The man in the black poncho looked down upon the 200 people sitting defeated on the ground, robbed of their weapons, armor, and morale — and his exposed mouth split into a big, big grin under his hood.
Then he turned softly around and looked towards the Guardians of the Human Empire Army.
Asuna waited, terrified for the moment in which he would raise his right hand, delivering the order to massacre them all.
But the man in the black poncho instead spoke something unexpected in Japanese.
“Throw down your weapons and surrender. Then we will spare your lives and those of the prisoners behind us.”
Momentary shock showed on the Guardians’ faces, but it quickly changed into boiling rage. One of them took several steps forward, facing the man in the black poncho directly; it was the female Guardian leader, Sortiliena. Her sword had already been dulled and blood was trickling down her forehead, possibly from fighting on the very front line with Klein and the others.
Even so, this did not impede her beauty. Sortiliena yelled resiliently:
“… What sort of joke is that?! You really think we would give up at this point…”
“Do as he says—!!“
Asuna screamed desperately, interrupting Sortiliena.
Tightly hugging Lisbeth, she raised her tear-stained face and begged wretchedly:
“Please… you can’t die! No matter how much you are humiliated, you must live!! That is… our… only……”
Hope.
Asuna felt her chest seize before she was even able to finish her sentence.
But, even though Sortiliena and the Guardians still pinched their lips tightly together, furrowed their brows furiously, and trembled for a moment, in the end, their shoulders slowly drooped downwards.
Clang, clang. Watching them toss their weapons to the ground, the neighboring countries’ players who had tightly surrounded them let out high calls celebrating victory, which very quickly turned into a nonstop chant of their own countries’ names.
The man wearing the black hood quickly raised one hand, called forth a few players, and gestured something to them. They immediately nodded, went to part the surrendered Human Empire Army, and walked into the circular formation.
Before Asuna understood what they were going to do, the man in the black poncho walked towards her with crisp footsteps.
Even at such a close distance, she still couldn’t make out the darkness underneath his hood. She could only see the tough corners of his mouth and the black curly hair around his neck.
His mouth broke out in a contorted grin, and emitted a somewhat cheerful voice.
“Hey, long time no see, «Flash».”
— It really is him!!
Asuna held her breath, and squeezed out the words hiding deep within her heart.
“… You’re… PoH…!”
“Aw, what a nostalgic name. I’m quite glad someone remembers it.”
At that moment, Klein, who had inched himself over with his right hand, looked up at the black hood with eyes that seemed ablaze.
“You… it’s actually you. You’re still alive… you fucking murderer!!”
Klein swiped at him with his hand, but the man’s boot easily kicked him aside.
Asuna grit her teeth tightly and whispered:
“Is this… revenge? Revenge against the members of the Progressors, who destroyed Laughing Coffin…?”
“………”
PoH looked down at Asuna in silence for a moment. Asuna could see his shoulders trembling slightly.
Seconds later, he seemed finally unable to hold it in, and exploded. His body twisted under his cloak as he roared with nonstop laughter: heheheh, hahahah.
After his epileptic, deriding laughter finally concluded, PoH stuck out his right index finger and spoke in a very sunny voice:
“Ah, hmm… how would you Japanese put it… I’ve been in the US for so long, I’ve even forgotten all the slang.”
His finger twirled over and over in the air, then he finally snapped his fingers.
“Ah yes, ‘Are you an idiot?‘ Simply hilarious, it really is…”
The man bent down, staring straight into Asuna’s face from an extremely close distance. Only his eyes were shining very, very brightly under his hood.
“… I’ll tell you then. The one who secretly let you lot of Progressors in on Laughing Coffin’s hidden base, was me.”
“Wha………”
Asuna, Klein, and even Agil, who was nearing death, all opened their eyes wide.
“Why… would you do that…”
“Naturally, because I wanted to see a bunch of monkeys killing each other… but of course the most important reason was probably this: I… wanted to make you lot «murderers». By you lot, I mean the heroes who spent all day thinking themselves extraordinary, the Progressors who did all that pretentious posturing on the very front lines. The preparation work took fucking forever… I had to send out a warning to the people at LaughCof at the very last moment, and time it right so that they couldn’t flee but could still engage.”
— So that was why intel on their operation to assault that secret base was prematurely divulged? Asuna was shocked, but she continued to think.
For this very reason, the Progressors, who had the advantage in level and equipment, were instead at a disadvantage not long after the battle began, and a few of them even perished. They were only able to turn the tables due to the efforts of Kirito, who was a solo player yet still managed to gain recognition for his strength. They were only able to turn the situation around because he had taken care of a certain leading force of Laughing Coffin…
“… That was… your goal?”
Asuna whispered hoarsely.
“To make Kirito-kun… shoulder the burden of having to PK…?”
“Yes. Absolutely yes.“
PoH confirmed Asuna’s inquiry with a tinge of fervor in his voice.
“At the time, I was concealed nearby watching that show of a battle. When Blackie-sensei went berserk and killed two people, I almost burst out laughing and blew my cover. The plan was to drop you two later with Paralysis and then seriously live-interview you guys to ask how you felt… But I didn’t expect the game to end on Floor 75.”
For an instant, boiling rage made Asuna forget the pain of her wounds.
“Do… Do you have any idea how much distress and suffering Kirito-kun went through because of what happened back then?!”
“Oh, that’s wonderful.”
PoH’s voice was as cold as ice, creating a stark contrast with her.
“But, that’s weird. If he really is remorseful about that… typically, he would never be willing to look at another VR game again, now would he? Because of the guilt towards the people he killed and all that. I know he’s here, I can feel it. Although I don’t know why he’d be hiding in a carriage… Whatever, I’ll ask him in person.”
PoH smirked at the speechless Asuna, then stood up forcefully.
Amid the nonstop cheers coming from around them, a glacial, chilling voice rang out:
“It’s show ti—me!“
He spoke his catchphrase from the time he had been active within the darkness of SAO. Then he quickly he raised his right hand, and right in front of him —
There appeared a wheelchair being coarsely shoved along by a red soldier, and a girl in gray uniform desperately tottering along behind it.
Ah…
Stop.
Anything but that.
Asuna prayed and pleaded miserably in her heart. Klein, however, tried to leap up from the ground, but was immediately pushed back down.
PoH bent down, looking at the wheelchair in front of him.
“……… Hmm?”
He made a surprised noise and nudged the thin legs dangling from the wheelchair with his foot.
“What’s this? Hey, Blackie, get up. You hear me, Esteemed Black Swordsman?”
Even as he was called by his past nickname — Kirito did not display any reaction whatso
ever.
His body was clothed in a black shirt, but there was no concealing the fact that Kirito was already so thin that it made one feel bad for him. He leaned against the backrest, his head drooping deeply downwards. His empty right sleeve wavered in the wind, and the bones in his left hand, which were wrapped over two swords, were poking at his skin.
Ronye rushed beside Asuna, blinking her eyes red from crying, and whispered:
“Kirito-senpai… while you were all fighting, he k-kept trying to stand up… although he quickly quieted down like he had lost his strength… but… tears… tears kept streaming down his face…”
“Ronye-san…”
Asuna reached out her left hand and gently hugged Ronye’s slender, quaking body.
Then she looked up and shouted shrilly at PoH:
“You get it now. He fought, fought, and kept fighting, and ended up getting badly hurt. So stop messing with him! Let Kirito-kun rest!!”
But the man in the black poncho seemed not to hear Asuna at all, and kept staring at Kirito’s face from an extremely close distance.
“Hey, hey, hey, you gotta be kidding me! How do we drop the curtain like this!? Hey, get up! Hey, stand up! Good morn… ning!!“
PoH suddenly stuck out his left foot and kicked the silver wheel, hard.
The wheelchair was knocked over with a loud metallic noise, and the frail body within it was thrown to the ground.
Asuna and Klein tried to stand up at the same time, but were pushed back by the soldiers’ swords. Agil let out a low bellow of rage, while Lisbeth, Silica, and Ronye softly screamed.
But PoH took no notice of them at all, instead walking beside Kirito, and coarsely flipping him over with the tip of his foot.
“What the hell… he’s really broken? The great hero is only a puppet now?”
He seized the white hilt of one of the two swords that Kirito’s left arm was still hugging tightly. Then, he powerfully wrenched it out of its scabbard, only to see half a blade, and the point where it had cruelly snapped.
PoH smacked his lips loudly, and was about to toss the sword away. But —
“Ah… Ah…”
Kirito emitted a hoarse shout, and his left hand reached helplessly towards the white sword.
“Huh?! He moved!! What, you want it?”
PoH dangled the white sword like he was tempting him, then tossed it away at random. He then violently seized Kirito’s left hand, which was reaching towards him midair, and yanked him to his feet.
“Hey, say something!!“
PoH slapped Kirito’s cheeks with his left hand.
Asuna’s vision had been dyed pink with palpable rage. But just as she was about to stand up again, Klein’s bloody howl had already exploded into being.
“You bastard!! Don’t you fucking touch Kirito, you bastard — !!“
As Klein tried to swipe and grab PoH, a gigantic sword buried itself into his back and pinned him mercilessly to the ground.
He spat mouthful after mouthful of blood, but he ignored the growing laceration on his body, attempting to crawl forward.
“Only… YOU…!! Never… forgive…”
Crack!!
With a heavy noise, a second sword pierced straight through Klein’s back.
Unstoppable tears flowed from Asuna’s eyes once more, as though she were going to totally exhaust them before the day was out.
***
At that moment, the fear in Sinon’s heart was more for her inability to freely fly rather than from the pain of an entire leg being blown away.
Before now, Sinon had flown freely by stepping onto the air. But now she was only able to quickly evade with her right foot, which turned into a rapid descent as she spun around chaotically.
“Urgh………”
Sinon clenched her teeth, changing her movements into the only maneuver she could still manage — flying backwards without stopping. The blood pouring from her left leg drew a bright red line in midair.
She increased the distance between her and Subtilizer at the fastest speed she could muster, while aiming at him and firing a third shot.
But, the enemy chased after her easily, and the sniper rifle in his hands also emitted a muzzle flash, firing a fourth shot.
The two bullets raced towards each other in the same straight line, emitted a sharp dissonant noise and bright sparks the moment they grazed each other, and then diverted from their paths and flew into the sky.
Sinon pulled back the bolt, ejected her endlessly expanding fear along with the empty bullet casing, and fired her fourth shot.
Two cracks of thunder overlapped each other. Two bullets exploded into immense amounts of energy upon making contact with each other, then each corkscrewed and disappeared.
The fifth shot. The sixth shot.
The results were the same. Subtilizer was obviously intentionally coordinating and firing at the moment Sinon fired, making the bullets collide with each other nonstop.
Such skill could not exist in GGO, let alone this world. But in this world, imagination preceded everything. Not only had Subtilizer, who was intentionally creating this result, realized this, even Sinon had too; that was why this bizarre phenomenon of supersonic bullets endlessly taking each other out kept happening.
Even so, other than the three actions of pulling back the bolt, aiming at the enemy, and pulling the trigger, Sinon was still unable to do anything else.
The seventh shot gave off a sorrowful wail, deviated on a huge curve left, and vanished.
Eject casing. Aim.
— Click.
As Sinon’s finger pulled back, the firing pin emitted a hollow clicking noise.
The Hecate II’s magazine capacity was seven rounds. She had no backup magazines.
Conversely, the Barrett XM500’s magazine capacity was 10 rounds. Two more left.
Sinon could clearly see the icy smile floating into being on Subtilizer’s face more than 100 meters away from her.
Flames violently spurted from his raised sniper rifle.
Following her left leg, Sinon’s right leg exploded as well.
This prevented her from flying in a straight line, and she began to slowly descend.
Controlling the recoil, Subtilizer’s pressed his right eye up against his scope, preparing to fire the final shot. That eye that resembled blue glass took over the entire lens, directing his vision squarely onto Sinon’s heart.
— I’m sorry.
I’m sorry, Asuna. I’m sorry, Yui. I’m sorry… Kirito.
After Sinon murmured to herself, the XM500’s tenth round flew out of its barrel.
The bullet traced a corkscrewing tail of fire behind it, accurately flying along Subtilizer’s vision trail, shattering Sinon’s blue armor, torching her clothes, and penetrating towards her body —
Bang!!
Sparks were ejected once more.
Sinon widened her almost closed eyes, watching the long, thin, rapidly rotating bullet be stopped by a tiny, tiny silver disc.
Directly in the center of the rotating white sparks, the radiance shining from that metal barely two millimeters thick signified her own resilient willpower. The instant she saw all of this, Sinon’s tears spilled over her eyelids.
— I can’t give up.
I can never, ever give up. I have to believe. Believe in myself. Believe in Hecate. And believe in that boy connected to this piece of metal.
Sinon firmly raised the Hecate and placed her index finger on the trigger.
Even if this weapon had transformed into a gun with her imagination, its inherent system property would not change — that is, the power of the Bow of Solus: the ability to automatically absorb resources from its surroundings and store it as attack power.
Then it was able to be fired. Even if the bullets within its magazine had been depleted, the Hecate would definitely respond.
“Go… oooo——!!“
Sinon pulled the trigger.
What fired out was not an armor-piercing round wrapp
ed in metal.
A pure-white ray of light comprised of condensed, infinite energy erupted in a kaleidoscopic halo from the muzzle brake, slicing straight through the sky.
The smile vanished from Subtilizer’s face. The instant he tried to move right to dodge it, the white light struck the Barrett.
An orange fireball began to expand, completely devouring Subtilizer —
A deafening boom. An explosion.
Sinon felt the scalding gale press onto her face as she dropped like a stone, and seconds later she struck the rock-filled ground.
She hadn’t the strength to crawl, let alone fly. The blinding pain from her dismembered legs made it hard for her to even maintain consciousness.
Even so, Sinon kept her eyes open, observing the results of her direct hit.
Wind blew away the black smoke dominating the faraway sky.
Appearing there — was Subtilizer, still hovering in midair.
But he was not unscathed. His right hand had been completely blown away by the explosion of his sniper rifle, and slight black smoke was rising from his shoulders. The right side of his once smooth face had been charred, and a trickle of blood was flowing from his mouth.
Cruel, murderous intent finally revealed itself on Subtilizer’s face.
— Bring it on. I’ll take you on, no matter how many times.
Sinon concentrated her remaining strength, trying to raise the Hecate.
Seconds later, Subtilizer looked away. The winged creature underneath him changed direction and, tracing a thin wisp of black smoke, flew directly south.
Sinon softly placed the anti-material sniper rifle on the ground; simply holding it exhausted her beyond belief. The instant it touched the ground, it changed back into the original white bow.
She used the last of her strength to raise her hands, caressing the part where the necklace had snapped from her chest.
“……… Kirito…”
As she murmured, tears slid softly down her cheeks.
***
Leafa was now unable to spare time to remove the sharp blades stabbing into her body.
All of the pain in her entire body mixed together, as though needles were directly piercing her exposed nerves.
A few of her wounds were clearly lethal. Every time she moved, the two swords piercing straight through her abdomen would harm her internal organs, and the sword digging into her back and out her chest had gone directly through her heart.