Level Eleven: Demons
Level Fifty: Central Village - Kirito and Black Fox' s Home
A week after White Fox had been sent to prison, Kirito and Black Fox were still at home. Black Fox hadn't wanted to move… eat… Kirito had been caring for her. Now, he was waiting for her to come out of the bath, but she'd been in there for over an hour already. He sighed, getting up from his chair and went to open the door. But when he did open it, he saw Black Fox standing there, her long hair protecting her back side as she dried the hair on top of her head. He felt something warm dripping down in front of his mouth, closing the door and leaning against the wall just outside of the bathroom, face bright red. His nose was bleeding, having seen just now the one thing he never expected to see. She had been standing there… and although her body had been obscured by the steam on the mirror, he'd still seen her…
Black Fox eventually opened the door, wearing a baggy black collared shirt instead of her normal night clothes. It was long enough to be a very short dress on her. "Kazuto… sorry." She said, blushing a bit as she knelt next to him. "I… are you alright?"
"F-fi-fi-fine…" he managed, blushing still, embarrassed to look up at her face. She just kissed his cheek, staring at him until he looked up at her. "Y-you're not mad…?"
"Why would I be…?" she asked, pausing and sighing. "Come on, I'm not mad just because you saw me naked…" she grinned, hugging him around the shoulders. "It doesn't bother me..." she kissed his cheek. "Besides… you're the only one I want to see me like that…" she added, making his face heat right back up again. "We go back up to the front lines tomorrow… shall we make the most of tonight?"
"Wh-what do you mean…?" he managed to ask, feeling her picking him up like she had when they were fighting White Fox and Florien. "Wh-what are you…?"
"I just want you to be happy… safe…" she mumbled. "I want you to kiss me… Kazuto…"
"A-akemi… you… w-wait…" his cheeks were even redder than before. "What's gotten into you…?" he asked, wondering why all of a sudden she was behaving like this again. But she didn't answer, placing him down on the bed and straddling his hips, staring down at him. Her eyes were lonesome… she was embarrassed… but she just stared at him.
"Kazuto… I love you…" she kissed him on the lips, not bothering to hold back like she had been before… he couldn't manage to kiss back much, but he had to break for air. He was panting, exhausted… he stared up at her, wondering why she seemed so desperate… needy…
"Akemi…" he mumbled, returning his shirt to the inventory. He leaned up and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her lovingly before he returned his pants to the inventory as well, turning the lights off. The moon light streamed in through the curtains, Black Fox returning her collared shirt to the inventory as well. They stared into each other's eyes for a long time, eventually Black Fox made the first move. He was everything to her right now… she didn't want to overwhelm him, but he was the only thing keeping her grounded right now. If he wasn't there, she would have probably been lost somewhere right now… alone… maybe she'd have fallen to Florien as well… she slowly began to understand things about her former partner… why Hiwa might have lost herself to the man who took everything from her… She felt alone… Florien was someone to cling to…
Kirito and Black Fox spent the rest of the night keeping themselves warm in each other's arms. They knew they couldn't be separated now, or ever.
Level Ninety Five: Demon's Trail Dungeon
The next morning, Kirito and Black Fox were walking along with the front-liners through the Demon's Trail dungeon, searching for any signs of trouble. They all seemed on edge, despite knowing that White Fox and Florien were now both out of commission. They eventually reached a 4-way split in the road. "Oh man… there's no way to figure out which path is the right one…" Kagami stated, his seeker skill as a sage not telling him anything. Cecile looked at all 4 paths, thinking to herself for a minute before she turned to the group.
"We've got to split up then. Groups of three or four, with soldiers following?"
"Sounds good to me." Asuna walked forward. I'll take this tunnel." She stood in front of the path on the far left. Agil and Suzuka joined her after a minute. Kagami, Tatsuro, Saito, and Jagger took the one next to Asuna's. Mabashi, Orion, and Ogawa took the next tunnel over. That left Versais to go with Kirito and Black Fox through the far right tunnel.
"We'll be out of contact in here." Black Fox said, having checked her communications. They were all offline. "We're going in blind. When you find the boss door, wait there for the rest. And don't leave the door. We can't lose people to wandering blindly in here."
"Right." Everyone replied before going into their tunnels. Black Fox and her group were the last to go, waiting for all the soldiers from the other groups to get through the opening of the tunnels.
"Let's go." Versais said, smiling. "We're gonna find that dungeon!" he exclaimed, grinning. Black Fox nodded, walking along side Kirito behind Versais, the soldiers following them closely. "So anyway you two…" he turned to them, now walking backwards. "Have you been behaving?" he teased. "You were gone from the front lines for a looong time." He said, laughing a little. "Black Fox you didn't do anything BAD, did you?"
"Sh-shut up, Versais." She mumbled, blushing more. "Don't bring that stuff up now…" Kirito just kept walking, trying not to look up and show how embarrassed he was about the subject. "We have work to do."
"Oh, but it's so much fun! Besides, we're in the halls… no reason to panic." He turned back around. "No monsters are going to come out here-"
"Don't be so sure of that…" a voice came from down the hallway. "After all… this opurrrrtunity isn't going to pass us by…" a pair of reddish eyes appeared at the end of the hall, any light from the torches was extinguished along the line of the hall that was drowned in a split so clean that it wasn't made by any ordinary shadow. There was also a tapping noise, sounding almost like a tail whacking something that made a resonating sound.
"We're here to avenge the one you imprisoned… his power is ours now…" another voice came from the end of the hall, another smaller pair of the same color eyes appeared. "And you will never see the real world again." Something shot past Kirito, catching his cheek and making him bleed. "We start with the loved one of the girl who put master behind bars!" the smaller one shot out from the shadows, revealing himself as a torn up version of the weasel that White Fox had been able to summon. But he missed Kirito, ending up killing a soldier. When another tried to catch it, the weasel killed him as well. No matter how many soldiers tried, they all were too slow to catch him. But when Kirito and Black Fox went to attack the weasel, the other figure blocked them with a white net made of chi, blocking out Versais from them.
"I will be the one to end you two… Weasel, take out the hammer boy." She emerged, revealing the two-tailed cat. She was almost as beat up as the weasel. The weasel just kept killing soldiers, Versais trying to catch it without killing any of the soldiers. Kirito glanced back at the cat, turning to fight it. "What a helpless child… I wish master had killed you…" she grinned, her teeth sharp and blade-like. "But now I get to kill you… and make the girl suffer as I destroy you slowly." The cat charged, Black Fox trying to block, but ending up getting thrown to the ground by something unseen. And then, she heard a voice in her head.
"You cannot save him…" it was a feminine voice… a deep one… "You will lose him… just like all the others…" she could see fights happening all throughout the dungeon, the soldiers being killed and the main forces being cut in half, one being in a similar situation as her, the others being split up by a similar barrier. "You will be forever alone, child…"
"No…" Black Fox watched Kirito fighting the cat, managing to damage it, but he was taking damage as well. "No…" she felt tears in her eyes as Kirito lost his sword to a blow by the cat's claws, its tails wrapping around his neck and hand to keep him from escaping. She remembered her mother the hospital… the night she died… She remembered watching Hibiya get cut down by an image of the girl he loved… "NO!" she screamed, the weight that held her suddenly dissolving away, allowing her to attack the cat. "Shikigami Art! Shadow of the Black Sky Sickle!" the shadow sliced down, cutting the cat's tails off. It reeled back, hissing and arching its back as its tails bled. "K-kirito!" the barrier fell away and Versais managed to catch the weasel, its speed being almost cut in half as the tails fell away. She got to Kirito's side, seeing his health bar in the red, but slowly recovering. She sighed in relief, hugging him tight. "Kirito…"
"Sorry… I got caught off guard…" he mumbled, holding onto her weakly. "I'm okay…" he rubbed his throat as she gave him a little space. "You've got the cat on the ropes." He said, looking over at it, seeing it's health bar in the red. "Finish it…"
"… Right." She nodded, kissing him lightly on the cheek. "I will…" she said. She turned to the cat, glaring at it. "You're the one who's going to die here… Joker Cat… it's over…" she walked over to the cat, watching it backing up till it was against the wall.
"It will never be over!" she hissed. "Our leader still lives! She will destroy you!" she jumped at Black Fox, claws gleaming.
"… Shikigami Art. Midnight Pinwheel…" Black Fox's attack sent the cat flying into the wall, breaking it completely. "I'm sorry to have lost you this way… you were a good comrade in the beta…" she mumbled, turning to Versais, who had smashed the Weasel with his hammer. "And you as well…" she stared at the ground where the weasel had been as Versais returned his hammer to its resting place. She looked at the broken wall, receiving the Experience points and rewards for defeating the cat. "… Let's get going, guys…" she glanced back at the weasel's victims, seeing them vanish. "This is why… I asked them not to come…" she mumbled before she moved forward. Her energy bar was low and her health was still recovering, the thing that had pushed her to the ground and stopped her from moving had been sapping her health. Kirito and Versais caught up with her, the soldiers who were recovering saying they would wait there for their health to come back up.
"Are you okay?" Kirito took her hand, seeing her stumbling a little. "Maybe we should wait…"
"No… we can't… whatever's going on here… we have to end it…" she said, stopping as they emerged from the tunnel, seeing a huge black door in front of them in a room that was like a cathedral or something, but worn out, torn up and blackened with dust and cobwebs. It looked like what you might expect if a cathedral could "die" and rot. A shell of a corpse… They looked around, not seeing anyone around. "None of the others are here yet…" she felt her stomach churning, hoping everyone was okay after what she'd seen. "We'll wait…" she said standing near the door and staring at it, Kirito taking a seat next to her. She glanced at him, seeing the cut on his face still and gently wiping away the blood and kissing his cheek. He blushed, but he didn't pull away. It wasn't like it hurt… but… she still took such careful care of him. "… Behind that door… I don't think it's the boss that was originally programmed in…" she said to him. "I think that Florien put in a fail-safe… because he knew that anyone who could get to this level would be able to defeat him… I think he brought down the last boss to this dungeon…"
"The Boss from level 100?" Kirito asked, causing Black Fox to nod at him. "Why would he do that?" he questioned as Versais took a seat nearby.
"I think he programmed it so that if his health bar ever hit zero, the level 100 boss would come to defeat whoever defeated him…"
"Wait, what? But we didn't kill him." Kirito stated.
"No… you didn't… I did…" she whispered. "I went… a few nights ago… when you were sleeping…" she said, making Kirito's eyes widen in shock. "He threatened to get out and kill you… I got angry… and lost control…" she mumbled, her mask hiding the tears Kirito knew were forming. "But I still think he managed to get out… somehow…" she turned to him. "I won't let him take you away…"
"I won't go anywhere." He said, taking her hand. "Just… relax… it's okay… We'll win…"
"… Right." She nodded to him. Versais watched them, smiling. They were helping each other's state of being… their mindset… it was good for them both. They waited for an hour, and no one came… Black Fox glanced at the door again for the 10th time in the past half hour. She kept hearing something that bothered her. Kirito just stayed with her, Versais standing up.
"I'll go check it out."
"We agreed that we wouldn't do that." Kirito stated, but Versais shook his head.
"We have to do something." He stated. "Besides, I can handle myself. I'll be back." He tousled Black Fox's hair, patting Kirito's shoulder. "You need to take care of her. Keep her from charging in there alone."
"R-right…" he mumbled, watching Versais leave without another word. Black Fox just watched him go silently. She sighed once he was gone.
"The sky is dark… but the light that seems to be a sign of hope is a sign of death…" she mumbled, making Kirito look over at her. "That's what Florien said to me… when I told him I would kill him. I still don't get it…"
"… the sky is dark… sounds pretty accurate for the current situation." Kirito said, leaning against her shoulder. "The light that seems to be a sign of hope is a sign of death…" he pondered for a minute. "I dunno…"
"Well, whatever it means… we'll get this done…" she said to him, wrapping her arm around his waist. "Kazuto… I'm going to make sure that we get out of here…"
"I know…" he took her hand, holding it as he did when he told her that she couldn't rely on other knights. "And I vow the same to you… Akemi…" he smiled up at her, seeing her blushing like crazy. His face was turning red as well. "Wh-why are you blushing so much?"
"S-so-sorry… you… that was… unexpected…" she said, managing a smile. "I think… you're going to end up being the one who makes my heart flutter when we get back… not the other way around…" she held his hand tight. They stared at each other until they heard something from the door. They turned to see the clouds of dust kicking up from something moving around in the room behind the door. "Whatever that thing is… it's going to be a tough fight."
"Yeah." Kirito stood up, staring at the door. They both glanced at each other and then back at the door, suddenly seeing smoke rising from under the door, a heat spot growing in the middle of the door. Black Fox pulled Kirito down to the floor as a huge fireball cut a clean hole in the door, flying right at them and passing over their heads, landing less than a few yards behind them. A huge white paw emerged from the hole, the wall and door melting as its huge reddish claws ran across the space. "It's just like Florien's chains…" Kirito mumbled.
"Unfortunately so…" Black Fox said, hearing a deep, angry growl from the room, the dissolving wall crumbling as a huge white fox-shaped thing with red marks on its face and nine tails emerged. But it didn't attack immediately.
"You there… girl…" the fox growled. "You are the one who killed Master Florien…"she separated from Kirito, glaring at the fox.
"That's right." She stated. "You're the Nine Tailed Fox… The master of White Protocol Shikigami Arts…" She added, still staring at it. "I don't understand why you are Florien's servant… but you're most definitely the one whose defeat will get us out."
"Heh… smart girl… You're the girl who controls the current Black Protocol." The fox replied, the red eyes resembling White Fox's in a way. "The one who partnered with the girl who was supposed to control me… I will enjoy this fight greatly, little one." She grinned, her teeth shining and white. "Your little knight needs to stay out of this." A white cage-like thing fell over Kirito, trapping him. He tried to get out, but to no avail. "Now our battle will be uninterrupted…"
"… Fine with me." She stated, removing her mask, her eyes coloring black with golden flecks, her energy rising above the green level. "I won't be holding back…"
"Heh. Good. If you hold back, your dear husband there will die…" the fox's energy rose as well, her eyes coloring in a way that made them look alive with fire. "And I might just keep him as a pet…"
"Shikigami Art Summoning… Shadow Bear… Midnight Wolf…" Black Fox's group of summoned help appeared as she glared up at the fox. "Pet? Hah. You're the pet here." She said. "Shikigami Art… Noir Spiral Fang!"
Kirito could only watch, and it didn't seem good. Black Fox was cutting down the HP of the huge creature, but it was taking so long… and the fox wasn't even attacking yet. Just swatting away the wolves and bear like they were nothing. The fox laughed and taunted as the battle continued. This was getting nowhere… he had to help her. But he couldn't break his cage. He looked up from the bars on the cage in time to see Black Fox get thrown to the ground, her HP faltering and dropping to the red just from that one hit. The bear protected her from a fireball that the fox launched their way, but it vanished just from one hit. "N-no…"
"Little girl, you are helpless against me…" the fox said, grinning. "I will win… your boy will be mine…" she laughed. "I will never let you or your friends leave Ryuuko…"
"No." Black Fox got up shakily, her energy bar now blazing white. "I will not lose to you…" she said, black marks drawing themselves across her arms and on the left side of her face, which was facing Kirito. He stared, seeing some of the marks emerging into the air from her back, a huge looming shape forming. The fox grinned, charging another attack. "Please hear my voice, master of the Black Protocol… Shikigami Art Summoning… Noir Dragon." The shapes took form, the marks on her face and arms remaining, all the others forming a huge dragon-like beast behind her. "Noir Dragon… I have a request." The dragon leaned its head over to Black Fox. "I wish for you to lend me your powers, just for this fight… to save my friends… comrades…" she glanced back at Kirito. "To save the boy I want to protect above all else…"
"It will have a heavy price, child…" the deep booming voice of the dragon seemed to be telepathic, its mouth sealed shut with stitches and not moving. "Are you willing?"
"Yes." She replied, turning to pet the dragon's jaw. "I will give it to you… if you help me save him…" she stated, the dragon's eyes that had remained closed opening as she stared at it. The stunning purple flecked with blues and turquoises orbs stared at her before turning to the fox.
"My opponent is you? Interesting… we have not fought before." He stated, raising his head. "I will enjoy this." He added, flaring out his wings.
"As will I…" the fox stated, lunging at the dragon. The clash had begun…
(Enter giant boss fight ; U ; Was this one okay? I hope this chapter is good. I MIGHT. repeat, MIGHT. Post one more tonight. We shall see. I start school tomorrow though, so maybe not.
Will the next chapter be the last in Ryuuko? Stay tuned to find out ; u ;
-Winter Cheshire)