I readied my Elucidator just in time to stop a blow from one of the paladins' mace.
"Go to hell, you bastard!" The paladin screamed as he tried to break through my defense.
He's pretty strong, far stronger than the rookies I've fought this morning.
Feron must've brought in only the best paladins. They're assaulting on their nemesis's fortress, after all.
Nevertheless, I managed to push him back. He struggled backward a bit but is still standing.
I glanced around. The others aren't so lucky. Only Asuna, Sachi, Keita, Agil and Edgar are still in the condition to fight, the others got overwhelmed by the assault and got KO-eds in less than a minute. It's pure luck that the area's still inside Grandum's city limits so it's still a safe zone, otherwise I can't imagine what will happen to them...
"Damn it, Feron! Stop this right now! This is an order!" Edgar yelled, but not one single paladin listen to him. He managed to drop a couple of paladins to the ground, but the others are still coming right at him.
"Your rule's over, old man! Today we're going to crush our enemy once and for all! The enemy you've tolerated for so long!" Feron declared.
"You're insane! We aren't your enemy!" Asuna shouted.
About a dozen KBO knights joined the battle a while later, bringing the battle to a standstill, but we're still outnumbered.
"We can't keep this up for long!" Keita started to panic. He can still hold his own all right, however, he's right. We're gradually losing.
"Somebody help me!" Sachi screamed. She managed to use what little strength she have and barely fending off one of the paladins, but two more quickly cornered her at the castle walls.
"This cutie's ours! Don't worry, girl! I won't hurt you! You'll make a nice prize to our guild!" I heard one of the paladins threatened her with a smirk on his face.
You're not doing this to her, you asshole!
I quickly moved to protect Sachi. The two paladins are still distracted by her so they can't see me coming.
I used all of my might and send my sword into the paladin on the right, sending him flying into the other guy and into the castle wall itself, knocking them both out cold.
"DON'T! YOU! DARE! DO! THIS! TO HER!" I screamed.
"YAAAAAA!" One of the larger paladins tackled Agil away with ease. His HP's down to only one thirds of the bar.
Damn it!
"Asuna! Tell your men to retreat back inside the castle! They'll stand a better chance in there! We're leaving!" I yelled to Asuna, who's fighting against Feron himself.
"I'M A LITTLE BUSY HERE, YOU IDIOT!"
Ah hell...
"Agil! Your HP's almost gone! Take the Black Cats out of here! I'll cover you guys!"
I told Agil, who's recovering from his wound while barely fending off the large paladin from earlier.
"Leave it to us, Agil! You guys must get out of here!" Edgar moved in and use his shield to bash the large paladin away.
Agil know his job. He quickly disengage from the battle and moved to the downed Black Cats. He, Sachi and Keita carried the unconscious players away while me, Edgar, Asuna and the rest of the KBO knights fend off the ever-coming HDA paladins.
"They just keep on coming!" One of the knights shouted.
"That's right, you asshole! We're coming to take back what's ours!" One of the paladins yelled furiously, before tackling the unlucky knight to the ground.
Edgar did the best he could to protect the KBO knights, some of the paladins hesitated to fight their former commander, but nevertheless joined the ones loyal to Feron in the attack. I myself went to help Asuna in fighting Feron.
Feron seemed to notice that with me joining in, he'd stand no chance, so he whistled, and about half dozen paladins come in to take his place as he retreated behind them.
"You're not getting me that easily, suckers!" He taunted.
"YOU COWARDLY ASSHOLE! WHY DON'T YOU COME FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN!?" Asuna snapped. She desperately tried to fight her way through the paladins, but is clearly outnumbered. Even her lighting fast move did her a little help.
"Don't be stupid, Asuna! You can't fight through all of them on your own!" I yelled at her while blocking the oncoming attack from the paladins.
Damn it, this is getting way out of my hands.
"Out of my way, Kirito! I'm gonna get that bastard!" Asuna shouted back. She's clearly out of her mind!
One of the paladins approached us from behind, and prepare to strike his spear at her.
"WATCH OUT!"
I rushed at Asuna and push her away just in time,
but I'm not as lucky.
"UGH!"
The spear skewered into my body, sending a painful shock throughout it.
GODDAMNIT! IT HURTS!
My HP bar's dropping fast.
50%...32%...18%
And then it stopped at 10%...
The fact that I can't be killed inside the safe zone makes it even more painful than it already is. I can't die, but I can still feel the pain, the ever-coming pain from the spear deep inside my body.
"You're toast, you bastard!" The paladin screamed in victory.
My vision's blurred. I can't see anything at all.
Shit...what's happening to me?
Suddenly, I feel something.
When I realize, the spear isn't in my body anymore.
Wha?
"...He's crushing us!..."
I heard voices. Must be the paladins' voices. They sounded panicked.
"...too strong!..."
"...get out of here!..."
"...retreat!...retreat!..."
I tried my best to open my eyes. I saw the paladins all running away, including Feron.
The KBO knights are chasing them back, leading by a man in a shining red armor wielding a large shield and long sword.
At that point, my whole body's give away.
I fell onto the ground, and the pain engulfing me once again.
I looked up, and saw a figure standing over me. The man in the red armor.
"Don't worry, young man. You're alright now..."
That was the last thing I heard before I blacked out.
"...Kirito!...Kirito!?..."
Voices?
"...Oh god...please, don't do this to me, Kirito!..."
Who?
"...He's regaining consciousness! Give him more potion!..."
"...Calm down! We already use three of them! It's more than enough..."
I...
My eyes slowly opened.
"...Wha?"
The first person I saw is...Sachi.
"Sachi? Wha...what's..."
Suddenly, she hugged me tightly.
"Oh god, Kirito! Don't scare me like that again!"
She banged her right fist on my shoulder in frustration.
"Ouch! My body's still hurt, Sachi!"
"Kyah! Ah...I'm sorry!"
She quickly backed away from me.
I smiled. Heh, she's so cute when she's angry.
"Looks like our friend's alright now, eh?"
I looked to my left. Keita's standing there, along with the rest of the Black Cats, smiling happily.
"Where am I?"
I glanced around. I'm in a canyon of some sort. Tall cliff walls stood above me.
"Heh, you're still alive, huh?" A familiar female voice spoke.
I looked to my right, and saw none other than Asuna.
"Well, we're in Grandium Canyon, not too far from my HQ. After that stunt you pulled back there, we had to drag you all the way here!" She explained, with a little smirk on her face.
"This is all thanks to my commander, you know!? He came to your rescue with reinforcements and finally drove those paladins away."
"Your commander? You mean Heathcliff?"
"Of course you idiot! Who else could it be!?"
Heh. Looks like he's not so bad after all.
Asuna crossed her arm, before turning her face away in disappointment.
"...thanks for saving me, by the way." She slowly spoke, her face turned a bit red. She's blushing.
Huh? So she can really blush? Hah...
Anyways, what the hell should I do now?
"Where's Edgar? He's not here." I asked.
Keita shook his head.
"After the fight, the KBO took him in as prisoner. Although he did nothing wrong, Heathcliff insisted that Edgar should stay at the HQ as a bargaining chip. Since what Feron did is basically seizing power from him, there's no point for him to return home, so he agreed to stay there peacefully while trying to find a way out of all this." He explained.
"But the damage's still done. The tensions between my guild and the HDA have never been this high, and unless there isn't a truce soon, a guild war is inevitable." Asuna added.
I turned to face Agil, who's still has a confusing look on his face.
"Is what Feron said true, Agil? Did you steal that spear from them?" I asked.
"I told you! I got that spear from a merchant a week ago! I didn't steal it! Why is nobody believing me!?" Agil snapped.
"Hey! Nobody's blaming you on anything, Agil! I know you. You're not a man like that!"
"But...but I'm technically the one who started all this mess! If the KBO and the HDA ended up fighting each other, it's all my fault!"
His voice is trembling. I can understand the poor man's feeling. His actions unintentionally caused a guild war. Who's to say he's not shocked by all of this?
"Calm down, Agil! If Kirito trusted you, so will us!" Izumi, one of the three new Black Cats members, said.
"Yeah. I don't think you're a bad man, uncle Agil!" Another new member, Oren, the shortest person in the group, and probably the youngest, said.
That statement actually cheered Agil up somehow.
"Hey! I'm not old enough for you to call me uncle yet, you little...!" He grunted.
And then we all share a great laugh together, for once in this miserable day.
"So...what are we gonna do now?" I asked.
"We're going to find out who did all this and stop it," Keita replied. "Starting by investigating about the merchant on the twenty-fourth floor Agil mentioned. If he's the one who sold Agil the spear, then he must've stole it from the HDA."
"And it'll probably linked to true thief and the rest of the stolen items." Tetsuo added.
"What about your quest? The Marks of Swordsmen?"
"We're still missing two Marks." Lamia, another new member of the Black Cats, answered. "One is the Mark of Saber, which is currently in possession of the HDA guild. Without Edgar, the only chance we'll have at getting that Mark is to gain back their trust. It'll be suicide for us to sneak into their guild and steal it back."
"And the only way we could gain their trust back is to find the thief and return the stolen items to them." Keita continued. "That way, we could complete Edgar's request as well."
"Nice plan." I said. "So, shall we get a move now? This is outside of safe zone's area, right? If the HDA finds us here, I may not get a second chance like this again."
"Yeah, the sooner we pull this off, the better." Asuna added. "I just can't stand being here with you, you idiot Kirito!"
Heh, that's what she said.
And so, we set off, to a new journey, to an unknown future.
Editor's note: Another chapter down! Heh, this is a good pace for me. One week, one chapter. That way, I won't be crushed under the ever-growing college works! :(
Okay, first of all, if any of you are saying something like "Safe zones don't work that way!" or "There aren't such rules/systems in SAO!" I'll ignore them. This is fanficiton, right? And I did mention in the title, Sword Art Online: 'ALTERNATE STORY'. It's not the same as in the anime or the light novels. If you don't like, then don't read it, okay? I'm not saying this because I'm mad or anything. You are all free to criticize me about my work, but all those above mentions will be ignored as I've stated. Got it?
Well, next chapter coming next week! Just like waiting for the subs, eh? LOL