The Tri-Blade Alliance
Chapter 29: A Step Over
A/N: Heya! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. This chapter is the second-to-last chapter for the Aincrad Arc.
S/N: Also, heads up: While we were editing this chapter, we decided to make the boss fight more realistic than it actually was. Well, as realistic as a boss fight in a video game can be.
Disclaimer: We don't own SAO.
Key:
"Darkness Blade"
Dreams/Thoughts
"Messages"
(x)
Upon waking up, Arctic yawned and stretched, opening his eyes while avoiding the coded sunlight. He sat on his bed for a while, noting the empty space in the bed next to him; Skye must have woken up early and went downstairs for breakfast. Good. It'll give me enough time to reevaluate the strategy.
As he pondered the strategy to clear the 75th floor, Arctic facepalmed as he discovered a possibly fatal error. Shit, what about the dungeon? He groaned and held his head in his hands, trying to think of a solution. After a spell, he looked up. Wait a minute.
He opened his messages and selected a contact. "I have a favor to ask you." After he sent the message, he started getting dressed. After he put on his coat, he received a reply. Opening his messages, he read the following and smiled: "Of course. Anything for you, Shadow." After responding to the message, he decided to head downstairs and get some breakfast.
Hopefully Akira and the others made something good.
(x)
"Ah," Heathcliff smiled when Solar, along with the entire Tri-Blade Alliance, stepped out of the warp gate and approached him and the rest of the front-liners, including Wyvern's Inferno and Fuurinkazan. "Shall we begin?"
"Please," Solar replied as they all started walking. "Heathcliff, I've been meaning to ask, but what are we gonna do about the dungeon to the boss room?"
"Don't worry," Arctic interrupted Heathcliff as the latter opened his mouth to speak. "I pulled a favor; the dungeon should be completely clear by the time we get there."
"Wow," Klein laughed, patting Arctic on the back while they walked. "You sure came prepared, huh?"
"What about the tanks and armored units?" Alice asked in concern. "With their low speed stats, I don't think we can make it before the monsters respawn."
"Well, look at the bright side," Arctic smiled. "Now our slower fighters can get an increase in AGI."
Kirito chuckled. "Isn't that a bit of a dick move?"
"Dude, it's me," Arctic chuckled.
"You at least have a backup if we can't make it, right?" Klein asked.
"Dude," Arctic said more seriously. "It's me. I don't think we'll need it anyways. We're here."
Heathcliff hummed as he stared at the door in front of him: the door to the dungeon. "How shall we proceed?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Arctic asked rhetorically, walking past the commander and placing his hand on the door. "We're going in."
"Seriously?" Many of the players groaned.
"Look, I have no problem with teleporting to the gate and leaving you all to trek through the dungeon. If the front lines are as tough as they say, then a little walk through an empty dungeon wouldn't hurt you. Now let's go, 'cause we're wasting time."
(x)
"And we're here," Arctic announced. Indeed, the group had stopped in front of the huge double-doors that most often served as the entrance to the floor boss's dungeon. He turned to face the other players—and facepalmed when he saw them all out of breath, some players even keeling over. "Ugh, fine. Take an hour for rest, you giant pansies," the mercenary muttered the last three words, ignoring the tired cheers of the players who opted to follow this madman.
"Oh, yeah," Klein asked Arctic, obviously being one of the more energetic players, "I wanted to ask: why are you dressed like Shadow?"
"Huh?" Arctic looked at himself; he was indeed dressed in the iconic black armor and trench coat of the mercenary, sans the facial covering. "Oh. This set gives me a boost in my overall stats, and I figured that we could use this powerup, in case we need to turn the tide in our favor."
"Gotcha. You should probably rest up, so go do that!" Klein optimistically said, pointing a thumb at himself. "I'll wake you up when it's time."
"Okay. Thanks, man." Arctic leaned against the wall and slowly sunk down, sitting down with his knees drawn slightly close to his chest, letting his mind drift as he closed his eyes.
(x)
Arctic opened his eyes, if only due to the immediate absence of light. He looked down at himself to see that he was dressed in his normal clothing. He didn't even need to look around to know he was in the same landscape that resulted in his PTSD. "All right!" He shouted to the darkness. "Whatever shit you got for me this time, I'm ready!" He continued with his arms spread out to the sides, bracing himself for whatever nightmares will come his way.
"What are you talking about?" A monotonous voice that held a dark tone spoke behind the hero. Jumping slightly in surprise, Arctic turned to see his other half—Shadow—standing beside him. "There's no nightmares or anything as such. I just wanted to tell you something."
"Oh yeah?" Arctic folded his arms over his chest, a disbelieving look on his face. "And what's that?"
"Goodbye." Arctic immediately uncrossed his arms, a look of shock adorning his face.
"Come again?" Arctic questioned while leaning in closer to be able to hear the mercenary better.
"You heard me. This is the last time we're ever going to be face-to-face—the last time I'm going to be in existence." Shadow raised his left hand, studying it as he continued to speak. "The catalyst of my 'creation' was Takano's death, because although accidental, it was by your hands. You never forgave yourself, which led to Kayaba sending you the Shadow Set, and you accepted it."
"Wow." Arctic blinked twice. "That was exactly right."
"Of course it was. We are the same." Shadow lowered his hand and stared directly at the blue-clad hero. "The decision you made that day influenced whether or not I would be given life; you chose to wear the armor, if only to escape the pain. What I'm saying is that my very existence centers around grief—your grief. As long as you kept beating yourself up over Takano's death, I would still exist."
"And I moved on," Arctic said with a tone of realization, "and I'm with Skye now, meaning I've gotten past Takano, especially when she told me herself she forgave me."
"Exactly. Now that your broken heart has been repaired, there's no reason for me to be here." Shadow turned away from Arctic, his voice now taking on a noticeably heavier tone. "So, this is goodbye." The mercenary removed his hood and turned back to face Arctic. He placed a hand on his shoulder, and blinked; his eyes shifted from an angry red to a vibrant blue, and Arctic found himself staring at...himself, albeit a paler, more somber version of himself. "Go live without regrets," Shadow said, now having the exact same voice as his host. "Live and love, and don't let anything weigh you down from here on." Patting Arctic on the shoulder, Shadow put his hood back on, turned and started to walk away.
"Wait." The mercenary stopped, but didn't look back to Arctic. "I'm gonna try for that 'Happily Ever After' ending, just so you know." This time, Shadow looked back, smiling.
"Go for it. You earned it, after all." After he said that, he began to walk again.
"We earned it." Shadow stopped again when he heard his (now former) host say, only to scoff and shake his head with a smile and resume walking. He didn't stop walking this time, disappearing into the darkness.
(x)
Waking up with a start, Arctic looked up to see Klein kneeling next to him. "Yo!" Klein said jovially, pointing a thumb behind him. "It's time for the fight."
"Right," Arctic stated, taking Klein's hand to help him up. Brushing himself off, the hero walked to the front of the group, turning so that the door to what would perhaps be the biggest fight of their lives was behind him. He scanned the team to make sure that no one was missing, and turned back around to face the door once he was satisfied. Before he opened the door, however, he looked down at his hands, feeling no trace of anger or anything that would hint at Shadow being present. So, it actually happened. Shaking his head, Arctic put a hand on the door, looking back at everyone. "Let's go," he simply said before opening the door.
The room was dark as everyone began to enter the room. "Everyone, take your positions," Arctic ordered in a whispered voice. The frontline players gave various sounds of affirmation and quickly got to where the strategy placed them.
"Do you know what the boss looks like?" Kirito quietly asked, dual blades out and guard up.
"No," Arctic replied. "I made sure to keep my party from going to the middle of the room, because that's how the first scout party died."
Solar cautiously walked over to the middle of the room and looked up. The gasp of shock and horror that escaped his lips drew the attention of everyone in the room. "Did anyone order a giant, skeletal centipede with scythe arms and red eyes?" He said slowly with a shaky voice.
"Um, no," a front-liner said in a confused tone. "Why'd you ask?"
"Then WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" The leader shouted as he pointed upwards, directly above him. As everyone followed Solar's finger, they too gave similar reactions of horror and fear. Above them was a giant skeletal centipede with scythe arms and red eyes. The Skull Reaper, the boss's name read. Five health bars filled up as it came crashing down, roaring as it straightened.
Immediately, it swiped at the people closest to it, hitting two players while the others dodged back, save for Heathcliff raising his shield. The two players who were hit were knocked back and shattered instantly, shocking everyone as the realization dawned on them: The boss can one-shot anybody it hits.
"Everyone," Arctic said slowly, drawing his sword. "ATTACK!" He shouted while pointing his sword at the Skull Reaper. Everyone shouted various battle cries as they attacked the boss from their positions. What may be the biggest fight of their lives...
Has only just begun.
(x)
"Fighters, block!" Arctic shouted, blinking across the dungeon. The majority of the players all did as the hero ordered, rushing forward and blocking the Skull Reaper's swipes with perfect timing, their shields glowing as a result of being magic armor. Immediately, they called for a switch, letting their AGI partners deal critical damage. Meanwhile, the frontal assault was doing their job right, as they all managed to keep the boss's attention to them; Arctic was especially effective in this part of the attack. However, they couldn't keep all the attention to themselves, as the boss was attacking the other players who got to close. Rose happened to be one of the unfortunate players, screaming in pain as the boss swiped at her but missed, with the resulting wind knocking her away with enough force to make her slide across the entire main platform and fall over the edge.
"No you don't!" Arctic grunted as he grabbed Rose's hand after the latter tried—and failed—to grab the ledge. He pulled her up and used a healing crystal on her, saying, "I'm not letting Jacob lose anyone else, least of all you. Get some rest."
"That's twice you saved me," Rose panted, smiling at her savior, who simply blushed and looked away.
"Yeah, yeah. Think you could sit out for a bit?"
"Hell no. I wanna be part of the group that got everyone out."
"Fine. But be careful. Like I said, I'd rather Jacob not lose anyone else."
"Yessir!" Arctic simply shook his head and smiled, warping away from the now able-bodied Rose.
"Have you managed to find a weak spot?" Arctic asked Pearce once he warped beside the archers.
"We're about to find out," Pearce smirked, releasing his charged arrow high up into the sky and letting it fall on the boss; apparently, Pearce had used that as his signal to fire, as all of the other archers let loose from the other platforms, striking the boss in multiple places. "Dammit," Pearce said quietly, clenching his bow tightly.
"What's up?"
"There's no weak spot," Cupid realized.
"Seriously? Shit," Arctic said the last word under his breath. "Good work guys. Keep it up."
"Right!" Both archers nodded. Arctic teleported and watched the boss from another platform, looking for a spot that wouldn't be as guarded or armored as the rest of the body. His eyes locked in on the the tail of the boss. Gotcha, he thought as he switched to his scythe and charged it, throwing it at the boss and warping.
The warp-strike had successfully caught the boss off guard, as it stumbled and fell to to the floor. Wasting no time, Solar rushed and struck the boss, stepping back and beckoning for any one of the frontal assault. "Hit it!"
Skye was the first to step up, slicing the boss with Solar, before jumping back; up next was Heathcliff, who rushed in and bashed the Skull Reaper's head with his shield and held it over his head so his fellow leader could jump off and slam his sword down on it; the third to add to the combo was Kirito, who dashed and slashed the boss, standing back-to-back with Solar as he repeated the former's actions; Asuna was fourth, stabbing the boss multiple times while Solar unleashed a flurry of iaijutsu slashes; Eros jumped in and elegantly attacked the boss, simultaneously dodging Solar's swipes; Bella dashed through and slashed the boss repeatedly, allowing Solar to land a Vertical Arc; Ren ran in with his Crimson Flash and dashed through with Solar as the latter activated his Quick Draw; Helios stampeded in, slashing wildly, causing Solar to dodge the former's swipes after finishing his own swipes; Arctic warped in from above and stabbed the boss, allowing Solar to slice through its ribcage. As all of this occurred, all of the other fighters were going all out from their positions, slashing, slicing, swiping, and shooting at the boss.
"Let's wrap this up!" Ren shouted as everyone got ready for the finishing blows. Ren dashed through using Crimson Flash at full power; Helios jumped and slammed his axe down at the Skull Reaper; Asuna charged a Wind sword skill and repeatedly hit the boss, dashing through it as well; Bella charged Ice sword skills and ran a circle around the boss, striking it as she ran; Kirito charged at the boss and brought his Fire skill-enhanced dual blades down, then back up to hit the boss with a total of four powerful strikes; Heathcliff bashed the boss and slashed at it with a Holy sword skill; Eros charged a Water sword skill and activated the Tsumujiguruma sword skill, jumping back immediately after landing; Skye activated Lightning Crash and hit the boss with one powerful Lightning-type strike, which amounted to three; Arctic charged a Dark sword skill and side-flipped three times, bringing his sword down with each flip, striking harder and harder, finally slamming the sword skill-enhanced Darkness Blade on the boss; Solar charged his Quick Draw with a Void sword skill, dashing and slicing through the boss with all of his strength, then spun his sword and sheathed it as he straightened. The second he sheathed his sword, a slashing sound was heard, with the slash being visible.
The boss gave an ungodly screech as it collapsed, its eyes losing its malicious glow. "I-is it dead?" Klein asked, his sword at the ready.
"If it was," Agil answered, "shouldn't it have shattered by now?"
"Yeah," Solar said, uncertain as to what the boss's fate is. He began walking towards the boss, the uncertain feeling stemming within him growing stronger with every step. As he outstretched a hand to the boss, Pearce was watching from afar—and gasped when he saw the boss's eyes light up.
"BOSS, LOOK OUT!" He shouted. "IT'S STILL ALIVE!" As the archer blurted out the last few words, the Skull Reaper got up and roared, slicing and spinning at everything and anything that wasn't moving. Reflexively, Solar brought his hands up in an X formation to block the attack. However, he was knocked away because of the sheer force, slamming into Skye as the latter got ready to catch her friend; the force of the impact was so great, the two Tri-Bladers were sent flying and crash-landing on one of the higher platforms, falling unconscious and shocking all the players who were present.
Immediately, the archers who were on the platform got to work on healing the two fallen while everyone else geared up to fight once more. Warping to see how his two closest friends were faring, Arctic stopped dead in his tracks when he saw that Skye had...barely any HP left. He tried to say something, to run to her side...
But he can't.
All Arctic could do was silently look out at the dungeon platforms, at the players who were fighting once more, at the Skull Reaper as it roared...
And felt a black veil mask his world, making it fall dark.
(x)
"Dammit," Kirito said as he and Asuna blocked an oncoming swipe. "I thought we had him with that massive combo."
"I should've known," Asuna muttered. She looked at Kirito and stated, "This is the third-quarter boss; all the others were no joke, but this is especially difficult. There's no way a combo like that would've killed it."
Before Kirito could actually respond, he looked ahead of him—and shoved Asuna out of the way of a sweeping slice. Kirito knew it was an attack that couldn't be parried, so he brought his swords up to block it, closing his eyes as he braced for the potential deathblow.
Instead of feeling hard bone clashing against steel, the beater heard something completely different. He opened his eyes to see Arctic standing in front of the couple, the boss reeling as if it were parried. From his slightly hunched-over stance to the black glow emanating from his sword, Kirito deduced that Arctic had activated the Darkness Blade. "Thanks," Kirito muttered, even though he knew all too well that his friend almost always lost his humanity while he activated his Unique Skill.
"Think you two can sit out?"He asked Kirito and Asuna, looking back at them with black eyes and blue beater and his wife both blinked in surprise when they realized he was concerned for their safety, as Arctic almost always thought about killing while the Darkness Blade was active.
"Um, sure," Asuna stammered.
"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me," he growled, walking towards the now-fully recovered boss, "I'm putting this skeleton back in its closet." After this declaration, Arctic dashed and shoulder-tackled the boss, stunning it again before roaring and slashing with his sword.
(x)
Solar groaned and held his head, sitting up and looking around. How the hell did I get here? When he heard groaning beside him, he looked to his right to see Skye, at a reasonable amount of HP but rendered unconscious. At least she's alright. When he heard a roar echo through the dungeon, he looked down...to see that Arctic had activated the Darkness Blade and was going after the boss with a vengeance. Arctic? Why did he activate the Darkness Blade? Slowly, Solar rose to his feet and adjusted his...
Wait. Where are my wristbands? Shakily, Solar looked down at his wrists to see his wristbands shredded beyond all repair. He stared down at his now-naked hands, feeling helpless as the remnants shattered. Then, he grit his teeth as a single tear streaked down his face, an indescribable feeling of hatred and rage. He looked down to his side, and seeing Infinity Blazer broken—for real this time—had enraged him even more. As his treasured weapon shattered, his hand, as if with a mind of its own, opened his inventory and took out another sword. Growling angrily, Solar chucked the still-forming weapon with all his might.
(x)
"Die, you piece of shit!" Arctic roared, dashing towards the Skull Reaper, parrying its slash and punching it with a martial arts sword skill. "DIE!" Arctic held his blade close to his face while pointing it at the boss. He dashed towards the boss, ready to kill...
But jumped back when he saw a glowing object rocket towards the boss. "What the hell?!" He growled when he saw Solar seemingly warp to the object—now revealed to be Caliburn. Solar screamed as he broke the boss's guard. He held the fake holy weapon with both hands and delivered a massive horizontal strike. The boss fumbled to the floor, now vulnerable and struggling to get up. "How're you still standing?" Arctic said as he readied his blade next to Solar.
"Anger, hate, and fear are excellent motivators," Solar replied coldly, readying his blade for an all-out assault. "We switch out after each blow. And I'm not asking."
"Yessir. Lead the way," Arctic shot a (surprisingly evil-looking) grin at Solar as he said that.
"GO!" Solar dashed forward and slashed the boss horizontally. "Switch!" Solar ducked as Arctic rolled over his back and slammed his sword down on the boss.
"Switch!" Arctic jumped back as Solar performed a Sword-Flip technique and hit the Skull Reaper 5 times.
"Switch!" Solar jumped back and let Arctic side-flip three times, striking the boss harder with each flip and strike.
Arctic floored the boss again as it was about to get up with a slam to the head area. "Switch!"
Solar dashed in and sliced the boss. This cycle repeated for few more hits, before Arctic switched out with Solar again, with the latter slicing through the boss three times. The first two slices cut the boss' scythe arms off, and the third slice cutting off the boss' stinger-like appendage; as a result, the "stinger" lodged itself into the head of the Skull Reaper. For good measure, Solar stabbed Caliburn into the boss' nose area. He turned to Arctic and simply said, "Kill it."
Arctic nodded in response before spring-boarding off of Caliburn and launched himself upwards to nearly the top of the room. He readied his sword and thrusted it downwards, roaring with rage and determination as he plummeted downwards to stab the boss.
Solar pulled his sword out, then back-flipped twice away from the Skull Reaper, spinning his sword so it was positioned in an ice-pick grip behind his back after landing. He quickly activated Vorpal Strike (a skill that allowed the user to travel double the length of their weapon), and let it extend so it was twice Caliburn's length. He spun around slowly, and when he spun 360 degrees, he yelled "DIE ALREADY!", activating the Quick Draw and went through the boss. The boss was cut cleanly in half, and shattered completely when Arctic stabbed through it on his way down.
The two breathed heavily as everyone else collapsed, save for Heathcliff and a few other players. Arctic kept his sword planted in the ground as he deactivated his Unique Skill. He pulled it out of the ground and teleported to where Skye was, as Akira ran over to Solar and held him close.
(x)
Skye tiredly opened her eyes when she heard someone sit close to her. "Hey," Arctic smiled when she turned her head to face him.
"Hey," she smiled back, sitting up—and groaning in slight pain.
"Whoa, there." Arctic gently pulled her close and buried his face into her neck. "I thought I lost you," he muttered, tightening his grip slightly.
"You couldn't get rid of me on your best day," Skye lightly chuckled while she got comfortable in his grip.
"I should hope not. You're too important to me." She blushed and smiled, looking back at him.
"Aw, thanks. I hope you know—"
"I know. I love you too," Arctic picked his head up and smiled at her. Skye's smile grew as the two shared a kiss.
(x)
Meanwhile...
"How many of us're dead?" Klein asked tiredly as he slumped down, landing on his ass.
"Counting the two who died in one hit," Kirito responded as he fell next to Asuna, "seven of us are dead."
"Oh my god," Agil said in shock at hearing that.
"Look it at this way," Pearce interrupted. "If nobody followed the strategy, it could've been far worse."
"I guess," Kirito responded. He eyed Solar, who was currently being held by Akira. "That's strange."
"What is?" Asuna asked.
Kirito got up and walked to Solar. He sat down next to his friend, and tapped his shoulder. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Not counting the one you just asked?" Solar replied with a friendly smirk.
"Ha ha," Kirito rolled his eyes.
"Ask away."
"How'd you survive? The boss, from what we saw, could one-shot whatever it hit."
"I've been wondering that too. And I do have a theory." Solar looked at Akira, who temporarily let him go. He then looked down at his now bare wrists. "When I raised my arms to block the hit, my wristbands must've triggered some kind of life-saving move. Maybe like a Battle Continuation perk that I didn't know about. That's probably also why I don't have them anymore."
"And they were the last physical reminder you had of your brother, right? That's why you went ballistic," Akira asked.
"Exactly."
"Let me be the first to say," Kirito said before getting up and getting ready to go back to Asuna, "that you are scary when you're angry."
Solar watched Kirito walk back to his love before he wrapped his arms around his love. "That's the first time I heard that."
"If it helps, I thought it was kinda hot," Akira said as she got comfortable in his hold. She and Solar jumped out of it, however, when they heard steel meet virtual flesh.
(x)
Kirito sat down next to Asuna and looked around at the room. Everyone was now resting on the main platform, and were sitting down—except for Commander Heathcliff, who was standing up straight with his sword planted in the ground. Kirito kept his gaze fixed on the commander—and gasped in shock. The commander had joined him, Asuna and the Tri-Blade Alliance in the frontal assault; everyone's HP was reduced to below the halfway point, save for Skye, as she was nearly killed and had her HP restore completely. But the commander's HP wasn't even near the halfway point.
Flashbacks of his duel with Heathcliff—the fight he had lost—raced through his mind as he steadied Elucidator, standing up straight. "What's wrong?" Asuna asked her husband when she felt him stand up. Focused only on his next course of action, Kirito dashed and struck at Heathcliff, shocking all that were in the room.
"Are you insa—?" Arctic began to shout, but stopped himself when he saw purple barrier stop the tip of the beater's blade from reaching the commander. His eyes widened in shock as he saw a small, purple hexagonal sign over the commander's avatar.
"Immortal...Object?" Ren asked with an uneasy tone.
Solar tightened his grip on Akira, his mind taking him back to when Yui killed off the Fatal Scythe—she, too, bore the sign "Immortal Object", and the boss couldn't even touch her. "Commander," he began in a steely voice, "care to explain why that's over your head?"
(x)
A/N: Annnnnddddd that's done. Just one more chapter to go, and the Aincrad Arc is done. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. We'll get the next one out as soon as we can! Also, I'm still waiting on Chapter 9 of "The Silver Shadow," ericwinter. I understand you're human—we all are—and real life is keeping you busy, and I shouldn't be saying anything. But it's been 11 months, man, and I am dying to know what happens next! Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.
And as always, Read and Review!
S/N: Till next time!