Fairy Dance 1

  By the time she turned back to the southern end of the terrace and its salamanders, Kirito was shouting again.

  “I wish to speak with your commander!”

  The salamander lancers, bowled over by his bold manner and voice, parted ways. A single large warrior proceeded through the empty space.

  He had short red hair, spiked straight upward; burnt brown skin; and a sharp, hawkish face. His brawny body was clad in reddish-bronze armor that was clearly of extremely rare quality, and on his back was a sword every bit as large as Kirito’s.

  When she looked into the red fire burning in his eyes, a shiver ran down Leafa’s back, even though she wasn’t face-to-face with him. She’d never seen a player with such overwhelming presence.

  He landed heavily in front of Kirito and glared down at the little black swordsman, his face expressionless. After a long moment like that, he opened his mouth, and a deep voice rumbled out.

  “What are you doing here, spriggan? We will kill you, no matter the answer, but in light of your audacity, I will hear you out.”

  Kirito answered loudly, unfazed.

  “I am Kirito, an envoy of the spriggan-undine alliance. May I presume your attack upon this scene is meant as open war against all four of our races?”

  Oh, no.

  Leafa couldn’t speak. It was preposterous; the worst bluff she’d ever heard. It was no longer a trick of her mind—actual sweat was running down her back. Despite the obvious shock on her face, she tried to give Sakuya and Alicia Rue a reassuring wink.

  Even the commander of the salamanders was taken aback.

  “An alliance between undines and spriggans…?” But he soon regained his composure. “And you are their envoy, without a single guard at your back?”

  “That’s right. I was only here for trade negotiations with the sylphs and cait siths. But if you attack this meeting, there will be much more than that. All four races will be forced to join together to oppose you.”

  The world was silent for several moments. Eventually…

  “I cannot take the word of a single man at face value, especially one with no real equipment.”

  The salamander reached behind his back and loudly drew his double-sided blade. The metal gleamed dark and red, two entwined dragons inlaid on the flat of the sword.

  “If you can withstand thirty seconds of my attacks, I will believe that you are an envoy.”

  “Very generous of you,” Kirito responded lightly, drawing his own giant sword. This one was a dull gray with no ornamentation.

  He vibrated his wings and rose to hover at the same height as the salamander. In an instant, it seemed as though the space between them sparked hot and white with pure, murderous focus.

  …Thirty seconds passed…

  Leafa gulped audibly.

  From what she’d seen of Kirito’s skill, those conditions were certainly winnable. But the sheer lethality radiating from the salamander commander was considerable.

  Amid the tense silence, Sakuya quietly muttered at Leafa’s side.

  “This is bad…”

  “Huh…?”

  “I’ve seen that salamander’s two-handed sword on a site detailing the legendary weapons of the game. It’s the Demon Blade Gram…which would mean he must be General Eugene. Know him?”

  “I’ve…heard the name…” Leafa returned, holding her breath. At that, Sakuya continued.

  “He’s the younger brother of Lord Mortimer of the salamanders…They’re apparently actual brothers in real life. His brother’s got the brains, and he’s got the brawn. People say Eugene’s better when it comes to pure fighting power. He’s the strongest of all the salamanders…which would make him…”

  “The strongest player in the game?”

  “Quite possibly…We’ve really got a situation on our hands.”

  “…Oh, Kirito…”

  Leafa clenched her hands to her chest.

  In midair, as though measuring each other’s true strength, the two fighters glared at each other for a long time. The clouds hanging low over the plateau broke here and there, sending angled pillars of sunlight across the scene. One caught the salamander’s blade, flashing vividly.

  Without warning, Eugene sprang into motion.

  He launched into an ultra-speed charge, the air rebounding around him. The greatsword to his right traced a wide red arc down onto the small spriggan.

  But Kirito’s reaction was just as fast. He held his sword over his head without any wasted motion and spread his wings, ready for the attack. Leafa could see his intent: He would deflect the enemy’s sword and strike back in quick succession. But—

  “—?!”

  The instant the red sword descending on Kirito met the black sword, it grew hazy and indistinct. It passed directly through Kirito’s sword and went solid again.

  Dagaaang!! The world shook with the explosion. The slash caught Kirito square in the chest with a massive flash, and his slender form struck the ground like a leaf caught in the midst of a storm gale. There was another blast and a cloud of dirt.

  “Wh-what was that?” Leafa said, stunned. Alicia Rue had the answer.

  “Demon Blade Gram has a unique extra effect called Ethereal Shift, which allows it to pass through any sword or shield that tries to block it!”

  “No way…”

  She looked closer, hoping to call up Kirito’s HP bar. But before the game could detect her line of sight and show a cursor, a shadow shot out of the dirt cloud like an arrow. It careered straight for the hovering Eugene.

  “Well, well…you survived the hit!” the salamander crowed, delighted.

  “What the hell was that?” Kirito shouted back, striking with his sword in response.

  Kaang, clang! The clashes rang out in succession. Eugene was not just blessed with an excellent weapon; he used his bulky sword to deflect each and every one of those attacks of Kirito’s that Leafa herself had never been able to follow.

  Once that combination finally abated for an instant, it happened again.

  The Demon Blade Gram exposed its fangs. Kirito instinctually tried to block the sideways swipe with his own sword, and once again it blurred and struck him deep in the gut.

  “Gaaah!!”

  It sounded like all of the air in his lungs had been expelled outward. Spinning, he flew up into the air and only stopped his momentum with his wings at full brake.

  “That stings…Hasn’t it been thirty seconds already?” Kirito wailed. Eugene smiled confidently.

  “Sorry, now I want to kill you. This lasts until I’ve made you my trophy.”

  “Son of a bitch…Can’t wait to see the tears in your eyes.”

  Kirito hoisted his massive sword again, but the fight seemed as good as over.

  Parrying was not an option to defend against Gram’s extra effect—the only way was to avoid it entirely. But that was nearly impossible with the lightning-fast blows in the battle.

  Sakuya must have come to the same conclusion. “It’ll be tough…Their skill as players seems about equal, but the weapons are hardly so. The only weapon that can counteract a unique-level demon blade would be another legendary weapon, the Holy Blade Excalibur, but no one even knows where to get it,” she said.

  “…”

  If anyone could do it, Kirito could. He’s barely played this game for a day, and yet he’s used his unfathomable skill to overturn impossible odds over and over, Leafa told herself, clutching her hands to her chest.

  Eugene thrust sharply, red light streaming from his wings. Kirito swung wide at a random angle and just barely dodged.

  The two fairies wound through the air in complicated patterns, occasionally colliding in vivid bursts of visual effects, then separating again. Kirito’s HP bar was under the halfway point after the two direct hits he’d taken. Not too long ago, she’d seen Kirito defend himself against a withering magic assault, and yet Eugene had pierced that stout defense easily. He was the real deal.

  Kirito suddenly spun and stuck ou
t his right hand. He must have been chanting spellwords, because his hand flashed black—

  Boom, boomboomboom! Clouds of smoke erupted around them. The area-of-effect illusion spell expanded until it covered a wide radius.

  The black clouds hovered over the heads of everyone on the ground, plunging the area into a sudden darkness. Leafa squinted to try to make out Kirito’s figure, even as her field of vision grew dim.

  “Leafa, I need this for a moment.”

  “Wha—?!”

  She yelped as a voice whispered in her ear. She could sense her beloved katana being removed from its sheath. “K-Kirito?”

  Leafa spun around, but no one was there. Her sheath, however, was empty.

  “Is this your idea of buying time?” Eugene’s shout emerged from the midst of the thick smoke. It was followed by the sound of spell chanting.

  A wave of red light flicked outward through the black. The dispel effect worked quickly, removing the smoke and returning light to the vicinity.

  Leafa looked up hastily to the sky above. But—

  He was gone.

  Only the lone salamander general floated in the air. No matter where she looked, she saw no short, nimble spriggan.

  “You don’t think…he took off to save his own skin?” a cait sith mumbled behind her. Leafa spun and shouted before the sentence had finished.

  “He wouldn’t!!”

  He would never. Even in this situation, when almost any player would turn and run for his life, he wouldn’t.

  The boy named Kirito wasn’t just “playing” this VRMMO. He was living it. He saw this virtual world as another reality of its own, and he believed in the truth of the trust, bonds, and love that grew out of it.

  Can you hear it? There.

  A beautiful, high-pitched flight tone, almost like a flute. It grew closer. Louder, louder.

  “…!!”

  When Leafa finally caught sight of him, tears blurred the sight.

  He was in the sun—the brightest source of game light in Alfheim. In a rapid line, one small shadow descended, through the brilliant rays pouring down from above.

  A few moments later than Leafa, Eugene looked straight up. But the effect of the sunlight caused him to grimace and raise his hand to block it. A normal player might have tried to move laterally to avoid the sun and been battered from directly above.

  But Eugene was no normal player. His broad mouth grimaced, then gaped wide.

  “Daaaahh!”

  With a shout that rocked the earth, he launched the salamander’s signature charge attack directly into the sun. His body shot upward like a rocket, a vertical beam of red light trailing in his wake.

  As Kirito plunged down from above, he’d switched the two-handed grip on his giant sword to his right hand, for some reason. His left hand was held behind him, out of sight.

  Suddenly he held it aloft, shining brilliantly in the midst of the sun’s sizzling beams.

  Leafa couldn’t have mistaken the silver gleam in his hand if she’d tried. It was the katana Kirito had taken from her scabbard just moments ago. He was wielding a sword in each hand.

  The concept of dual blades wasn’t new. But despite the number of players who’d attempted such a style, Leafa knew of none who had succeeded in making it work. It was simply far too difficult to wield two with the kind of precision needed to win in battle.

  In real-world kendo matches, it wasn’t against the rules to wield two shinai, one large and one small. But it was forbidden in official competition in middle and high school, and very few practitioners used them in college and above. It was simply too hard to use two swords to effectively strike a legal target and receive a point. The same could be said of using two blades in this virtual world.

  Eugene smirked confidently, seeing Kirito’s choice of equipment as a last-ditch desperation choice.

  But Leafa, her wide eyes filled with tears, believed with all her heart.

  The salamanders’ demonic blade roared heavily upward. The spriggan brought down his silver katana to meet it.

  The red-and-black blade vibrated. The Ethereal Shift effect took it straight through toward Kirito’s neck—

  Gying! The tip of the sword was knocked back with a sharp crash. Kirito had stopped it with the massive sword in his right hand, just in the nick of time. The timing was perfect, as precise as threading a needle.

  As Eugene’s eyes went wide with shock, Kirito unleashed a thunderous bellow.

  “Uuua…aaaahhhh!!”

  The swords in his hands shot forward so fast, they were nothing but a blur.

  The katana sliced smoothly. The greatsword thrust forward, the two exchanging like pistons. He pulled back and went in again, the katana flying forward from the lower left. As though drawn to the same trajectory, the greatsword pounded heavily after it.

  Silver and black melted together. The consecutive blows were like shooting stars in the night sky. Leafa couldn’t imagine the length of training required to wield two swords with such speed and precision. Even as he was pushed back, Eugene tried valiantly to use his sword’s shifting attacks to counter, but it did not seem to work in succession against multiple blades, and he was rebuffed by the double-parry every time.

  “Nraahhh!!”

  General Eugene roared as he was pushed farther back to earth. One of the pieces of armor he wore exhibited a special effect, forcing out a half-spherical field of fire that pushed Kirito back a bit. He instantly readied his demon sword for a pure, massive swing.

  Gong! He struck straight forward with a deafening crash.

  Kirito showed no sign of fear, dashing to close the distance, swinging the katana as fast as lightning.

  Shang! rang out a high-pitched metallic clash. Vivid sparks arched through the air.

  The katana struck the side of the sword before it could activate the Ethereal Shift, and Eugene’s blow grazed Kirito’s left shoulder on its way past him.

  “Raaahhhh!!”

  Kirito’s enormous sword leaped forward with tremendous force.

  Thud! The dark blade pierced the salamander’s body.

  “Gwaah!”

  The impossible speed of Kirito’s thrust and the momentum of both men moving in opposite directions gave the strike incredible damage. Eugene’s HP bar instantly plunged into the yellow zone.

  But Kirito did not stop there. He quickly pulled back the larger sword and transitioned into another katana slash faster than the eye could follow, even as Eugene attempted to regain attack footing. The visual paths of the four blows, all struck in the space of a single breath, left a beautiful square in midair, enveloping the salamander’s heavy body.

  “…!!”

  A look of shock painted across his face, Eugene found his upper half sliding silently from right shoulder to left waist. The light of Kirito’s square filtered away.

  The man’s massive frame was suddenly awash in End Flames, his avatar burning away.

  Not a single person moved.

  The sylphs, the cait siths, and the fifty-plus salamanders were frozen in place, as though their souls had left their bodies.

  That was just how high-level a battle they’d witnessed.

  The typical fight in ALO was an ugly thing; close-range fighters swung their weapons awkwardly and long-range mages tossed off spells with little fanfare or strategy. Only a small handful of experienced players had any skill at defense or evasion. The only times anyone was likely to see a truly graceful battle was in the closing matches of a dueling tournament.

  But what they’d just seen between Kirito and Eugene was far and above even that.

  A flowing sword dance, a high-speed air duel, and, most vividly of all, Eugene’s earth-splitting blows against Kirito’s light-speed dual blades…

  Sakuya broke the silence first.

  “Well done, well done!” she applauded firmly, clapping her hands vigorously.

  “That was amazing! What a great fight!” Alicia Rue joined in, and the other twelve soon followed. They
clapped, cheered, whistled, and cried, “Bravo!”

  Exhilarated but nervous, Leafa watched the army of salamanders. After the way their leader was beaten, she figured they would be rattled.

  But to her surprise, the wave of cheers infected the salamander ranks as well. A great cheer broke out, and they hoisted their lances and waved them like flagpoles.

  “Wow…!”

  She finally let a smile cross her face.

  Her enemy—salamanders she’d thought no better than lawless plunderers—were still fellow players of ALO. The excitement of Kirito and Eugene’s duel had touched their hearts just as it had hers.

  Overcome by a very strange sensation, Leafa joined in the rapturous applause.

  Standing in the center of the adulation, Kirito wore his usual aloof smile. He returned the sword to his back and raised a hand in greeting.

  “Hi, folks! Thanks!”

  He repeated the gesture in all directions, then shouted toward Leafa’s group. “Someone cast a resurrection spell!”

  “Very well,” Sakuya said, approaching. The dangling folds of her outfit rippled as she rose to the level of Eugene’s Remain Light and began chanting the words.

  Eventually, blue light spilled from her hands and surrounded the red flame. It formed into a complex magical sigil, and in the center, the flame gradually turned back into the form of a person.

  The sigil gave one final flash before disappearing. Kirito, Sakuya, and the revived Eugene silently descended to the edge of the terrace. The scene was quiet once again.

  “Your skill is unparalleled. I’ve never seen a better player,” Eugene said quietly.

  “Thanks,” Kirito quipped.

  “I’d no idea the spriggans had a man like you on their side…The world’s a bigger place than I realized.”

  “So do you believe me now?”

  “…”

  Eugene’s eyes narrowed, and he was silent for a moment.

  One of the front lancers surrounding the terrace strode forward. He came to a halt, armor clanking, and raised the visor of his helm.