Author's Note: I've recently gotten a new job and am still trying to figure out how to balance it with my writing. Because of that, updates to this story will probably continue to be a bit slow.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online
Chapter 19: Sword Talk
Asuna was beamed down into the middle of what appeared to be an ancient coliseum made of white stone. Scattered around the large battlefield were large and ancient-looking pieces of stone masonry, and at the far end of the arena opposite where Asuna was standing was a large statue of a bearded man holding a trident. Above the coliseum was a massive glass dome that showed an endless blue expanse of water with fish swimming about as though they were birds flying through the sky. Asuna recognized the location as part of an ancient underwater city in undine territory. Moments after Asuna's arrival, another beam of light came down through the glass of the dome, fading moments later to reveal Leafa.
"So… this is where we'll be having our battle, huh?" Leafa observed as she looked around. "Not a bad spot for it."
"Nope." Asuna replied. "Um, before we get started, how 'bout we agree to keep this fight on the ground?"
"Works for me." Leafa agreed. "Just remember though, I'm not going to be holding back anything against you."
"Neither will I." Asuna told her.
Suddenly the holographic timer for the fight appeared in the air about the arena floor and began to tick away to the start of the battle. Leafa and Asuna instantly took a fighting stance and prepared to draw their swords as the seconds slipped by. When the timer beeped, both women drew their swords and charged headlong towards one another. When she came in range, Asuna thrust her blade three times at Leafa's torso, only for the blonde to block each strike. Leafa countered by slashing Asuna across the side of her left upper arm, taking a off a small amount of HP. The blunette quickly recovered though and managed to strike Leafa twice in the stomach, taking off a good-sized chunk of HP. After taking that hit, Leafa quickly fell back and dashed behind one of the large pieces of stone masonry scattered over the battlefield before Asuna could stop her.
Rather than chase after her opponent, Asuna decided to remain where she was to see what Leafa would do next. It was several moments before several projectiles made of a yellow energy flew out from behind one of the large pieces of stone and heads straight for Asuna's position like a cluster of small missiles. Before the projectiles could reach their target, Asuna quickly chanted a spell that caused a dome of transparent blue light to appear around her. The energy missiles impacted the dome and created a massive cloud of smoke. Leafa emerged from her hiding place as the smoke cleared to find that Asuna's dome was totally intact.
"Was that… a barrier spell?" a surprised Leafa asked. "I don't think I've seen a spell like that in ALO before."
"After I beat Cthulhu, I received an item called the Book of the Primal Deep." Asuna explained as the dome of light around her vanished. "It's full of some pretty powerful spells that only an undine can use. That bubble barrier spell I just used was one of the few spells I've been able to learn so far."
"I see… so you could probably use that spell to block all of my attacks then." Leafa assumed.
"Actually, the bubble barrier spell only protects against magical attacks." Asuna explained. "It can't block anything like a sword."
"Then I guess there's only one way to resolve this then." Leafa realized.
With that, Leafa charged back across the field towards Asuna. When the blonde came in range, Leafa attempted to slash Asuna in the chest, only for the blunette to block the attack. A split second later though, Leafa managed to stab Asuna in the stomach and take off a good-sized chunk of HP. Asuna recovered from the attack thrust her own blade at Leafa's stomach, only for the blonde to block each of her attacks. Leafa then attempted to strike Asuna in the side, only for Asuna to bend back and avoid the blonde's swing. With Leafa caught off guard, Asuna quickly straightened back up and stabbed Leafa four times in the chest. After losing another large chunk of HP, Leafa quickly fell back to avoid any more potentially fatal attacks.
"Not bad." Leafa admitted as she caught her breath. "But this fight has only just gotten started."
"I know." Asuna replied. "What do you say we stop playing around?"
Kirito and the others had been watching Asuna's battle against Leafa with baited breath. The battle had been raging on for several minutes with Leafa and Asuna keeping an even amount of HP. It was hard to Kirito and some of his friends to see Asuna's battle with Leafa as a friendly one, considering the issues that the two of them seemed to have with one another.
"Man, this is just brutal!" Klein declared.
"Kirito, are you doing okay watching this fight?" Siune asked.
"Yeah… I'm just not sure who I should be rooting for." Kirito answered.
"This battle is proving to be just as nasty as the battle Asuna had with Liz." Silica remarked.
"Not quite." Sinon interjected. "I mean Asuna and Leafa are clearly going all out in this battle, but they aren't ticked off at each other. They've both been pretty calm and focused from the start."
"Sinon's right." Agil agreed. "There hasn't been a single bit of trash talking from either of 'em. This battle has been totally civil, or at least that's the way it looks."
"I hope you guys are right." Kirito told them. "I'd just hate for Asuna and Sugu's friendship to be ruined over this fight."
Asuna and Leafa continued to clash swords as the timer for the fight slowly ticked away to zero. With only a few short minutes left on the clock, Leafa and Asuna each had just a little less than half their original HP left. As the fight raged, managed to slash Asuna across her chest, leaving the blunette with almost a quarter of her HP gauge left. Asuna quickly recovered from the attack and thrust her rapier three times into the stomach of her blonde opponent. The attack had reduced Leafa's HP to just about a quarter of what it was, forcing the blonde to fall back. Asuna and Leafa both took that moment to try and catch their breath.
"Wow… you really are good, Asuna." Leafa praised. "In fact you might be even stronger than my brother. Of course I guess you'd have to be that strong to survive a world like SAO."
"Thanks." Asuna replied. "You know… I've actually been having a pretty good time in this fight. It's pretty surprising, since I was pretty sure you'd be mad at me."
"Why the heck would I be mad at you?" Leafa asked.
"Because I stole Kirito from you." Asuna answered. "And then I helped take Donis away from you. I wouldn't blame you a bit for being mad at me because of all that."
"Asuna… a while ago you would've been totally right." Leafa admitted. "There was a time when I was mad at you from taking my brother from me, especially during that time you were trapped in ALO. I once went with him when he visited you in the hospital during that time, and… when I saw how much he cared about you I got incredibly jealous. I got over it though, and I've come to terms with what happened with Donis too."
"So… you're really not mad at me then?" Asuna asked.
"Of course not." Leafa assured her. "In fact… I've kinda come to think of you as a sister."
"Thanks, that means a lot." Asuna told her.
"Um, we should probably get back to our battle now." Leafa suggested.
"Oh. Right." Asuna agreed. "Let's both give it everything we've got!"
With that, Asuna and Leafa charged towards one another to continue their fight. The clashing of their blades rang throughout the arena, with neither one of them managing to land a blow on the other. Over time Asuna managed to force Leafa back towards the statue at the end of the ring but was unable to land a single strike. After being backed into a corner, Leafa managed to roll out of the way just as Asuna was about to strike her in the chest and managed to get behind the blunette. It was then that Leafa began to back Asuna into the same corner that she had just been in.
There were soon only a few brief seconds on the clock, and with their HP nearly tied Asuna and Leafa knew that they needed to end the fight soon. At last, Leafa saw what she thought looked like an opening and swung her sword towards Asuna's chest. Asuna turned her body out of the blade's path though and managed to stab Leafa in the stomach. The timer for the battle reached zero and beeped to signal the end of the fight. With Leafa's HP just slightly lower than her opponent's, a message appeared in place of the timer to declare Asuna the winner.
"That was a great battle." Leafa declared as she and Asuna sheathed their swords.
"I'll say. You almost had me there at the end." Asuna told her.
Two beams of blue light came down through the glass dome of the arena and struck Asuna and Leafa where they stood. Asuna felt herself being lifted off the arena floor and back to the crystal stadium.
Kirito let out a heavy sigh as he saw Asuna's battle with Leafa finally come to an end. The black swordsman was so relieved that he laid his head on the table.
"That was one of the most brutal fights I've ever seen." Kirito declared.
"I hear ya, man." Klein told Kirito as he patted him on the shoulder. "Glad that Leafa didn't seem like she was bent out of shape about losing."
"Now we've got Nytokris's battle up next." Lurga interjected. "Do we know who she's up against?"
"If I remember right, Nytokris is up against an spriggan player called Eliza the Swift." Agil recalled. "I think it's a pretty safe bet that Nytokris is gonna win that fight."
"Why do you say that?" Nikita asked.
"Well… unfortunately there aren't really any good spells that spriggans can use in a fight." Sinon explained. "Of course I'm not saying that spriggans are weak though. Kirito here plays as a spriggan, and he's one of the strongest players in the game."
"For a minute you made me start to regret playing this game as a spriggan." Nikita admitted. "It's good to know I could still be a badass, but I am kinda bummed that I can't use any powerful magic in battle."
"Actually, there is a way you might me able to." Sinon revealed as a smirk came to her face. "I have this book called the Necronomicon that I came across while exploring a dungeon, and let's just say that it has a few rituals that might be helpful to you… not to mention fun for the both of us."
"Are you talking about the kind of 'fun' that I think you're talking about?" Nikita asked with her own playful smirk.
"Yeah Sinon. Just how exactly do these rituals you're talking about work?" Silica asked with a suspicious look.
"Oh, that's really not important." Sinon told her.
"Anyway, the reason I said that it's a safe bet Nytokris will win her battle is because Eliza isn't that strong of a player." Agil explained. "The fact that she somehow made it to the semifinals is a total fluke. Nytokris should make it to the final round no problem."
"That's good." Kirito declared as he picked his head back up. "This has been what Asuna has been fighting towards this whole time."
"Yeah, but… can Asuna really win?" Silica asked.
"I know she can." Kirito answered. "She wouldn't have fought all this way for nothing. It'll probably be a close fight, but I know that Nytokris doesn't stand a chance."
Asuna watched with Lisbeth and Leafa at the crystal stadium as Nytokris fought her opponent, Eliza. The battle was over in just over five minutes, with Nytokris reducing her unfortunate opponent to a floating ball of flames. Soon after the battle concluded, Nytokris was beamed back to the stadium. The silver-haired imp shot Asuna a triumphant smirk before walking over to a corner of the room.
"Well Asuna, I guess it's up to you to take down Nytokris." Leafa observed.
"Fine with me." Asuna told her. "I've been wanting this fight ever since this tournament started."
At that moment, Lydia reappeared in the large chamber with her usual swarm of blue butterflied. "Congrats to our two winners for the semifinal round! And now everyone, the moment you've all been waiting for is finally upon us. In exactly one hour, we'll be holding the much-anticipated final round between Asuna the Berserk Healer and the mysterious Nytokris! The fight will be held in a special ring set up atop the World Tree. Those of you streaming the coverage of this tournament better stay tuned, because this is going to be one hell of an event!"
"Wow. A ring on top of the world tree." Leafa spoke as Lydia vanished from room. "I never thought that would be the location of the final round."
"No kidding. Nobody's ever been up on top of the World Tree." Lisbeth remarked. "Well, except for Asuna here, and Kirito. Of course that was in a whole different game."
"Don't remind me." Asuna told them, darkly recalling the time she had spent in Oberon's cage.
"Hey Asuna, if it's all the same to you, I think Liz and I will go meet up with my brother and watch the final round with him." Leafa decided.
"That's fine." Asuna replied. "I know you'll all be rooting for me."
"Good luck." Lisbeth told the blunette before she and Leafa left.
Once her friends were gone, Asuna accessed her item menu, and with a simple command she swapped out her normal rapier with the Valkyrie's Rose. She knew that she needed her best equipment if she was going to take down Nytokris.
"So, it looks like you finally got a chance to stele your score with me." Nytokris remarked as she walked over to Asuna. "To bad this battle will end just the same way our first one did."
"That's what you think." Asuna told her. "Before the final round of this tournament is over, I'm going to put you in your place."
Author's Note: I apologize if the battle in this chapter wasn't my best work. The final battle of the story is coming up, and hopefully I'll do a much better job with that one.
Please review and let me know what you think.