Link Start: Danger In Virtual Worlds
Chapter 25: Dancing With Death
Date: Infinityverse Days 802-828
On the 70th Floor is danger and of course, the final bits of ALO. On the 71st Floor, GGO begins. On the 72nd Floor, there's Ozmalt and Algara Village. Sinon speaks: "The fact that Death Gun is staring at us from a distance definitely is not creepy at all." Argo replies: "Sinonon, you're right about that." Kirito grits his teeth: "That bastard. We know he's behind the missing players. But we also know that he's doing it only to lure us into a trap. That's very obvious. We have to stay alert for whatever he's planning." Yui speaks: "I hate to interrupt but umm.. Is that the 70th Floor Boss over there? *points in the same direction Death Gun is staring at us from*" We all ready our weapons. Lisbeth sighs: "Not again.. Not another premature Floor Boss fight.." Asuna yells: "Once there, there is no time for trying to fight it using a 2 or 3 group system! In SAO, we relied heavily on such organization but the bosses have become far more difficult to beat in this game, making that impossible to rely on!" The resulting fight was brutal and extremely difficult and dangerous. As I've been told, in SAO, the difficulty of each boss didn't go up every floor, at least not in a linear way, causing the 25th, 50th, and 75th Floor Bosses to be notably difficult. That's another thing that sets this nightmare apart from SAO. With each floor we go up, the more difficult the bosses get every time without fail as we have seen over and over again as things have played out. When we finally cleared the 70th Floor Boss against literally all odds, we were battered and beaten so badly that it didn't feel like we won at all. No, it felt like we lost miserably. I cough blood and cover a wound with my gloved left hand.
"Damn. I can't believe how hard that was.. I think the difficulty went up more this time percentage wise when compared to going from the 68th to the 69th Floor Bosses.. This doesn't feel like just a death game. This feels like a war. A really drawn out and brutal war in which anyone could be killed in a horrible way at any moment just like in the Alien films with those xenomorphs going around, hunting humans and using some as hosts to grow and worse.." We all get our bearings and make graves for those who just died before holding an improvised ceremony for them as well as a moment of silence. We haven't lost very many clearers in a while up to now. This is a sad and tragic day. Words cannot express how dreadful all of this feels. It never could possibly do so.. But the nightmare wasn't over though it seemed like it was. We healed ourselves and each other however we could before pressing on to explore the floor. By day's end, we had explored all of the open areas of the 70th Floor when we came to something truly special and awe inspiring. It lifted our spirits. Pinkie Pie exclaims: "*gasp* Is that what I think it is?! Is that the top of the World Tree over there?! Look at how massive and incredible it is!" Even Playmaker smiles upon seeing it and hearing Pinkie Pie's words. Again, he's one of the last people you'd ever expect to smile about anything. He suffered from trauma for years after all. Leuer speaks: "Oh, what a wondrous sight. It's like a sign from the Gods of ALO that we should try to smile and move forward while never forgetting everything that has happened to us in this game. It would be best to explore it to see what it really has to offer. Today has been a day of dread and near constantly fighting monsters.
The story must go on and the heroes of this tale must regain their courage and passion in order to lead the way in clearing this game." As he said that, he played an instrument that a bard would play while regaling audiences with tales of heroics by legendary heroes fighting for what they believe in their hearts to be just and important. Someday, bards are going to sing about me amongst many other BRAINS members and it's going to be interesting. We do in fact approach the top of the World Tree and climb up to it and see something truly magical. There are no monsters to worry about here. It's even designated as a safe zone by the system. No monsters, no combat of any kind. I brought Chocolate and Andromeda along to this floor. The latter is adorable while truly grasping what we're seeing and in fact runs to get closer to what we're seeing. It is a giant beautiful seed that gives the tree life which in turn gives life to all of ALO and maybe even all of Aincrad due to how well fused ALO is with the floating castle. Andromeda looks really excited to see it. I run after them in order to make sure the wolf puppy doesn't accidentally hurt themselves. Chocolate trots along to join us while having more of a stuck in wonder reaction to the seed. This is clear not what makes Yggdrasil be full of life in Norse mythology but it is still amazing anyway. However, our joy at seeing it is soon shattered by the sound of a precise and fatal bullet. Some of us are forced to evade the bullet that came from who knows where. Jesse yells: "Watch out, everyone! It could be Death Gun!" Death Gun appears from the other side of the top of the World Tree, just walking unharmed with a cold gaze fixated upon all of us.
But the bullets don't stop flying. If Death Gun isn't shooting us, who is shooting us then? We aren't intimidated or afraid thanks to the morale boost caused by the World Tree. Instead, we are ready and willing to confront this threat no matter what it takes. PAMA speaks: "I do not like how this is going so far. How will we get out of this? Even I cannot think of a solution.." Romeo frowns: "I don't believe there's just one Death Gun.." Sinon and Kirito share horrified looks, still being a little haunted by the Death Gun incident in GGO. Sinon shakes as she pulls out her Hecate: "It's happening. Again.. But this time.. They're in game at the same time.. If we die in this game.. We die for real.. Game over, no second chances unless we have a rare special skill or something else like that.." The other Death Gun comes out of hiding while carrying a fully loaded gun that was clearly just used to try to shoot some of us only to miss every single time because our reaction times are too fast for the bullets that were fired. What's even more frightening is that the bullets had no bullet lines visible. M notes this and states: "They're skilled killers. They don't need the bullet line to shoot their prey just like me. We have the numbers but they have the lethality with that gun. But there's more. They are here together now. That means they know what they're doing and aren't afraid of us. They are confident they can pick us off until there's no one left to stop them in getting their revenge and killing for the kicks." Pito doesn't grin at the odds for once. Instead, she has a serious look. The look of a true killer. A look that I've sadly somewhat gained over time myself.
Sterben/XaXa speaks. He's the one holding the gun. "Kirito, Sinon, we are face to face once again. In this world, there is no hiding who we truly are even behind a mask like that of Death Gun. That serves to make everything more real and more dangerous. Today is the first day of the next tier of all of your nightmares, Assault Team. It will also be your final tier if you cannot survive the night against me. The other Death Gun is my younger brother except he no longer talks. He is now too cold and merciless to speak. I saw to that personally by bringing him into this game myself. The other person who has played as Death Gun remains out of reach but I do not require him to get what I want. Let the games begin." The other Death Gun pulls out a gun as well and a sword too. Some of us exclaim: "Dual wielding?!" XaXa chuckles: "'Dual wielding is a unique skill given to the hero who may clear Aincrad.' *said mockingly* The system normally doesn't allow for dual wielding but many of you have defied the system to achieve it. *stares at me* Like you, Swiftdrawer. I have had my eye on you amongst others for a long time. You tried to help end Death Gun but you cannot end Death Gun. You can only hope to survive Death Gun. This is going to be slow and painful. For all of you. This is your only warning. If you are not prepared in an hour, you will all die. But first, I'm sure you are anxious to know about all of those missing players. My brother has had a lot of fun with them." With a flick of his finger, something appears before our very eyes. A memory crystal recording of XaXa's brother, Kyouji aka Speigel is shown of him torturing the missing players in all kinds of horrible ways. Sinon yells: "No! Kyouji! But he was starting to reform and get better! I know this!"
XaXa coldly laughs: "This is how he is now. There is no point in trying to rescue the missing players. You will never find where they're being held no matter how hard you try. For now, we will take our leave. Remember my warning if you want to try to survive, allowing us to make this into a kind of game Johnny Black would love to play if he were still around." Then, they just vanished into thin air as if they were never there. Heathcliff speaks: "This is an emergency situation. We may need to limit further involvement to top players only. I apologize to all of you who are not top players. Let us vote on the matter now. The Assault Team is a collective now after all." 20 minutes later, it is decided that the majority of clearers are in favor due to lots of conversing, arguing, and so on. Most clearers who aren't top players were reluctant to leave. However, I offered to do something good: "Listen, everyone. If you are to not be involved in this situation anymore, I have something to tell you. Tell the mid level and low level players as well and don't let XaXa or his brother find out. Go to Twisted Land. There are places to hide there. It would take hours for our foes to find you. Thanks to Argo and I's efforts, a guidebook to hiding in Twisted Land was made. My theme park is a compact place full of things to ride, haunted houses, and more. We will be give those guidebooks away for free. They were free already but now, they're once again essential. There's even details about hiding in the Mining Mayhem roller coaster. We can't allow any of you to die. We can't let them win or take any lives if we can help it." That puts most of them at ease, allowing for a spark of hope to sprout and begin to grow. After all, there are some seriously annoying places to get to in Twisted Land.
You could easily get lost looking for someone inside of Expedition Of The Tukan Pyramid: Pharaonic Rage for example. It's 12 minutes long in duration. Longer if the entire coaster is walked on instead of ridden by minecart. For the remaining time left of the hour, we get ready to handle things how they must be handled. I speak to my animal companions: "Andromeda, Chocolate, I'm going to have to take you to be hidden in Twisted Land. I don't want to lose either of you and you will be great company for each other as well as anyone who ends up hiding with you two. Please understand. This isn't like when we fought Windy and Lightning for the last time. This is different and more deadly. Death Gun is known for using a handgun and a sniper that paralyzes the target or targets." They understand and I take them there to the best hiding place for them that I possibly could. When that was done, I got back to the 70th Floor before the hour was fully up. Once there, I discussed with the others on what to do when the Death Guns return. When they did, we were completely ready to fight. XaXa speaks: "I see you have fully prepared to face us, even sending away players who aren't top players in this game. You have done well but well is not good enough to stand a chance against us. Prepare to perish one by one, all of you." Without warning, they each go after seemingly random individuals. But given that they go after Llenn and Argo first, we knew that it wasn't random very quickly. They held identical handguns up to the two. Sinon looks somewhat troubled but Kirito and the others comfort her. XaXa raises an eyebrow: "So that's how it's going to be? I was going to ask how you felt about seeing this but it appears I don't need to, Shino Asada."
She replies: "What are doing to them?" "I am giving you a choice, top players. You can only save one of them. The other gets shot and dies. Refuse to pick who dies and they both die before we slaughter all of you as well. That is why I said the be prepared when dealing with us again." Kirito yells: "Damn you! Let them both go!" "No, we will not let them go. You have 30 seconds to give an answer. 30 seconds to decide their fates before we decide them for you. This is not only the final ALO floor but also the final floor period for one or both of these vital clearers." Llenn shouts: "Save Argo! Her information and intel gathering is needed to finally clear this game!" XaXa starts verbally counting down: "17. 16. 15.. 14.." There is no time right now, this must be figured out. "5. 4." "I don't think so! Go, Rocket Arrow Express! I choose option D, you get your guns off them or I run you over with my trains! Now, prepare to blast them, Gustav Max!" I activate my duel disk: "Behold, the result of merging creativity, entertainment, comedy, and pure horror! We will not let you get away with what you're doing!" All of us duelists summon various monsters, distracting the Death Guns long enough for Argo and Llenn to violently break free with a dagger and P-chan's entire body respectively. XaXa laughs again: "Well done. But that was all just a test of how loyal all of you were. Now is when things get much more dangerous and terrifying for you." XaXa removes the seed from the top of the World Tree. And with its power, he reshapes the entire floor to separate us all from each other(the seed would mysteriously vanish from his possession later and appear right where he took it from with almost a will of its own).
XaXa's voice is projected all over the place so that we can all hear him speak once more: "We will enjoy this for as long as we can. 2 of you will soon be hunted down by us but now that all of you are physically separated, it will be extremely difficult for you to figure out where any of the others are or where we're lurking. We can strike any of you at any moment without any of you realizing it is you who is currently the target for one of us to kill. Russian roulette is nothing compared to this game. We will feed on your fear in order to grow more powerful. Death Gun will soon be the talk of Aincrad, one spoken quietly and with dread expressed in the voices of people who saw me do what I will soon do. When we're finished, we'll rule Aincrad with fear with none of you still alive to face either of us in order to stop us from ruling through the most chilling fear possible as of yet." It only gets worse as I find that I literally can't see anything and there's hardly anything to hear in this place. I could be standing here for hours just waiting for one of them to try to kill me. Likewise, I could be one of their next targets, leaving me subjected to a drawn out cat and mouse chase in which I am eventually killed by bullets. I stand there for who knows how long. I don't hear anything besides the sounds I make. I have to talk to myself in order to stay sane and not panic from such creepiness and silence. I pull out my main gun as well as sword in order to try to survive what's going to happen eventually. However, nothing happens for who knows how long and eventually, the walls literally crumble apart. XaXa and Kyouji appear in full view of all of us. XaXa speaks: "We were unable to kill any of you. Soon, the day will turn as the calendar turns to Day 803 in this game. For now, we will once again take our leave."
Rattled to the core about what just happened, we end up staying the night together at an inn on the floor. No one slept alone. That's how we got through the night or so we thought we would. However, the sounds of screaming and fighting would wake me and pretty much everyone else up in the middle of the night. I whisper to the others in the room with me: "Be careful. One of the Death Guns could be in here right now and have a knife pointed close to my throat without my actual awareness of such. It is pitch black in here. Death Gun strikes silently and true, no matter what weapon is used to kill their targets." We creep around the room cautiously, looking out for any sign of either of our enemies inside our room. That's when I feel something fast hit my head, causing me to barely cling onto consciousness as I slump to the floor. XaXa is heard saying: "I warned you, didn't I? By night's end, all of you will die. Your fates have long been already sealed. This is how your story ends. In tragedy, doom, and misery. What's more is that there are clones of my brother or I at each location you so happen to be sleeping at. The only way to end this is to make the real versions of us retreat somehow. We are enjoying this game very much and sincerely hope that you aren't. As Johnny Black likes to say, it's showtime." One of us turns on the lights but XaXa is unfazed. Instead, he grins and goes at each of us with a handgun by shooting us with it. I block each of his bullets myself. The villain frowns: "Do you ever take your armor off? It won't matter for much longer, when you're dead, your armor will be ours to add to our collection." "I'm not planning on dying and neither is anyone else here! HAAAAAAAAA!"
We force the XaXa we were facing to retreat. In time, all of our foes, clone or not end up leaving as well. XaXa laughs: "This isn't over, we're just trying to sow the seeds of terror within you right now. The next time you see us, you top players will begin dropping like flies very quickly." Falling back asleep was hard even after my comrades healed me from being shot. It was like trying to fall asleep during a severe thunderstorm while sweating and having to get up to pee every so often. Morning came and I refused to get out of bed, opting to sleep in for once instead due to being so tired. 2 hours later, I woke up after being shot again. That's when I saw that the room I was in was covered in blood with one of the Death Guns squaring off with my roommates. It's clearly XaXa again as Death Gun states: "You only managed to survive the night because we have been playing with all of you. Making you believe that we were going to finish off all of you last night. *points to me* I will not allow you to save your friend over there*" That's when I notice where I was suddenly shot. I guess the impact of the shot combined with how deep asleep I was combined to ensure my body just wasn't really reacting to much of anything. I was fully alert after being shot again but still. The bullet was able to penetrate my armor somehow and the wound caused was really severe. The pain hasn't quite set in just yet. I didn't know what to think or do due to being so abruptly woken up. I just kind of stood there like an NPC until the blood loss really began to set in.
That's when I finally did something and tackled XaXa to the ground while he was focused on shooting my roommates. It was hard to dodge bullets in this small of a space so my roommates are by now pretty hurt thanks to the villain. I have more combat experience than XaXa has, allowing me to force his gun out of his hand. I shoot his Death Gun mask with it. It doesn't break but it does get damaged. "XaXa, you won't get away with what you have done!" He only smirks as he pulls out a knife and drives it into the wound I already have to deepen it despite the fact that I now had him pinned to the ground. This move caused me to react, allowing him to break free of my hold on him and send me to a wall, causing the wall to be damaged and me to fall through it and onto the ground just outside of the inn. Chaos has already erupted all around. What's worse is that there's more than 2 Death Guns that aren't clearly clones now? No, much more than 2.. Where did all of these other Death Guns come from? I was too hurt and shocked to even get back up or question it any further than I already have. And I even lost consciousness only to wake up inside a medical building in the town we were staying in on the 70th Floor. It was only now that I realized we were inside that certain ALO village Kirito and Leafa reached while inside a huge cave system back before the Death Gun incident. The architecture of the building made me realize that. I was checked in on by some of the Assault Team's top healers and informed that we barely got out of that chaos without losing anyone. Several individuals almost died during all of that. And XaXa warned anyone conscious to hear him that this was only the beginning.
He made it clear that he had found an underground network of players even we knew nothing about who sought to revive Laughing Coffin one more time someday while posing as mostly ordinary mid level and low level players, keeping them well under the radar. That racist jerk who was in the ALA was one of them. After making myself and others fail that weird quest and getting thrown out of the ALA and Assault Team, the jerk tried to PK some players but was stopped and sent to the Blackiron Palace's prison. A few of the Death Guns were caught or killed in battle. XaXa was said to have been unconcerned by the loss of them, once again showing his confidence in the malevolent plans he has for eventually wiping us out. Things calmed down for a little while. No new incidents, no kidnappings. Just preparing for the next floor, missions to hunt down our foes, the recovery of those harmed including me, and attempts to find the kidnapped players in order to rescue them. On Day 810, we moved onto the 71st Floor and it was obvious that the Death Guns were going to show up a lot more now that we are on the GGO floors. After Floor 85, we will be on The Underworld Floors and that's going to be something else given what lies on them from Aincrad alone. We are only getting closer to the Ruby Palace. Upon reaching the 71st Floor, we find ourselves in GGO's huge lobby area. There's stores and all kinds of buildings around. I sigh: "PKing is going to become a lot more lethal, dangerous, and intense now that guns will be bought and sold all of the time on this floor alone."
Sinon nods: "You're right. We're going to have to have more lessons on gun safety and related topics now. That includes better lessons on how to use a gun with and without the bullet line assist." Kirito speaks up: "I think I'm going to pick up a photon sword just in case I end up needing it for some reason." Deidara grins: "There must be all kinds of things to blow things up with in the shops here! True art is an explosion! Might come in handy for fighting bosses and Death Guns." Nagato replies: "Be careful about that. We of the Akatsuki are to never become cruel and merciless at nearly all times like you and I amongst the other original members once were." I nod: "It's been a while since we've gone on any assassination missions but we still better not fully give into the cold and calculating personality of an assassin. We also have to be careful. XaXa might find a way to PK people even in a safe zone like this entire area and unlike with Schmidt, Grimlock, and the others, it will be real, not staged or illusionary." Because of the Death Gun threat, things have changed in how we do things as the Assault Team. Teams and parties for now must contain at least one top player from the Assault Team. For guilds, the same applies but with more top players the larger the guild is. I don't like setting rules for basically anything but there's no other choice. I learned through sociology that some kind of set of rules is required in all social groups: even collective ones. All are advised to watch out for Death Gun. All of the Death Guns wear that same creepy and identity concealing mask along with the black hooded cloaks. Death Gun has become what Laughing Coffin was until we crushed it and the crushed any attempts to fully revive it.
It is not Laughing Coffin tattoos that are alarming or needing to be watched out for anymore. Death Gun is a true symbol of death and fear in the entire game now. It is making players of all levels nervous and afraid. It is taking a lot of effort to keep moving forward much less encourage others to keep at it as well. Right now, only top players are on the 71st Floor in order to map things out and get a handle on what's happening on and below the visible surface of things. When the area is fully mapped out around where we are now, other clearers will join us with all groups containing at least one top player as mentioned before. For now, we focus on buying weapons, ammo, that kind of thing. But then, the attacks began again. Left and right, messages about very small groups and individuals being attacked by Death Gun were constantly being sent out. XaXa's voice was projected all over the area we were in: "Hello once again, Assault Team. Now is the time for us to really begin what we have set out to do. All of you will be eliminated one by one starting with whoever we can easily get our hands on in killing. This death game has become even worse for all of you. You will not even make it to the 71st Floor Boss or if you do, you will not have the same levels of comfort after being a Floor Boss anymore. We have overheard some of you say this game is more like a war and I couldn't agree more. We declare war on the Assault Team. Death Gun will crush all. Death Gun will rule and destroy anyone who deserves to die. Not even NPCs will be spared from our final solution.
This is a warning before it all truly begins. If you want to live, surrender or join us willingly. Otherwise, if you even just speak of resisting us, you are our enemy and we will kill you when no one is looking or at least we won't be seen when you die. Now my fellow Death Guns, it is time to have fun. Kill them all. Leave no one left to resist us. If someone surrenders, capture them. If someone joins us, give them a gun. I always knew it would be impractical for me to act alone as Death Gun in this game. I waited until Laughing Coffin was destroyed to begin assembling all of you together. I knew I couldn't destroy the Assault Team all by myself or with just my brother and I and Johnny Black. Because Johnny Black is now dead, that only made me think harder on what to do. This is my ultimate plan for creating fear and destroying the opposition to me. This is my revenge for Laughing Coffin being destroyed several times now and being stopped from killing more people through GGO in conjunction with the real world. Revenge is satisfying, even I have to admit that now that my real plan has finally been set into motion." Screams are heard in all directions. The Death Guns are seriously terrifying even to us top players, meaning that their skills are truly sharp, honed, and deadly like they've been spending every single day in this game becoming true killers. This is an emergency situation and it only intensifies by the minute. Kirito yells: "Where are we even supposed to go?! Screams are coming from every direction and they all sound equally close to us!" Garnet replies: "Stay calm, everyone. We'll have to split into small groups to have any chance of saving as many lives as we can but that will be dangerous and risky. Be careful."
She was right. Peridot groaned about that but relented anyway. I take off with a few others to the northeast, passing by shops and other things along the way. We run into an alleyway where we find the Moonlit Black Cats cornered by several Death Guns. Naruto yells: "Hey bastards! Over here!" The Death Guns turn to face us with their creepy cold expressions caused by their masks. One of them replies: "There's enough of us to each kill one of you still! This is going to be so much fun!" They charge towards one of us each. The one who comes at me mocks: "Ah! I know who you are! You're that knight who was forced to kill some of your own teammates even! The knight with a truly dark and twisted side that sometimes comes out to cause destruction and devastation!" "You think that's going to bust one of my nerves? I have had to do so many things I didn't like and lost control of myself a few times. I have already mostly accepted all of that and I won't let your taunts get to me. I have something I need to do and you won't get in the way of me doing it. And that's helping put an end to your group and XaXa's vile plans. I won't allow him to get away with what he wants to do. Not without facing me and others." "Big words coming from you! I know everything there is to know about you and what you have done in the past in this game!" I stop responding and try to disarm them but they have 2 weapons in hand which is becoming a Death Gun signature: a handgun and a knife. We clash weapons as I dual wield with my sword and laser blaster in response. I'm not going to give the full details of our fight though because there's so much else to cover. They end up being much tougher to defeat than I expected.
We both forgo talking in order to focus on trying to win our fight. Just like how assassins often would when fighting each other. It's just a constant flurry of attacks. Neither of us using any system assists to attack. We knew what we were doing. But then, something grazes me from afar through my right shoulder. The move busted through my armor and shoulder, causing a really bad injury especially for someone like me. The Death Gun I'm facing smirks and finally speaks again: "Did you really think that all of us would fight you clearers on at close range? That's wrong because we don't do that. Instead, we have some of our forces hide out in various locations in order to attack you for a distance in the event you prove to be too hard to handle for us. We were expecting you to be exactly that way from the beginning. We never expected less than that from top players like you. Don't bother escaping either, we have rigged the safe zone of this area in more ways than just allowing PvP at all times. We also rigged it to turn it into an anti-crystal zone, making escape through teleport crystals impossible. I bet you thought the last Floor Boss was pretty terrifying. Well, compared to us, the Floor Boss is tame and docile and cute! Hahahahaha!" "..Damn it.. You have been planning this.. No, XaXa has been planning this for a long time. Maybe even since the first floor of this game.. You won't win so easily even with your snipers, we are too battle hardened to surrender or lose hope even in this kind of situation. Sure, we may question if there's even a way to win but deep down, we refuse to stop fighting." "Aww, isn't that just precious?! It's adorable that you think that that will be enough for you all to save yourselves!"
I don't reply and just focus on fighting, even putting away my blaster to focus on my swordsmanship. With my sword now held in both hands, I begin to fight much better despite the pain my shoulder injury is causing and my hp slowly decreases thanks to the bleeding coming from my shoulder. I must have had a seriously intense look on my face as I continued to fight. I was so focused, serious, and determined. My thoughts were all about fighting back against my foe as well as dodging any surprise bullets from sniping Death Guns. In the end, I was forced into a battle to the death with the Death Gun I was fighting one on one. They laugh: "That's it! Let it all out! Show me how much of a killer you really are! I can see it all over your face! You've killed a lot, haven't you?! I see your pain in not wanting to kill anyone while being serious enough to do it when you have no choice but to anyway! This is the best day ever!" I refuse to respond. I just behave like a fully fledged assassin in order to keep myself from breaking down and allow myself to stay focused on my goals. My foe dies at my hands while laughing like a complete nut job. All of the fights around me soon come to an end with mostly similar results though a few Death Guns are simply sent to the prison in the Blackiron Palace and that was it for now regarding them. Sachi speaks: "..Umm.. Thank you for saving us.. We owe you our lives." Some of the others reply, the ones who didn't have to kill a Death Gun just now. I just mutter quietly to myself: "I just had to kill someone again.. How much more blood will I have to make spill in the future? Will I be forever cursed with the responsibility of making some of my enemies bleed in order to stop them for good?" (Answer: as of months after the game was beaten. Yes..)
I walk away before anyone can speak to me only to be almost shot in the heart. I avoid yet another bullet and find myself surrounded by several Death Guns who have fresh blood on their hands and wide smiles on their faces. One of them speaks: "Oh so it's one of the most infamous clearers of them all! It's Swiftdrawer!" Another replies: "Hehe. You're right. This is going to be great. Even if we're the ones who get killed here, this is going to leave a mark on our new friend!" I refuse to reply once again. I just pull out my sword again and stare at them with a seriously intense look on my face. They discard their handguns in favor of using bladed weapons against me before charging at me. One of them yells: "DIIIIIIIEEE! YOU HAVE TO DIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEE! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" I finally speak again as I counter their attacks expertly: "Listen, all of you. Killing someone is not as satisfying as thrilling as you think it to be. You are taking someone's life, someone whose life story would make for an incredible novel. I refuse to enjoy killing no matter how many times I have to do it. Only my inner darkness enjoys killing. But still, if I have to kill someone, then I will not have fun about it. I will kill them after giving them a chance to surrender or change. If they refuse and keep trying to kill me or whatever, that's when they die. I will kill as quickly and painlessly as possible. I don't even desire to allow my targets to feel enough pain to scream before they die. The only feelings one should get from killing someone is relief that they're stopped if they're a cruel individual or some form of resignation and similar. Lives aren't toys to be played with. Too many make life into some kind of twisted game and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of people like you who don't value the lives of good people.
This is the only warning I'm giving you. Stop fighting me and you will live. Keep fighting me and you will die or I will die while dealing as much damage as I can to help bring you down in the end." A different one of them laughs at my words, the others join in. "You don't think I'm serious? I don't know my total kill count and it's for the best that I don't. That would only weigh down on me even more. I have witnessed, heard of, and experienced so much pain. So much suffering. I have seen the true nature of the society I was born into. The cold and lifeless nature in which people are too distracted with nonsense, work, and more to realize just how much of a craphole society really is and how to at least somewhat resist it. I am known for my kindness but if you continue this on for long enough, I can't give you any of my kindness. I just want to exist peacefully with everyone and everything. I don't want war, I don't want mass disability caused by preventable illness infections. It's like the blood I've caused to spill never leaves my hands. I am cursed by the necessity to kill some of my foes. I am burdened by a number of things. Listen to me. Please." But they still laugh. They show they understood what I said but continue to laugh anyway. In time, I am brought close to death with all kinds of injuries over my body and damage done to my armor. I become desperate and wild as my hp continues to decrease. But my foes are unable to get in the finishing blow. I kill them instead while only having 100 hp left. Soon after, all of the fighting just stops. While drinking potion after potion in a bid to stay alive, XaXa speaks again: "How unfortunate. My Death Guns were not enough to kill any of you.
They brought many of you just a couple hits away from death but they still failed me. This is not over but you've forced me to order them to retreat for now. We will get you one way or another, Assault Team. I will not underestimate you so easily again." All of the Death Guns are seen retreating all over the place. All of the items I picked up from the Death Guns I had to kill gave nothing away about them that we didn't already know. I joined up with the others I was with earlier while still drinking potions. We ended up getting the entire top player base of the Assault Team together to meet up in the center of the GGO lobby area right after the situation was assured to be over at the moment. Pinkie Pie exclaims: "So how did it go for all of you?!" A lot of us didn't reply, myself included. There was no victory party or anything. This isn't over and we were recovering physically and mentally. But then, Pito shouts: "Hey, did you hear about BoB?! There's going to be a BoB in a few days!" A horrified silence follows what she just said. Steven replies finally: "A.. BoB tournament in this game?!" I add, breaking my long silence: "No.. I don't think it will be the same as in GGO.. If we die in the tournament, I think it will be for good.. No.. Not more death! Not more bloodshed!" I put my head on a table and scream into it. Over the next few days, we focused on exploring the floor, leveling up extensively, and fighting the Floor Boss while watching out for each other in case our foes decided to attack. This helped me and the others recover from feeling the emotional burden caused by having to kill one or more actual individuals. We fought the Floor Boss with everything we had including pent up emotions. This helped us further by allowing us to vent everything that we were feeling in ways we couldn't even do so while training or sparring with anyone. On Day 816, the day for BoB came. I entered not for the fun, prizes, or glory. I entered to stop killings when I could, hoping that we could at least resign in the middle of a match if we wanted or needed to.
We knew that XaXa was going to enter along with at least a couple of his Death Guns. Most top players did not enter and we had to argue for hours in order to prevent lower level players from entering as well. It helped that we promised that the prize money would be used to do some good if one of us won the tournament. We didn't need to give any of our information for the tournament since we're in a death game after all. The tournament began a few hours after sign ups were held. When it started, the announcer for the previous BoB tournaments as well as the Squad Jam tournaments appears in person as a clearer herself: "Hey, are you all ready for a tournament you will never forget?!" She amps up the huge crowd that have gathered, audience and participants alike. But I don't focus on her. Instead, I think to myself as I go to the area where all tournament participants go for BoB. There are several rooms inside of the place designed to give participants a private space to prepare. I enter one of those rooms and close the door behind me. Sighing, I speak to myself: "This tournament is going to be terrifying and dangerous in a way it never has been before. This is going to be a slaughterfest. A complete bloodbath. If we don't take care of this the best way we can. Even if none of us signed up, someone else would have instead and ended up being kills by XaXa or one of his subordinates.. I really don't like competitive events that much. I like watching them but participating in them? Not so much in general. The prize is too good for people to pass up on wanting to enter this. It's a very popular tournament. This is going to hurt a lot, isn't it? I have been so often doing things alone lately and as much of a loner I tend to be, even it is making me feel off like I should be with my friends instead of here.."
I take care of all of my gear and make sure I have everything I could possibly need before it starts. I forgot to mention that preliminaries were held not long after I signed up for the tournament. Now it was time for the actual tournament itself to start. I was ready to teleport to the battle map shortly after beginning to make sure I got everything covered. I closed my eyes when I heard the announcement for the teleportation to begin. Seconds later, I was on the battleground and look at the map of the place. In a few minutes, the locations of all players will be scanned and broadcast onto the map with updates every 3 or so minutes. I had to move. During the prelims, I told all of my opponents to resign right off the bat. They didn't do so at first until I started seriously beating them with ease. I gave them enough mercy to resign with their lives intact. But there was one exception to that. The Death Gun I faced off against. I knew they wouldn't resign and was forced into yet another battle to the death. When they died, they didn't come back. So in actuality, the fear I expressed days ago was true. The announcer tried to make it seem like death wasn't permanent in the tournament but whispers before the actual tournament confirmed that people were catching on. Some even suspected that the announcer was in kahoots with our enemies. I mean, isn't BoB supposed to be a sponsored tournament? If so, where's the money coming from? But on the battlefield, there was no time for pondering over any of that. Instead, all there was: was surviving and trying to win. I sought out fellow clearers while walking around the map cautiously in case some of the Death Guns chose to gang up on me.
But we didn't know how many they were since each player's actual IGN was shown on screens before the battle royal began. I didn't know the names of every top clearer so that didn't help matters. As a result, I was doing what I could to stay sharp. I didn't see anyone before the first scan. When the map updated, I found I was near 4 others and they appeared to be fighting. Similar clusters of players were all around the map. But as I kept looking, a bullet almost hit me. Damn it. One of the 4 is after me. I hear them yell: "I know you're there! Show yourself already, Swiftdrawer!" I hold my position for now to make them waste time and prepare to use Great Infernal Tornado Slash when the time was right. The rock I was hiding behind is blasted to pieces. "Great Infernal Tornado Slash!" My attack catches my foe or rather, foes off guard. It seems that the 4 near me are all Death Guns. I manage to take out the one who tried to lure me out of hiding quickly thanks to this. The other 3 don't care. They just get serious. One of them yells: "Let's kill that knight!" "*unison* YEAH!" But before they could actually do anything else, something happens to change the entire flow of the tournament. My comrades, chased by other Death Guns arrive at our location. Sinon shouts: "You're not alone, Swiftdrawer!" Kirito adds: "That's right! We're here now and we're going to finish this together! It doesn't matter if this ends up being short. BoB has to end as soon as possible at this point!" I feel a lot better than I have since before the 70th Floor. I reply: "Thanks, everyone. I bet they didn't see this coming."
XaXa's voice speaks: "On the contrary, this is going exactly as I expected it to. I knew all of you would come together in the same location. This is the perfect time to kill all of you. Kirito, Sinon, I will finally get my revenge on both of you. Death Guns, leave Swiftdrawer alive for me to kill as well. The others are fair game. Kill them as slowly or as quickly as you wish to." "*unison* Understood, XaXa! Clearers, time for all of you to die!" The battle quickly spirals into chaos as bullets fly all over the place. I am pushed to the bridge over the body of water on the map. Several Death Guns surround me. One says: "Just stay still until XaXa comes for you. Just stay there. Knights like you are supposed to be loyal and obedient after all." "..No. I won't listen to what you want me to do." I jump over some of them and return to land as they pursue me. Damn. It's only now I realize that they have the numbers advantage in this tournament. There's a lot more of them than there are us. What a difficult situation to be in. But still, we've all been through what was basically hell so many times up to now. This was no different in that regard. I hear Pito laugh as she shoots with one hand and uses her photon sword in the other: "That's right! Come and get me, Death Guns! Thanks for giving me such a fun time where the stakes are as high as they can get! This is so thrilling! This is the best! This is exactly what I have been wanting since the first day of this game!"
I scream as I dodge bullet after bullet and deflect some with my sword every so often. "You won't stop me. YOU WONT STOP UUUUUUUUUUSSSSS! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! TAKE THIS AND THIS AND THIS!" Explosions and more are heard all over the place. The audience must be in a frenzy right now over how brutal and intense this all is. I continue to do what I can to run, dodge, and deflect until I'm backed into the very corner of the map by the Death Guns who have been chasing after me. One of them says: "End of the map, Swiftdrawer! Time for you to die right here, right now!" I put away my sword in favor of 2 daggers. I run at them despite the fact that they're all now firing on me with an almost 100% chance of hitting me with each and every bullet they are firing at such a close range. But that doesn't stop me. I caught them off guard by charging at them. Now, I'm going to let some of them have it. During the time between their last attack and the sign ups for BoB earlier today, we encountered a lot of difficulties while grinding, exploring, and getting ready for the fight with the Floor Boss who we found right outside the 71st Labyrinth as a location to spawn for once. Some of those difficulties involved all kinds of GGO monsters including giants. On this floor, there's even the very desert where Llenn gained notoriety as the Pink Devil. During this BoB battle royal, I have seen her use her short stature and high AGI to her complete advantage.
Besides us, Sinon, and Kirito, there's also Goku, Steven, Pearl, Superman, Wonder Woman, Kaito, Anna Kaboom, Daichi, Asuka, Judai, Pito, M, Fuka, and a few others as well fighting against the Death Guns on this battlefield. Thanks to all of the recent experiences on this floor, myself and the others have only gotten better at fighting. I let my foes shoot me as many times as they want to while I tackle one of them and keep attacking them with my daggers until they die. They give no pause, no reaction to seeing that happen. Instead, they focus on still trying to kill me for what good that would do them. Nothing of much note would happen on the 72nd Floor but here, every single moment was noteworthy and memorable. With one down, I have a little more breathing room: "Surrender now if you want to live, Death Guns! I won't stop until this fight ends no matter how it does in fact end!" They just laugh at hearing that, not because it sounds silly but because they won't surrender no matter what I end up doing to them. I replace my daggers with my laser blaster while still letting them shoot me. Since the time I was shot while asleep, I've had Lisbeth look over and improve my armor even further. That way, bullets from any Death Gun won't break through so easily. When my shoulder was shot during what would happen after the incident in which I was shot awake, the sniper who did that to me got pretty lucky as it wasn't long until my armor was looked over and further improved once more. Their bullets weren't getting through my armor so easily now. Their bullets were cutting edge. But my armor was now even more cutting edge. They were shocked when I started blasting them with pinpoint accuracy using my laser blaster.
I then use Artist's Eye to create obstacles in order to confuse my foes a little bit. Before I could wear out my left eye, I stop using it to once again focus more on using my laser blaster. Its intensity easily broke through whatever armor they were wearing. After all, a laser is a highly concentrated beam of intense heat. Case in point: gamma ray bursts. A natural phenomenon in outer space. Another 2 died from my laser blaster but the remaining 8 were still alive and well. Maybe annoyed at what I have been doing but still in it to win it. But I wasn't going to let them win anything ever again. Not as long as I was around them to stop them. I once again scream as I put my all into fighting them while swapping out my blaster with a photon sword and Graceful Protector. It's not often that I dual wield with bladed weapons but I did buy a photon sword 6 days ago and not just because Kirito stated that he was going to buy one again for himself. I made sure mine lit up with the color red much like Pito's own photon sword. I was now dual wielding with a sword of the future and a sword of the past as a knight of the present modern age. And the combination proved to be too much for my foes who despite being too vile, stubborn, and malicious to give up kept fighting me with fear in their eyes. I was forced to kill them all one after another before using the fact that some of the other Death Guns were still playing a cat and mouse game with Llenn to kill them as well. Llenn and I teamed up to eliminate any of her remaining opponents before running off to help Pito finish hers off though she didn't actually need much help. After some more time, all there was left was us and XaXa.
XaXa speaks: "You have done an excellent job in surviving so far. You even killed Speigel my brother. However, I was expecting this as well. I believed that you would kill them all, leaving only me against all of you despite this still being a battle royal where anyone can attack anyone at any time or place as long as it's within this map. You have no doubt gained a lot of items and experience from those you have killed. But even that won't save you from me. For I will gladly face all of you at the same time to cement the supremacy and power of Death Gun once and for all. I will kill all of you and with your deaths, the hopes and dreams of other players will die as well in order to be replaced by a even greater fear of the name Death Gun than the fear that already exists." Pito smirks: "I wouldn't be so sure about that!" We all pull out laser blasters of some kind and fire on him at once. He brushes all of our blasts off and begins to completely overwhelm us with ease only for us to turn the tables on him quickly only for him to turn them back only for us to turn them again only for him to again only for us to again only for him to just do it again only for us to respond in kind only for him to try to make the tide his and only his only for us to wrestle it back towards us. It was like a seesaw. It was obvious he didn't fully plan out facing all of us at once unless this seesaw of sorts was just another part of his long, sly, and truly evil plan to get us all in the end no matter what may happen to attempt to force him back to square one or even potentially almost kill him. The seesaw continues over and over again with no one giving even a single inch. That was until XaXa laughs and unleashes a new power: "Did you really believe that I would fight you fairly?"
Sinon shakes her head: "We knew you had a trick handy when you needed to use it on us. In fact, Shikamaru predicted this exact situation ahead of time." *flashback: meeting after beating the 71st Floor Boss* Shikamaru speaks: "So that tournament is tomorrow. I have spent hours thinking about it and it is now plain obvious what's going to end up happening. Towards the end of it, the only true enemy left will be XaXa and he will have something up his sleeve in the event he is pushed to fighting a seemingly endless battle. I bet it will greatly increase his attach power or be some kind of fast acting poison." *flashback end* Kirito smirks: "What you didn't know is that we have something up our sleeve as well." I add: "Actually, make that several things. *pulls out daggers* My daggers in this game are coated in a highly dangerous substance based on the substance used on my daggers that I use in my zombie body. It can reduce a target to a biohazardous goop that shouldn't be touched by any organic life form. If we can't kill you here, we will make you retreat. This I promise." All of us reveal something up our sleeves. XaXa laughs coldly: "You win this time. I underestimated you again but if you think you're going to be able to kill me at your current levels, you're mistaken." The villain resigns before any of us could kill him. I resign next: "I don't want the prize or the glory. Let it go to someone who cares about that stuff more." With that, I return to where I was before and just walk off for now. All that happened between then and the 74th Floor was monster grinding, Floor Boss fighting, training, all the usual kind of stuff. No major incidents, no nothing. And now that BoB was behind us, we could look forward to things a bit more.
We managed to keep anyone besides most of the Death Guns who entered the tournament from dying in it. We didn't have any kind of celebration for it though as things are far too tense and serious for even something like that to loosen us up a little bit. Upon reaching the 74th Floor, all I thought was: "Holy crap. Here we are on Day 828. At THAT floor. The Gleam Eyes is waiting once again.." Kirito's defeat of The Gleam Eyes in SAO is one of the best parts of the Aincrad Arc by far. The way it was presented in the anime is pretty iconic. That's when his dual wielding skill was fully revealed. The same thing happened in SAO Integral Factor. In fact, Koharu vocally expressed anticipation for the fight with The Gleam Eyes despite soon being one of the only clearers that has advanced information about Floors 76-99. To be continued..