Chapter 4- Gun Fight

In this chapter, Mikael, Philia and Strea encounter their first gun fight as they make their way to the location of the player Crimson while Kirito catches up with them. While the Black Knights find out was has happened to Mikael, Sinon and Kirito.

The Hunter

We rode through the desert at recorded speed since I wanted to get to Crimson as soon as possible since the sun was soon going to go down and when it does I would have to log out and rest. At first I felt straight being with Strea and Philia but I got used to it quite quickly as I felt like this was strangely familiar but I couldn't tell where I had felt this before. I noticed that there was ruins up ahead which meant that we were getting close to where Crimson was located. "Strea, Philia we should be approaching the location soon" I told them. "Okay we should hurry up then if we want to get there before the sun sets" Philia replied. I pushed the bike into full throttle as we got closer to the ruins. 'LOOK OUT' The voice is my head screamed as I saw a bullet line appear and connect to my forehead. I moved out of the way as the bullet came towards me. "It looks like we have company" I called out to Philia and Strea who dodged out of the way as more bullet lines appeared. I drove the bike towards one of the players attacking us and just as the bullet line connects I jumped of the bike as it crashed into the player who was killed by the explosion caused by the bike. I shocked since I had done want Retribution wanted me to do, I had killed a person. I didn't allow that to distract me as I pulled out my duel blade and landed softly on the ground. I didn't have any time to rest as more bullet lines began to appear. I charged straight at them as I slice through metal bullets and dodged energy bullets.

However, my best wasn't good another to stop all the bullet as a few of them hit me. I eventually ducked behind some rock to get shelter from the bullets and allow my health to recover as I had lost about half of it. I was soon joined by Philia and Strea who only had a quarter of their health left. "So any idea Philia, Strea" I asked them. "Sorry but I've got no idea right now as I was unable to see the players who were firing at us" Philia responded. "Yeah I couldn't see them either which means they have camouflage on but I think I might be able to take them out" I told her. "How" Strea asked me. "From what I saw there is two ways to detect them. The first is that the bullet line leds to where they are so if we can see the bullet line before they fire we can tell where they are. The second way is that when they reload the camouflage glimmers so if we can them to reload then I will be able to sniper them. The problem with both of those plans is that theirs a 50/50 chance that they will take us out before we take them out" I told them. They both looked at one another before turning back to me. "Okay we will distract them while you take them out with the Hecate" Philia told me. "Wait hold on, are you serious" I asked her. "Yeah I am; we need to do this if we are to proceed" Strea said. "Alright but if your health is near to completely running out make sure to duck for cover and recover your health" I told them before they then ran at the group who was attacking us. I then put away both of my blades and took out the Hecate. I looked down the scoop and saw a circle get bigger and smaller. I then noticed a glimmer which was the sign that a player was reloading. I knew that I would have to take the shot so I targeted the head. I began to breath steadily as I put my finger as I remembered how to use a sniper rifle from the gun simulator I use to use before Sword Art Online.

(Flashback- Year 2021)

I was in the familiar white room with an Accuracy International Arctic Warfare in hand. I knelt down as the target then appeared about 50 FT away from where I was. I looked through the scoop and aimed at the middle of the target. I then pulled the trigger as the bullet went towards the target. I then saw that the bullet had missed the target. I then looked through the scoop again only this time I slowly breathed in and out as I pulled the trigger. This time the bullet hit the target straight on.

(End of Flashback)

I pulled the trigger as the bullet flew all the way until it hit my opponent through the head. I then continued to take out my opponent as more of them began to glimmer as Philia and Strea made their way towards them. It didn't take long until only one of them was left. I then made my way to re-join Philia and Strea as they cornered the final opponent who was out of ammo. Once we surrounded the enemy as he asked us "What do you want." "All I want is to know why you attacked us. After all you had no reason to attack us" I responded. "The leader of our clan received a message saying that the player known as Mikael was heading this way so we waited here until he came. When we saw you we assumed that one of you might have been him so we were trying to capture you" he told us. "I see well I'm sorry about what happened here. If we had known that you were there, then we might have been able to go or separate without things turning violent" I told him. 'Damn you Retribution. You know exactly where I am but instead of facing me you choose to sacrifice innocent players' I thought to myself. "So you feel guilty now" my conscious replied. "Of course I do why wouldn't I feel guilty for killing people" I asked it. "Because you didn't back in SAO" it responded. "I know but I'm different now. She changed me for the better" I told it. I then helped the player up before saying "Look I know it not much but take the motorbike that way you make it back to the city safely." He was completely surprise at what I had just said as was Philia and Strea. "Are you sure" the player asked me. "Of course we haven't got far to go until we reach our destination" I told him as he went toward the bike. Once he was gone, Philia asked me "Are you sure that was a good idea after all if that group was told that info, then it a good bet other groups got it as well and we don't want to get caught in another fight when we are so close to Crimson. Plus, this way we will attract less attention" I responded.

"Okay Sliver this time I will trust you but their one thing I'm wondering" Philia asked me. "Yeah what is that" I asked her. "WHY DID YOU LIE TO US, MIKAEL" she shouted. I was completely shock that she figured out who I was. "How did you find out that I was Mikael" I asked her as Strea just stared at the two of us. "When I looked at your account, I saw your name switch between Sliver and Mikael" she told me while glaring at me. "Look I'm sorry that I lied to you two but from what I saw when I logged on, I knew that I would have to hide who I was" I told her. "Serious so you lie to the only people you have met in this game. Give us a reason why we should trust you" she screamed at me. "Because I know that this isn't a death game" I replied. "Wait what" she said surprised. "When Retribution said that if we die in the game we die for real, that was a lie" I told her. "But how would you know that" she asked. "When I first defeated Retribution I met with his allies in the real world and asked them why they sided with him. They told me he had threaten them with death since they said his blade would cause an electromagnetic pulse to fry their brains. When I find that out I looked for the one player he used the blade on and as it turned out she was completely fine. It was then that she told me that one of the main skill he has is that he can convince people to do what he wants. Which is why everyone in GGO believes that if we die we die for real" I explained to us. "Why would he do that" she asked me. "Simple Retribution want to cause the chaos in this world as well as he what to see player try to defeat him knowing that they can't but he knows they will try harder even up to a point where they will sacrifice one another to win" I explained to them.

"What kind of monster is this guy and more to the point why does he want you" Strea asked me. "A monster that lives off violence. He wants me because he knows I am the only one that can defeat him and put an end to his twist plan so he figures if he gets the players to capture me then that would be me out of the way and can just sit back and watch this world burn" I answered Strea. They both looked at one another as they had a conversation. "So Philia want should we do" Strea asked her. "Well it hard to tell if he is telling the truth or not as well as at the moment we have two choices. We can turn him in to this Retribution guy or we follow him as he hunts Retribution" Philia told Strea. They continued to debate as I stood back waiting for them to reach a decision. I soon heard what sound like a motorcycle engine. "Um you two might want to hold off on that conversation as it seems we have company" I told the two as I got out my sniper rifle. The bike soon approached us as Strea and Philia got out their weapons. We then got a good look at the rider as they got off the bike. I assumed they were a girl as they had long black hair and a feminine figure. I soon learnt I was wrong when they spoke. "I finally caught up with you, Brother" they said to us. "BROTHER" both Philia and Strea replied.

The Legend

I stopped the motorbike as I finally caught up with Mikael and his two companions. I got off it and saw that they took out their weapons as if they were preparing for an attack. "I finally caught up with you, Brother" I said to them. "BROTHER" the two females replied. "Wait who are you, you're not my little sister that I'm sure of" he asked me. "No I'm not you little sister but we are relative. Appearances can be a lie in a game" I told him. He then stared at me for a moment before saying "Kirito is that you." "Yep I guess you were able to figure out who I was" I replied. "Wait who is this Mikael" the female with lavender hair asked him. "This is my little brother Kirito, Strea" Mikael responded. "Wait little brother, but he looks female" the female with dandelion hair asked. "Well I switched this account over from another game which caused a problem so I was turned into a female avatar" I told her. "Wait this previous game wouldn't happen to be the same game Mikael came from" She asked me. "Yeah it's called Alfhiem online" I told her. "You wouldn't happen to know a player called Retribution" Strea asked me. "Yeah I have. So he is in this game now. I thought when you defeated him that was it after all you warned him what would happen if he tried something like this. Well I'm here to help you with dealing with him, so what the plan" I asked Mikael. "I met with a player who told me that we need to get to Bullet of Bullets map in order to get to Retribution. We were on our way to meet a player called Crimson who knows a way to get into that map" he told me. "Okay let go" I responded. "Wait a minute are you telling me that Mikael story was true" the girl with dandelion hair asked.

"Yep it is. I know my brother and I know from a fact that he will only lie about something in order to keep people he trust safe" I told them. They looked at one another before turning to Mikael. "Okay Mikael we believe that what you are doing is the right thing but if you ended up lying to us again then I will personally turn you in to Retribution myself" she told him. "Okay Philia I understand" Mikael replied. It was strange as the only over person that could get Mikael to do what they want was Sinon. I suddenly realised that Sinon wasn't with us which could only mean. "Mikael, where is Sinon" I asked him. "She is being held hostage by Retribution but don't worry I going to get her back if it the last thing I do" he told me. I couldn't help but smile as he is acting just like I was when Asuna was being held by Sugou in Alfhiem Online. "Okay Mikael then let go get her back" I responded as the four of us began to make our way toward the ruins.

The Knights

We were all looking around Black Castle to find out where Mikael, Sinon and Kirito have disappeared. "I see no sign of them upstairs" Leafa, Slicia and Amy told everyone. "No one in the meeting room" Klien and Agil shouted. "They are not in the forge" Liz and Yuuki said. "They are not at their cabins" Yui and Asuna said. "Well we looked all over for them. Are you sure they are online" Leafa asked. "They got to be after all we agreed to clear the next floor of Aincrad" Asuna said. "Hey didn't Sinon say that the Bullet of Bullets was on today. Why don't we watch that and see how she is doing" Yuuki said. "Oh yeah why not Mikael said that the TV in the play room will allow us to watch it" Amy told them. "Well then let's watch" Klien said as they made their way to the playroom. "Hey it seems that someone must have been watching the TV" Silica said point out the TV was on. "It must have been Mikael since he was the only one of us who wasn't out doing a quest today" Agil responded. "Well, let see what he was watching then" Liz said. "We must apologise as it seems we are still unable to get back the Bullet of Bullets video feed after it recent take over. As of the moment all video feed is being shown by a player that has been called Retribution" the female announcer said. All of the Black Knights were completely shocked at the mention of the name.

"You guys don't thing that the same Retribution as before" Amy asked them. "No It can't be Mikael dealt with him" Asuna responded. "For all of you who have only just joined in this was the last video feed that was received" the female announcer said as she then began playing the video feed of Retribution explaining the rules of his game. At the end of the video feed Klien spoke up "Well that confirms it that guy is the same Retribution that Mikael fought." "Hold on a minute we don't know that. Maybe it was one of his allies pretending to be him" Asuna said. "Nope that certainly was Retribution" Mist said as she appeared in the door way. "How do you know that Mist" Amy asked. "If you noticed he sounded just like Kayaba when he announced that Sword Art Online was a death game which means he must be a survive otherwise they would sound so similar. There is also the fact he is dressed in a similar outfit of a member of Laughing Coffin. As well as he mentions Mikael by name isn't that strange since only us and him will know Mikael and what he will look like unless it was the same Retribution we met before. The last thing that confirms it is the fact that the female avatar that was shown looked similar to Sinon" Mist explained.

"So now what if Retribution is in Gun Gale Online, what do we do" Agil asked. "Well it simple. Mikael most likely entered Gun Gale Online to rescue Sinon and to get rid of Retribution. Kirito must have gone on to deal with Retribution as well as help his brother out. So we should probably join them since Mikael is our Guild leader and Sinon is our friend" Mist told them. "There just one problem, none of us own a copy of GGO and I doubt they will be selling them at this point if this was going on. So how exactly do we get on" Asuna asked. "Maybe we can help" two voice said. Everyone turned around to see two figure that were completely one colour. "Hey aren't you two those A.I Mikael has. Zeon and Alicia" Yuuki asked. "Yep that is us. It appears you need so help to get onto GGO and one of our priorities is to help Mikael at all cost" Zeon told them. "So how are you going to help us get onto Gun Gale Online" Agil asked. "That is simple. You see Mikael found out that their we several game linked to Alfhiem through the SEED. He then played around with the idea of copying one avatar from one game to another game through the link of the SEED. However, when he tried to do it the program rejected that saying that he didn't have the game. He then thought of a way to bypass that which is where we come in. You see me and Alicia are not your typical A.I but we are more advance A.I with the capability to bypass that programme as a matter of fact I even tried it out for myself and ended up in a game called Accelerated World. While I was there I saw this sliver armoured player take on chrome monster. I was surprised at the sight. So if you guys want to go to GGO then we will be happy to help you" Zeon explained to them. They all looked at one another before saying "Let's do it."

The end of Chapter 4 wow this was a long one. I apologise for how long this took as I was having a problem with a review who was complaining about my fan fictions and even wanted me to stop writing so it put me off writing for a while but don't worry I won't stop writing until we come to the end of Mikael story. This chapter was interesting as I wanted to put so much into this chapter with a bit about Mikael past, the reveal of Mist as a member of the Black Knights, Zeon and Alicia being able to transfer players to different games as well as the hint toward Burst Link as I kinda need to set that up for the next story where Mikael ends up in that game. I also apologise for those of you who didn't like the whole idea of Retribution's death game not being an actual death game but I didn't want to have this story end with Retribution dying at the end of it but rather I wanted have this sense of justice when Mikael defeats him. Also for anyone wondering there are three more story in this series before I am done with this Mikael. These stories are SAO: Accelerated Blade, SAO: Ragnarok and SAO: REALITY, more information about them to be revealed later on.