The Black Swordsman

Chapter 20: Temptation

Klein lunged out of the way, quickly, dodging the incredibly sharp edge of Agil's monstrous battle axe and breathed a sigh of relief. Klein kept a close eye on how much health he had remaining and, luckily, it hadn't gone down a single percentage, leaving him at 5% still. On the other hand, Klein had managed to get a couple of good swipes on Agil with his katana causing his health bar to drop to 65%. The problem was, Klein struggled with whether this was a good or bad thing. Yes, at the moment, Agil was the team's enemy...an obstacle preventing them from their main goal of saving Asuna but that didn't make it any easier for Klein to fight him. Agil had been one of the most selfless players in SAO, right up there with Kazuto and Asuna both. He had even managed to save Klein's life on many occasions while trapped in the game of hell. Which meant that, somehow, despite how impossible it might have seemed, Klein had to save Agil from himself. The last thing that Klein wanted was to lose a skilled player like Agil, especially when, according to Kazuto, there were still four more bosses that needed to be taken care of before reaching the top floor of the castle. Klein's sweaty palms gripped his katana tighter as he readied himself for further combat with his friend while Suguha continued to fight the boss, who was responsible for his friend's betrayal.

"You saved my ass plenty of times in SAO, Agil, just like Kirito and just like Asuna", Klein spoke, despite it not having any effect on Agil at all. "I haven't forgotten and I never will but, if the roles were switched, I know you wouldn't hesitate in doing whatever it takes to snap me back to reality. I won't let you down, Agil, but you have to wake up!"

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10 Years Ago:

Agil, age 22, wiped the dusty bar counter inside of a bar that him and his wife had just purchased together. It wasn't all that expensive, mainly because the establishment was in such rough shape but Agil could tell from just a single glance at the place that it was going to take a lot of work to turn the place around and start earning a profit from it. Agil recalled how hesitant he was when his wife told her about the idea of owning a restaurant with her since she loved to cook so much. He couldn't deny how amazing her food tasted, but, at the same time, he didn't know if either of them was up to the task of running a restaurant all by themselves. To make matters worse, the two of them found out that they couldn't afford to buy enough space for a restaurant. His wife was heartbroken for months and barely moved from her bed some mornings, making it hard on Agil, who hated nothing more than seeing the girl he had been with since Junior High in such a depressive state. One day, he stumbled upon an ad in a newspaper about a local bar looking for new management. It wasn't much but Agil thought that it would be enough to cheer his wife up, especially since you can still serve food in most bars. Fortunately, to Agil's surprise, his wife was ecstatic after hearing the news and thanked Agil for what seemed like weeks for finding the crummy and broken-down bar. She claimed that it didn't matter if it was a restaurant...a café...or just a plain old bar...the two of them could make it work and now here he was, weeks after him and his wife had purchased the lease to the bar, just getting started on the long and overbearing process of renovations. But, at the very least, his wife was in higher spirits and that was enough for Agil.

Agil's wife pushed open the front door to the bar, carrying a box that Agil could tell was too heavy for her. Agil placed the washcloth he was using to clean the counter down and hurried to his wife to take the box from her. She breathed a large sigh of relief as soon as the heavy box was out of her hands.

"What's in this?" asked Agil, confused.

"Just some decorations to make the place feel a little homier", she replied while Agil followed her to the table that she wanted him to place the box on.