I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters.
Final Battle
"I'm going to take off now," Michael said. "Death Gun can't kill either of us. And he has no interest in killing me. Death Gun's grudge is mostly with you. Especially since he knows that I'd leave her with you for protection. The one that will come after me is Archon. They're working together and Archon wants me dead, desperately. He'll want to kill me himself. Thankfully he's locked up so the best he can do is to kill me here himself. When the next scan goes off, it'll pick me up alone, and it needs to pick you up alone too, Kirito. Sinon, get to a good position after the scan and cover Kirito. Also, there may be other players around."
"We'll deal with them as we go," Kirito said. "We'll handle them. You worry about beating Achon."
Michael nodded and got on the rover, speeding away from the cave. He sped away and curved around, stopping after a couple minutes, sitting in the desert. He pulled out his map item and opened it. As he expected, Death Gun, or rather Sterben, didn't show up on the map. But just as he looked, two players eliminated themselves, leaving himself, Archon, Kirito, and Yamikaze. Archon began toward Michael instantly and Yamikaze did as well. Michael turned toward Yamikaze, lying down with his sniper and aiming, zooming in all the way. The reaction was instant.
Blood splattered against his face. He took a deep breath, gripping his rifle tighter, ignoring the blood. It began to run, the green circle was moving in a blur. He was gasping for breath.
"Damn it Michael," Michael snarled wiping his face just to prove that it was dry. "Calm down."
He sighted back in but closed his eyes. He could see his family, their faces disfigured and partially removed by the bullets that killed them. Then, Sinon appeared. She was sighting in through her rifle. Then, she sat up, beginning to choke and and clutching her chest. Tears flooded out of her eyes and she reached out toward him then, she shattered.
Michael's eyes snapped open and he saw Yamikaze speeding toward him. He sighed, gritting his teeth.
"No," Michael snarled. "No one is hurting Sinon."
The green circle began to slow. Then, just as it was small and entirely in Yamikaze's face, Michael squeezed of a round. It streaked through the air and then blasted through Yamikaze's head at the same time as a sniper bullet hit the ground in front of Michael. Michael leapt to the side as Archon crashed down where he had been, blasting dust into the air. After a moment, Michael hered another shot and prayed Sinon hadn't missed. He equipped and drew his Photon Sword as the dust settled and Archon laughed, drawing two, both with black blades, which Michael wasn't entirely certain how it worked.
"Looks like the bitch saved you after all," Archon snarled. "Doesn't matter. By now, you know Death Gun's secret. So I'll let you in on a secret. Our friend is watching Death Gun's fight from her room right now. I hope you said goodbye."
"Archon, why would Laughing Coffin members work with you?" Michael asked.
"Because I'm the best," Archon said. "And because I wanted your head. Let's do this the right way, shall we?"
He raised his swords then spun, slashing the rover and destroying it, kicking a metal pannel at Michael. Michael caught it by a metal handle and smirked. It was a shield.
"Can this stand up to Photon Swords?" Michael asked.
"Once destroyed, vehicles can no longer be damaged," Archon said. "So no, yes. It is indestructible."
Archon charged, stabbing at Michael. The blade sparked off of the shield as Archon looked up at Michael, his glasses glowing, the memory of the red-eyed leader of Laughing Coffin appearing in his mind.
"XaXa," Michael snarled. "That's Death Gun's Sword Art Online name."
Archon grinned and charged again, slashing at Michael rapidly. The swords sparked against Michael's shield almost constantly. Finally, Michael flew backward, bouncing and rolling along the ground. He pushed himself up, picking up his shield and looking to the side to see Kirito dueling against Death Gun.
He looked back at Archon in time to deflect a sword and slash at him. Archon blocked it and began to slash again. After a moment, Michael smashed his shield into one of Archon's swords, knocking it away then dropped to a knee, smashing his shield down on Archon's foot. Archon staggered back just as Michael's shield crashed into his chest, flipping him onto his back. Michael stabbed down at him but he spun, kicking Michael's legs out from under him then rolled, stabbing downward at Michael. Michael smashed the blade aside with the shield and stabbed at Archon, forcing him to leap back, allowing Michael to stand. He sprinted at Archon, slashing rapidly. Archon began to back away, blocking the blade and grinning from ear to ear.
"What's so funny?" Michael snarled. "You're losing ground."
"Is that right?" Archon asked, pivoting past a slash, allowing Michael to stumble past.
Michael spun, slashing at Archon again but Archon had leapt backward, avoiding the blade. Michael lunged with a stab, turning sideways and allowing Archon's right blade to barely graze him as Archon's left blade smashed Michael's away. Michael spun, slamming the top of his make-shift shield into Archon's chest, launching him backward. As Archon stood, Michael held the shield and sword up, readying himself.
"Not bad," Archon snickered. "I'm impressed. Truly. However, I believe you'll find it takes a bit more than that to defeat me. I know your old tricks."
"I know," Michael nodded, dropping his shield. "So let's try something new."
Archon raised an eyebrow and Michael sprinted forward, slashing diagonally, downward to the left. Then, he slashed hirizontally right at the abdomen. Next, he slashed diagonally up to the left then flipped the sword around and slashed back downward. Next, he brought his sword up and slashed diagonally downward to the left again. He spun, slashing in a circle then again, ending by transferring the slash into an overhead arc, ending at his side. Then, he stepped forward, stabbing at Archon. Archon leapt back from the stab and then raised his now tattered cloak, which was l the other attacks had hit. He sighed, ripping it off and hurled it away, allowing the wind to take it. With the cloak gone, Archon's torso was exposed. Specifically the two belts of machine pistol mags and the two grenades hanging off Archon's torso.
"You ruined my favorite cloak," Archon snarled. "That was quite an impressive little combo. Fast. Just like an OSS."
Michael narrowed his eyes at Archon, raising the sword and drawing his knife in reverse grip. Archon laughed and charged, slashing at Michael. Michael blocked the sword with his own then ducked undeelr the other, hurling the knife at Archon. It hit him dead center of the chest and knocked him back a step. Then, Michael stepped forward, slashing at Archon. Archon blocked it the pivoted around a secon knife, kicking Michael in the back of the head and knocking him to the ground, Michael's Photon Sword retracting as he dropped it. He grabbed it as he landed, making sure the opening was toward Archon, and waited.
Archon stepped up next to Michael, raising a sword. Before he could stab Michael, Michael's blade extended at his face. He leapt backward and Michael shoved himself up, looking over at Archon, his eyes meeting with Archon's right eye through the newly broken right lense. The glasses shattered and Archon growled in rage.
"Not bad," Archon snarled. "You almost got me. Unfortunately, that means that now, I'm done toying with you."
Michael sprinted forward, stabbing at Archon but Archon was suddenly beside him. He stabbed Michael, the blade blasting him backward. Michael landed beside his shield and picked it up, blocking a blade just before the other blade removed his arm at the elbow. Michael shouted in surprise, leaping back then blocking a stab with his own sword. He spun, smashing his stump into the side of Archon's head then spun the other way, slashing at Archon's side. Archon blocked it and stabbed Michael again, launching him. Michael landed on his feet and Archon charged, slashing at Michael from all sides. Michael didn't lose a beat, blocking the blades and slashing back when he could, though it wasn't often. Finally, Archon managed to cut Michael's hand in half, leaving only hia thumb, index, and middle finger, and destroyed the handle of Michael's Photon Sword, making the rest shatter.
Michael staggered backward, falling. As he fell, he slid his hand into his pocket. Archon stepped up over him as Michael pulled the grenade he had grabbed from archon's belt out. Archon slashed Michael's arm at the elbow then reached down to his own grenades, finsing one had indeed gone missing.
"Sneaky bastard," Archon snarled.
"Game over," Michael responded, grinning.
"What?" Archon growled before his eyes widened.
He turned to run but as he took his first step, Michael hooked his foot around Archon's tripping him. Then, the grenade exploded, blasting both of their lower bodies and Michael's torso into pieces. Michael's head, which he could still see through, landed facing Kirito where Sinon was arriving as well. She tossed him a grenade then stopped beside him, smiling at Michael and raising a hand. Michael would also have smiled if he could control his avatar's face. Kirito had successfully defeated Death Gun, which meant that Sinon was safe. Then, the grenade went off and Michael's vision went white.
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