Sword Art Online - Volume 6 - Phantom Bullet

  “St…ster…ben? Was it a misspell of Steven…?”

  “No…that’s not it, mama.”

  As Yui answered this, nurse Aki added ‘ it isn’t like that’. Asuna looked at her, and the nurse frowned her bewitching eyebrows before saying in an extremely tense expression,

  “This is a German medical term. It’s read as…«Sterben».”

  “Ster…ben.”

  Asuna had never heard of this word before. Nurse Aki looked at her troubled expression, hesitated for a little bit and then said with a somewhat hoarse voice,

  “It means…«death». It’s a common term in a hospital…when a patient just passes away…”

  The hairs on Asuna’s arms and back immediately stood up. She then finally turned her eyes away from the screen to the face of the boy lying beside her.

  “Kirito…”

  At this moment, Asuna’s voice was trembling so much that she couldn’t even recognize it.

  Part 6

  GGO was a game operation that was created from the completely free VRMMO support package «The Seed».

  The Seed was a very versatile system, but even the operator couldn’t change its processing. In other words, it was a black box existence. Games operating after 3 months since the start would definitely be able to «convert» characters from all games with the On setting, and the «pain absorber» that could prevent giving players’ virtual pain or use misleads to erase the pain could only be adjusted, and couldn’t be turned off completely.

  In other words, no matter how many times someone got shot in GGO—even if hand or leg got blown away, the player wouldn’t even feel overwhelming pain or numbness.

  Thus, the pain that’s on my left shoulder and the ice-pick like pain was just an imagination. No, the pain numbness mechanism had already removed this imagination, so this isn’t real pain. It’s just my memory, an awakening of a memory in another world, were I got stabbed by the same weapon in the same part.

  About 5m away from me, the mantle guy—«Death Gun» was showing the sharp tip of the Estoc that was giving off a black glow and swaying like it was some rhythm. That guy could launch stabs without any preparatory movements in such a situation. It would be hard to dodge it if I view it as an ordinary sword.

  That’s right. I once had the same thought when I was in the cave «Laughing Coffin» was in. Back then, I felt that the weapon this guy used was rather rare, but in that intense battle, I really never had the chance to talk to him.

  About a year and a half later on, I finally could say to him what I couldn’t say back then.

  “…That’s really a rare weapon. Or should I say…I didn’t know that GGO allows for metal swords.”

  Then, Death Gun let out a hoarse laugh from the hood that was covering the head, and then said in an interrupted manner,

  “To think, that you became so lazy, «Black Swordsman». A high level, «knife creation» skill and a «weapons creation» skill would be enough. The length and weight, mostly like that, that’s the limit.”

  “…Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that I could create the sword I liked.”

  Once I finished answering, the enemy again laughed,

  “Like back then, you still want, a high STR rated sword, right? That toy, in your hand, shouldn’t be rather useful.”

  The lightsaber «Shadow Light» in my right hand let out a low moan, and couldn’t possibly like being called a toy. The moment that was said, it then let out a little burst of spark. I shrugged and said for my sword,

  “It’s not some toy. I already thought of using this kind of weapon once. Also…”

  I swung the lightsaber, letting it give a vibrating sound and then put the sword that was down below to the middle.

  “A sword’s a sword. It’s enough if I can hack your HP to zero.”

  “Ku, ku, ku, how awesome, huh? However, if you can.”

  The red eyes that were deep inside the hood were flickering irregularly. The skull-faced metal mask that seemed to laugh coldly,

  “«Black swordsman», you’ve, breathed in, too much, of the, corroded, air of, the real world, that move just now, the slow, «Vorpal strike», just now, you would be disappointed, if the old you, saw that.”

  “…Maybe, but you should be the same too, right? Or rather, do you still think that you’re still a member of «Laughing Coffin»?”

  “Oh? So have you, remember, so many things?”

  Death Gun let out the sound of breathing as the metal rubbed against each other and moved his hands as if he was clapping. The rotten bandage that covered his right hand vaguely showed the tattoo of «Laughing Coffin» on the inside of the wrist.

  “…Then you, should, be clear, about the, difference, between, me, and you. I’m, a real, red player, but you’re not. You killed, merely because, you, were driven, by fear, to survive. A coward, you are, without thinking, about, the meaning, to be, a killer, just wanting, to forget, about everything.”

  “…!”

  I was immediately rendered speechless by what he said.

  —Why? Why was he able to accurately say out my mental state? I had never interacted with this guy ever since the Laughing Coffin crusade until when we met again in the waiting dome.

  —Don’t tell me…this guy really has some supernatural power? I thought that I saw through his killing methods. Am I thinking too highly of myself…?

  I motivated myself and recovered my sight that was starting to distort. I could still maintain the tip of the lightsaber and prevent it from trembling, which itself can be said to be a miracle. If he sees that there’s an opening, Death Gun’s sudden stab that doesn’t have any preparatory movement will definitely stab through my chest

  I took a slight breath through my gritted teeth and then answered him softly,

  “…Maybe. But you’re not a red player anymore. I know how you killed «Zekushiido», «Usujio Tarako», «Pale Rider» and another player that could have died in your hands. That’s not the power of the black handgun, and neither was it your own ability.”

  “Oh? Then, say it, out then.”

  Now’s the crucial moment to decide the winner.

  I exerted all my strength into my eyes and stared tightly at the enemy—and then said out what I believed was the truth,

  “…You used that metamaterial optical camouflage to read the addresses of all the BoB players from the monitor at the presidential building. You then got your accomplices to enter their rooms and get them to inject drugs while you shoot, making them look like they died of heart failure. That’s the true identity of Death Gun.”

  This time, Death Gun finally went silent.

  Those red eyes in the darkness that laid in the midst of the hood suddenly narrowed. I couldn’t really decide if my guess was correct from his response. I took the great killing intent he gave off and then continued,

  “You may not know that, but the Ministry of Internal Affairs have the players’ names in SAO. Once they know your ex-character name, they can track your real name, your address and your modus operandi. Stop making anymore mistakes. Log out and hurry to the nearest police station to surrender.”

  Even so—he remained silent.

  Under the dry night wind, the surface of the mantle guy looked like some little organisms gathering as they continued to move. The live camera feed that was flickering with the REC sign seemed to be impatient as it increased its height. Death Gun and I had been facing each other for about 3 minutes. As the audience couldn’t hear our conversation, their expectations and tension should be at the climax. But right now, we’re only clashing with our tongues. Once Death Gun confirmed my guess, there wouldn’t be any meaning to continue the battle.

  However—

  Several seconds later, ‘kukuku’, what came from under the hood was a chilly laughter that wasn’t any different from before.

  “I see…so your imagination, is really interesting. However, that’s too bad, «Black Swordsman». You can’t, stop me. Because, you definitely, can’t, remember
, my name!”

  “Wha…what, why are you so confident now?”

  “Ku, ku, you may, even forget, about the reason you forgot. Listen up…after that battle, just when we’re about to be sent to jail, I was about to tell you my name, but you said ‘I don’t want to know your name. There’s no need because I don’t want to meet you again’.”

  I was immediately unable to say anything and could only widen my eyes. And Death Gun merely murmured as if he was mocking me.

  “You don’t know, my name. So, you can’t remember. You, can’t do anything. You can only wait here, until you’re taken down by me, lying there awkwardly—and then, watch me, kill that girl…”

  A certain object glided past the air and let out ripping sound, and then, a flash of silver cut past the darkness.

  “You can’t, do anything!”

  Death Gun’s right hand stabbed at me like a puppeteer.

  I subconsciously used my lightsaber to block the stab that was aimed at my heart.

  The energy blade let out a buzzing sound before entering the line of the Estoc. The blueish white plasma blade slashed directly into the metal side.

  Logically, any metal sword would be sliced. The Shadow Light could even slice Sinon’s sniper bullet in half, so how could this thin metal rod block it? I immediately raised the saber up and got ready to slice it at the left shoulder of Death Gun—

  In the end, an irritating sound rang inside my avatar.

  I could only blankly widen my eyes and see that the metal rod that was glowing was stabbed straight inside me.

  Only a part of Death Gun’s Estoc was burned, and there was no other damage. It could actually block the energy blade that had overwhelming power. Why—why is there such a thing?

  Death Gun continued to step forward and stabbed the Estoc in deeper. My HP got reduced drastically with the movement of the metal. At this moment, I could only grit my teeth and use all the strength in my right foot to jump backwards. The enemy’s blade got away from me, and the special effect of the damage drew a red line.

  I jumped back for about 2, 3 steps and again pulled my distance away from Death Gun. In the end, he moved his mouth like he wanted to lick the blade.

  “…Ku, ku. This guy’s, material, is the, highest grade, metal, that could be, obtained, in, this game. I heard, that, it’s a galactic, warship, armor plate. Ku ku, ku…”

  Then, Death Gun didn’t seem like he wanted to speak up as he flipped the mantle and attacked me. His right hand went at an invisible speed as he drew numerous afterimages in the sky. He had never used this continuous stabbing attack up till now. This thrust is a high-level sword skill «Star Splash», an 8-straight thrust attack—

  The lightsaber in my hand couldn’t block the attack, and I couldn’t dodge it at will as it was sand below me. The sharp needle then continued to stab into my body.

  Part 7

  —Kirito!

  Sinon tried her best to suppress the shout that was about to come out of her throat and the impulse to squeeze the finger at the trigger.

  On the battlefield that’s about 700m away, the special effects showed damage that came from the black-clothed swordsman. Even though Sinon didn’t touch any weapon other than a gun, but even she could tell how skilled Death Gun’s sword techniques were when he was able to injure Kirito. She held her breath, thinking whether the attack just now would have worn out his HP. Luckily, Kirito himself didn’t have the DEAD tag on him. He kicked hard on the sand, did a backflip and used that to gain a rather large distance from Death Gun.

  However, Death Gun himself didn’t seem to want to let Kirito have a chance to regroup himself. He flipped his hood and closed the distance between the two of them like a phantom. The automatic-control cameras continued to increase in numbers like they knew that a winner was about to be decided. Soon, about 10 cameras surrounded them and caused the corner in the desert to look like an arena.

  If the Hecate’s scope was still there, she could have sniped to cover Kirito, but in this distance, even Sinon couldn’t easily use her naked eye to shrink the reticule. She could even mishit Kirito accidentally if she attacked randomly.

  —Hang in there. Do your best, Kirito!

  Sinon forgot that she was also in danger in the real world as she was in a high-kneel position on the rocky hill, clenching her fists as she prayed this.

  Kirito once killed a few players to protect himself and a few others in the infamous death game «Sword Art Online». This experience could be said to be rather similar to the burden Sinon bore. Thus, his troubles should be similar to Sinon to a certain extent.

  Kirito said that he couldn’t overcome these painful memories and sealed them in a corner of his mind, before saying that he could only face them from today onwards.

  He was following what he just said as he got ready to personally stop the criminal who brought darkness from SAO—Death Gun.

  But Kirito could do that not because he was weak. He just told himself to be stronger. No matter how much he felt troubled or anguished, he had to accept his weakness. That’s because he was the one who continued to persist on looking forward under such a situation. Strength—wasn’t about the outcome, but about the process of moving towards a certain goal.

  —I want to talk to you. To tell you what I felt and what I discovered.

  —Is there anything I could help with? If I go close to them, it would be the opposite effect. Once I’m aimed at by the Blackstar, Kirito will be unable to do anything. Even so, I’m just trying my luck if I snipe without a scope. The range of the support weapon MP7 isn’t completely enough. Is there…there any way I could help…

  “…!”

  Momentairly, Sinon’s whole body shook.

  There was. In this situation, there was a way for her to take the initiative and «attack». She didn’t know how effective it would be—but there’s a value in trying.

  Sinon took a deep breath, gritted her teeth hard and looked at the battle that’s far away.

  Part 8

  —Kirito-kun!!

  Asuna covered her mouth just when she was about to scream out.

  There wasn’t any lighting special effects, but the move Death Gun used was undoubtedly the 8-strike thrust «Star Splash». That was a high-level skill like Asuna the «Flash» was skilled with in the past. Basically, this was a sword technique of a «Rapier», but as it didn’t include any hacking or slashing, it could also be done with the «Estoc» that was derived from the Rapier.

  The flat screen on the wall showed Kirito continued to be thrusted all over his body with the continuous stab attacks as he jumped back to pull his distance. However, on the right side of the screen, the mantle guy moved in a mysterious gliding like action and pursued him. Kirito continued to struggle with the Estoc that was surrounding him.

  The monitoring device beside Asuna started to let out an urgent electronic sound, causing her to glance aside. Kazuto’s heart rate had already risen to 160 bpm. Asuna forced herself to look away from the screen and looked at the face of Kazuto who was lying on the bed.

  He was sweating a lot, and he looked to be in pain. The mouth that was slightly opened was gasping. Nurse Aki noticed him to be like this, and the eyes behind the spectacles showed a worried expression.

  “…I told him to take lots of water before he dived in…but it’s now more than 4 hours. There will be danger of dehydration if this continued. Can’t we log him out first…?”

  On hearing the nurse’s words, Asuna could only bit her lips tightly and said,

  “Kirito can’t hear anything we say here…and he’s taking part in a PvP tournament. I don’t know how effective the log out system would be…”

  In ALO, to prevent the players from deliberately «disconnecting » when they were in a bad situation— if this situation happened in a VRMMO tournament, the grounds will be switched—and they will be prevented from logging out for a while.

  “…But the AmuSphere will note the blood flow in the brain. If it ends up damagi
ng the body, it should be automatically logged out…”

  Once Asuna said that, the nurse nodded her head and said that,

  “I know. We’ll just observe for a while. He’s not a patient, so I don’t think there’s a need to inject fluids into him.”

  “You’re right…”

  Asuna’s voice became stiff. Wouldn’t it be like the time during SAO if he had to go on a drip.

  No—there’s something completely different from that. The thing was that Kirito wasn’t wearing the NERvGear that had a death trap in it, but the AmuSphere with a safety configuration. Thus, even if Asuna forcefully removed the silver circlet on Kirito’s head, there shouldn’t be any danger posed to him. Kirito would only disappear from the desert that’s being telecasted on the wall and return back to the bed—in other words, return to Asuna’s side.

  That terrifying enemy called «Sterben» shall never touch Kazuto again.

  Asuna tried her best to hold back this urge.

  Kirito/Kazuto was now betting his pride as a swordsman to fight hard, and Asuna obviously couldn’t stop him.

  But, was—wasn’t there anything she could do? She’s right beside him, but was there no way she could pass any message to him who’s fighting in the other world?

  “Mama, your hand…”

  Suddenly, a soft voice came from the handphone. It was Yui’s.

  “Please hold onto papa’s hand. The AmuSphere can’t stop senses from the outside world like NERvGear. Papa should be able to feel mama’s warmth. I can’t touch physical objects…but please bring…mine too…”

  Yui’s voice was trembling by the time she spoke till the end. Asuna herself was shaken up hard inside as she forcefully shook her head and answered,

  “No…papa will definitely feel Yui’s hands. Let’s cheer for papa…cheer for Kirito!”

  As she said that, she placed her handphone into Kazuto’s limp left hand and used both her hands to cup it.

  The patient’s room was a little warm, but Kazuto’s hand was as cold as an ice block. The automatic log-out function may happen if she held it too hard, so Asuna grasped Kazuto with her hands lightly, exerting all her warmth and will, hoping to make his hand go warm.