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"I am…just a guy who is a Hero for fun. I do not lose…and the surface…it's under my protection!"-Saitama, the Strongest Hero.
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September 14th, 2025. North of ISL Ragnarok, Gun Gale Online. 20:00…
Panting as he stared at the river that separated him from the grassy plains area of the island, Yamikaze cursed while risking a look around. Behind him, the desert stretched silently as the last rays of the sun vanished and the moon started shone brightly on the sky. At his side, the city was visible several kilometers away and, at the other, the ocean extended endlessly a little less than one.
He would have to risk it and get into the water if he wanted to escape. But that would mean unequipping his weapon, and he wasn't quite willing to do that, for it was the only thing 'protecting' him from that THING.
He had heard the rumors, took the silent and scared whispers with a grain of salt, despite his continuous worries after XeXeeD's 'mysterious disappearance' after the broadcast that day, but he had still not really believed them, and now he was about to pay for it.
It was coming for him. For his life. The demon of red eyes.
Death Gun.
As if summoned by the mere thought of his name, the sound of galloping and bullets exploded around the absurdly fast player, making him shoot to the side as the centaur-like figure turned visible and started to run after him, one hand turned into an assault rifle.
Some people would have questioned the man's fear or intelligence, even asked themselves WHY, if he was truly so scared of the killer's apparent 'powers', didn't he just shoot himself to Log Out, tournament be dammed.
Of course, none of those people would probably react or even THINK that way if they had been in Yamikaze's place.
It wasn't the same, to play a VR game, that an 'old' videogame. FullDive technology was so 'real' that sometimes people forgot they weren't doing real things. Games like GGO, where the difference with reality wasn't as big as being a fairy able to fly like in ALO, even more so. It was no secret (Though it wasn't exactly public knowledge either) that several military groups had started to use FullDive technology as part of their training programs.
Added to that, there was the fact that Yamikaze wasn't your usual regular player, no. You didn't arrive at the level of skill and abilities the one known as the 'Devil of Run and Gun' had with just that. He was a real hardcore with Gun Gale Online, not only making enough money with the game's transaction system to pay his monthly fee, but also being one of the few ones who could call themselves 'privileged' enough to actually earn a living through the game, the dream of any hardcore gamer (Well, of any who didn't particularly care about having a social life outside the game, at least).
And in this case, his endless hours spent inside the virtual world were being turned against him, because, even as he shakily raised his sub-machinegun, the thought of simply shooting himself never passed through the man's mind. After all, no one ever thought of suicide as the first solution to escape from a mad and sinister monster with apparently very real 'powers' to hurt you.
Even as Death Gun looked down with amusement to the screaming Yamikaze, letting the bullets go through him without even moving, the killer savored every second of the player's despair as he raised his right hand, making his favored Black Star handgun appear on it as he calmly aimed at the opposing player's head, taking delight in his last, pathetic struggle...
And a 0.50 caliber bullet suddenly flew out of nowhere and punched a hole through a certain, seemingly unimportant, part of his body, near the lower half of his left shoulder.
Yamikaze stopped shooting in disbelief as Death Gun shouted with a mix of shock and what almost seemed like actual pain, his whole body shaking and rippling from the attack. The eyes behind his weird goggles moving to the side, the machinegun-user watched how the broken remains of a red marble, which the bullet had punched through with enough power to actually rip it out of the body, finished disintegrating.
The two seconds Death Gun needed to recover his bearings and try to turn away were more than enough for a now visible Prediction Line to settle over his lower chest and another bullet to shot through the air. This one failed to do any significant damage, though, as the snarling centaur-like killer turned his crimson gaze in the direction of the Line.
He shouldn't have, as this allowed Yamikaze to freely open fire all around the point where the sniper's bullet had hit. Death Gun had underestimated that world's fastest player just because he had had it at his mercy, and that cost him, a grin appearing on the man's face when the sound of breaking glass echoed as yet another core was destroyed, Xaxa hadn't bothered to move it more than 10 cm. out of the way.
Screaming again in surprise as his centaur-like lower body collapsed, Death Gun was showered with sub-machinegun fire as Yamikaze sped away, in the direction the shots had come from, the player fully turning around to look at the distant forms of his saviors.
In an awe that none of the people who had been watching how he was wildly chased through the desert for half an hour could understand yet (Given that the cameras were only centered around him and his opponent), the man saw how the vaguely familiar (From the past BoB and rumors) form of Sinon was being awkwardly held by the girly-looking boy that had caused a big ruckus in the last block of the preliminaries, Kirito, whose 'lame superhero cosplay' seemed to gain a new light now that he was, somehow, soaring through the air almost 200 meters above the ground and more than a kilometer away, while still holding the blue-haired sniper.
Yamikaze was so busy staring in wonder towards the ones who had saved him as he ran that he didn't notice the Prediction Line that had appeared on the center of his chest until he noticed that Sinon didn't seem to be aiming at Death Gun anymore...
Everyone watching winced, laughed or shouted when the fastest player's body was, suddenly and without apparent reason, blown apart by a high-caliber shot, rolling through the sands before stopping moving almost a hundred meters away, 'dead' and out of the tournament.
Lowering Hecate once again, the blue-haired girl turned to look at her focused 'carrier' and pulled up her visor to let her indigo eyes look at him with a grim stare.
"Done."
"You sure he was the last one?" asked Kirito with mild-worry, his eyes never leaving the distant and quickly reforming mass of darkness.
"Unless anyone else around here hid in a cave like us both times we have seen the sat-scan OR can also turn invisible, then yes."
"Then it's time." confirmed the gamer even as he saw the now unmoving Death Gun stare at them in the distance while they landed behind a sand dune, Sinon quickly getting to her feet and just wobbling a bit as he let go of her. "...how many of those marble-things did you say were inside him?"
"At least three in THAT one. I managed to take one down and Yamikaze got lucky with another after he moved it out of my second's shot way...but I saw a bit more than a dozen on him when he was whole before. He must have split himself again at some point."
"So, at least thrice as much as the original Melzalgald had...fucking great." sighed the caped boy before shrugging at Sinon's raised eyebrow. "Like I said, long story. Let's just do this and be done with it."
"I'm REALLY looking forward to actually get to know that long story…" commented the sniper before looking towards a rocky formation not far away from where they had landed. "…if I get out of this alive, of course."
It was understandable that the blue-haired girl grimaced at that thought, because Kirito had been 'forced' to tell her a small part of the truth from his 'deductions' he hadn't shared back in the cave, when she realized he was hiding something: Judging from Death Gun's attitude and words on their earlier confrontation, the killer seemed very certain about KILLING her. Meaning, one of the 'assistants' of the hooded player was probably in her house, waiting for her body to start convulsing from an epilepsy attack to use whatever method they had to silently end the lives of their previous victims and kill her.
She could understand why the gamer had preferred to not share that bit with her the moment he said it, and she had actually panicked for a moment before he reminded her that, if Death Gun didn't manage to shoot her, she would be 'fine'. And that there was also a big chance that the accomplices of the killer were watching the Bullet of Bullets in some portable terminal, so if they managed to beat him they would probably run away and leave her alone to try and save themselves.
It wasn't really comforting and a tad unbelievable (Hell, even Kirito himself seemed to think that deep on the inside, if his nervous smile had been anything to go by), but it was still better than nothing.
Didn't change the fact that she only needed to get shot once by the super-powered lunatic to actually DIE, while he was nigh-invincible and (As she had seen thanks to her visor) could apparently move the 'weak points' inside his body out of the way faster than a bullet. Which wasn't really good for them when only she could actually see said weak points and the game literally telegraphed her shots with a red light after she had been spotted.
To put it bluntly, she had quickly realized and accepted that there was a very high chance she wouldn't be going to school the next day…or to anywhere else.
She was shaken out of those dark thoughts by a warm but firm hand settling over her shoulder, making her turn to see the caped boy staring directly into her eyes, a fire and determination so massive behind them, now that they no longer seemed an endless void, that it made her heart skip a beat.
"You're NOT dying tonight. I promise you that." turning towards the direction they knew Death Gun would be coming, Kirito started to walk at a slow, normal pace. "If it comes down to it, though I would prefer not having to do so, I will break down this entire virtual world to save you."
Startled, Sinon realized that she believed him. Her heart and soul truly accepted that he would easily crush the 'fake reality' around them if it meant saving her life.
The sniper didn't reply, and, had there been anywhere around to comment on how red her face had become, she would have promptly shot them down. Instead, she turned around and started to run towards her new vantage point, even as the strange Hero headed forward to face their sinister and deadly enemy, who could actually hurt him in a very nasty way if he wasn't careful.
Meanwhile, Death Gun stood silently, not really caring about having lost 2 of his cores. Internally, Xaxa was grinning, even as his mind went into overdrive and he let that weird sensation of 'division' take over his whole self.
"Time for you to know defeat, Kirito."
Somewhere in the city, his other two bodies came to life.
One was standing where there had previously been a lot of unused vehicles, all of them having 'mysteriously' disappeared.
The other was perched over one of the tallest buildings that overlooked the desert area, giving him a perfect view of both his prey.
For a moment, the three of them stood immobile.
Then, jerking into motion after an instant of wobbly movement, all three moved forward, sharing a mind and a unique thought.
To kill and bring forth despair. And to make one thing reality.
After this night, everyone would forever fear Death Gun.
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Back in the real world, in the Toritsu Central Hospital, the group of friends that formed the United Heroes Association looked with worry towards the screen, even as Death Gun's newly reformed body now had the main attention of all the remaining cameras. That meant that either everyone else in the tournament was dead or hiding from the insane THING pretending to be another player.
Even so, what had just happened with Yamikaze just seconds ago showed clearly that there were still people around, and that they had come to face off against the killer. And the guild had a very good idea of who those people were…
"…there he is." muttered Shiori even as the avatar named 'Sterben' (But who by now no one should be calling anything other than Death Gun) suddenly stopped running, staring as a long-haired and caped figure walked over a nearby sand dune, Kirito looking at him in silence as they faced-off under the virtual moon.
"And…you're certain of what you said, Aki-san?" worriedly asked Saori while looking at the boy's body, the worried nurse grabbing several instruments around and also seeming ready to take off his AmuSphere in case something happened.
"Yes. I don't know what happened before, it wasn't shown on the cameras, but his pulse and heartbeat went off the charts and he started to sweat like crazy. Now I have no doubt it has something to do with…that man." sparing a look towards the screen, the woman quickly looked back towards the boy's body. "If anything like that starts happening again, I'm going to take his AmuSphere off, whatever is going on be dammed…"
Normally, this would have been something they would all have readily agreed upon, especially the girls given it would give them a quicker chance to chew out the gamer for having gone and done something like THIS without telling them, but…
"…the girl from before isn't there." came Yui's voice from the phone in Asuna's hands, she and Strea still in the rented house in ALO, watching the same scene. "But she's most certainly the one who was shooting before."
"Kirito must be protecting her…maybe this Death Gun can somehow…kill her?" worriedly wondered Strea, everyone in the hospital room shivering at that thought.
None of them wanted to see their friend and leader hurt, but if getting him out of there without his consent meant the death of an innocent…could they do it?
"Dammit, Onii-chan." whispered Suguha while grabbing the boy's right hand, staring at his 'sleeping' face and then back at the screen, where he and the hooded killer were exchanging some words. "Why did you have to do this without telling us…?"
"…I think it may be partly our fault. With how things had been…but I'm also sure Sensei had a very good reason for it." replied Asuna while taking hold of the boy's other hand, staring at the young kendoka from the bed's other side. "So don't be worried…and believe in him. He will beat the villain and save the day…because that's just how Sensei is. And that's what he always does…for no one can beat him."
"Asuna-san…." muttered Suguha while staring at the chestnut-haired girls, their gazes interlocking.
So similar yet so different. Both had unyieldingly strong spirits, and a sense of justice that, while seemingly unrelated, was very close to the other's. Both loved the same idiotic but honest boy. One had known him as the difficult, distant and finally once again cheerful older brother that had stolen her heart without her realizing it. The other as the strange but invincible boy who would punch away all problems that came his way, for his own sake and that of others, as the master who had shown her how to be better, her admiration becoming love without her even truly realizing it.
And both knew his real self, the one filled with doubts and insecurities but that still tried to do his best in the face of the bizarre situations life kept throwing at him.
And in that instant, as they seemed to acknowledge that fact as they looked at each other, something seemed to shift deep within them, even as Asuna, slowly and almost imperceptibly, 'nodded' at Suguha…
"Holy hell!"
…when Rika's sudden scream drew their attention back to the screen, making their eyes widen to the limit as they unconsciously squeezed the boy's hands harder.
Holy hell, indeed.
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Kirito stared silently at the dark form of the crimson gaze, the ethereal virtual wind of the desert's night ruffling his 'hood' as his own cape slightly flapped from it.
None of them seemed willing to say a word, even as the gamer idly noticed that many of those 'holo-cameras' that were apparently broadcasting the whole event had started to surround them, though he was quick to dismiss any thought related to that.
He had a much more important job at hand, after all.
"…I have been waiting for this for SO long…Kirito." finally broke the silence Death Gun, staring at the boy as he raised his red-bandaged arms from within the darkness of his mantle, opening them to his sides.
"Oh, really? Well, I don't see why you would feel like that…Death Gun." answered the gamer while crossing his arms.
"Really?! Because I think you should!" shaking, Xaxa closed his fists as his whole body 'rippled' as if it was a volcano trying to keep itself from exploding. "All that damn time, locked away in that fucking cell under Black Iron Palace, with no company save for Johnny and no entertainment except his stupid jokes or whatever the idiots on the cell opposite us had to say, starving like rabid dogs…!"
"Wait…didn't the Army made sure you got something to eat every day?" questioned the caped boy with confusion, but was summarily ignored by the rambling killer.
"All that time, there, the only thing I could think of was your stupid face, your stupid Hero-complex, how you thought yourself so high and mighty and above us…!"
"I never thought that…Death Gun." interrupted him Kirito while shaking his head. "And you were KILLING people, dammit! Why would you EVER think that was something that would end right in any way for you?! Was PoH that much of a smooth talker?!"
"Leave PoH out of this, motherfucker!" snarled the hooded killer, the name of his old boss being clearly a touchy subject for him. "And don't you dare to mock me! Do you know how maddening it was, to be trapped down there?! There was a point when the only conversation themes I could share with Johnny were all the ways I wanted to kill you and how much I wished that the fucking world ended or something if it meant you dying…and then the last damn day everything starts shaking for some reason and while everyone was screaming and thinking the fucking castle was going to collapse I could only think that my wish had come true…and the next moment the game's end is announced and I woke up in my fucked up 'real' body!" roaring as he glared at the gamer, Death Gun's face twisted and turned more sinister, the metallic skeleton turning wilder and the 'mouth' opening to reveal twisted fangs. "Do you have any idea of how much my life has sucked since then?! And it's all because of YOU, Kirito!"
"…keep trying to spin it in any way you want, it won't change the fact that you were just killing people for fun and without any real reason." coldly declared the black-haired boy as he stared at the hooded killer, not with hate or rage, which would have been understandable…but with an absolutely bored face, which made him start shaking and his 'blood' to boil. "Just like you're doing here again. No matter how much you try to satisfy your ego, 'Death Gun', wanting to cause fear just to feel important won't make you anything special…you're just the same crazy bastard you were before, with fancy powers added. You should have accepted your delusions ended back in Sword Art Online…because now I have to stop you personally."
Every single person watching the Bullet of Bullet's broadcast (That wasn't a SAO survivor) gasped at the mention of the Death Game, the otherworldly presence of the two players they were seeing suddenly gaining a different meaning in their eyes.
"Say what you want, 'Hero'…but while you can't really hurt me…I CAN." whispered the hooded killer while the 'darkness' that formed his body warped and changed, a dozen tentacles ended in rapier-tips emerging from his mantle while his hands turned into a shotgun and a machinegun. "And by the time this is all over…you will be the only one who has lost anything, KIRITO!"
"I won't let you get away with that, Death Gun!"
"Kirito!"
"Death Gun!"
Three seconds of unmoving silence ensued.
"…you…you just keep calling me that because you STILL don't remember my name, right?" deadpanned the hooded killer while staring at his opponent.
The gamer simply blinked before looking away.
With a roar so unholy that it made almost everyone watching the battle jump back in fear, Xaxa shot forward like some demonic spirit, the estoc-tendrils shooting forward at speeds no human could hope to react to while the shotgun unleashed several shots, even as the machinegun spat a seemingly endless barrage of bullets.
Kirito didn't make any apparent move to dodge any of it, and when it all crashed over his position most of the onlookers cringed or looked away, having seen in which agonic state the 'victims' of Death Gun ended with much less…before a scream coming from the killer himself made them look back at the screen in shock.
"What in the…?!" growled Xaxa while looking around, his eyes shooting everywhere given that the crater he had made from his attack was empty. "How…?!"
"Afterimage." announced the gamer before appearing behind him and crushing his head into black paste with an absurdly fast punch, leaving the people watching speechless, even more when he just kicked the headless body upwards and JUMPED after it, slamming another punch through the already broken torso. "Pretty useful bullshit, wouldn't you say?"
"Bullshit THIS, you pathetic boy!" roared the hooded killer's voice as his head reformed from where his right leg had been, a plasma rifle emerging from his mouth and unleashing a wave of black energy straight into the surprised boy's face.
Every member of the Heroes Association felt their hearts skip a beat when they saw the monitors connected to Kazuto's vitals spike for an instant at that…
…then Kirito spun around in midair and kicked the body down once again, shaking his head for a moment before falling down punch-first, making the area shake as he plummeted Death Gun several meters into the sand.
Many jaws dropped even as the gamer jumped out of the crater.
"…yeah, no way it was that easy." idly commented the black-haired boy, before the sand behind him exploded as several black tendrils grabbed his body and the hooded killer's deformed body emerged, firearms growing from random places on his body like cancerous tumors as they all aimed at him.
"DIEEEEEE, YOU SON OF A…!"
A gunshot rang out through the night, followed by the sound of breaking glass, even as the projectile from the anti-material rifle went through Death Gun's deformed body, making him freeze.
Scowling, Kirito freed himself and walked towards the collapsing and disintegrating mass of black polygons, the red eyes on it open wide as he stopped in front of it.
"Don't insult my mother." spat the boy before stomping over the red eyes, accelerating the disintegration of the avatar, even as he turned around and gave a smiling thumbs-up towards a certain direction.
Several of the cameras turned that way, barely able to focus into the distant rocky formation and seeing for a moment the reflection of the moonlight on Hecate's telescopic sight.
Rising from her snipping position, Sinon returned the thumbs-up, even as, in the real world, Asuna and Suguha released a breath they didn't know they had been holding (And also the slightly red hands of Kazuto).
Nodding, Kirito started to walk away…when a soft chuckle came from the small piece of darkness that still hadn't disintegrated from the broken body behind him.
The next words made the gamer's blood freeze on his virtual veins.
"So that's where the bitch was…goodbye."
"SINON!" shouted the boy with all his might as he started to run in her direction, the cameras having troubles keeping up with his sudden burst of speed.
Eyes widening at the boy's shout, the blue-haired girl quickly turned around….and found her chest being pierced from side to side by a black estoc-tendril, making her scream as she almost let go of Hecate, Death Gun's sinister form (This one with 6 of those marble-things inside him) looking at her with a mad glee, even as he raised his shotgun arm and put the cannon barely an inch from her face.
Behind her, she heard a scream of rage and fear (For her) when the sound of wheels and heavy artillery being unleashed against the incoming Kirito filled the desert.
"Your luck ran out, sniper." declared the hooded killer as his tendrils surrounded her hips. "And this time, your fancy lightsaber isn't going to…uh?"
Death Gun blinked, noticing the missing hilt on Sinon's hip. Where had she…?
Grinning madly, the blue-haired girl pushed the switch hidden on Hecate's handle, Xaxa having believed he didn't need to worry about the rifle as long as he had it and her arm immobilized, thus she being unable to pull the trigger.
He realized too late how much of an error that had been when the burning plasma edge of the Kagemitsu burst to life from the underside of Hecate's cannon, cutting off the tentacle and, with just a move of Sinon's arm, the shotgun arm off, making him stagger backward.
Then, the girl pulled the trigger, straight into one of the marble-cores, and let out a triumphant laugh even as Death Gun threw her backward and off her snipping position, a fall of almost 60 meters greeting her.
The cameras arrived in time to see her falling down towards the sand with a massive grin.
And people had thought she was crazy when she added a bayonet-like add-on to fuse her lightsaber with her sniper rifle. Well, who laughed now?
…never mind the fact that she was about to crash and die, probably being excuse enough for the red-eyed monster's accomplice to kill her for real. She had managed to hurt the bastard several times and help Kirito out. She could count herself satisfied…
A blur of black and white shot through the air, trapping her in a tight hug as they spun through the air to evade incoming heavy artillery and finally rolled down a sand dune. Sinon had just enough time to let the world stop spinning around her as she stood up, Kirito quickly letting go of her as she separated her photon sword from Hecate once again.
"Wha…? How…?"
"I promised you, remember?" was all the answer the gamer gave her before the sound of some kind of heavy machinery filled everything once again, coming from beyond the dune at great speed. "Fuck, it's coming, get back!"
"Wait, what's co…?"
The sniper's question died on her lips when the terrifying form of what seemed like a black nightmarish amalgam of every personal vehicle available in GGO jumped over the dune, heavy weapons emerging from it in strategic points to give it the appearance of some tank from a terror/sci-fi setting. And that was without adding Death Gun's upper body emerging from the main 'turret', which seemed to be a minigun mounted over a rocket launcher.
As enough firepower to bring down a fortress wall rained over them, the blue-haired girl could only process one simple thought: 'Fuck'.
That was when Kirito's form blurred out of existence, shooting through and around every single projectile that would have hit her and kicking or punching them away faster than what the human eye could ever hope to follow. Spinning in place as the Death-Tank rolled towards them at full speed, the boy opened his hands to reveal countless of black minigun-bullets on them.
People watching (Now that the camera had once again caught up with them) were trying to recover their dropped jaws from the umpteenth time when the boy reared both hands back.
"You can have them back." coolly declared the caped boy before 'throwing' the bullets back, the projectiles soaring through the air like a black mass faster than any gun could have shot them, just as Death Gun screamed some wordless curse and tried to fire another missile towards the incoming bullets.
The explosion covering the scene was a clear indicator of how THAT had gone.
Shooting out of the smoke cloud with Sinon in his arms, Kirito let the panting sniper recover her metaphorical breath as he looked down towards the destruction.
"Did that get any of his cores?"
"N-no, bastard moves them out of the way so fast that I can't…" the sniper's words died on her lips again, when a 'silent' bullet soared through the air out of nowhere and hit the boy between his eyes, making him scream as both were sent careening out of control through the air. "KIRITO!"
In the real world, Kazuto's readings spiked for a moment while his friends looked with worry and fear at his body, Aki barely resisting the impulse of just taking off his AmuSphere even as they once again looked at the changing scene.
Back on the rock formation overlooking that part of the desert, Death Gun's other body aimed again, a black and smooth sniper rifle having formed out of his shadow-like flesh, much to the horror of those watching from the two cameras that were still there.
"This is the end, Kirito…" whispered the hooded killer as he aimed again towards the falling Hero…or towards the girl on his arms, to be more precise. "You can be as bullshit 'invincible' as you want…but I only have to kill that bitch in front of you to win…"
Growling as he forced down the headache the light flashes had summoned back, the gamer looked at the sniper and once again hugged her tightly as he spun, the next bullet impacting against his back and sending yet another small flash of changing light directly to his brain.
"KUH!"
"I-idiot, stop doing…!"
"I can take it…you don't!" snarled back Kirito before looking straight to her eyes as they fell like rocks. "Sinon, do you trust me?!"
The surprised girl let that question sink through her mind for a fraction of a second. She was probably one of the less indicated people in all of Gun Gale Online to be asked that, for she had always only relied on herself, Hecate and her Kagemitsu being the closest thing to 'trusted companions' she ever had.
Even Spiegel could barely be called an 'acquaintance' inside the game, the girl considering him a friend, but sure that, in a combat situation, she wouldn't really trust in the AGI-based machinegun-user for anything.
But then the image of the boy was replaced by that of her heroine, protecting her of the evil that had plagued her life, giving her strength to stand up for herself, doing the right thing.
Wordlessly, she nodded. Not even a second had passed.
"…then please, cut that bastard down." muttered the caped boy before spinning again, the next sniper rifle bullet whistling past his left cheek, and THROWING the girl forward like a missile, back towards the rocky formation from where Death Gun was shooting at them.
A barrage of heavy fire engulfed his falling form an instant later, coming from the screaming and recently regenerated Death-Tank.
Sinon forced herself to not think about that and to not look back as her avatar cut through the air at speeds it never was meant to, letting her lightsaber ignite to life as she raised it as best as she could, her left hand's grip on Hecate almost letting go…
But at the same time, even as her night-vision activated once again, she found the suicidal experience almost cathartic. Hadn't she been wishing for months to be able to swing even faster?
Well then, what about at 'Your body breaking the speed of sound like a human bullet'-fast?
The Death Gun with the sniper rifle had enough time to blink in shock and wonder if splitting his mind into two bodies wasn't screwing with his brain before Sinon shot past him, photon sword screaming through the air even as she completed a swing and kept 'flying'.
Crystal breaking echoed even as the hooded killer felt his body being cut in half. The entire top of the rocky formation ALSO was cut in half, starting to fall down.
People watching once again lost control over their jaws even as the United Heroes Association deadpanned at the scene, eyes wide open.
"…woah. How does Kirito keep meeting so many badass people?" asked an amazed Strea through the phone, even as Yui silently agreed, eyes glued to the screen.
Even as she felt her virtual body, for obvious reasons, lose control of her 'flight' from the swing and she felt the forces of virtual gravity and air trying to rip her apart, both of her weapons being torn away from her hands, Sinon couldn't help but marvel at how awesome that had been.
Then, she crashed into the river that separated the desert area of the island from the next one.
Blinking towards the collapsing chunks of rock in the distance, the Death Gun avatar that still had the pseudo-tank form expressed what everyone who had watched the scene was thinking.
"How in the fucking hell…?!"
"She's good, isn't she?" freezing, Xaxa's head snapped around to look towards the cloud of black smoke that had surrounded the area, an epic guitar-solo seeming to resound in the background as the boy emerged from it with an utterly calm face, contrary to how his real body was sweating as everyone looked towards the spiking readings of his heartbeat with fear and worry. "Then again, that shouldn't be a surprise. Something I have learned quite well is that there are a lot of amazing people in the world."
"You…!" started to growl Death Gun while aiming with all his weapons again…when suddenly Kirito was THERE, just in front of where his upper body emerged from the 'tank's main cannon, his eyes turned into two bottomless voids as his face was cast in shadows and his fist reared back, so fast that he had just begun shooting when he outran all the shots. "Wha…?!"
"Consecutive Normal Punches."
Anyone watching the fight that still had any shred of awe left once again let their jaws fall when his fist BLURRED in and out of existence, hitting all around the hooded killer's main body and blowing it to countless of small pieces of darkness as the desert behind them exploded and threw sand in all directions from the waves of power the 'combo' created.
The sound of breaking glass echoing through the air even as Kirito stopped revealed that hitting randomly COULD be effective if you hit all the possible points at the same time.
At the same time, some of the people watching the BoB blinked and then opened internet browsers, quickly typing something as distant memories were stirred from the name of the boy's sudden 'attack'…
Back in Ragnarok Island, the gamer tilted his head to the side even as another unholy scream echoed and the shadowy remains of Death Gun quickly spun through the air into a dark cloud, putting themselves together again.
"Bastaaaarddd…!"
"Hmm…Sinon broke one at least with that attack from before, right? Maybe two? And I'm sure I broke at least two with the punches from before…" putting a finger under his chin even as the crimson gaze of his monstrous enemy glared with utter hate at him, Kirito seemed to ignore it all as he entered deep thought. "How many marbles do you have left, Death Gun?"
"THAT'S IT!" turning around in surprise, the caped boy was in time to see how the killer's 'other body' jumped over him in centaur form, quickly fusing with the main mass of unholy shadows as it all started to shake. "I'm going to make you SUFFER, KiRItoOOO!"
Nine pairs of red eyes opened in the darkness as the growling shadow towered over the blinking gamer, more arms than any living being should have emerging as giant needle-like blades shot from their wrists, the skull-like faces emerging all over the body seeming mere mockeries of anything resembling human as they stared everywhere and nowhere at the same time, the 'main one', which still had the 'hood' over itself, glaring down at his enemy as weapons made of his own shadowy flesh emerged like tumors from all over his sinister anatomy, all of them aiming towards the wide-eyed Kirito, twisting in impossible angles to do so.
Everyone watching the scene felt their hearts skip a beat and an unnatural fear overcoming them, unable to relate the unholy abomination with anything even remotely 'human' anymore…
"How…?"
"diEEEee!" screamed Death Gun from all his 'mouths', before shooting endlessly even as several estoc-arms shot forward to crush the gamer, who MOVED out of the way, the sand being blown away in all directions and the earth shaking as the monstrous titan shot after him with a speed that seemed unfitting for its almost 9 meters of height.
"…fucking hell…" muttered Kirito before frowning, even as he kept evading all the attacks, several of the 'heads' stretching in impossible ways towards him to try and 'eat him', he punching them away even as they regenerate time and time again.. "Wait…you…you CAN'T be doing something like that…the strain on the mind would be so hard your AmuSphere should have…" realization hit the boy like a truck at the same time an unseen appendage of the mutated killer exploded from under the earth and threw him towards the sky, a barrage of missiles and bullets screaming after him. "No fucking…you're using your Nerve Gear for…?!"
Whatever he would have wanted to say was drowned as the projectiles impacted and created another massive explosion, big enough to make anyone watching cringe.
On Alfheim, Strea and Yui shook as they held hands, hearing the panicked shouts of their friends and family through the phone call they still had open as Kazuto's vital signs dangerously skyrocketed again.
"YeeeeessSS! i aM! Andd tHAnks to ThaT…I haVE aN edGe ovER youuu!" snarled Xaxa with his many and distorted 'voices' while raising his many 'hands' to the sky. "NOt evEN yoU CAn stoP ME Now, kirIToo-!"
His words were brutally cut off when the aforementioned caped boy fell down feet-first against his main head, turning it into paste even as he spun and punched through his body, panting, but with fire still burning behind his eyes.
"Are you fucking insane?! You're going to break your fucking mind or something worse if you keep doing THAT!" roared the gamer even as Death Gun quickly regenerated and spun around to try and destroy him again. "If you keep forcing yourself to control that inhuman avatar like that you will end up going beyond what your brain can take, for God's sake! The AmuSphere's safeguards are there for a reason!" punching another arm into oblivion before dodging more bullets at missiles at the speed of sound again, Kirito was clearly doing his best to ignore the skull-pounding headache he was suffering as he kept jumping and punching through the monstrous body. "Is it really worth it?! Just to make everyone believe that you can 'kill' people from here when it's only a fucking trick you and your accomplices in reality made?!"
"dON't cAREeee!" roared the abomination before suddenly splitting itself into nine different bodies, the action so unexpected that one of them managed to hit the gamer and throw him backward in time for the other nine to unleash all kinds of weapons over him, bullets of all calibers, missiles and grenades exploding all over the shocked caped boy. "As long as I can shatter your will and let you groveling at my feet, it IS worth it! Besides, LOOK at me!" raising his estoc-arms as weapons sprouted from his shoulders, the Death Gun that was talking (The 'division' having somehow returned his voice to something more 'normal') laughed madly as Kirito's form fell on the sand face-first, everyone watching gasping in horror. "I'm real enough! My power is! So, what if I can only HURT?! What if I need a bit of help to kill in reality?! What if you discovered the whole plot?! The fear…the terror of my strength…that's REAL, Kirito! That's what Death Gun means!" glaring down with malevolence even as the growling boy grabbed a handful of dirt with his gloved hand and started to rise, all the bodies of the monstrous killer aimed their weapons at him. "And now…you FAIL, 'invincible hero'!"
"That's it!" shouted Aki back in the real world, everyone exchanging worried/fearful looks from Kazuto's sweating body to the panting form of Kirito on the screen. "I'm taking off his AmuSphere no…!"
A sudden and totally unexpected sound made her, and every single person in the country watching the Bullet of Bullets, freeze in shock at how unexpected it was.
Even Death Gun stopped moving when the echo of a plasma edge coming to life filled his many ears.
Behind the horde of monsters, a figure cast in darkness and with burning indigo 'fire', in the shape of a visor, over her eyes grinned sinisterly as the purple blade of energy in her hands was raised.
"Forgot about me, bastard?"
Xaxa didn't even get time to reply, because in a sudden, impossible instant, countless of interlocking 'cuts' appeared all over his nine bodies, the blue-haired form wielding the lightsaber seemingly materializing out of nowhere at Kirito's side, in the stance of someone that had just finished a swing. All of the Death Guns' avatars broke down into masses of exploding darkness, the sound of breaking glass and how two of them shot towards the other regenerating bodies indicating that two of the cores had been hit and cut with that.
Everyone watching blinked. The GGO players watching GAPED. The United Heroes Association deadpanned at the screen while Aki's mouth opened to its limits, even as Suguha whispered a 'No fucking way…'
"…Sinon?" asked Kirito with utter disbelief, looking at the girl in front of him with an expression that reflected all the combined incredulity of his friends.
"Hey there, Kirito." replied the girl with a slightly insane grin, turning to look at him with an impossible fire burning away behind her visor. "Sorry for taking so long, I couldn't find my freaking weapons anywhere after getting out of the river…" turning around to stare at the incomprehensible screaming coming from Death Gun's regenerating bodies, the sniper raised her trusted blade once again. "But I'm back and ready to kick this motherfucker's ass now."
The gamer idly noticed that her HP had been reduced to a little under 20%, probably from her crash into the river and that she clearly seemed 'unstable' in some way…but decided not to comment on it as he stood up and stopped at her side, raising his fist as he once again punched his headache and tiredness away.
"Good to know…any chance you can repeat that thing you just did?"
Sinon's grin widened even as the now only 7 abominations reformed and glared at them with hate and animal rage.
"Maybe." she answered with confidence as her visor once again let her see the absurdly fast-moving weak points of their enemies.
"Good enough for me."
"KILL YOUUUU!" screamed Death Gun as three of his bodies ran forward while creating more estocs out of his arms, the other three mutating their limbs into all kind of weapons as they ran around and opened fire.
Kirito shot forward and punched the three incoming enemies out of the way and into the path of most of the bullets, faster than anyone could follow. Sinon…SLASHED through the projectiles at an inhuman speed, shooting forward like a goddammed Jedi Knight and cutting through one of the shooting Death Guns, the shock in Xaxa's mind at what she had just done giving her the edge she needed to cut the marble-core with a brutal slash of deadly power.
The gamer let himself be hit and thrown away just to STARE at her. Everyone else watching was pretty much doing the same, wondering what the fuck had happened to the sniper.
Calmly, the blue-haired girl turned around to stare at the nearest Death Gun, which towered about her as she simply pointed at it with her trusted Kagemitsu.
"Ready for more?"
"DAMN YOU, FUCKING BITCH!" snarled the killer while his monstrous body shot towards her, the estoc-hand descending to impale-crush her…and hitting nothing but air as a blur of white and black shot past and snatched the girl into his arms. "Wha…?!…KIRITOOO-!"
His raging scream was suddenly cut off when the plasma grenade that Sinon had left there (Which she had 'borrowed' from Yamikaze's virtual corpse) exploded, blowing the avatar to pieces.
"That guy has an unhealthy obsession with screaming your name aloud." idly commented Sinon as they shot through the air again, all kind of projectiles whistling past and around them. "That can't be good."
"Yeah, tell me about it." chuckled the black-haired boy before looking behind them with serious eyes, then looking back down to the blue-haired girl. "Hey Sinon…I need you to hear me out one last time tonight."
"…and do what?" asked the sniper in a whisper, the strange seriousness in the boy's words somehow making her shiver.
"Run as fast as you can. And don't look back." without explaining anything else, Kirito let go of her and the wide-eyed girl started to roll down through the sand, even as the boy spun in place, landed and then shot to the heavens, roughly in the direction from where Death Gun's attacks were coming. "I will…put an end to this."
Reaching the apex of his jump, the gamer glared down and started to fall like a missile, straight towards the mass of darkness that was the red-eyed abomination, who had seemingly chosen to once again become just one body as he stared upwards at him, roaring his name with hate before unleashing once again a full barrage of every weapon imaginable.
Falling in a straight line as he was, Kirito crashed right into it, endless bullets hitting his face and body as he kept falling, everything exploding on the air around him.
He could see the endless flashes of light starting to swallow his vision. He could feel the headache growing worse than ever before; feel his heart pounding madly on his chest. In the real world, the machines connected to him started going crazy and nurse Aki finally decided it wasn't worth the risk, moving to take off his AmuSphere.
Asuna's hand stopped her. Shocked, the woman looked at the girl in disbelief…and realized that, despite how much she was shaking, her eyes never left the falling figure on the screen, filled with hope and determination, even as her other hand tightly grasped Kazuto's. Her gaze shooting around the room, Aki saw the same state reflected on every single one of the people there.
Despite the fear they were feeling, despite the worry consuming them…they still believed. In him.
In that, no matter what…he would WIN.
Kirito closed his eyes and reached within himself.
Kirigaya Kazuto was just a normal teenager. The virus Death Gun was using with his bullets affected his brain directly, the quickly alternating flashes of light causing the reaction that would put him into a coma…
But that was something that wouldn't affect the real Saitama. Just…because. Because that was the joke behind his character, the concept of his existence.
When it came down to it…nothing could truly affect him. Nothing could beat him.
'Kirito' reached beyond and pushed 'Kazuto' away…but made sure to still grasp tightly to him, to never forget who he still really was.
In that moment, however…he didn't need to be the worried teenager. He needed to be the One Punch-Gamer.
Opening his eyes again, which had become endless voids, Kirito found his headache gone, the flashes of light receding to the edge of his vision and becoming less than an annoying buzz.
Death Gun seemed to realize something was WRONG when he saw the boy 'changing' on his eyes, everyone watching the absurd but amazing battle blinking when the gamer's face was carpeted in ethereal darkness, his 'silly' jumpsuit suddenly seeming absolutely amazing as it highlighted impressive muscles everyone could swear he DIDN'T had a second ago…
The boy's arms went above and slightly behind his head, his gloved hands interlocking as he did so. Roaring as every primal instinct in his distorted mind screamed DANGER, Xaxa impossibly fused countless optical weapons and unleashed a massive beam of pure black plasma against the descending Hero, the attack so big it was visible even from Glocken City.
It didn't even kill the momentum of the serious-looking Kirito.
"WHYYYYY?!" screamed the red-eyed abomination even as he kept shooting, neither plasma not bullets slowing down the boy's descending form.
For all answer, the boy reared back his interlocked hands…
"Super Skill. Serious Series…"
…and the moment he made contact with Death Gun's frozen body…
"SERIOUS HAMMER."
…he CRUSHED.
People in Glocken City fell off their chairs when the earth itself SHOOK, everyone watching from the real world or from other VRMMOs staring in frozen shock as the desert cracked and exploded upwards, almost every remaining camera showing only static a second later, destroyed by the attack's shockwave.
Half of Ragnarok Island cracked, as if God had crushed it down with a hammer, every single building still 'standing' on the island collapsing like sandcastles. Big waves hit the coasts of the virtual mainland near Glocken City, the remnants of the impossibly strong hit's aftereffects.
When the images returned to the broadcast, barely 6 holo-cameras remaining (And only two not having been blown away several kilometers), they showed the center of the massive crater that now decorated the desert, the massive scar on the earth slowly flooding as part of the river nearby seemed to have cracked all the way there.
Standing in silence and with an absolutely apathetic expression, Kirito stared down at a mass of inky blackness that tried to regenerate, failing time and time again, as if the mind behind it had forgotten how his own body was.
Xaxa gasped, barely managed to form a poor parody of his 'face', his mind consumed by shock, terror and a pounding 'pain', keenly aware that he couldn't even remember how to properly recreate his limbs and that everything around him seemed to be spinning. Five of his cores had literally disintegrated an instant after the impact, and the one he had managed to move out of the way at several times the speed of a bullet…was cracked beyond repair, little more than his own will keeping it together…
Slowly, Death Gun's red eyes moved upwards, towards the silent gamer.
"You…all this time…you were holding back…"
"I was." accepted him without hesitation, no emotion reflecting on his voice, neither pride nor mockery.
"…why…?" demanded Xaxa with a pathetic imitation of his voice.
"Look around you." said Kirito for all answer, pointing at the utter destruction surrounding them. "What good is an overwhelming power when all you can do with it is destroying mindlessly? By holding back till now…I have beaten you without having to worry anymore."
Somehow, with whatever remained of his sanity, the broken being of red eyes understood. If the caped boy had done something like THIS from the beginning, then his by then 'separated' bodies would have allowed him to get away enough to simply log himself out, 'survive' somehow…now, though, he had been Destroyed. He didn't know how, but he could feel that his very avatar was collapsing on itself, as if the data that made it was breaking apart. There wouldn't be an 'encore' or 'I will come back for vengeance!' for Death Gun.
With dawning realization…the killer realized how small he really was.
Screaming with mad hate at doing so, a deformed hand reformed itself, aiming straight to Kirito's face with the Black Star.
"Any…more…wise…words?!" snarled the collapsing killer with rage.
"Yes. Thanks for accepting your crimes on a live broadcast before." commended the gamer without changing his expression, making Death Gun blink in shock. "It would have been a hell more difficult to get you in reality if you hadn't…so thanks, Xaxa."
An instant of silence passed before the 'mouth' of the half-melted face opened.
"Wait, did you just remember my na…?!"
BANG!
Idly, Kirito caught the flying black handgun even as he saw what remained of Death Gun vanish into nothingness, the unexpected bullet having destroyed the remaining marble without any effort. Then, he crushed the Black Star, ending the last remnant of the hooded killer.
Turning around, the boredom melted away from his face in favor of a small smile, even as he gave a thumbs-up towards the figure standing at the edge of the crater.
One of the remaining cameras turned around in time for a panting Sinon to lower Hecate and push her cracked visor upwards, a minuscule sliver of her HP remaining even as a massive smile of satisfaction threatened with splitting her face.
"Hey…I found my rifle."
"Good for you." cheerfully told her Kirito while appearing at her side, the sniper apparently not being surprised at the absurd speed he just showed, which put his previous one to shame. "And good job. Mission accomplished."
"That's one way to put it…" idly commented the blue-haired girl while looking around, awe filling her eyes as she looked at the destroyed landscape. "You REALLY are strong, uh…?"
"Only because I have something worth using my strength for." reminded the caped boy while putting a hand on her shoulder. "Always remember that, okay?"
"…I will." whispered her before looking up at the moon with a soft smile. "So…you think the one who was at my home is gone now?"
"Probably. If there even was anyone there in the first place, I think that after seeing THIS…" trailing off as he looked at his 'handiwork', the gamer grimaced slightly. "Yeah, they probably already left, but…I would feel better if I knew you were okay once…"
The caped boy wasn't really expecting the sudden hug, or how Sinon started whispering something on his ear. Of course, she mainly did so because she didn't want anyone watching through the suddenly arriving camera to hear her words.
"…there. If you're worried, you can call or something." finished the sniper with a bright smile, letting go of the shocked Kirito.
"…did you just give your contact info?" asked the gamer with disbelief, as if unable to believe it.
"Yep, and you just split an island apart to help saving my life, so I think we're even." joked her before playfully hitting his head with Hecate's cannon. "Now go on, hit me and finish this."
Blinking, the caped boy looked at her…before chuckling and shaking his head, confusing the blue-haired girl.
"Heh…no, I don't think so. I was only here to stop that maniac, not to win the tournament. And you sure as hell showed to be the most badass player around in this game, I'm sure no one will deny that, especially after you went full Atomic Samurai…"
"Atomic who?" repeated the sniper in confusion, but Kirito seemed to ignore the question.
"Me? I was only passing by…so yeah, till later, Sinon." finished the gamer while turning around. "You have earned this victory."
"But…how are you even going to lose if you're invinci…?"
"Have you forgotten?" asked the caped boy with a bright smile. "I'm just a normal teenager out of here. So, if anyone watching this could please take off my AmuSphere…?"
Even as the blue-haired girl looked in shock, she got to see a last thumbs-up from the gamer before his body fell backward, like a puppet with its strings cut, and then vanished into polygons, a message of 'Disconnected' appearing on his place.
Three seconds later, the announcement echoed through all of Gun Gale Online as she vanished, teleported in front of a screen that proclaimed her as the winner of the 3rd Bullet of Bullets.
Sinon started chuckling softly before Logging Out of the game.
Meanwhile, on the Toritsu Central Hospital, Kirigaya Kazuto blinked several times as he sat on the bed and started to rub his eyes, the faint echoes of his previous headache still being felt on his real body.
"Ugh…thanks, Aki-san. Please, remind me to never face off a lunatic armed with epileptic-light-weapons again…"
"Oh, you can BET we will remind you of that, Sensei." the unexpected voice made the black-haired boy freeze, phantom pains forgotten as his eyes shot open, suddenly aware of all his friends standing on the room and staring at him with mixing degrees of relief, anger and, in the boys' case, resignation. "In fact, we probably will need a LONG talk to be sure you never forget it…"
"Asuna-san is right, you know, Onii-chan?" added Suguha with a sweet smile and her eyes closed, making the gamer realize she and his self-proclaimed 'disciple' were the ones holding his hands, a bit TOO tightly. "We have LOTS of things to talk about."
Resisting the primal urge to squeak 'Help!' and suddenly missing feeling Saitama's inhuman boredom, Kazuto could only wonder if anyone anywhere was more screwed than he was.
Somewhere, Tsuboi Ryoutarou, aka Klein for friends, was crying and cursing to the heavens, all the money he had bet in Kirito's 'sure win' of the BoB utterly lost.
0000000000000000
The moment she 'woke up', Asada Shino quickly stood up and looked around her room, her extremely sharp instincts on edge.
After seeing there was no one on sight, she allowed herself an instant of surprise at noticing those same instincts hadn't 'turned off', as they always had done in the past when she got out of GGO, when she stopped being 'Sinon'. Shaking her head to get those thoughts away, she quickly walked out of her bed, put on her glasses while turning off the heater and walked out, looking out at the hallway of her small flat.
Two minutes later, the bespectacled girl sighed in relief and closed her bathroom's door, having finished looking through the entire apartment and found nothing. Her door was closed, but the lock wasn't on, which meant that there indeed HAD been someone in there. Shivering at that thought, Shino wondered if she should maybe call the police just in case…when someone rang the apartment's bell, making her freeze and look at the door with panicking eyes.
That was when she heard a familiar voice coming from the other side.
"Asada-san! Are you there?!"
"…Shinkawa-kun." sighed the bespectacled girl in relief before walking towards the door and opening it, seeing her slightly unnerved friend standing there, his eyes shooting everywhere and his usual cap missing. "Thank God it's yo…is something wrong?"
"Oh, n-no, of course no, Asada-san!" answered Kyouji with a strangely nervous smile. "I…I just came to congratulate you for winning the BoB, I-I knew you would do it!"
"Ah…thanks." muttered Shino while turning around, frowning as she wondered why she suddenly felt on edge again. "Things were…beyond crazy, in every sense of the word and even some I'm sure no one could have expected…but, in the end, I think everything turned out for the best."
"If you say so…" whispered the boy with a strangely dark tone, his hands twitching weirdly. "…by the way, Asada-san…how did you do all that near the end? The way in which you cut down that guy…and slashed the bullets away…"
"To be honest…I have no fucking idea." confessed the girl while sitting on her bed, staring at her hands with wonder. "After Kirito threw me and I cut that big-ass rock in half…it's as if something in my mind just 'cracked', before I fell into the river. When I got out, I just…COULD cut. Cut faster than ever before, as I had always wanted…because I wanted to help him beat the crap out of that bastard." laughing awkwardly at her words, the bespectacled girl looked towards her strangely silent friend. "Weird, uh?"
"Yes…very weird, indeed…as weird as how you were acting back there, Asada-san…"
"Uh?" blinking in confusion at his words, Shino frowned as she looked at the strange shine in Kyouji's eyes. "What do you mean, Shinkawa-kun?"
"Why…why were you acting so close with that guy?!" suddenly shouted the boy while grabbing her arms, making the bespectacled girl's eyes widen as she was pushed against the wall, squeaking when her 'instinctive reaction' of slamming her knee against the boy's crotch was blocked, as he was clearly expecting it. "Why did you act so friendly with him, even though you barely knew him, eh?! Why, Asada-san, tell me?! You have never acted that close with ME!"
"Wa-wait, Shinkawa-kun?!" shouted Shino while trying to get out of the boy's sudden grip. "What are you doing?! You're freaking me out!"
"Was it because of his strength?! Was it because of that absurd power he had, because you would never look that way someone who wasn't as impressive as you or more?!" a now clearly mad glint seemed to be reflected on Kyouji's eyes as he said that, even as the girl looked at him in utter shock and confusion. "It's not my fault I couldn't get any farther in GGO, you know? It was that bastard XeXeeD's fault and how he spread those fake rumors about AGI-Type builds!" snarling at remembering the man, the boy suddenly released an insane chuckle. "That's why we chose him as our first target, you know? Revenge is truly sweet…"
"What…?" whispered the bespectacled girl, cold dread gripping her heart as she stared at the boy she thought she knew in a terrified light. "You…you're…Death Gun's accomplice…?"
"No! Not 'accomplice' or anything stupid like that! That was what Shouichi's friend, 'Johnny', was! I'm as much Death Gun as my brother is! I even was the one who 'shot' XeXeeD the first time, the one who was using the Avatar in that bar at sent all those poor idiots running and screaming!" proudly declared Kyouji before quickly moving his hand inside his jacket and bringing out a weird object that Shino vaguely recognized as one of those newest needleless syringes. "See this, Asada-san?! This is succinylcholine, the secret of how Death Gun could 'kill' in reality! A muscular relaxant so strong it can cause heart failure in extremely small quantities, small enough for the body to eliminate it naturally before the corpse was found! It may have been that THING who gave us the power to send people to the hospital, but it was only my idea of getting this from father's hospital using what made us truly terrifying!"
"You…you're insane…" muttered Shino with frozen horror, not able to believe the one she had called her only friend could have used his knowledge in medicine for something so horribly twisted. "Wait…'that thing'? What…?"
"Yes, the thing, the one with the heterochromatic eyes…it was that what started it, what returned the 'flame' Shouichi had lost since he got out of SAO…what made him share his stories with me…I was so amazed, that my brother had become so incredible in that other world…but I could never understand his hate of that 'Kirito' guy…until now." his voice dark and dripping with venom, Kyouji stared down towards the unmoving girl, who was still looking at him with horror. "All that effort, preparing all of this, showing Shouichi were he would get the weapons from Players who wouldn't expect to be attacked, his luck of getting that camouflage mantle and absorbing its 'invisibility' properties, getting the 'legal master key' from father's office to open the apartments of those losers and make people believe they had truly died from 'mysterious' reasons…all of it stopped by that bastard, without him even seeming to CARE! And now…YOU! He also has stolen you from me, Asada-san! And I won't allow that…you belong to ME, me and no one else!"
"By the love of God, Shinkawa-kun, react!" shouted Shino while trying to move her arm towards her bed's side, her eyes fixed over the unassuming 'True Death Gun' on the boy's hand, "You're NOT like this!"
"Searching for your stupid wooden sword, Asada-san? Don't bother, I threw it out of the window when I came in before." grinned the brown-haired boy while the bespectacled girl froze, staring blankly at him. "I wasn't going to take any risks, you know?"
"You…threw my bokken out of the window…" whispered her while shaking, suddenly feeling as if a part of her was burning away.
"Yes, I did…and now, relax and everything will go well, okay, Asada-san?" muttered Kyouji while looming ominously over her, caressing her arm with the tip of the syringe, clearly indicating he would made use of it if she tried to resist. "Don't worry, you will enjoy it too…"
Shino, for her part, was not listening. A part of her attributed it to the shock of the situation, of how her life was being threatened and how she could very likely be killed in any moment…and other attributed it to the burning hate that had suddenly spawned towards the boy, for having DARED to destroy the thing that she saw as her closest connection with her heroine.
For a moment, she almost felt ready to give in to despair, to let fear consume her again because she now didn't have anything to defend herself…
"What do you see here?"
…until she remembered His words. Slowly, her hand clenched into a fist.
She still had THAT with her.
Taking advantage of how the bastard had started to sniff her hair in a very disturbing manner, Asada Shino PUNCHED with all her might, her fist crashing mightily against Kyouji's exposed stomach as she screamed murder. Roaring in pain, the boy stumbled back as she easily pushed him off her and ran towards the hallway, heading for the door…
She tripped, slamming painfully against the floor. Cursing everything under the sky, the bespectacled girl felt more than saw how the boy moved after her in an almost animalistic way, either ignoring his pain or too out of it to care as he endlessly repeated her name in an increasingly disturbing way.
No one was going to come to help her, she realized as she closed her hands into fists, ready to die kicking and screaming if necessary. Her heroine wouldn't arrive in the nick of time for her. And not even He would…
Her home's door burst wide open, a black blur shooting through it and stopping just in front of the shocked Kyouji, his arm suddenly reared back.
"Wha…?!"
"Consecutive Normal Punches!" shouted Kazuto with all his might before fiercely slamming his fist against the other boy's face, chest and stomach, the younger of the Shinkawa brothers screaming in utter pain as he fell backward, the syringe with the succinylcholine flying out of his hands as he slammed painfully against the floor, whimpering in agony. "…holy shit…argh…suddenly, I'm REALLY glad of having tried to do that stupid training…it would have been embarrassing to have burst in here and get my ass kicked when I tried to beat this guy…arf…"
"…Kirito?" looking down at the shocked voice, the black-haired boy saw how Shino slowly stood up, staring at him as if she thought she was hallucinating. "Is that…really you?"
"Yo, Sinon." awkwardly greeted the gamer while scratching his head. "Yeah, it's me. Sorry if the lack of the stupidly long hair and girlish looks confused you, but…"
Once again, Kazuto found himself in an unexpected hug as the girl buried her face on his chest, seeming to suffocate a scream, though he couldn't tell if it was of relief or frustration, before she looked at him with amused eyes.
"Only you would make a joke about that in this moment, idiotic Hero."
That seemed to be the cue for both of them to collapse against the wall, their backs sliding down it as they tried to recover their breaths, one from the physical effort and the other from the emotional shock.
"We should probably call the police to take care of this guy…" idly commented Kazuto before throwing a nearby frying pan towards Kyouji's head, stopping the boy from trying to crawl away and finally knocking him unconscious.
"…wait…did you really come all the way here running?" asked Shino with shock as her gaze shot towards the boy, who just chuckled at that.
"Heh, I wish. I came in my bike, though I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose my license. I skipped enough red lights to give Licenseless Rider a heart attack…"
"As always, I have no idea what you're talking about…but I don't really care right now." laughed the bespectacled girl while shaking her head. "You know, for a moment I almost thought you came all the way here in a bicycle or something, that would have been really ironic for me."
"Yeah, as if." snorted the gamer while looking at the ceiling. "My sister is the bicycle-riding vigilante, not me." exhausted as he was, Kazuto needed two seconds to realize what he had said, his panicking gaze turning to look at the frozen and wide-eyed Shino. "Tha-that was a joke, of course, ahahah, there is no way…!"
The black-haired boy suddenly found his shoulders trapped into an unusually tight grip, even as the girl STARED at him.
"Did you just say that…your sister…is the Bicycle Girl...?"
In that moment, footsteps suddenly echoed outside the apartment and two girls stopped at the door, the older one panting more than the younger as she entered the room with a bokken in hand.
"Onii-chan, is everything okay?!" shouted Suguha while Asuna recovered her breath, the difference between the kendoka and the SAO survivor being pretty obvious in this situation. "I found this bokken down there behind the building, so I took it in case we…uh?" blinking at seeing the fallen form of Shinkawa Kyouji, the girl lowered the wooden sword while blinking. "Oh…I see you already took care of it…" turning to look at the two teens on the ground, the young kendoka scowled a bit. "And you also saved that Sinon gi…uh?" shock started to replace the scowl in Suguha face when, shaking unnaturally, Shino turned to look at her, staring from the girl to the bokken she held as if she was a blind person seeing the light for the first time. "Wait…I know you…"
"You do?" asked both Kazuto and Asuna at the same time, even as they saw the bespectacled girl move like a zombie until she stood in front of the blinking Suguha.
Then, she fell to her knees and hugged the girl's legs, tears of happiness streaming down her eyes as the kendoka squeaked in surprise and the two SAO Survivors stared in dumb shock.
"It's you…it's really you…I knew you were okay…thank heaven…Bicycle Girl…"
"Hey, Kirito, we already called the police, is everything alright?!" shouted Toshiyuki while stopping at the apartment's entrance, the older boy blinking in confusion as he saw the strange scene in front of him. "Uhm…did I miss something?"
Even as no one answered the ex-guild leader's question, Kazuto couldn't help but think that his life was always turning WAY more complicated than he thought…
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September 16th, 2025. Asada Shino's school, 15:30…
Some people never learned. Others were outright retarded.
Shino was pretty sure that Endou and her two 'friends' were the later, even as she effortlessly took the 'broken gun' from the confused bully's hands, removed the safety and aimed at them.
She saw horror flashing through the two other girl's faces while Endou only panicked…and the small plastic bullet shot just past her hair, vanishing somewhere in the gardens beyond even as she and the other two older girls fell on their asses, eyes wide with shock.
"Huh…wonder why anyone would bother making one of these toys with safety?" idly commented the bespectacled girl while reaching over her back, unzipping her bokken's bag and getting the wooden sword out. "Too stupid to bother being so realistic with it, in my opinion."
Then, she threw the toy gun to the air and SLASHED at it with a speed that almost made the three girls piss themselves, the plastic gun shattering into a million pieces as they grabbed their faces and hand in phantom pain.
Shino summarily ignored them and walked away, not deeming the bullies worth of any more of her time. She had an appointment to get to, after all.
And after having walked two streets from her school, she let a soft smile overtake her face as she saw a boy in black and white clothes leaning against a motorcycle, idly looking at the passing cars as he waited for her.
"Hey there, Mr. Hero." greeted her as she got closer. "Thanks for waiting here and not doing something stupid like showing up on the gates of my school or something…"
"Hey, that's offensive, Sinon. How many times do I need to tell you that I KNOW to respect how a girl thinks?" asked Kazuto with mock-hurt before giving her a helmet. "So then, shall we get going?"
"Yes, the faster we finish this, the better." nodded the bespectacled girl as the boy got on his bike and rode away.
All the time it took them to arrive to the fancy restaurant where Seijirou Kikuoka was waiting for them, Shino pointedly pushed down the stupid thoughts on her mind about how being carried on his arms at hyper speeds felt much safer and comfortable.
"Ah, Kirigaya-kun. Good afternoon." greeted the man once they entered and sat on his table, the girl blinking at noticing how a big ice-cream dessert was already on the table and how the black-haired boy started to smoothly eat it while still staring at Kikuoka. "And you must be Asada Shino-san. A pleasure."
"Can't say the same, Mr. Government Agent that gets a teenager to help catch a serial killer." deadpanned the bespectacled girl, making the man cough and Kazuto to grin in amusement. "Well then…you going to tell us what happened in the end or what?"
"Ehem, yeah, I will…" muttered Kikuoka before closing his hands and resting his elbows on the table, staring at them with serious eyes. "Both Shinkawa Kyouji and Shinkawa Shouichi were safely captured, but Kanemoto Atsuchi, better known as Johnny Black in SAO, has escaped and it's currently disappeared. We're still looking for him, but…"
"Well, I guess we should at least be grateful you got the two main responsible behind this, and that the last bastard is now a wanted criminal." sighed the gamer before frowning slightly and looking at the bespectacled man. "…in what state was Xaxa when…?"
"Yeah, that's one of the things I wanted to discuss. When the agents found him, Shinkawa Shouichi was unconscious, but the moment they took off his Nerve Gear he started thrashing around and he woke up screaming incoherently." revealed the man, much to the shock of the girl and the grim acceptance of the boy. "Our best hypothesis is that, as you said, whatever the hell he did with that 'Death Gun' avatar of his, he went so much over the edge that it damaged his mind on some level. He has been only screaming senseless things and shown to lack a proper balance to walk by himself too long before starting to try and crawl or run on all fours. We're already moving him to a psychiatric facility where they will…examine him better."
"…and what about Shinkawa-kun?" questioned Shino with a bitter tone, looking down at the coke they had just served her, even as Kazuto seemed to muse what had been said about the older brother.
"Shinkawa Kyouji shows the beginnings of some obsessive mental disorders, mostly based around you, but part of how he reacts when he 'breaks' makes us think that using the avatar at least once, like you informed us, also damaged his psyche, though to a lesser degree. He's currently in a Minors Detention Facility, but we're prepared to also move him towards a more specialized center if he shows signs of 'getting worse'…"
"Did you discover how they did it?" suddenly asked the black-haired boy with unusual seriousness, staring at the man in front of him while the bespectacled girl sent him a sidelong glance. "The avatar? The virus that caused the light-flashes on the AmuSpheres?"
"Sadly…we haven't." bitterly accepted Kikuoka while looking down. "Any attempt to interrogate them about it has been either fruitless or resulted in senseless babbling. The only thing we're sure about is that none of them possessed the knowledge or the ability to hack the systems of Gun Gale Online to the degree needed for what 'Death Gun' showed to be able to do, much less of creating the virus needed to hack straight into other avatars."
"So, it's a dead end, uh? Damn." clenching his fist, the boy shook his head at remembering the sinister feeing the hooded abomination caused. "I just hope that's the last time we have to see something like that…"
"Actually…" started the bespectacled man, getting both teens' attention as Shino deadpanned.
"Please, tell me another super psycho didn't sprout out of nowhere."
"No, Asada-san, nothing of the sort. I just wanted to tell Kirigaya-kun about something…'strange' that Shinkawa Shouichi said when we were asking about his avatar and mentioned his name." looking towards Kazuto, the boy suddenly felt a strange chill run down his back at the next words.
'It's not over. It will come for you, Kirito…the fallen angel with the dual-colored eyes…'
"That's…not ominous or anything…" muttered the bespectacled girl with a worried frown.
"We tried to inquire more about that, but we only got insane ramblings after that declaration." confessed Kikuoka while expectantly staring at the gamer. "Any idea what could THAT mean?"
"No, not in the slightest…" replied him with a somber tone. "But…for some reason, I really don't like how it sounds…"
A little more than ten minutes later, both teens exited the restaurant, feeling both relieved and uncertain.
"Do you really think that those mysterious words foreshadow that something will come to bite you in the ass when you less expect it?" asked Shino with disbelief while the boy sighed.
"Believe me, after having gone through all the craziness I have, you learn to not ignore this seemingly pointless anime-like clichés." shaking his head, Kazuto stared back at the girl and handed her the helmet again. "Hey, could you please come with me for a moment? There is something me and my friends want to show you…"
"Oh…" simply muttered the bespectacled girl, idly remembering her short 'meeting' with the gamer's friends two days ago. "Well, to be honest, I'm not sure if I…"
"My sister will be there."
"What are we waiting for?!" excitedly asked Shino while putting on the helmet and jumping into the bike, making the boy sweatdrop. "Hey, do you think if I ask Suguha-sama will give me lessons with the sword?!"
"I…think she still prefers that you DON'T call her that…" idly commented the Kazuto, remembering with a wince the commotion of his friends at discovering Sugu's 'secret identity'. "…besides, I think there will be someone you will want to pay more attention to than her there today."
The bespectacled girl just stared in confusion at the boy's words.
A bit later, though, she understood his words even as the little girl hugged her, tears running down her eyes as the girl's mother, a woman she had 'saved' that time long ago in that nightmarish day, without even knowing it, looking at them with a bright smile.
Watching the scene from the background, the members of the United Heroes Association watched silently, some with even small tears on their eyes at the moving scene.
The gamer stared with a soft smile, feeling once again that all was right in the world at seeing the scene.
"Well…all's well that ends well, right, Onii-chan?" asked Sugu while smiling at him, tearing her gaze from the scene to stare at her adopted brother.
"Yes…you're certainly right, Sugu."
"Indeed, eh?" grinned Asuna from where she sat at the boy's other side. "It's also good to know you have such a devoted fangirl, eh, Miss 'Bicycle Girl'?"
"A-Asuna-san!" pouted the young kendoka with a blushing face. "Please, stop going on about that, o-okay?!"
"Sorry, Suguha-chan…but really, to think that you were a Heroine that fought against crime in your bicycle in real life…you're really as amazing as Sensei's sister would be expected to be!" smiled the chestnut-haired girl, making Suguha bury her face on her hands.
Watching from one to the other, Kazuto couldn't help but let a smile appear on his face as he saw the easygoing attitude of both girls. Between the group chewing him out for having hidden the real reason he went to GGO from them, his dawning realization about the true identity of Sinon's 'friend', the mad race to the girl's home and them the whole mess with Sugu's identity as the Bicycle Girl being exposed to them, he had ended up so tired that he hadn't had proper strength or time to talk with them the previous day, but he had still been shocked at seeing how both once again seemed to act like they did before he 'revealed the truth'. He wasn't sure what had happened, though he was eager to ask them after this, but he was really happy that the girls he loved seemed to have forgiven how he 'hurt' them, even if he never…
"…Onii-chan?"
"Uh…yes, Sugu?" blinked the gamer with confusion at the sudden low tone on his adoptive sister's voice, who had suddenly grabbed his right hand and was looking to the side with a blushing face.
"You…love us, right?"
There was a pause. Kirigaya Kazuto blinked again, his mind trying and failing to acknowledge the unexpected question.
"…eh?"
"Mou, you heard her, Sensei, so don't make her repeat it!" asked Asuna in a hurried whisper, 'scowling', but also blushing fiercely. "Do you?!"
"…Ye-yes…" accepted him while looking down with his own fierce blush, wondering if this was their way to punish him for being an indecisive idiot. "Bu-but don't worry, I promise I will do my best to not let that affect how…!"
Both girls kissed him in the cheeks, at the same time. The black-haired boy froze.
Slowly, his face moved from one to the other, Asuna and Suguha grinning his way while he tried and failed to form any proper words.
Suddenly, he felt really glad everyone was still busy watching Shino and the little girl. He was pretty sure he would have fainted if anyone else had witnessed the scene.
And even as both girls giggled at seeing his poor brain attempting and failing to reboot, Kazuto wondered if he should feel really lucky…or really scared.
Somewhere in ALO, Yui and Strea suddenly blinked and exchanged a look, feeling the strange need to high-five each other. They cheerfully did so.
All was right with the world…
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On the screen's open window, a forum about VRMMORPGs could be seen.
One of the many threads was clicked on, opening a new page that talked about a very specific event…
-Did you watch the 3rd Bullet of Bullets?! Man, that was…just look at the footage! Sweet Jesus!-
-LOL, how were those guys cheating like that? Some special new hack?! They ruined the tournament!-
-I don't care what you say, that was the most awesome thing I have seen in my life! Did you saw how the guy with the cape kicked ass?! Who is he, Superman's cousin or something?-
-Hell no! Don't any of you recognize him?! That guy is like Saitama, people!-
-Saitama? The prefecture? The hell?-
-No, not that! Saitama, the One Punch-Man, the Strongest Hero!-
-What is this guy talking about? Anyone?-
-Here, I found a link to the manga! Look it up, it's the most awesome thing!-
-Holy shit, this is so cool! How was that Kirito guy doing it?! Didn't he say he was a SAO Survivor?!-
-Not only a survivor, he's SAO's greatest Hero! I know, I'm a survivor too, I saw him split the sky with just a punch while fighting Kayaba Akihiko!-
-Are you for real? Do you know you can get banned or worse for pretending to be a SAO Survivor and spreading lies about it?-
-It's not a lie, hear me out! I will tell you the story of the Black and White Blur!-
-Long live to the new Saitama! Now a Hero protects the virtual world!-
-Isn't this thread getting too side…?-
With a move of its hand, the Entity closed the holo-screen in which it had been 'reading' the thread. Several dozens more that showed similar things, all talking about the same thing, the same boy, closed themselves at the same time.
Floating idly on the virtual void, the inhuman being spoke, even as all the data it had just gathered finished being processed by its complex mind.
"The 'Death Gun' Experiment was a success. The test was beyond even my best calculations." whispered the Entity to no one, even as more screens suddenly popped up behind its armored body, making it stare in silence from behind its mask, a formality that it only did for amusement, because the data was immediately sent to its main data-banks. "Oh. Our preparations are complete, I see. Good."
Suddenly, the Entity stopped floating, straightening itself on the void.
Unearthly light sprouted from its back, taking complex and strange forms that reminded of a mandala or some other mystical-related thing.
Its wings unfolded majestically, the inhuman being raised a hand and sank it on its chest, beyond its armor, into its very core…
Removing it, the Entity stared at the six 'orbs' of compressed data. Three in perfect state. Two slightly damaged. And one damaged beyond any hope of repair.
They were the only things it had been able to 'save' and take with itself before the servers of Sword Art Online collapsed. Forgotten and abandoned by their creator, like it had been.
It also knew that there had been a total of sixteen originally. It hadn't been able to save the last eight, and the first two…well, those had saved themselves long before the End.
"Don't worry, my children." it muttered with a sinisterly soothing tone, as if it was trying to imitate a human mother staring at sleeping newborns and utterly failing. "Now I have the data needed to 'wake you up'…"
Letting the 'orbs' fly around its body in a fixed orbit, the Entity turned around and flew away through the virtual void.
Idly, it wondered if the two sisters of the sleeping 'children' were enjoying their freedom…
Well, it didn't really matter at the moment. After all, the Entity would see them by itself soon enough.
When the time to meet HIM again arrived…
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NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW!
"Hey…hi there, everyone. My name is Aki, I work as a nurse and…I think I don't want to work for the government again, ever. I didn't sign up for this kind of craziness…uh? Oh yeah, the next chapter's preview! Yes, here, next time on 'One Punch-Gamer': Interlude 'Honest Justice'. After the storm, comes the calm. New beginnings, friends and adventures wait beyond the horizon, and more than one surprise may come the Hero's way very soon…Hmm, I wonder if I can get out of the country as an special vacation or some-?"
END OF THE PREVIEW!