This section was a bit hard to write. Not sure I like how it came out, but whatever. I decided to split episode ten into two chapters (A Knight to Be, and Crimson Killing Intent). In total, there's a four day time lapse between Kirito killing Gleam Eyes and the Kuradeel incident. It seemed a little ridiculous to have it all in one chapter.
Answers to reviews that asked questions:
Q: Out of curioisty, was the idea of people being able to see what happens in SAO got inspired by the stories Sword Art Online Alternate by ColtonTheSwordsman and Records of Noble Deeds by BF110C4?
A: No. I went and checked them out, though, and Records of Noble Deeds is interesting.
Q: How do you plan to deal with the guy Asunas mother wants her to marry and his plan to trap her in ALO?
A: Eh, will partly be explained in 2 more chapters. I'd have to go through the entire fairy dance arc to actually address it though, so we might never really get a conclusion there.
Q: Might be interesting to see Suguha's interactions at school, and if you feel like going back in time parts like Laughing Coffin and so on...
A: Maybe flashback chapters could happen at the end if people still want more.
Q: Out of curiosity, did Suguha see and hear what happened with Silica, and if so, does she know that Kirito wants to reconcile with her? I'd thought that would've been brought up in the first chapter.
A: Yes. Wasn't mentioned because the Silica sub-plot happened more than six months into the game, after the point where I mentioned Suguha started watching.
And thanks to the other people saying nice things. :)
A Knight to Be
"I'd bet a hundred grand on Kirito," Shinichi Nagata said with full confidence.
Suguha snorted. "Yeah, you and every other internet fanboy he has. He's fighting Heathcliff, not some moronic PKer. From what everyone says, this is a battle between the two best players in the game. Even I'm not sure who's gonna win, especially since Heathcliff seemed so confident yesterday when he challenged my brother."
"Yeah..." the boy was forced to admit.
Suguha had taken a brief break from the Amusphere after her brother's most recent incident with the floor seventy four boss, but Shinichi, or Recon, had told her that Kirito was going to duel Heathcliff today in order to try to get Asuna out of the Knights of Blood. She had gone back to watch the conversation between Heathcliff and Kirito, and was more than a little surprised that her brother had even agreed to the challenge in the first place.
Much to her amusement, Asuna made sure that Kirito knew just how much of an idiot he was for taking the challenge. But even so, Suguha was relieved to be able to log in and watch her brother fight in a situation where his life wasn't on the line. At least she could relax for the day knowing that he wasn't going to die.
In fact, Suguha actually couldn't help but hope for her brother to lose against Heathcliff. She thought that it would greatly increase his chances of surviving if he were to join a clearing guild so that he no longer had to solo every dungeon. The risks were growing even greater on the most recent floors, where the monsters had begun to pose a slight challenge ever to the legendary Black Swordsman.
"They gonna start anytime soon?" Recon complained.
Her mother chuckled in amusement. The group of Suguha, Midori, and Recon were standing at the edge of the arena of the great Colosseum on floor seventy five. Given that this event had been scheduled in advance, it was expected that the majority of her family and friends with access to the stream would be tuning in.
"You should be patient. My son was never the most punctual person."
It was true. Kirito was undoubtedly late, even if it was only by a minute or two. Well, that wasn't quite accurate. Kirito was present, off to one side talking with Asuna, but he had yet to enter the arena to begin the actual battle.
They were aware the moment Kirito stepped into the arena by the sudden cheers of excitement from the crowd. Kirito approached Heathcliff, who was waiting in the center of the circular field of sand. The two exchanged a few words, but Suguha and her companions were too far away to hear exactly what was said. Then, Heathcliff issued a duel challenge to Kirito, who promptly accepted. The two drew their swords, and Heathcliff readied his shield.
"Here we go!" Recon could barely contain his excitement.
As soon as the countdown timer hit zero, Kirito charged the taller paladin, going for a series of manual strikes, all of which were deflected easily by Heathcliff. Heathcliff retaliated with a stab attempt that Kirito barely deflected while in mid air. The force of Heathcliff's stroke sent Kirito flying backwards.
Heathcliff charged and bashed his shield into Kirito's chest just as the swordsman landed, sending him flying backwards again.
"Wow, he's strong," her mother commented. "I've never seen anyone able to match Kazuto."
Heathcliff charged again. It seemed like every time Kirito blocked his sword, he was sent a bit further back. This time, though, Kirito retaliated with his own sword skill, sending a lightning fast flurry of strikes against the cross-shaped shield of Heathcliff. His swords moved so quickly that Suguha found herself wondering how anyone could actually follow both of their movements at the same time in a fight.
Even so, Heathcliff's defense was solid. Kirito's skill ended, and the two faced off with a bit of distance between them.
"Your reaction time is very impressive," Heathcliff complimented.
"Yeah, and your defense is impregnable."
"Well at least they don't hate each other," Midori commented lightly. "A nice change from the normal fights we see with him, right?"
Suguha couldn't help but chuckle in agreement.
The moment's pause was over, though. Kirito and Heathcliff charged back in at each other. This time Kirito held his ground as he exchanged blows with Heathcliff, swinging his swords in massive arcs at a speed fast enough to cause small gusts to scatter the sand beneath them.
They swung at each other for a good minute, and then Kirito scored a glancing blow to his opponent's cheek. Sensing his victory, he activated the same sword skill that he had slain the last boss with—Starburst Stream. The change in his stroke was extremely noticeable. Before the skill began, he had been going for speed and accuracy above all else. However, once his two blades took on their blue hue, the strokes slowed down as his speed was managed by the system, but he put much more power into them.
The first and second duel slashes were strong enough to cause Heathcliff to skid backwards a few inches, but the third one ultimately overpowered the paladin's left arm, shoving the shield off to the side. From there it seemed a simple matter for Kirito to strike his opponent down, and that's exactly what he aimed to do.
Oh well, Suguha thought, slightly disappointed. She should have known better than to think her brother would lose. He never loses.
Or does he...
She stared in shock as Kirito's blow was blocked by Heathcliff, and then in the second of disability that Kirito was left in from his sword skill, the paladin stabbed him through the shoulder, securing the win of the duel.
"What the hell was that?" she demanded.
It was as if Heathcliff's shield had skipped several frames of rendering, as it seemed to jump from being knocked off to the side, to just barely close enough to block Kirito's winning blow. She had spent longer than a year watching her brother push the limits of SAO every day. He was considered to be one of the fastest players in the game, as he was one of the only players who could actually execute certain combos faster than the system usually allowed.
She had seen the absolute limits of SAO's movement, or at least she thought she had. In her mind, there was no way Heathcliff's shield could have possibly moved that fast. It was inhuman.
Her brother seemed to share her thoughts, as he sat in the dirt with his swords on either side of him looking shocked and confused. When he glanced back up at Heathcliff, she followed his gaze.
The previously friendly paladin was now scowling at his opponent with what could only be described as disgust. It seemed like he was angry at the way the duel turned out, despite winning. Did he also think that Kirito had won? Was his miraculous defense a happy accident...or did he know that he somehow broke the rules of the game and that's why he won?
Unfortunately, it seemed like none of her questions would be answered, at least not by Heathcliff. The paladin turned on his heels and walked away, leaving Kirito alone at the center of the ring.
"That...was fast..." Recon said hesitantly.
"You mean the block at the end, right?" she clarified.
"Yeah...it didn't seem possible..."
"I've never seen him lose," Midori commented. By then, Asuna had run out to see if Kirito was fine, which he was. They stood up and made to leave, neither mentioning the incident.
Was Asuna too far away to see? she wondered.
It also bothered her that her brother didn't mention the strange end to the duel. He seemed to just accept that he lost...maybe it was just a graphical bug on the stream...
She stuck with that theory for the night, but by the time she woke up, someone had posted a detailed analysis of the fight on the internet. He had done a frame by frame examination of the final moments of the fight, and concluded with absolute certainty that Heathcliff's shield had moved at a speed that was unrealistic. It still couldn't be said whether or not it was a stream bug, but when she got to watch both Heathcliff's and her brother's reactions to the situation once again, she found herself believing that it did indeed appear the same to the players inside the game.
So, at the end of it all, she found herself with a lot more questions than answers. On the bright side, Kirito had lost and was now likely much safer than he otherwise would have been.