Oh boy, this is not going well.
"Now, put away your weapons." Sinon, the HDA spearwoman in front of us said.
"Like hell we're not!" Asuna shouted. "There's two of us, and only you alone! What makes you think you can take us on?!"
Sinon didn't even flinched. Her spear is still pointing at us.
"That depends on both of you." She replied. "I do not want to attack you, but I can't say that I'm willing to trust you, so put away your weapons before I changed my mind."
"Why don't you put away your weapon first?" Asuna spoke.
Both Asuna and Sinon stood still, weapons still drawn. Asuna is already in her fighting stance, while Sinon, sensing the hostility from her, is preparing to do the same.
If this goes on any longer...
"Both of you, just calm down already!" I said. "Sinon, you said you're investigating about the townspeople's disappearance, right?"
Sinon nodded.
"Then why don't we work together? We're trying to do the same thing."
Sinon stared at me, then glanced at Asuna, before looking back at me again. Guessing from her expression, she must be thinking 'You wanted me to work with her?!'.
Asuna herself gave me a shocked expression.
"Are you out of your freaking mind!?" She yelled at me.
"Look, Asuna, we're going nowhere like this. We've found no clues to lead us to the missing townspeople so far. It's a wild goose chase. If Sinon could help us, then we'll have a better chance, don't you agree?" I explained, putting my Elucidator away in the meantime so that Sinon could understand that we come in peace. (Well, at least I did...)
"Finally, someone intelligent." Sinon grinned, finally putting her spear away at last. "I hope your KBO companion will be as smart as you do, Black Swordsman."
Wha?! She knew me!?
Goddamnit, why is everyone in this game know my name!?
"Wha, what did you just say, you...!?" Asuna yelled out angrily, before turning to look at me. "I'm not going anywhere with that girl!"
"Then you can go back and wait with the others," I said. "Me and Sinon will continue the job from here."
"WHA!? WHY, YOU-!"
"It's just a joke!" I quickly told her. "Besides, at least we found another friendly player around here!"
"I wouldn't call her 'friendly', you dummy!"
"Hey, with all the townspeople vanished, at least there's still her left! Why do you have to be so harsh!" I frowned at her.
"She's from HDA, that's for one thing! Maybe she was sent to hunt us down!" Asuna argued.
"Wait, what do you mean by that? The HDA didn't send me here. I just arrived here yesterday." Sinon asked.
Both me and Asuna stared at her, confused.
"But...but that doesn't make any..."
SWOOSH!
Something just flew pass by me at very high speed, luckily I evaded it just in time.
"WHAT THE HELL!?"
I turned behind to look. The thing landed just a few feet away from me. It's an axe.
"Kirito, watch out!" Asuna shouted.
I turned back again, just in time to see something...no...someone, lunged at me with another axe in his hand.
I readied my Elucidator, while Sinon and Asuna summoned their weapons.
"DIE!"
The mysterious man roared, but what scares me is his voice.
It's not a human voice, it's kinda like a growl, an animal growl.
Anyway, that's not the highest concern for me right now.
I blocked his axe, but he continued to push onto me to break my defense.
"Dammit!"
He's freaking strong! It's like fighting a floor boss!
Around me, Asuna and Sinon aren't in a very good position, either. They're surrounded by another two more men just like the one I'm fighting.
After some struggle, I finally push him back. My companions weren't so lucky. It took both Asuna and Sinon's strengths to just drive back one enemy, but in doing so left an opening for another one to ambush them.
"Damn it, Kirito! Help us out here!" Asuna yelled as she evaded a strike from a man behind her, almost got crushed by the axe.
"I'm busy right now, Asuna!"
As much as I wanted to help her, I can't, because two more enemies arrived to back up the one I drove back earlier. Now it's five-on-three.
We're outnumbered.
The three men, all of them with axes in their hands, then rushed at me.
Fuck.
I raised my sword in a vain attempt to block their attacks. Their combined strengths were more than my Elucidator could handle.
Before I knew it, I flew away, and I felt a painful shock on my head as I crash-landed onto the ground head-first.
"KIRITO!"
Ouch, that hurts!
Dusts and dirt covered me. I opened my eyes and stared at the HP bar. It dropped to just half.
Fear kicked into me as I realize that unlike last time, this place isn't a safe zone.
The three enemies that attacked me still stood there, roaring and growling.
Goddamnit, I can't fight them like this!
Not with one sword...
Wait a sec...I still have that Dual Blades skill!
But, damn it, if I use it here, Asuna and Sinon will know that I...
But there's no chance for us if I don't do something!
We're all gonna die if I don't use that skill.
Shit, here goes nothing!
Asuna just got pushed to the ground by one of the attackers, while Sinon moved to cover her, but even she couldn't last long against all those enemies.
"Asuna! Give me your rapier!" I shouted.
"Wha! What the hell are you thinking!?"
"Just give me that thing!"
Asuna reluctantly opened her inventory menu as I do the same, before quickly transfer her rapier, the Lambent Light, to me. The sword disappeared from Asuna's hand and reappeared in my inventory as Sinon's defenses' finally broken.
"AHHH!"
Asuna and Sinon were both got slammed into the nearby tree, knocking them both out.
Now I'm completely surrounded by five unknown enemies.
"You're gonna pay for that, you bastard..."
Activate Unique Skill: Dual Blades
Elucidator and Lambent Light appeared on my hands as I get into my fighting stance. The attackers, apparently knowing that I won't be holding out anymore, growls loudly and rushed into me from every direction.
"Heh...better luck next time, you assholes..." I grinned.
Wait for it...
"THE ECLIPSE!"
And with that, I opened the Hell's gate itself.
My swords danced wildly as they cut down each and every attack those guys threw at me. The Eclipse skill unleashed a terrific 27-hit combos to all enemies in the close vicinity.
I can't even describe the skill myself. Everything got blurred, darkened. I can't see a damn thing at all...
...like I needed to, I just slashed at anything and everything unlucky enough to be within my swords' reaches.
Heh, guess that's why they called it 'The Eclipse'. There's not a single thing on this world that can escape its reach.
Left, up, down, cross slash, scissors swipe...
Those guys never stood a chance.
Minutes later, the attackers were all defeated.
I'm panting heavily, exhausted from using all my strengths left inside me, drained of all energy.
Heh, that's enough for one day...
My swords disappeared, as I fell to the ground.
"...rito!...Kirito!"
Huh? Oh, not this again...
Being awaken by someone after passing out twice in one day? Damnit, something's wrong with me.
I slowly open my eyes, bright light blinded me for a few seconds. It's already morning.
"Kirito! Oh, thank god you're alive!"
It was Asuna.
"...Ugh...damn it...Will there be another time like this again?" I asked. Heh, why is it every time I rushed to save someone it either ends with me blacking out or almost dying myself?
That earned a few relief laughs from Asuna. Heh, a good way to start a new day, I suppose.
Sinon stood beside her, although without her glasses. She gave me a small smile.
"I don't know what you're doing last night because I passed out, but great job. You're an excellent fighter worthy of your fame, Black Swordsman."
"Just call me Kirito." I told her. "You seems pretty good with that spear too, Sinon. Good job last night."
Sinon blushed a little, before quickly turning back to her serious face.
"Anyway, there's something that you should know." Sinon began. She pointed her finger behind her.
I looked, and saw the people we fought with last night lying on the ground, but there's something different. Last night, those people wore dark armors and were covered with strange markings on their faces, but today, the armors and the markings were gone, and they are all in normal clothes.
"I checked their bodies this morning. They're the lost Mayfair townspeople." Asuna said.
What the heck!?
"W-what happened to them?!"
"Like hell if I know!," Asuna replied, before glancing at Sinon. "Why don't you ask that girl? Maybe she could help you more than I did!"
Damn it, there's no need to be angry!
Sinon cleared her throat.
"Okay. Last night, I caught a glimpse of those markings on their bodies. They resembled the marking of a rogue red guild that was once active around a year ago." She explained.
"So, you were sent to investigate about those guys by your commander, right? I mean, by Feron." I said.
Sinon frowned.
"No, I said I was sent here by my commander, right? My commander is Edgar. How did you know the name of that jerk Feron anyway?!"
I glanced at Asuna, who shook her head, before turning back to her.
Maybe it's not the best time to tell her the truth right now. We have more important things to do.
"Let's just say it's a long story, Sinon. I'll tell you later. Right now, we need to find out more about this rogue guild of yours. If they're the ones behind the townspeople disappearance, we need to find and shut them down as quick as possible, before they...turn the townspeople into...those monsters..."
Damn it, what sick mind would do things like this to their fellow players!? It's just cruel!
How the hell did they manage to do that anyway?
Turning players and NPCs into killing machines? Only GMs could do something like that.
Damn you, Kayaba. Is this one of your works, too?
"Speaking of strange things, how the hell did you defeated them last night?" Asuna asked. "They fought just like some freakin' mini-bosses! There's no way in hell any of us could beat them in a one-on-one fight, but you somehow beaten all five of them on your own!"
She leaned her face at me, staring fixed into my eyes.
"Is there something you're not telling me, you idiot!? And where's my Lambent Light!?"
This is gonna suck...
Editor's note: Okay, I know, I sucked at writing fight scenes.
The fact that I just wrote this after I finished my test didn't help things at all, so er, I'm gonna keep this brief. Just pictured that Kirito used his 'Dual Blades' skills just like in the anime. It's just awesome as that in my story. And FYI, the Eclipse is actually one of the combos Kirito used to fight with Heathcliff in the final battle. It's one of the strongest attacks in the game so of course it has to cost a lot of energy. That's why he passed out, just like when he fought with the 74th floor boss, a minotaur-like beast (I forgot its name LOL).
Next chapter soon...