The Tri-Blade Alliance
Chapter 17: Floor 67
A/N: Alright, everyone. This chapter is the Floor 67 boss fight, with the aftermath. The idea that this floor boss is the deadliest was inspired by TheSib, and I also made some edits to Chapters 7 and 16.
S/N: Disclaimer: Sally sacked a satchel and sucked a son of a bitch, who said that sex was sweet! (Let me know in the reviews if you get that reference.)
A/N: 9 more times!
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Eros grunted as she took a punch from Shadow. The force of the impact caused her to slide back, so she had to stab her sword into the ground to stop herself. She breathed deeply, and pulled her sword from the ground to block Shadow's slice. She kicked Shadow away and sliced him across the waist. She followed up with a kick to the chin that knocked the newly-christened front line fighter to the ground.
Shadow nursed his jaw and smiled at Eros. "Excellent work." This statement caused her to brighten considerably. She helped Shadow up, who continued to speak. "Solar would be proud right now."
"Speaking of Solar, we can't keep him waiting. Let's go to the floor dungeon."
"Grab on," Shadow told the performer, Black Star already in his hand.
"Shouldn't we heal first?" Eros asked, grabbing Shadow's outstretched hand.
"We were in a duel. Our HP restored automatically."
With that, they teleported.
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Solar and Skye were waiting for the two players' arrival, and they looked pissed. "Where were you?" Solar asked/demanded.
"Training her," Shadow replied. "To use a longsword," he said, looking towards Skye.
"Well, follow us," Skye said. Shadow followed the two up to the door leading to the boss room. She stopped and turned to Shadow. "We have to warn you, this boss is deadly, terrifying, and unpredictable."
"And all the other bosses weren't?"
"This one is even more so."
"What's his name?"
"We don't know," Solar said this time. "We tried this boss 5 times without you, and thankfully we got everyone out before they died; however, they're in too much shock to speak, let alone give us details."
"I'll just wing it, then."
When Shadow walked up to the boss room's door, he looked at the people who were present: Kirito, Asuna and the K.O.B., The Tri-Blade Alliance, Wyvern's Inferno, the Fuurinkazan, and Bella. He turned back to open the door, but was stopped when Skye grabbed his arm. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked of the mercenary once he turned around.
"Fighting the boss."
"By yourself?"
"That a problem?"
"Well, yeah. Like I said, he's unpredictable."
"And like I said, I'm winging it. Now please let go of my arm."
Once Skye had obliged Shadow, he went to open the door. Before he entered, he told everyone, "No matter what happens, don't interfere unless I say so." Having said that, he walked through the door, leaving everybody with no option other than to watch.
(x)
Why is everything bright? was the first question Shadow asked himself when he entered the room. And is that...carnival music?
Sure enough, carnival music was playing in the background. And at the other end of the room stood, or sat on a unicycle while juggling bowling pins, rather, was a 20-foot-tall humanoid...thing. There was no other way to describe it. As Shadow got closer, the music's speed slowed and was distorted.
It was wearing a traditional court jester's outfit, complete with the harlequin-style hat. The colors were bright and patterned, and it was wearing gloves. When Shadow got close enough, the music stopped completely and the thing turned around.
Shadow got a good look at its face, which something he neither wanted nor asked for. It had big, red lips, a clown's nose, and gigantic hands that were still juggling the bowling pins. Its skin was bone white-something that Shadow was confident was anything but makeup-and it had red and yellow slits for eyes.
The thing looked around before looking down and focusing on Shadow. It threw the pins away, and they landed with a thud heavy enough to cause a minor tremor in the room. It bent is head down to Shadow's level, where its face did a literal 180, going from an expression of humor to that of true hatred and anger. The boss roared loudly in Shadow's face, forcing him to protect his face from the wind that blew his coat and scarf back while its fangs were bared. At the same time, the room got dark to the point where the candles hung high on the pillars were lit.
While it roared, five HP bars filled up and the boss's name appeared above its red icon.
The Court Jester.
When the Court Jester stopped roaring, Shadow roared back, drawing his sword at the end of it.
(The fight begins here)
(Cue: This is Gonna Hurt by Sixx:A.M.)
Shadow jumped back when the boss slammed its hand down on where Shadow used to stand. The mercenary retaliated by driving his sword into the boss's hand and slicing upwards, taking out some of its HP. The boss tried to retaliate by dashing at Shadow with its unicycle. Shadow dodged to the side, but he grunted as he was grazed by the unicycle. He charged at the boss once it stopped and turned to Shadow. The boss met Shadow's attacks with swipes from the claws that came out of its hands. Shadow parried the slashes and jumped onto the boss's arm. The Court Jester shook its arm wildly, trying and failing to shake the player off. Shadow took advantage by stabbing his sword into the arm and running up while dragging his blade, a technique done with Count Nightshade and countless bosses. Once he reached the neck area of the Jester, he jumped and slashed the neck, obliterating the boss's first HP bar.
Everyone who was watching gasped in awe. "He might actually do this," a K.O.B. member said.
"Of course he will," Kirito replied with a smile. "He is SAO's Shadow, after all."
Meanwhile, the boss was screaming as its first bar was deprived of its HP. Shadow smirked and jumped off the Jester. He rushed the boss again, and was surprised when the boss nimbly dodged all of Shadow's attacks before smacking him away. Shadow grimaced as he got back up. Thankfully, the boss only took out only a bit of HP. So it can adapt. Also, I gotta thank Agil for pointing me to the boss that dropped this armor.
Shadow removed his sword and equipped Blood Rose. Outside the boss room, Shadow heard someone gasp in surprise when he brought his scythe out. He ignored it and charged the boss. Knowing the boss thought him to be predictable, Shadow rushed in front of the boss, before weaving to the side.
What Shadow didn't expect was the boss to get off its unicycle and spin it around, forcing him to jump on the wall to avoid the attack. The front line fighter jumped off the wall and rocketed towards the boss, slicing it repeatedly with rapidly charged scythe slashes and delivering a fully charged punch to its nether regions, taking out its second bar All the guys winced and held their packages in sympathy while the boss screamed.
It jumped off its unicycle and hopped around comedically, bringing a smile to Shadow's face as it held its jewels in pain. When it recovered, the boss turned to Shadow and destroyed its unicycle in front of him, which confused the mercenary. What the hell…?
The Court Jester's eyes flashed, blinding Shadow. When the mercenary uncovered his eyes, he saw that the boss had disappeared. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Focus. This is like fighting Bella, if she didn't have her speed. Just. Listen.
Shadow heard something above him after he finished that thought, and he liked backwards as the boss slammed down on where he was. Jesus! The boss was crawling on all fours and its neck cracked as its head spun in place to meet Shadow's horrified expression. It hissed and rushed towards Shadow, who jumped when it reached his former place. The player stabbed the boss with his scythe before he dashed to the wall, pulling the Jester with him.
Before he reached the wall, he swung his scythe forward, pulling the boss and launching it with all of his power. Taking the opportunity, Shadow equipped Guilty Thorn, brandishing it as the boss crawled out of the hole in the wall. It cracked its neck and smiled maliciously at Shadow, before pulling out two weapons: in its right hand was a giant wooden hammer with a spike on the top of said hammer, and in its left hand was a massive silver sickle that was dripping poison, which sizzled whenever it hit the floor, burning holes wherever it dripped. However, what the boss did next lived true to the "unpredictable" aspect Skye mentioned: it simply planted the hammer and sickle into the ground and...morphed.
Once the boss stopped screaming, it looked up and smiled. Shadow gasped in surprise and slight horror: the boss looked just like Shadow...if said player decided to remove his scarf entirely, join the circus and become an evil clown with sharp teeth.
"Shadow" smiled, baring "his" fangs and taking out a pair of knives identical to Shadow's. Opting to fight fire with fire, Shadow took out his knives and waited. Sure enough, the boss charged first, dashing to Shadow's side. Shadow easily parried the hit and slashed the boss, who growled and started slashing wildly. Some slashes successfully hit Shadow, who quickly responded by repeatedly striking the boss with rapidly charged fists, slowly bringing down its health. (A/S: Ora ora ora ora ora…!) Shadow ended the combo by knocking the boss up with Meteor Break, jumping up and slamming it back down with a Meteor Fall.
Everyone cheered when they saw the boss's third HP bar deplete completely. "You got this, Shadow!" Solar, Skye, and those associated with the mercenary called out.
When the Jester stood up, it dashed towards the weapons it planted earlier and picked them up. This action resulted in it glowing white and splitting into two figures a foot-and-a-half taller than their opponent, and they each had one of the two remaining bars the Court Jester once had. They both shared the same look, having the same look as the original form of the Court Jester, but one was holding its weapon in its right hand (Hammer Jester) and the other in the second figure's left hand (Sickle Jester). Shadow re-equipped Guilty Thorn and dashed towards the boss(es). He slashed Hammer, but it blocked the attack and sent a mighty punch towards Shadow, who tanked the hit. As a result, he got knocked far back and his HP dropped to just above the halfway mark. Shadow winced. Damn, this is annoying. At this point, I'd rather go 10 rounds in the ring with Bella right now.
Shadow looked to see the bosses charging him. Forming a plan, Shadow got up, and dashed, stopping just in the middle of the two. They turned to him and began attacking. Shadow put his plan into motion by pulling a Bella and dodging all of the bosses' strikes by a hairsbreadth, modifying this style so that they hit each other as a result.
When the two caught on to Shadow's plan, they swung their weapons in a way that they both collide with whatever it hit. To dodge this, Shadow did the splits, crouching low, and because the momentum was too great for them to stop, the Hammer Jester and the Sickle Jester hit each other, bringing them down to half their HP bars.
Everyone kept cheering when the bosses stumbled away from each. They kept cheering when Shadow stood back up.
However, they stopped cheering when Hammer inexplicably recovered fast and dashed at Shadow from behind.
"LOOK OUT!" the guild leaders and Kirito shouted at Shadow. Shadow turned to block Hammer's attack, but was too slow as Hammer slammed his weapon into Shadow's stomach, knocking the wind―and a little blood―out of the mercenary. The mercenary got knocked back, and was stabbed from behind by Sickle. The stab destroyed his armor and gave Shadow a feeling of intense pain as he fell to his knees. To add insult to injury, Hammer kicked Shadow away, sending him into a wall and falling on his face.
Everyone screamed, either in shock or horror, and got ready to enter. Bella stood next to Kirito, her hands hovering above her blades before drawing them Before she, or anyone else, could charge in, they were all stopped when Shadow held out his hand towards the door in a 'stop' motion. Begrudgingly, they obliged, and watched as Shadow slowly rose up.
"No," they heard the mercenary speak. His voice sounded different as well. He sounded angry. Demonic, even.
Shadow looked at his HP. 1 HP left, huh? This is getting old. He stood up straight and started growling. He clenched his fists and a purple fire aura surrounded him as his eyes glowed. "I said I'll handle this myself!" he growled as he let out a scream so powerful that it shook the entire room, if not the tower.
Asuna looked into Shadow's eyes―and immediately staggered backwards, overcome by a wave of nausea. Kirito noticed this and held Asuna to keep her steady. "You alright?"
"I'm fine," Asuna assured him. "Besides, it's not me you should be worrying about," she finished, looking towards the mercenary in sympathy.
Shadow walked forward after he stopped screaming. He simply looked at Hammer, who foolishly charged the thing Shadow became. The hammer bounced off of Shadow, however, as the young player grabbed it and knocked the monster back with a punch.
Taking full advantage, Shadow charged a skill and, after spinning in a circle for momentum, threw the hammer back to its owner. The next thing everyone saw―or rather, didn't see―was the mercenary dashing towards the hammer; the only visual cue was a thin black line outlined with purple pursuing the hammer. Shadow grabbed the hammer and swung upwards, striking the monster square in the chest―a hammer strike that would make Agil proud.
Upon impact, Hammer shattered, its head flying through (and breaking) the door next to Solar's head, causing the guild leader to move his head in alarm. "JEEZ!"
Shadow dropped the hammer and turned to Sickle, who merely smiled sickeningly. Shadow growled and "blinked" behind Sickle, equipping Guilty Thorn and stabbing through Sickle. The boss roared in pain as the first two thorns broke off.
Shadow followed up by dragging Guilty Thorn across the monster's body, breaking two more thorns and leaving them embedded deep inside the monster's body. Shadow put the boss out of its misery by jumping back with the lance in his hand, and thrusting a fully charged sword skill through the boss, dashing through Sickle and leaving Guilty Thorn inside the boss as it screamed and shattered along with the lance inside it, joining its "brother" in whatever hellhole bosses go to when they die.
(The fight and song end here.)
THUMP-THUMP!
THUMP-THUMP!
Shadow breathed heavily as he returned to normal, his eyes still glowing. He turned to face the shocked crowd standing outside the door. The mercenary said to them in his normal tone and voice: "Showed him."
THUMP-THUMP
Everyone cheered as they rushed into the room and surrounded the mercenary, with the more solitary players smiling and watching from the back. Once Shadow's eyes stopped glowing, he looked at his HP bar, and gasped when he saw the image of a skull over a scythe.
THUMP...THUMP
The cheers of joy turned into cries of alarm as Shadow fell to his knees. The mercenary was struggling to breathe, as his lips turned blue and his skin went pale. "SOMEONE GET ME A HEALING CRYSTAL!" Solar shouted. Ren handed him one, but before Solar got near Shadow, the mercenary stuck his hand out, again stopping Solar.
While the mercenary couldn't speak, Solar could read his lips very clearly. "Reaper's...Touch…" Shadow "said". Immediately after mouthing that, Shadow fell to all fours and shattered.
"SHADOW!"
THUMP…
…
Thump…
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A/N: Read and Review!