As a man who’s sole duty is assisting the main family’s bank, he talked vigorously about how he was professional, how he had already decided what position to take in the business and how outstanding he was going to be. In the beginning Asuna just put up a smile of admiration, but suspiciously everyone had gone and left the two of them alone, causing her to wonder whether the adults had any dubious intentions…
“Hey Asuna, are you listening?”
Getting kicked by Lizbet under the table, Asuna returned to herself.
“Ah, sorry. I remembered something I hated.”
“What is it? A meeting for marriage in Kyoto?”
“…”
“… Why did you freeze… Could it be…”
“No, no. It’s nothing!”
Asuna rapidly shook her head, tapped the side of her now empty mug and gulped down the strange purple tea. She looked up and forcefully changed the subject.
“Very strong… Then is that person a PKer?”
“Um, Zekken’s a PVPer. Slightly to the North of the 24th floor’s main street, isn’t there a tourist attracting island with a large tree? Under that tree at 3pm every day, Zekken fights any player who wishes for a challenge.”
“Oh~ So is Zekken the type who had participated in competitions?”
“No, it seems like a completely new face. However Zekken’s skill levels seem rather high, so it’s possible that Zekken transferred over from another game. In the beginning, a notice was put up on «MMO Tomorrow» recruiting challengers. Around 30 people went thinking that it was just an overconfident novice who’d immediately lose, but…”
“Instead they got defeated?”
“All of them, beautifully. Zekken should be quite strong, it’s said that not a single person was able to cut down more than 30% of Zekken’s health.”
“It’s slightly unbelievable.”
Scilica, who has been eating fruit pie until then, suddenly interrupted.
“It took me around half a year before I could really fight in mid-air. But even though that person only transferred over recently, that person can fly so well!”
The so called «Transfer» was a character transferring system for VRMMOs like ALO using «The Seed» as a platform. It could preserve the player’s «strength» in general, but all money and items are lost and certain skills would be redistributed.
“Has Scilica also fought Zekken before?”
In response to Asuna’s question, Scilica immediately widened her eyes and shook her head.
“How can that be? I was convinced that it’s impossible for me just from spectating Zekken’s duel. Ah, but Liz-san and Lyfa-san still fought Zekken. They’re quite bold stepping up for a challenge.”
“Shut up.”
“Anything can be a good experience, you know.”
Smiling as she listened to Lizbet and Lyfa pout, Asuna was slightly shocked.
Lizbet, who’s race didn’t tend to fight and prioritized forging was out of question, but there weren’t many players who could defeat Lyfa, who could be considered the Sylph’s top player, in an aerial fight. Moreover, Zekken just transferred over, that type of thing was unheard of.
“That sounds like the real thing. Hmm, I’m slightly interested.”
“Haha, I knew Asuna would say that. Even though there are lords and generals who rank high in the monthly competition like Sakuya and Eugene, it’s hard for people in their position to participate in street fights.”
“But if people see that Zekken’s so strong, won’t there be no challengers? It’s different from large competitions, isn’t there a hefty experience penalty if you lose in a street fight?”
“Not at all. Everyone enthusiastically participated in this gamble.”
Scilica once again chimed in.
“Eh? Is a super powerful rare item being gambled?”
“It’s not an item. Zekken actually gambled an «Original Sword Skill». One which is a super strong, finishing move level.”
Asuna can’t help but want to copy Kirito’s habit of shrugging and whistling, but she held back.
“So it’s an OSS. What type? How many hits?”
“Let me think, it seems like it’s usable by one-handed swords in general. It’s a shocking 11-hit combo.”
“Wow~!”
This time she really reflexively let out a cry.
The key system in the currently non-existent SAO is ‘Sword Skills’.
There were ‘skills’ set for the innumerable weapons, there were many skills ranging from strong single-hit attacks to flurries of continuous attacks. The difference from normal attacks was that from the moment you assume the starting position, your body would automatically move at the system’s highest speed until the skill was complete. The gorgeous light and sound effects accompanying hits let the user savor the joy of becoming a super warrior.
In Alfheim, in the large scale updates surrounding Aincrad’s implementation, the new company made a bold decision to re-implement sword skills as they were.
That was, in the new ALO, there was a huge revolution starting from the very roots of the battle system. This obviously caused a mighty uproar from some players, but dissenters pretty much became slaves to the thrill as soon as they’ve experienced sword skills once.
Before that, in ALO, gorgeous effects were monopolized by magic, which also had superior range and accuracy, so not many people chose to specialize in melee. That’s why it could be said that the appearance of sword skills balanced things out. Even though it had been half a year since the upgrade, the new battle system with «Aerial mobility» + «Sword Skills» was still the topic of many discussions.
These sword skills borrowed from their predecessors weren’t enough to satisfy the audacious organizers.
So they developed and included a new element, the «Original Sword Skill» system.
Like the name implied, that was a ‘personal sword skill’. It was not an already existing sword skill which had all of its actions set from the start, those were sword skills which players could compile themselves.
When this feature was announced, in order to get a gorgeous finishing move of their own, a lot of players scrambled onto the streets and wilderness and brandished various weapons. —And they all tasted deep frustration.
Registering an OSS (Original Sword Skill) was extremely easy.
First you open the menu, move to the OSS panel, enter the sword skill recording mode and press Start. After that you just swung your weapon as you wanted and press Finish. That was it.
However, there’s a harsh requirement for the system to approve of «the finishing move you thought up».
Single hit slashes and thrusts are almost all registered as preexisting sword skills. Therefore if you want to compile an OSS, it had to be a combo. However, as a series of actions, there couldn’t be any flaws in the various aspects like the center of gravity and trajectory. In addition, the speed must be almost as fast as the completed sword skill.
That was saying, “You must execute a combo which should be impossible without system support, without the system’s assistance.” A harsh requirement which could be considered contradictory.
There was only one way to overcome that barrier, and that was repeatedly practicing innumerable times. Until your nerves completely remembered the series of actions.
Almost all the players couldn’t stand that type of boring assignment and easily gave up their dream of having a ‘personal finishing move’. However, a portion of the hard workers successfully managed to create and register their OSS, receiving an honor equivalent to that of the head of a sword style in the middle ages. Actually, some players started guilds named [00ryuu] and some even opened dojos in town.
What made that possible was the ‘Sword Skill Inheritance’ feature in the OSS system. The original creator of the OSS could pass on the ‘Skill Manual’ to other players.
Not to mention PvP, OSS also had a significant effect in PvE. That’s why everyone wanted it. According to the trend,
the skill’s inheritance fetched a huge price. Skill manuals for «finishing moves» over 5 hits were currently the most expensive thing in ALO. It was general knowledge that the strongest OSS up till now was the 8-hit «Volcanic Blazer» compiled by the Salamander General Eugene, which hadn’t been passed on to anyone as he wasn’t short on money. Asuna herself managed to create a 5-hit one after several months of hard work, but that had already exhausted her strength, and she wasn’t thinking of starting a new one.
Appearing in that situation was 『Zekken』, the mysterious swordmaster with an exceptional 11-hit combo.
“Well, if that’s the case then it’s understandable that there’d be plenty of challengers. Has everyone personally witnessed that sword skill?”
The three of them immediately shook their heads in response to Asuna’s question. Representing them, Lizbet responded.
“Hmm, it seems like it was shown on the very first day of the street fights, but it hasn’t been used in actual combat… Rather, nobody is able to force Zekken to use that OSS.”
“Even Lyfa can’t?”
In response, Lyfa’s shoulders dropped and shook her head.
“Even though we were about even when both of our HP was around 60%… In the end I got defeated by a normal skill.”
“Oh… — Speaking of which, the important things still haven’t been asked. Zekken’s race, weapon? What are they?”
“Oh, Zekken’s an Imp. The weapon used was a one-handed sword, but it’s almost as thin as Asuna-san’s rapier — Overall, Zekken’s very fast. The normal attacks were almost as fast as sword skills… So fast that my eyes almost couldn’t follow Zekken’s actions. That was the first time I encountered such a thing, I was really shocked.”
“A speed type, eh? If even Lyfa can’t follow Zekken’s movements, then I probably have no chance either… — Ah.”
At this point, Asuna remembered something important.
“Talking about speed, there’s another player who feels like a cheater sleeping over there. What about Kirito-kun? It seems like he’d be interested in this sort of thing.”
At this, Lizbet, Scilica and Lyfa glanced at each other and suddenly laughed out loud.
“— Wha, What is it?”
Looking at the shocked Asuna, Lyfa giggled and said something shocking.
“Hahaha. — My brother has already fought Zekken before. Moreover, he also beautifully lost.”
“How…”
Lost. That Kirito.
Asuna was frozen, agape for several seconds.
In Asuna’s heart, Kirito as a swordsman was already synonymous with «absolutely strongest». In both SAO and ALO, from the people Asuna knew, the only person who defeated Kirito in a duel was the leader of the Knights of Blood, Heathcliff, and that was only due to the system’s protection as a Game Master.
Even though she hadn’t mentioned it to Lizbet and the others, Asuna herself actually seriously fought Kirito once back in SAO.
This was before they understood each other, back when Asuna commanded the front lines as KoB’s sub-leader.
While they were discussing the method to defeat the strong boss of a certain floor, there was an opposition between guilds led by KoB who prioritized speed and several solo players led by Kirito. Both sides couldn’t find a compromise, so in the end they decided to let the representatives of both sides duel.
At that time, Asuna was already interested in Kirito, but she also wanted to purge that thought. At that time she believed that putting personal emotions before clearing the game should not be tolerated.
Asuna felt that the duel was a good chance to defeat the weakness in her heart. Defeat Kirito, efficiently defeat the boss and once again return to her cold self.
But Asuna didn’t know about the strength hidden behind Kirito’s unreliable-looking face.
That duel was really heated. As their swords crossed, all the unnecessary thoughts in Asuna’s head were blown away, only the pleasure of fighting a good opponent filled her body. She felt as though she was directly fighting with her nerve impulses, something which she had never felt before. It lasted around 10 minutes, but Asuna didn’t notice the length of the time.
Then Asuna lost. Kirito did an overly realistic feint — the reason was understood later — of «pulling a second sword from behind his back and attacking», Asuna reflexively blocked and was beautifully hit in the resulting opening.
In the end, after experiencing that fight, Asuna’s feelings instead became something which she couldn’t give up, and at the same time, a deep impression of Kirito’s sword was left in Asuna’s heart.
— The strongest swordsman. Up to this day, even after the «Black Swordsman» from SAO had disappeared, this belief hadn’t wavered.
That’s why when Asuna was disquieted when she heard Kirito lost to ‘Zekken’.
Asuna shifted her gaze from Lyfa to Lizbet and shakingly asked.
“Kirito-kun, he… Are you serious?”
“Well~ Yes…”
Lizbet frowned and shrugged.
“Even if you ask me, for that level of fighting, someone like me can’t determine whether they’re serious… But Kirito wasn’t dual-wielding, so in that aspect he wasn’t going all out. Moreover, that…”
Lizbet paused, her eyes reflecting the light from the fireplace, and took a look at the sleeping Kirito. His mouth displaying a constant smile.
“This is what I think. Probably, in a normal game, Kirito won’t fight seriously anymore. On the other hand, Kirito only fights seriously when the game isn’t a game anymore, when the virtual world becomes real… That’s why it’s better if situations which force him to fight seriously don’t appear. From the beginning, he was the type to easily get wrapped into troublesome things.”
“…”
Asuna also looked at the black-haired swordsman’s sleeping face for a while, and nodded at Lizbet.
“Ah… That’s true.”
On either side, Lyfa and Scilica slowly nodded with various emotions.
The one who broke the temporary silence is Kirito’s sister in the real world, Lyfa.
“— However, this is just my impression… But I think my brother was serious. At least, I feel like he didn’t go easy. Moreover…”
“… What?”
“Even though I’m not sure, but shortly before the duel was concluded, when their blades are locked together, my brother seemed to have said something to Zekken… Immediately after that, the distance between the two widened and my brother wasn’t able to avoid Zekken’s charge and lost…”
“Hmm… So what did he say?”
“Thing is, even if I ask him he won’t tell me. However, it feels like… there’s something.”
“Really? Then it probably wouldn’t work even if I asked him.”
Asuna looked down at her hand and muttered.
“…All that’s left is directly ask Zekken, then.”
Hearing this, Lizbet raised her eyebrows.
“So you really want to fight?”
“Even though I don’t feel like I’d win. I have a feeling this person called Zekken came to ALO for a certain purpose. I’m talking about something other than street fights.”
“Ah, I also think so. However, to know that, you must be on the same level as Kirito. What about your character? Which are you going with?”
Asuna thought a little about Lizbet’s question. Other than the Undine rapier user «Asuna» which was transferred over from SAO, she also made a new account and trained a new character from scratch: the Sylph «Erika». The reason she created a new character was extremely simple: Sometimes she wanted to change her appearance too.
Erika specialized in melee and had most of its ability points devoted to dagger skills, so it was more suited for duels than Asuna which was half a healer. However, Asuna shrugged and immediately replied.
“I’ll go with this one, which I’m more used to. Since the opponent is a speed type, victory would probably be decided in an instant rather than
by DPS. Is everyone coming?”
Looking around, Lizbet, Scilica and Lyfa nodded at the same time. Scilica happily waved her tail and said.
“Of course! There’s no way I’d skip this match.”
“I don’t really know whether or not it can be called a match… Well, then it’s decided. Zekken appears on the island on the 24th floor around 3pm, right? Then let’s meet here at 2:30.”
Clapping her hands, Asuna called out the menu and looked at the time in reality.
“Not good, it’s already 6, I’m almost late for dinner.”
“Then let’s part here for today.”
Lyfa saved the window in front of her and quickly packed up. After saying goodbye to the 3 people, the Sylph swordswoman quietly approached the rocking chair, held the back of the chair and suddenly shook it wildly.
“Brother, wake up! It’s time to go!”
Smiling at this scene, Asuna suddenly remembered something and faced Lizbet.
“Hey, Liz.”
“What is it?”
“Just now, you mentioned that Zekken transferred over… Since Zekken’s so strong, is it possible that… it’s someone from SAO?”
In response to the whispered question, Lizbet nodded with a serious expression on her face.
“I suspected that. But when I asked Kirito what he thought after his fight with Zekken…”
“What did Kirito-kun say…?”
“He said that there was no way Zekken was originally a SAO player. His reason being…”
“…”
“He said that if Zekken existed in that world, «Dual Blades» would’ve been given to that person instead.”
Chapter 2
Beep, beep.
The AmuSphere shut down with that short electronic sound.
Asuna slowly opened her eyes. Even before her eyes focused on the ceiling of the dark room, Asuna felt the cold, humid air sticking to her skin.
Although she set the air conditioner to weak heating mode, it seems like she forgot to disable the timer and it ended up turning off during FullDive. The temperature in her 10 tatami room is almost the same as the temperature outside. Noticing a small sound, she turned towards the large window and noticed numerous water droplets on the black glass.