Sword Art Online - Volume 6 - Phantom Bullet

by Reki Kawahara

  Asuna wasn’t looking at the live telecast anymore as she merely closed her eyes and continued to pray.

  —Do you best, Kirito. For all that you believe in. I shall be by your side always. Always protecting you from behind, supporting you.

  Kirito’s icy cold left hand jerked slightly, but definitely.

  Part 9

  The enemy was really strong.

  Whether it’s in terms of speed, balance or striking moment, they were all flawless. There were few swordsmen who were so skilled on the clearing team.

  But why did it become like this? This cadre of «Laughing Coffin» who’s controlling the character «Death Gun» couldn’t see my swords during the crusade. I spent quick work and reduced his HP to half, causing him to retreat to the back lines.

  Looking at things, I guess the half year where he was imprisoned in Black Iron prison caused this guy to change drastically. The one who thoroughly crushed Laughing Coffin was one of the members on the clearing team, me—and he used revenge against us as motivation to work hard on his swordsmanship. Even if he couldn’t gain money and experience, repeated training of sword skills could allow him to improve. This guy may have trained on the same movements hundreds or thousands of times in the dark and cold prison. The sword technique that an Estoc could use was firmly ingrained into this guy’s senses.

  I may not lose to him in terms of the number of times I swung the sword, but the sword in my hand was the lightsaber that’s a lot lighter than my old swords, and the touch feels completely different from before. It’s easy to use the one-strike «Vorpal Strike», but it’ll be difficult to use continuous moves. Also, Death Gun probably won’t allow any openings for me to use some huge attack. He continued to remain close and kept using all sorts of varying thrust attacks. I tried my best to dodge them, but the sharp tip of the Estoc still pierced through parts of my body from time to time and slowly drained my HP. I think I have only about 30% left.

  Even as my HP’s being worn down by that sharp sword, Death Gun can’t really kill me if he used that black handgun to shoot me. I didn’t input my name and address at the machine in the presidential estate, so nobody could find my residence.

  Was I too reliant—in a «safe feeling»? My eyes were completely covered by the power of the black handgun, which caused me to not look at the user’s true ability. If that’s the case, it’s obvious that I would be in such a tight spot. The enemy was still in that death game, and I left that place a long time ago, whether it was my body or my heart.

  Maybe it was too late that I noticed it.

  However, I still wouldn’t allow myself to lose to him like that. My body in the real world shouldn’t have any damage, but like what that guy just said, Sinon, who’s waiting on the rocky hill behind me was already in the range of that black gun. If I get taken down now, Death Gun will attack Sinon. Once she’s hit in battle by a bullet from that black handgun, Death Gun’s accomplice will kill Sinon in the real world.

  One moment. Just one moment.

  I just need him to stop this one series of attacks for the time being.

  If it’s the power of the weapon, the lightsaber far exceeds that of the extremely thin Estoc. Once I can accurately hit him in one hit, I believe I can wear Death Gun’s HP down to zero. However, I just couldn’t create this opening. The half-hearted attempts will definitely not work, the enemy’s Estoc could even break through the energy blade of the lightsaber, which means I couldn’t create an opening by swinging hard in a sword duel. What should I do? What should I do—

  Kyu kyu kyu. With those deep sounds, the last strike of three consecutive hits grazed my face on the right, and my HP finally went red.

  The special effect that flowed out of my face dyed my vision red.

  Maybe he thought that he was winning as Death Gun’s red eyes were glowing even redder.

  The Estoc user of the red—what was originally «Laughing Coffin» chose red eyes too. My memory shock, and cracks appeared in the thick walls of my memory.

  That’s right…I did refuse to know this guy’s name. I didn’t want to get involved with this again. I just wanted to hurry up and forget that night that was full of madness, blood, screams and curses.

  But I couldn’t do that.

  I didn’t forget anything at all. I just pretended to forget, just lied to myself. I merely sealed that part of my memory away, trying to convince my brain that I didn’t see the fact that was there…

  Death Gun dragged his Estoc back to deal me the final blow. The cold glow that remained on its tip caused that sealed fragment of my memory to appear.

  Before we went on the crusade, we were gathered at the headquarters of the «Holy Dragon Alliance» guild for our last meeting.

  During the meeting, we again explained the member information regarding the members of «Laughing Coffin». That included the battle abilities of their leader «PoH» and his cadres’ weapons, skills, appearances—and names.

  Of course, we did mention that two of them liked to use their colors. One of them was black, the guy who liked to use a poisoned dagger. His name was…yes, «Junie Black». Cline immediately gave a serious look after hearing it, and specially told me ‘don’t fight with this guy. Or else we don’t know who to protect’.

  The other person was red. However, he wasn’t dressed completely in red. This Estoc user merely had his eyes and hair red, and had a reverse cross sign dyed on his grey helmet. His colors and the picture used looked like the «Knights of the Blood» , and caused the sub-leader of the KoB, Asuna the «Flash» to give an irritated look. I faced this guy right from the start. As he got ready to retreat, he left these words ‘I’ll, definitely, kill you later’, and intended to report his name. It was this guy.

  One and a half years later, this guy broke the wall of the other world and appeared in front of me. Like what he declared before, this mantle guy got ready to stab through me with the Estoc—«Death Gun» was that guy. His name was—

  “«XaXa».”

  The word that came from my mouth caused the metal that was about to pierce through my heart to deviate course.

  I ignored the slightly stabbed feeling of the sword tip that was about to be pulled back and continued,

  “«Red-eyed XaXa». That’s your name.”

  Next—a few things happened in front of my eyes.

  A red line suddenly went into the center of Death Gun’s hood from behind me.

  That wasn’t a bullet—just a simple bullet line. It was Sinon. I immediately understood her intention. This was an attack of hers that used the bullet line. It was the final hit that was based on her experience, inspiration and will to fight. The phantom bullet that she fired.

  Death Gun seemed like a beast who felt a power carnivore’s killer intent and instinctively jumped back.

  A low growl came from below the skull-head mask. He should have realize that Sinon couldn’t possibly risk shooting at me in case of a mishit, but he wavered after I called his name, causing his judgment to be slowed. Thus, he dodged automatically as if he reacted to a phantom bullet.

  This was the last chance. The bullet line won’t work anymore. I can’t waste this chance Sinon gave me. I stepped in front and raced after Death Gun.

  Ah—damn it. His profile disappeared. It was the «Optical Camouflage». I could still find him based on the footprints he left on the ground, but now the lightsaber couldn’t deal a fatal blow to him. If I can’t kill him in one hit, my HP will become zero once I’m countered.

  At this moment, there was something more shocking that happened.

  My left hand started moving as if it was guided by someone. The icy hand that was tense due to nervousness—was surrounded by a certain familiar pair of warm hands that guided me. My left hand immediately moved and then gripped onto something—the second weapon that even I forgot about, the «FiveSeven handgun». As my hand felt the weight that was pulled out of my gun pouch, a certain circuit in my consciousness suddenly flared.

  “U…OOOOOHHH�
�!!”

  I roared and stepped forward. I then spun my left side back forward like a bullet.

  Death Gun’s profile was about to vanish, and I swayed my profile before swinging my left hand.

  A two-handed sword skill would normally have the sword in the left hand swing up from near the ground to break the enemy’s defenses. However, what’s in my hand wasn’t a sword but a handgun. However, who said that I couldn’t use sword techniques with a gun? I used the impression I had of swinging the left sword up and continued to squeeze the trigger.

  The bullet that were flying up continued to hit the object that was about to become invisible and shone sparks intensely in the air. Death Gun’s body finally appeared in the midst of the flash. I faced the avatar whose Optical Camouflage was being destroyed—

  And swung the lightsaber in my right hand in a clockwise direction with motion and weight.

  This was the «Double Circular» twin-swords assault skill.

  The energy blade sliced deep into Death Gun’s right shoulder and then sliced in diagonally before leaving from his left abdomen. At this moment, the «black handgun» that was in his gun pouch was sliced in half by the lightsaber, and after giving off a bright orange flash, it exploded.

  The avatar that was sliced in half, the ripped mantle and the flame arc floated under the blueish-white sky.

  After a long flight—

  Dodou, two consecutive deep sounds rang, and Death Gun’s upper and lower bodies landed somewhere away from each other. After a while, the metal needle-like thing—the Estoc was stabbed onto the ground between both parts of the body.

  At this moment, while I was kneeling on the ground on one leg, I heard a weak voice,

  “…It’s not, over…that person…won’t let…you…end this…”

  However, the [DEAD] tag that appeared between the sliced body caused this player Death Gun to stop completely and unable to say anything. I slowly got up, lowered my head and watched the «corpse» on the ground.

  Having lost the mantle that would have represented himself, there was nothing that represented Death Gun except for that skull mask. I looked at the goggles that had lost their glow and silently answered,

  “No…it’s over, XaXa. Your accomplices will be found. The killing acts of «Laughing Coffin» have come to an end.”

  I then turned around and dragged my battered body west.

  After walking for about a few hundred steps, hundreds of meters away, my lowered sight finally saw a pair of small feet wearing small boots, and I looked up.

  The sniper girl was standing there. She was holding that large sniper rifle that lost its scope, giving a steady smile.

  Part 10

  Sinon looked like she had something to say as she opened her mouth, but for an instant, she didn’t know what to say.

  Even she didn’t know what sort of emotion she had in her heart now. There was merely a rising burning feeling up her chest that caused her to hug the Hecate in her arms tightly.

  Seeing Sinon standing blankly down there, Kirito showed a calm smile for the first time. He placed the FiveSeven handgun in his hand back into the holster and clenched his fist before reaching it out to Sinon.

  And Sinon raised her right fist to tap his fist lightly.

  “…It’s over.”

  The lightsaber warrior muttered simply and then looked up. Sinon then followed him and looked up as well.

  The clouds have parted unknowingly, and the stars in the sky were showing their shine. Sinon then remembered that this was the first time she saw stars in this world.

  The skies in GGO were often covered by thick clouds because of past wars. The daytime here were always of depressing sunset colors, and even the night would have bloodstained-like red.

  But as prophesized by the NPC elder on the streets, once the toxic on the land is purified and returned back to white sand, the clouds shall disappear, and the shine of the stars and the spaceships would return to the sky. Of course, no people would believe such ordinary words, but maybe this desert wasn’t just a wilderness for players to wander in, but may even be a sacred land far away in the distant future.

  Sinon immediately couldn’t say anything as she looked up at the sparkling group of lights in the clear night sky, and the remaining lights of the spaceships that looked like rivers.

  Soon after, Kirito said,

  “…It’s about time to end this tournament. The audience may be sick of waiting.”

  “…Un, that’s right.”

  The blue camera feeds that covered the entire sky were flickering with the REC logos anxiously. Kirito may have noticed it as he immediately gave a wry smile. However, he immediately regained his original look, went closer and whispered,

  “…The danger of this tournament’s finally over. Death Gun was taken down, so the accomplice who’s preparing to kill you should have left. Their aim should be to create the rumor that «those players who were shot by that black handgun in GGO and will die in the real world», so they probably won’t kill people at random. Logically, you shouldn’t be in any danger when you log out…but you better call the police for safety reasons.”

  “…How do I explain everything to 110[4]? They probably won’t believe me if I said that someone plotted to kill inside and outside a VRMMO, right?”

  After hearing Sinon’s question, Kirito was stumped for a bit. However, he immediately nodded and said,

  “You’re right…my associate is sort of a civil servant, so we can get him to help…but I can’t just ask for your address and name…”

  At this moment, the lightsaber warrior hesitated and looked away. Of course, he knew how rude it would be to ask for someone else’s real identity in a VRMMO.

  However, Sinon thought for a while and then said,

  “Alright. Let me tell you.”

  “Eh…bu, but…”

  “I just feel that there’s no need to worry about this anymore. Besides…I already took the initiative to tell you my past. I never done it before…”

  After hearing her mutter, Kirito widened his eyes, but immediately nodded his head.

  “That’s true…speaking of which, I was the same too…”

  If they continued to drag on like this, Sinon may end up saying ‘never mind’ because of her fearful nature. Thus, she slung the Hecate behind her shoulder and immediately stepped forward. She placed her lips near Kirito’s ears and said in a voice nobody else could hear,

  “My name is—Asada Shino. The address is Tokyo District, Bunkyo, Yushima, Yonchome…”

  As she finished saying her apartment’s name and room number, Kirito immediately answered softly in surprise,

  “Yushima? That’s a coincidence…I dived in from Ochinomizu in Chiyoda.”

  “Eh…ehhh!? Isn’t this just nearby?”

  Now even Sinon was shocked and nearly squealed out. Ochinomizu and Sinon’s apartment were just separated from the Kasuga subway and the Kuramae subway. At this moment, Kirito suddenly widened his eyes, let out a ‘un…’ before continuing,

  “Then I’ll just log out and go off to find you…”

  “Eh…you…”

  Sinon nearly said ‘are you willing to come by’, but shut up at the last moment, coughed dryly a few times and corrected herself,

  “Un…no need. There’s a reliable friend nearby…”

  Spiegel, also known as Shinkawa Kyouji, who invited Sinon to this world was the second son of a practitioner. His house was in Hongoume right beside hers. He would come over once she gave him a call. Speaking of which, he may have seen the footage of this tournament from the beginning to the end, so she had to find an excuse as to why she got close with Kirito a few times.

  “…And that guy’s a doctor’s kid, so he can take care of me if there’s a need.”

  To hide any embarrassment and end off, Kirito gave a serious look and answered,

  “Oi, it’ll be bad if something really happened. But I guess it’s alright if you say that…I’ll request my associate aft
er I log out to check with the police. No matter how late, it should take 15…no, 10 minutes. The police will be at your house in 10 minutes.”

  “Un, I got it. It’ll be great if we can catch the accomplice…”

  “Unn…”

  Seeing the still wary Kirito nod his head, Sinon stared at him.

  “Forget about that. Are you one to run away after hearing my personal information?”

  “Eh, ah…so, sorry. My name’s Kirigaya Kazuto. I dived in from Ochinomizu, but my house’s at Kawagoe city.”

  The lightsaber warrior looked panicked as he hurriedly reported his data. Sinon murmured for a while and then chuckled at this non-urgent situation.

  “Kirigaya Kazuto. So that’s why you’re called Kirito, right? That’s a really simple name-ing.”

  “Wha…what right do you have to say me!”

  Both of them smiled. Kirito again looked at the camera above his head and then changed his tone,

  “…We can only log out by putting BoB to an end…how about it, Sinon? Do we fight it out like yesterday?”

  After hearing his question, Sinon found that her strong desire to have a rematch with Kirito was forgotten completely. She stared at this pretty face in front of her and then said,

  “…Strength’s not an outcome…but a process of working hard…”

  “Eh? What are you saying?”

  “Un, it’s nothing—I say, you’re completely wounded all over now, right? There’s nothing to be proud about winning against you. Let’s just leave this for the next BoB tournament.”

  The moment Sinon fished, Kirito raised his eyebrows in shock, but immediately gave a wry smile,

  “Are you saying that I can’t convert back to my old game before the 4th tournament?”

  “You can convert back and then convert here again, but don’t think that you can beat me the next time…then, it’s time to end the third tournament.”