[Alfheim Online, New Aincrad, Floor 24]
I didn't give Yuuki the time to react as I fired the trio of arrows. In a second after, she lunged, striking down the arrows as her blade spun and aimed to pierce me. Thinking on reflex, I leapt to the right and drew another arrow firing where she once stood. I grunted, feeling her blade slash my right shoulder that she dived past.
Rolling, I knelt and fired two more arrows that bounced off her sword's face as the purple girl twirled, sweeping the air between us. Her sword struck down where I previously knelt, I held my bow forward, another three arrows wide but again she simply swept her sword through the air almost as if she predicted where they'd be, swatting them aside. This was the same issue with Kirito and others with fast reaction times, if they could time it right, my arrows would be little more than a nuisance.
Yuuki was upon me hard and fast, the strike of her sword ringing against my bow, forcing me to twist and throw her past me while I put distance between us, but that gap closed, her sword skimming the dirt as I nearly tripped over my own feet, but that stumble saved me a fatal blow as the tip of the obsidian sword nicked across my chest, finally, she and I stood meters apart.
I panted but Yuuki wasn't breaking a sweat, offering me a cutesy smile with her eyes closed briefly. She was enjoying this, how she moved, the way she reacted, it was all subconscious, she... was inhuman. I looked at my arms... they were shaking, I was well out of my depth here.
"You brat! You set us up!?"
"A snake, had us all tricked!"
"'It's Showtime'!"
"Now, what's with the trip down memory lane?" I thought breathlessly, but I paused, her eyes were locked to mine again. She was gauging my reaction, waiting for me to respond. 'Will you stay and fight?'. Yeah, that's definitely what she wanted to know, others gave up or were wiped out in seconds. Me...?
I withdrew another arrow, only now, a bright teal light overtook the arrowhead, I met her fire with my own embers. She seemed surprised at first and slowly, her frown emerged, and her brow was knit. Now, Zekken was taking this seriously. I gave her a winning grin, showing my canines. "Come and get me, Zekken." I taunted.
"Hmph!" She snorted sharply.
This time, she took the first move, charging headfirst into my skill. I fired the arrow with Threaded Needle, the wind puckered and blasted dust on contact with the ground behind Yuuki as she struck through with Rage Spike. I expected as much and swivelled to the right of her blade, firing a bronze arrow at our feet. "Blast Scale!" The arrow tore into both mine and her bodies, but it put distance between us. "Here she comes!"
Yuuki's blade was lilac as she yelled, swinging wide as the metal edge met another skill-charged arrow that tore at the ground and air around us, but her skill motion followed through, striking my elbows and NTB, Horizontal Arc. I retaliated, seeing her eyes dilated at the three arrows taut against the bowstring, taking on a lime green coating.
"Buckshot!" The middle arrow was parried but two sliced across her thighs, inflicting Defence Down as Yuuki drew her sword forward over her shoulder. She slashed the air to my right, I dived, avoiding a horizontal arc that traced into the sky, nicking my collarbone while another wide swing shaved strands of air, leaving a deep blue square in the air between us, another arrow flying through the shape to slash her left cheek.
Her sword swung down against my left thigh and immediately stung across my cheek, using my risen bow to slide her blade along. Yuuki was relentless, thrusting her blade through every gap in my defence, I kept my body light on its feet, weaving between her strikes to withdraw a new arrow as her sword crashed against my bow, bringing our noses an inch from touching, our glares mirrored.
Suddenly, her eyes flinched in discomfort, a thunderous punch to her gut lifting the girl an inch shorter than me off her feet. I followed through with my unpredictable move, twisting right to slam my left boot to her stomach again, tossing her backward where two of my 'missed' arrows were touched by her heel.
I clicked my fingers, "Tick-Tick-Boom," With a wink, I saw her eyes widen as she was swept up in an explosion. This wasn't magic, rather, they were coated in a highly combustible substance I had crafted. I called this little Mixing Skill of mine, Blast Coating. Drawing three arrows, my face flinched when Yuuki came out from the smoke slightly unscathed, did she... deflect them before the blast could damage her severely?
Her blade swung wide again, and I leapt over into a helix dive, firing the hail of emerald arrows that were effortlessly parried. The moment I landed she circled in on me, striking with a charging downward slash that rippled though the air, causing my bones to shake as I attempted to block the worst Sonic Leap.
My legs buckled, shifting back before I saw her jump toward me, attempting to slam my uneven stance into the ground, I didn't let her, sliding onto my back to shift between her legs, drawing NTB over my head to pluck another two arrows that whizzed by her hips. I spun around, five arrows drawn back as far as possible.
Arrowheads dipped in Blast Coating, their dark heads closed in on all sides, one would surely hit - I saw something in her eyes, those red irises flashed and in a mere blink she left behind a plume of black and red smoke. "She saw through all five blast arrows!?" Who... was this girl?
Her sword expelled the smoke around us, a deep violet that swept and curled around her blade down to her forearm. This skill... it's what Argo warned me about.
"-Oh, and he's got this nasty Original Sword Skill, highest since the update to, 11-Hits in a split second, ya blink ya miss iT," Argo quickly offered as I turned to leave.
"Now this is getting interesting!" Call me a madman, but I haven't had my heart pumping this badly in a long time, this tremor in my hands, I recognize it now, it's exactly how I felt back then, as twisted as it appeared, I wanted to feel completely enthralled to this world.
Yuuki let out a warcry as her sword plunged into my chest with five consecutive stabs in a straight line from the top right to the bottom left. But I wasn't about to just roll over, instead, as the five stab recoiled, I dove through the smoke, NTB poised to her chest as Threaded Needle skewered the left side of her collarbone, leaving a smoke cloud behind her from the shockwave.
Teal and Violet crashed in a tsunami as another barrage of stabs tore into my leather but I held my ground, raising my bow again to unleash two more arrows from my grip, coated in exploding gel that left our fate ambiguous, but I could see it clear as day. Her sword whipped by purple threads, her eyes scorching with determination. I let out a small laugh.
"Well played," Her last stab ripped through my abdomen and before I knew it, I was thrown onto my back as I attempted to land a final blow myself, ripping fabric with me as the rumbling of sword skills and the dust gradually died down.
Staring up at my HUD, I found that I had enough health left that a light gust of wind could kill me. I blinked, meeting a pair of crimson eyes as Yuuki winced, rubbing her forehead from tumbling onto me after I yanked her windswept skirt. Her sword was embedded in the ground next to my bow. For a moment, I was prepared to be called literally anything insulting, instead, she gave me the biggest smile I have ever seen.
"That. Was. Awesome~!" She practically squealed as I heard the roaring applause from the crowd, once more, the Absolute Sword had won, but her health was in the red, but she noticeably had more than me. Well, been a while since I've lost so I'm not complaining. "You... you were amazing!" She then started to mimic how I fought with my bow. "You were all that 'whoosh'! Then your arrows did all this exploding without skills or magic! And-And-"
"-And I'd love to tell you the fundamentals of alchemy without you sitting on me, but by all means, continue," I was enjoying this, smirking as she realized she had me pinned. Quickly, Yuuki hopped to her feel with a quick apology and offered a hand.
"Welp, I've decided! You're the best pick!" Yuuki grinned, patting my shoulder a moment after.
"Good match, though my informant could've mentions a few earlier details..." I grumbled before- "Wait, what?"
"I've fought alot of people lately, but by far you've got that special glint I was looking for!" She pumped her free fist at her apparent discovery that I was in-fact a human being.
Why was she spreading her wings?
Uh oh, her hand's alot tighter than before.
I think I've made a terrible mistake...
[To Be Continued...]
[Author's Notes]
And there we have it, so I'm incorporating a number of Bow Skills I've come up with as well as 'Coatings' similar to those found in Monster Hunter games for some added 'oomph'. We'll see more of Malzeno's personality next as well as his interactions with the Sleeping Knights. I hope you enjoyed, appreciate the support, seeya in the next chapter, Readers!