I don't own Sword Art Online or Mataras the Red Swordsman. Sword Art Online is owned by Reki Kawahara. Mataras the Red Swordsman is owned by Mataras the Author. The Wyvern's Inferno guild is owned by TheSib. I only own my OCs.
Chapter 15: The Infernal Gateway. Wrath of The Skull Reaper.
A week had passed since rescuing Yui, when it happened. The little girl spent a couple of days with Agil, on Floor 50, along with a couple of days with Sachi, and Mataras, on Floor 61. She also spent a couple days with Lisbeth, and Daibel at the work shop, and with Akira, Silica, Pina, Litrosh, and Megumi, on Floor 48, but most of her time was with her parents, Kirito, and Asuna, on Floor 22. When Yui, normally asked why the others told her that her parents went to bed later than she did, and she would have a hard time falling asleep, little did they tell why they went to bed later. Yui, also loved hearing stories when she went to bed from her guild mate family. But one day while Yui was spending time with her parents, and the entire guild was spending time together on Floor 48, Akira received a message from Kirito. The message read, 'Fishing Tournament-Type event happening in an hour. Wanna come and Watch?' After checking with the others, the guild headed down, none of them had anything going today anyway.
When the team arrived near the lake house, they were surprised to see everyone at the lake. "All this for a fishing tournament?" mumbled Mataras, "Seems a bit much of you ask me."
"That's true," nodded Akira, "but we came here thanks to Kirito's invitation, plus, I would like to see Yui again."
The others nodded in agreement. The group headed towards the lake the others were heading towards, and saw a familiar sight.
"Mommy, look!" cried a little girl, "It's our guild mates!" The group came over and instantly realized who was calling them, as Yui came over was giving a hug, and lifted onto Akira's back. They all soon saw Asuna, who was wearing a makeshift shawl, but could guess why.
"I take it's so you don't get any attention here?" asked Akira, as Asuna nodded as a reply.
Mataras then picked up Yui, and placed her on his shoulders. He normally never would've done this, but could so easily thanks to his high strength stat.
"So what exactly is going on, Asuna?" asked Diabel.
"Well, Kirito is helping Nishida over at the lake to try and catch a monstrous fish." explained Asuna.
"Really, just a fish?" asked Lisbeth.
"Yeah. Look over there." replied Asuna, as Nishida appeared with a huge fishing rod. As soon as the line was cast, the crowd grew quiet.
Mataras seemed pretty bored about this, "Really, we came all the way here for this?"
Yui then clamped his mouth shut and hushed him, "You'll scare away the fish." she mumbled quietly.
Akira quietly chuckled, and soon, some action happened. The crowd saw Nishida hand Kirito the rod as he was pulling something with his current strength stat. This made everyone wonder, Did Nishida just try to a switch with a fishing pole?
They got an answer when Kirito worked really hard to pull the fish out of the water. Whatever it was, it was really huge.
When all of sudden, Nishida and the rest of the group including the Cats, moved back away from the pier.
Kirito was wondering this until he got an answer as a huge shadow emerged from the water. This caused the line to snap.
"Kirito! Look Out!" cried Asuna, holding on to Yui.
"For what?" wondered Kirito, and boy did he get his answer, as the creature simply called 'The Big One' emerged.
Akira eyes widened at the sight of the fish, for the creature was bigger than any fish seen before. It was colored in orange-red, and had eyes as big as a goldfish bowl, and had six webbed legged feet.
Kirito ran right to the others, throwing a complain at Asuna, who was giggling at his reaction.
Akira, and Mataras, nodded at each other, and without a word, dashed at the creature, even though the creature was lumbering towards them at a decent speed.
In perfect synchronization, as the fish leapt to devour them, the duo jumped upward and delivered a powerful ax kick, and sent the monster flying into the ground, then triple backward somersaulted into a crouch.
Megumi then shot past them with her sword in hand, as her blade started glowing. She flipped into the air, spinning horizontally, and used the Sword Skill, Vorpal Strike, and skewered the monster, she stayed in the air as 'The Big One' blew up into shards and pixels.
Akira, and Mataras grinned while in their crouched positions, and gave each other a fist bump. Then the two stood up as Megumi flipped off her sword. Then the trio took a bow without a word.
"Wow…" said one player.
"That was awesome!" cried another player.
"You're with The Moonlit Black Cats right?" asked a third player.
Akira and Megumi shook hands with some of the players, while Mataras, only grunted and gave his signature wolfish grin.
"Alright, break it up, let the heroes have some air to breath." bursted Lisbeth's voice through the crowd.
The crowd soon broke into two group, who wanted to meet the three saviors of the day.
"Nice job, brother." cried both Silica, and Sachi, each to their adopted sibling.
"Well, it looks like we still got it." Akira nodded.
"Hey, was the somersaulting really needed?" asked Megumi.
"Aye, if your going to be using your feet, you might as well make the most of them." replied Mataras.
Asuna invited the guild to the cabin to have some refreshments, and enjoyed the time together when they arrived. However it was short lived when Kirito received a message from his friend, Klein. "Hey guys, we've got a problem." he said.
"What's wrong Kirito?" asked Agil.
"I just got a message from Klein." Kirito replied, "They found the Boos room for Floor 75."
"Already?" said a surprised Mataras. "That was fast."
"Well, you two can sit this one out." said Sachi smiling, "We can handle it."
Kirito shook his head as he replied, "That's just it, the entire Recon Team was wiped out."
"What?!" exclaimed Akira, while Asuna held Yui tightly.
"How did that happen?!" cried Asuna.
"I don't know the details," Kirito said heavily, "But he wants our help for the raid."
Akira was thinking while, Yui asked to come assuring them that she would be alright. Just what kind of boss are we dealing with that took down the entire recon team?
"They were cut off?!" exclaimed Liz, "How is that even possible, Klein?!" The guild was currently in their guild hall with Klein, and he was sharing some pretty big info on what happened, while Sachi, Silica, and Yui were making lunch.
"I dunno man," Klein replied, he then went on explaining, "All I know is that one of my guys was their when it happen, the scouting team was twenty strong, five from different guilds. When the found the boss room, ten went in as a recon group while the others stayed outside, but once the recon went inside, the doors closed up behind, half an hour passed before the doors opened up again, and the group was gone. We confirmed on the Wall of Life that the players were killed. We also had a feeling they couldn't use any crystals inside either."
"I get the feeling that from now on, every boss fight, like on Floor 74, is going to be an anti-crystal zone for the boss rooms now." stated Akira.
Klein nodded in agreement, and informed the guild that Heathcliff is forming a joint raid against the boss. It was up to them to join, but Klein desperately knew they needed all the help they can get.
The Moonlit Black Cats agreed to help, making Klein feel relieved, he thanked them and left to reunite with his guild.
Kirito then asked a question to Asuna if she could stay with Yui instead of fighting the boss, revealing he was scared, and Asuna retorted back saying she'd kill herself if something were to happen to him. Sachi went to sooth Yui while the two talked. Kirito really wanted them to be together as a family, and leave the front lines. Asuna, however, asked if they knew what was going on in the real world, leaving Kirito confused.
Mataras stepped in and revealed that after Kayaba's announcement, all the players went offline for a few hours, learning everyone in the game were transferred hospitals to be kept alive by machines, meaning everyone was on a time limit, and once it ran out, it's game over for everyone. Asuna cried out tears and wanted to be with Kirito, forever, and Kirito, found steel in his voice, and promise to do so. The guild supported them, and they headed off to Floor 75.
The next morning, the raid party assembled at the very arena, where The Moonlit Black Cats, fought The Knights of The Blood Oath, and won Asuna's freedom.
The forces were comprised of members of The Holy Dragon Alliance, The Knights of The Blood Oath, Furinkazan, Wyvern's Inferno, The Moonlit Black Cats, and at least one hundred other high level strong players.
Akira stepped off the teleportation gate, with his guild as they enter the courtyard, lots of players were wondering why a little girl was her, but couldn't ask because of two huge dragons with them, Silica had called Blizzardwing for aid in the boss fight, and came to join the battle.
Godfrey was preparing his troops for the battle when Klein and Ren came up to the Cats.
"Hey guys," greeted Akira. "It looks like were in a for a tough battle."
"Yeah, I have to prepare a strategy for the battle." replied Ren.
Klein smiled, "Don't worry, we got this." he said.
"You said it." nodded Akira.
Then a another person appeared and clad in red, It was Heathcliff, and his own personal elite soldiers.
Everyone watched the red paladin, as he held up a crystal. "Corridor Open." he commanded.
The raid stepped through the doorway and at the boss door, Akira felt a strange sensation about the room, and prepared for the worst. When they arrived, Heathcliff turned to speak to the assault team.
"The Knights of The Blood Oath, and The Moonlit Black Cats will be the forward vanguard, while we distract the dos, everyone stay back and study the boss' attack patterns." said Heathcliff clearly.
Akira widened his eyes, and looked at Kirito, know how invincible was the red Paladin, and in all honesty so did he.
"For our day of Liberation!" called Heathcliff as the doors open.
"Don't die on me guys." said Kirito, to Klein and Ren.
"Same goes to you, Kirito." replied Ren.
"Ditto from me buddy." Klein nodded.
"Forward to Battle!" cried Heathcliff.
Everyone let out battle cries as they charged to the boss, but once they entered they found nothing inside at all, not even the boss. However, the doors closed up upon entrance preventing escape. "Well, this is great." muttered Lisbeth.
A minute has passed but the boss was nowhere to be found. Soon scuttling noises started coming from around the room, and it made Akira wonder, Where is the boss? He continued thinking until he thought oh no…
"Above us!" cried Yui, just before Blizzardwing, and Litrosh roared so loud that it rattled the room. The boss responded by crying a dry hissing sound, that terrified the whole room. The Boss was a huge centipede made entirely from bones, its skull had four mouth pieces and red eyes. Two massive blades stuck out like straight sickle scythes that attached to the lower part of the head and became arms. The boss moved down and attacked.
The name appeared, and had not four, but five HP bars. "It's…" Klein started, shaking with fear.
"The Skull Reaper!" finished Kirito.
The boss came down, and dropped from the ceiling charging at the party. "Incoming!" cried Akira.
Everyone backed away from fear as the creature ascended to floor, but three players were paralyzed with fear. "Come On! Run! Hurry!" cried Akira, but when they snapped out of it and started running, it was too late. The boss came right on top of them, and with it scythes knocked them into the air, and towards Kirito's group.
But to the horror of the assault team on the front lines, they bursted before hitting the ground.
Klein paled, "That was with one hit!" he cried.
"Oh man, we are so dead!" muttered Agil.
"As someone from STAR WARS would say: I have a bad feeling about this." stated Akira.
Akira: The time has come.
Silica: The 75th Floor boss.
Kirito: The Skull Reaper.
Mataras: Bring. It. On.
Lauren: Be careful everyone.
Author: Next time on The Azure Swordsman The Lost Fragment. Chapter 16: The truth of Heathcliff! Glitch in SAO!
All: LINK START!