that which you seek,
It all comes down to a battle.
Who will win the war?
Be warned though, traveler,
Death awaits all who betray their true selves.
Which is stronger?
Desire or Heart?
The answer will be your salvation.
Kirito entered this room alone once but nothing came. There was nothing for him to fight so he couldn't find the answer to this. If he couldn't answer it and gain the item he was supposed to find here, he couldn't complete the quest. He could easily give up on the quest, but he wanted to see this through to the end so he was sticking it out.
So looking at the line 'it takes more than the strength you possess,' Kirito decided to use his annoyance with the guilds to his advantage and bring them here. The scripture spoke of a battle which is why Holy Knights Allegiance would be joining them and he was making them try to overpower the other. He was sure both guilds ending up in the same room and wanting to destroy the boss would make them rage battle.
He was betting everything on it.
Kirito walked forward and pushed his hand against the door. Only those who accepted the quest could open this door. If someone else tried, the door would not budge which Kirito learned when he tried to open the door the other day before he found the quest. With that knowledge in mind, Kirito knew that as soon as Dragon's Kings was in here and the door was closed, they would not be able to leave. It would give him time to get Holy Knights Allegiance here.
Pushing against the doors with both hands, Kirito stepped forward as the doors started to open. Knowing that was enough to get them to swing open the rest of the way on their own, Kirito removed his arms and took a step back.
"This is it!" Redwing declared as he drew his sword out of his sheath and swung it forward towards the "boss room." With that action alone, the members from Dragon's Kings charged into the room, drawing their weapons as they went.
As the players rushed past Kirito, he started to take steps back from the room. So intent on getting into the room, none of the players noticed what he was doing.
Soon, all the players had entered his trap and he was far enough away from the room that the doors slammed shut. Without the player who was doing the quest being sensed near the doorway, the doors deemed it time for them to shut.
Checking the time in the corner of his screen, Kirito resisted the urge to yell and instead spun around and raced back through the dungeon. The mobs near the quest room weren't going to respawn anytime soon so it saved Kirito some time, but he was sure the ones near the entrance would be getting in his way.
Well, he had ten minutes to get back as fast as he could so he could meet Holy Knights Allegiance outside the dungeon. If need be, he could make up an excuse as to why he was coming out of the dungeon.
*Dragon's Kings*
The players slowed their charge to come to a stop as they looked around in confusion. They heard the doors slam shut behind them and expected the boss to then appear, but nothing came. Besides them, it was completely empty.
The room they were in was huge with pillars on both sides of it. Torches hung on the pillars and a chandelier hung from the ceiling. All were lit with orange flames that gave the only light in the room. On the other side of the room was another set of doors.
"Kirito, what is–" Redwing stopped as he looked around for the mercenary, but didn't see him anywhere. "Kirito?"
"He's not here." Siren growled, eyes narrowed in anger as they scanned over the players in search for the mercenary. "Did he set us up? Tch, I knew it was bad idea to trust his word about helping us instead of Holy Knights Allegiance. He and Ridwig look too close to each other in the forest yesterday, like they trusted each other completely."
Redwing frowned as he swung his sword back in its sheath. He heard Siren's trusts issues yesterday but he pushed it off since Kirito trusted anyone he was with to watch his back when he was surrounded by someone.
Maybe it was his fault. Maybe he was being too trustworthy. As a solo player and a mercenary, Kirito's loyalty was almost nonexistent. But there were times when he displayed such great loyalty that it was hard to discern whether he was really loyal or not. It would be so much easier if he just chose whether to be a main mercenary for Dragon's Kings or Holy Knights Allegiance.
Sighing, Redwing went back to the doors to leave the room and found to his horror that the doors wouldn't budge at all. Why? Kirito opened them so easily earlier. There was no reason for them to be locked like this.
"Siren! Try to open the other door!" Redwing ordered.
"Yes sir." Siren replied quickly as he ran to the other end of the room and slammed his hands into the door. He pushed against them with all his might, but they didn't budge. "It's no good. The doors are locked." Furious at this turn of events, Siren slammed his hand against the door, though it did nothing to change their current situation.
Unlike Redwing and Siren, Henrik was finding great amusement in their predicament as evident by his sudden laughter that filled up the room, echoing off of the wall. "It seems we got played. Maybe he is still mad over what happened at the PvP tournament?" Henrik suggested.
Redwing, furious and wanting to kick the door, resisted the urge. He didn't want to showcase that in front of his guild. Instead, he turned to look at Henrik. "I paid him 33,000 col and promised him four items from the raid. You think that would be enough to pay him back for that."
"Tch, who really knows what he thinks." Jaxen growled as he rested his spear on his shoulder and looked around the room they were imprisoned in. He couldn't believe that this happened. Of all things, he didn't expect to get trapped in a room in a dungeon today. They couldn't message anyone about their predicament. And being in a dungeon, they couldn't logout. The only positive thing was that they weren't immediately swarmed with monsters upon entering the room. So was this a safe area or something else? Whatever the case, Kirito better not leave them locked in here forever.
"I think I just might kill Kirito after this." Siren growled as he made his way back over to his leader. Even Redwing couldn't be thinking of still not wanting to kill Kirito after this.
*Kirito*
Kirito slashed through the last «Salamander Slave» that was in his path. As it burst into polygons, a rewards window popped up in front of him. He only gave it a quick glance over before he closed it and made his way to the exit of the dungeon.
The blaring sun assaulted his eyes and made him cover his eyes for shade as he took in the guild that was waiting outside.
"Kirito?" Ridwig said surprised. "You were in the dungeon?"
Kirito chuckled and swung his sword back in its sheath on his back. "I wanted to get some grinding in before we went to take care of the boss." He replied easily. "Are you guys prepared?"
"Yes, we were only waiting on you." Ridwig replied as he walked towards Kirito. "Any news on Dragon's Kings?"
"Their plans haven't changed. They still plan to raid the dungeon in an hour." The lie rolled off his tongue too easily, but Kirito dismissed the feeling of betrayal he was starting to feel. Why was he doing this again? Yesterday he planned this mission of his to get the guilds off his back, but why? Sure, they annoyed him at times and got in his way yesterday with their rivalry, but he always found so much amusement in it. Why did he want them to go to war again? He didn't want to make them hate him….did he?
Kirito blinked as he reentered the dungeon with Holy Knights Allegiance. Did his desire to wage war on the guilds start yesterday?
*Yesterday*
"Greetings, young traveler."
Kirito blinked at the NPC he found in a safe area in the dungeon. It was very rare to find an NPC in a dungeon, but when they were found it was usually because of a dungeon quest. These quests were much harder than normal quests and usually took place in the dungeon, but the rewards for them were a lot more appealing.
"Hello sir." Kirito greeted as he walked towards the NPC. "What are you doing in such a place as this?" As he stood in front of him, Kirito saw that this NPC was dressed in armor and had a sword at his side. Was he a soldier NPC?
"Will you listen to my story?" The soldier NPC asked.
Kirito nodded. "Yes, I will."
"It started last week. My squad and I heard that a weapon could be found in here that would be able to defeat the monster in this dungeon."
Kirito brows rose in surprise at that. A weapon that could defeat the boss? Normally, the boss fights wouldn't need a special weapon to be defeated. Was it really needed? Or was it just an extra weapon that would help defeat the boss? Make the fight easier on the raid party?
"We came here to seek the weapon, but when we entered the room to retrieve it, we were told a battle must be fought and won to claim it. We know we needed this weapon so we allowed ourselves to fight among ourselves." The soldier NPC cast his weary eyes down to the ground in between him and Kirito. "In the end, they were all slaughtered. My whole squad, and yet the weapon did not appear in front of me. I do not know why. We waged war against each other in order to gain a weapon to help defeat the boss, but when it didn't appear and I was the only one left, I felt so defeated. All my friends are gone. I lost them all and yet the weapon didn't even appear!"
Kirito watched in surprise as the NPC in front of him showed absolute despair over the loss of his friends. He probably killed some of them to gain this weapon. But were they really that desperate for it? Just for a weapon, they would turn on each other? It didn't make any sense. But then again, would he do the same thing? For a grand weapon that would help defeat a boss, would he kill his own comrades?
"Traveling warrior, I beseech you." The soldier NPC spoke again, sounding almost desperate to Kirito. "Please, retrieve the weapon and bring it to me. After all that has happened, I cannot go back home empty handed after I promised my village I would retrieve the weapon that would slay the demon in this dungeon."
"I will do as you have requested." Kirito replied instantly. He always enjoyed dungeon quests. They always brought something new and interesting. "I will retrieve this weapon for you." Though, he had absolutely no idea of how he would do it.
A window popped up in front of him to say the dungeon quest had been accepted.
Almost instantly after he got it, he felt a weird feeling pass through him. It felt like a cold wind that iced his very insides.
Kirito blinked and looked down at his hands. That was weird. Nothing has ever happened like that before. But since the feeling was now gone, Kirito brushed it off and began to look for the room that held the weapon he needed.
*Beater*
Kirito's eyes took in the message on the doors in front of him, eyes glazing over as he read the scripture for the first time. His strength not being enough? A battle? Desire? Heart? None of it was making any sense to him at all.
Well, he wasn't going to figure it out just standing here so Kirito moved forward and put his hand on the door to push it open.
The moment his hand landed on it, Kirito saw dark shadows creeping out of the cracks that wrapped around his arm and up to his shoulder. Eyes widening in shock, Kirito went to pull his hand back, but it wasn't budging. He brought his other hand up to grab his wrist and pull at it, but it still refused to move from the door.
Shadows wafted around him and soon Kirito saw nothing back black.
He wasn't sure how long it was for, but Kirito saw nothing and could not move. After the shadows took over him, the next thing he knew was that he was lying on the ground outside the door, staring at the ceiling of the dungeon. His eyes moved over to look at his status bar, but nothing was wrong. No decreased health. No status effects.
Despite that, he still felt so heavy. His heart in particular. It felt like he was lost in an endless void with no one around. It felt lonely and painful, but there was a desire. A desire for something. He wasn't sure what that desire was, but he desperately needed something and would do anything to achieve it.
*Kirito–Present*
That's right. The quest. He had to complete the quest. That was why he was leading the guilds to wage war. He needed to call forth the weapon. That was all that mattered right now.
Kirito looked over at Ridwig and Mazart. From what he read in their conversations yesterday, Ridwig and Mazart were in charge of two of the main attack forces for the boss fight. Tal and Jax were in charge of the parties that would be handling the mobs that got in their way on their journey to Kirito's trap. This was so the main attack forces could save their energy for the main fight.
Kirito looked over at Jax. The player was a pretty female with long black hair tied in a braid and striking crystal blue eyes. She wielded a spear and was quite a formidable opponent. Pretty, but Kirito never trusted the female players. He knew that a lot of guy players played as females so the amount of females was actually a lot less. It was safer to just avoid getting near them at all.
As Kirito looked at his map to make sure he was taking the right path to get the guild to the second doorway of the room, he found himself suddenly getting impatient. Why weren't Tal and Jax taking care of the mobs faster? They needed to get to Dragon's Kings. They needed to be fighting already.
This was taking too long.
Kirito's eyes narrowed in frustration.
"Ha! Nice one, Jax!" Tal compliment as the spear wielder slashed through two «Salamander Slaves» in an instant.
Kirito blinked at the voice and found himself rubbing his temple. Why was he getting frustrated? This was the fun of MMOs. He always had so much fun raiding dungeons before. There was no need for this impatience.
But everything was so close to being completed.
Kirito's heart suddenly pounded against his ribcage in eagerness. His heart was screaming out for that grand weapon to be in his hands. He needed it soon. It was the only way he would get satisfaction. He needed to wield that power as his own. It was for him. Not that soldier NPC.
Ridwig glanced over at Kirito and almost did a double take when he saw the dark look covering his face. The Kirito he usually saw was calm and always wearing a smirk or smile. Sometimes it was a frown, but it never looked so dark and intimidating. Did he really almost look….evil? Or was it just the lightning? It was hard to see in the dungeon and one of the torches was casting a shadow on Kirito's face so it just had to be that, right?
As soon as the mobs were killed, Kirito started to move forward again, but at a slightly faster pace than before.
Ridwig stayed behind, instead of following Kirito at his pace like before. He turned to look at Mazart with a frown. "Is Kirito acting weird today?"
"He's always weird." Mazart replied with a bored shrug.
"Well, I guess that's true." Ridwig muttered as he looked back at Kirito's back. "But this seems like a….darker weirdness."
"A darker weirdness?" Mazart snickered. "Really, Ridwig? Just say it straight out. You want to know if I see any evil portrayed in his expression."
Ridwig looked surprised for a moment before chuckling softly. "You have gotten good at reading me in the past month, Mazart." He nodded. "Yes, that is what I want to know. So do you?"
Mazart moved his eyes to look over Kirito. "Well, I wouldn't say that I feel evil from him, but something about his presence does feel different than usual." He shrugged in a helpless manner. "Can't tell you why his presence feels darker than usual. Maybe something is happening IRL for him and it's affecting him here."
"I guess that could be it."
"Just leave it be. His problems are his own. For now, you need to focus on the coming raid." Mazart replied.
The guild leader nodded and pushed the weirdness of Kirito out of his mind. They were on their way to the boss room to defeat the boss before Dragon's Kings got anywhere near the dungeon. He would finally show Redwing at last who was the better one between them. The plan was to show him this during the PvP tournament, but Kirito defeated him in the semifinals so he never got to face Redwing there. But in a way this was better. He could prove his strength and leadership, as well as the power of his guild by defeating the boss here.
*Beater*
"So, this is it." Ridwig said, taking in the massive stone doors that Kirito led them too. "This is where Smot is located?"
Kirito nodded. "Yes, he is waiting inside." He replied with the words tasting bitter on his tongue. Is this really how he wanted things to go down? He held no loyalties to any one guild or party in particular. They just hired him out, but that didn't mean he didn't like the players. They did generally amuse him and he did consider them in-game friends.
But the power….that weapon….his heart was screaming for him to get it.
His hand reached forward and gently laid against the door. With the weakest push, the doors started to slide open. Light poured out of the room and Kirito started to walk backwards to hide from the players in there. While he moved backwards, the players from Holy Knights Allegiance started to charge forward with Ridwig leading them.
Kirito felt the wind from the rushing players whip across his face. The way they were running…it felt like he was watching them move at the speed of light since they all just looked like blurs to him. Their battle cries never met his ears since all he heard was his rapidly beating heart.
This was it.
They would battle and destroy each other for him.
Blending into the shadows along the walls, Kirito slithered into the room, sticking to the shadows as he watched Holy Knights Allegiance come to a halt inside the room. As Kirito moved along the walls and farther into the shadows, the doors slammed shut, locking all the players in the room.
With the doors slamming shut, wind blew across the room. With each flame it hit, it turned into a black flame that gave very little light to the room.
"Ridwig?" Redwing snarled as he pushed through his guild to get to Ridwig. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Me?" Redwing retorted. "What are you doing here? I came here to fight the boss before you could attempt to."
"Attempt?" Redwing replied, eyes narrowing. "Are you implying that my guild wouldn't be able to win?"
"Quite honestly, with your lousy leadership skills, I'm surprised your guild lasted this long." Ridwig retorted harshly and it was followed with a cruel laugh.
"At least I'm not weak." Redwing snapped back. "You only lasted two minutes against Kirito in your match against him. What does that say about Holy Knights Allegiance?"
Kirito watched, a bit surprised, at how harsh the two were being. They were never harsh like this to each other. Actually, he was surprised they didn't realize he betrayed them both by trapping them in here.
But Kirito pushed the thoughts of them acting weird away. They were arguing and being very cruel to one another. This is what he wanted. It would lead to them battling. The more heated they got, the sooner they would fight. But….
Kirito's eyes narrowed as he watched them trading insults with the guild members shouting in agreement. He didn't want to wait for them to get heated enough to draw their weapons. They needed to fight now. To kill each other now.
His hand traveled to the back of his belt and he slid a throwing knife out of it. He had throwing picks as well, but he wanted something that would make more a statement and do more damage.
Making sure he was standing behind Holy Knights Allegiance, Kirito brought his throwing knife back and activated a sword skill which he then released. The knife flew passed all the Holy Knights Allegiance players and headed straight for its target, which was Siren. The second-in-command who wasn't expecting the attack had no time to dodge and the knife imbedded itself in his shoulder.
Redwing twisted around in surprise as he watched the knife slam into his friend's shoulder. Blinded by anger that his friend was attacked, Redwing whipped back around as he pulled his sword out. He swung it down and pointed it straight at Ridwig's face. "So, it's like that, is it, Ridwig?" A scowl formed on his face. "I see. This was all a trap you orchestrated just to kill us, isn't it? So you can get to the boss first without any obstacles!""
Ridwig laughed harshly at that. "And what? Is this you trying to twist your actions around to make us look like the bad guy here? Wasn't it truly you who set us up?!" He yanked his dagger out of its sheath and used it to knock away Redwing's sword. "Well, if that's how you want it, then we shall kill you first before proceeding to the boss's room. Defeating you and the boss will show just how much more superior my guild is!" A dark smirk crept onto his face with that proclamation and he raised his dagger towards the ceiling. "Now, my guild, destroy Dragon's Kings!"
That order. It was that order that had Kirito grinning madly. He watched in dark eagerness as Holy Knights Allegiance charged forward, weapons already drawn from their initial charge into the room. Being more prepared than Dragon's Kings, it took Ridwig's men a moment to adjust themselves to the situation.
Mazart jumped in front of Redwing and charged at Ridwig with a sword skill activated, but before the attack could connect, Siren parried the attacked and knocked Mazart away from his leader.
"Don't falter!" Ridwig screamed at his guild over the chaos. "Fall back and regroup. Watch each other's backs and take out the enemy!"
The members of Dragon's Kings who were able to draw their weapons fast enough pushed ahead to defend the players who weren't able to. Those who were still weaponless did as Ridwig ordered and fell back in order to regain themselves. Those who got attacked and already lost health drank a healing potion before drawing their weapons and nodded at their teammates.
"Switch!" Selene, a rapier user of Dragon's Kings, shouted as she charged back forward.
Noticing her, Henrik knocked back Tal's sword and jumped back just as Selene reached the two with the sword skill «linear» activated. With his sword knocked up by Henrik, Tal wasn't able to defend against it and felt the rapier slam into his chest with enough force that it sent him flying backwards into one his guild members.
Ridwig growled and charged at Redwing. Kill the leader. That was where his mind was taking him. If he killed the leader, it would bring the morale down on the Dragon's Kings side and make them that much easier to kill.
The very same thought was running through Redwing's mind with his sword in the position to activate the «horizontal» sword skill.
His sharp eyes catching the action, Ridwig pulled his dagger back into the position for «flash star». The sword glowed red as it soared through the air to block Redwing's sword. The dagger knocked the sword up into the air. With the sword out of the way, Ridwig's arm automatically readjusted with the assist system and brought the dagger slashing down onto Redwing's chest. An orange gash ripped through Redwing's chest as he stumbled back.
Redwing regained his footing and swung his sword at Ridwig, who ducked and backed up. He spun his dagger in his hand so the blade ran down his forearm. His arm lifted with the blade facing upwards so he could block the next strike from Redwing. As soon as the sword hit his dagger, Ridwig pushed off the ground and lunged at Redwing with his dagger flying forward to cut him. But at the last second, Redwing sidestepped the attack and swung his sword up towards Ridwig, who didn't have the balance to dodge so instead he lifted his arm which was covered in an armguard and used that to block the sword. Though it worked in keeping him from getting seriously injured, it caused him to lose some HP and the attack was so hard that it sent him flying forward.
Ridwig twisted in the air, slammed a hand on the ground, and flipped himself over to land on his feet in a crouch.
*Kirito*
'Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.´ Kirito smirked as he watched his plan unfold in front of his very eyes. Soon, oh, very soon, they will have all killed each other. And if one survived, he could easily kill that person who has been weakened from the fighting. And once that happens, he can gain the grand weapon he heard about here. He just needed to make it appear.
But….
Kirito blinked as he watched the two guilds slaughter each other. They were aiming to kill each other like he planned….but…it didn't feel right. These two guilds while being rivals, were also friends. He knew Ridwig and Redwing argued and fought, but he also knew how close they were from watching their interactions.
Siren and Mazart. A lot of the time, he saw the two together, moaning and pitying themselves while arguing that their guild master was worse. They made it a game to see which guild master drove their second-in-command most insane that week.
In the past boss fights, he has seen the two guilds work together. They worked so closely together and yet now, looking at this, it felt like that was a lie. They so easily fell into the battle mode where they would kill each other. All it took was for them to throw insults back and forth and for him to throw a knife and they were ready to kill each other. If they were really friends, shouldn't it have taken more than just that?
No. Kirito shook his head. It wasn't his problem to know how easily they fell like this. This is what he wanted. He wanted this so he could gain that power. He would make the weapon appear.
Though…Kirito watched as Ridwig and Redwing fought in the middle of the room. Their blades clashed against one another so many times as they blocked each other's attacks at an amazing speed.
Isn't this what the NPC soldier said he did? Didn't he slaughter his comrades and became the last one standing but nothing happened? The weapon didn't appear then….
Why would it appear this time just because he made the situation the same?
Was he missing something? Was there some condition that he was missing?
Kirito watched as a player burst into polygons as he was killed. Another player soon followed him.
Was this really the right thing to do? Did he really desire a grand weapon so much that he would manipulate his acquaintances like this so they would kill each other for him?
Someone so eager to sacrifice others' lives for his own greed is not what he wanted to be known by. He enjoyed games and PvP, but not like this. This wasn't what he liked to do at all. It wasn't who he was. Did his greed really lead him so far down? To betray the people who trusted him? Sure, they hired him for mercenary jobs for his skills, but that was also because they trusted in him. The trust they gave him….he manipulated them so easily because they did trust him. He abused that trust. How horrible of a person did that make him?
If it took all of this to make a grand weapon appear….if it took causing these two guilds to murder each other at his manipulation, then he didn't even want the weapon. He didn't care if it meant failing the quest. He couldn't let this continue. He needed to stop Dragon's Kings and Holy Knights Allegiance.
But how? Just looking at the maliciousness on all the players' faces, he could tell that they were all too far gone.
*Redwing & Ridwig*
Redwing landed on the ground, panting a bit as he glanced at his health bar to see it in the yellow. His eyes moved to Ridwig's to see his health bar also in the yellow. It seemed that they were equally matched. The very thought irritated him. He had to end this now.
His sword fell into the pre-motion for the «vertical arc» skill. As soon as the assist system noticed the action, the sword started to glow blue.
Ridwig seemed to be thinking about ending this fight as well since his dagger fell into the position for «spike».
The two guild leaders charged at each other with their eyes narrowed in concentration as their minds worked out frantically of how to dodge the other's attack, but make theirs hit.
"Die, Ridwig!" Redwing snarled.
"I'll send you to hell." Ridwig growled.
Their attacks flew forward just as a black blur charge between them with his arms thrown out.
Ridwig and Redwing stared in shock, but once a skill was started, it was not able to be stopped. «Spike» was a dagger skill that slammed into the enemy two times before the third strike impaled itself in the target. «Vertical arc» was a two combo attack that slashed through the enemy twice to make a 'V.'
It was the same skill that Kirito used against Redwing to win in their battle.
To think that Redwing would get the chance to slash it through Kirito…
Redwing watched in shock as his sword and Ridwig's dagger tore through Kirito who just appeared out of nowhere to stop the two from killing each other. What was he doing? This had nothing to do with him!
"Kirito?" Ridwig shouted in surprise as his dagger slammed rapidly into Kirito's chest two times before the third strike caused his dagger to embed itself in the solo mercenary. He leaned forward, standing over Kirito with his dagger not being pulled out as he watched Kirito's HP bar continue to drop. It didn't help that Redwing's sword was finishing slashing «vertical arc» from behind Kirito.
"Don't…" Kirito said, grimacing at the uncomfortable feeling traveling through all his nerves from both attacks. "My fault. Don't kill each other."
As he finished speaking, Ridwig noticed too late that Kirito's HP was down to zero and the mercenary burst into polygons, leaving his dagger hanging in the air with nothing there. All around the black flames transitioned into green flames.
For a moment, there was still chaos and the sound of weapons clanging against each other. But only for a moment more before it was all gone.
Ridwig blinked and looked up at Redwing with a frown. The leader of Dragon's Kings was holding his head and looking around in confusion.
"Were…were we just trying to kill each other?" Redwing asked.
"Seems like it." Ridwig replied as he swung his dagger down and put it in his sheath. He rubbed the back of his head. "Today has…"
He was cut off when a bright golden light illuminated throughout the room, blinding all the players around. Following it was the room shaking and from under Ridwig's foot, he felt the ground shifting, like it was rising up. Since it was right under his foot, it caused him to lose balance and stumble backwards while still not being able to see because of the blinding light.
As the light started to die down, Ridwig cracked his eyes open and was surprised to see a pedestal in front of him. In the center of it, he saw a sword stabbed into it.
"Well, this is certainly strange." Redwing said as he jumped onto the pedestal and made his way over to the sword. "I wonder…" His hand wrapped around the hilt as he prepared to pull it, but the moment he did, sparks like lightning flashed from it and slammed into his hand. A burning feeling hit his nerves. Not something that hurt, but shocked him and he yanked his hand away and waved it out. "Well, that was aggressive."
"And shocking." Ridwig said, which made Redwing twitch in annoyance. Was he mocking him? "I've never seen anything like this before."
"I think you were correct earlier, Ridwig." Mazart said as he walked over to his leader as he swung his sword in the sheath on his back.
Ridwig looked back at him in confusion. "About what?"
"Kirito." Mazart replied with a frown. "I've been doing some thinking about it since you brought it up. That darkness he was displaying earlier. I said it might have to do with something IRL, but the closer we got to this room, the more I saw that it felt like a dark intent and he seemed to be getting impatient. Plus, once we entered this room, he disappeared completely. Well, up until the moment he let himself get killed by you and Redwing."
"Kirito?" Redwing butted in with a frown. "He's the one who brought you here?"
"Yeah, of course, who else would…" Ridwig paused and looked at Redwing in surprise. "He brought you here too?"
Redwing nodded.
"Tch," Siren growled. "We've been set up by that damn mercenary."
*Kirito*
"Now, hear me out." Kirito said nervously, holding his hands up in front of him to show he met no harm. Though, he felt greatly threatened, for some reason, his heart felt so light and free. It hasn't felt like this since before he had accepted that dungeon quest.
"I am not feeling that willing to do that." Siren growled with his sword stopped an inch from Kirito's nose.
Kirito tried to take another step back, but his foot just hit the wall behind him. He chuckled a bit nervously. Siren always did have a bit of a temper, especially when it came to a betrayal like this. "Uh, Redwing, a little help. Call off your dog!"
Redwing raised a brow and looked over at Ridwig. "What do you think?"
"Hmm," Ridwig rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I'm not sure. He did stop us from slaughtering each other by having us kill him, but he was the one who put us in that situation in the first place."
"I can explain!" Kirito replied quickly. "Don't you think it's weird that you were so eager to kill each other? You guys fell into that malicious state too easily, right?"
Siren's eyes narrowed. That was true. While their guilds were rivals and they wanted to one up the other, they never truly felt the need to slaughter one another the way they were trying to the other day. "Explain." He growled.
"Uh, well, it was a dungeon quest." Kirito said, and those words caught the attention of both guilds. The mercenary was really wishing he didn't hurry to return to the sixth floor dungeon so fast after being killed. But he figured he should. His quest wasn't finished so the guilds couldn't get out of the room until he opened the doors again. "You see, I found an NPC in the dungeon and he gave him a quest that has to do with this room. You saw the doors, right? They had a weird design on them. But to those who accept the quest, that design actually forms into a scripture which says, 'Traveling warrior, to gain that which you desire, it takes more than the strength you possess. In the end, to gain that which you seek, it all comes down to a battle. Who will win the war? Be warned though, traveler, death awaits all who betray their true selves. Which is stronger? Desire or Heart? The answer will be your salvation.'"
"While that sounds interesting, what does it have to do with us?" Mazart demanded.
"Well, it seems this is a dangerous dungeon quest that will manipulate your feelings of greed and desire for the weapon. The first time I touched the door, I was blasted with this very dark shadow. I didn't realize it until Redwing and Ridwig killed me, but I was swallowed up by that darkness which intensified my greed for the weapon I was told about." Kirito explained quickly. His words alone seemed to surprise the players. He couldn't blame them. He never expected for a quest to appear that would alter his greed for a weapon so much. "It was unlucky for Ridwig to meet me outside the dungeon yesterday and then for me to meet Siren and Redwing. Because I was swallowed by that darkness, I decided to use both of your guilds to conquer the quest because I thought I needed to have a battle in here to call forth the weapon."
"That explains why you manipulated us and brought us here, but how did it cause us to battle?" Siren asked.
"Um, when I spoke to the soldier NPC, he spoke of how his comrades were more than eager to kill one another as well." Kirito replied. "I think it has to do with this room. While I am the one doing the quest, I did bring you here and the dark greed surrounding this room must have affected you guys as well. You may not know of the quest, but this room seems to have an effect on the players, especially when the player who accepted the quest, ergo me, is here."
"So you're saying that we were manipulated by your greed to battle it out here?" Redwing asked.
Kirito nodded quickly. "But that was the test. The scripture asks which is stronger. The heart or the desire? The quest manipulates your desire for the weapon and makes it stronger. The point here is to fight against that desire and follow your heart. I truly never wanted you guys to fight and slaughter each other so when I jump in between Redwing and Ridwig to stop them, I proved myself and the sword was called forth." He was certainly surprised after he was revived in the Chamber of Resurrection to see a notification window pop up telling him that he passed the test. That was part of the reason he rushed back to this room. He needed to see if the weapon had appeared.
"Geez," Ridwig rubbed his temple, feeling a headache forming with an added portion of some agitation over this whole situation. "You know, if it wasn't for the fact that I did feel an intense hatred when trying to kill Redwing and for the sword appearing, I wouldn't even believe you right now, Kirito."
"So…we're good?" Kirito asked.
"NO!" Redwing and Ridwig screamed as they shoved Siren out of the way and got in Kirito's face.
"You basically stole 33,000 col from me!" They both yelled.
"Eh…" Kirito chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "It was the effects of the quest?"
"The hell it was!" Redwing snarled.
"DO not try to blame that part on the quest." Ridwig growled as he grabbed Kirito by his jacket and roughly shook him. "That part was just you having spent too much time with Argo."
"Well…" Kirito looked upwards towards the right to avoid eye contact with Ridwig.
"Tch," Ridwig released Kirito. "Go get your damn sword and complete the quest before something else happens. I'd rather the guild war not continue."
Kirito looked from Ridwig to Redwing to their guilds. "…You guys are mad."
"Who in their right mind would not be mad?!" Siren retorted while his hand that was holding his sword twitched ever so slightly with the desire to stab Kirito. "The quest may have been affecting your avatar, but it was still your manipulation that led us here when we wanted to fight the boss. Do you even truly know where the boss is?"
"Eh, yeah, I know where it is." Kirito replied as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I mean, I can still lead you guys there if you really want to go, but…" He trailed off and looked around at the two guilds. Each guild was around halfway wiped out. "With the members you have left, neither guild could do it alone at this point. You guys really need to regroup and recover."
With that said, Kirito pushed through the guilds and made his way over to the pedestal where the sword was trapped. He looked down at the red hilt and wrapped his hands around it.
"Hmph, of course it doesn't shock him." Redwing grumbled.
"Well, it's his quest. You only got shocked because you interfered in it." Ridwig pointed out with a smirk.
Redwing scoffed. "Like you didn't want to go up there and get the sword as well."
"I learned from your mistake." Ridwig retorted.
Kirito pulled at the sword and while it was a bit difficult to extract from the stone, he met no other resistance that tried to keep him from retrieving the sword. He pushed his feet into the floor to steady himself as he pulled with all the strength he had to release the sword from its prison.
He felt the sword start to shift in the stone and little by little, it came farther and farther out until finally the tip of the sword broke free and Kirito was taking a step back to regain his balance.
Kirito whistled as he lowered the blood red blade of the sword. It was definitely unique. He had never seen a red sword in the game before. It made him wonder if it had any special properties.
"Kirito."
Looking over his shoulder at Redwing, Kirito raised a brow. "Yeah?"
"Ridwig and I decided." Redwing said as he motioned to the other guild leader. "You can keep the money we gave you…"
"I wasn't even planning to give it back." Kirito replied.
Siren twitched in anger. That was guild money. That little brat really had some nerve to keep all that col after he tricked them.
"Even though you don't deserve it." Mazart muttered as he and Siren shared a look. If even of them were the guild leaders, they would have surely acted more rashly against Kirito over this.
"But," Redwing continued as if Kirito and Mazart did not just interrupt him. "You have to lead us to the boss room."
Kirito raised a brow. "Oh, now you want to conquer the boss together?" He shrugged. "Well, I guess it is difficult for only one of your guilds to do it now that you know each other's plans. But…" He turned back around to look at them all with frowns. "Are you sure you want to? You guys just had a battle with each other. Are you really capable, item, equipment, and health wise, to go on a boss raid right now?"
"Don't worry about that." Ridwig replied with a grin. "We'll in good enough shape to tackle the boss. Besides, you'll be helping and seeing as how you weren't involved in the fight and only got killed, you're good as new."
Kirito sighed. "Yeah, goodie." He muttered before remembering something. "Oh, right, Siren, do you still have that knife that hit your shoulder earlier?"
Siren raised a brow, but nodded. "Yeah, I have it."
"Cool, can I have it back?" Kirito asked as he held out a hand.
Siren stared blankly at Kirito for a moment before his eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "You." He hissed. "You're the one who hit me with this?!" He lifted up the knife he was hit with earlier.
"Well…" Kirito sweat dropped a bit. "I had to get a battle started…"
Siren dropped the knife in favor of drawing his sword.
"Uh…is that thing still covered in poison?" Kirito asked.
"Let's find out." Siren growled as he charged at Kirito, who's eyes widened and he jumped out of the way of the attack.
"Violence is not the answer!" Kirito shouted in protest. "Didn't we just learn this lesson?" He ducked under another sword swing and prayed his thanks that Siren wasn't using any sword skills. It meant that he didn't really want to kill him, right? Right? Oh, please let him be right about that. "Redwing! Call off your dog before he murders me!"
Kirito seriously considered drawing his sword, but he was sure that wouldn't go down well after everything that happened so instead he shot a quick glance at Redwing before he was dodging a sword that almost sliced his chest. To his annoyance, the guild leaders were watching in amusement. Seriously, why did he stop them from slaughtering each other earlier?
*Beater*
"Hahahahaha!"
Kazuto's brow twitched in annoyance as he leaned his chin in his upturned palm. "Seriously, I don't think it is funny at all." He muttered as he stared at his godfather. "I seriously feared for my life then."
"You sure know how to anger other players, don't you?" Kayaba asked with a smirk.
"They make it too easy at times." Kazuto replied with a shrug. "And that whole situation was your fault for creating a dungeon quest like that! I didn't think it was possible to manipulate emotions like that."
Kayaba nodded as he grew serious. "It is dangerous so there are limits to what I allow the Nervegear and Cardinal system to do. If the level of control over a player's emotions is too high, it will be like it is controlling you. What that quest did was just altered the greed you had for that sword. When you received the quest and heard about the weapon, didn't you desire it for yourself just a little bit?"
"Yes," Kazuto nodded. "I thought it would be great if I got it and it became the reward for the quest if it was as good as the NPC was making it out to be."
"The moment you thought that is when you fell prey to the quest." Kayaba replied before he paused to take a sip of his coffee. "The Cardinal became aware of the quest being activated by a player and raised your level of greed by hitting you with that shadow when you touched the door. What happened when that occurred?"
Kazuto's eyes narrowed in thought. "I wasn't able to move and then I blacked out for a small period of time. It was at that point, I left the dungeon and met the two guilds that I ended up manipulating."
"Hmm, I see." Kayaba replied intrigued. They had tested this function out, but it was better to learn about it from someone who didn't know about the function. "It didn't add or change emotions. The only thing it is programmed to do in a quest like that is to alter how much of an emotion you are feeling. It made you feel more greed and lowered your sense of morality."
"I noticed. Throughout the time I had the quest, I kept fighting against my morals and the greed I was feeling seemed so much more important." Kazuto replied with a thoughtful look in his eyes. "In fact, if I didn't logout the night before, I think I would have gone the wrong route and let the guilds slaughter each other."
Kayaba raised a brow in curiosity. "What do you mean?"
Kazuto looked down at his tea as he swished it around in the cup a bit. "Well, when I was logged out, my emotions righted themselves and I could think clearly once again. If I had stayed logged in until I finished the quest, I would have stayed lost in my greed. But since the system can't affect my emotions IRL, I was able to momentarily recover my morals until I logged back in."
"That makes sense. Since I don't want to control anyone, I would never make an advanced version to control or change emotions of a person. That is taking it too far." Kayaba replied.
"Well, that's a good thing to know." Kazuto said with a smile. "To think emotions can be controlled or changed…it is a scary thought."
A/N: Since a lot of sword skills for swords and all different types of weapons aren't known, I am going to create some of my own as needed. Like the dagger skills «flash star» and «spike» that Ridwig used. Don't expect much from the names of them. That is probably the hardest part for me in created sword skills. The names are so difficult to come up with…
