July 7th, 2025

BoB Finals Waiting Room

To say I'm nervous would be an understatement. Yeah, sure, we took on one of the most dangerous guilds in the old SAO server, but when it comes to tournaments, I start shaking like a Chihuahua barking at nothing.

"Thrasher, you ok over there?" Dino asked me.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Looking forward to this battle." I partially lied. I am looking forward to it, mind you, it's also just nerve wracking.

He slapped my back. "Well, I'm looking forward to Aria beating all of you." He started laughing.

I started to grumble. Just as I was about to retaliate, an announcement started. "All Bullet of Bullets finalists, be ready to be transported to the grounds. Good luck to everyone."

"I guess that's you guys." Dino said. He started to head back to the bar with Jenny to watch the finals.

The world went dark around me. Other than me, the only thing that remained was a timer, counting down from a minute. Well, looks like it's time to suit up. I opened my menu and clicked on my battle armour, as well as my weapon, the Type 95. All that's left is to wait.

I didn't have to wait long. The timer reached 10 seconds. I went into a crouch as the final seconds ticked by. "Let's do this." I smiled. As soon as I felt the ground under me shift into sand, I dashed off. The first satellite scan shouldn't be until 15 minutes in. From now until then, it'll only be my instinct.

Then, I hear shots in the distance. By the sounds of it, two different gunshots. Obviously, I went towards the sounds of battle, hoping to be able to see the outcome (and possibly take out the remaining enemy).

After a couple minutes of running, I came upon quite a scene. Two fighters, going at it, shooting at each other from across a bridge. Not only were they shooting bullets at each other, but shooting insults.

"Alright, now it's time for my solo!"

"Time for you to go back to Wonderland!"

Just my luck. I sigh, and decide to try and get them to stop. I stepped out from my hiding spot just as a shot from Aria hit where I just was. "Alright you two, time to stop fighting!" I started. "Let's not do-"

*klink*

A grenade landed between my feet. Shit. With as much grace as a flailing dog, I kicked it far enough away from me where it won't kill me. The blast knocked me back a few feet and knocked off about half my HP. Silence.

I opened my eyes, just to make sure that I didn't actually die. To my left, Alice, mouthing words. Oh, so, I guess the blast made me deaf. "-r. Thr-." Temporarily deaf. "Thrasher!"

"Alice! I'm fine!" I yelled, still partially deaf. A look of relief crossed her face for a moment, before she took off. I guess she decided to wait until after pretty much everyone else was killed to come and finish me off.

Well, I won't give her the satisfaction of just waiting here. I should get going and find some people, bring the head count down a little. A little ways away, I found two assault riflers fighting each other.

I aimed at the further one with my Type 95 and quickly dispatched him. While the other one was confused, I took aim at him as well and got in a couple good shots. I didn't take him out with those shots, so, as a consequence, he fired back at me. I took shelter behind a tree.

I poked my head out and almost immediately got sniped. Shit. I can't believe that happened. And so, I was out of the tournament…

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Hehe, there goes the second biggest pain in the butt. Aria thought. Now, where's Alice? She looked through the scope of her sniper in the surrounding area. Not finding the target she was looking for, she decided to move to a new area, lest she get ambushed while aiming through the scope.

"Didn't find your target?" A cold voice said right next to her. Aria instantly froze, knowing only one person was able to sneak up on her like that.

"Good afternoon Alice."

"Afternoon Aria. Nice job taking out my boyfriend." Alice complimented her.

"Precision is my game, you should know that." Aria explained.

"While I do know that, I also know that you're not so great up close." Alice raised one of her MAC 11's and fired point blank into Aria's back, thus ending her role in the tournament.

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"I can't believe Brother got out so quickly." Jenny pouted. She was hoping to see her big brother kick everyone's butt in the tournament.

"Yeah, but then again, Aria went out in a more dignified manner than Thrasher." Dino mused. He ordered another drink from the menu and in a few seconds, it materialized on the table.

"Dignified? Alice just straight up shot her in the back." Jenny retorted. This shut Dino up.

"An almost literal backstabber." Dino said.

"A backshooter." Jenny said with a smug smile.

"Really? You had to go there?"

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A Few Hours Later

The Dicey Cafe

I respawned back in the waiting area. "Man, I thought that would never end." I had a drink in front of me to help nurse my bruised ego. "I can't believe how quickly I went out."

"Don't worry about it Darling, you went out almost valiantly." Arisa had the widest grin she could muster. "And there's always the Bullet of Bullets II you could redeem yourself."

I cleared my throat and turned to the bar. "So, Egil, has Kirito come in recently? Anything cool going on with him?" I tried to change the subject.

"Oh no, I'm staying out of this Slasher." He went to the back, presumably to get some dishes done.

"Look forward to a negative review on Yelp!"

"So, Brother, are you going to take part in BoB again?" My little sister asked me.

I could feel the fires of determination start anew. "Of course! I will always take part! Be it for our small group or to get more people in our guild!" Crap, I think the dollar signs are showing again.

"Darling, your eyes are becoming yen signs again."

"Dammit!"

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Well, so ends another chapter of Journals of a New World. It was almost complete for the longest time, but for some reason, I just could not finish it. But alas, it's finished now, and Thrasher didn't end up being close to finished first in the BoB. Just so you guys know, I will be changing the outcome of the first BoB, from what I remember in the light novel, it was some American who won, but I'm changing it to Alice because, well, she gets to gloat in Thrasher's face about it. So yeah, this is the end of chapter 3. Until next time, friends.

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Thrasher: Well, that sucked.

Alice: It could've ended up worse. You could've died by some other noobs hand.

Thrasher: Yeah, but I died by the second or third worst on our team.

Dino: Hey, I resent that.

Thrasher: Hush now, I didn't say anything about you.

Dino: Than who did you say it about? There's only five of us in our guild.

Thrasher: Alice, please help.

Alice: You got yourself into this Darling.

Thrasher: It's been a while since I've seen Ice Princess…ok, ok, just don't do the trademark stare.

Well, that's it, until next time.