13 Chapter 12: Unwanted Reunion

A shining shinobi katana suddenly swings across my belly, leaving an orange gash showing I've been hit.

"Gah..!" I gnarled, "You need to call out when you're gonna hit me, Merida!"

A green-haired ninja arose from her stance and fiddled with her short one-sided ninja blade.

"Awwh c'mon, this isn't kendo, you know."

"I know that, yet you said it was a rule!"

"Geez, it's no fun if you know when you're gonna get hit," Merida giggled.

The time was 8pm, Merida and I have just begun our "training," Merida called it that, but it's more like she's observing my movements in-game instead of teaching me anything.

I stood ready and prepared myself for her next strike.

Her movements are quite fast, but occasionally she slows down when activating a skill... wait-!

"I haven't got a weapon!" I yelled, noticing there was nothing that resembled a weapon at my belt.

Merida sheathed her sword, "You just noticed that now!?" she sighed deeply and swiped her right finger diagonally to her waist, revealing her in-game VR menu for Asuka Empire.

"Here, I'll give you this, it's small, but it'll do for now," a medium-sized blade, approximately between 30 to 60 centimeters, materialized in Merida's left hand.

She lifted it up and handed the weapon to me, I held it close to my face and examined it.

A sudden glaring window popped the moment I began my inspection of the blade.

"Wuwah..!" I yelped and lost my balance, falling on my rear.

I looked again at the weapon Merida gave me, a tab showing the name of the shōtō hovered above the armament.

"Suzumebachi (Hornet)"

A looming eerieness clouded over me, Merida's arms were folded while tapping her foot and wearing an impatient expression on her face.

"Are you finished?"

"Yes, Merida-sensei!" I immediately responded.

She huffed and began walking back to where she stood before then faced me, her shinobi katana at the ready.

Okay... I just need to equip the weapon, then I'll be on par with Merida...

"I'm ready when you are!" I exclaimed, unsheathing Suzumebachi and assuming a weapon ready-like stance.

It seems she's going for a frontal assault, I have to watch her feet closely to see if she activates any skills.

As I anticipated, a prompt for a skill briefly circled around Merida's left foot as she rushed me in a ninja dash.

My body kept its composure while Merida suddenly leaped into the air and rotated her body above me in a perfect arch.

I watched in awe as she glided over me, my eyes suddenly squinted as Merida was enveloped by a bright, blinding ray of sunlight which temporarily obscured my vision, I blinked, Merida had vanished from my field of view.

Her sneaky trick made me frantically search around in a desperate attempt to locate my opponent.

Where is she..? Damn!

"Behind you..."

The quiet yet menacing tone whistled into my ear, and before I knew it, another bright orange gash appeared on my left thigh.

"Dammit..! Where'd you go, Merida!" I snapped.

Just then, a smoke bomb set off beneath me, further obscuring my vision.

A few seconds passed, and the smoke completely covered my environment's visuals, "You can't hit what you can't see!" Merida chanted.

Darn... I'll have to see her without using my sight...

I closed my eyes and heightened my senses to detect any sound or movement made by an individual female ninja.

Where are you...

*pat, pat, pat, swoosh!*

There you are!

I rotated my blade towards the sound and blocked a sharp katana that was directed at my neck.

*Kiin..!*

"Gotcha..!" I pushed Merida's sword away from my neck and leaped forward, pushing her with a swift shoulder barge knocking her back.

Stomping my right foot, I activated Totsugeki and began my brief onslaught of deft slashes and clean thrusts, Merida suddenly disappeared again, "Hah! You managed to counter my attack, but let's see you do that again!" she teased.

Darn it, she's mocking me!

From what I just saw, Merida used a skill, exclusive for the ninja class, "Kage no Sakkaku." It creates an illusion of oneself but needs to be monitored by the caster, essentially it's like a puppet.

Even though I'm a ninja, I don't have enough points in my AGI or INT to meet the skill requirements.

But I still have an ace up my sleeve, the skill I learned recently, and my concentration technique, which I even don't know how to activate fluently yet...

"You aren't serious, are you?" Merida's voice echoed amongst the smoke, "C'mon, show me that Sword-Skill you did the other day."

"I told you it's not a sword-swingy or whatever!"

I stomped my foot and activated a battle skill on the Ground Circle.

The air still possessed an uncomfortable silence, I had to predict Merida's next move.

Is she waiting until the cooldown for her illusion skill finishes? Or is she planning something else..?

I closed my eyes once more and listened for the sound of her footsteps.

There were sounds of feet stopping and starting nearby, I imagined that Merida was trying to confuse me, "You can stop trying to use that same trick again! I already how to counter your next attack!"

As soon as I announced my plan, a shadowy silhouette began racing towards me, I crouched down and soared up to the sky, my jump wasn't as high, but I readied the skill "Double jump" before my leap.

I jumped again, began searching the area with my passive skill "Taka," I picked up 3 other players in the area.

Hrm... Merida chose a secluded area, so why are these players here?

I landed back on the ground, "Hey, Merida!" the smoke began to clear, "It seems like we have some other players-!!"

My legs and arms felt weak all of a sudden, I fell to my knees.

Somethings not right!

A sharp pain lingered on my back as if someone just jabbed my shoulder, I looked to my right and found a small, sharp-edged throwing knife lodged in my shoulder, my HUD presented a new yellow icon that seemed like a lightning bolt, I was paralyzed.

The smoke entirely disappeared, my vision returned only to witness Merida fending off two players, their names were covered with titles "Bandit" and "Burglar."

I remembered a third player being here too, I imagined that they were the same as the other two, and I was correct.

"Wow, you went down that easily? Perhaps the rumors aren't true after all."

What's this bloodthirsty presence behind me..?

Subconsciously, I turned my head towards the voice, I went bug-eyed as the player's name came into view.

Sinner

"Oh! Hi there, we've met before, haven't we?" A sadistic male voice came from the player.

I couldn't speak. Words evaded every attempt to scream.

"Oh, please don't look at me like that..." he grew an evil grin, "Right... you don't remember me, do you?"

I've met you before..? I wondered.

"Let's see... oh, I know what'll jog your memory!" he took a stance that showed he held two blades, "TAKE THIS YOU TOTAL BUZZKILL!"

I then realized who I was talking to, "Y... You-!? You're that red PKer!"

"Ding-ding-ding! That's right!" Sinner began slowly descending from the hill he stood upon.

"I'm glad I get to meet you again, you know I'm quite pissed after our last encounter," he stood in front of me and firmly grasped my feminine-like hair, "So you're going to calm me down with some your screams..."

Sinner's grin grew more evil as he pulled out another throwing knife, licking the blade, then hovering it just below my chin and scratching my neck.

"Damai..!" Merida arrived in the nick of time and briefly slashed at Sinner, he let go of my hair and dodged her attack moving to higher ground in one jump.

I still couldn't move, the paralysis had yet to wear off, my shoulder was beginning to ache.

"The next one won't miss! I'll be aiming for your head." Merida raised her sword, pointing it at Sinner.

"Hrm..? What happened to my colleagues? Weren't they supposed to keep you busy?" he paused, "Me-ri-da?"

"It happened to be past their nap time, so I lulled them to sleep, you won't get away from me again, Sinner!" Merida surprisingly sounded like a true heroine.

"H-Hang on... You know this guy?"

She slightly turned her head just enough to keep Sinner in her sights, "He's well known as the top criminal guild leader in Asuka, he's a childish brat who keeps grudges against his opponents until they've been hunted down and murdered."

Sinner seemed annoyed by Merida's comment, "Tch, and you're known as the Emerald Witch. Say, why're you protecting my prey?" he growled and glared at Merida, he seemed a little distracted, so I took the chance to remove the knife.

While Sinner wasn't focussing his attention on me, I grasped the handle that mounted the small blade and used all my might for ripping the knife from my shoulder, but to no avail, my STR stat wasn't high enough, I just had to wait until the paralysis wore off.

Damn..! I can't stay like this... I have to help Merida!

"Oh, I see you're trying to break free. We can't have that, can we?."

I quickly raised my head, Sinner had noticed my feeble struggle, "Should I explain why you feel so weak? Doesn't matter. I'll explain it anyway."

Sinner lectured Merida and me on the stages of paralysis. Stage one only affects the player's arms and legs, making them feel heavier. Stage two affects the player's whole body causing them to collapse, but they can still move depending on their STR stat. Stage three affects the player and their stats reducing STR and AGI by 20% while also rendering the player completely helpless; paralysis has an infinite lasting effect while the weapon causing the paralysis, is still in the victim's body.

"The knife in you is a stage one paralysis weapon."

"So, that means this effect won't ever wear off?" I said unwittingly.

"Ding-ding-ding! correct again!" Sinner answered, "You're quite clever compared to that green-haired witch protecting you."

He laughed maniacally, drawing a red, shiny Tachi sword from his rear waist, aiming it at Merida, "I guess I'll have to make up for my colleagues' incompetence."

"Come at me!" Merida charged him with the blade of her shinobi katana facing Sinner in a reverse grip.

Sinner was entirely distracted with battling Merida, I took another chance to rid myself of the paralysis.

"Oh no, you don't!" yelled Sinner as he threw another knife, piercing my other shoulder.

*Thunk!*

I fell face-first on the ground, the lightning icon was updated showing the roman numeral for two above the yellow prompt.

"Why you..!" Merida fought aggressively to stop any other attacks focussed on me.

She threw her blade around, desperately trying to hit Sinner, which he either blocked the sudden attacks or evaded them.

"Goodness, you're acting wild today!" Sinner taunted, "Is she your girlfriend or something?"

I struggled to lift my head, Merida wore a pained yet enraged expression. I felt helpless as I watched a one-sided battle between Sinner and Merida, Sinner barely had to lift a finger.

"Keep those twisted thoughts to yourself!" Merida screamed, "And besides, I don't have time for dating!"

Oh... well, it's not that I'm a little upset about that or anything...

She threw three black kunai at her sadistic enemy, "Also, Damai is just an acquaintance of mine!" Sinner dodged all three kunai.

Somehow I felt a jab in my spine, but there was no new status debuff, and my LP bar hadn't decreased.

Oh... I'm not even considered a friend yet...

Aside from my confidence being reduced by Merida putting me somewhere worse than the friend zone, Sinner shrugged, "Are you sure? May I ask then, why are you protecting her?"

Merida halted her assault and shook her head, flustered, "That's none of your business!"

Does he know by now that I'm not a girl?

"Eyes up, Emerald Witch!" Sinner flew towards Merida, grabbing her tunic and throwing her into a cliff wall.

"Merida..!" I called out to her, hoping for a reply. The dust from the collision cleared, Merida was weakly standing in front of a large rocky dent carved into the cliff wall.

"Tch... I didn't think you'd be this much of a hindrance, I'll finish you off now," Sinner grumbled, he threw a knife into Merida's leg causing her to fall due to the paralysis effect, but she slowly picked herself up with the support of her sword.

"Honestly, how much do you want to annoy me?" Sinner swung his arm to throw another knife, "Seriously? Today just isn't my day." Sinner had run out of throwing weapons.

He sighed and began to walk towards Merida to finish the job, but paused.

"Wow, your girlfriend's quite the courageous gal!" He laughed.

I had grabbed Sinner's ankle and tightened my grip to prevent him from moving any closer to Merida, "Your target is me, right?" I inquired, "So you don't have to exert yourself any further, right?"

"Hrm... You're right, I suppose."

"Good, so let Meri-"

"But circumstances have changed."

"What?"

Sinner kicked my cheek with his other foot breaking my grip from his ankle, "There's a more pressing matter at hand," He resumed his menacing march.

"Goodness, you're in quite the predicament," An eerie voice sounded in my mind, "You want to help her, right?"

Yes, I do.

A soft sensation filled my shoulders, "Then I'll take control for now." My eyes-lids slowly shut and my shoulders started to feel lighter, I believed I had passed out.