Heaven's Sword Online- Book One of the Alta Luna Saga

Episode 5: Acting

"Now... who should start off first?" Lua asks. She bites her lip as her eyes go back and forth between Tae-young, Adriana, Rin, and me. She was saving Alla for last. "Hmm, this is a hard one. So many interesting possibilities. I'm going to have to rely on the random generator to decide this." She closes her eyes briefly before leaping over to Rin and me. "You two will start things off."

"What?" I yell, glancing over at Rin. The kid flashes me a pompous grin as he points his glowing katana at me.

"Good. I wanted to fight you as soon as I stepped in here. You seem more like the leader type than the other two."

  Tae-young glances down at the nicely trimmed grass while Adriana glares at him.  

I scoff. This kid sure is confident. Not sure if I'll be able to win but I won't be able to look at myself if I shy away from this.

"Hand Adriana over to me," Lua says, holding her arms out. I hand Adriana over to her; surprisingly she wasn't heavy at all. Reaching my arm out for my chain, I yank some of it out.

Lua warps Adriana over to Alla and sits her down against the thick tree trunk. Adriana glances up at the pink canopy and smiles before looking over at us boys. Meanwhile, Tae-young steps away from us and runs over to join the other girls under the nice shade.

Our local goddess then snaps her fingers, causing four greek style pillars to rise around us as well as several marble tiles to replace the grass and dirt under our feet.

"Reminds me a bit of that old anime," I say, taking our newly created battlefield in. "Just promise me that you won't blow up the world."

Rin narrows his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"Never mind," I say, feeling my face turn red. The kid is probably too old to have heard of it. Or dislikes anime. I pull the rest of chain until the blade emerges from the sheath.

The kid's eyes shimmer with childish glee. "Woah, that's awesome. Reminds me of a kusarigama."

"It is similar now that I think about it," I say as I twirl it. I had used one during one of the old games that I once played during middle school. Perhaps that's why I was given this weapon here.

Rin smiles with jubilee. "I should be careful with that chain."

"Seems that you're both ready to start," Lua says, grinning.

I gulp but try my best to project reassurance. I have to give the kid a decent fight at least.

"Start!" Lua yells as she swings a hand toward the sky.

Rin moves before I even have a chance to toss my weapon. Within seconds, I feel the blade of his katana on the fuzz of my neck. The kid tilts his head. "How will you get out of this one? Or have I already won?" The shimmer in his eyes slowly fades.

I chuckle as if everything were going according to some master-plan that I had come up with before this match had even started. "You're such a kid." I swing my chain, causing Rin to release me and leap out of the way. Taking advantage of this I swing my weapon once more.

The kid disperses the light of his katana and ducks as my weapon flies past him. I quickly swing it down, crashing it next to him. The kid and I jump up upon seeing the one meter radius and half meter deep crater it created.

"Damn, he almost got me there," Rin says, directing his attention at me. The shine in his eyes is returning. "You're a great actor."

I scoff and flick my avatar's long white bangs back. "Thanks." Those drama classes I took in middle school sure came in handy. Sadly the kid has the real me wrong. Oh well. Better to maintain a cool image than to reveal the true me. I wrap one meter of the two meter chain around my right arm and hold the rest in my hands.

Rin moves swiftly again. This time coming directly at me. I swing my chain in a circular motion so that it'll grasp the black handle as the light blade materializes once more.

"Light Blade!" the kid yells. A wakizashi, a shorter version of the katana, appears in his left hand as he lurches it forward. My chain grasps the handle of the katana as planned. As fast as I can, I pull the chain but Rin is too fast. The wakizashi is already deep in my chest when the chain brings me the katana. I collapse the floor as the blade of light stuck to my chest vanishes.

"Be wary of leaving yourself open with your attacks and blocks. That's what my master taught me," Rin says as he turns his back to me. "You're pretty good for a newbie."

Normally I would smile but the pain from the wound feels like as if someone had actually stabbed me in real life.

"Hey," Lua says as she runs over to me. "Calm down. The pain is highly realistic but you aren't dying. It'll fade in a few seconds."

I spit blood over the snow white tiles. Why am I not vanishing? I got stabbed.

Lua places a hand on my back and lifts my head by the chin until I am looking straight at her otherworldly eyes. "Moon's Light." A silver glow covers my body from head to toe. The pain quickly subsides as my wound closes. "There. I don't want you to suffer further."

"Damn. The pain looks more realistic here than in World's Gate," Rin says, his lip quivering. He walks over to me and extends his hand out. "Sorry. I should've stopped earlier."

I grasp his hand and smile. "It's fine, kid."

Rin picks up his katana's handle and activates the blade. He pouts and holds it against my neck. "Hey, don't call me that or else I will dive this through your chest again, got it?!"

I stand up straight and let go of his hand. "Got it. No 'kid'." Wow, kids these days.

"Lua said that you just did it again!" Rin barks as he steps closer.

I shoot Lua a death glare of my own. "Really?"

She chuckles as she puts her hands behind her back and walks away. "Sorry, couldn't help myself."

I sigh. "Sorry, again."

Rin lowers his sword. "Fine. I guess that I'll let you off once more to make up for causing you so much pain, even if it only lasted a minute."

A minute? Felt like an eternity. I shake my head and make my way to where the girls are.

Tae-young jumps to her feet while Adriana watches.

"Hey, Lua."

The goddess leans against the cherry tree and looks up at me. "Yes?"

"Two questions. One, why didn't I wake up just now?"

"This is a inner-guild match so it doesn't count. Unless if one is trying to overthrow a pre-existing leader that is. Now, what's the second question?"

"How will Adriana fight?"

Lua rubs her chin with her long, slender fingers and smiles. "The girl can walk. She just needs to learn how to do so. Seems that she has never walked in her life. At least that she can recall. Same with talking. It'll take longer than this match. She'll need to figure out how to defeat Tae-young on her own. I don't plan to give her a handy cap either." She snaps her fingers and Adriana warps over to the battlefield. "Well, other than this tiny favor."

My hands curl into fists. It's one thing to make fun of me but to mock Adriana? What's wrong with this AI?

Lua snickers. "Calm down. It's the girl's choice, not mine. Tae-young, Adriana, start!" The goddess smiles as the two girls lock eyes. Thunder roars overhead and the shadows around Lune Guild's HQ seem to grow larger.