130Author's Note IMPORTANT FOR MOVING FORWARD
Well everyone, looks like this is the end of the story… Part One anyways. I understand that six chapters MAY seem pretty short for a story Arc, but hey I'm experimenting here. If you want to be ready when Part Two gets here, then there are two ways to do so. Either follow my account (plug plug) or for those of you that are following this story I'll send out a quick message in the form of a chapter for a few seconds which will send an alert to your inbox before I delete the chapter (much the same way I announced this reboot).
I've also got a small challenge for any artists out there. If you can make a Sword Art themed Ragna picture and allow me to use it, I'll post it one the next Arc's front page and give you credit on the front summary. I'm not expecting anyone to follow through since I realize how much I'm asking, but go on ahead and send me a message via PM if you're so bold…
Okay, added bonus. If you do turn in a piece of artwork, I'll allow you to pick the characters and setting for an interaction of your choosing. I'll likely leave the end result open so I can work with the dialogue, but here's just a bit of incentive for you artists reading this.
Hmm… Well, since I've got you here I might as well do the review responses now.
Dread Grim Reaper: REBEL ONE: ACTION!
ENDDRAGON69: Whoa dude, chill about Alice already. It's going to take some time regardless.
Redrangerlegacy: A good sum of Ragna's character for the last chapter.
lightkirinhuruname: If you're this addicted to it… then you might need to see a doctor.
Master S96: Ragna doesn't usually troll... but when he does, he trolls HARD.
TheEmeraldMage: Yeah, Silica did feel a little too… lolicon in her debut episode.
Wlyman2009: Thank you, and I'm trying to figure out that next chapter.
BlitzNuteral69: Well, considering this is the last chapter of Part One...
Guest: That's… a lot to consider
Zaralan: 1. Thank you. 2. Eh, she had good reason. 3. Soon enough I hope. 4. Undecided.
Touhoufanatic: Not to discredit your review, but we already spoke via PM.
VirusChris: Kirito and Silica's meeting was rather different and several floors higher. In the anime series, I don't think they've said where Silica got Pina. And for your other question, I've still got plans.
T-Man42: Heh, you wrote Celica instead of Silica… easy mistake.
ZilverX The Twin Writers: Bubbly Yuuki is Best Yuuki.
Guest (2): Ragna didn't get nearly enough points from Tao back in ChronoPhantasma, he's trying to make up for lost time.
A Special Kind of Stupid: I've already done both at the time of updating this.
Forsaken Dark Prince: Thanks for your mix of critiquing/approving the chapter that I've written up.
The Mad King Ben: I was actually pretty worried that my 'new' version was too similar to the old one, so I'm glad to see that people approve.
Medblare: I think that's what everyone was thinking… well those that weren't screaming 'EH?' like stereotyped Canadians.
The Unplanner: Paladins of Dawn was just a RPG esque name that I came up with involves a touch of symbolism if you squint. And yeah… I got plans for Silica to become a VERY important part of the team (every team needs a white mage).
fernandonoguera99: A rewrite hopefully means that there's going to be overall improvement.
Guest (3): Seven and Rain, eh? Well I have seen a bit of them, but there's still a lot I have to cover with the characters I've already introduced.
A BlazBlue Nerd: *Squints* Not sure if he really likes Terumi… Or just hates Kirito…
MIDNIGHT The Fallen One: Thanks for the review.
Well that's all I've got for now… Enjoy this chapter, I had fun writing it. See you in the next Part everyone!
Ciao!
"This isn't good; I knew that inserting my surprise guest into Sword Art would cause at least a few side effects, but this isn't something that I thought was in the realm of possibility," a mysterious and otherworldly figure thought to itself as it floated in the air, not exactly existing in the current world but able to Observe it clear as day. The chamber it was inside was a long and dark foyer that was empty saw for a large and massive for the stood patiently at the back of the room. By all accounts this is what the watcher should have found in this location... save for the dark fiery wisps that were emitting throughout the entire room.
"I should have checked this when he first got here," the figure sighed to itself. "If I'd bothered looking over the game data I could've already fixed this, but now the players already know where the boss dungeon is, they're preparing for an all out assault, and I can't interfere when they're this close... Great, now all I can do survey all of the other floor bosses to check for any other abnormalities in those areas. Meaning I might have to-"
"Rrrrrrr..."
"Hmm? What was- woah there!" The figure was forced to move from where is it was standing, mere nanoseconds before a razor sharp axe cleaved right through where it had been floating. "This thing... can it see me?" The massive figure didn't move for a long moment as the watcher stayed poised and ready in case it needed to dodge another strike. Then the figure headed to where it had been waiting before and stood still once more. "Guess it can't, not yet at least... but this is bad; the interference he generated on his arrival is actually causing it to evolve..."
The figure then sighed before it scratched the back of his head, it hand running through locks of dark spiky hair. "Looks like I'm going to be busy for a while; gonna need a whole lot of coffee to power me through observing all of these floors and... adapting them. As for this floor boss though..." The massive figure looked like it was about to move again, but this time a few strands of the dark wisps around the room flowed into the creature, seeming to empower the monster even further past its usual limit. "...If a single thing goes wrong here, it'll go from boss raid to massacre."
Sword VI: Deathbringer
"Wasn't Ragna supposed to have shown up by now?" Klein asked as he and the rest of his guild sat around the Tolbana arena, the same spot where the Reaper had won the tournament with Silica nearly a weak ago. "I messaged the guy earlier and he told me that he'd be here. The meeting's going to start soon..."
"Don't worry about him, he'll come through," Agil told the other player as he checked his Friend List. "Huh, looks like he's already in town... Wonder what took him so long to get here, I know he's got teleport crystals on him."
"Eh, he's always got something to do," Yuuki told the two. "I mean, even Silica said that when she was working with him they'd always get at least four quests done a day and those weren't the short ones that people constantly repeat for quick experience or items."
Silica herself was also here, but currently she was largely preoccupied by the group of people that had gathered around her and had taken interest in her new rare addition. In the time that the young knife user had spent with Ragna, the dragon egg that she had won in the tournament had finally hatched and revealed the tiny teal dragon that awaited inside. While it was weak at first, spending some time with Ragna level grinding had helped Silica's dragon to grow. She'd named it Pina and it was not only invaluable in the fields, caring for it was amazing stress relief for her back in town. The players looking at the dragon were pretty amazed by the fact that it could heal and were likely trying to get the two on their team.
"Someone's getting popular," Klein said, giving a small chuckle. "Maybe Ragna had the right idea throwing the match after all."
"I still doubt he thought this far ahead," Agil denied though he didn't seem too bitter about it. Checking the entrance, he then managed to pick out a familiar head of white hair. "There he is now. Hey Ragna!"
As he headed up toward the seats his friends (Ragna was slowly forcing himself to the actually use the word now) had taken, Klein seemed to gag as he realized that the Reaper wasn't coming up by his lonesome like he'd thought. Two girls were following close behind the Reaper, making it obvious that they were with him. Agil didn't exactly see what the big deal was and Yuuki was not-so-secretly pleased that Ragna had more friends than she'd given him credit for.
"Took you a while to get here," Agil noted to Ragna. "Hey Argo."
"'Ey yerself," the info broker told him in return. "We jus' needed someone ta get us here in time for the meeting. Ragna just happened to be the easiest guy to sucker into this."
"Tch, good luck 'suckering' me to be your guide next time," the Reaper muttered with a groan as Liz and Argo took their seats... only to become conscious of Klein's shocked expression at him. "...What'd I do to you now?"
"How many girls do you have following you!?" the whiskered katana user demanded, causing Ragna's face to grip his forehead and shake his head. "I'm serious!"
"For the love of god, they're not following me; this just happens to be my Info Broker and my Blacksmith," the Reaper informed him. "And speaking of smithing; you'd damn well better thank her."
"Thank her?" Klein asked in confusion. "Oh! My katana!" he said as he held the weapon up. "I guess that must mean that you're Lisbeth."
"Whoa, she's the one that made the boss's weapon?" one of the members of Klein's guild asked.
"She must have a pretty epic smithing skill if she worked on that thing!" another said.
"Yep that's me; proud owner of Lisbeth's Street-side Smith-shop!" she told him, shouting a little louder than Ragna thought she needed to (obviously for advertising). "You're liking your new katana then?"
"Liking it? Hell, I love this thing! It's even upgraded with that special material that you need for that really challenging dungeon... almost like Ragna wanted me to be safe in case I ever went there."
"That one was a coincidence; I just happen to have some of the material left over," Ragna said as he gruffly crossed his arms, not giving anyone on his team an inch. 'Leave it to Liz to send a message that I REALLY don't want to be sent... At least she couldn't have possibly-'
"That reminds me, I've got another piece here and ahead of schedule no less!" Liz declared proudly as she went into her options menu. Ragna grimaced as she brought out a large two-handed axe. "This one's for Agil, and I've put nothing but the best upgrades I could on this piece."
"Nothing but the best?" Agil repeated as he took the axe, using his Appraisal skill to look over its stats. "Holy... this thing's up there alright, puts my current axe to shame." Agil then switched his present weapon out for the one he'd just gotten. "Damn, how much is this thing worth?"
"Don't worry about it in the slightest, I already got payment on it in full," the pink hair said with a smile as she turned to Ragna, who had yet to uncross his arms.
"Tch... Don't get the wrong idea," he muttered darkly.
"What? That you specifically asked me to make sure Agil had the best weapon I could make him for the boss raid?"
"Lisbeth!" Ragna shouted angrily, starting to get tired of these games. Everyone in his current group then started laughing at the Reaper's partial expense while he only kept glaring at his blacksmith. 'Expensive and annoying... This cover story better damn well be worth it.'
"Hey!" came a shout from the bottom of the arena. "We're about to get this meeting started! Everyone take your seats and I'll fill you in on the raid details!"
'All I need to hear is the dungeon location,' Ragna thought to himself. 'After that I'll have to book it to the boss chamber if I'm going to finish that thing off before anyone else arrives. Depending on how strong this thing is, I could be cutting it close, and Klein or the others could try to look me up on their friend's list so I don't have time to-'
"Excuse me," a voice on the steps behind Ragna said to him, interrupting his thoughts. The owner of the voice appeared to be a girl around Liz and Yuuki's age, but it was hard to tell with the hood that was covering much of her face. All he could tell from her equipment was that she was keeping a rapier at her side. "We're trying to get through."
"...Sorry about that," Ragna said to her as he made way for her to pass along with her friend. This girl didn't have a hood covering her face, so Ragna was able to make out her details. She had blonde mid-length hair that wasn't likely not its natural color due to the small earring Ragna identified on her right ear. She had dark eyes and kept a single-handed sword on her back, much the same way Yuuki did. It appeared that the two were together and they made their way to the upper seats.
"Okay, I think this is everyone," someone down on the stage said, addressing the crowd. He was one of the older players, probably college age. He had light blue hair and was wearing heavier armor along with a shield, giving him more a tanker role. "My name's Diabel and I've been working hard to figure out this floor and I think we've gotten the answer we've been searching for... but at the cost of several player. Already nearly 2000 players have died on just the first floor."
"T-Two thousand!?" Klein demanded. "We've already lost that many!?"
"Some of those are the people that had their nerve gear forcefully removed on the outside," Agil reminded him. "Still, all of those people dead from this game..."
"I know it's disheartening to hear this, but we can still pull through and survive this thing," Diabel told him. "We've already got the floor dungeon discovered; The Great Kobold Fortress." Ragna had heard of the dungeon and knew its location, but he hadn't explored it yet. Now knowing where the dungeon was, he started looking around for an opening to escape. "We're not sure if other players are arriving late, so I've actually planned on holding the boss raid tomorrow; we'll all head out around noon meaning we'll be able to hit the boss itself sometime in the mid-afternoon."
'Tomorrow, eh?' Ragna thought to himself with the slightest of smiles as he allowed himself to relax. 'Looks like now all I've got to do is wait for everyone else to fall asleep, no need to slip out now...' What the Reaper didn't realize was that he'd made his actions somewhat obvious and that they'd been seen.
"With that out of the way, I think it's time that we discussed strategy," Diabel suggested. "Our first move is-"
"WAIT A DAMN SECOND!" a new voice called out, interrupting the raid's leader. Another player with orange hair shaped into spikes atop his head then leaped down to the center stage. "My name is Kibaou, you got that!? I've got a bone to pick with all of the beta testers in this game!"
'There's that term again,' Ragna thought to himself. 'From what Argo's told me, the 'Beta' was an earlier version of this thing that could only be played by a few players. A lot has changed from the beta to the version we're all stuck in now, but-'
"All of the beta testers had a leg up in this game right from the start and they used that to leave the rest of us normal players in the dust!" Kibaou shouted, confirming what Ragna had been about to consider. "While the new players were stuck risking life and limb on level grinding for hours, all of the beta players took all of the easy quests and left the rest of us to rot! It's cause of them that those 2000 players are dead!" Out of the corner of his eye, Ragna noticed Argo strain slightly at the words. He didn't address it (now wasn't the time), but he had a feeling what it meant. "We've got some beta players here, I know it! They should be giving us the col, items, and equipment that they got off of all of the players they left to die! Come on!"
No one said a thing, though several of the players glanced around with a look of concern. All of times only now had someone decided to call the beta testers out on their supposed attitude and now it was creating a divide when they'd need unity the most. Even if Ragna decided to head out and kill off the boss in secret, the effect of Kibaou's words would linger and breed distrust among the players, especially if there was a known beta tester in the group... that was when Agil decided to stand.
'What now?' Ragna thought with a sigh as the large axe user made his way down. When he got to the bottom, he walked up to Kibaou. The supposed antagonizer was put off guard as he noticed how much Agil was towering over him.
"Kibaou, right?" Agil asked as he brought a book out from his pocket. "You know what this is?"
"Yeah, it's a player guide. Why the hell does that matter?" Kibaou angrily shouted back.
"Well you know who made this?" the axe user asked. "The ex-beta testers did." Kibaou's face showed a harsh grimace as Agil turned to face the players. "This isn't the first book they've put out either; they covered everything from the basics to more advance details to even some recent discoveries. They've been given lower level players more resources to survive than you think. I know the fact is that it wasn't enough for some of them and that we still lost plenty of players, but can't let that stop us. The Betas are stuck here the same as us, so we're going to have to work with them if we're going to get out of this deathtrap."
"...Tch," Kibaou hissed as he headed back to the seats and roughly took his, crossing his arms bitterly.
"That guy's gonna be a problem," Argo muttered from her top seat.
"Yeah, no kidding," Ragna had to agree. "By the way, Beta Guides? You couldn't have just told me about those?"
"Didn't think you'd have the patience to read."
"That's no excuse not to at least bring them up," he accused her with a glare.
"I'm not trying to rip ya off, 'sides I don't need to; not like yer my only customer," Argo told him.
"So I can take my questions to another Info Broker?" he threatened.
"I'm still the best in the business," Argo taunted. "'Sides, finding another Info Broker means you'd have ta talk with pe'ple." Ragna didn't say anything, merely giving a small smirk before poking her in the forehead. "Yeah, that's what I though."
"Moving on to strategy," Diabel told them from down below. "Thanks to the beta guide, we know that the boss is massive Kobold named Ilfang the Kobold Lord and he has a group of minions surrounding him called Ruined Kobold Sentinel. Ilfang himself uses a bone axe and a leather shield and has four bars of health. When he drops to the last third of his health he should switch out for a weapon called a Talwar which will give him access to skills from the katana skill tree. Our plan is a simple one; half of the teams will be focused on destroying the sentinels while the rest of us handle Ilfang. We'll attack in two distinct waves; once the first wave has done their part, they retreat and heal while the second wave covers them."
"A by th' books boss raid," Argo summarized. "Well this is only the first boss."
"You're not seriously going to fight a floor boss, are you?" Ragna questioned.
"Yeah we are, you never know what kind of business saying that you were part of the first boss raid will bring," Liz told Ragna. "Sides, I've leveled up a few times already after upgrading your gear. I can hold my own against at least a sentinel."
"...Whatever," Ragna muttered to himself, knowing that by tomorrow morning none of this will have mattered.
"Any experience, col, or items that you earn in the boss chamber you'll get to keep," Diabel informed wrapping up the strategy. "If you haven't already, form into teams and get any last minute upgrades to your equipment that you need. Let's beat this boss people!"
There was a small amount of cheering from the crowd, some of the members confident they could handle this thing... Ragna almost felt bad that he was about to take all of that away... almost.
That Night
'I should probably wait a little longer,' the Reaper thought to himself as he stood off to the side of the main plaza. 'Once the rest of my team turns in for the night, I'll make my way to the dungeon and kill that Ilfang monster myself... There's no reason to get more people involved here than I need to.'
Most of the players that were in Tolbana were in the square at the center of town; drinking talking and being genuinely merry despite what was about to happen in the morning. A few players had even pooled some Col together in order to hire a few NPC minstrels to play music for the group, something slow and Celtic. Ragna didn't much feel like joining in the festivities, only being seen now so that he'd have an alibi for later.
"Someone's being moody again," Ragna heard a teasing voice say. Yuuki was approaching him with her knuckles on her hips and a bright smile on her face. The Reaper didn't say anything in response. "C'mon, you should at least join in the drinking... even if that's all Klein and Agil are doing."
"You're not supposed to get drunk in this thing, so there's not much of a point to that," Ragna told her, apparently not one for social drinking (not like his healing factor would let him get drunk in the first place). "What about the others?"
"Silica's having trouble fending off her fan club; keeps trying to insist that she's already got a partner she likes working with." Despite his best efforts, the corners of Ragna mouth twitched upwards for a brief second... Yuuki took that as a win. "As far as Lisbeth, she's being swamped by last second orders while Argo's getting rich selling any info that she can."
"And that just leaves you..." he muttered. "Go on then, find something fun to do."
"That's why I'm coming to talk to you," she insisted.
"Me? C'mon, you know how stale I can be outside of combat," the Reaper insisted. "Go find some other player to talk to, grab some good food... something."
"Cool, which of those are you going for?" Yuuki asked, not giving Ragna an inch. "We're going to have a tough fight tomorrow, so I'm not letting you be all moody tonight."
"I just can't win with any of you, can I?" Ragna rhetorically questioned with a sigh. 'Just this once Ragna... JUST this once.' "...Fine, what do you want to do?"
"...You're letting me choose?" Yuuki asked him with some surprise. "Really?"
"Go ahead, just don't expect this is kind of attitude from me all the time," he told her with a shrug. "So what's it going to be?"
"Hmmm... How about dancing?" Yuuki asked him thoughtfully.
"You... you want to dance with me?" a confused Reaper asked as he looked around. "No one else is dancing."
"I know, but there's music playing and who knows if we could get other people to join us," Yuuki told him with a smile before she considered. "You... you don't know how to dance... do you?"
"Kind of a dumb question," Ragna admitted. "I can keep rhythm in combat, I'm pretty flexible, and I know how to move so it isn't awkward... I guess the only thing I'm missing is any dance moves." He may have been giving himself a little too much credit, but compared to killing gods dancing was a simple enough matter. "Still... the music that they're playing is pretty slow to dance to."
"Then we'll just have to do a slow dance together," Yuuki told him with a bright smile. Ragna gave her a rather strange look. "What?"
"No offense, but I don't think I can dance with you..." he told her.
"And why's that?" she demanded, starting to get slightly annoyed at Ragna.
"Well... your height for one thing," Ragna offered as he looked down at the purple haired girl before him. This didn't sit well with Yuuki and she immediately grabbed his arm to drag him closer to the performers. "...Yuuki..."
"You're not getting out of this after that!" Yuuki told him as she brought him before the minstrels. "Come on... start dancing."
"Um... I don't think you're supposed to hold both of my hands and try to shake them..." Ragna suggested as he looked down at her. "You don't have any idea of how to do this either... do you?"
"...Be quite and dance with me," Yuuki only told him as she slowly rocked to the music. Ragna gave a groan, but complied nonetheless and did his damnedest to avoid the few snickers he was getting.
"Hey Klein, what was the last thing you expected to see when you got up this morning?" Agil asked with a chuckle as the two continued to down their drinks.
"C'mon man I don't usually think about stuff like that, especially here," the redhead said before he followed Agil's line of sight. "...That one's up there though."
"Wonder how she managed to get him to dance," Agil thought to himself.
"...I can't let that guy have all of the fun," Klein demanded before running off to look for a dance partner of his own... Agil deadpanned as he noticed his friend was mistakenly trying to flirt with an NPC, but didn't have the heart to deter his efforts.
"Finally, that's the last of them," Lisbeth said with satisfaction as she packed up the last of her shop a few streets down from the square. She'd just managed to make one heck of a good pay day and there wasn't a single customer that had left disappointed with her work.
"P'rfect timing," Argo the Rat said with a snicker. "Got somethin' for you ta see, should put a smile on that face a yers."
"That right?" Liz asked as she followed behind the info broker. "What's so... is Ragna dancing with Yuuki?"
"Yep."
"Willingly?"
"Surprisingly."
"Even though he obviously wants nothing to do with it?"
"Almost certainly," Argo said before getting a wicked grin. "Let's try and get the next dance in aft'r this song ends. 'Kay? He ain't getting' out that easy."
"I... I guess," Liz said as she noticed some of the other players glancing Ragna's way and talking under their breath most likely trying to make fun of him. "Alright, I'll dance with him next."
'Interesting,' an invisible force thought to itself as observed the scene from the skies above. 'This character shows very unusual behavior that goes against most of society's norms... but he seems to reinforce confidence in others just by being around them in some cases. His attitude could be classified as both 'bleak' and 'uncaring', yet his actions show that this is clearly not what he wants. His underlying care for his peers is... bountiful.' The force then saw that the performing minstrels had finished their song, but by checking his coding it realized that had been its last song it was going to perform. There was a sudden jolt felt by both the force and the minstrels, right before the minstrels began playing the next song, leaving the confusing enigma to dance with with his Blacksmith as she approached the duo. '...W...Was I... Was I the cause of that?'
Past Midnight
"...Now," Ragna said aloud, though there was no one to hear him. Rising from his bed and getting a crick out of his neck. The Reaper left his room at the Inn and headed to the bottom floor. Staying in the shadows so not even the NPC would notice him, Ragna exited the Inn and felt the simulated cold air of the night. "...I should have plenty of time, but I gotta hurry and... Eh?"
"Excuse me?" came a feminine voice that was followed shortly by footsteps. Turning his head, Ragna's eyes landed on two familiar faces, one of which was smiling.
"You two... you were there during the raid briefing, weren't you?" he then crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes into a glare. "What do you want?"
"Hey, hey, no need to look so scary," the blonde one said to him as she kept smiling. "You're heading out into the fields aren't you?"
'Dammit, were these chicks waiting for me? How the hell did they figure out what I was doing?' Ragna thought to himself with worry. "Yeah... I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd get some last second levels in before the raid... I won't be long."
"In that case, do you mind if we go with you?" the blonde asked again. "My friend and I here are kind of in the same boat as you. We'll do better off if we stick together out there."
'Shit.' "Actually, I've only got one Teleport Crystal on me so it'll be hard to escape if things turn sour," Ragna tried to argue back. 'Let's hope they don't-'
"Oh, but don't you know? Everyone in your party gets teleported when you use a crystal. All we have to do is form up and you can save us all with the crystal," the blonde said yet again.
'Dammit, she does know.' Ragna said before he sighed and sent over the invite details. 'Might as well try to save face. They'll get tired sooner or later.' "Fine... You can stick with me for a bit."
"Great," the blonde said, not dropping her smile as she accepted. "You can probably tell by the screen, but my name is Leafa. Nice to meet you."
"...Asuna," said the young woman in a hood.
"She doesn't talk much," Ragna noted before shrugging. "Works for me."
"...You never told us your name," the girl now known as Asuna noted.
"Why bother? You can read it on your screen, right?" Ragna told her. The hooded girl didn't answer. "...Ragna then." 'Dammit, this is exactly what I was trying to avoid. It's alright, I just got to go level grinding with them until they get too tired to go on. Then I try this again.'
Two Hours Later
'Oh god dammit,' Ragna heatedly swore in his head as he cleaved through another Kobold. As the time skip suggested, he'd been out in the fields for quite some time now and neither girl had showed any sign of tiring in their hunt of experience. He'd considered dropping the party and ditching them, but he was worried that they could get killed out here if he tried that. As bad as it was looking for the plan... he could at least admit that these girls had some skill.
Asuna was quick on her feet and amazingly fast with her rapier, swarming her foes with countless stabs that would defeat them in one attack phase. If it wasn't for the excelled perception that Ragna had gotten from Jubei, he wouldn't have been able to make out her attacks. Leafa on the other hand was... fearless. It didn't seem to matter how many of a monster or how close to attacking they were. If she saw a weak point or a chance to finish off a monster she went for it. Ragna had thought she'd have been hit at least a few times with this kind of strategy, but apparently she'd had practice fighting like this.
"...We should probably stop here," the Reaper finally decided. He knew that he still a chance to pull of a plan, even if he wouldn't get any sleep that night, but in order to do that he'd have to get rid of the girls now. "Come on, let's head back to town-"
"So you can head to the boss dungeon without us?" Leafa demanded, interrupting the Reaper. Turning to the young blond, he raised an eyebrow and she crossed her arms.
"Now... why the hell do you think I'd do something like that?" he questioned the both of them. This was probably one of the worst places in the game for an interrogation, but Ragna had the feeling these girls weren't about to drop their accusations there.
"We saw you after the floor dungeon had been revealed. I don't know what it was, but you clearly looked like you were trying to make a run for it after the announcement, only bothering to stay behind once they told us we were going to raid the dungeon the next day."
'They're observant then,' Ragna thought to himself. "But... If I really wanted to do it alone, then why the hell did I spend the time and money getting everyone in my group ready for the raid?" He tried to play the red herring he'd created, having previously thought he'd have only need it after the boss had been defeated.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out; it looks like you wanted to make sure they were ready, but why?" Leafa scowled at him. "And it looked like everyone in your party really cares for you, so why are you doing this?"
"...How about you mind your own damn business?" Ragna told her off, deciding on the more blunt approach. "This doesn't concern you."
"Do you realize what could happen? You'd die out there!" Leafa said.
"What's it matter to you if I do; we just met," Ragna reminded. He didn't what he had said, but all of a sudden the girl started shaking her eyes hitting the floor. "What are you...?"
"...Is it that wrong...?" Leafa said as she gripped her fists tightly. "Is it that wrong that I don't want to see anyone else die? ...You know what happens to you when you die in here... your brain gets electrocuted by your headset..." She looked up and Ragna saw the intense tears in her eyes. "I CAN'T SEE THAT AGAIN!"
11/6/2022 1:04PM
"I can't believe I forgot my phone," a young dark haired girl said to herself as she entered her house, still dressed in her Kendo uniform. "I'm going to be so late now... Grandpa's going to kill me..." She managed to find her phone quickly enough, but that was before she saw that the kitchen sink was still filled with dishes. "Come on, he promised..."
Normally she could handle the dishes herself, but she was already running late. If her grandfather came back and they weren't done, then her cousin would be... Sighing to herself, she marched into his room and say him laying on his bed, the nerve gear helmet already on his head. She tried shaking him awake.
"Come on... Grandpa's going to take that away if you don't get up... Come on... Just..." She growled as he wasn't responsive. Moving her eyes to the head gear, she took a hold of it in both of her hands and...
BZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTT!
"Wha... wha..." Her eyes widened as the nerve gear violently shook itself off from her cousin's head. "K...K..." Blood started to slowly fall from his head... he wasn't moving... he wasn't breathing.. "Ka... Ka... Ka..." His mouth hung open with drool slowly falling out, his hair was jutting out in all directions and the room started to smell of burnt flesh. She fell to her knees. "KAZUTO!"
Back to the Present
Leafa was in tears as she recounted to story, Asuna did her best to try and comfort her friend while Ragna just watched the two his arms crossed as he said nothing. The beast for that point would be respawning soon, so Ragna kept a hand on his teleport crystal, staying ready in case any monsters were to appear.
"Th-that's why..." Leafa cried. "Th-that's why I can't let anyone else die... not even if it doesn't matter to you... It'll matter to them..." Ragna had a feeling she was talking about the people in his group. "I... already had to watch my brother die... I won't let anyone else go through that!
"But if you knew what would happen...So you're here voluntarily," Ragna summarized as he shook his head... that was when he noticed that Leafa had brought out her longsword, even while her eyes were still filled with tears. "...What are you doing?"
"Stopping you... with force if I have to!" Leafa shouted at him. Ragna saw that Asuna had also readied her rapier. "I... I won't let you go out there and kill yourself... Even it's just you... Even if it's just once... I'M GOING TO SAVE SOMEONE!"
"...Tch, seriously?" Ragna sighed. That was before he put his hand into his coat. Asuna saw the shine of knife from within and tried to shout a warning, but Ragna had already thrown the weapon, striking the monster that had been approaching the two while they lay fixated on him. Leafa glanced back in surprise for only a moment before Ragna glanced at his screen. 'Wait, I just got...' He shook his head before closing it. "...Fine."
"Fine? What do you mean fine?" Leafa muttered clearly aghast.
"I got the level up I wanted; you won't be hearing from me until we head out tomorrow," Ragna promised as he shook his head and grabbed out his teleport crystal. "Tolbana." There was a powerful flash of light around the three of them as the three appeared back in the city atop the teleportation stand. "...We're going to have busy day tomorrow, so get some sleep."
"And... you won't run out on us?" Leafa asked him, her eyes still a touch watery.
"...Even I have limits to how cold-hearted of a bastard I can be," Ragna assured her before turning to Asuna. "...Make sure she gets somewhere safe." She gave him a simple nod and helped her friend elsewhere leaving Ragna to give a sigh. 'Damn... things just got a lot more complicated, didn't they?'
The Next Morning
"So... how exactly did this happen?" Agil asked as he scratched his head with confusion. Ragna's group (along with the entirety of Klein's guild) were sitting at a collection of tables that the two groups had put together in order to accommodate everyone for breakfast. The prompt for Agil's questioning was the two new girls that were also sitting at the table with the two. Leafa tried to look pleased to be there, but after last night's story Ragna was wondering how much of that was genuine happiness and how much was just a mask. Asuna just seemed to sit quietly for the moment.
"Ran into both of them last night after the party and we snuck in some late night hunting," Ragna told the group as they waited for their meals to arrive. "...Not a problem if they stick with us during the raid is it?"
"I mean... I guess not," Liz told Ragna. "We're just sorta... surprised. Two new members in a single night?"
"Is it really that out there? We're going to need everyone we can get for this boss raid," the Reaper told them, though he decided to ignore Leafa's 'coincidental' cough.
"I guess I'll buy that," Argo snickered. "Either that or someone's trying to get a turn to dance with ya." Ragna's glare at the rat was scalding. "Just sayin', you managed to get a couple of other people to dance."
"Myself included," Klein boasted proudly. Puffing his chest out slightly.
"Oh right, you were dancing with-" Ragna had been about to say NPC, but the look Agil was sending his way convinced him otherwise. "That... dark haired chick... Good for you." Klein gave Ragna another smile, and the Reaper admitted he could at least feel a little happy for the guy... at least until he eventually found out the truth (burn that bridge when you get to it though... okay, if you get to it).
"Sorry for the wait everyone; but I brought everyone's food," an NPC waitress said as she brought several trays worth of food forward. Ragna waited until she was gone before starting on the oatmeal he'd ordered... and grimacing at the taste and texture.
"Something wrong with the food?" Liz asked Ragna from beside him.
"Yeah... I'm starting to see why you get me to pay all that extra for that C class food." Ragna then noticed everyone start to attempt to say something at once. "I'm not giving anyone permission to sucker a meal out of me though." They decidedly stopped the attempt.
"You... could try putting time into a cooking skill." Everyone stopped as they turned to stare at the mostly silent Asuna. "I've... started doing some work on my own... It gets better after some time, but it takes time, effort, and somewhere to cook everything."
"You never told me you could cook," Leafa said to her friend. "That's a pretty good skill to have. What about you Ragna?"
"I fight," he told her plainly before noticing the 'really' glance he was getting from everyone. "Back home... Outside of the game... I used to be a pretty damn good cook myself... Haven't had the time to work it out in here though."
"...Maybe we could try cooking some time?" Asuna offered. Ragna shrugged at the invitation, but the noticed Klein's chuckle.
"Something funny?"
"Nah, just... I think you're well on your way to forming your own guild, despite your attitude clearly saying otherwise," the katana user told him. Ragna didn't dignify that with a response, instead deciding to return to his bowl of tasteless oats… no matter how much it killed him to consume food of this low caliber.
Later -Outside of Ilfang's Chamber-
'Dammit, one obstacle after another...' Ragna thought to himself as he grit his teeth. 'First I can't fight this thing on my own and now I'm supposed to focus on the underlings? Bullshit!' The raid group had just made it to the door that would lead into the boss chamber, but for now everyone was getting ready with their last minute skills and preparations. 'This just puts me in a bad mood.'
"Hey you," Ragna heard. His eyes landed on Kibaou, the guy from the previous day that had nearly caused a divide between the new blood and the beta players. He was looking at Ragna with a glare, so it was clear to the Reaper that he wasn't about to hear any compliments for slaying monsters on the way over here. "Get a different weapon."
"Excuse me?" Ragna asked as he returned the antagonizer's glare with one of his own.
"I said use a different weapon; if you're trying to look cool swinging that broken hunk of junk around you're just going to get killed in the fight."
"My Blacksmith has been giving this only the best upgrades she can. It worth more than any piece of crap you've got on you," Ragna retorted. By now a few people were noticing the two as it looked like they might trade blows.
"Hey, hey, hey! That's enough!" the raid leader, Diabel, shouted as he walked forward. "If you two want to fight then save it for later. You two act like that in there and the whole plan can fall apart. You understand me?"
"Tell that to the weakest link," Kibaou said as he walked off standing against the wall as he waited for the raid to begin. Diabel just gave a sad sigh.
"You really think it was a good idea to bring him with us?" Ragna asked the raid leader as he took a good look at Kibaou. "Not saying I'm innocent, but that guy's obviously trying to start a fight."
"I know what it looks like, but I did some talking with him last night at the party," Diabel told him. "He... he's sort blunt, but he means well and he's willing to do whatever we need to finish the boss." He then turned to Ragna. "You're on the first wave, right?"
"No; I'm focusing on the minions," Ragna said, just a bit of disappointment hiding in his tone.
"Don't let that deter you; you've got a really important job," Diabel told him as he gave Ragna's shoulder a strong tap. "We're counting on you out there."
"...I'll definitely do my part then," Ragna promised. Diabel seemed happy with this and headed back to continue putting the final touches on the raid preparation. '...I guess if there's any real advantage here, I can see if the players here can actually handle the real thing without me. Here's hoping...'
Soon the dreaded moment came; the doors to the boss dungeon were flung open. Players all rushed in with a battle cry as the room became lit showing the massive form of Ilfang as the boss gave a low growl. Monster were summoned before him, likely the Kobold Sentinels that Ragna had been tasked with beating down. As the majority of the players made their way to the boss, Ragna headed to wipe out the Kobold's.
Bringing his sword out, Ragna gave a powerful swing and managed to take a good chunk out of the Kobold's health. Normally he was fast enough that he could chain enough attacks together and finish off the best right then and there, but here he was on display for many players to see. He needed to make sure that he held back enough so that he didn't stand out here. As the monster was stunned by the force of his attack, Leafa came from his left and managed score a hit across the monster chest before Asuna came forward and destroyed the creature with a rapid hit technique that finished off the monster's remaining portions of health.
Klein and the rest of his guild had also been put on minion suppression duty, and much like he'd been telling everyone his katana's amazing stats were putting him above the other players. The Kobold Sentinel attacking his group stood no chance as his group managed to defend against the attacks and get the occasional hit in, he activated a move with his katana and surged forward. Cutting the creature through the torso, the monster shattered to pieces and left Klein with a cocky smirk.
Argo, Silica, and Lisbeth were also a team that had been assigned to wiping out the Sentinels. Despite two of the three members using only daggers, Lizbeth's mace made up for the lower damaging weapon with a much more hard hitting one. As the Sentinel made heavy attack forward with its mace, Liz managed to block the attack with her own mace and put herself in a weapon's lock with the monster. While she kept its attention on her, Silica and Argo moved quickly with her dagger, both cutting into the monster and managing to damage it. The monster quickly withdrew its weapon to wind up for another attack, but Liz beat it and managed to strike the monster down with a heavy blow to its head.
Out of all of the players in Ragna's group, only Agil had been selected to be a part of the team that was focusing on the boss. Agil may not have used a shield, but his heavy armor and large axe gave him a decent tanker/dps role. As part of the second wave, Agil managed to counter Ilfang's more powerful slashes and could even take a few hits himself. He couldn't move as fast sure, but as long as he could tell where he needed to be there wasn't much of a problem.
'Looks like we're in the clear,' Ragna noted as he kept his eye on the others as he cut down the last of the minions. No one's health had hit the dangerous red zone and those that weren't at full were either in the low greens or upper yellows meaning they could afford to take a hit or two. To further solidify their progress, Ilfang then threw away its bone ax and shield and grabbed out its massive Talwar.
"We just need to finish up strong," Leafa said from beside him. "As long as things go according to plan, then-!"
"HE'S MINE!" came a shout as single player charged forward to take on Ilfang along. Ragna had been expecting to see Kibaou trying to hog all of the glory, but was surprised to see Diabel standing before the group as he readied a skill onto his longsword.
"What's he trying to-?" Ragna was about to question before harshly wincing. 'The hell!?' he swore before recognizing the feeling and glancing at his BlazBlue as it painfully throbbed. 'Something's throwing this thing off; something clo-' Ragna's eyes widened as he identified the source. "YOU IDIOT! GET OUT OF THERE!" he shouted… all too late.
As Diabel's sword skill sent him flying forward towards the boss, Ilfang didn't make a move until he was right on top of him. Letting out a massive roar, an explosion of black flames appeared around the boss as it set the Raid Leader off of his feet. Everyone gave a gasp as Ilfang's already towering form seemed to grow even larger… and were filled with panic as they watched his four health bars completely refill. Taking a single massive swing forward, Ilfang caught Diabel square in the chest and sent him flying through the air and sending his health straight into the red.
"Someone catch him!" Leafa shouted. "If he takes fall damage now-!"
Since the attack had sent him so far back, Ragna was the closest to save. Taking off in a quick run, he leapt into the air and caught the blue haired warrior before the two crashed to the floor and Ragna blunted the damage. It was too soon to celebrate as Diabel's HP continued to slowly decrease.
"Dammit… please tell me…" Ragna groaned to himself as he went into his items. For once luck was on his side as it appeared he still had the final health potion that Klein had given him when the two first met. "Thank god…" he said as he tried to offer it to Diabel.
"D… Don't," the knight said as he pushed the potion away while wincing harshly. "I… screwed us all over…"
"The hell are you-?" Ragna tried to protest right before he heard a collection of screams. Apparently Ilfang had moved onto the rest of the raid party, sending several of them flying with just a single slash, all of them were less than a quarter health from the one slash. Other players tried to cover those fallen, but they were just beaten out of the way.
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THIS THING!" one of the shield users shouted only to see Ilfang inhale sharply before exhaling a huge burst of black flames that sent every player fleeing back.
"HE… HE SHOULDN't HAVE A BREATH ATTACK!"
"THIS ISN'T LIKE THE BETA AT ALL!" another player screamed before getting blasted back. "GAH!"
"WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!"
"TH-THIS BOSS CAN'T BE BEATEN! WE'RE ALL STUCK ON FLOOR ONE!"
"HOLD ON DAMN IT!" Agil shouted as he tried to counter one of the attacks with an axe skill only to get blasted back. "GAH!"
"AGIL!" Silica shouted as she tried to hurry and heal him.
"I-It doesn't matter…" one of the players said as they were shaken by the monstrous Ilfang as it destroyed the entire raid strategy. "We-we can't beat this thing! CAN'T YOU SEE!? WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE IN HERE! THEN OUR HEADS-!"
"N-No…" Leafa said as she stared on, seeing all of the players that were about to die. "This… not… they can't…" Her sword glowing she rushed forward. "NOOOO!" Ilfang again let out a massive column of flames, right her way Leafa didn't care and would've run straight into it if Asuna hadn't tackled her out of the way at the last moment. Everywhere in the boss chamber there was chaos.
"Th-this is all my fault… I tried… To get the last hit bonus…" Diabel groaned while the situation around the two only grew worse. "I… I put myself ahead of the others... " Tears started falling from in his eyes. "I… I don't deserve to live…" Ragna didn't say anything. "Just get everyone out… everyone that you can… Find… find another way… We can't win this… We can't..."
(Cue Dragon Ball Super Ultimate Battle/Ultra Instinct Instrumental Epic Rock Cover)
"...Bullshit."
"What are you-?" Diabel asked, right before Ragna shoved the last healing potion into his mouth. The blue haired leader coughed on the sudden liquid entering his throat as Ragna dropped him and slowly headed towards Ilfang, Diabel's health finally stabilizing behind him.
"You think just because you screwed up once..." Ragna said before looking to the downed forms of the fighters. "Or that you've hit a wall..." He then glared at the monstrous form of the first floor boss. "Or if things look impossible... That you're allowed just give up and die?"
"R-Ragna...?" Leafa asked as Ragna made his way forward standing between the growling form of the first floor boss and the players with barely any life left. Silica came up behind him, trying to use Pina to help heal the downed players while Klein, Yuuki, and Agil tried to drag others out of danger.
"If a god forsaken asshole like me can still keep fighting..." he began before taking his weapon out with a powerful swing. "THEN THE REST OF YOU HAVE NO DAMN EXCUSE!" Ilfang then gave a roar as it rushed forward, its talwar glowing a baleful crimson red as it made a massive slash at Ragna.
CLANG!
Ragna lurched under the titanic force of the attack, but he wasn't pushed back and held his ground. Giving an intense battle cry, he shoved Ilfang's sword off to the side and drove his sword through the creature. Ilfang readied its breath attack, but Ragna lunged upward and slammed his fist into Ilfang's snout sending the monster off balance before it blasted the ceiling with black flames. Gripping his sword with both hands, Ragna activated a sword skill and cut the thing across its back. The boss tried a massive swipe behind it with his Talwar, but Ragna backstepped the attack completely before activating Horizontal Slash and cutting the creature once more. Sliding to a stop, Ragna twisted his body into a full roundhouse kick that struck Ilfang's gut with enough force to send the boss reeling back.
Deflecting two of the boss's heavy attacks with his own blade, the Reaper plunged his sword into the creature's gut. Before Ilfang could react, Ragna sent a jawbreaking uppercut to the creature's face with enough power behind it that he lifted the Kobold off its feet. Swinging his blade downwards, he managed to catch the monster and sent it to the ground, the barely managed to keep its footing at it skidded on the surface once more. Ilfang then charged at Ragna, swinging its Talwar rapidly and causing Ragna to return in force, every sudden connection from their blades echoing across the great hall.
"What the hell...?" Klein muttered as he observed Ragna's fight with wide eyes. "H-He's holding him back!?"
"No…" came denial from Liz in her complete shock as she saw many of Ragna's strikes make it through the exchange. "He's SOLOING him!"
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Kibaou shouted from the sidelines.
By now Ilfang's health had already be cut down by more than half. As black flames danced around the creature, Ilfang gave a mighty roar and summoned more Kobold Ruin Sentinels around the room.
"It can summon more of them!?" Diabel shouted in disbelief, right before having to block a heavy mace with his shield. He lurched under the attack, right before the Kobold was impaled countless time by a Rapier and cut by a sword.
"WE CAN'T LET HIM DO EVERYTHING FOR US!" Asuna shouted as Ragna continued to take Ilfang's focus off the players. "EVERYONE STAND YOUR GROUND!"
"YEEEEEEAHHH!" the entire raid for shouted in a singular battle cry as they got their weapons and tried to take the last stand to fight. Sword skills flashed around the arena as every player fought for their lives. On the other side, Ragna and Ilfang's sword clashed one final time before both forces were sent flying bach a great distance, leaving the two to exchange one last heated glare with the other. The monster's health already at critical, Ragna openly charged forward for a final attack as Ilfang responded in kind.
"RAGNAAAAA!" Silica, Liz, and Argo shouted on the other side as they held off the Sentinels.
"FINISH HIM!" Asuna and Leafa called.
"COME OOON!" desperately cheered Agil and Klein.
Ilfang's charge picked up amazing speed, so much so that many of the player had difficulty even seeing the boss. Ragna returned the charge and rushed forward. The Kobold Lord's roar echoed across the chamber, matched only with Ragna's as he brought his sword back. Ilfang's sword became shrouded in black flames while Ragna held Bloodscythe out in a single arm. The two neared each other… before passing by each other in a blinding slash from both sides.
(End Theme)
Ilfang growled as it held its blade steady appearing still as the dust slowly settled around the exchange… then the players watched in awe as the boss's Talwar shattered to pieces in its hands. Ilfang barely managed to utter an unintelligent grunt before his face seemed to take a harsh blow, distorting like it had been ripped apart with light particles slowly emerging from the wound. The monster gave one final scream before it body was consumed by this effect, exploding much more violently than any other creature in the game prior. With the beast gone the rest of its minions disappeared and the other players saw Ragna on the far end of the hallway… standing with large scythe over his shoulder radiating black Seither energy.
"D… Did we-?" Diabel asked. It was then that sign came up in the middle of the dungeon. CONGRATULATIONS! it read. "We- we-"
"WE DID IT!" Klein shouted as the rest of his guild and several other players gave a massive shout to their victory. Ragna gave a breath of relief as he allowed his body to relax, though his weapon was still in its scythe form that he'd regained last night… on the same level up he'd earned with Leafa and Asuna.
"HOLD IT JUST A DAMN MINUTE!" came an angry shout that Ragna was growing further and further annoyed with. Kibaou was standing at the front of the group and was pointing angrily at Ragna, though it was clear he wasn't looking to get any closer to Ragna and his darkness radiating scythe. "How… how the hell do you have a weapon like that!?"
"...Your guess is as good as mine," Ragna told him., thinking that this guy should be a bit more thankful.
"BULL! There shouldn't be any like that this early in the game!" Kibaou shouted. "You… you must have hacked the game… OR YOU'RE JUST A DAMNED CHEATER!" He then looked at the other players. "If any Beta player out there has an explanation I'm all ears! Otherwise-!"
"Otherwise what?" Ragna interrupted, though he kept his tone surprisingly steady. "If you hadn't noticed, I'm stuck in this place same as you; I'll be using whatever the hell this is to clear this Death Game. So what's your real problem?"
"Don't give me that crap! I know what people like you would do with special techniques like that!" Kibaou shouted. "Players like you are only going to try extort and threaten the rest of us since you've got a leg up! You'll leave us to fight for our lives and make yourself the king of the friggin' mountain!"
Ragna scowled as he looked around the room. As whiney as he found Kibaou, his words seemed to have taken effect with most of the players. A few of them were looking at him in concern, while others whispered to himself that he could be a cheater. Others more were just confused by this development and unsure of what to think.
"...That's fine with me." Everyone turned in surprise as Argo made her way forward. "Ragna saved m' life before he so much as knew who I was and he's stuck his neck out for pe'ple like me more times than he needed to." She glared at Kibaou. "If ya gotta follow someone, I'm stickin' with him."
"Same here," Lisbeth agreed. "I'm not letting what he did for me go unthanked… I'd have gone out of business weeks ago without his kindness."
"He saved my life too, so I'm on his team!" Yuuki shouted in defiance of Kibaou's words.
"Damn straight," Agil asserted.
"Right!" Silica exclaimed as Pina gave a sound caw in agreement.
'Wh… who is this guy?' Leafa asked as she looked at Ragna and his team in awe, as did a majority of the other players.
"You… you think you've got everyone fooled, don't you…?" Kibaou said as his fisted hand shook in his rage before pointing accusingly at Ragna. "Well I'm not falling for whatever show you're putting on! Pull as many stunts as you want; I'LL NEVER FOLLOW YOU OR CALL YOU A DAMN HERO!"
"Hero…?" Ragna repeated slowly. "Her- ...Heh… Heh heh… Heh Heh Heh Heh... HeheheheheHAHAHAHAHAHABWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ragna's laughter was uncontrollable and everyone looked on him like he was completely mad; his hysterical sounds echoing across the entire boss chamber. "Who… Who the hell ever said I wanted to be a Hero!?" Ragna asked as he tried to force himself to calm down, all the while shooting Kibaou a dirty smirk.
"Wh-what?!" the antagonizer exclaimed.
"Hero sounds old, dated, and I don't think I come close to qualifying for something like that. "No, if you're going to call me anything…" Ragna swung his scythe though air and let it rest on his shoulder. "...Then go with Grim Reaper; that one sounds much more fitting."
"Why you…" Kibaou growled, glaring scathingly at the newly self-appointed Grim Reaper. "You…"
"Do everyone a favor and quit all of this petty shit; no one needs another problem to deal with," he told Kibou off. "Or don't, I can't really give a damn. While you're too busy trying to get everyone at each other's throats, I'll be out in the fields clearing this damn game." Allowing his weapon to revert back to its standard sword form, Ragna set his weapon back onto his belt and headed for the stairs that would take him to the next floor and the next challenge.
'That guy…' Diabel thought to himself. 'He's a hard one to read…' A small ding was heard as a screen appeared in front of him.
Ragna has sent you an item: Coat of Midnight.
'This… Was this supposed to be the last hit bonus?' Diabel thought to himself. He then looked up at the Grim Reaper as he made his way to the next level, only a few players deciding to follow a short distance behind him. '...Seriously, who the hell is he?'
Second Floor
(Cue Samurai Champloo Shikoku No Uta Full (5MIN)
Ragna didn't say a word as he stood at the top of the stairway, overlooking the entirety of the second floor as a breeze ran through his clothes and hair. The Reaper was at the peak of a rather large mountain, the large expanse of the second level of Sword Art Online sprawled out before him. The entire floor looked like it was one giant mountain range with only a few villages located either near the base or at the top of some of the smaller mountains. He said nothing as he observed the floor, only giving a soft smile as he heard light footsteps coming from behind.
"You got your wish…" he said to the first approaching person with a soft tone. "Everyone lived."
"The… they did," Leafa said as she came up behind him. "Th... thank you…"
"Looks like we've still got a ways to go though," Ragna said as he looked into the sky before smirking to the blonde. "Ah well, long as everyone has you to keep 'em out of trouble I think we'll be fine."
"You're putting a lot of pressure on me…" Leafa admitted.
"Only 'cause I know you're strong enough to take it," he complimented her, leaving Leafa to give only the smallest of smiles. Coming up behind them was the rest of Ragna's group along with Klein and his guild. Argo took a look around at her surroundings and seemed to freeze altogether. "Something wrong?"
"I-It's nothin'," she tried to assure him, though it was clear that she was shaken about something.
"So… One down, Ninety-Nine more to go," Klein said with a sigh. "This is going to take a while."
"Eh, keep your chin up; we'll manage," Agil said with a chuckle. "After all, we've got a Reaper on our side, don't we?"
"Kinda wish it didn't have to be the Grim Reaper," Liz said with a sigh as she remembered Ragna's usual attitude. "Guess I'll just have to take what I can get."
"I'm just happy Ragna's with us, grim or not," Silica said happily and Pina cawed in agreement.
"Eh… he still needs ta work on his attitude, but there's progress," Argo added in with a bit of a cackle.
"Tch, getting sappy on me?" Ragna said with minor discomfort as he scratched the back of his head… only to notice Klein was starting to tear up. "Dude… what's your-?"
"Just form a guild already!" the katana user shouted while crying, surprising everyone. "You've already got all of us here! Try to act as an ass all you want, you still got everyone ready for the boss raid when you didn't have to! ...Just accept that you're part of a team with all of us."
"But… you're already part of guild," Ragna told him with a sweat drop. "You're the leader of one in fact…"
"I can change sides!" Klein told him while still crying.
"Boss! You can't just disband the Fuurinkazan guild!" one of Klein's guild mates told him.
"We still need you!" another of them shouted.
"We were doing so well…" another protested.
"I'm not just going to disband us! We're going to create a new guild! Even bigger and better than this one!" Klein shouted as he pointed at Ragna. "And he's going to lead it with me!"
'...Seriously?' Ragna thought to himself. 'Klein's obviously got a few screws loose if he thinks I can lead a guild. Hasn't he picked up that I'm a lone wolf yet? ...Still...'
"...I think you should go for it," Asuna decided to tell him. Ragna could see the smile on her face, even under the hood of her traveling cloak. "People are going to need someone to look up to, someone they can believe in… it's easier to do that if they have a guild behind them."
"You people..." he sighed before… nothing. Ragna didn't move for a long moment, appearing to be absurdly deep in though. He thought to his past, his current struggles… and what could possibly lie ahead. Then he gave a small smile, one which seemed almost entirely at ease as he moodily put a hand on his hip to give him a slight slouch. "You're both crazy… but I guess you've got a point."
"So then-!?" the katana user asked excitedly.
"What the hell? Let's do it," Ragna told everyone in nonchalant agreement, surprising everyone even more than Klein had. "At least this way I know the people I'm going to be dealing with on a regular basis; I'm ready to put up with whatever insanity you've got for me."
"...To think this is the same brooding guy I'm always used to seeing," Agil said in a bit of disbelief before smiling. "Thing is though, I can't say I'm not happy about it. Count me in."
"You couldn't keep me out if you wanted to!" Yuuki told him with a huge bubbly smile. "This is going to be awesome!"
"Leave info gatherin' ta me," Argo told him cockily. "I'll keep everyon' on the up an' up!"
"You'll want me around for sure," Liz declared. "You're going to need a blacksmith if you're running a guild now."
"Pina and I will help too!" Silica promised. "We'll provide you guys with healing support whenever you need it!"
"...I'm with you too," Leafa decided, and Ragna could tell her smile wasn't hiding behind a mask this time. "Someone has to keep us all alive… I can help with that part."
"And the former Fuurin Kazan guild stands with you!" Klein shouted.
"RIGHT!" called his other members as one.
"And me," Asuna told him. "...Together… All of us will manage to beat this thing."
"That's the idea," Ragna told all, trying to gather confidence befitting of a new guild leader. "...I… I'm counting on all of you."
"Now who's the one acting sappy?" Liz asked him with a well meaning laugh. Ragna rolled his eyes, but he couldn't deny it with the smirk on his face.
"I guess that just leaves one thing left to decide," the katana user decided to bring up. "...What are we gonna call this thing? We've gotta have a good name for this don't we?"
"...I think I've got one in mind," Ragna told everyone. Not long later, everyone else had begun to head down the mountain to hit the first town and activate the teleportation stand. This left Ragna standing at the top of the mountain by himself, taking one last look around the area as the sun set off in the distance and bathing him in a light orange glow.
'I guess I'm doing this for real then…' he thought with some mixed feelings. 'Can't say I know how long this whole 'do-over' is going to last, but I guess I owe it myself to enjoy it while I can… Maybe this place isn't as bad as I thought going in.'
He gave a bittersweet smile as he remembered back to the people he'd known in his last life; his cold and callous brother who had hid that all he wanted was to save his older sibling, his stuttering and timid little sister that had grown stronger the more he'd seen her, a vampire with a harsh tongue and impossible expectations that had helped shaped him into the man he now was, his cat teacher who despite his rough exterior proved to be the guide and father figure that he'd always needed, the young redheaded healer that was always been misdirected but had always put others ahead of herself. He thought back to them and the countless others he'd met on his previous journeys.
"Well… I think that's enough thinking about the ghosts of my past. From now on I guess I gotta focus on what I have ahead of me…" Ragna the Bloodedge said aloud, though it was only to assure himself that he could do this. He started heading down the mountain, the wind slowly becoming more intense as sent his coat flapping rapidly with every step he took. Yet with every stride forward, his confidence and resolve hardened; now he had something to focus on, an end he could strive for. "There's one last fight for me to finish…
...one Final Rebellion."
The Game has been set…
The Challenge has been accepted...
The Reaper is ready
END OF PART ONE
