So, this is the boss of this floor...a literal dragon? I thought to myself as I stared up at the intimidating beast in front of me that was nearly finished charging up its breath attack. On second thought...
I checked the dragon's health and realized that the bosses' name was "The Nightmare Fairy, Akumu" and that he only had 2% health left. I then recalled that each of the previous bosses had a special ability that they saved for when they were low on health.
This must be his, then...it's one hell of an ability...to be able to transform like this, that is. To be honest, I can't believe that Lisbeth was able to handle one of the bosses by herself. Not only that, she was able to get it down to 2% without any help from me or the others. Asuna always did talk about how much potential she had. Shit, if we had her on the front lines back in SAO...
"Kirito, be careful", warned Lisbeth from behind, causing me to refocus on my current situation.
"Right", I answered as I changed by stance and held both of my swords in front of me, causing them to glow. "Get behind me, Lisbeth", I ordered as I began spinning both of my swords in front of me as quickly as I could which was activating a weapon defense skill named "Spinning Shield."
Lisbeth, despite having a look of doubt on her face followed my instructions and got behind me.
"Lisbeth, this should be able to block the majority of this attack", I hypothesized. "While I'm blocking the attack, do you think you can get up close attack while he's distracted by me? I know it's pretty scary fighting something this big but—"
"Don't worry about that, Kirito", Lisbeth interrupted, smiling. "I'm not scared in the slightest. I got this."
I couldn't help but return her a smile after hearing her confidence and then focused all of my attention onto the weapon defense skill which I knew I had to give everything I had to buy Lisbeth as much time as possible.
Ok, here it comes, I thought to myself, prepared.
Akumu's fire and shadow breath attack blasted from the creature's mouth, directly at me and the insanely powerful surge was enough to push me back but the spinning of my blades, that were acting as shields, was able to deflect most of the attack right back Akumu, himself. Luckily, another one of my gambles paid off as well because the part of the breath attack that was deflected back at Akumu caused the massive dragon some damage, dropping his health to 1%. As soon as the breath attack was over, I returned my swords to my sides and started panting from exhaustion. The attack only did about 10% damage to my health but it took a lot of energy to execute such a strong defensive skill, especially against such a powerful attack. If I hadn't have blocked it the way I did, it most likely could have taken me out...one single attack...it was a scary thought.
Okay, my part was a success. Now, it's up to you, Lisbeth. You got this.
My eyes focused on and followed Lisbeth as she was able to reach Akumu without him noticing, her mace glowing pink from the activation of her sword skill.
"Damn it, when did you get so close?" asked Akumu, finally noticing how close Lisbeth was to him. "I won't let you get any closer!"
"That's perfectly fine with me", claimed Lisbeth as she kicked off of the floor of the castle and instead of hitting Akumu, himself, lifted the mace above her head and smashed the weapon into the floor of the castle with as much force as she could produce, causing a giant lightning bolt to strike Akumu, dealing massive damage to him. This was the one-handed weapon skill called "Lightning Fall", a rare move that could be learned in SAO. I was genuinely surprised that Lisbeth knew about it and was curious where she learned it.
"No!" yelled Akumu in fury. "That's impossible!"
The giant shadow dragon that was towering above Lisbeth and I shattered into tiny blue polygonal shards. Despite my legs feeling a little like jelly, I managed to make my way over to Lisbeth, who seemed just as tired as me and maybe, even more so. She collapsed to her knees, her health still in the red and closed her eyes for a second. I kept my distance until her eyes were open, again.
"Not bad, you just took down one hell of a boss, basically all by yourself", I pointed out.
She shook her head in disagreement.
"No, without your help at the end, I would have been good as dead...thanks, Kirito. You really saved me, this time."
"If you don't mind me asking, where did you learn that one-handed weapon skill?" I asked.
"I went on a quest with Asuna in SAO one day", replied Lisbeth. "She mentioned that she wanted to learn the skill, herself, since it had the word lightning in it...it was a good fit for her, considering her nickname. We both ended up learning the skill, though, since we both completed the required quest. I hadn't gotten the chance to use it until now, though. To be perfectly honest, it was just as tiring as I thought it would be to execute. I think it'll be a little while until I can stand, again."
"It's alright, the others will probably be waking up any minute now from their nightmares", I predicted, glancing at our other teammates, who were still asleep.
"Kirito, can I ask you something?" probed Lisbeth as she was still kneeling on the floor, recovering.
"Yeah, what is it?"
"What...what was your nightmare about?"
I sighed. The truth was that I did remember what my nightmare was about...every detail...I didn't know if I was prepared to talk about it with someone else, though. Then again, keeping it to myself probably wasn't the healthiest thing to do either. Plus, I knew Lisbeth was a good listener so telling her before the others woke up might help me feel a little better.
"Well, if you really want to know...in my dream, I reached the top floor of this castle...the floor where Asuna is on. Once I get there, though, and she's right in front of me...I get beaten by Sugou. Then the dream repeated itself...over...and over. No matter how many times I fought Sugou, I just couldn't win. I kept losing right when I was so close, with Asuna in sight. She had to watch me fail her, after coming so close...every time I lost, I could always see a look of heartbreak in her eyes. It hurt worse than any injury I've suffered in this VR world."
I could feel my body tensing up just from talking about the nightmare.
"But...that isn't going to happen...there's no way that's going to happen", Lisbeth comforted, smiling. "When we all get to that top floor, we're going to kick Sugou's ass and take Asuna home, remember? And, that dream doesn't sound realistic to me. There's no way you would ever lose...not when Asuna's freedom was at stake...that's not the type of person you are. You would find a way to win, no matter what. More importantly, that dream got another thing wrong. You aren't going to be alone when you reach that floor. You're going to have the rest of us with you too and none of us are going to let all of this be for nothing."
I nodded my head in agreement.
"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. For a second there, I could feel myself going back to my self-loathing and pathetic self but I can't afford to be that person right now. We're already finished with the 3rd boss which means that there should just be two more before we reach Sugou."
"That's right", confirmed Lisbeth. "Come on, Kirito, let's go check to see if Akumu dropped any potions. We'll figure out how to distribute them once the other two are awake."
Lisbeth, after feeling more rested, was able to pick herself up and make her way to the spot where Akumu's body shattered into tiny blue polygonal shards while I was still thinking about the realism of that dream. It reminded me of how helpless I was in Asuna's hospital room when I first met Sugou and how he had beaten me up like I was nothing more than a helpless kid. I mean, in comparison to him, that's all I was. A kid...a boy...and no matter how many bosses and enemies I beat in the virtual world, that didn't change this fact. Lisbeth was right, though. We'd already made it this far. There's no way in hell that we could stop, now.
Stay strong, Asuna, wherever you are. We'll be there before you know it.
*
*
*
"I don't get it...you two don't seem similar to each other...why are you helping, Oberon?" asked Asuna as POH was feeding her some kind of slop while she was being restrained to the same decorative chair that she had been in for what felt like forever.
POH seemed annoyed by the question as Asuna took a bite of the slop and struggled to chew it.
"I could care less about whether my client and I see eye to eye on everything...a pay check is a pay check, at the end of the day."
"So that's all this is to you, a paycheck?" Asuna asked, after swallowing the slop. "I don't believe that. What you said earlier about killing for the person you love...there was some truth behind that, wasn't there?"
"Try not to overthink things, Lightning Flash...you have more pressing matters than worrying about me", claimed POH.
"Are you doing all of this to earn money to support someone you care about...a partner...a family mem—"
"Damn it, I told you not to think too much about it!" yelled POH.
Asuna grinned.
"So, it is a family member judging by your reaction. Who is it, your father...your mother—"
Instead of yelling at her, again, this time POH began to chuckle, evilly, to himself. The chuckling, eventually, grew into a full-on laugh, unsettling Asuna and taking her off guard with the strange response.
"I hate to break it to you, Lightning Flash, but I have no family. My father was an abusive piece of shit, who raped my mother and insulted her, constantly, so I killed the fucker to protect her. Then, I began to realize, that my mother wasn't any better. She was nothing but an abusive and hateful whore so I bashed her fucking head in with a brick until her head was nothing but a mushy pile of gore. The image is still engrained in my mind and makes me smile to this day. You keep saying that Sugou and I aren't the same and that's the only thing you're right about. Believe me when I say this, Lightning Flash, I'm much fucking worse than him."
Asuna was speechless, after hearing about POH's past and could do nothing but gulp, uncomfortably.
"I know that's the type of person you are...you try to...fix everybody, right? Well, there's no way to fix a monster like me...a monster who would kill his own family...unless, you think there is? Whadda ya say, Lightning Flash, still think there's room for redemption for a man like me?"
Asuna stayed silent, not being able to bring herself to speak up.
"That's what I fucking thought. Now, can you stay silent until I finish feeding you this shit?"
Before POH could resume feeding Asuna, the door to the room opened and Oberon made his way inside of the room. He strolled past POH and leaned in close to Asuna, causing her to flinch and turn her face away from his.
"Hm, there seems to be some color returning to your face...means you're eating better...that's good", commented Oberon as he backed his face away from Asuna's, much to her relief. "I've just received news that your boyfriend and his friends were able to defeat Akumu...they just keep pushing through every obstacle I put in front of them. I guess I shouldn't expect any less from the Black Swordsman, himself, haha. Although, on the other hand, their incompetence angers me to no end. What kind of retards did I make part of my royal guard so that they would go down so easily like this?"
"Can you not use that word around me?" mumbled POH as he picked up the food tray beside him and stood up off of the couch he was sitting on.
"W-what...what the hell are you talking about?" returned Oberon, stunned.
"Retard...it's just...I don't think using that word was really necessary...there were a million other words you could have used."
Oberon made his way, aggressively, towards POH and scowled at him. Despite how close he was to him, POH didn't move an inch and showed no fear at all.
"I'll say whatever words I want to...I'm the king, did you forget?" asked Oberon, confidently. "Now, POH, do me a favor and fuck off for a little while. I'd like a moment to speak with Asuna in private."
POH sighed and shrugged his shoulders.
"Whatever...I need to log out of this shithole for a second, anyways", claimed POH as he headed towards the door to the room. "Try not to get yourself killed while I'm gone, your majesty."
POH shut the door behind him as he carried the plate of food out of the room, leaving Asuna and Oberon alone, together.
"What's wrong, is your plan beginning to fall apart, asshole?" mocked Asuna, smiling.
"No, not at all", answered Oberon. "This exactly what I want. More than anything, I want your boyfriend to make it passed all of my royal guard members...nothing would make me happier than to wipe the floor with him right in front of you."
"I highly doubt you're capable of doing that", insulted Asuna, cheekily. "Not to be mean, but I don't really find you all that intimidating like POH. You're just a creepy little weirdo, who has way too much time on his hands. You're just a wannabe Kayaba, copying his dream of creating a VR world that was perfect in every way."
"Shut the hell up!" yelled Oberon, not being able to keep his composure any further. "Don't compare me to that over confident piece of shit! I'm nothing like Kayaba...it's his fault that...er, never mind, it's none of your business."
"You never did tell me your name...your real name, that is", said Asuna, hoping to get some information out of Oberon, since he was in a weaker and more fragile head space. "There's no point in referring to yourself as the Fairy King, Oberon, anymore...I want to know who I'm really talking to, right now. Are you just some pathetic incel, living in mommy's attic?"
Oberon grabbed Asuna's jaw, tightly, to prevent her from speaking.
"You have quite the mouth on you...it would be a damn shame if I broke your pretty little jaw so that you wouldn't be able to say another word...but then, I wouldn't be able to hear your beautiful screams during what comes next. Also, for your information, my name is Sugou and I was actually one of...no, I was Kayaba's best student...everything I learned about programming and the VR world, I learned from that bastard."
Sugou released his grip from Asuna's mouth and she moved around her jaw, making sure nothing was hurt or broken.
"What do you mean by what happens next? Let me guess, more torture...great, that's worked so well for you so far."
"From what I've seen, physical torture hasn't proven to be very efficient at breaking you...you're a lot stronger than I gave you credit for. But, there's a way to break everyone...you're no exception, Asuna. You just need to know where to hurt the individual."
Sugou sat on the same decorative couch that POH was sitting on, earlier, and called out, "System call, tv on."
As soon as he finished the order, the giant tv in the room that they were both in turned on and what Asuna was shown on the screen caused her to feel sick to her stomach. The screen showed a recording...a recording from SAO. In the recording, it showed two players sitting on the edge of a bed, inside of a bedroom that Asuna recognized as her old apartment that she had purchased in SAO before moving in with Kirito. The two players that were sitting on the edge of the bed were Asuna and Kirito and Asuna immediately recognized the scene, remembering in vivid detail what happened. How could she not remember...it was such a precious memory for her.
"H-how...d-did you...g-get this?" asked Asuna, in horror as her eyes were glued to the screen.
"After all of the SAO survivors woke up in the real world, it was discovered that everything that happened in that VR world was in fact, recorded...every player...every action...every last detail", explained Sugou. "I have no idea why Kayaba did this...perhaps, he wanted other people to be able to relish in how deep and complex his VR world truly was, firsthand. Most of the recorded files were deleted but, luckily for me, I have some...connections in the IT department and was able to get my hands on a couple of snippets just like this."
"Turn it off", commanded Asuna, barely able to push the words out of her mouth.
"Now, why would I do that? It's just—"
"I said turn it off!" screamed Asuna, desperately.
"Aw, come on, after all the work I had to go through to get my hands on these, the least you could do is let me watch them with you."
"No! You don't have any right watching these! Turn it off! Turn it off, right fucking now!"
As soon as Asuna saw herself beginning to kiss Kirito in the recording she shut her eyes, so she didn't have to watch, anymore.
"So disrespectful, closing your eyes like that...you're going to miss the best part", pointed out Sugou. "System call, increase volume by 10%."
Despite closing her eyes, Asuna could now hear her and Kirito's moaning through the tv. She felt like throwing up and couldn't help but change her tone towards Sugou.
"P-please, I'm begging you, turn it off", she pleaded, almost in tears. "I-I don't want to hear, anymore."
"System Call, increase volume by 20%", repeated Sugou.
The familiar moans that were recognizable to Asuna were even more loud and, not knowing what else to do, she began to scream, desperately, to block out the noise.
"A girl's first time...such a special moment that I'm sure you hold dear in your heart...you probably don't want anyone to ruin such a precious memory for you. I can understand that."
Instead of the volume being turned down, Asuna felt something cold and sharp by her throat...she could tell that it was a weapon of some kind and it stopped her mid-scream.
"Unfortunately, you have to understand that I don't fucking care, though, you little bitch", spoke Sugou, threateningly. "Now, open your eyes and keep your mouth shut or I'll slit your throat before your little boyfriend will even reach you. You don't want all of the hard work him and his friends have gone through to be for nothing, do you? You aren't that cruel, are you, Asuna?"
Sugou began cutting Asuna's throat with the weapon, slowly, making her, involuntarily, flinch.
"I'm not going to ask nicely again, Asuna. Open your eyes and take in every last fucking detail or I'll kill you!" hollered Sugou right into her ear.
If I die here, then he'll win...and everything that Kirito has suffered...will be for nothing...damn it...damn it! thought Asuna to herself.
She forced her eyes open and Sugou grabbed her hair and yanked her head in the direction of the tv so that she was looking right at it, alongside him.
"If I even see you fucking blink or hear you make a peep, I'll began cutting, again", said Sugou, putting his face right next to Asuna's.
Asuna could do nothing but watch one of her most precious memories be forever ruined for her. The embarrassment and humiliation was enough to make streams of tears come out of her eyes.
"Ya know, Asuna, I think I'm going to get to know you a lot better after this video is over", Sugou taunted, creepily. "But, I want to get as much enjoyment out of this as possible. System call, max volume!"