Chapter 7

Asuna flipped the cap off the bottle with her thumb, chugged the blue liquid

inside, then checked the remaining amount.

Over the forty fierce minutes of battle, the waist pouch that had been stuffed

with potions was now down to just three. The other healer, Siune, had to be at

a similar point herself.

The attackers making up the front line were fighting as hard as anyone

possibly could. They were successfully evading every one of the dark giant's

attacks that were dodge-able. But both the wide-ranging poison breath that the

creature's two mouths periodically emitted and the wild double-chain swings

reached the entire battlefield and were extremely hard to counteract.

Whenever either of them came into play, Asuna and Siune had to begin casting

their most powerful heal spell, so they couldn't possibly get enough mana

points.

Nori's staff, Talken's spear, and Yuuki's sword were all scoring countless clean

hits, but something was wrong; it felt like they were striking an utterly

impassable steel wall. The boss would sometimes cross its four arms in front of

its body in a defensive stance, turning as hard as iron and deflecting all attacks,

which only made the task more tiresome.

Asuna tried to swallow as much of her impatient frustration as she could with

the mouthful of potion, and she strained to shout, as loud as possible, "We're

almost there, guys! Almost there—we can do it!"

And yet, she had said the same thing five minutes earlier. The boss monsters

in New Aincrad had no visible HP bars, so they could only estimate their success

by the enemy's actions. The dark giant, which was slow and plodding at the

start of the fight, was now raging in a berserk state, so it had to be getting to

the end of its stamina, but that was still nothing more than an optimistic hope.

In a lengthy battle without a visible end, the backup rank only had to worry

about the draining of their MP, but the forwards who were up close and

personal with the enemy's furious attacks were draining their own willpower

and concentration to fight. In a typical boss strategy, the tanks and damage

dealers in the front line were supposed to switch out every five minutes at the

most, according to orthodox theory. In that sense, the effort of the Sleeping

Knights was extraordinary.

But their fatigue was impossible to ignore now. The only energetic response

to her appeal came from Yuuki. Somehow, the little imp girl had managed to

nimbly leap out of the way of the giant's hammers and chains, delivering steady

damage with her sword, for dozens of minutes, without showing a single sign of

exhaustion.

Until now, Asuna had believed that the source of Yuuki's strength was her

unbelievable reaction speed, but now she had to consider a different answer.

The strength of her mentality, her ability to keep swinging without losing

concentration, might rival even Kirito's.

As she cast the umpteenth healing spell of the battle, Asuna compared the

sight before her eyes to those in her distant memories.

On the seventy-fourth floor of the old Aincrad, Kirito had carried on a heroic

solitary stand against a similar giant humanoid boss. He had evaded the

enemy's furious onslaught with desperate parrying and leaping, his swords

hurtling through the air with machine-gun speed, devastating the enemy's weak

flanks with endless Sword Skill combos…

"Oh…"

An idea hit Asuna like a bolt of lightning. The resulting gasp caused her spell

chant to fizzle out, producing a little puff of black smoke. She tensed in guilty

surprise, but Siune's spell activated just in the nick of time. The HP bars of the

fighters up front in the midst of a cloud of poison breath refilled to the safe

zone.

When Siune looked over to see what had happened, Asuna held up her hand

vertically in a sign of apology. "I just thought of something, Siune. Can you

handle the healing for thirty seconds?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I've got mana to spare," replied Siune. Asuna motioned to her

again, then raised her wand. She took a sharp breath and began to chant a

different spell this time, as fast as she could manage.

As her spell words stacked up, glittering shards of ice appeared before her,

coalescing into four sharp icicles. When the knives of ice were ready, a blue

point of light appeared in the center of her vision: the aiming reticle of a

nonhoming attack spell.

Asuna carefully moved her left hand, fine-tuning the location of the blue

point, lining it up with the throats of the giant's two heads. As it stomped

closer, it began to raise its two upper arms with their hammers for a massive

strike.

"Yaah!!"

She swung her wand straight down. The four icicles flew forward, leaving pale

blue trails behind them, striking true right into the necks of the two heads.

"Guohhhh!!"

The giant issued a tremendous scream, its hammer attack forgotten, and

crossed its four arms in front to protect its body. It held that defensive position

for five seconds, then raised its arms again, slamming the war hammers into the

cobblestones.

An earthquake rumble ran through the floor, and Asuna had to focus hard on

her feet to avoid losing her balance. "As I thought," she murmured.

Siune gave her a questioning look, so she explained. "I thought that defensive

stance was a random effect, but it's not. The base of the neck is its weak point. I

never gave it much thought, because I figured we wouldn't have time to search

for it…"

"So we can beat it if we attack there?!"

"At the very least, it'll be more efficient…I think. But it's too high up."

The giant was a good thirteen feet tall, so even Talken's long spear was just

short enough not to reach. Out in the open, they could fly up to attack it, but

not inside the dungeon.

"We might need to use Sword Skills and expect a counterattack," Siune said.

Asuna agreed. In order to extend airtime in nonflight areas, the only choices

were charging Sword Skills or jumping first before starting a combination attack.

Either option would end with a delay, which was likely to result in getting

smashed as you fell defenseless to the ground. They could attempt resurrecting

a dead player with spells, but the success rate wasn't perfect, and the casting

time was exhaustingly long. In the meantime, they might fall behind on healing

and end up dooming the entire party anyway.

But Yuuki would volunteer to do it without a second thought. Siune, who

possessed an iron will at odds with her delicate undine features, nodded firmly.

"I'm going to go up and tell them the plan. Keep up the healing," Asuna said.

"Don't worry about it!"

Asuna pulled out two of her remaining potions, handed them to Siune, then

raced to the front row. She covered the fifty feet in an instant, and as she

approached the giant, a chain hurtled toward her from the side. She ducked her

head to avoid it, but the sinker at the end caught her on the shoulder, taking HP

with it.

Undeterred, she kept running until she was just behind the party leader.

"Yuuki!!"

The imp girl turned around midswing, her eyes wide. "Asuna! What is it?!"

"Listen! It has a weak point. If you aim for the base of its necks, you can do

major damage."

"Weak point?!" Yuuki turned back to the giant and stared at its heads. A

hammer like a giant barrel came bearing down from above, so they had to

dodge out of the way, then leap straight upward to avoid the shock wave

through the floor.

Yuuki shouted, "It's too high…I can't jump up that far!"

"Good thing we've got the perfect stepping stone." Asuna grinned, glancing

over at Tecchi, who was protecting Nori from the swinging chains with a shield

the size of a door. Yuuki grinned back instantly, catching on.

They sprinted forward, swinging around about ten feet behind Tecchi. Yuuki

put her free hand to her mouth and bellowed in a way that her tiny body was

never meant to. "Tecchi! Next time he swings the hammers, duck down right

away!!"

The large gnome turned back, his small eyes full of surprise, but he nodded

his understanding. After the dark titan had finished swinging its chains, it pulled

back its boulderlike torso to suck in a huge breath. It held it momentarily, then

blew out a black gas from both mouths. They were surrounded by the stench of

sulfur, and the HP of everyone in front began to drop.

But with perfect timing, as soon as the breath attack was over, blue light

descended from above, healing their damage. The giant followed up by raising

its hammers high overhead in its upper arms. Yuuki tensed, preparing to sprint.

Asuna quickly called out to her. "This is our last chance! Good luck, Yuuki!"

Without turning back, Yuuki said, "I've got it, Big Sis!!"

Big…Sis?

Asuna blinked in surprise at the unexpected title, but the girl was already off

and running. Up ahead, the giant slammed the hammers against the ground,

strong enough to break through the earth. Heavy sound rattled around the

room, and a circular shock wave spread out from the landing points. Tecchi

crouched down to defend.

Then Yuuki leaped, her left foot landing on Tecchi's broad left shoulder, then

her right on the top of his thick helmet.

"Uraaaah!!" she screamed, and leaped high into the air, so high that she

might have had invisible wings. As she approached the giant's chest, she drew

back the sword in her right hand.

"Yaaah!!" she shrieked again, thrusting forward with tremendous speed at

the base of the two necks. The circular chamber was momentarily lit with blue

and purple.

When a Sword Skill was activated in midair, the user would not fall to the

ground until after the skill was entirely finished, even in nonflight areas like the

labyrinth tower. Yuuki hovered before the black titan, her right hand flashing

like lightning. Five thrusts from upper right to lower left. Another five in an

intersecting line. With each jab of the sharp point to the enemy's critical spot,

the giant's arms twitched, and it howled in pain.

Ten thrusts in the shape of an X finished, Yuuki twisted hard to the right,

placing her left hand against the flat of her blade.

Asuna had to squint against the flash that erupted from the sword. It was as if

Yuuki's obsidian sword had momentarily turned to diamond. The now purewhite sword plunged into the connecting point between the two necks, the

very center of the X, with the ringing of a bell. The sword plunged all the way in

to the very hilt.

The giant's scream halted, and it froze at an unnatural position. Asuna, Jun,

Tecchi, and even Yuuki herself, with her arm outstretched, all sat motionless in

the midst of a silent pause in time.

Eventually, around the sword's point of entry, myriad white cracks formed in

the giant's black skin. The cracks gave way to the sheer pressure of the light

from within, growing longer and thicker. They slowly engulfed the creature's

torso and limbs.

With a sound like a dead, dry tree cracking, the dark titan split into two, right

along the joint of the two necks. Like a glass sculpture being crushed under

pressure, the thirteen-foot-tall body burst into pieces of all sizes. The blast of

white light blew outward with physical force, ruffling Asuna's hair. A mixture of

deep bass and screaming treble bounced off the walls of the dome and

eventually trailed away in a sound of hard metal.

The blue guide flames that lit the circular dome in eerie light shook briefly,

then turned to the ordinary orange. Suddenly, the boss chamber was lit with

bright, natural light, driving away the last remnants of spookiness.

With a heavy clank, the door on the far end, which led to the next floor,

unlocked itself.

"…Ha-ha…We…did it…" Asuna rasped, falling to the floor. When she looked

back at the spot where the boss had disappeared, she met the dazed gaze of

Yuuki.

The small imp girl blinked quickly for several seconds, then a faint smile

spread over her lips. Eventually it grew into a more familiar full smile, until it

reached a level of radiance she had never before shown.

Yuuki rushed toward Asuna, thrusting her sword noisily back into its sheath.

When she was still a good distance away, she leaped, arms wide, and crashed

right into Asuna.

"Oof!" Asuna grunted theatrically and flopped onto the floor with Yuuki. After

a brief moment of staring into each other's eyes at point-blank range, they

shouted in unison.

"Aha-ha-ha…We did it…We won, Asuna!"

"Yeah, we did it! Aaah…I'm exhausted!!"

They fell back onto the floor, limbs splayed, Yuuki resting on top. Around

them, their five companions got up from similar positions of fatigue and

assumed bold victory poses, cheering raucously.

Suddenly, Asuna realized that she was hearing a heavy sound from the

direction of her head. She craned her neck and saw, upside down, that the

entrance doors were slowly opening. Countless silhouettes were crammed into

the space.

It was, of course, the raid party that had attempted to block their way,

plunging in through the doors with angry bellows. Their attitude and

momentum slowed quickly when they recognized the bright orange light filling

the chamber. They looked around in surprise.

The long-haired salamander at the very head of the fifty-man team met

Asuna's gaze. His face evolved from shock to understanding to frustration,

which brought a savage thrill to her heart.

"Heh-heh…"

Asuna, Yuuki, and the others all smirked, flashing the V-sign as they lay on the

floor.

After the guild moved on—but not before several dozen warnings and parting

remarks—Asuna and the Sleeping Knights opened the door in the back of the

chamber. They climbed the spiral staircase and emerged from a little pavilion

into the unexplored twenty-eighth floor. They flew straight to the nearby city,

where Yuuki activated the portal gate in the town square, thus completing the

boss quest.

They used the glowing blue gate to immediately return to Rombal, where

they formed a circle in a nook of the plaza and exchanged high fives.

"Good job, everyone! It's finally over!" Asuna said with a smile, but she felt a

pang of sadness. As a simple hired sword, the completion of their quest meant a

farewell was coming.

But no, they could still be friends. There was plenty of time for that, she

considered. At that moment, Siune clapped her on the shoulder. Her delicate

features were deadly serious.

"No, Asuna. It's not over yet."

"…Huh?"

"Something very important is still left."

The look on her face reminded Asuna about the Monument of Swordsmen in

Blackiron Palace. That was right—their goal wasn't explicitly to beat the boss,

but to leave all of their names on the monument, as proof of their guild's

existence. It was too early to celebrate, then.

But Asuna was not expecting Siune to say, "We need to have a party."

Her knees buckled and she shook a fist in mock outrage, then set her hands

against her waist. "Yes, you're right! We need to celebrate."

Jun smirked and said, "After all, we've got the budget for it now! Where will

we hold it? Should we rent out a fancy restaurant in some big city?"

"Oh…"

Asuna looked at the rest of the group, steepling her fingers with a sudden

idea. She'd only known these people for two days, but she was absolutely

certain that her old friends would get along with them just fine.

"Well, if that's what we're going to do…why don't you come to my player

home instead? It's a bit small, though."

Yuuki's face suddenly burst into sunshine. But for some reason, her smile

melted away like snow under heat. She bit her lip and hung her head.

"Um…Yuuki? What's wrong?" Asuna asked, surprised. But the normally

cheerful girl would not raise her head. Siune spoke for her instead.

"…Well…I'm sorry, Asuna. I hope you won't take offense, but…you see, we…"

But she never finished that sentence. Yuuki sucked in a sharp breath, face still

downcast, and grabbed Siune's hand. The girl's lips were shut tight, and there

was a painful look in her eyes as she stared at the older woman. Her lips

twitched a few times, ready to say something, but no sound emerged.

Siune seemed to understand what she meant, however. A faint smile played

over her lips. She patted Yuuki on the head and turned to Asuna. "Thank you,

Asuna. We will honor your invitation and pay a visit."

Asuna gave them a quizzical look, uncertain of what their little exchange

meant. However, Nori scattered the odd atmosphere with a hearty cheer. "First

thing we gotta buy is booze! A whole barrel of it!"

"You won't find your favorite distilled sweet potato liquor here, Nori," Talken

interjected, pushing up his glasses.

She hurled fierce insults at his back: "Say what? When did I ever say I liked

that stuff? The only thing I drink is finely aged awamori from Okinawa!"

"In terms of their lack of charm, they're basically the same thing," Jun

interrupted, prompting laughs from the group. Asuna joined in the laughter,

glancing at Yuuki again. A smile was sneaking back onto the girl's face, but the

hint of sadness lingered in her eyes.

They ventured into Rombal's central market and bought a feast's worth of

alcohol and food, then teleported to the twenty-second floor. Asuna led the

way, taking off from the little village and heading south over the snow-piled

forest. When they had crossed an iced-over lake, a little clearing containing a

small log cabin came into view.

"D-down there?!" Yuuki marveled.

Asuna nodded. "Yep, that's it…Oh!"

No sooner were the words out of Asuna's mouth than Yuuki sped up, her

arms wide. She dropped straight toward the front garden of the cabin, sending

up a huge cloud of snow, as well as a flock of startled birds from the nearby

trees.

"…Good grief."

Asuna laughed as she shared a look with Siune, then spread her wings for a

soft landing. She glided down and landed out front, where Yuuki grabbed her

arm and impatiently pulled her in the direction of the door.

If any of their friends were already home, she would have introduced them

all, but the cabin was empty. It made sense that Kirito and Klein wouldn't be

back yet from the save point after helping them in the labyrinth, but the

absence of Liz and the other girls was perhaps a sign that they anticipated this

possibility and left them a peaceful place for the little team to celebrate in

privacy.

"Oooh, ahhh! So this is your home!" Yuuki bubbled, examining the table

growing from the floor, the burning red furnace, and the swords hung on the

wall. The other six gathered around the table and opened their inventories to

remove the food for the feast. Soon there was a pile of mysterious drinks and

snacks on the table.

They opened up the wine—in a barrel, at Nori's request—and poured the

golden liquid into glasses, completing the preparations. Jun grabbed Yuuki to

stop her from admiring Asuna's spice collection in the kitchen and pulled her

out to the living room table.

Tasked with leading the toast, Yuuki held her glass high with a radiant smile.

"So, to celebrate conquering the boss…Cheers!"

With a group chorus and the clinking of glasses, everyone proceeded to drink.

In no time, the party was fully underway.

As Jun and Tecchi excitedly discussed the boss they'd just beaten and Nori

and Talken got to talking about the various types of alcohol in ALO, Yuuki and

Siune told Asuna about the VRMMO worlds the Sleeping Knights converted

from.

"The absolute worst one, without a doubt, was an American game called

Insectisite," Yuuki said with a grimace, squeezing her body with both arms.

"Oh, yes…that one." Siune grinned sourly.

"So…what was that one like?"

"Bugs! Bugs everywhere! Of course, the monsters are bugs, but so are the

players! At least I was an ant that walked on two legs, but poor Siune—"

"No! Don't say it!"

"—was a giant caterpillar! She'd shoot silk out of her mouth…"

At that point, Yuuki dissolved into laughter. Siune pouted, and Asuna couldn't

help but join the giggles.

"That's great. So you've been traveling all over different worlds…"

"What about you, Asuna? You seem like you have a long VRMMO history."

"I've been, umm, only here. It took a long time to save up the money to buy

this house, you know…"

"I see."

Yuuki looked up and examined the living room, her eyes narrowed. "It's really

a lovely place, this house. It reminds me…of the old days."

"Yes, exactly. I feel very comfortable and relieved when I'm here."

Siune was nodding as well, but then she gasped faintly, as if remembering

something.

"Wh-what is it, Siune?"

"Oh no, I forgot! Speaking of money…when we made our deal for Asuna's

help, we said that we'd give her everything the boss dropped. And then we

went and spent all that money on this stuff."

"Oh, man! I totally forgot, too!"

Asuna laughed and waved her hand to indicate to the upset Sleeping Knights

that it was no big deal. "It's just fine. As long as I get something, that's all I—

Actually, no," she finished, taking a deep breath.

She realized that it was her chance to finally say something she'd been

thinking about since before the boss fight. Asuna put on a serious look. "I don't

need anything after all. Instead, I have a request."

"Huh…?"

"Listen…I know that our contract ends here. But…I want more time to talk to

you, Yuuki. There are still so many things I want to ask."

Asuna wanted to know how she could be as strong as Yuuki was. She

continued. "Will you let me join the Sleeping Knights?"

She hadn't joined a guild since being reborn as a fairy in ALO. There had been

invitations, of course, and they'd discussed making their own small guild with

Kirito, Liz, and the others, but they'd never gone ahead with it.

It had to be because there was still a lingering sense of fear about guilds. For

more than a year, Asuna had been the subleader of the guild that was

considered the strongest in the game. The guild demanded ironclad order and a

steel will from its members, and she upheld that attitude by never smiling at

others. Back then, she was feared but never revered. And she was afraid that if

she joined a guild in ALO, it would send her back into that mindset.

But today, Asuna was completely at home among the Sleeping Knights and

felt no consternation whatsoever about making orders. That was because Yuuki

and the others had easily, comfortably eclipsed the barriers Asuna erected

around her heart. The time she spent with them could only lower those walls. It

would teach her true strength. Asuna herself didn't realize she possessed that

desire, but Kirito and Klein had given her support through action, not words.

They hadn't looked upset when she mentioned working with another guild;

they had been perfectly supportive.

Yuuki didn't respond at once to Asuna's request. She bit her lip. Her big, wide

eyes wavered with indecision again.

Suddenly, Siune and the four others were silently watching Asuna and Yuuki

as well. For a long, long moment, Yuuki stared at Asuna without a word. When

her quavering lips opened at last, her voice shook.

"Um…um, Asuna, listen. We…the Sleeping Knights…are going to break up

soon…probably by the spring. After that, we won't really be able to play much

of the game…"

"Yeah, I know. Just until then. I…I want to be friends with you guys. We have

enough time for that…right?" Asuna asked, leaning forward and looking into

Yuuki's purple eyes. But, for perhaps the first time ever, Yuuki averted her gaze.

She shook her head.

"Sorry…I'm sorry, Asuna. I'm…really sorry."

There was such open pain in Yuuki's repeated apology that Asuna couldn't

push her any further.

"Oh…okay. No, I'm sorry for pressing you like that, Yuuki."

"Um…Asuna, I…we…" Siune started, trying to fill in for Yuuki, but surprisingly,

she was having trouble finding the right words as well. Asuna noticed that the

rest of the group had similarly pained expressions, and she clapped her hands

together in an attempt to fix the gloomy mood.

"Sorry about getting weird on you guys. Let's fix the mood by going to see the

thing!"

"What thing…?" Siune asked. Asuna patted her and the downcast Yuuki on

the shoulder.

"You're forgetting something very important! I'm sure that by now, they've

updated the Monument of Swordsmen down in the palace!"

"Oh, right!" Jun erupted, getting to his feet. "Let's go! We can take a

picture!!"

"Yeah! Shall we?" Asuna asked again. Yuuki finally raised her head and smiled

weakly.

Asuna surveyed the central plaza of the Town of Beginnings for the first time

in ages, dragging the still-lethargic Yuuki by the hand.

"Gosh, this place is so big…All right everyone, this way!"

She wove her way through the flower beds until the rectangular Blackiron

Palace came into view ahead. It was one of the most famous tourist

destinations in Aincrad, so there were newbies and veterans alike milling about

the castle.

They headed through the main gate and into the imposing building, the

interior air chilly on the skin. The sound of boots clicking on the steel floor

echoed endlessly off the unfathomably high ceiling.

Asuna and the Sleeping Knights headed toward the great hall in the back,

adding to the din. They had to pass through two doors before they emerged in a

space that was relatively peaceful. A huge, lengthy monument of iron sat in the

center of the room.

"There it is!"

Jun and Nori ran past Asuna and Yuuki. They arrived at the foot of the

Monument of Swordsmen a few seconds later. Asuna looked for the end of the

sprawling list of names contained on the monument.

"Oh…there they are," Yuuki muttered. Her hand suddenly clenched in

Asuna's, and the fencer spotted it as well. Almost at the very center of the

gleaming black monument, there was an entry reading HEROES OF THE 27TH FLOOR,

below which there were seven names.

"There they are…There are our names…" Yuuki repeated in a daze. Asuna

noticed that the girl's eyes were moist, and she felt a lump in her own throat.

"Hey, time to take a picture!" said Jun from behind them.

Asuna grabbed Yuuki's shoulder and spun her around. "C'mon, Yuuki. Smile,"

she said.

That finally got Yuuki to crack a grin. With the others lined up in front of the

monument, Jun used the pop-up menu of a Screenshot Crystal to set a timer,

then let go. The crystal hung in place in the air, a countdown running over it.

He trotted over and squeezed between Yuuki and Tecchi. They all smiled, and

the crystal flashed with a shutter sound.

"Okay!" Jun said, rushing back to check, as Asuna and Yuuki turned to look at

the Monument of Swordsmen again.

"We did it, Yuuki," Asuna said, patting her on the head. Yuuki nodded and

stared at the seven names for a long time.

Eventually, she mumbled, "Yeah…I finally did it, Big Sis."

"Hee-hee!" Asuna couldn't contain her giggle in time. "You did it again,

Yuuki."

"Huh…?" Yuuki looked back at her in complete bewilderment.

"You called me 'Big Sis,' remember? Back at the boss chamber. I mean, it's

very cute and flattering, but—?!"

Asuna stopped in midsentence. She hadn't meant anything serious by it.

But Yuuki was covering her mouth with a hand, her eyes wide. The purple

irises filled with clear drops momentarily, dripping down her cheeks.

"Y…Yuuki?!"

Asuna tried to reach out to the girl, but Yuuki took a few steps backward. Her

lips opened, uttering a hoarse croak. "Asuna…I, I—"

Suddenly, she turned away, wiping at her tears and waving her left hand. That

brought up her menu window, which she touched with trembling fingers. Her

small body was engulfed in a pillar of white light.

And just like that, Yuuki the Absolute Sword, invincible warrior, disappeared

from Aincrad.