Author's Note: I had meant to get this chapter up way before now, but I ended up having a fairly stressful week. Hopefully this chapter will have been worth the wait, for now we begin the final battle of the Clash of Queens tournament.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
Chapter 20: The Final Clash
There were only minutes left before Asuna's battle with Nytokris by the time Leafa and Lisbeth finally reached the tavern where Kirito and the others had been watching the battles. Upon entering, the duo found the place to be back to the rafters with people waiting to see the last battle. There was literally standing room only. Leafa and Lisbeth managed to push their way through the raucous hoard to find the booth where Kirito and the others were. As soon as the ladies arrived, Kirito and the others quickly made space for the two of them at the table.
"This place is totally crazy." Leafa declared.
"This crowd just flooded in about after Nytokris's last fight ended." Agil revealed. "Not surprising, since this is the best place in the game to stream the fight from."
"We didn't think you two were going to make it here on time." Sinon remarked.
"Yeah…" Leafa responded. It was then that it occurred to the blonde that there was something she had to tell Sinon. "Hey Sinon? I think there's something you should know about Nytokris. I think she might be your friend, Nakuru."
"You're Shino's friend, Suguha right?" Nikita suddenly spoke. "It's nice seeing you again. I'm the friend of hers you were just talking about."
"Uh, seriously?" a stunned Leafa responded.
"Yep." Sinon confirmed. "This is actually Nikita's first time playing a VRMMO."
"Sinon here and I actually had a run-in with that bitch, Nytokris about right after I met up with her here." Nikita added. "Her friends were pretty surprised."
Leafa bowed profusely to Nikita. "I am so sorry!"
"Don't feel bad, Leafa. We all made the same mistake." Silica told her. "I mean Nikita and Nytokris both have the same voice."
"Now that you mention it, the two of them do sound pretty alike." Lisbeth noticed. "I wonder why that is?"
"Beats me." Nikita answered.
"Say Ms. Nikita, have you ever made any recordings of your voice online?" Yui suddenly asked.
"Well… now that you mention it, I have." Nikita answered. "A couple years ago I did this series of online videos with this friend of mine. It was just this dorky fashion thing, nothing big. Why do you ask, kid?"
"It's just a theory, but I think that whoever Nytokris is must've sampled your voice from those videos to use for her avatar." Yui answered.
"Man, that bitch just keeps getting shadier and shadier." Klein remarked.
"But why pick my voice?" Nikita asked.
"That I can't answer." Yui replied. "Perhaps your voice simply had a quality to it that Nytokris's user just found appealing."
"You do have a pretty sexy voice." Sinon remarked.
"Oh really?" Nikita asked as she leaned in closer to Sinon's ear. "Just what else do you find sexy about me?"
"So anyway," Silica spoke as she shot the couple another suspicious look, "whatever the reason why Nytokris has Nikita's voice, it still doesn't answer the question of who Nytokris really is."
"Guess we may never know." Agil replied with a shrug.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Yui told them. "There's just something that's very familiar about Nytokris… something I just can't quite place."
Asuna was beamed down in the middle of a large circular fighting ring with marble tiles. With the large leafy branches growing out from beneath the edges of the ring, Asuna could tell that she was indeed atop the World Tree. Being back in that tree wasn't exactly being fond memories for Asuna. She couldn't help but think back to the time she had spent in Oberon's gilded cage in the original version of ALO, trapped and powerless for several months with her would-be suitor popping by every now and then to play house. Asuna pushed those horrid memories from her mind though and tried to focus on the reason she was there, which was to defeat Nytokris.
Only a few moments after Asuna's arrival, another beam of blue light came down and struck a spot a few feet away from where the blunette was standing. The light quickly faded to reveal Nytokris with a confident smirk on her face.
"I'm impressed that you actually made it this far." Nytokris remarked as she approached Asuna. "Then again, I suppose most of the opponents you've faced up to now haven't exactly been top shelf, with the exception of dear Leafa, of course. Of course your win in that battle could probably be chalked up to luck."
"Think whatever you want!" Asuna told her as she drew her sword, pointing the blade at her opponent. "Before this is done, I'm going to give you what you've got coming."
"My, my. You certainly are feisty." Nytokris remarked. "Remind me, what was it I did to tick you off?"
"You insulted the memory of someone very dear to me." Asuna answered.
"Oh that's right!" Nytokris recalled with a snap of her fingers. "You're mad because I badmouthed that hack, Zekken."
"Yuuki wasn't a hack. And I'm going to make you pay for trashing her!" Asuna declared.
"You're welcome to try." Nytokris dared as she drew her own rapier. "But this battle will just end up the very same way as our first one did."
A holographic timer appeared in the air above the two swordswomen and began to tick down to the start of the fight. When the timer hit zero, Asuna and Nytokris charged at one another and the blades of their swords struck one another with a loud clang. Asuna started to force Nytokris back, just as she did at the start of their first battle. Just like before though, the silver-haired imp was parrying each of Asuna's strikes. One again Asuna was finding it impossible to take even a sliver off of Nytokris's HP gauge.
Nytokris was soon forced back to the very edge of the ring and had no choice but to break away and head for the other side. Asuna instantly gave chase, and when they both got to the other side, their swords once again began to clash. This time around Asuna was being forced back towards the edge of the ring, just like what happened during her last battle with Nytokris; and just like before, it was taking everything Asuna had to parry Nytokris's strikes. Asuna realized that unless she did something quickly, the battle would end exactly the same way as before. She had been playing right into Nytokris's hands from the very start of the fight and she realized it.
Rather than look for an opening to attack, Asuna quickly fell back to the edge of the ring. Nytokris remained where she was smirking as Asuna attempted to catch her breath.
"So much for making me pay." Nytokris remarked. "What's the matter, honey? Realizing now that I'm out of your league?"
"As if I'd accept that." Asuna told her. "You may have had me on the run so far, but one way or another I'm still going to beat you!"
At least ten minutes had gone by as Kirito and the others continued to watch Asuna's battle at the tavern. Asuna had been able to defend herself against Nytokris's attacks, yet at the same time had not been able to land a single strike. The entire tavern was filled with the noise of excitement from the other spectators, for it was very rare for them to see such an intense battle. Kirito and his companions meanwhile were filled less with excitement and more with dread.
"This is the first time I've really seen Nytokris fight as a fencer." Kirito remarked. "I have to admit, she's pretty good. Probably one of the best sword fighters I've seen either here or in SAO."
"This fight is going exactly the same way that Asuna's first battle with Nytokris went." Suine told them. "It's gone on longer than the one from before, but just like before Asuna can't seem to land a single hit."
"It seems like Asuna's focusing more on defense." Leafa observed. "At least until she can find an opening."
"Yeah, but I don't know how long Asuna can keep that up." Kirito spoke. "If she loses focus for a single instant, it could be all over."
"There's something about this fight that just seems all wrong." Yui told them. "It's hard for me to tell from here, but Nytorkis's stats just seem a little too good. Even if she is a high level player, Nytokris's power seem more on par with that of a boss character, albeit a low-level one."
"But that shouldn't be possible." Klien spoke. "Unless…"
"Unless whoever Nytokris is hacked the system to make some kind of weird custom avatar." Agil finished.
"And that woman accused Yuuki of being a cheater." An angered Siune spoke.
"Whoa, you mean she accused Zekken of cheating?" a stunned Lurga asked. "That bitch! Zekken was one of the best players to show up in the game in a long time. No wonder Asuna hates Nytokris's guts."
"If Nytokris really does have this illegal avatar, how the heck is Asuna supposed to beat her?" Lisbeth asked.
"There has to be a way." Kirito told them. "Even if Nytokris is basically a boss character, no boss is unbeatable."
The clock for the battle was continuing to tick away, and Asuna had still been unable to find an opening in Nytokris's defenses. Eventually after Nytokris forced Asuna back to the edge of the ring, Asuna dashed off along the arena's edge and went over to the other end of the battlefield. Asuna stood catching her breath and frantically tried to figure out a way to inflict some kind of damage on her opponent. She knew that she wasn't going to get anywhere with just her sword alone. The only real option was to slow Nytokris down, and Asuna could only figure out one way to do that. Unfortunately, that way was a long shot, and Asuna wasn't sure if she was fast enough to pull it off. The other thing was that the move Asuna had in mind would probably work only once.
"Getting tired, are we?" Nytoktis spoke as she calmly walked across the field. "If it's any consolation, you lasted much longer than I expected. Still, I think it's about time we end this, don't you?"
As Nytokris came closer, Asuna began chanting an odd spell. When Nytokris came in range, Asuna finished the spell and fired a ball of blue light from her left hand. The ball of light struck the tile that Nytokris was standing on, and before the silver-haired imp could take another step, a strange black growth resembling coral grew up from the tile around her feet. In seconds, the coral grew half way up Nytokris's body, completely encasing her legs.
"What the… how the hell did you…?" a stunned and enraged Nytokris began.
Before Nytokris could finish her sentence, Asuna dashed forward and struck Nytokris five times in the chest with her rapier. Upon being hit, Nytokris let out a blood-curdling scream and her body flashed to negative colors several times. The imp woman's HP gauge also went down to almost a quarter of what it originally was.
Everyone at the tavern had seen how Nytokris's body had reacted to being stabbed by Asuna's sword. Most of the spectators were merely confused by what they had just seen, but Kirito and the others were greatly unsettled. Most of them knew that there was only one type of creature in ALO that reacted that way to being hit by a weapon like Asuna's.
A horrified Kirito slowly rose from his seat. "Yui… Nytokris is an NPC, isn't she?"
"I… I can't be sure, but I think so." Yui answered. "And… I think we've encountered this NPC before."
"I think you're right." Kirito agreed. "But… that can't be possible! We destroyed it!"
"What the hell are you guys talking about?" a confused Nikita asked. "Why's everyone so freaked out?"
"Nytokris… she isn't a real player." Leafa explained. "In fact it looks like she might be something we encountered once before."
"But… but that's impossible!" Lisbeth declared. "We killed him! So how could he be back?"
"I… I don't know." Kirito answered. "But if Nytokris really is who we think she is… Asuna is in real trouble."
Asuna backed away in horror after striking Nytokris, as there was simply no way that her opponent's body should've reacted the way it did after being hit. Asuna's rapier, the Valkyrie's Rose, was made of the same type of metal as Kirito's Master's Blade, and there was only one kind of creature that gave off that flash of negative color after taking damage from that metal; the creatures like Cthulhu and the things living down in the mound.
"The Elder Gods gave you that weapon, didn't they?" Nytokris spoke after recovering from Asuna's attack. "I should've known that even my actions wouldn't have gone unnoticed by those old fools. Ah well. I suppose it was far past time that I gave up this little charade anyway."
"Who… what are you?" Asuna asked.
Nytokris grinned. "We've met once before prior to this whole business with the tournament, though I don't blame you for not recognizing me, my dear. I am the Crawling Chaos, Nyarlathotep! And I have returned to plunge this world into madness!"
Author's Note: So, did that little twist at the very end of the chapter come out of left field for anyone? I tried really hard not to tip my hand regarding Nytokris's true identity. One thing that seemed to help is that there's no instance in the Cthulhu Mythos of Nyarlathotep taking on a female avatar. Of course there was that one anime series from a few years ago that features Nyarlathotep in female form. I forget what it was called. I haven't even seen the anime in question, though from what I've read it's somewhat… "interesting". In any case, the concept of that series was more or less what inspired the Nytokris avatar.
Please review and let me know what you think.