|Sword Art Online, Floor 52, Labyrinth|
|Jan. 28th, 17:12|
High above the marshlands and fog of the floor, the labyrinth wasn't any easier to navigate. So far, ten floors have been discovered, and after the eighth floor, traps became abundant with false sections of floor and walls, and even exterior walkways that looped around the spire itself, also with traps if things weren't terrible enough.
The actual appearance of the corridors was oddly bright, the textures were a light grey, cracked and worn in places, lit with white torches mounted along the walls, making it at times brighter than the outside world. But this was just a mask for the toughened creatures from the swamp, the undead Vikings and the many pitfalls that layered the corridors and walkways, the halls themselves roughly four meters high and wide.
A horde of Vikings rounded a corner, their eyes glowing green when they spotted the riptide of water sail straight into view, crashing through their necks with a single, arching slash. "Whirlwind Slash!" Nagi slid forward, leaving two headless as the rest channelled swords skills, lunging at the shinobi as he vaulted from their chests and overhead.
Plunged into the ground, Ran flicked her sword forward, spraying crimson debris across the hallway, leaving the Rotten Vikings reeling as Nori swung her hammer the moment Ran dipped her head, the head glowing bright wine-purple, the upswing of her skill sending two flying into the air, straight into Jun's Avalanche that buried them into the ground, the trio backing away in time to see a section of the ground collapse into the floor below, polygons rising from the rubble.
"Man, this false floors are everywhere," Jun grimaced, peeking over the edge as Nori jerked his shoulder, causing him to let out a girly scream at the jolt. "Ah, dammit Nori!"
"Hahaha, too freakin' easy!" She snorted, clutching her sides. "Hey, you all good over there?" She eyed the hallway across the hall where Ran and Nagi stood by, trying to appear aloof to Jun's reaction.
"N-never better, loop around, we'll meet you guys back here," Ran replied, watching the pair turn down the next corner to double back. "Miss Argo, how's our progress?"
The Rat scanned her map, lips pursed with a furrowed brow. "Doin' good, these ol' traps are pain but nothin' we can't handle, the Big Guy, Dragon Boy and Reaper are still makin' their way bacK," Argo answered briefly, marking the trap for future reference. Daora had accidently struck the ground too hard, causing a pitfall to trigger and pull Mito and Tecchi with him, dropping them two floors down.
"We should slow down for a bit, everyone's starting to get divided by these traps," Nagi suggested, looking to the thin numbers in their combined parties. It was him, Ran, Yuuki and Argo. Tecchi, Daora and Mito were still trying to find their way back but we're fine judging by their full health, whilst Jun and Nori were looping around the corner behind them, waving to the group.
"Yuuki, mind switching to frontlines with me and Nagi while Argo scouts ahead?" Ran turned to her sister, seeing the blank look on her face. Worried, she tapped on the purplette's shoulder, causing her to jump. "Yuuki?"
"Uh, y-yeah, sure..." The girl didn't attempt to hide her feelings, ever since she and Artorias argued before, she's been completely distraught and frustrated, the latter at herself mostly but a little towards Artorias if Nagi had to hazard a guess. Despite offering to replace her on the expedition for the rest of the day, she refused and kept pushing, but her distracted head was starting to affect her performance.
"Should we call off our expedition, aren't the other guilds searching too?" Ran spoke quietly to Nagi while Yuuki checked on Nori and Jun.
"As far as we know, we're the furthest up... but if things continue as they are, I'll make the call, better to be safe than sorry nowadays," Nagi wasn't about to let this affect Yuuki or the others, ever since the previous floor, the true difficult spike settled in, already eight have died, and he refused to let that number increase. To perk Ran up, Nagi smiled and ruffled her hair a bit. "Don't worry, we'll make it through this, I'll watch her back too,"
"Thanks," The eldest twin smiled gratefully.
The depths of their dungeon delving continued steadily, mapping out an increasing number of traps and dead-ends, the monsters continued to cluster around corners, usually around said pitfalls and false walls, threatening to burst out from any wall if enough noise was made. This whole labyrinth was one big death trap.
Approaching another crossroads, the red cursors gathered at the very end of the hall straight ahead, all turning slowly to snarl and brandish axes, spears, and rounded shields. Behind them, one of the monstrous marshland creatures could be seen crawling on the ceiling. It was like a two-armed serpent with a piranha-like head, a 'Rip Jaws', but outside of water they weren't nearly as threatening.
"Ready to-Yuuki!" Nagi's voice fell on deaf ears, the purplette keeping low as she charged the group with a steely expression. The first Viking swung with an ax skill only to be parried and slashed to ribbons with Snake Bite, lopping the head off, the next thrust its spear forward, Fatal Thrust slipping by Yuuki's curved waist as she spun on a heel into the air, striking it across the jaw before driving her sword down, flashes of violet underfoot as she swung back and finished it off with two more slants, Vertical Square blasting it away.
The Rip Jaws dropped, maw wide as Yuuki backflipped, evading the plunging attack as both claws swiped at her chest, grazing her breastplate as her footwork remained light, twirling her blade to thrust forward with Vorpal Strike, leaving a massive hole through its stomach and destroying the shield the last Viking held as it swung its sword, nicking a few strands of hair, the girl diving to the floor swiping in a criss-cross before plunging the tip of her sword through its scalp, twisting and burying it against the ground, splitting the head in two as it burst into shards.
"Well ain't that one way to clear a rooM," Argo whistled, despite Yuuki's mood, she still managed to score the vital points of the mobs with ease.
"All clear," She waved her sword, approaching them at the crossroads.
"Yuuki... that was dangerous, even for you," Ran was more concerned she might've triggered a trap without realizing.
"Sorry, I kept my footing light just in case," The purplette answered apologetically. "Just... needed that is all, my bad,"
Nagi relaxed his shoulders, reaching over to squeeze her shoulder, much to her surprise. "It's okay," She seemed to understand, her poker face cracking a little with a tiny, disheartened smile. But the younger twin nodded with a quiet hum as Ran hugged her side. Turning his attention to the others, Nagi saw the missing trio finally round a corner, gasping as they waved the others down. "Mito, Tecchi, Daora! You three okay!?"
"We're good, you guys!?" Tecchi called over.
"All good, Big Guy!" Nori waved, using Argo's nickname she gave him.
"Just about, I'm out of healing pots though!" Mito called as they jogged, then struck the back of Daora's head. "This numbskull forced me to use them all up!"
"Barbarous was the perfect plan!" He huffed, shoving her side as she shoved him back. Their light banter made the others smile or snicker regardless.
"Now that we've got the band back together, we'll make far better progresS," Argo crossed her arms, looking through her map layout. "The stairwell's gotta be nearby, most of the outer and inner sections have been mappeD,"
"No sweat, we've made it this far up, haven't we?" Nori gestured to the labyrinth around them.
"I have to admit, our progress hasn't been terrible," Ran agreed, looking around at the other, vacant halls. "Let's keep to a slower pace though, I don't want us jinxing it now when we're this far up," A unanimous agreement left everyone's lips.
During their debate, Nagi turned to Mito and Daora traversing the corridor towards them, but his nose twitched, causing him to look behind me, nothing, and yet... the faint scent of bloodlust filled the air; weak at first, but the longer he stood still, the stronger and more potent the coppery scent became, enough to put his hair on end. Swishing his head forward, he yelled. "Daora, left side!"
The dragon boy cocked his head a moment before the wall beside him and Mito came crashing down, a trio of spears puncturing the dust cloud as they were intercepted by the shaft of Destroyer and Soul Fang, the pair pushed back by the ambush. Again, the crumbling of stone bricks could be heard coming from all directions as at least two holes down two other corridors spat out a small hunting party of the Viking variants.
Glowing green eyes filled the contrasting brightness the torches provided, two arrows flew from the dust down the western hall, both caught by NightSky as Nagi stepped in front of Argo who quickly brandished her claws. "Looks like we've attracted a crowd, HerO!" She grinned sarcastically at their predicament.
"Well, best not be rude then!" That got a snarky laugh from the broker, the party spreading out to engage the horde. That is, until Nagi's foot sunk a little, and his eyes widened. "Crap, trap right below, everyone move!"
Throwing themselves in various directions, the whole crossroads collapsed inward, dropping at least two floors downward where more red cursors could be seen wandering the areas. The dust cloud dispelled quite quickly, revealing Nagi, Yuuki, and Ran on the north side, Argo, Daora and Mito to the south, while Tecchi, Nori and Jun were to the western path. The pit was about as wide as the corridors' width in length, meaning that without a higher enough agility, most of them couldn't cross the gap without plummeting.
"We've been cut off..." Ran's face paled, looking around helplessly.
"Go on and try to find a way around, we've got things here, as I said, no sweat!" Nori grunted, striking her hammer across the side of a Viking, slamming it back through the wall it came crawling out of. "Come on then, want some more!?"
Mito spun her head to Nagi, seeing the hesitation in his eyes. "We've handled worse, even if there isn't a way back, the traps reset after a certain amount of time,"
Biting his cheek, Nagi called out. "You guys stay safe, we'll be there as soon as possible!" Mito nodded, twirling her scythe behind her to counter a sword slash from behind, spinning to fly kick the undead straight into Daora's devastating slash from the side.
"Just another day at the officE!" Argo reinforced, diving to plunge her claws through the scalp of another archer, disappearing into a blur to wrap around the other archer before it had time to switch to a dagger, the black-iron claws skewering its rotten torso.
Unable to act directly, the trio looked at each other, easily displeased by the game locking them from directly interfering with the trap in motion, and instead turned to sprint down the only corridors available to them. None of them said it, their friends were strong enough to handle the enemies set before them, it just left a bad taste in their mouths regardless.
Turning down a series of smaller hallways, the almost narrow space opened up to quite the sight. Orange rays of sunlight stretched through distinct holes across the furthest wall, two doorways visible. One to their right against the wall across from them, and another that led outside to the northwest, splitting into two pathways, one led to a dead-end poking out from the side of the labyrinth like a sore, the other a stairway that likely led to the next floor up.
The chamber itself was much wider than the corridors, being glued to the exterior of the labyrinth, but Ran jogged towards the gashes in the wall, glancing up. "The ceiling's close, this stairway must lead to the floor boss,"
"We actually found it...?" Yuuki cocked her head in surprise.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Nagi nodded to them. "Let's regroup with the others before we investigate, come on," Not wanting to leave their friends high and dry, the trio moved for the only other pathway that led back into the labyrinth's innards.
Nagi ran to the archway, and straight into the curving tip of a sickle rising from the floor itself. His heels dug in, drawing NightSky as its silver edge rang against the pointed tip with a brittle response. Stumbling back, his ears were filled with an eerie tune whistled between Arawn's teeth.
"That was quite a steady reaction, well done," He complimented, twirling both sickles as he stepped out into the light, adjusting his hat. "Sorry to barge in on your attempts to regroup with your friends, but I'm not a fan of big crowds, especially when I have so much to talk about,"
"Whatever you have to say, we don't have time for it," Nagi held NightSky tightly, keeping his footing light as Arawn continued to walk forward, adjusting the angle he held his weapons, "He's accounting for Ran and Yuuki, he also has those paralysis needles of his to worry about, his whole body stinks of bloodlust, he's here for us specifically,"
Arawn didn't appear insulted. "I wonder, how long have you've known who he was, hm? He must trust you a great deal to let you in on his ugly reputation,"
"You knew...?" Ran whispered to Nagi who kept his eyes on the murderer in front of them.
"He only told me his former alias, and that person isn't Artorias anymore, whatever he's trying to be now, is a far cry from whatever you've become, so don't try and lump him in with you-you're rotten through and through," Every insult Nagi threw only caused Arawn's smile to widen. "We'll wipe that smile off your face for good, you won't take another life, you fiend!"
A streak of violet rattled against both sickles drawn to guard Arawn's face, Yuuki's feet landing on the ground as her eyes burned with hatred, her veins bulging from her forehead. Neither Ran nor Nagi ever saw this expression from her before, but neither were going to tell her to back down. Arawn wasn't going to be reasoned with, all they could do is hope they're enough to stop him once and for all.
"Let's see what you're made of, Zekken," Arawn teased, throwing her back as she twirled her obsidian blade to bear, lunging into a five-arching slash, forming a star with a thrust at the end that missed Arawn's chest by an inch, himself falling through the ground to dive and shoot towards Yuuki, the curves of his sickles grinding up the length of her longsword and straight overhead, kicking off her back to collapse the blades into glaives, striking across Nagi's and Ran's swords as he spun around, sweeping them in a dark haze, practically deflecting all their strikes.
Then, both sickles became erect, turning bright green sweeping them into two large halos either side, stripping slithers off the pair with the scythe's ultimate skill, Morana, drawing both sickles down on Yuuki who fell to her back to kick his stomach and throw him overhead, rolling to pivot and block a strike to her right side, her sword charged to lunge, Sonic Leap rippling through the air ahead but Arawn kept himself agile, evading her skill to slice across Yuuki's cheek while she turned sharply and surprised him with a strike from her boot glowing purple, using Flash Blow to push him away.
Slipping through the ground halfway, Arawn flew under Yuuki's legs, propelling upward to land against the ceiling, blades turned green to perform a cyclone slash that threw Ran and Nagi apart, allowing him to focus on the Water Shinobi, charging him with vicious sweeps from the sickles, the tips caught against NightSky. A rush of water followed, Arawn countering the powerful impacts of the dragon head that struck behind each of Nagi's spins, the fourth avoided, allowing him to hook his sickles into the boy's shoulders, wrenching him backward, tossing Nagi across the chamber as he fell away before Ran and Yuuki to strike him.
A blade curled around Ran's neck, slicing it as she shoved her body against Arawn, throwing herself overhead but unable to parry Harvest's wide slashes that stripped up her body, tearing into her miko outfit. Yuuki saw this, making her blood boil. "Get away from my sister!" Violet and various shades of purple erupted from her sword held over the shoulder, charging straight for the wide-eyed orange player. Overwhelmed with anger and fear, Yuuki unleashed the full brunt of Nova Ascension.
Large crescents of purple and green stretched between her and Arawn, his scythes thrown either side of him, giving Arawn the leverage to plunge into the ground, narrowly avoiding the worst that skill could do to appear behind Yuuki, drawing a needle to sink it into her thigh, her sword digging against his neck at the very last second, but the paralysis shut her skill down instantly, just in time to catch his sickles and hold their edges close to the girl's throat, keeping Nagi and Ran from advancing.
"No!/Let her go!" The pair screamed at Arawn who chuckled out loud, seeing the fearful look in Yuuki's eyes.
"Tch-tch-tch, I feel we've been here before, Zekken... so allow me to tell you exactly what Artorias is," Leaning closer, his eyes were colder than ice, with a smile bleeding with spite. "You're all just a game to him. He never cared what happened to any of you, so long as he survived and benefited from it all. When this game is cleared, he'll be the one to take the mantle as the 'Saviour of SAO', because that's all he's ever cared about,"
That day under the large tree on floor 24, Yuuki had yet to meet anyone that met her standards, there was one until he uncovered her secret, aside from him, everyone came to run her name into the mud, to be labelled the best player in SAO. But not Artorias, he came for a challenge, and that day, Yuuki had never seen someone truly living in the moment, there wasn't any deception or ulterior motive, she saw herself in his eyes that day.
Whenever he regained his real body, that same, carefree smile had put her own worries to rest. Artorias was prideful, an egotist at times, he never acted serious and always had to have the last word. But he was insecure too, he was ashamed of who he used to be and has been trying everyday to prove he had changed, today, Yuuki saw the real him, the boy who just wanted to feel he belonged for no other reason than for others to accept him.
It took a considerable amount of willpower, but Yuuki's voice struggled through the paralysis. "A-a-artorias... i-i-isn't... y-y-yo-you...!"
Taken back by her speaking, Arawn's eyes flickered with uncertainty for a moment, was the paralysis wearing off already? He didn't want to wait around to find out, not when two more powerful players were ready to pounce. If Yuuki got away now and got a handle on her emotions, he'd be in a world of trouble. Leaning his blade forward, Arawn watched the red line appear across her neck, his sickles digging deeper and deeper.
Nagi's blade unleashed a torrent of water, creating a blinding wave of light that Arawn ducked his head to avoid, feeling his blade glide overhead. What he failed to see was Ran drive her sword down from behind, using the wave's effect to obscure her from sight as Arawn removed his sickles from the girl's throat in time to dodge, seeing Ran's crimson-bathed sword bury itself into the stone, twisting to flick in his direction a wide cone of debris, stunning him momentarily.
"Crap, I got too caught up in the moment-smart though," He rubbed his eyes, seeing Nagi guard Yuuki as Ran administered an antidote to her sister.
"I, s-sorry-" Yuuki coughed as Ran hugged her briefly, holding out Yuuki's obsidian blade.
"Forget it, we can worry about that later," Now armed, the three stuck together, facing down the murderous player who scanned the trio and their health gauges, his was only down by seven percent so he wasn't worried, Battle Healing would resolve that in a minute or two.
Without a word, Arawn lunged at Nagi, swiping his sickles back and forth as the teen moved toward him to keep some distance between them and the twins. Each strike came from various angles, making Nagi's arms buckle. "Why does it feel like he's growing faster with each strike?" A leg slammed into his stomach, nearly taking the wind out of Nagi who barely managed to block two more skill-charged strikes from Harvest. "Don't let up, Yuuki and Ran need you!"
The fourth strike broke Nagi's posture, leaving him wide open as he watched the descending sickle poised for her throat, Arawn intending to gouge it out. His breath caught with a strained gasp, seeing the tip inch closer to his jugular.
*TING!*
From out of nowhere, an onyx blade slammed straight into Arawn's sickle with a flurry of sparks, while a familiar, red-tinted longsword swept forward, leaving a thin gash across Arawn's chest, the orange player having dodged at the last second. Rather than appearing annoyed, Arawn chuckled, giving a loud clap at Nagi's saviour. "Finally come back, about time!"
Artorias stood his ground, his eyes unblinking, his very aura had shifted considerably too with an unreadable scowl on his face. Clasped in both hands were Red Death and an unnamed, onyx longsword, similar in appearance to that of the Anneal Blade. "Artorias..." Nagi found his voice, expression both his gratitude and shock at his arrival. "He's... dual wielding?"
"You came back..." Seeing him again after yelling, Yuuki honestly felt the happiest she's ever been, she and Ran smiling again.
"Hm, that look in your eyes... did I scare you back into playing pretend?" Arawn cooed, finding that cold look Artorias was giving him to be hilarious. "What, you think you're the big strong hero now?"
Artorias glanced down at the swords in his hands, then back to Arawn-no, OryxKing with distain. "...SilentNight is dead and gone, I'm a nobody with only a mantle others threw over his head and called it a day. But right now, if being that person again will shut you up for good, then I'll be a dirty little rat and use every trick I learned to best you every other time," Artorias's response soured Arawn's smile a little, if only with a mild twitch. "You haven't changed at all, you're still the cheating, exploiting scumbag,"
"Oh... are you going to kill me?" Arawn dared, his voice dripping with temptation.
"Yeah," Artorias didn't hesitate in answering his challenge.
Surprised by the honesty, Arawn's smile grew exceedingly large, "Hehehahaha, oh, this is gonna be fun," Twirling his sickles, Arawn let a harsh, emerald glow bleed across their rugged edges while Red Death turned a harsh rose in Artorias's main-hand.
Without a second to lose, both lunged with a vertical attack, only Artorias went with Vertical Arc, a secondary slash rising to grind against Arawn's sickle. He curved his right sickle only for his grin to faulter when a harsh, rosy light nearly sliced through his eye, a pair of horizontal slashes cutting across his right forearm and chest, nearly tossing him onto his backside. Then the glow vanished under the streak of light straight into Red Death, seeing all the main arteries in Artorias's right arm bulge as he swept his blade in a wide crescent, striking against Arawn's sloppy defence with two more strikes, beginning to form Horizontal Square.
The fourth hit dug into the murderer's chest, so his body fell through the ground, spitting him back out several feet away from Artorias who exhaled deeply, his body released from the post-motion of just one sword skill. Throwing his head up, Arawn's face was now twisted into a malicious scowl. "Hold on a second! Did he just use three sword skills at once!? And with only a single post-motion effect to boot...!?" His eyes were the size of pins, his blood boiling at how cool and confident Artorias appeared to be. "There's no way in hell that's possible!" "Don't give me that CRAP!"
Barrelling straight toward Artorias, Arawn threw his sickles as he activated Morana, causing the two sickles to fly toward Artorias like sawblades while his fists became engulfed in a green tint akin to flames. Artorias kept his cool, swinging Red Death over one shoulder to lunge with a rosy contrail overhead. Utilizing Phantom Rave, Artorias swung his sword hard and fast, deflecting the spinning sickles through the air while blocking Arawn's close-quarter jabs. The two flew past one another, the glaring halos slicing through the air around Artorias as he kept on his toes, slashing down with Phantom Rave's final motion, unleashing a blast to disrupt the sickles that slipped straight into Arawn's hands once more, driving them down against Artorias's swords crossed to counter and throw him backward, thrusting forward with Sonic Leap from the left, leading straight into Snake Bite with the right.
Digging in his heels, Artorias dove under the venomous sickles, twirling to deliver a counterstrike with Rage Spike, puncturing Arawn's shoulder as he slashed Artorias's hips. Again, the glow transferred to Artorias's off-hand, slicing across Arawn's arms using Savage Fulcrum, the follow-up strikes heavy and stripping gashes through the ground itself, the two locked in a deadly flurry of sword skills, only Arawn couldn't keep up with Artorias's relentless connection of skills.
One heavy slant threw Artorias off his feet, the impact behind his attack throwing the two of them across the room in a stream of light and dust. Releasing a bloom of light from his sickles, Artorias mirrored the action with Red Death, drawing downward as the brittle impact igniting between their edges with a colourful blast of light, even so, neither were hampered yet, yelling to match blow for blow, neither landing a deciding hit as their movements and reaction times ramped up higher and faster.
Artorias's heart was ready to explode while every muscle and vein in his body was on fire! Faster, he had to react faster than ever before like he could before! SilentNight was never going to disappear, those feelings and memories weren't to be ignored. He was not SilentNight, but that didn't mean he couldn't use what he learned over all these years to do better now! His eyes were burning gold, burrowing straight into the sickly pale green glare Arawn was giving him as each strike chained into another almost within a second.
Horizontal, Arc, Square, Slant, Sonic Leap, all these skills chained one after the other, switching from one hand to the next until one connection caused an electrifying reaction, resulting in a blinding blast of light with several invisible slashes to shred the two of them in the process, leaving behind a colourful halo surrounding them as they were blown out of the labyrinth tower and onto the walkway that led to a dead end, the wind this high off the ground howling in their ears for a moment.
Artorias rose to his feet, narrowly guarding against the now conjoined sickles, forming a staff with two scythes at either end. Arawn spun them, digging the other head into Artorias's shoulder before he threw himself back, causing the blade to gouge out more of his shoulder. "Haven't had a fight like this in years! You think you can change? You're still the same manipulator you've always been, how many could've survived if you hadn't held back this whole time?" Arawn's words gave Artorias pause. "That's right, you might as well have killed them yourself,"
"...God, do you ever shut up?" Artorias spat, the result of using so many skills in conjunction with that difficult trick left his arms feeling like lead and his chest close to caving in, the mental fatigue making his vision dizzy. "I'm no saint, and I'm no hero either, maybe I could've saved a lot more people but feeling guilty over it isn't going to change the fact they're gone. But you?" Gesturing with Red Death. "You've taken lives with your own hands, you've done nothing but take and feed off everyone's fear of you. But the truth is... you're not worth it... you never were,"
"You've made mistakes, but I've seen the talent you have, even better than me, heh, guess the student is now the teacher," Hitomu giggled, bringing him back into her loving embrace. "Even if everyone's against you... I'll always love you, and support you, and someday I know others will see that too, they'll see the kind and talented person you are,"
That had Arawn tisk, twirling his twin-scythe around as both heads began to glow harshly, lunging for Artorias who steadied his posture with his own stance for dual wielding. "Sis, I'm okay now. Funny, you were right... I found them."
Channelling his strength into his off-hand, Artorias stepped forward, "Esoteric Skill-" Hearing the phrase gave way to Arawn's some buffer as a wave of cascading light reds and pinks flooded the walkway, streaking across the whole structure, forcing the murderer to deflect each of the wide-reaching strikes, Artorias's body twisting and bending, moving every inch of his body to maximize every blow, the tenth delivering a devastating thrust straight at Arawn's feet, unleashing a blast of pink in his wake.
"Hyrah!" With one, horizontal slash, Arawn's scythe severed Artorias's left arm at the elbow, the arm and sword sailing off of the walkway to the world below. "Ahahahaha, was that your big play? You really have to stop losing that!"
Grasping his scythe with both hands, he saw the others had wrapped around to see the results of the battle, causing Arawn's smile to grow... until he saw the cold look in Artorias's eyes give way to an accepting expression. "Yeah, ditto," His skill cut out inches from Artorias's neck as the whole platform shifted backward, and finally, Arawn saw that where Artorias's sword had dug into the stone had caused the bricks to widen and crack, splitting the section from the rest of the labyrinth as it buckled and strained underfoot.
Looking back, Artorias saw the panic in Nagi's face, Ran covered her mouth, equally paralyzed with shock. Then, Artorias's eyes rested on that beautiful girl with the most amazing, vermillion eyes he had ever seen, the wind catching her hair perfectly for him. Smiling softly, he mouthed one last thing to her.
"Thank You."
The whole section gave out, sending it and the two former competitive players flying off the side of the labyrinth spire towards the cold, hard ground below. This was it, one final card to play, no matter what happens, Arawn was going to die here for everything he's done, he could see it in Artorias's eyes, that conviction never wavered. Artorias sucked in a breath, and glared down at the frightened Arawn who flailed his arms in the air, as if that was going to prevent his death. Squeezing Red Death as tight as possible, Artorias threw himself forward into his attack, streaking the sky with a powerful, pink haze trailing behind his sword.
In the forefront of his mind, Artorias saw everything play out before him, his sister's kind comfort, setting his deal with Argo, his first chat with Mito at the exit of the 1st floor labyrinth, making his pact with Nagi, butting heads with Daora, meeting Yuuki... several dozen other flashes cut into his mind, of everyone he had come to know. "So this is my life flashing before my eyes, huh?"
As for Arawn, he only saw all the awful things he did. Becoming one of the best, manipulating people, pitting them against each other, with just a few cleaver words and some elbow grease he could have anything he desired. People called him out, but none ever had concrete evidence. Until he met SilentNight, a brat who was barely a teenager who saw through every ploy, all underhanded tricks, and left him with nothing.
When Arawn's gaze focused, he felt himself choke as a blade slammed down against his neck, burning into his body as red sparks sprayed the sky. "It's over... ORYYYYX!" Screaming as loud as possible, so that the whole floor could hear him, Artorias drove Red Death through the man's neck as he screamed in agony, reaching up to try and grapple with Artorias, but that couldn't stop the blade from cleaving through like a hot knife, severing Arawn's head from his shoulders as his HP plummeted to zero.
High above, Yuuki nearly threw herself out of the hole had Nagi and Ran not grabbed her. "No... no-no-no-no, Artorias... Artorias!" She stared down, seeing only the faint sight of blue polygons scattering to the winds, and not a trace of Artorias to be seen. Something... broke in her heart, enough that tears fell from the labyrinth as she felt all her strength disappear. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."
Nagi was in complete shock, falling to his knees alongside Yuuki who's eyes flooded with tears, her face buried against Ran's chest as she immediately broke down, her elder sister wrapping her arms around Yuuki tightly, her own tears falling as she tried to stifle her hiccups. Footsteps could be heard about twenty seconds or so later, the others had caught up but... all they saw was the grief on Nagi's face as he curled up on all fours, punching the ground under him with his head nearly pressed to the floor.
"Artorias..." He said through grit teeth. Yuuki's sobs only nailing the reality home.
"Wait, Artorias was here?" Mito asked, and in seeing the state of her friends, her own heart stopped. "N-no... he's... he's not..."
Daora stood completely still, his shoulders trembling as it didn't take him long to realize what had happened, his fists closing at his sides. "No... no way in hell!" He yelled, swinging his arm wide. "There's no way that's possible, dammit!"
"Daora, he-" Mito tried to say but he yelled, slamming his ax straight into the ground.
"That's not true, he's not dead, he's not alright!" But they could all see it, tears were puncturing through the eyes of his mask as his siffling filled his voice. "He's not t-that weak! My minion isn't s-so-so pathetic-tell them, shorty!" He demanded from Argo, her own eyes wide as she barely reacted, left paralyzed and in shock.
But what Daora yelled twigged something in Argo's brain, forcing her to open her menu and flick to her friends list, she scrolled and scrolled until she reached Artorias's name, a hollow feeling resting in her gut...
...his name wasn't crossed out.
That hollow sensation evaporated, and her tears escaped her when she realized what she discovered. "He's alive... He's alivE!" She screamed louder, and everyone looked to Argo who had her friends list in full view, completely tossing her disclosure aside with a frantic look on her features. "He's in the Town of Beginnings, that tough bastard must've teleporteD!"
"The... death animation..." Nagi raised his head, tears still trailing down his cheeks as he looked to Argo with a strong speck of hope left in his chest. "...the particles are the same as when you teleport with a crystal, he... he must've used it to warp before he hit the ground!"
The second those words left his lips, Yuuki threw out ever teleport crystal she had on her, grabbing on herself as the others immediately pulled out their own or grabbed on of the purplette's. "Teleport, Town of Beginnings!" Desperately, she screamed the name as light overtook her vision for a few seconds, her heart beating wildly and out of control that she was afraid it'll burst.
|Floor 1, Town of Beginnings, Plaza|
|Jan. 28th, 18:01|
The sun was close to setting now, only a few streaks of golden light stretched over the cloudless skies as the teleport gate was assaulted by several spheres of light, the first to stumble out was Yuuki, teary-eyed and desperate as she spun around at the handful of crowds dotted around the plaza, her eyes scanning each face for Artorias. Nagi, Ran, and soon the rest of their friends all cam barrelling out of the mass of light, Nagi rubbing his eyes in pain at the light adjustment glitch for him.
"Man..." Her whole body shook, turning to her right of the teleport gate to see a lone player sat on his backside, his health dangerously low as the Safe Haven steadily recovered the lost HP. Yuuki stared at the stupid, worried smile on his face as he scratched the back of his head. "That was a serious gamble, I honestly thought I was dead for a second there, switching to a crystal with one hand wasn't really what I wanted as a challenge, and I think my phobia of heights has, excuse the pun, been elevated to new heights... oh God, that still was a terrible pun, ugh,"
She stood there, taking in the most amazing sight imaginable. Artorias had nearly died, she thought he really did disappear forever, and here he was, smiling like he always did, only it wasn't forced or masking anything, he looked so genuine and happy to be sitting on the ground of all places like it was his new best friend. Seeing him made fresh tears roll down her face, and her legs finally kicked under her.
"Wait-wait-wait-ack!" Artorias was tackled by Yuuki, nearly falling to the ground entirely when she gripped his jacket tightly, sobbing against his chest.
"Don't... don't ever do that again... you jerk... you s-stupid, massive, i-idiot!" She croaked, shaking like a leaf against him. Artorias relaxed, sighing a comforting smile. Sitting upright, he wrapped his arms around Yuuki's back tightly, feeling her tears stain his shirt but it honestly felt a thousand times better than falling from a labyrinth. With his right hand, he pressed it to the back of her head, stroking slowly. "I-I-I thought you-you..."
"Shh, I know, come on, Cupcake, you know it'll take more than some fall to put me down, I half suspect I'll die because of Numbnuts one day," He remarked, feeling her squeeze him tighter.
"Don't leave me like that again... please," She whispered, giving him some momentary surprise before nodding, not that she could see it.
"Alright, I give you my word, Yuuki, no matter what, I'm not going anywhere, you're stuck with me, and that's that," This got a small noise akin to a laugh from her, so he saw that as a good sign.
"Artorias!" Suddenly, more bodies tackled him and Yuuki, squeezing the two together tightly. Artorias blinked, flustered and baffled when Nagi had tears streaming down his face with a big smile. "Thank goodness you're okay! Thank goodness!"
"Yeah, you ass," Mito lightly smacked the back of his head, her own arms around him, another locking Daora into the group hug against his will as he jabbed his finger against Artorias's cheek.
"If you ever die without my permission again, I'll kill you myself, that's an order!" Daora was crying too, making Artorias's confusion grow.
"Huh, when you cry your tears come through that tacky headpiece of yours-Ack!" And Daora headbutted Artorias for the remark.
"I am NOT crying!" He sobbed back, now punching the top of Artorias's head, even if felt like a infant was doing it. "Graaaaaah!"
"Ya really gotta stop this tossin' yerself at danger crap, ain't nice to make yer friends or a girl worrY," Argo appeared behind him, her own hands gripping his shoulder, even Argo herself looked at him with a toothy smile, her golden eyes shimmering with tears too.
"I hear ya, Rat, loud and clear," Artorias replied, earning a flick to the temple from her. Deserved.
The other Sleeping Knights all quickly joined in, confusing onlookers and leaving Artorias's face feeling rosy and warm. And yet, he had never felt more at ease. Closing his eyes, Artorias smiled with no end of gratitude, his hand still resting against Yuuki's head, feeling her continue to hold him as if he'd disappear again. This... is exactly where he was meant to be...
To Be Continued...
What a rollercoaster this chapter was, like I'd actually kill Artorias off, but hey, it sure was fun! Arawn is finally dead and gone, and Artorias has had quite the shift in his life in terms of personal growth. This is why I like my short arc format, it gives me sections to really give all the main characters their time in the spotlight. But we're not done yet, so I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; see ya in the next chapter, Misfits!
073 - Yuuki
To make up for the heartache and drama, Artorias takes Yuuki out on a day around the Town of Beginnings while the others move on with the current floor boss, giving the two some much needed time together...