Blades of Darkness

Chapter Two: The Elucidator

Author's Note

Sorry for taking so long to get this out, everyone! I wanted to make substantial progress on chapter three before posting this, even though this chapter's revision has been done for like, a week already. Well, I've made a bit of progress now, so I figured that it would be safe to post this.

Also, stay tuned for a very special news announcement in the bottom author's note!

I think that's about it for the top note! See you below!

"Well, then," I started, sheathing my sword for the moment. "Are you ready?"

"Always."

With that, we walked into the next area of the dungeon. We were ready for anything. We were going to get that sword, complete the quest, and—

"What the hell?"

The demon before us was not at all what we were expecting. Standing at least three times my own size, I couldn't think of anything more menacing. Its skin was coal-black, and its leathery wings stretched out to at least four meters. In its clawed right hand, it held a black sword that seemed to radiate a darkness that cast a shadow on darkness itself. I looked at its name and level, shuddering in fear as I did so.

«Level 88 NM: The Valley Demon»

— Die. We were going to die.

We are so dead! I thought as it stared us down, its eyes radiating hunger for blood. I faintly registered the black and violet fire creeping behind us, slowly cutting our only escape route off. Even still, I just stood there, paralyzed with fear as Argo tried over and over to get me to respond.

"Ki-bou!" Argo shouted one last time, making my head snap up in her direction.

Finally, I responded, though not in the way she had hoped. "We're screwed…"

"What are you talking about?!" Argo shouted at me with a fearful expression. "If you can solo «Nicholas the Renegade», then why is this thing so scary?"

I glared at her, eyes narrowed as I began to yell back in reply. "Sure, «Nicholas» was around the strength of a floor boss, but it was extremely slow! It didn't land a single hit on me because of my speed… but demon-type mobs are faster, their attacks are harder to evade, and they have higher defense!"

I looked back to the demon in front of us, trying desperately to formulate a plan before it decided to make the first move. I could see its gaze moving towards us, making it even harder for me to think.

Come on… I've gotta figure out a way to save us! To hell with the LA bonus, we just need to get out of here alive! But to do that, we still have to beat this thing!

I tried to remember any weaknesses that demon-type mobs had, finding only one.

But that doesn't help us at all! The only weakness it has is having extremely low resistance to status conditions, and my sword doesn't have any effect like that! Wait a second—

I then remembered how Argo's claws always seemed to inflict status conditions to the «Zombie Wolves» we were fighting earlier. My eyes widened as I finally finished devising a strategy. "That's it!"

I turned to Argo once more. I gave her a commanding look, which seemed to ease the fear she had gained while I had been thinking. "Argo! What status conditions can your claws inflict?"

Her eyes lit up in realization of my plan. "Other than when I use status skills, my claws have a passive of granting «Bleeding», «Poison», «Stun», or a really low chance to inflict «Paralysis» on every critical hit!"

"And I assume you've focused your gear to be all about crit rate and damage?" I queried, looking at her with a smirk.

"And evasion!" Argo replied, smirking right back. "So, what's the plan?"

Which means her defense must be paper-thin. Still, this will work!

"I'll keep its attention focused on me, and you keep attacking it from behind," I whispered, looking from her to the demon in front of us. "Wait until you see it get «Paralysis» or «Stun», then back off and let me wail on it until it wears off. Ignore when it gets anything else, since the others are just HP sappers."

The HP sappers will be really helpful, but they won't stop it from attacking just as fast.

"Sounds like a plan!" she whispered in reply, turning to the demon in front of us.

"Ready…" I started, drawing my sword ever-so-slowly.

As soon as my sword fully left its scabbard, the demon before me finally began to move towards us at an alarming speed. But I wasn't afraid. Not anymore.

"Set…"

Luckily, it began by targeting me. It flew towards me, raising its black sword into the air in preparation for a downward strike.

"Go!"

Just before its sword came into contact with my head, I jumped aside, watching with satisfaction as its blade completely missed me and left a huge gash in the ground. In the split second that the blade remained in lodged the ground, I jumped once more, this time up into the air right by its head.

By that point, Argo had already made her way to the back of the demon, and was about to strike. I knew that to keep its attention on me, I would have to strike it before she did. If Argo landed a critical hit on it from behind before I had even hit it once, all of its attention would be drawn to her. And so, I pierced straight through its head with my blade, then dragged it down as I fell until I had cut clean through its entire body, leaving a giant red mark.

Of course, this didn't cut it in half, as much as I wish it did. But no, that would end the battle, and the system wouldn't allow the battle to end before its HP ran out.

Which reminds me…

I looked at its HP as Argo continuously assaulted the demon. Roughly a sixteenth of the first of two bars was depleted, showing just how powerful it was.

Then, I noticed its HP go down by a whopping five percent all at once. I looked under its health bars, finding that it had been afflicted with the «Poison» condition. I smirked before springing back into action.

Just before its attention switched to Argo, I hit the demon in its midsection with a swift horizontal right-to-left slash. As it swung its large, black sword to retaliate, I brought my own sword up to defend.

The force of the blast created when they made contact was pure insanity. I was slowly being pushed down into the ground, the sheer power of the demon overwhelming my incredibly high Strength stat.

Argo took notice of this, looking over with a concerned expression and shouting, "Ki-bou!"

She began to run to me, but I stopped her with a strained yell. "Just keep attacking, Argo! You need to paralyze it!"

Just as I felt that my arms were about to give from the force of the clash, the demon's arm went limp, causing its sword to fall to the ground. I got up shakily, breathing ragged. Even still, I knew that the battle was essentially over.

It had been paralyzed.

I ran over so that I was standing on its body, then crouched down, preparing to jump. My blade started glowing a gleaming silver. Finally…

"Haaaah!"

«Meteor Fall»

I kicked off of the demon, flipping in midair before coming back down in a devastating stab at the demon's abdomen. Silver light erupted from the wound, blinding all for a few brief seconds. When my vision came back to normal, I cast my eyes on its health bars, finding that my skill, along with the HP-sapping conditions it had been afflicted with, had almost completely depleted its first health bar.

Once the post-motion delay of my skill wore off, I jumped off of the demon's body, landing beside it and immediately beginning to hack and slash away. Then, an idea struck me.

I wonder if I could cut off its wings… only one way to find out! When it recovers, I'll move behind it and slash its wings clean off! But until then…

I continued hacking and slashing, occasionally activating a skill. I didn't want to kill it just yet; I needed to gauge how much damage I could do so that I could assure that the LA dropped for me.

When I saw it start to get up, I backed off and looked to Argo, who had been watching me unleash hell on it from afar. "Argo! I've got an idea, but I need you to hold its attention for a few seconds to do it! Think you can handle it?"

"Yeah!" she shouted in reply.

"All right, then…" I said, staring the demon down. It suddenly came flying towards me, preparing to strike with its sword.

Just as it reached me, bringing its sword down to strike, I put my sword next to the left side of my waist, preparing to activate another skill. Within a mere fraction of a second, the skill was ready, having charged more quickly due to my ring's special effect of «Skill Cast Time Reduction».

«Slant»

In one lightning-fast diagonal up-right slash, I knocked the demon's blade upwards, stunning the boss for a split-second. Even that small time frame was enough.

"Switch!"

I backed off, allowing Argo to close in on it in my place. As she began attacking it, I ran around to its back, activating a skill with the perfect trajectory to cut both wings off at once.

«Vertical Arc»

I slashed from its left shoulder, through its left wing joint, then all the way down to its mid-back before my sword changed its trajectory for the second hit. Said second hit then ensued, dragging my blade up through its right wing joint and all the way up its right shoulder, making a V-like shape with the two slash marks.

After a second of nothing happening, I began to lose hope. Then, just as I was about to resume attacking, the wings well off, hitting the ground before shattering into blue and white polygons. The demon roared in pain, letting go of its sword and falling to the ground.

"It worked!" I shouted, turning to Argo with a triumphant smile. "Argo, let's finish this thing off!"

"You got it!" she yelled in response, beginning to attack the demon with everything she had.

Blade now glowing a radiant silver, I jumped into the air, preparing to activate another skill similar to «Meteor Fall». I spun in the air, completing the initial motions for the skill.

«Devastation Driver»

After finishing my spin, I stayed in my spot in the air, thrusting my blade towards the demon six times. Though my blade didn't reach it on its own, each thrust formed a blade of energy, and when all had been formed, they created a circular pattern. Then, my sword made one final thrust in the center of the circle, causing all seven energy blades to go crashing down on the demon.

A small explosion erupted from each energy blade as they all made contact with the demon's body, dealing massive damage that sent it into the red, hanging onto only a shred of its last HP bar. As I fell back down, I chained «Devastation Driver» into one, final skill.

«Lightning Fall»

"Haaaah!"

My blade came crashing down into the abdomen of the demon, depleting the last of its HP and earning me the «Last Attack Bonus».

Silence.

Then, after several seconds, the sound of shattering glass resounded throughout the area. I had done it…

I had killed «The Valley Demon». Only the sword it wielded remained, shrinking to normal human size as it lay on the ground in front of me.

I fell to my knees, panting heavily. I could feel a dull throbbing coming from inside my head, and I felt that my entire body was drenched in sweat. My vision was no better, growing hazy from sheer exhaustion. It took everything I had just to stay conscious now that the adrenaline rush of the fight had worn off.

Argo walked over to me, plopping down next to me as soon as she reached my side. I could see the rise and fall of her chest, signifying that she was panting heavily. "So… we did it…"

I opted not to say anything, merely smiling in response as I lay down and looked at her. She looked back, a smile of her own forming on her features.

It was then that I noticed a window pop up in front of me. It read:

Congratulations!

You defeated «The Valley Demon»!

EXP: 2000

Col: 5000

I waved the window closed, and another one immediately took its place. At this one, I smiled.

Congratulations!

You got the Last Attack Bonus!

Bonus Item: [One-Handed Straight Sword] «Elucidator»

I immediately waved the window closed, proceeding to go into my inventory and check out the stats of my new weapon. When I did, I smiled; I had never seen such a powerful sword.

I wasted no time in moving to my equipment menu to equip it. When I tried, however, I got a message that devastated me.

You've got to be kidding me…

I didn't have a high enough Strength stat to equip it. I was too low by a single point.

"Of course…" I whispered as the gravity of what just happened hit me, beginning to laugh at the irony. "Even I, the strongest of the «Beaters», am not good enough."

"What do you mean?" Argo queried, looking at me inquisitively.

"My strength stat…" I said bitterly. "It's too low. I can't equip it. It figures that this would be my punishment."

"Look, Ki-bou," Argo started, giving me a hard look. "Being a «Beater» has nothing to do with it. I don't know how you made that connection, but it isn't right."

I didn't reply. Instead, I only laughed bitterly, getting up shakily and walking towards the sword the demon left behind. I then touched the air over it, proceeding to hit the button to send it into my inventory.

I walked towards the area's exit, motioning with my hand for Argo to follow. She silently complied, and we made our way back to the quest NPC's house, a massive tension forming between us.

Throughout the entire walk back to the house of the NPC, no words were exchanged. I simply wanted to be left alone, and Argo acknowledged and respected my wish.

When we finally got there, I saw the quest NPC sitting on a rocking chair just outside the front door. The gray question mark over his head that had appeared when we accepted the quest had turned golden in our absence, signifying that we had completed his request. I hastened my pace, Argo following suit until we reached the house.

I went into my «Quest Items» inventory, scrolling down to find the sword we promised to bring back to the old man. When I found it, I touched the «Make into Object» button, then held out my hands to catch it when it materialized.

Oddly enough, once it materialized, I never got the chance to catch it. It just disappeared from the air with a rush of wind. When I looked up, I found that the quest NPC had disappeared from his chair. I looked to Argo, and she looked just as confused as I was.

I then heard the swish of a sword being swung through the air from my right. I turned to the source, finding the old man swinging his son's blade with an eerie smile on his face. "Thank you for bringing my blade back to me, warriors."

"You said it was your son's sword," I replied, drawing my own blade. I knew something was up, something dangerous. We might have had a fight on our hands, and I wasn't about to back down.

"This blade…" the NPC started, a devious smirk forming on his face. As the smirk formed, his wrinkles disappeared, and his skin began to darken and grow scales. "Was what contained my power! My son saw my plans, and he sealed my power within this sword! He then took it to the demon that you graciously destroyed for me, in hopes that no one would be able to defeat it!"

I grit my teeth, watching as the old man slowly turned into a bigger version of the demon we just fought. Four health bars appeared over its head, filling up one by one until each one was a light blue color.

Damn… there's no way out of this! I thought, closing my eyes tightly.

"Ki-bou!" Argo shouted, shaking my shoulder. "Snap out of it!"

I opened my eyes, looking at Argo with an angry expression. "What could we possibly do to beat this thing?!" I shouted, making her flinch back in fear.

"No need," a voice said from behind us. I turned around, finding a humanoid being with feathery white wings. On its back was a quiver filled to the brim with arrows, and in its left hand rested a large bow. "I will defeat my father for you."

What the hell? Is this some sort of event? And how can an angel be the son of a demon? Well… I'd better just go with it for now.

What happened next seemed like a blur. One second, the demon began charging towards the angel, and the next, more than ten arrows lodged themselves into its body. In an instant, the demon exploded into countless polygons, and the angel came over to me and Argo, heaving a sigh of relief.

"You need not worry about my father coming back. He is dead," the angel pointed out the obvious. "Are you two the ones who brought the sword for him?"

I didn't know what to do. If the quest NPC had been telling the truth, then this angel had tried to keep the sword from him. If he realized that we were the ones who brought it back, he might turn on us.

Damn… what do I do? I thought, turning to Argo. She merely nodded, looking just as scared as I was.

"Yeah, that was us," I finally relented, looking down. "Sorry."

"You needn't worry, brave warriors," the angel said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "I know that he must have tricked you into bringing it to him. Even still, it's quite amazing that you were able to defeat the demon with only two people. It would have usually taken an entire army. Allow me to reward you for your efforts."

"What do you mean?" Argo queried, speaking up for the first time.

The angel smiled at us. "You will see."

A light began to emanate from him, and after a few seconds, he disappeared, leaving nothing but a game window in his wake.

"What…?" I queried, reading the window's contents.

Congratulations!

You have completed the quest: Take Revenge on the Valley Demon

Rewards

EXP: 2500

Col: 7500

[Passive Skill] «Master Wielder»

«Master Wielder» skill description: Permanently lower requirements for weapon equip

I waved the window closed, looking over at Argo with a wide smile on my face. She smirked back. "I got the same reward you did, Ki-bou. I know exactly what you're thinking."

I quickly opened my equipment menu, tapping my main hand slot and selecting the «Elucidator». The sword I already had equipped immediately dematerialized, and I felt the weight of a different sword on my back. I pulled it out, noting that it felt significantly heavier than my old sword. Holding the blade before me, I took note of its every feature.

The «Elucidator» was obsidian-black in color, with edges of a gleaming silver. The upper part of the cross guard had the shape of a spiked arc, which held the same sharpness as the blade. Upon closer inspection, I deduced that the arc actually was a part of the blade. The lower part of the cross guard was thicker, so as to hold the blade in place. A small silver semi-sphere resided on each side of the lower part of the cross guard, with a black X on top.

Near the end of the blade, I could see a white cross engraved on both sides. The cross seemed to radiate power. I smirked.

This thing… is awesome. Let's give it a test swing!

Without any warning, I swung the blade in a downward arc, watching as it left a trail of sparkling black light. I then proceeded to swing it horizontally, then upwards, then diagonally, and so on. Once I had run out of ways to swing it, my arm felt sore due to the strain of swinging a much heavier sword than usual.

"It's heavy…" I said, heaving a tired sigh as I sheathed it, a smile crossing my features. "It's a good sword!"

I turned to Argo, who smiled broadly at me. "You seem to be in a much better mood."

"Well, yeah," I said, looking to my brown-haired partner. Wait… when did she take her hood off?

"Since you're in such a good mood, would you mind listening to a proposition of mine?" Argo queried, looking at the ground.

"Sure," I said happily, giving her a thumbs-up. "What's up?"

She looked back up, a rare expression on her face: one of grave seriousness. "Ki-bou. The way you fight is dangerous. Even with your new sword, I'm still worried that you'll get killed one day because you fight so recklessly. So… I was wondering…"

I was expecting for her to say for me to be careful. To stop fighting solo all the time. Anything but what came next.

"Why don't we start a guild?"

Author's Note

There really wasn't that much that needed fixing in this chapter, so I mostly kept stuff the same. From what I remember doing, I altered some dialogue, added some description here and there, and that's about it.

Before I leave you with the disclaimer, I should probably mention that I'm going to publish a third story on this account soon. It's kind of a used idea, but I made some changes to the premise such, so I think it's okay. I even asked the person whom I believe is the father of the premise idea (Insert New Name Here) in the SAO archive for permission to use it, so I'd say it's all good.

I won't say much on the story other than that the first chapter will be relatively short, with the actual chapter content being around two-thousand words (I've actually finished that, and I'm just working on the author's notes). Sorry about that, but I couldn't figure out a way to stretch it out any longer without going into the content I'm reserving for its next chapter.

Well, that's it for now. I'm too lazy to write that disclaimer saying that I don't own the SAO light novel series, any of its adaptations, or anything/one I borrow from it, so I'll just let you—

I just said what I said I wouldn't say, didn't I?

Ciao!