[23 November 2023]

[Floor 27 Labrynth of Aincrad]

The sound of the closing gate rang through the boss room as a loud _thud!_.

Arashi, who was equipped with a black and red coat similar to Kirito's coat and plated silver armour underneath that shined like pearls, drew his jet black longsword and held it in a preoperative stance.

The twin headed boss roared with intimidation as blue flames lit the dark room. The Assault Team which consisted of members of the Knights of the Blood Oath, Divine Dragon Alliance and various other clearing guilds prepared themselves for the fight.

"He's initiating pattern A! Tanks, move forward!" Commanded Asuna, the sub leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath. On command, heavily armoured men with massive axes and maces rushed in front of the boss.

Arashi obviously knew his place in this fight.He was ordered to take care of the bosses supporting mobs.So when the boss roared once again at 75%, the boss spawned mossy stone golems holding what seemed to be hammers made out of rocks.

Arashi rushed at the nearest golem and activated the one-handed sword skill -Horizontal Square-,quickly disposing of the stone golem, who burst into thousands of particles.

He continued to swiftly rid the room of the mobs until the boss roared for what Arashi wished was the final time. Unfortunately, the bosses heath bar was at 25%,so they just had to push a little more.

At that moment, it was as if time itself had frozen, as multiple pieces of rocks hit Merle pushing her around as if she was a ragdoll. She was pushed left, then right, then left again then finally, a abnormally large piece slammed into Merle pushing her backwards and hit the wall.

"No...NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!"Those were the only words Arashi could say as he ran towards his sisters side using the bosses post skill delay as his window.

"Here comes his AoE attack! All units retreat!" Asuna commanded once again. Arashi dashed out of the AoE attacks vacinity frantically to avoid it, and he successfully did. However in a unfortunate series of events, his sister, Merle who was a member of the Divine Dragon Alliance, was hit and stunned by one of the remaining golems.

"Merle!" Arashi screamed in terror hopelessly, as the boss lifted his left leg and stomped it down ferociously as rubble spilled around the affected area of the AoE, which Merle was in.

She was hit by stones left and right, pushing her in almost all directions possible. She was then slammed into the wall by a large rock.

"NO...NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!" Those were the only things Arashi could scream as he ran to Merle's side. "Merle, please... PLEASE NO!!!!"Arashi let go of his longsword and put his left hand on Merle's right shoulder.

Merle put her left hand onto Arashi's chest, saying weakly:"Live..."Before bursting into particles the same way the golem did.

Arashi's eyes widened in shock and sadness, he just heard his sisters final words before she died."No...no...NO!!!!! WHY! JUST WHY! WHY WOULD... ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Arashi clawed his head with his gloved hands and screamed.

In the distance, Kirito looked at Arashi who knelt down and cried. He approached the weeping Arashi and put his free hand onto Arashi's right shoulder.

Kirito was practically speechless. Even though he had experience losing people like Kopel and The Moonlit Black Cats,but he had no words of advice to comfort Arashi.

Arashi stood up slowly with his legs shaking, one look in his eyes and you could see various emotions. Sadness. Anger. Hate. Hate for this world. His sister just died. What was the point of living anymore?

He picked up his black longsword and dragged it to the boss with one hand. Mumbling:"I'll kill you."Over and over again. This was obviously directed at not only the boss, but also Kayaba Akihiko, who started all of this in the first place.

He put his other hand onto the handle of the sword, and the sword started to glow a blood red of rage. Pure rage.Arashi felt his guts boil. Arashi lifted his longsword up into the air over his left shoulder, with the tip tilting to the left. The red sword of rage that was now Arashi's longsword hummed like a broken air conditioner, vibrating too.

Arashi dashed at the boss like lions chasing impalas, he then jumped into the air with a aura of rage and hate. He lined his sword so that it would be completely above his head.

He then slammed his longsword downward. This was the two-handed sword skill -Falling Smite-. Even though that skill should by right do only 470% of base attack damage, this time it oddly but miraculously did enough to one shot the boss.

The boss roared on final time before bursting into particles as Arashi fell onto the ground.Kirito was rightfully shocked at Arashi's suicide move but also grateful that he finished the boss.

A 'Congratulations' sign appeared in the place of the boss, symbolising the defeat of it. A much smaller window materialised before Arashi, stating that he received the last attack bonus.What he obtained was a longsword named 'Demonic Sword Laventinn'. It had a purple handle and hilt with wings protruding out of the hilt and a crimson red blade and a eye with beastly pupils on each side of the guard.

Arashi held Laventinn in his left hand while kneeling down, staring into the eye."Me... rle..."He mumbled." "Hey, Arashi are-" Kirito was held at the neck by Arashi, As Arashi told him in a statement type of talking:"From this day... I don't give a fuck what I have to do... I swear upon my sister... I'll kill that bitch Kayaba Akihiko..."

Kirito felt a radiating sense of fear around Arashi, he felt like cowering in fear and melting away at just the presence of Arashi.

A silence fell upon the circular chamber that was the boss room, and then, a member of the Aincrad Liberation Force spoke in a soft tone:"He's like... A reaper draped in the crimson blood of his foes... A Crimson Reaper."

And that nickname stuck. From then on, Arashi lived his life in Aincrad as the ruthless clearer of the Assault Team known as 'The Crimson Reaper'. And as he swore, he was the one who finished off Kayaba Akihiko, or as he was known as in the game, Heathcliff.

In Heathcliff's final moments, he told Arashi:"I... Apologie for your sister.." Arashi, who was triggered by the mention of his sister, held Heathcliff the same way he did to Kirito,drove the sword further into Heathcliff's heart, and replied in anger and rage:"YOU COULD NEVER BE YOU HEARTLESS DEMON."

With that, all surviving players were logged out of Aincrad, The Floating Castle.

A/N:Hi readers, thanks for sitting through chapter 1 of my fanfic. This is my first fanfic I'm publishing so I'm still new to this system so sorry if I make any mistakes. Anyway, I want to hear your opinions and see your reviews, maybe some constructive criticism too! Anyways, thanks again for picking this up and I'll see you all in the next chapter!