The Gunpowder Blade

Lesser Evil

"Switch!" Leafa yelled. I nodded and slashed a few times at the boss.

"Switch!" I copied. She ran and slashed almost 10 times due to her feather-like nature.

"Switch!" She called. I ran, starting up a skill. I could feel the blue energy flow through me. I looked at my blades. Leafa's eyes were filled with disbelief. I grinned and looked at the boss. To me, it looked scared shitless. I slashed inwards diagonally with both blades, causing a massive surge of sapphire-colored light.

"Switch!" I shouted. Leafa snapped out of her daze and went in to attack. She used the same skill she used earlier, slashing upwards, downwards, then the powerful thrust. The boss stumbled, just like last time.

"Switch!" She yelled. I ran and used skill connect to use one skill in one blade, and a different one in the other. I looked at it's health, 2 and a half bars.

"Swi-" I was cut off. The boss screamed, slashing his massive blade, hitting Sinon. She fell to the ground. I looked at her HP, it stopped at 4. I looked at the boss, snarling like a rabid Rottweiler. It looked like the boss had jumped out of horror. I stepped slowly towards it, starting another skill. I closed my eyes, feeling the energy flow through me, but this time, it was stronger. The boss swung at me, taking advantage of my eyes being closed. I deflected the attack with one sword, no problem. I opened my eyes and looked at the boss. I was glowing a bright shade of blue. I inhaled deeply. Leafa looked at me, both astounded and terrified.

"Kazuto." She exhaled.

"Starburst Stream." I said under my breath. I slashed my blades over and over again, copying every piece of the sequence perfectly. Swing after swing, wound after wound. I just kept attacking and attacking, not paying any attention to my surroundings. The blue light became brighter and brighter. It felt like I was going blind. I closed my eyes, still continuing the skill. I began to scream. I slashed and slashed and slashed until I heard the ear-wrenching cry of the boss' defeat. I looked at the boss, it was shriveling up. Then it disappeared, disintegrated into millions of tiny crystal shards. I looked at my health, I had 59 health left. "I'm getting better."

"Kirito!" Leafa came running towards me, I fell to my knees, dropping my swords. She knelt down and used a healing crystal on me. "Are you okay?" I nodded. "What was that?"

"That was my unique SAO skill, Starburst Stream. It has twenty-one hits." I explained. She looked confused.

"Twenty-one?" She asked. I nodded. "But that was... thirty-two hits." She said. My jaw dropped, eyes grew wide.

"T-Thirty-two?" I was shocked. Did I go over the total hits? I opened my player window and sped to the skill section, looking for Starburst Stream. Once I found it, I read the description.

"A high-class dual blade sword skill consisting of 21-hits."

"What the hell?" I muttered. I then noticed Sinon still laying on the ground. I closed the window and ran to her. I picked her up and placed her in my lap. Her eyes slowly opened.

"Ki... ri... to?" She mumbled. I used a healing crystal on her. He health slowly crept up to full. She sat up. I pulled her into a hug, she rested her head on my shoulder. She backed away, then placed her forehead to mine.

"Ahem." Leafa cleared her throat. We looked at her and began laughing. Suddenly, a familiar alert popped up in front of me.

"Congrats!

You got the last-attack bonus!

Skill - Carbon Thunder"

"Carbon Thunder?" I said. The two girls shrugged their shoulders. The room began to shake, tiny rocks fell from the ceiling. A door opened on the opposite side of the room, revealing a flight of stairs. I stood up and helped Sinon off the floor. I walked over and picked my swords up off the floor, sheathing them. "Ready?" They nodded. We walked over to the door and began to ascend the staircase.

***

We exited the dungeon, examining out surroundings. We were in a field not far from Jaileum, the capital of floor 40. Leafa jumped in front of Sinon and I.

"What do you guys say we go explore the town?" She asked cheerily. I looked at the time in my peripheral. It was 17:48. Jesus, was it really that late?

"Sugu, we can't. It's 17:50." I rounded up. She looked at the time.

"Oh." She looked at the ground.

"Well, I should probably get going." Sinon said. I looked at her.

"Okay, I'll text you later." I kissed her cheek. She smiled before confirming her logout request and disappearing. I opened my player window and hit logout. The confirmation warning popped up. I looked at Leafa. "See you IRL." I waved, then pressed confirm, causing me to disappear.

***

I opened my eyes, looking around the room. I slid my Amusphere off and placed it on my bedside table. The AC was on, it so cold in the room, I could see my breath. I got out of bed and turned it off. I left the room and approached Suguha's. I knocked, waited 5 seconds, then entered. She was still online. I sat next to her on her bed. I looked at her face. Just then, her eyes fluttered open. I immediately jumped off her bed and covered my face. She sat up calmly, taking off her Amusphere and placing it on her bedside table.

"H-Hey." I stuttered.

"Kazuto, I need to talk to you." Suguha spoke firmly. I uncovered my face.

"About what?" I asked.

"Sakura Takahashi." She said. I immediately looked down.

"You answered one of her calls." I spoke shamefully. She nodded. "I was going to tell you sooner. I just didn't want you to worry."

"Didn't want me to worry? You know she was arrested for attempted murder, right? It was the same scenario. She stalked a man, and tried to gut him with a knife." She began to cry. My jaw dropped. I didn't know that.

"..." I stayed silent. Suguha wiped her eyes. "Really?"

"Yes, Kazuto. And at first, I questioned if I was any better. At first, I didn't know about the arrest. I just knew that she stalked you. And so did I. And once I learned that she was arrested, I figured I was the-" Suguha was cut off.

"The lesser evil." I looked at the floor with the same shameful face I had when she first admitted she had feelings for me.

***

Hey Familia of the Closet! How was that? How did Rika know about Sakura? What is the new skill Kirito got? Are we going to meet Sakura? Anyway, thank you all for reading! Love you all so much!

-Seijirou

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