Chapter 6 Part 2

However, what made me nervous wasn't these scenes and the

metal-based BGM that bellowed out.

More accurately, I was rather uncomfortable with those black

shadows that were gathered at the tables near the wall or those that

were right beside the metal pillar— the presence they gave off.

We were in a game, but there wasn't anyone busy shouting about.

They were either whispering to each other or standing around alone. I

could tell that they were participants for the BoB preliminary that was

about to begin, and I knew that they were already thoroughly used to

this virtual world. Those are really veteran VRMMO players.

—No, in terms of the amount of time we dived in, I don't think

anyone here would have dived in longer than me. I was logged in at all

times during the two years, both two years ago and last year.

However, each player had their own «Play Style». Like for me, I

specialize in P v E, and they were players who were of the complete

opposite from me. They were guys who were passionate about P v P.

from the sharp glances they gave from the helmets that didn't have any

glow of the heavy headpiece, I know that these people were

desperately trying to get information about this.

I haven't really fought against players much, ever since ALO

switched over to its current operating company in spring this year.

During that far too long gap, I must have definitely lost touch in P v P,

and how the stare these guys shot over at me felt so overwhelming was

the proof of that.

—These guys, this job is getting more and more difficult, Kikuokasan.

Unwittingly muttering this deep inside my heart, my right elbow

was suddenly pushed. After looking aside, I found a girl with light blue

hair giving a surprised look.

"...What's wrong?"

"No, nothing..."

After I hurriedly answered softly, the girl nodded her head

slightly and whispered back,

"Let's head to the restroom first. You have to change into the

battle clothes you bought just now anyway."

And then, she started to move around the players. Her feet were

moving naturally, and I couldn't feel any tension from her. However,

this wasn't because the people around us ignored her existence. The

stares this group of guys shot at her were of so much battle intent that

it couldn't be compared to their looks when they stared at me. A guy

who placed a terrifyingly large machine gun even deliberately cleared

his barrel loudly.

Unexpectedly, this girl had such amazing courage and could

ignore such tremendous pressure. I felt even more shocked as I raced

to catch up to that dirty-yellow muffler.

There weren't tables deep inside the dome, but rather, several icy

cold metal doors were lined up over there. The girl opened a door with

a green light, led me in, closed the door behind me, and pressed on the

operation panel on the inside of the door. With a clicking sound, the

indicator changed to red.

There was a somewhat narrow changing room inside the door. Of

course, there wasn't anyone else other than us.

"...Fuu."

After arriving at the center of the room, the girl breathed out

slightly and then seemed to grumble,

"Really...such a bunch of naive guys..."

"Wha...nai-naive guys? Were you talking about those guys with

tremendous killing intent?"

I recalled the faces of those guys who were frowning in the dome,

and the girl seemed to treat it as a matter of fact as she nodded her

head and said,

"That's right. Taking out their main weapons to brag 30 minutes

before the tournament is basically asking other people to think of ways

to deal with him."

"Ah...ahh...I see.."

"You better equip your light saber and the Five-Seven only before

the tournament begins."

The girl smiled as she said this, and after seeing me nod my head

slightly, she turned around.

Then, she did something that was much scarier than those words

she said just now.

She waved her right hand and called out the main menu, and

immediately clicked on it to remove all the equipment.

The dirty-yellow muffler, the curry colored jacket, the loose cargo

pants and the patternless T-shirt were all gone in a systematic manner.

Right now, the girl was only wearing underwear that covered a

small area and had its fibers showing a little gloss.

"U...uwaa!?"

I let out a hoarse voice and frantically used my right hand to

cover my face. Then, through the gaps, I saw the girl's inexplicable look.

"What are you doing? Hurry up and change."

"O-Okay, errm, that..."

Even when facing the biggest shock ever since I dived into GGO, I

continued to desperately think of countermeasures.

In this situation, there's not much choices I have. I could find an

excuse to escape from this room, or else I could continue or pretend to

be a girl and put my equipment over my clothing. However, both

methods would be fooling this girl who helped me out a lot.

In this desperate situation, I could only grit my teeth and make

the third option before the girl does the ultimate tragedy of deequipping herself.

I lowered my head at the fastest possible speed and let my name

card materialize from the main menu before handing it over to the girl

with both hands.

"Er, erm...excuse me! I haven't introduced myself up till now...this

is who, no, what I am!"

"Eh? Wha...What?"

I felt the namecard left my hand with a puzzled voice.

"Kiri...to. Fuun, that's an interesting name...wait..."

I, Kirito, never joined any guilds, no, «squadron» in this world, so

on my namecard, there's the name—and the gender only.

"Male...erm, eh...!? But, you're, well..."

The dumbfounded voice came over, and at the top of my sight,

with my head lowered straight down, I could see a cute little naked

foot take a step back.

"This can't be...a-a guy...!? With such an avatar...!?"

And then, there was silence.

I couldn't stand the tense atmosphere that surrounded this

changing room and got ready to lift my head.

At this moment, a white object quickly flew over, and after

exploding at the left side of my face, there was a purple flash effect.

I continued to spin around like a top due to the impact, realizing

that it was the palm of the girl after collapsing onto the floor with stars.

"Don't follow me."

"Bu-But I don't know what to do next..."

"Don't follow me."

"Bu-But I don't know anyone else..."

"Don't follow me."

As we kept the volume of our conversation down, I continued to

desperately chase after the aqua-blue haired girl in front of me.

Right now, she was wearing a desert colored military jacket,

bulletproof armor that's of the same color and combat boots. The only

thing that was the same as her street attire was that muffler on her

neck. Just like the advice she told me, she didn't materialize her

weapon.

My dress up was somewhat similar to hers, but mine was black

clothing that was more suited for night camouflage. This time, I wanted

to give up on my preference and choose a more vibrant color, but the

battle venue was decided randomly, and the girl noted that my budget

wouldn't allow me to buy colored clothing for all terrain, so I ended up

choosing the color I liked the most.

And the person who gave me that suggestion just 1 meter away

from me as she continued to walk on without looking back.

Of course, I could understand why she was so angry, but I didn't

lie to say 'I'm a girl' or speak in a female's tone. It's my fault for taking

advantage of her error, but if she actually told me when we were about

to change, I would have responded to her...

I couldn't help but start to grumble in my heart as I somewhat

deliberately tailed her from behind. However, the girl suddenly

stopped. At this point, we had already went around half the dome.

The girl turned around to look at me, who also stopped.

Her blue eyes were glaring at me. The icy expression was more

like a leopard than a cat now. I thought that she would roar and shrink

back as her small lips breathed hard, but she merely sighed quickly.

She sat down hard on a box seat at the side and then turned her

face to another direction. I timidly sat opposite her.

I lifted my head and looked over at the full panel hologram

screens, and found that there was less than 10 minutes till the start of

the preliminaries. I didn't know what to do afterwards, whether I had

to move somewhere once the preliminaries start or that I still need to

go through some steps. I didn't even know where to get this

information.

I could only timidly back my body away as it continued to fidget

uneasily. At this moment, the girl glanced at me and sighed hard.

"...I will explain the basics at least. We're enemies after that."

After hearing her say that with a deep voice, I couldn't help but

smile.

"Tha-Thank you."

"Don't be mistaken. I haven't forgiven you. Once the countdown at

the top ends— all the participants here in this building will be

automatically transferred to the first round arena where there's only

you and your opponent."

"Fu, I see."

"The field is a 1km square space. The landscape, climate and time

are all randomly generated. At the beginning, both players will be at

least 500 meters away from each other, and the winner in that battle

will be transferred over to the waiting area while the loser will be

transferred to the hall in the first floor. The loser won't lose his

weapons or drop things randomly, and if you win, you'll be

immediately transferred to start the second round if the next round

opponent's match was over. If the opponent's still battling, you have to

wait until the battle ends. Group F has 64 people, so if you win 5

matches, you can enter the final round and also get the right to enter

the finals of this tournament. That's all for my explanation— I won't

answer any more questions."

She sounded cold, but after her detailed explanation, I more or

less understood what's with the preliminaries. I again thanked the girl.

"I think I got the gist of it. Thanks."

And then, she again glanced at me before she immediately looked

away. The girl then opened her mouth and said softly,

"—You must make it to the finals. Since I taught you so much, I

hope to teach you one last thing."

"Last thing?"

"I'll make you taste the bullet that will cause your loss."

After hearing such words, I couldn't help but smile. This wasn't a

sarcastic smile or a forced one, but one that was from deep within me. I

really like people with her personality.

"...I'm looking forward to that moment. But are you certain that

you can make it to the finals?"

The girl snorted coldly and breathed,

"If I lose in the preliminaries, I'll quit for good. This time, I must

definitely—"

If felt like she was staring at all the opponents as she let out a

glass-colored shine.

"—Must kill off all the strong opponents."

These words were said under silent circumstances, but the slight

soundwaves entered my ears. The girl's lips smirked as she showed a

beast like smile. My back started to have chills that I never had for a

long time.

It's no wonder that this girl wouldn't notice the pressure the

other guys gave.

That's because she was a lot stronger than those guys. No matter

whether it's the skill as a VRMMO player— or the mental strength

that's supporting her.

The girl glanced over at me who held my breath and remained

silent. The smile on her face disappeared. She seemed to be thinking

about something as she stopped her gaze. Then, she used her right

hand to summon the menu window. After some simple operations, a

small card appeared in her fingertips.

The girl then let the card slide across the table, which I caught.

She said,

"This should be the last time we're talking like this, so I better

announce my name. That's the name of the person who's going to

defeat you—"

I silently looked over at the card. The word indicated on it was—

«Sinon», and the gender was obviously female.

"Sinon..."

I muttered. The girl moved her aqua-blue hair and nodded

slightly. I again reported my name.

"I'm Kirito. Nice to meet you."

I subconsciously reached my right hand out from over the table,

but of course, the girl called Sinon ignored my action as she

immediately turned her face away. I could only give a wry smile and

pulled my hand back.

After that, Sinon kept her silence, and didn't seem like she intend

to continue talking.

I looked at the large screen in the dome and knew that there was

about 5 minutes left. At this moment, I started to hesitate over whether

I should just hug my knees together and wait on the chair or just try

and talk to her again. However, just when I was about to make my

conclusion, I could hear footsteps heading towards Sinon.

I lifted my face and saw that there was a tall and large male player

with long silver hair on his forehead walking straight to this table.

He was wearing a grey patterned streamlined camouflage that

was slightly lighter than charcoal color, and there was a somewhat

large machine gun that was slung over his shoulder—probably not a

submachine gun or an assault rifle, and he had an intelligent looking

face that fit his tall and skinny body. As he didn't look like he had much

armor on him, it gave me the feeling that he was able to move about

agilely on the battlefield. He looked more like a special ops member

than a thoroughly experienced soldier.

The man didn't look at me while I was sitting silently in the

corner as he smiled at Sinon. Immediately, what looked like a highly

skilled avatar showed a boyish-like gentleness, which made me blink.

"Yaa, why are you so slow, Sinon? I was worried whether you

were late."

On hearing that guy's tone that sounded like he was trying to act

like an acquaintance, I thought that Sinon would definitely give him a

death glare and cringed back. But unexpectedly, the icy presence

around the girl immediately eased, and she even showed a slight smile.

"Hello, Spiegel. There was some accident, so I was delayed. Eh,

but...don't you intend to show yourself?"

That man called Spiegel grinned awkwardly as he used his right

hand to touch his hand.

"Well, I don't know whether you'll be bothered or not, but I came

to cheer for you, Sinon. Besides, I can see the live telecast on the large

screen."

It seemed that both of them were either friends or members of

the same guild. Sinon moved her body away, and Spiegel naturally sat

beside her.

"Speaking of which, what's that accident you mentioned?"

"Ahh...nothing much, just that I brought a certain person here and

such..."

After Spiegel asked, Sinon immediately glanced at me with an icy

expression. I reluctant retracted my shortened neck back to shape, and

the man who only noticed my presence now nodded his head.

"Hello, I'm that certain person..."

"Ah...he-hello. It's nice to meet you. Well...are you Sinon's friend?"

He didn't look like someone that's to be trifled with, but this man

called Spiegel didn't seem to match his outwardly fierce look as he was

rather polite. Or rather—is he treating me like a girl now?

I tried to juggle around with my choice of words as I thought of

how to answer this in a more humorous manner, but Sinon

immediately shot out,

"Don't be fooled. He's a guy."

"Eh!?"

I could only use a normal tone to say my name at Spiegel, who

widened his eyes.

"Ah— I'm called Kirito. I'm a guy alright."

"A-A guy...eh, that means, erm..."

Spiegel gave a rather bothered expression as he looked back and

forth from me to Sinon. It seemed that he couldn't understand why

Sinon would go out with a male player.

Thinking that this was the case, I felt like teasing them, so I tried

to add fuel to the fire as I said,

"Well, I was really was taken care of well by Sinon, you know."

At this moment, Sinon immediately shot me a bluish-lightning like

glare at me and said viciously,

"Oi...don't say that. I never took care of you at all. Speaking of

which, when did I allow you to call me Sinon..."

"Why are you saying that so mercilessly?"

"What about mercy here? You're just a stranger!"

"Eh— but didn't you help coordinate my equipment?"

"That...That's because, you..."

Just when we were talking till here...

The slight BGM inside the dome gradually fade out, and what rang

next was a fanfare of an electric guitar. After that, a sweet synthesized

voice set at a loud volume blared above several hundred people's

heads.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. We will now begin the preliminaries

of the 3rd Bullet of Bullets tournament. All entered players will be

automatically transferred to the field of the first round once the

countdown reaches zero. At this moment, I shall wish you good luck."

A deafening applause and cheering rang inside the dome.

*Katatata*, the sound of the machine guns being fired and the high

pitched sound of lasers being fired was let out, and lights of different

colors decorated the roof like fireworks.

Amidst all the ruckus, Sinon stood up and pointed her right index

finger at me.

"You must get to the finals. I'll blow your head then."

I then stood up, grinned, and answered,

"If you want to go out on a date with me, I'll be glad to."

"You-You ba..."

The 20 second countdown timer was about to reach zero, and I

waved my hand at Sinon before turning around and head to the front

to be transported to the field. At this moment, my eyes met Spiegel,

who had been staring at me all this time.

His sharp eyes showed obvious wariness and hostility. Just when

I felt that I may have gone overboard—

My body was surrounded by a pillar of blue light, and my sights

immediately showed blue light.

Finally, I was transported to a hexagonal panel that's floating in the

darkness.

There's a light red hologram window in front of me, and on top of

it were the large words «Kirito Vs Uemaru». Unlike SAO, which only

allowed for English alphabets, it's possible to use Japanese in GGO. The

name «Uemaru» was written in kanji, but of course, I had never met

this guy before. Also, at the bottom of the window, there was a line of

words «Preparation Time: 58 seconds left. Field: The Forgotten Old

Monastery».

This minute of preparation should probably be to allow us to

change into equipment that's suitable for this battle. I had no idea

about my prepared weapons and maps, and I didn't even use them. I

used my right hand to call out the menu, and in the equipment window

that was similar to ALO, my main weapon was a «Kagemitsu G4» light

saber, and my sidearm was a «Five-Seven». After checking whether I

forgot to equip my defensive equipment, I closed the window.

As I waited for the time to slowly tick down, I suddenly had a

strange thought.

That vicious smile shown for a moment by that girl called Sinon. It

had the killing intent of a bullet, shot from a rifle, that could pierce

through any shield or armor.

It made me remember that voice that resounded in my mind.

To eliminate the strong— this direct declaration sounded rather

childish in a certain sense, but I never had such a chilling feeling, even

including the time when I was in SAO. I felt her petite body let out a

real will that far exceeded the roleplay in the game.

In this virtual world that's created through electric signals, I have

not seen a player who showed such intense will like her. Amongst the

female players, the only one I know who would go serious was Asuna.

No— even when she's called «The Flash» or even «The Berserker»

before that, she had never given me such an impression before.

Is it possible? Is that girl with light blue hair that «Death Gun» I'm

looking for?

Kikuoka once let me hear the voice database of what's said to be

«Death Gun»'s, but the screeching cry of metal rubbing against each

other was completely different from Sinon's clear voice. However, GGO

was just a world that was different from SAO. A player could have

multiple characters, and there were many cases of logging in using

different characters.

And from the sound of the tone, it seemed that Sinon had absolute

confidence that she's able to make it to the finals. If my guess is that

Death Gun will definitely appear in this tournament is right, I can

narrow them down to about 30 people, and of course, Sinon is one of

them.

To be honest, I really don't want to test out this possibility. I

didn't feel any killing intent from her, when she guided me to the shop

and explained all sorts of things to me. Rather, she gave off a somewhat

lonely feeling, like she wanted to get close to others.

Just which is the real Sinon, I wonder.

—No, I won't get the answer no matter how much I think. When

our swords clash, no, when we both fire our guns, we should be able to

get some clues.

Just when I thought about this and lifted my sights, the

countdown timer reached zero, and my body was again surrounded by

an effect.

After that, I was abandoned under a dim sunset sky.

The wind that blew beside me seemed to bring about a sharp

whistle like sound. There were many layers of broken clouds floating

above in the air, and below me, the wilted grass were all floating.

Beside me, there were large cylindrical pillars that were either of

the Ionian or Corinth style. They were about 3m apart and lined in an

arc shape. Some of the pillars were wrecked, and some of the pillars

have completely collapsed. It just looked like the ruins of a lost

civilization's temple.

I leaned my body on the closest pillar, and then quickly looked

around at my surroundings.

The wide wilted grassland all around me was blowing around

hard, and far away in the hills, I could see ruins that were similar to

this place. According to Sinon's explanation, the field is a square, a

1,000 meters wide, but to get from here to there would take about

several kilometers. There should be some limiting boundary like a

river or a cliff something like that.

I continued to remember her explanation. Right now, the

opponent should be about 500 meters away from where I am now, but

I couldn't see anyone in my sights. Like me, he should be hiding

somewhere behind the ruins. There's no indication of the enemy

around, so I have to find the enemy myself.

I can continue to wait here and let the enemy lose his patience

before taking action. However, «waiting» really doesn't fit my

personality. Instead of waiting here, I might as well run over to the

closest ruin on the other side and use the gunshot of the enemy to

quickly analyze my position...I thought as I used my left hand to feel the

«Five-Seven» on my waist.

At this moment, a strong gust of wind blew by, and the

surrounding grassland started to sway. As the gust stopped, the wilted

grass again straightened...

And in the grassland about 20 meters away from my eyes, a

profile suddenly stood up silently.

My blurred vision immediately saw the assault rifle the opponent

whipped out, the tea-colored beard that's resting at the stalk of the gun,

the goggles lens that covered more than half the face and the helmet

that had dummy grass on it. There's only me and my opponent in the

battlefield, so he's definitely «Uemaru».

I had no idea when he shortened the distance between us at all.

One of the obvious reasons was the camouflage suit he was wearing.

That clothing looked similar to the surrounding grassland, and had

slight streamlined patterns on it. Just when I thought I see, so that's the

use of the 60 seconds...

The black assault rifle the enemy was readying on the right

shoulder showed several red lines— «Bullet Line», and the lines were

piercing through me and the space around me.

"UWAH!"

I couldn't help but cry out as I kicked the ground hard and moved

to the place with the least bullet lines— up into the sky.

The enemy's rifle then went *katatatataatatata!!* And my right

ankle got hit twice. The HP bar on the upper left corner of my sights

showed a decrease of about 10%. Of course, I couldn't dodge all the

bullets. At this moment, I remembered the «Full-Auto Shooting» Sinon

warned me about.

I did a somersault in the air and landed on the half-broken pillar

behind me. I tried to counter and drew the Five-Seven handgun from

my belt with my left hand.

However, the enemy wouldn't give me time to aim at all.

Immediately afterwards, numerous bullet lines appeared on my body

again.

"WAAHHH!!"

I let out an embarrassing scream as I rolled behind the pillar.

Another bullet grazed my left wrist, and my HP dropped mercilessly.

The rain of bullets that descended on me seemed to hit the pillar,

causing a *Bishibishibishi* sound and creating several fragments to fly

out. I hurriedly cuddled my limbs together and hid my entire body

behind the pillar.

—This is definitely different from a battle between swords!

In that dodging game against the NPC gunman, there was a time

lapse and at most 6 bullets, but I already had to concentrate fully just

to dodge those attacks. Now, when facing such—rapid fire of more

than 10 bullets in a second, of course I'm at my wits end.

To slash Uemaru's bearded face with the light saber «Kagemitsu»

on my right waist, I have to get right in front of him. But before that, I'll

have bullets blown through me and my HP would be depleted already.

If I can't dodge them all, I can only think of a way to «defend»

against the bullets. Unfortunately, even if there's a «protective field» in

this world that can weaken the power of bullets, there isn't any magic

shield that or something that can protect against actual bullets. In SAO,

there's the «Weapon Defense Skill» that can allow a sword to replace a

shield....

At this moment, I suddenly put my hand on the light saber that's

held on the carabiner under my belt. I just need to deflect a few bullets

if I can defend with this saber. This shouldn't be impossible. Didn't

someone in a SF movie use a light saber to easily deflect bullets? If this

game is developed by an American company, they would be able to

recreate this scene. But to do that really tough skill, I have to first

predict the trajectories the bullets are fired at me...

No—

No, I can do this. I should be able to do this. Aren't the «Bullet

Lines» telling me where the bullets are flying?

I swallowed my saliva and used my right hand to pull the light

saber from my belt.

Right now, the gunfire stopped. I suppose Uemaru is again hidden

amongst the grass and is ready to come over from the left or the right.

I closed my eyes and concentrated with my ears.

The wind continued to blow. At this moment, I tried my best to

eliminate the noisy sound effects from my consciousness and

concentrated on the rustling of the swaying grassland to hear for some

irregular sound in this system.

This was a skill that could only be done in a VR space where I can

isolate each sound completely. From the time of SAO, this «Outsidesystem Skill» helped me out a lot. For example, an S level ingredient

«Ragout Rabbit» would require this skill to deal a fatal blow.

But as for whether I'm able to succeed or not—

And this moment, my ears caught an irregular sound coming from

the rear left side from 7 o'clock to 9 o' clock. He moved for about 2, 3

seconds before stopping and started to probe my position.

The enemy then started to move, stop and got ready to move

again...

"L...LET'S GO!"

I used my cry to step hard onto the ground and run straight

where the enemy was hiding.

Uemaru probably didn't expect me to rush over at him while he

was hiding in the bushes. As he stood up from the wilted grass, it took

him about half a second to get down on one knee and get into his

shooting position.

We were originally about 25m apart, but at this moment, I ran

past half the distance. I continued to run as I used my right thumb to

slide the photon sword's switch. *Bu~n*. The sound that made me

relax could be heard, and a blueish-purple glowing blade came out

from the sword handle.

For the third time, the numerous «Bullet Lines» that came from

Uemaru's rifle appeared on my body.

Up till now, I had been instinctively looked for places where I

could hide. But this time, I only let my eyes look right in front of my

body and endured the fear that came from the back of my neck and

irritated my senses. After trying my best to observe the enemy, I found

that not all the thin red lines appeared at the same time. There's a little

time difference between them, and the difference should be the order

where the bullets would come out from the rifle gunhole.

I controlled the body that was a lot more petite than in real life

and rushed forward. At this moment, there were 6 Bullet Lines that

were aimed on my body.

The other Bullet Lines on the left and right were all slightly off

course. With the current distance, the enemy's rifle—and the shooter's

accuracy himself wasn't much.

The long forgotten thrill of P v P seemed to have caused my

character to shift into battle mode. As the remaining margin in my

sights showed an outward extension from the center, the target's body

was extremely obvious. It's this accelerating feeling that made me feel

memorable. During this time was I started to slow down, my

consciousness was the only thing racing.

The enemy's rifle's muzzle suddenly let out an orange spark.

During this time, the blade of the light saber blocked the lines of

the first and second bullets with pinpoint accuracy.

*BA-BAM!!* The surface of the light saber let out two bright

orange sparks. The moment I noticed this, my right arm immediately

pointed the photon sword onto the third and fourth bullet lines at a

lightning quick speed. Then, the sound of the bullets being deflected off

the intense energy could be heard again.

I continued to move forward while ignoring the bullets that

«wouldn't hit me at all». Actually, it was really a mentally draining

thing, but I grit my teeth and continued to swing the sword in my hand.

5...and that's the 6th one! After deflecting all the bullets that could

have hit me successfully, I kicked the ground hard with all I've got to

cover the remaining distance between us.

"No...No way!"

Uemaru's thoroughly bearded jaw dropped as he widened his

mouth and cried out in shock. However, this guy didn't stop at all. He

ejected the magazine skillfully and drew out the prepared magazine on

his waist and got ready to load it into the rifle.

To prevent him from doing this, I gripped the Five-Seven in my

left hand and pointed it at Uemaru. The moment my fingers touched

the trigger, a light green circle appeared at the center of the enemy's

chest. This shocked me, but I just continued to shoot 5 bullets.

The unexpectedly light recoil went from the wrist to the shoulder,

and inside the half-transparent circle, Uemaru was hit once in the

shoulder and the abdomen as the remaining three shots disappeared

behind him in the bushes. However, the bullets that hit him went

through his armor and caused damage to him. The screen showed his

HP gauge drop by about 10%. Uemaru staggered and immediately

hesitated.

To me, this was enough time.

As I entered the attack range, I slightly twisted my body to the

right—

Just when I stepped out at a speed as if I wanted to break through

the virtual ground, I lunged forward without wasting any of the speed

at all. In the world of SAO, it's called a «Vorpal Strike» a critical hit as it

lunged into the enemy's chest.

The jet engine-like buzzing rang as the blade of light pierced

through the enemy's body easily. It felt that the burst of energy that

couldn't be vented anywhere else imploded inside the enemy.

Then, with an exaggerated light and sound, the cylinder-shaped

thing in my right hand shot out, and the enemy's body became

numerous fragments as it scattered in the air.

I felt the numbing feeling of the fight that just finished as I slowly

supported my body.

*Wu~wun*. I swung about the lightsaber and nearly sheathed the

sword on my back immediately, but I hurriedly turned it off.

After hanging the sword on the carabiner on the right side of my

waist and the handgun in my left hand into the holster, I finally let out

a long sigh. I looked up at the sunset sky, and found that the lowhanging clouds looked like a screen showing the words

'Congratulations'.

I won the first round with great difficulty. It was really good news

that I could use such a lightsaber to defend against rifle bullets.

However, I needed a lot of concentration to wield it, and my nerves

were already starting to char and smoke.

I still have to go through another 4 tiring rounds—

A blue light came over my dejected body and started surrounding

me. The silent sound of the wind gradually disappeared. Once the

sounds became the buzzing of many humans, I found myself back at

the waiting area.

It looked like I was transferred to the box seats near the wall like

how I was before. I looked at both left and right side, but didn't notice

Sinon or Spiegel around. If Sinon is still battling, what I'm wondering is

what the man who was related to Sinon in some way went to. I set my

sights onto the entire space, and found that there was a familiar figure

near the center of the dome, dressed in street clothes. He didn't notice

that I came back as he merely focused on the large screen on the ceiling.

I lifted my head up just like he did, and found that the large screen

that was only showing the countdown timer was now showing several

battles. The screen showed players in deserts, forests or ruins that

using handguns, machine guns or rifles to fight in different angles like

those scenes in movies.

These should be some of the hundreds of battles that were going

on and were chosen to be telecasted. Once the scene of a player being

hit and blown to bits was shown, countless players who were gathered

inside the dome would let out a deafening cheer.

I thought about whether Sinon's match would be telecasted as I

took a few steps forward. I checked every single image from the top

right corner, but as the cameras continued to move, I really couldn't

tell. I concentrated and tried to look for her aqua-blue hair.

—As I was too concentrated, I was too shocked that my heart

nearly stopped when my right ear suddenly heard a voice. That deep,

hoarse and somewhat metallic voice seemed to enter my mind.

"Are you, the real one?"

"...?"

I instinctively took a step back and looked back.

Immediately, I thought that I saw a ghost.

Of course, I wasn't referring to a real ghost, but a «Ghost-type»

monster mob that appeared in the 65th level of Aincrad at night in the

Ancient Fore.

The person in front of me wore a tattered dark grey mantle. The

hood that was kept low was completely black, and only the eyes that

were deep inside showed a little red light.

Under the light of the dark waiting dome, the stranger in front of

me really looked like a ghost-type monster in SAO. Thus, I instinctively

wanted to back away and draw my light saber to battle. I couldn't even

control this instinct at all as my right hand jerked.

I panted as I looked at the feet of that guy. At the end of the

tattered mantle, I could see the tip of the somewhat dirty boots.

He wasn't a ghost, but a player. After checking this obvious fact, I

released my slightly held breath.

Looking closely, those red eyes weren't some ghost lights, but the

shine on the lens of a pair of black goggles that covered the entire face.

This somewhat rookie-like response from me and the way that guy just

approached me at such a close place in such a rude manner, so I asked

coldly,

"Real...what do you mean by that? Who are you?"

However, the player who was dressed in the dark-grey mantle

didn't mention his name as he deliberately took a step closer to me

even after I took a step back. This time, I didn't take a step back, but

took his stare head on at about 20cm away from him.

That voice that seemed to have some form of sound effect within

it and had some reverb overtones ringing in an interrupted manner,

"I saw it, the match. A sword, you used it."

"Ah...ahhh. That's not against the rules, right?"

The damned AmuSphere really showed the wavering in my heart

as my answer sounded somewhat hoarse. The dark-grey mantle guy

seemed to have read my heart as he advanced a few more centimeters.

Then, he said another thing with an even deeper voice. As the

voice was rather soft, at this distance, I had to concentrate just to hear

it.

"Let me ask, you again. Are you, the real, one?"

Before I could understand the meaning behind these words, my

heart felt like it got hit by a thunderous-like premonition, and I could

only remain rooted there.

—I know this guy!

That's right. I definitely met him somewhere. I did once talk to

him straight on like I am doing now.

But where? After logging into GGO, I had only talked to the guy

who was at where I appeared who wanted to buy my avatar, Sinon

who brought me to buy the items and register, and her friend, three of

them altogether. Thus, I couldn't say that I met him in this world before.

Was it in ALO? Did I meet this guy with a different avatar in

Alfheim? I frantically searched the database of my mind to see if his

verbal mannerisms and presence resembled someone. However, I

really couldn't think of another. I don't remember someone like him

who would stand in front of me and raise goosebumps in me with the

cold air around him.

Where...where exactly did I meet this guy...

At this moment, the tattered mantle swayed, and a slender arm

came out from inside. I got ready to back away, but after looking at it, I

found that aside from a glove that was as tattered as his mantle, there

was nothing else.

That hand in the air was pointed at me, and opened a window

before moving it in a lackluster manner. Right now, the matchup

schedule that was going on in this third BoB preliminaries appeared on

the window.

That thin metal-like finger pressed on Group F, and in the end, the

image of Group F expanded to show the entire screen. He pressed it

once, and the center part of the matchup schedule became wider.

My eyes were attracted by his finger.

There were 2 names on it.

On the left side was «Uemaru», and on the right side was «Kirito».

On the name on the right, there was a light-glowing line extending out

from it. The news that I beat Uemaru and entered the second round

was already reported.

His finger moved slightly, touched the word «Kirito» up and down,

and then, it rang again—his voice.

"This, name. That, sword skill...are, you real?"

Immediately, I was shocked for the third time, and this was the

strongest impact.

My knees started to tremble, and I had to work hard not to let

myself collapse.

This grey-colored mantle player—I know him!

The origin of the name «Kirito», and the sword skill I used to beat

«Uemaru». This guy knows about them.

In other words...I didn't meet this guy in GGO or ALO.

But in SAO, «Sword Art Online». I once met this guy in the main

stage of that death game, the floating city Aincrad.

This avatar hidden under the tattered mantle...no, the player

who's wearing the AmuSphere and playing this avatar was an «SAO

survivor» like me.

My heart was already pounding like crazy unknowingly. If it

wasn't for the fact that we're inside the dark dome, he would have

found out that my avatar's face was all white already.

Calm down. Calm down!! At this moment, my mind could only

continue to repeat such words.

Even when meeting an SAO survivor, I have no need to be

panicking so much. When Aincrad was about to collapse, I became

famous because of the report of my unique skill 'Dual Blades» and how

I openly took on the leader of the Knights of the Blood, Heathcliff. Also,

the «Vorpal Strike» I just used on Uemaru was a rather common skill

under the one-handed sword category. Those high-levelled players in

Aincrad can guess from the footage of the match and the player's name

in the matchup schedule that I'm Kirito of the SAO clearing group. If it

was me, if I find a player who I may know of at first, I might talk to him

and chit-chat about the past or something.

So I had no need to be scared at all. I shouldn't be scared.

But why am I so...

The next moment—the thin and long arm removed the matchup

schedule and kept his arm back into his mantle, and a part attracted

my attention.

There was a thin gap at the front side of the glove that looked like

a tattered bandage, probably a little higher from the inside of the wrist.

From there, I could see his pale skin.

And on the kin, there was a squared tattoo about 5cm wide.

It was a Western Coffin that was drawn in a manga style. The lid

showed a mysterious smiling face, and the lid was slightly open. A

white arm reached out from the darkness inside, waving at anyone it

saw. At that other world, another guy used poisoned water to numb me

and got ready to kill me. At that time, he had a similar tattoo too.

That was the emblem of «Laughing Coffin».

Once I recognized that image, it was really a miracle that I could

stifle my shout or prevent myself from collapsing onto the floor, or

even that I wasn't forced to log out because of the abnormal

brainwaves.

The player under the tattered mantle stared at me, who didn't

react at all, and then whispered,

"You, don't know, what I'm asking?"

I slowly and cautiously nodded my avatar's head.

"...Ahh. I don't understand. What do you mean, by the real one."

"...."

The grey mantle silently took a step back. The red eyes looked

like they were blinking as they flickered.

After what seemed like a long few seconds, the inorganic-like

feeling seem to be amplified as the voice rang.

"...Then, forget about it. Well, whether, your name, is a lie, a

fake...or whether you're, real."

He turned back and left the last words.

—One day, I'll kill you.

These words made me feel that he wasn't talking about killing

within the game.

The tattered mantle went away silently like a ghost—and then

suddenly vanished.

Right now, the surroundings weren't like before where the player

was still around.

My thin and petite body started to sway, and after barely

supporting myself, I collapsed like an avalanche and sat down on the

box seat beside me. I then cuddled my thin legs and put my knees to

my forehead.

I closed my eyes, and inside my eyelids, I could see what was a

clear little tattoo even though it was for about a fraction of a second.

A laughing coffin. There was only one guild that used such an

emblem in Aincrad.

It was the killing guild «Laughing Coffin».

During the two years clearing SAO, it could be said that there were a lot

of orange players who went into economic constraints and started

stealing money and equipment from other players. Normally though,

they would gather together in bunches to one person and force them to

hand over valuable items. At the most, they would just use some

numbing poison.

When someone attacks another person and causes the HP bar to

be depleted, the player will really die in the real world, so no one

would dare to do that. That's because these 10,000 players were all

heavy Net-gamers, and were all people who had nothing to do with

crime in real life.

However, this unwritten rule of «Not causing the HP to drop to

zero» was broken by a strange player.

This guy's name was called «PoH». It was a really funny name for

a character, but unexpectedly— or rather, it's because of this that he

had a certain charisma.

The first attractive point about PoH was that he had an exoticlooking handsome appearance, and was a multilingual player who was

well-versed in three languages. He may be a mixed-blood between a

Japanese and a Western, and his Japanese, fluent English, and decent

Spanish sounded just like a professional DJ singing rap, which would

change the players around him. In the end, they went from being

players to a real illegal organization that was cold and solid.

And the second point was really simple. PoH's own ability.

He was a talented dagger user. A dagger in his hand was just like

an extension of his arm. The blade didn't even need an assist from the

system and could crush monsters—or players. Especially at the end of

the death game, once he got what's called a horrifyingly large dagger

«Mate Chopper», his ability was so great that even players in the

clearing group feared him.

The lawless followers who admired PoH were attracted to him in

the opposite way people were attracted to Heathcliff of the Knights of

the Blood. Slowly, they expanded the boundaries in their heart.

A year after the game started, on the New Year's Eve in year 2023.

PoH and company, who have grown to about 30 people, attacked

a small guild that was having an outdoor party in the field at a viewing

spot, and killed them all.

The next day, there was the notification of «Laughing Coffin», a

guild that wasn't accepted by the system and was designated as «red»,

and ended up in the main information providers of Aincrad.

However, the grey mantle player I just talked with shouldn't be

PoH himself. That unrestrained and occasionally interrupted manner

of speech was completely different from PoH's seemingly machine gunlike and extremely enthusiastic tone.

However, there was really a guy in «Laughing Coffin» who did talk

like that. I met that guy before, and I think we did fight before. He

wasn't just an ordinary member, but a rather high-ranking member. I

could already remember so much, but why couldn't I remember his

face and name?

No, I actually knew. The reason why I couldn't think of it was

because I personally refused to remember.

«Laughing Coffin» was formed on the first day of 2024, and was

eliminated on a certain summer night after August.

Of course, it wasn't automatically disbanded, but vanquished. It's

because the clearing group, the players on the frontlines formed about

50 members in a crusade as we used force to destroy them.

Actually, we should have done that a long time ago, but we

couldn't find the base of Laughing Coffin, so it was delayed till after

August.

In Aincrad, players could buy houses or rooms, and whether it

was on the streets or outside, we could accurately pinpoint the

positions through the NPC real estate companies. The clearing group

guessed that they would buy a larger house or a castle-like building

that could allow 30 people to stay inside, so the information brokers

accepted the clearing group's request and checked through all the large

houses from the first level on.

But even though we found a few medium-to-small orange guild

hideouts, we still couldn't found the most important Laughing Coffin's

base after a few months.

Actually, it's no wonder we couldn't find them. Laughing Coffin

used a floor that we had long conquered—a tower area that wasn't

linked to the upper levels, which was a safe zone in a cave that would

be easily forgotten once the designer installed there. The clearing

players will basically only take part in clearing the mazes in high

towers, and medium-class players would slip into mazes where

there're a lot of people. Of course, there would be players who would

find that there were problems with the cave and enter in, but it's not

hard to imagine that they were killed easily by Laughing Coffin to

prevent their whereabouts from being revealed.

The reason the secret base of Laughing Coffin was revealed was

because one of the members who may be unable to endure the guilt of

killing exposed the secret to the clearing group. The clearing players

then used this information to investigate and check that those guys

were using that cave as a base before finally rallying a large-scale

crusade. The leader of the squad was a member of the largest guild

«Divine Dragons Alliance». Several strong players from the «Knights of

the Blood» and other guilds joined in too. Of course, as a solo player, I

was also invited to join the group.

Our numbers and average level were a lot higher than Laughing

Coffin, so we thought that if we sealed the entrance to the safe zone to

their base, there would be a high chance that they would surrender

without fighting. But— just like how there was someone who revealed

the secret...

Our thoroughly kept secret and battle strategy was known by

them for some reason through some means. When we entered the

maze, none of the Laughing Coffin members were waiting in the large

room of the safe zone. Of course, they didn't flee or hide in the alleys of

the maze, but attacked us from behind.

They prepared all sorts of traps, poisons, trick items and all sorts

of means to ambush us in random ways. The clearing group was

severely confused at the beginning, but the response to a sudden

situation was the ability the clearing group needed the most, so we

immediately readied ourselves again and started attacking back head.

However— there was an unexpectedly difference between

Laughing Coffin and the clearing group.

That's the guilt over killing someone. Once we realized that the

berserk Laughing Coffin members wouldn't surrender no matter how

much their HP was worn out, we started to waver.

Of course, we did discuss about this possibility before, and at that

time, we made the decision that we had to go all out even if we have to

make the enemy's HP drop to zero. But including me, the members of

the crusade couldn't deal the final blow once the enemy's HP was down

to zero. One of the crusaders even threw his sword and knelt down on

the ground.

First, there were a few martyrs in the crusaders. Then, the

similarly berserk crusaders killed several members of Laughing Coffin

too.

And what happened next was an ever bloody hell.

Once the battle ended, there were 11 casualties on the crusaders'

side and 21 on Laughing Coffin's side. Amongst them, I personally used

my sword to kill two of them.

But amongst the dead and the captured players, there was no sign

of the name of the leader PoH.

The twelve remaining enemy players who survived that battle

were all locked inside the Dark Iron Palace prison. If that grey mantle

player was really a survivor, I may have talked to him at a certain time

after clearing up from the battle. I remembered his verbal mannerism,

but couldn't remember his face and name, all because I forced myself

to forget about them all.

No...

No, maybe under that mantle...

Is one of the two people I personally killed.

Unexpectedly, I would have such an idea. Thus, I continued to

keep my knees cuddled as I sat on the seat and hurriedly shook my

head. I started to grit my teeth with all I've got and tried to change my

thinking.

The dead can't revive. In the SAO incident, whether it's the people

I loved or loathed, the 4,000 victims wouldn't come back again. So that

guy in the grey mantle must be one of the 12 Laughing Coffin members

who survived. I should have known their names. I tried my best to

endure the pain of searching through my memories as I tried to recall

their information.

But at this moment...

I again noticed a new possibility, and panted.

The metallic-like distorted voice that grey colored mantle guy let

out was a rather deep whisper. What would it be like if he shouted with

all he's got...

The roar from the voice file I heard a week ago rang deep inside

my ears again.

"...This, is real strength, real power! Foolish people, engrave the fear

of this name in your hearts!"

"This gun's name and I : «Death Pistol» ... «Death Gun»!!"

It was completely similar. I can't be mistaken. The voices would

be the same.

That guy—

Was that grey mantle guy «Death Gun»?

If that's the case, my mission to dive into GGO, attract attention

and become «Death Gun»'s target was quickly finished.

But...But, I have never expected things to develop so quickly.

«Death Gun» was a survivor of SAO, and one of the original

members of SAO—if that's the case.

Then he could use a gun inside the game to kill two players in the

real world...

Maybe...Maybe...There's really such a power...

At this moment, I was suddenly tapped on the left shoulder, and

nearly cried out. I was overly shocked as I trembled, and looked up,

only to see that the aqua-blue hair swaying in front of me.

"What's with your expression..."

The girl— Sinon frowned as she said that. I could only force

something like a smile at her.

"Ah...n-no, it's nothing..."

"Was that match just now really a close call? But you came back

rather early, didn't you?"

After hearing these words, I finally remembered that I was taking

part in the preliminaries of the «Bullet of Bullets» tournament. I

blinked, looked around, and found that there dome that's originally

filled with players had about half of them left. It seemed that the first

round of the preliminaries were already over, and the losers were

transported to the surface. My next opponent should appear

immediately, and the second round will then begin.

But in such a situation, I don't think I can still fight.

I continued to stare at Spiegel, who gave a somewhat shocked

look from afar, and Sinon right in front of me before breathing out

weakly from my mouth.

Immediately, Sinon gave a serious look and said,

"You're already so awkward after the first battle. I see that you

definitely won't be able to make it to the finals. Buck up...I must pay

you back for being tricked by you!"

After saying that, she raised her right fist and again slammed it on

my shoulder.

I unconsciously used my hands to grab this little hand that was

about to leave me. I then dragged it to my chest, and then kept her arm

at my forehead.

"Wa-Wait a minute...what are you doing!"

Sinon hurriedly whispered as she got ready to draw her hand

back. However, I continued to grip onto the hand tightly and not let her

go.

Even though it's heat that's coming from a polygonal avatar, it

was able to give me this inexplicable warmth. Once I felt that terrifying

freezing feeling that occupied my heart, my body started to tremble.

"...What are you doing...?"

I heard a bothered voice first, and then, I felt that small and warm

hand at my chest start to relax.