Chapter 12

"...-kun! Kirito-kun!!"

Asuna's calls, which were almost like screams, forced me awake.

As I sat up, pain spiked through my head and caused my face to

distort.

"Owww..."

I looked around and saw that we were still in the boss room. Blue

light fragments were still floating around the room. It seemed like

I had only lost consciousness for a few seconds.

Asuna was kneeling on the ground, her face right before my eyes.

Her eyebrows were tightened, and she was biting her lip. It looked

like she was going to cry.

"You idiot...! Why...!?"

She shouted and then jumped into my arms and hugged me. It

shocked me enough to make me forget my pain for a moment. I

could only blink in surprise.

"...Don't hug me so tightly. You're going to make my HP

disappear."

I said in a joking tone, but Asuna responded with a really angry

expression. She shoved a small bottle into my mouth. The liquid

which flowed in was a high-quality potion that tasted like a

combination of lemon juice and green tea. It should fully heal my

HP within five minutes, but my fatigue was going to last a while.

Asuna checked to confirm that I had drunk all of it. Then, as her

face began to scrunch up, she put her forehead on my shoulder to

hide it.

I raised my head at the sound of footsteps and saw Klein

approach. He seemed a little apologetic for disturbing us, but

started speaking nevertheless.

"We've finished healing all the remaining Army members, but

Kobatz and two of his men had already died..."

"...Yeah. It's the first time since the 67th floor that someone died

during a boss fight..."

"That wasn't even a fight. That idiot Kobatz... You can't do

anything if you're dead..."

Klein spat out. Then he took a deep breath, shook his head, and

asked me in an attempt to change the mood.

"But back to the topic, what the hell was that just then!?"

"...Do I have to say it?"

"Of course! I've never seen something like that before!"

I suddenly noticed that aside from Asuna, everyone in the room

was looking at me, waiting for my reply.

"...It's an extra skill: «Dual Blades»."

Expressions of amazement rose throughout Klein's party and the

survivors from the Army.

All weapon skills had to be learned in a certain order depending

on their type. Take swords for an example; you had to train the

one-handed straight sword skill quite a bit before «Rapier» and

«Two-Handed Sword» appeared on the list.

Naturally, Klein was interested, and he urged me to tell the rest.

"Wh-What are the conditions that have to be met?"

"I'd have told everyone if I knew that."

As I shook my head, Klein sighed and muttered.

"You're right..."

Weapon skills that didn't have clear conditions for appearing are

called extra skills. They were sometimes even called random

conditions.

An example would be Klein's «Katana». But «Katana» wasn't all

that rare and appeared quite often as long as you kept training the

Curved Sword skill.

Most of the ten-plus extra skills that had been found up until now,

«Katana» included, had at least ten people who used each of them.

The only exceptions were my «Dual Blades» and one other man's

extra skill.

These two were most likely limited to only one person, so they

should be called «Unique Skill». I had hidden the existence of my

unique skill up until now. But from today, the news that I was the

second unique skill user would spread throughout the world.

There was no way I could hide it after using it in front of so many

people.

"I'm disappointed Kirito. You didn't even tell me that you had such

an awesome skill."

"I would have told you if I knew the conditions for its appearance.

But I really couldn't figure out how it happened."

I answered Klein's complaint with a shrug.

There wasn't a shred of lie in what I said. About a year ago, I

opened my skills window one day and found the name «Dual

Blades» just sitting there. I really had no clue on what conditions

made it appear.

Since then, I only trained it when there was nobody around. Even

after I nearly Completed it, I rarely used it against monsters unless

it was an emergency. Aside from using it to protect myself in a

crisis, I simply didn't like this kind of skill due to the attention it

draws.

I even thought that it would be better if another Dual Blades user

appeared—

I scratched the area around my ear and muttered.

"...If it became known that I had such a rare skill, not only would

people pester me for information... it might attract other kinds of

problems too..."

Klein nodded.

"Online gamers get jealous easily. I wouldn't since I'm an

understanding guy, but there sure are plenty of envious people.

Not to mention..."

Klein suddenly stopped talking and looked at Asuna, who was still

tightly hugging me, and smiled meaningfully.

"...Well, just consider suffering as another way of training yourself,

young Kirito."

"So, to you it's just someone else's problem...?"

Klein bent over and thumped me on the shoulder, then turned

around and walked towards the survivors of «The Army».

"Hey, you guys, do you think you'll be able to make it back to HQ

by yourselves?"

One of them nodded at Klein's question. He was a boy who looked

like he was in his teens.

"OK. Tell your superiors what happened here today and that they

shouldn't do something this stupid again."

"Yes. ...and, err...thank you."

"Thank him over there."

Klein pointed my way with his thumb. The players from the army

stood up shakily, turned towards Asuna and I, who were still on

the floor, and bowed deeply before walking out of the room. Once

they reached the passageway, they used their crystals to teleport

out one after another.

After the blue lights faded, Klein put his hands on his hips and

started speaking.

"Well, let's see... We're going to continue on to the 75th floor and

open the gate there. How 'bout you? You're the man of the day, so

do you want to do it?"

"No, I'll leave it to you. I'm totally wiped."

"If that's the case... be careful on your way back."

Klein nodded and then signaled to his teammates. The six walked

over to the huge door in the corner of the room. Behind it should

be the stairs to the next floor. The katana-wielder stopped in front

of the door and turned around.

"Hey... Kirito. Y'know when you jumped in to save those Army

members..."

"...What about it?"

"I was... well, really glad. That's all I have to say. See ya around

sometime."

I don't get what he was trying to say. As I cocked my head, Klein

gave me a thumbs-up, then opened the door and disappeared

through it with his party.

Only Asuna and I were left in the huge boss room. The blue flames

that had been flaring up from the floor had disappeared some time

ago, and the sinister atmosphere that once filled the room had

vanished without a trace. The soft light that filled the passageway

now flooded this room as well. Not a single sign of the battle

remained.

I said something to Asuna, who still had her head against my

shoulder.

"Hey... Asuna..."

"...I was so scared... I didn't know what I'd do... If you had died."

Her shaking voice was weaker than I had ever heard it.

"...What are you talking about? You were the one who charged in

first."

I said this as I softly placed my hand on Asuna's shoulder. A

manner infraction flag would come up if I grabbed her too

blatantly, but this really wasn't a situation where I should worry

about that.

As I gently pulled her towards me, my ears had almost missed her

small voice.

"I'm going to take a short break from the guild."

"T-Take a break...? Why?"

"...I said that I was going to party with you for a while... Did you

forget already?"

As soon as I heard that...

Somewhere deep within my heart, a feeling that could only be

described as a strong longing reached out. It surprised even me.

I —solo player Kirito— was a person who had abandoned every

other player in order to keep myself alive in this world. I was the

coward who had turned his back on his only friend and ran away

two years ago, on the day that all of this had started.

A person like me, who didn't even have any right to wish for a

comrade—let alone something more than that.

I had already realized this in a painful and unforgettable way. I

had sworn never to wish again, never to yearn for the care of

others.

But—

My left hand, which had turned rigid, didn't want to let go of

Asuna's shoulder. I just couldn't pull myself away from the virtual

warmth of her body.

I buried this huge contradicting conflict inside me with an

inexplicable emotion, and then answered with a short reply.

"...Okay."

After hearing my response, Asuna's head nodded slightly on my

shoulder.

The next day.

I had been hiding on the second floor of Agil's shop since this

morning. I was sitting on a rocking chair with my legs crossed and

was drinking a strangely flavored tea, which I figured was

probably a defective product. I was also in a rather foul mood.

All of Algade— No, most probably all of Aincrad was busy

discussing the events of yesterday.

Floor clearing, which meant the opening of a new city, was already

enough to start an exorbitant amount of gossiping. But this time,

various other rumor had also been mixed in, like «The demon that

wiped out a whole Army battalion» and «The Twin Blade

swordsman that killed the demon by himself with fifty hits»...

There should be a limit on how much they can exaggerate these

things by.

Somehow they had found out about where I lived. As a result,

swordsmen and information dealers had crowded around my

house since early morning. I ended up having to go through the

trouble of using a teleport crystal to escape.

"I'm going to move... To some super-rural floor, to some village

where they'll never be able to find me...."

As I endlessly muttered my complaints, Agil walked over to me

with a smile.

"Hey, don't be like that. It's good to become famous for once in

your life. Why don't you host a presentation? I'll take care of the

tickets and the venue..."

"No way!"

I shouted and threw the cup in my right hand, aiming for the area

about fifty centimeters to the right of Agil's head.

But I habitually made the motion which activated my Throw

Weapon skill and hurled the cup towards the wall at a high speed.

The cup left a trail of light before it smashed into the wall with a

loud noise. Thankfully, the room was an indestructible object, so

nothing else happened other than the appearance of the

«Immortal Object» system tag. If I had hit a piece of furniture, it

would have been destroyed for sure.

"Ah, are you trying to kill me here!?"

At the shopkeeper's exaggerated shout, I raised my right hand as a

sign of apology and leaned back against the chair once more.

Agil was currently examining the treasure I had received from

yesterday's fight. Every once in a while, he would make a strange

noise, which most probably meant that there were some pretty

valuable goods in there.

I had planned to equally share with Asuna the money I would get

from selling the loot, but it was already past the promised meeting

time and she still hadn't arrived. I had already sent her a friendmessage, so she should know where I was...

We parted at the main street teleport gate of the 74th floor

yesterday. She said that she was going to apply for a break and

went to the KoB HQ in Granzam on the 55th floor. I asked her if I

should go with her, given the trouble with Kuradeel and all. But

she said it was fine with a smile on her face, so I abandoned the

thought.

It was already two hours past the promised time. If she was this

late, did it mean that something had happened? Should I have

gone with her? I downed the cup of tea in a single gulp in order to

calm my anxieties.

Just as I had drained the tea pot before me, and Agil had finished

his examination of my items, I heard the sound of footsteps

running up the stairs. Then, the door quickly crashed open.

"Hey, Asuna..."

I had almost said "You're late" but stopped myself. Asuna was in

her uniform as usual, but her face was white and worry shone

through her eyes. She held both her hands in front of her chest, bit

her lip twice or thrice, and then said:

"What should we do... Kirito-kun..."

She forced out in a voice that was close to tears.

"Something... bad has happened..."

After drinking some newly-boiled tea, life managed to return to

Asuna's face, and she started explaining a bit hesitantly. Agil had

moved back down to the first floor after noticing the atmosphere.

"Yesterday... after I returned to the HQ in Granzam, I reported

everything that had happened to the guild leader. Then I said that

I wanted to take a break from the guild and then went back

home... I had thought that I would get permission during the

regular morning guild meeting..."

Asuna, who was sitting opposite of me, lowered her eyes and

grabbed her tea cup tightly before she continued.

"The leader... said that I could take a brief leave from the guild. But

there was one condition... He said that... he wanted to have a fight...

with Kirito-kun..."

"What...?"

I couldn't understand what she meant for a moment. Fight...? Did

that mean a duel? What did a duel have to do with Asuna taking a

break?

When I asked these questions...

"I don't know either...."

Asuna shook her head while looking at the floor.

"I tried to persuade him that there's no meaning in doing that...

but he just wouldn't listen to me..."

"But... this is problematic. For that guy to suddenly present a

condition like this..."

I muttered as the image of the guild leader flashed through my

mind.

"I know. The leader usually leaves us alone even when we're

planning our strategy for clearing floors, let alone everyday guild

activities. But I don't know why this time he..."

Although the KoB leader had overwhelming charisma, which

attracted the admiration of not only all his guild members but also

most of the front lines people, he never gave any instructions or

orders. I fought beside him during a couple of boss fights as well

and greatly admired his ability to maintain the line without a

single word.

For such a guy to put forth an objection with the condition of

having a duel with me, just what on earth could it be about?

Even though I was completely confused, I spoke in order to calm

Asuna down.

"...Well, let's go to Granzam first. I'll try talking to him directly."

"Yeah... Sorry. I'm always causing you trouble..."

"I'll gladly do anything, because you're my..."

Asuna looked at me expectantly as I stopped in the middle of my

sentence.

"...important partying partner."

Asuna pouted with dissatisfaction, then revealed a warm smile.

The Strongest Man, The Living Legend, The Paladin, and et

cetera— The leader of the Knights of the Blood had so many titles

that you couldn't count them with your hands.

His name was Heathcliff. Before my «Dual Blades» became widely

known, he was renowned as the only unique skill user amongst

the six thousand players of Aincrad.

His extra skill used a sword and shield combination, both of which

were cross-shaped, and allowed the user to switch freely between

attack and defense. It was named «Holy Sword». I had seen it

myself a couple of times and noticed that the skill's most

remarkable aspect was its overwhelming defensive strength.

Rumor claim that no one had ever seen his HP go into the yellow

zone. During the 50th floor boss fight which had inflicted heavy

casualties on the players, he had managed to hold the line by

himself for ten whole minutes. This achievement remained a

popular topic of conversation even today.

There was no weapon that could pierce Heathcliff's cross-shaped

shield.

This was one of the most widely-accepted tenets within Aincrad.

As I arrived on the 55th floor with Asuna, I felt an indescribable

nervousness. Of course, I had no intention of crossing swords with

Heathcliff. I was merely going to ask him to accept Asuna's request

for a temporary break from the guild; that was my only goal.

Granzam, the living area of the 55th floor, was nicknamed «Steel

City». This was because Granzam, unlike the other cities which

were built with stone, was mostly comprised of huge towers that

were made of shining black steel. Since the city had a large

number of blacksmiths, its player population was quite high.

However, there weren't any trees or other greenery alongside the

streets, which gave off a feeling that this city was harshly

unforgiving in the winter winds.

We came through the gate plaza and walked along the road, which

was made with steel plates locked into position with rivets.

Asuna's footsteps seemed heavy; maybe it was because she was

afraid of what might happen.

We walked amongst the steel towers for about ten minutes until

an even larger tower loomed before us. Silver spears protruded

out above the huge gates, while white flags with red crosses

swayed in the cold wind. It was the HQ of the Knights of the Blood

guild.

Asuna stopped in front of me. She looked up at the tower for a

while and then said:

"Before, the HQ was a small house in a countryside village on the

39th floor. Everyone always complained that it was too small and

crowded. I'm not against the guild expanding... but this city is too

cold, and I don't like it..."

"Let's just get this over with quickly; then we can go get something

warm to eat."

"You're always talking about eating."

Asuna smiled and moved her left hand to gently grasp the fingers

of my right hand. She didn't even look at me, who was perplexed

at her behavior, and just stood there like that for a few seconds.

"Okay, charging complete!"

Then she released my hand and began to walk towards the tower

in long strides. I hurried to follow behind her.

After going up the stairs, we came across two wide-open gates,

although there were two heavily-armored guards equipped with a

particularly long spear on each side. Asuna walked over to them,

the heels of her boots clanking against the floor. As she

approached them, both of the guards greeted her by raising their

spears off the ground.

"Thank you for your hard work."

With her crisp response and her confident stride, it was hard to

believe that this was the same depressed girl who had been in

Agil's shop just an hour ago. Following closely behind Asuna, I

passed the guards and entered the tower with her.

Like the other buildings of Granzam, this tower was also built

from black steel. Its first floor was a spacious lobby, but there

wasn't a single person here right now.

Thinking that the building felt even colder than the streets

outside, we walked past the mosaic floor, which had been

meticulously constructed from numerous metal pieces, and came

to a spiral staircase.

We went up the stairs; our footsteps echoing through the hall. The

staircase climbed so high, a person with low vitality stats would

have collapsed halfway up. After passing countless doors, I started

to worry about how much further we would still have to go. Then

Asuna finally stopped in front of a cold steel door.

"This is...?"

"Yeah..."

Asuna nodded with an expression of reluctance on her face. But

she seemed to have arrived at a decision right away. She raised

her right hand, knocked loudly on the door, and then opened it

without waiting for a reply. I squinted as bright light poured out

from the room.

Inside was a round room that took up an entire floor of the tower.

The walls on all four sides were made of transparent glass

windows. The light that filtered through them colored the room in

a monotone gray.

A huge semi-circular table stood in the center of the room; five

men sat in the chairs behind it. I had never seen the four on the

sides, but I recognized the one in the middle all too well. He was

the paladin Heathcliff.

He didn't look all that imposing. His age was probably around

twenty-five. His features were sharp like that of a scholar, and a

strand of steel-grey hair hung over his forehead. The richly red

robe draped around his tall, thin body made him seem more like a

wizard that didn't exist in this world than a swordsman.

But the most prominent features were his eyes. Those mysterious

brass eyes emitted a strong magnetism that overwhelmed people.

This wasn't even my first time meeting him; but to be truthful, I

was still intimidated.

Asuna walked over to the table, the sound of her boots echoing,

and gave a light salute.

"I've come to say my farewell."

Heathcliff gave a bitter smile in response:

"There's no need to rush. Please allow me to talk to him for a bit

first."

He looked my way as he said that. I drew back my hood and stood

next to Asuna.

"Is this the first time I've met you outside of a boss fight, Kirito?"

"No... We talked for a while during the 67th floor strategy

meeting."

I answered in a formal tone without realizing it.

Heathcliff nodded slightly and clasped his hands together on top

of the table.

"That was a difficult battle. We almost took some casualties within

our guild. Even though they call us the top guild, we're always

short on people. Yet now you are trying to take away one of our

precious top players."

"If she's so precious, how about putting more thought in selecting

her bodyguards?"

The man on the furthest right began to stand up at my sharp

retort, his expression changing. But Heathcliff stopped him with

simple wave of the hand.

"I've ordered Kuradeel to return to his house and reflect upon his

mistakes. I must apologize for the trouble we have caused you.

But, we cannot just stand aside and allow you to take our subleader away. Kirito—"

He suddenly glared at me; his sharp metallic eyes showed an

unwavering will behind them.

"If you want to take her— win her with your sword, with «Dual

Blades». If you fight me and win, then Asuna can go with you. But

if you lose, then you will have to join the Knights of the Blood."

"..."

I felt like I could finally understand a bit of this mysterious man.

He was someone obsessed with sword duels. Furthermore, he had

unshakable confidence in his own skills. He was a hopeless person

who could not throw away his pride as a gamer despite being

trapped in this inescapable game of death. In other words, he was

the same as me.

After hearing Heathcliff's words, Asuna, who had been silent until

now, opened her mouth and spoke as if she couldn't take any

more of this.

"Leader, I didn't say that I would quit the guild. I just wanted a

temporary leave, to get away and think about some things..."

I placed my hand on Asuna's shoulder, whose words had become

more agitated, and took a step forward. I faced Heathcliff's gaze

directly, and my mouth moved almost by itself.

"Okay. If you want to talk through our swords, then I have no

objections. We'll decide this with a duel."

"Auu—!!! Idiotidiotidiot!!!"

We were back in Algade, on the second floor of Agil's shop. After

chasing the curious shopkeeper back to the first floor, I tried to

calm Asuna down.

"I was trying so hard to convince him, yet you just had to say

something like that!!!"

Asuna was sitting on the armrest of the rocking chair I was on and

was using her tightly balled fists to grind against me.

"I'm sorry! I'm reaaaally sorry! I just went with the flow and..."

She finally calmed down after I gently grabbed her fists; but now

she was pouting. I had to forcibly keep myself from laughing at the

huge gap between her behavior at the guild HQ and that of right

now.

"It's fine. We've decided on using first strike rules, so there's no

danger involved. Besides, it's not like I'm definitely going to lose..."

"Uu~~~~..."

Asuna made an angry noise and crossed her thin, long legs atop

the armrest.

"...When I saw Kirito-kun's «Dual Blades», I thought that your skill

was on a totally different level. But it's the same for the leader's

«Holy Sword»... One could say that his power was strong enough

to destroy the game's balance. Truthfully, I really don't know

who'll win... But what are you going to do? If you lose, it doesn't

matter if I can't take a break, but you'll have to join KoB, Kiritokun."

"Well, you could say that I would still achieve my goal, depending

on how you think about it."

"Eh? Why?"

I had to force my mouth open to respond.

"Err, well, as...as long as Asuna is with me, I don't mind joining the

guild."

In the past, I would never have said something like this, even if it

was to save my own life. Asuna's eyes went wide with surprise,

and her face turned as red as a ripe apple.

Then, for some reason, she fell quiet, got up from the armrest, and

walked over to the window.

From across Asuna's shoulders, I could hear the everyday sounds

of Algade under the setting sun.

What I just said was the truth, but I still felt reluctant about

becoming part of a guild. As I remembered the name of the only

guild that I had ever belonged to, which no longer exists today, a

sharp pain ached in my heart.

Well, I have no intention of losing...

I thought to myself, then got up from the chair and walked over to

Asuna.

Soon afterwards, Asuna rested her head softly against my right

shoulder.