Chapter 15

"...What is this?"

I asked Godfree quietly.

"Hmm, I already know what happened between you two. But since

you're comrades within the same guild from now on, I thought

this would be a good opportunity to work out the bad blood

between you two."

As I watched Godfree laugh with his head up in the air, Kuradeel

slowly walked towards me.

"..."

I tensed and prepared to react to any situation. Even though we

were in a safe area, there was no telling what he might do.

But against all my expectations, Kuradeel suddenly bowed. He

then muttered in a barely-audible voice under his long hair.

"I'm... sorry for causing you trouble last time..."

This time I was genuinely shocked. My jaw dropped in amazement

and I was left wordless.

"I won't act so rudely again... I hope you will forgive me..."

I couldn't see his expression under his long, greasy hair.

"Ah... yeah..."

As I forced myself to nod, I wondered what in the world had

happened. Did he get a personality altering surgery or something?

"Yes, yes. Well, that's all taken care of now!!"

Godfree gave another hearty laugh. I felt really suspicious;

Kuradeel must be up to something, but I couldn't guess from

looking at his lowered head. In contrast to its overstated

emotions, SAO had a hard time portraying subtle expressions.

I could only accept his apology for now, but I reminded myself not

to let my guard down.

The last member arrived after a while, and then we set off for the

labyrinth. Just as I began to step into my pace, Godfree stopped me

with a gruff voice:

"Wait... Today's training will be done under the most realistic

circumstances. I want to see how well you deal with dangerous

situations, so I will be taking all of your crystals."

"...Even our teleport crystals?"

Godfree only nodded in response. I hesitated. Crystals, especially

teleport crystals, were the last safety net in this death game. I had

never been without them. I was about to refuse, but a problem

here might put Asuna in a problematic situation, so I decided to

hold back my words.

Seeing as Kuradeel and the other member handed over their

crystals obediently, I had no choice but to follow. Godfree even

carefully checked my inventory afterwards.

"Hmm, good. Then let's go!"

At Godfree's order, we walked out of Granzam and journeyed

towards the Labyrinth Area that we could see to the far west.

The 55th floor training area was a desolate wasteland almost

devoid of vegetation. I wanted to finish the training quickly, so I

suggested running all the way to the labyrinth, but it was rejected

by a single wave of Godfree's hand. It was most probably because

he had focused on raising his strength stats and disregarded his

dexterity. I could only give up and continue to tread through the

endless wilderness.

We ran into monsters a couple of times. But when it came to this, I

had no time to wait patiently for Godfree's orders, so I simply cut

them down right away.

Eventually, after making it past a number of tall, rocky mountains,

the gray limestone of the labyrinth finally came into view...

"Okay, we're taking a break here!"

After Godfree announced this in his gruff voice, the party stopped.

"..."

I wanted to just rush through the labyrinth; but since I figured it'd

be overruled even if I brought it up, I simply sighed and sat down

on a rock. It was already nearly midday.

"I'll hand the food out."

Godfree then called up four leather pouches and threw them to

the members. I caught mine with one hand and opened it without

any expectations. Inside were a water bottle and some hard bread

that were sold at NPC stores.

I opened the bottle and swallowed a mouthful while cursing my

bad luck; I would be eating Asuna's handmade sandwiches right

now if everything had gone as we had planned.

Then, I suddenly noticed that Kuradeel was sitting on a distant

rock. He hadn't even touched his pouch, and those eyes beneath

his long hair glanced darkly in our direction.

What on earth was he looking at...?

A cold feeling abruptly passed through my body. He was waiting

for something. That something... It most probably—

I immediately threw the bottle away and tried to spit the liquid

out of my mouth.

But it was too late. Strength suddenly left my body and I collapsed.

The HP bar came up at the edge of my vision; it was surrounded

by a green line that wasn't usually there.

There was no mistaking it; it was a paralysis poison.

When I looked around, I discovered that Godfree and the other

member were also writhing on the ground.

I immediately reached inside my pouch with my left forearm, but

this only intensified my panic. I had already handed all my

antidote crystals and teleport crystals to Godfree. I still had a

potion, but it didn't have any effect on paralysis.

"Ku...kukuku..."

Shrill laughter reached my ears. As he sat on the rock, Kuradeel

held his stomach with both hands and bent over in laughter. His

heavily lidded eyes revealed the crazed ecstasy that I remembered

all too well.

"Waha! Haha! Hyahahahaha!!"

He guffawed towards the skies, seemingly unable to control

himself. Godfree stared at him with a stupefied expression.

"What...? What is this...? Wasn't the water... prepared by... you,

Kuradeel..."

"Godfree! Quick, use an antidote crystal!!"

After hearing my shout, Godfree finally began to rummage

through the pouch at his side.

"Hya—!!"

With a strange scream, Kuradeel jumped off his rock and kicked

aside Godfree's left hand with his boot. A green crystal rolled out

of Godfree's hand. Kuradeel picked it up, then stuck his hand in

Godfree's pouch, took out the remaining crystals, and put them

into his own pouch.

Everything was over.

"Kuradeel... What, what are you doing...? Is this some sort of...

training exercise?"

"Re—tard!!"

Kuradeel said as he kicked Godfree, who still didn't understand

the situation and muttered these stupid things, in the mouth.

"Argh!"

Godfree's HP went down a little, and at the same time Kuradeel's

cursor changed from yellow to the orange color of criminal status.

But this didn't change anything. There was no way that someone

would pass by on a floor that had already been cleared.

"Godfree-san, I always thought you were an idiot, but I never

imagined that you were this hopeless. Is even your brain made out

of muscle?"

Kuradeel's sharp laughter echoed across the wastelands.

"There are still a lot of things that I want to say to you... but it

wouldn't do to waste my time with appetizers..."

Kuradeel drew his two-handed sword as he spoke. He raised it

high into the air and stretched out his thin body. Sunlight reflected

off the thick blade as he waved it about.

"W-Wait, Kuradeel! You... What...What are you saying...? Isn't...Isn't

this training...?"

"Just shut up and die."

Kuradeel spat out and swung his sword down without mercy. A

heavy and dull noise sounded, and Godfree's HP greatly

decreased.

Godfree finally grasped the seriousness of the situation and

started screaming. But it was already too late.

Twice, thrice, the sword came down with a merciless glint, and

Godfree's HP reduced noticeably with each swing. Then, when it

reached the red area, Kuradeel stopped.

Just as I thought that he wouldn't commit murder no matter how

crazy he was, Kuradeel reversed his grip on the sword and slowly

pushed it into Godfree. As Godfree's HP went down bit by bit,

Kuradeel began to press his entire weight against the sword.

"Aaaaaaaahhh!!"

"Hyahahahaha!!"

While Godfree's wailing became louder, Kuradeel began mixing in

a strange scream of his own. The sword dug into Godfree's body

slowly and his HP reduced at a steady pace—

While the other member and I watched silently, Kuradeel's sword

penetrated completely through Godfree, and his HP bar reached

zero at the same time. Godfree most probably didn't understand

what was going on even as his body shattered into countless

shards.

Kuradeel slowly pulled his sword out of the ground, then spun his

head around like a clockwork doll and looked at the other

member.

"Ah!! Ahhh!!"

With these short screams, the member flailed around in an

attempt to escape. Kuradeel then started walking towards him in

odd steps.

"...I have nothing against you... But according to my scenario, only I

can return alive..."

He raised his sword while muttering to himself.

"Aaaahh!"

"You wanna hear~? You see, our party—"

He swung it down; his ears deaf to the member's screams.

"Was ambushed in the wilderness by a large group of PKers—."

Another swing.

"We fought bravely, but all three had died—."

And another.

"I was the only one remaining, but I drove back the criminals and

managed to stay alive before returning to HQ—."

After the fourth attack, the member's HP vanished. A sound effect

that sent shivers down my body resonated.

But Kuradeel looked as if he had heard the voice of a goddess. He

stood there, in the middle of the explosion of shards, and listened

to it with a blissful expression on his face.

It wasn't his first time...

I was sure of this. His cursor may have turned to the orange color

of criminals' only moments ago, but there were plenty of

despicable ways to kill people without triggering it. However,

understanding this fact now didn't solve anything.

Finally, Kuradeel turned to look my way, with an uncontrollable

mirth spreading across his face. He slowly walked towards me, his

sword making an unbearable noise as he dragged it along the

ground.

"Hey."

He crouched down next to me, who was still sprawled on the

ground, and said in a whisper.

"Because of an idiot like you, I had to kill two completely innocent

people."

"You seem quite happy about it though."

I responded as I looked desperately for a way out of this situation.

The only thing that moved was my mouth and my left arm.

Because the paralysis condition kept one from opening the menu

window, it also forbade the player from sending any messages.

Even though I knew it wouldn't do me much good, I struggled to

move my left hand, which was inside Kuradeel's blind spot, while I

continued to talk.

"Why did a person like you join the KoB? A criminal guild would

have suited you better."

"Keh, why are you asking something so obvious? It's because of

that girl."

He said this with his raspy voice and licked his lips. When I

realized that he was talking about Asuna my blood began to boil.

"You damn bastard...!"

"Woah, why are you glaring at me like that? It's just a game isn't

it...? Don't worry. I'll look after your precious sub-leader for you.

After all, I have a lot of useful items."

Kuradeel picked up the poisoned water bottle and then shook it to

produce some splashing sounds. Then he gave an awkward wink

and kept talking.

"And you just said something very interesting, that a criminal

guild would suit me more."

"...Well, it's just the truth."

"I was complimenting you. You're pretty sharp."

"Kekekeke."

Kuradeel seemed to be considering something as he laughed.

Then, he suddenly unequipped the gauntlet on his left arm. He

rolled up the white sleeves of his undershirt and turned his bare

forearm so that I could see its underside.

"...!!"

When I saw what was there— my breath suddenly stopped. It was

a tattoo. The image was a manga-like caricature of an ink-black

coffin. A mouth and a pair of eyes formed a grin atop the coffin lid;

the white bones of a skeletal arm reached out from inside.

"That... emblem is... «Laughing Coffin»?"

I asked in a dry voice. Kuradeel gave a smile and nodded in

response.

«Laughing Coffin» used to be the biggest and worst PK guild in

Aincrad. They were headed by a cold, sly leader and experimented

endlessly with new methods of killing people; in the end, the

number of players it had killed went into the triple digit figures.

The players once attempted to solve the issue through

negotiations, but every messenger had been killed immediately.

We couldn't even understand why they PKed, since it only

reduced the chances of clearing the game, and because of this we

couldn't talk with them properly. Not too long ago, the players

who aimed to clear the game had formed a subjugation group that

rivaled the boss-killing groups, and finally destroyed their guild

after several long and bloody battles.

Asuna and I were in the group too. But the information had leaked

somewhere, and the PKers were prepared and waiting for us. In

my frenzy to protect my comrades, I ended up taking the lives of

two Laughing Coffin members by accident.

"Is this... for revenge? You're a survivor from Laughing Coffin?"

I asked with my cracking voice. Kuradeel virtually spat out his

answer:

"Heh, no way. Why would I do something as stupid as that? I

joined Laughing Coffin only recently, and only in spirit anyways. I

learned this paralysis technique from them... Ah, that's

bothersome."

He stood up with an almost machine-like movement and raised

his sword up again.

"Well, we've talked for long enough. The poison should wear off

soon, so I should finish this now. I've been dreaming of this

moment... ever since that duel..."

Fire burned in his eyes, which were opened so wide they became

circles. His smiling mouth had stuck its tongue out, and he even

raised his heels to stand tiptoed as he prepared to swing his

sword down.

Just before he moved, I tossed the throwing pick in my left hand

using only my wrist. Although I aimed for the face where the

damage was greatest, the accuracy penalty from paralysis caused

the steel pick to miss and pierce into Kuradeel's left arm.

Kuradeel's HP reduced by only a small amount, while I fell into a

completely hopeless situation.

"...That hurt..."

Kuradeel wrinkled his brow and curved his lips upwards, then

stabbed my right arm with the tip of his sword. He then twisted it

twice, then thrice.

"Argh...!"

Although I didn't feel any pain, an unpleasant feeling of being

stimulated in the nerves passed through my entire body alongside

the strong paralysis effect. Every time the blade dug into my arm,

my HP decreased slowly but steadily.

Still there...? Was the poison's effect still not going away...?"

I gritted my teeth and waited for the moment my body would be

freed. The duration of paralysis differed based on the strength of

the poison, but most paralyzing poisons wore off in five or so

minutes.

Kuradeel pulled out his sword and then stabbed my left leg. The

unpleasant feeling of being paralyzed rushed through my entire

body once again, and the system calculated the damage

mercilessly.

"Well...? How is it...? How does it feel to know that you're going to

die soon...? Tell me... would you...?"

Kuradeel said this in an almost whisper as he stared intently at my

face.

"Say something squirt... Cry and scream that you don't want to

die..."

My HP fell below the halfway line and turned yellow. The paralysis

still wasn't gone yet. My whole body grew colder, as if death was

enveloping me with freezing air, its chill slowly crawling up from

my feet.

I had seen many players die in SAO.

They all had the same expression on their faces as they shattered

into countless fragments and disappeared; it was always the same

simple expression of pondering, one that asked, "Am I really going

to just die like this?"

It was most probably because, deep within our hearts, none of us

wanted to accept the absolute rule of the game. We simply didn't

want to believe that death in the game meant an actual death.

We all held a hopeful speculation, that "Maybe we'll just return to

the real world when our HP reaches zero and we disappear." Of

course, you had to personally die to find out what would actually

happen. If you think about it like that, then death would be one of

the ways to escape this game—

"Hey, hey, say something. I'm really killing you here."

Kuradeel pulled his sword out of my leg and stabbed my stomach

this time. My HP decreased significantly and went into the red

danger area. But it felt like this didn't concern me, as if it was all

happening in another faraway world. Even as I was being tortured

by the sword, my mind was embarking down a dark path, as if a

heavy and thick cloth was gradually covering it.

But then— a strong fear suddenly clenched my heart.

Asuna. If I disappeared and left her in this world, Asuna would fall

into Kuradeel's hands and endure the same pain as me. That

possibility formed an unbearable pain which shocked me back

into consciousness.

"Kaaaah!!"

I opened my eyes, grabbed the sword that was buried in my

stomach, and started pulling it out with all the strength I had. I

had only about ten percent of my HP left. Kuradeel then shouted

in surprise:

"Huh...? Huh? What's this, you're scared of dying?"

"Yeah... I... can't die yet..."

"Heh!! Hyahaha!! That's more like it!!"

Kuradeel laughed like a freakish bird and put his weight behind

the sword. I strained against it with one hand. The system

performed a set of complicated calculations based on my and

Kuradeel's strength and determined the result.

The final result— the sword started coming down again, slowly

but steadily. I was filled with fear and despair.

Was this the end?

Was I going to die? Leaving Asuna in this insane world?

I resisted the gradually closing sword and the despair that

reached out from within me.

"Die—!! Diiieeeee—!!"

Kuradeel screamed in a shrill voice.

The killing intent that took the form of a dully shining sword came

down centimeter by centimeter. Then finally, the sword tip

reached my body— and slowly dug in...

At this moment, a gust of wind blew.

It was a gust of deep red and pure white wind.

"Huh...!?"

With this exclamation of surprise, the murderer and his sword

were thrown high into the air. I stared speechlessly at the

silhouette of the person who had appeared.

"...I'm not late... I'm not late... Thank God... I'm not late..."

Her trembling voice sounded sweeter than the flapping wings of

an angel. Her lips trembled violently as she collapsed onto her

knees and looked at me.

"Alive... You're alive, right, Kirito-kun...?"

"...Yeah... I'm still alive..."

My voice sounded so weak that it surprised me. Asuna nodded

once and took out a pink crystal from her pouch, then put her left

hand on my chest and shouted.

"Heal!"

The crystal broke and my HP bar filled up in an instant. After

confirming my recovery, Asuna whispered to me:

"...Wait here. I'll take care of this quickly..."

Asuna then stood up, drew her rapier elegantly, and started

walking.

Her target Kuradeel was still preparing to pick himself off the

ground. When he saw the person that was walking towards him

his eyes grew wide.

"A-Asuna-sama... H-How did you get here...? T-This, is, training,

yes, there was an accident in the middle of training..."

Kuradeel bounced back up as if he had springs and attempted to

form an excuse with his nervous voice. But before he could finish,

Asuna's right hand flashed and the tip of her sword tore

Kuradeel's mouth. She didn't become a criminal since her

opponent already had an orange cursor.

"Ahh!!"

Kuradeel covered his mouth with his hand, leaned backwards, and

froze for a moment. Then, as he righted himself, his eyes were full

of a familiar anger.

"You bitch... That went way too far... Heh, well it's fine. I'll just take

care of you as well..."

But he stopped mid-sentence; Asuna had started attacking fiercely

as soon as she fixed her grip on her sword. Her rapier drew

countless lines of light as it slashed and stabbed towards Kuradeel

at unbelievable speeds. Even I couldn't see the trajectory of her

sword, and I was several levels above her. I just watched as the

angel swung her sword almost as if she was dancing.

It was beautiful. Asuna pushed her opponent back

expressionlessly, her long chestnut hair flowing while sparks of

anger enveloped her entire body; it was indescribably beautiful.

"Ah!! Kaaaa!!"

Kuradeel had already begun panicking, his sword swung about

wildly without even landing a scratch on Asuna. As his HP

decreased noticeably from the yellow zone to the red danger area,

Kuradeel finally threw his sword aside and screamed with both of

his arms held up in the air.

"O-Okay!! Okay!! I'm sorry!!"

He then went to his knees and begged.

"I-I'll leave the guild! I won't appear in front of you two ever

again!! So—"

Asuna silently listened to his cries.

She raised her sword slowly and reversed her grip. Her thin arm

tensed with nervousness, and then went up another couple of

centimeters as it prepared to stab through Kuradeel. At that

moment the murderer screamed even more loudly.

"Heeeek! I-I don't want to die—!!"

The sword stopped as if it hit an invisible wall. Her thin body

began to shake violently.

I could fully feel Asuna's inner conflict, both her fear and her

anger.

By what I knew, she had never killed anyone in this game. Since

when a player is killed in this world they also die in the real world,

PKing in this network game is equivalent to actual murder.

—Yeah. Stop, Asuna. You shouldn't do that.

As I screamed this to myself, I also thought of the complete

opposite at the same time.

—No, don't hesitate. That's what he's after.

My prediction became reality 0.1 seconds later.

"Ahahahaha!"

I wasn't sure when Kuradeel had picked his sword back up, but he

suddenly swung it upwards with a scream.

Asuna's rapier made a clanging sound and flew out of her right

hand.

"Ah...!?"

As Asuna exclaimed and lost her balance, a metallic shine flashed

above her head.

"Sub-leader, you're still faaaaaaaaaaaarr too naive!!"

With a shriek filled with madness, Kuradeel swung his sword

down without hesitation, drawing a dark red line of light.

"Ahhhhhhh!!"

This time, I was the one who had screamed. I kicked off from the

ground with my right foot, which had just recovered from the

paralysis, and flew a couple of meters before pushing Asuna aside

with my right hand while blocking Kuradeel's sword with my left.

*Thump*.

With this unpleasant sound, my left arm was severed from the

elbow down. The body part loss icon flashed below the HP bar.

While bloody red lines of light flowed from the cut on my left arm,

my right hand straightened its fingers and—

I stabbed my hand into the gap between Kuradeel's thick armor. It

glowed yellow as it buried itself deep within Kuradeel's stomach.

I had successfully countered with the point-blank range skill

«Embracer», which immediately eliminated the last 20% of

Kuradeel's HP. His gaunt body shivered violently beside me, then

completely lost all strength and sagged.

As his great sword fell onto the ground and clanged, he whispered

into my ear:

"You... murderer..."

He sneered in a "kuku" sound.

Kuradeel's entire body shattered into numerous glass fragments. I

was pushed back by the chill force of the dissipating polygons and

fell backwards.

For a while, my exhausted, frozen mind registered only the sound

of wind blowing.

Then I heard irregular footsteps stepping on the gravel. When I

turned my gaze, I could see a fragile looking figure walking

towards me with a hollow expression.

Asuna walked shakily towards me with her head lowered, and

then collapsed to her knees in front of me like a puppet with its

strings cut. Although she reached out towards me with her right

hand, she suddenly pulled it back before it could reach me.

"...I'm sorry... Because of me... It's all because of me..."

Asuna forced this out with a shaking voice and a grief-stricken

expression. Tears rolled down from her large eyes and fell to the

ground like sparkling gems. I barely managed to say something

short with my dry throat:

"Asuna..."

"I'm sorry... I... won't... meet Kirito-kun... a...again."

I exerted myself to right my body back up, which was finally

regaining its normal senses. My body was still filled with an

unpleasant feeling because of the devastating damage I took, but I

hugged Asuna with both my right arm and my crippled left arm.

Then, I covered her beautiful, cherry-colored lips with mine.

"...!"

Asuna went rigid and tried to push me away, but I held her small

body tightly with all the strength I had. It was without a doubt

something that went against the manner violation prevention

code. Right now a system message should have appeared in front

of Asuna, and if she pressed OK, I would be immediately

teleported to the prison area of the Black Iron Palace.

But my arms showed no signs of loosening up. As I left Asuna's

lips, I passed her cheeks before burying my face in the curve of her

neck. Then I whispered:

"My life belongs to you, Asuna. So I'll use it for you. I'll stay with

you until the end."

I pulled Asuna in closer with the left arm that had the body part

loss status imposed on it for three minutes. Asuna took a

trembling breath and then whispered in response:

"...I-I'll protect you as well. I'll protect you forever. So..."

She wasn't able to continue talking. So I listened to Asuna's

sobbing with our arms held tightly around each other.

The warmth of our bodies began to melt my frozen heart bit by

bit.