Beater and the Black Cats of the Full Moon
Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online
Warning: I am still studying so please forgive me if there is too much grammar mistake. It will also be appreciated if you would help correct my grammar mistakes.
Chapter 3
Absolute Sword
"I am quite surprised that you would come along. I thought for sure that you were going to keep Kirito company." Argo smirked. "Alone especially."
"Ther-There's nothing between us!" Asuna blushed in embarrassment upon knowing she mumbled. Argo laughed as they walked side by side in the Starting City.
Asuna realized that the City of Beginning has changed so much since she left and became determined to clear the floors. There used to be a lot of players loitering around, hoping in false hope of one day to be saved. However now, those players seem to have disappeared and only a few players and members of the 'Army' are happily chattering around. The despair atmosphere that once haunted the City of Beginning was gone.
"Things have changed so much for the City of Beginning..." Asuna looked around, occasionally eavesdropping into the loud conversation of other players. "Did something happen?"
"Ah so you don't know? Well I guess information like this is not really valuable to the players at the front line." Argo said. "I don't have information when did it happen but Thinker, the leader of the Army, decided to help everyone in the City of Beginning. I heard it took a long time but almost everyone joined the Army. Even though the Knight of Blood is currently the strongest guild, my bet is that the Army has at least two times larger than the KOB. Though most of them are middle level players, the Army really helped to improve the situation in the City of Beginning."
"So it's thanks to the Army...I always have a bad impression about them for some reasons..."
"That must be because they stopped helping the clear the floors after they suffer heavy losses at the 25th floor." Argo continued. "Rather than clearing the floors, the Army is now concentrating on helping those below so it's natural for clearers like you to see them like that. Ah we are here."
Asuna stopped after Argo. Looking ahead, there was a small church that Asuna never seen before in the earlier days. The City of Beginning was a big city after all.
"This is..."
"This is a church where my friend lived." Argo explained as they headed towards the door. " When the game started, most of the children suffered terrible psychological trauma. She decided to take them in and took care of them in the church. I must really comment that she is really some of the people that I respected the most. I wouldn't be able to do something like that."
"That's really kind of her...I never thought about the children who were left behind at all..." Guilt swelled inside Asuna. She felt horrible that she did not try to help those other children that are left behind in the City of Beginning at all.
"Ah Argo! It's quite rare to see you here, how is the front line?"
Argo and Asuna halted their movement and turned their head back towards the source. Catching up from the back was a silver haired lady in green uniform of the Army. Even though it's has been months since Argo saw her, as an information broker she does not forget friends easily.
"Yulier! It's has been such a long time! Are you here to deliver the food?" Argo replied cheerfully as she met her old friend.
"Yes. I happen to get a lot of food today." Yulier smiled and turned towards Asuna. "This is..."
"Ah let me introduce her to you! This is Asuna the Flash, currently my guild mate!" Argo then turned towards Yulier. "Asuna this is Yulier. She is the second in command of the Army and the one that brings food to the church for the children."
"I am Asuna. Nice to meet you." Asuna said. "Thank you for helping all those children."
"I am Yulier. It's nothing, I am just doing my duty as the member of the Army after all."
"Let's enter the church first shall we?" Argo suggested. "I believe that there is much to talk about and it would certainly be nice to talk it over some tea."
"The Absolute Tree?"
"Yes that's where the children have gone to." Sasha answered as she returned with a tray of tea. After giving out the cups, she sat down and continued the conversation.
"So it's the Absolute Tree...I guess its one of the famous place for people to gather nowadays..." Yulier muttered after hearing the name.
Among the four, only Asuna and Argo did not understand about what they are talking about. It kind of hurt Argo's pride as an information broker but she ask either way.
"What is this 'Absolute Tree'? Is it a new gathering spot?"
"What's this, there is actually Argo don't know about? I thought you would have heard of the rumour already."
"Shut up..."
The three laughed as Argo covered her embarrassed face by slipping her tea. Sasha stopped laughing and started talking.
"It happened a few weeks ago, a mysterious female player that called herself Absolute Sword appeared under the tree at the plaza and challenged the players there to beat her. The tree that she always waited under was thus named after her. At first the Army thought of her as a joke but they started to get fired up when none of them could beat her."
"In addition for your knowledge, Thinker and other high level players are probably fighting against her right now. I already lost count of how many times he lost but he was stubborn to keep on trying." Yulier added on, obviously annoyed at her commander's stubbornness.
"Why are they so persistent in fighting against her? There must be a reason for them to not give up right?" Argo asked and hit the spot.
"That's right. The player said that anyone that managed to beat her she would reward him or her a high level sword that reached 800 attack."
""800 attack!?""
For Asuna and Argo, this was big news. A weapon that reached 600 attack is considered a good weapon. Asuna was proud of her Lambent light that reached 700 attack with her friend Lisbeth's help. However a weapon with 800 attack was unheard of. It could only be from a boss drop item for it to reach that high. In fact, a sword with 800 attack seemed ridiculous with their current frontline just at 63rd floor.
However the player in question was Absolute Sword, the name that was mentioned in their quest. And if the 800 attack sword really existed...
"Although nobody really know if she really possesses such a powerful sword, it was obvious that she was a high level player from how she fought. That's probably why everyone is so eager to fight her for the sword. Though they seem to be relying on luck more than their own skills now..." Yulier commented.
"Is that person still there right now!?" Asuna asked eagerly. There was no way she was going to let go of this chance.
"Let's see...it's already near evening already...You should be able to catch the last battle if you hurry. Since I am going to pick up the children, shall I guide you two there?" Sasha said.
""Please do!""
"I got you~!"
"Wha-Argh!"
Turning around a corner, Asuna and her friends were just on time to catch a player that challenged the Absolute Sword being blown away from the impact of a skill. The four were frozen on the spot until Yulier quickly ran towards the fallen player.
"Thinker!" Yulier called as she helped the player up from the ground.
So he's the leader of the Army, Thinker...
Asuna made a mental note for herself to respect the Army more for helping the lower level players before turning her attention back to the Absolute Sword again. The girl in question has long dark purple hair with a red hair band on the top. To Asuna, she expected a lady with professional swordsman aura but...
...To Asuna, she was just a little girl, like her.
"So, are there anyone who wants to challenge me before I rest for the day?"
With a high and lovable voice, the girl called Absolute sword called out to the crowds. To Asuna, Absolute Sword was like an idol that was surrounded by her fans which was mainly made up of the children and the Army who were spectating the show.
"I would like to accept your challenge."
Spoken out loud with a clear voice filled with confidence, Asuna readied herself and approached the girl. Upon drawing her faithful companion Lambent Light, there were already murmurings from the crowds. Even at the City of Beginning, there was nobody who did not hear of the legendary 'Flash' in the frontlines.
The cheer became louder as the crowds started to become more excited after seeing the legendary Flash appeared. Cheers calling for names of both people could be heard.
"It's quite rare for me to have a female competitor! So are you going to accept my challenge?"
The girl's overconfidence provoked Asuna. Although she would have wanted to describe her as having naive confidence, she recognised that the girl in front of her was not to be underestimated.
After a while, a request for duel popped up in her window. The top row said,
"Yuuki is challenging you."
So her real player name is Yuuki?
In SAO, there were 3 modes selectable at the bottom of the window. Beginning from the top, they were «First Strike Mode», «Half Loss Mode» and «Total Loss Mode». In SAO, obviously losing all your HP was out of the question, even if it was half loss mode, it was possible to reduce someone's HP to the danger zone if the finishing hit was a critical hit.
Thus the only option left was the «First Strike Mode». The winner was decided when the player delivered a proper attack to his or her opponent.
The countdown for the duel appeared and started counting. While waiting for the duel to start, Asuna took this chance to take a good look at her equipment.
Absolute Sword's weapon was a thin, single-handed, double-edged straight sword. It was translucent with an obsidian black hue like her armor. Judging from the radiance and details, the weapon's level was more or less the same as Asuna's rapier.
Even if her sword really has 800 attack, it would not be able to help much in a «First Strike Mode» duel as compared to Asuna's light rapier. In a «First Strike Mode» duel, the key factors for success were flexibility, speed and reaction time. Weapons and armor did not matter match in a duel where you only need to score a complete hit to win.
The countdown was reaching the last ten seconds, Absolute Sword held her sword in front of her waist, a stance suitable to block any first attack. Asuna held her rapier horizontally towards Absolute Sword, already aiming for a quick thrust towards her.
Asuna held breath and breath out. It has been such a long time since she was this excited for a duel.
The instant the countdown flashed '0', the sound of two swords clashed pierced through the silent suspense. To the crowd, everything seemed to be a blur as they could only catch the colours of white and purple clashing each other.
However to Asuna, she was able to keep up with every movement of the Absolute Sword.
No...I am barely keeping up!
Asuna willed herself to move faster upon realizing the difference between them. For the first time, Asune met someone who was able to move faster than her. Asuna haven't challenged Kirito yet but-
-this girl, she is not only a high level player but a professional one too!
After deflecting Asuna's continuous attacks, Absolute Sword raise her sword to counterattack when Asuna's rapier was just batted away. Fully well anticipated the blow, Asuna immediately leapt backwards, barely dodging the sword that threatened to hit her chest.
However Absolute Sword's attack did not stop there. Without giving any time for Asuna to recover, her sword flashed forward like a thunder. It was an unavoidable thrust. Asuna's footing have not balanced enough to dodge and it would be too late to be blocked with her rapier.
However this was only to the eyes of the audience and the Absolute Sword.
Even though the crowds were expecting Absolute Sword's victory, Absolute Sword caught a glimpse of Asuna's right hand.
She let go of her rapier.
"Wha-"
"Sword skill: Embracer."
The moment the rapier left her hand, the sword skill was recognised as yellow light surrounded Asuna's unarmed hand and thrusted forward, just in time to bat away the 'unavoidable' thrust.
Absolute Sword's surprise costed her the chance to counterattack Asuna when she was in recovery mode for less than split second. Even before the Lambent Light touched the group, Asuna picked it up in midair and used a simple 'Thrust', not threatening but managed to drive Absolute Sword for combat space.
Asuna mentally thanked Kirito for telling her to learn and master the unarmed skill 'Embracer'. An unarmed skill only works when the player was unarmed. In this case the system registered Asuna as unarmed when her rapier left her hand thus enabled her to use unarmed skill. This was the first actual time she ever used in battle. However Asuna was sure that any unarmed skill would not work again. It was by good luck that Absolute Sword was distracted by the sudden change of skill and did not use that chance to deliver a counterattack.
"That was a good one miss! It's getting late, how about we end this with a sword skill?"
To Asuna's surprise, she never thought of such proposal coming from the enemy. Something about the Absolute Sword's unwavering smile bothered Asuna. Asuna currently possesses 'Star Splash', a high-level one-handed thrusting sword skill with an eight-hit combo. From Asuna's frontline knowledge, she was the only one who has obtained 'Star Splash'. When Absolute Sword unleashed her skill, Asuna would deflect them with her skill and be the one that delivered the last hit.
"That's fine by me. Here I come!"
"Sword skill: Star Splash."
"Sword skill: Mother's Rosario."
That stance! I never seen a skill for that stance before!
Asuna's thought screamed in her mind as she could not recognised the stance with the sword growing purple while being pulled back. Her mind told her to switch to defensive to block the incoming blow.
However it was too late, the system assist has caught Asuna, rendered her movement solely for the purpose of the 'Star Splash' sword skill. Asuna was still forcing her legs to dodge when she was charging towards Absolute Sword. The skill controlled Asuna's hand to swung the rapier up and an intercept course with Absolute Sword's sword-
Ping!
"Wha-"
Asuna did not manage to finish her sentence before the purple sword slashed her from her left shoulder all the way down to the bottom right. Even as being slashed, Asuna could only stared at her own hand where her favorite rapier once was. The rapier was only left with the handle and soon disappeared in particles like only other players who have died.
"ASUNA!"
Argo's loud scream awoken Asuna from her thoughts about her Lambent Light. Asuna was just in time to see the second blow com-
This was when Asuna noticed, her vision was red.
"ASUNA!"
"SYSTEM COMMAND! HALT SWORD SKILL NOW!"
Asuna's vision was still red when the purple sword was being swung down. Just when she thought she was finished, the sword skill actually stopped directly in front of her, missing her by hair breath.
"Asuna!"
Argo quickly jumped from the audience and rushed towards Asuna with a full potion in her hand. She was then quickly followed by other players. Asuna sighed a breath of relief when her health returned back to full, restoring her clear vision.
However it hurted her when she realized that there was nothing on her hand anymore.
"...I am sorry miss. I had no idea that I would deliver that much damage..."
The Absolute Sword's voice caught the attention of everyone as they stared at her in fear and in confusion. Even the children were starting to back away from her. Argo caught into and wanted to drag Asuna to safety before Absolute Sword could make any dangerous move that almost killed her friend.
However Asuna would not budge.
"You...Your name is Yuuki, isn't it? May I call you that?"
Asuna stood up and faced Yuuki, refusing to give in to the budging of her friend. Eventually Argo stopped pulling her but kept a close eye onto the mysterious girl.
"Yes, you may call me Yuuki...About just now-!"
"It's your win Yuuki, there's nothing to be sorry about." Asuna interrupted Yuuki before she could apologize.
"But-"
"However, I want to know about the system command you shouted earlier." Asuna whispered so that only the three of them could hear, her eyes focusing on Yuuki's. "You forcefully stopped your sword skill to save me didn't you? Could it be that...you are a GM?"
"..."
"...GM!?" Beside Argo exclaimed in a whisper. She looked at Yuuki who refused to give back a reaction.
"So you are really-"
"That's not it Asuna."
Before Asuna could finish her sentence, Yuuki cut her off. In a swift movement, she kept her sword into its scabbard and stood in front of Asuna and extended her hand.
At this moment, a '?' appeared on Yuuki's head.
"You are-!"
"Nice to meet you Asuna. I am Yuuki, the Absolute Sword and the bearer of the Mother's Rosario."
"I never knew that there was an underground dungeon under the Black Iron Castle..."
"That's because this dungeon was meant to open after you guys cleared the 70th floor." Yuuki explained. "I forcefully open it so that I could let you finish my quest. The starting monster are only at level 60 so it shouldn't be a problem you girls. However you must be more careful when we enter deeper into the dungeon."
After the ruckus under the tree at the plaza, Asuna accepted the quest from Yuuki and the three of them, including Argo, are now inside the dungeon under the Black Iron Castle. Thinker and Yulier wanted to come along but Yuuki stopped them, telling them that it's a guild quest and the dungeon level was too high for them.
However before going in, someone in the Army made a ruckus about the dungeon was the Army's property and should not be given to them. Although Thinker managed to settle the problem swiftly, Asuna remembered that that person was Kibaou, the player that started the tension between the beta players and the normal players back in the first floor battle.
Something about him gave a bad feeling to Asuna. Asuna made a mental note to watch out for Kibaou if decided to do anything to them when they were inside the dungeon.
"So Yuuki what is your quest about?" Argo asked. "Even though we accepted your quest, there was nothing written except 'Follow Yuuki for an hour' on it."
"Don't worry. It's just a simple quest to reach the end of the dungeon in an hour." Yuuki answered. "While there is a dangerously high level monster, with our speed we would be able to run pass it and reach the end where an AREA is. After we reach there, it will be a mission complete."
Yuuki then brandished her straight sword, signalling Asuna and Argo to be ready for battle. Since Asuna's Lambent Light was destroyed, Argo lent Asuna a blue rapier she got from a monster drop. It was definitely not as good as Lambent Light but it would do for the current situation.
Asuna wanted to return to her own to pick up a more suitable weapon but Yuuki was against it. She said that there's no time left and the quest could only be completed before the clock strike twelve.
"Frogs...can't they spawn better looking monsters..." Asuna complained as she stared disgustingly at the frogs that spawned.
"Well it's a lot more better than something like slime. I fought a slime before, or in terms of my programmed memory anyway, they are some of the hardest monster you don't want to face regardless of their level." Yuuki said.
""A slime, dangerous!?"" So far Asuna and Argo have not encountered any slime at any floors so they were quite shocked to know Slime was a hard level monster when in other games it's the weakest like the boar outside the City of Beginning.
Before Yuuki could answer, the frogs started to charge- or rather, jumped towards them. Determined to not use any unarmed skill towards monsters like that, Asuna and Argo with Yuuki in the lead charged forward to meet the attack.
Everything ended in one minute.
"Slime is actually an 80th floor monster. They are fluid and don't actually have a body so regular attacks don't work on them. Heck even sword skills bare deal damage unless you are really at close range with the slime. Worse of all, they exploded when they died, making you all sticky and...slimy until they really register the slime as 'dead'..."
Even though Yuuki was the one with actually experience, Asuna and Argo shivered at her story. The thought that the day slime would become a high level monster never occurred to them and they were certainly not anticipating to find out.
"By the way Yuuki..." Asuna muttered as they continued to head further inside the dungeon.
"What was it Asuna?"
"...Is there any meaning to reach the end of the dungeon?" Asuna asked. "Is there a treasure chest with the Unique skill inside or something like that?"
"As expected of Asuna! You understand the situation clearly." Yuuki smiled.
"Actually I should only be allowed to appear only after you players cleared the 90th floor. However something happened...maybe a bug?" Yuuki suggested. "Anyway, that does not matter to me. Unlike other Unique skills, I am a Unique skill myself. I need a player with me to register at the GM console at the end of the dungeon so that I can evolve into a player."
"Evolving into a player!?"
A NPC turning into a player, this was something that even Argo never heard of. All the NPCs that Asuna and Argo had met were normal NPCs with programmed lines. Some were given special behavior but they would never change. A cheerful clerk would remain a cheerful clerk, a dull master would remain a dull master.
However Yuuki was not like that, she was nothing like a NPC. Just now they were just happily chatting together like friends. It's hard for Asuna to accept that the Yuuki she has been talking to was actually a programmed person that did not exist.
But if Yuuki was a player...
"As a NPC, I really don't know why a quest like this was set up for me. However I am really happy that I would be able to become a player. Currently as a NPC I am restricted to only the 1st floor. When I become a player, I am going to the frontlines to fight against monsters and meet other swordsman! There's so much I want to do as a player that a NPC would not able to do!"
As if feeling that she was already one, Yuuki skipped around and continued to talk about what she was going to do in the future. Something about fishing and picnic were included too. Asuna and Argo could not help but smiled at the little girl's adventurous and cheerful attitude that brightened up the trip.
"Neh Yuuki, have you given a thought about which guild you want to join?"
"Guild?" Yuuki repeated. Asuna nodded.
"One of the best thing about RPG have to be fighting in a guild, isn't it?"
("Didn't you only joined like, this morning?")
("Shut up Argo, you joined later than me.")
("Rather than that, is it okay to recruit members without Kirito's consent?")
("What does he have to complain about adding another cute girl into our guild?")
Although Asuna would never thought that those thoughts would haunt her in the future when the guild became bigger, for now it is just a funny joke among the two girls.
"Yuuki when you become a player, do you want to join my guild, the Black Cats of the Full Moon?"
Asuna invited as she stepped out in front of Yuuki and stretched her hand. Looking at her hand, Yuuki stared at it for a moment.
She then jumped and tackled Asuna, making both of them falling into the ground.
Still smiling with a happy smile, she hugged Asuna and replied.
"Hehehe~ I would love to!"
"Urgh!"
"Thinker-Ah!"
Yulier cried as she felt herself being punched in the stomach before she ran out of consciousness. Standing over her was a guy in a dark brown coat with a skull mask over his head. The player smirked and proceeded to drag the knocked out Yulier and Thinker out of the scene.
In front of the gate of the Black Iron Castle were twelve other players in dark brown coat. However then a player with orange spiky haired appeared and approached the tallest man standing in the center of the group. He was Kibaou and he was definitely no please with what happened.
"Why don't you just kill them? It could really save us the trouble for us to kill them next time!"
"Shut up you arrogant fool." The man spoke, his voice deep and full of respectable aura, threatening Kibaou to argue with him. "Our objective was the girls inside, killing those two would only alert other Army players about our presence. If you know what is better for you, you better go and prevent anyone from coming in."
"...Chee..I got it."
Without complaining another word, Kibaou quickly left. The overwhelming aura of the man made his heart trembled. When he looked at the man's eyes just now he knew,
that was the eyes of a professional murderer.
"Boss, let's go already!" One of the members shouted excitedly, it was not a complain but a cry, a characteristic of his that told everyone that he was player hungry.
Like the rest of them.
"That's right, we should not waste our precious time, should we?" The guy smirked and started to enter the gate with his members in tow. Brandishing his giant knife, the leader of the red guild announced the start of the hunt.
"It's show time."
A/N: And finally, chapter 3 is finished! I was writing from 9 pm until 1 am and then 6am until 9:13am. I am dead tired...well not really tired actually since I am a night person.
Thanks for the 29 reviews guys! Sorry for the late update, that was due to my end of year exams but now that that was no more, I would be able to update more frequently than having you guys wait for one month (Okay that was kind of mean of me to let you guys to wait for one month...actually make that two months.)
Let me answer some questions...
Q: Is Lyfa/Sugu coming out?
AN: Still haven't decide yet. Let's see, I got Silica haven't met, Lisbeth still spamming Asuna's mail, Sinnon and Kiriko decided but not the proper timing yet for appearance yet. Ok, let's settle this with some reviews, you guys get to decide Lyfa/Sugu's character background, whether she was Kirito's sister or not. I will pick the most interesting one when the timing was right.
Q: 10 Unique skills?
AN: So there are 10 of them, I better change that after I update this chapter. Well although 7 is a good number, 10 will make things easier for me with Kirito's increasing Harem count XD
Q: Why in the name of Cardinal is Jabberwock in SAO?
AN: Just ignore it, it is just a crappy legend I thought up for the 10 Unique skills...
Q: Do you need any help? (Wait, nobody asked that!)
AN: XD, my test result is coming out tomorrow, it would be nice to have some blessings XD.
Now that we have 104 followers and 50 reviews, let's head all the way to 100th reviews! With one follower one review, 100th review would be in no time! Special Kirito X (?) chapter at the request of the 100th reviewer! (Though I can't guarantee it would be that long as compared to this one...)
Please Read and Review!