Chapter 93: Chapter 92 - Pandemonia
28 February 2024
Katalysis, 43rd Floor
Nice save, Xana.
I wondered what Puma had meant with those words, as the exploded blue crystals flushed through my face.
Although I couldn't ever ask her about that anymore, I was starting to understand its meaning, as I turned to Rakuno slightly.
" 'Nice save'.....to save you from the burden maybe, or rather....."
".....What.....are you.....saying....."
The witch's katana was held locked in place, unable to return to its sheathe as its owner breathed rather heavily. Whatever she had just seen might have almost been enough to send her into shock or something.
"Were you planning to save her no matter what happens?" I asked as I returned my spear to its sheathe.
Raku tried to slow her breathing down. "I.....I.....just wanted to.....but..."
"She would have done it to herself anyway." I searched my system menu for a red HP crystal, and popped 2 out from my storage. "Here, it's on me."
I stretched one out to Raku, half-expecting her to reject the item in front of the guy who made her witness such a depressing scene. Whether she understood that what I did were last resorts or not, I didn't really care for now.
Thankfully, she didn't seem to reject the crystal, though she was still frozen in place, unwilling to move an inch. I gently tapped the crystal onto her shoulder.
"Heal."
The red crystal vanished. Raku's HP gauge instantly refilled to full. She was still fixated on the spot where Puma perished, as if she was in a daze. I sighed a little, as I used the second crystal on myself with the same results on my HP.
As unfazed as I was in this kind of situation, it wasn't like I was happy about winning the battle that I had just fought.
I just wished that my opponents were enemy mobs, instead of players who fought for their ideals. Then again, for me to survive, the only option I could opt for in those circumstances was.....to kill.
Considering the extreme stubborness displayed by both of them, it was the only conclusion that I could land on at that very moment.
Well.......I get it. I completely understood what Raku was feeling, even though I wouldn't have that strong of a feeling myself.
Watching a player shatter into crystals wasn't supposed to be a tragedy in the first place. It was supposed to be considered as simply a mistake made by the player, who could be revived somewhere else safe and sound, without any reprecussions.
I'd constantly forgotten about that piece of logic that existed in other MMORPGs, but never did exist in this one.
Leaving Raku behind for a while, I exited the Gladorium through one of its large entrances, and witnessed the many fights still going on. The sounds of blades clashing suggested that there were more fighting than what I was seeing. The city of Katalysis had effectively turned into a war zone.
I went back to Raku, who was now sitting on the ground, slumped in a daze apart from her heavy panting.
"....."
In the state that she's in now, there's no telling whether she's willing to keep fighting on this battlefield, let alone having to resort to kill.
I sat at a spot right in front of her, crossing my legs to relieve myself of the strain from having to stand. With all the running around for the past few days, sleeping another few days straight doesn't seem like a bad idea when I finally get back to my guild base after all these bullshit.
"I'm willing to wait for you to recover from your shock, as long as we don't get ambushed or anything. I just hope they don't come to the Gladorium....." I leaned back with my hands planted behind me.
It should've been past midnight by now. I honestly wouldn't care about having lost track of time at this point. Right now, a girl who's on the verge of probably wetting herself is right in front of me, and frankly, I'm surprised that she hasn't gone mad yet.
I leaned close to her and tried to stare into her eyes, as if I was staring through them and into her soul.
"Look at me."
Her eyes twitched as they shifted slowly to meet mine. I gently reached over to raise the flap of her pointed hat, as her panting gradually ceased.
"I get that it's your first time seeing players die. Whether you eventually get used to it or not is entirely up to you.
"Even if you might never get used to it, it's fine. It's fine, really. All you have to do is to relinquish your title as the Katana Witch. Because I don't remember any kind of witches who are afraid of seeing death."
Rakuno the Katana Witch took a slow and deep breath, as she blankly stared back at me, unable to sound out a word with her slightly shaky mouth.
"I'll give you 2 choices," I continued. "Either you stand up and we face our next enemies together, or stay here and let the next enemy get you. Well, the second choice sounds suicidal, and that's assuming that you'll never be willing to kill again."
Her hands, which were still gripping onto her swords, shook a little.
"This 'magic' that you wield is useless against the enemies that you're fighting right now," I continued on. "But the only one who can change that is you, Rakuno. If you're willing to fight to protect innocent players everywhere.....if you're willing to witness more deaths for the sake of your survival.....if you're willing to stab your sword into your enemies as a last resort to save your own life.....
"Take your stand right now."
Isn't it ironic that my party's full of people who would never being willing to kill other players in order to survive? Well, aside from Krieg, that is. He would definitely get the deed done in a place no one would know.
Tekion's a non-combantant. Alexis and Meghan are strictly against killing based on their own values and morals. Not that I would try to convince them to kill the same way I was to Rakuno right now, but they were so proficient in their combat skills that they would end battles with enemy players by just incapacitating them. Effectively, they would survive.
In that respect, I would lose to them entirely, though I wouldn't have preferred leaving my enemies alive in extreme circumstances anyway.
Rakuno's legs finally moved. Her gritted teeth showed her determination as she used her swords to raise herself up from the ground.
I got up as well, and reached my right hand out to her. She took it with her own, as I pulled her up to stand.
"As long as you're willing to learn to kill to survive, I'll be doing all I can to support you."
I gave her hand a little shake, before releasing it. Putting on my hood, I pointed my thumb towards the city area of Katalysis as I started my sprint.
"We've wasted enough time. Let's move."
Rakuno merely nodded, and pulled down the flap of her hat as she started to run after me.
As we reached the city area, which was being ruined by fights happening all around, I pointed to the nearest shady alleyway, dodged a few players who were too focused on swinging their weapons to notice me (thankfully), and slipped in there. Rakuno almost tripped into the dark space, as I caught her arm to balance her back up.
I leaned into a wall, sliding down to sit on the ground. The witch did the same on the opposite wall, facing me while panting from the run.
"As I see it, we've got a couple of options," I brought down my system menu. "We can link up with people from my guild and fight from there, or regroup with Alexis and Meghan. Well, I'm fine with either."
I couldn't really see the witch's face clearly in this dark alley, especially with her hat covering part of it. But her unusual silence was practically screaming out to me, considering her usual demeanour of overbearing cheerfulness.
Well, recovering from a traumatic experience is a long process. I wouldn't expect her to reply that willingly in this situation.
".....I'm going to Tori."
Her bleak voice presented a third option that caught me by surprise.
"That--"
"--Sounds like suicide! I know!"
The witch almost choked on her words. She raised her face towards me, revealing her sore puffy eyes paired with a slightly shaky frown.
"But I'm prepared to kill her in extreme circumstances. I'm ready for that now."
I wanted to react to that broken determination with a blunt "No, you're not ready", just because she clearly wasn't.
But the time to make a decision was depleting fast. I wasn't gonna have another lengthy pep talk with her, not yet at least.
Swiping away my system menu, I crossed my arms. "So how do we find her?"
She pondered for a while, trying to find a way. I'd never have thought of finding Tori in this chaotic situation though.
".....Kira.....Kira! We find Kira!" Rakuno snapped her head up, having found her answer. She brought down her system menu and accessed her friend list.
While I also had Kira on my friend list, I decided to let Rakuno lead the way. It did make sense that Kira would be searching for Tori, probably to settle the scores that they both have for each other.
The witch sprung up, the colour of her eyes reflecting her usage of tracking her target by turning into a blend of yellowish and greenish shades.
"Let's go, Zena!"
At least there was renewed excitement in her voice already. Maybe someone like her couldn't stay traumatized any longer.
I resigned to the fact that I couldn't stop her (and was lazy to do so anyway), got up and hurried to not lose sight of her, as she burst out of the other end of the alley.
Among the many clashes of blades in the heart of the city of Katalysis, I was starting to notice players wearing the signature red and white uniform holding off the orange players.
The KoB. It's definitely them. And for them to push through this deep into the city already was pretty impressive. Of course, there were other guilds who joined in on the invasion, but the KoB was the guild to lead the force.
I kept my hand on my spear behind my back as I dodged the fights scattered throughout the streets, trying to catch
up to Rakuno, who was swerving through them without much effort.
It took another 10 minutes for me to make out the location of Kira. Rakuno pushed through a door that led to somewhat of a garden, which was what I least expected a city to have.
I guess it didn't really matter, now that every building that I walk past looked like they were ready to crumble back down into ruins.
The garden had something that I hadn't see in a good while: grass. The greenery stood out clearly among the yellow and red shades of the canyon-made buildings in the city, though the reason it was pretty hidden from the public eye was the fact that it was an enclosed area.
There were also paths on the grass that branched out from each other, which would make for a sadistic maze had the grass been as tall as me. I could see in the distance a fountain right at the other end of the garden, with another door seemingly behind it.
What weird structural design. However, It wasn't the thing that got Raku to suddenly bolt forth towards there.
I saw that scene too, and from the looks of it, it was far from peaceful.
When I stopped just behind a standing dumbfounded Rakuno, I was starting to struggle with comprehending the situation as well. Right by the fountain stood a large block of ice, with the body of Tori trapped within it.
On first impression, what I had just seen easily broke through the realm of understanding that I had for this world. This world, in which no such 'fantasy magic' existed.
In what possibility could ice, or any other kind of elemental property in that matter, be created out of nothing?
As I was trying to put aside that thought, I noticed Kira and Kyozo on one side of the fountain, and another pair of players at the other.
One of those players was easily the commander of the most powerful guild. The other.....was a prominent frontliner. A frontliner who was clad in black, though not as much as Krieg. But he was someone that anyone would instantly recognize.
I just hadn't really seen him up in person yet, until now.
Rakuno walked straight into the scene, ignoring the presence of those well-known players as she stared straight into Tori's face, which looked like it was on pause from trying to make an expression.
Surely, the leader of the Council was trying to make a face of shock and disbelief. I was feeling the same right now. Right above her HP gauge was an icon I have never seen before, but knew its meaning immediately.
A picture of a snowflake. If there was a name for this debuff, I would've just called it the freeze debuff, no questions asked.
Rakuno slowly turned to Kira, who along with the other 3 had already noticed us coming through the garden.
".....What happened here....." The witch simply spoke from her genuine confusion.
The redhead shook her head. ".....I couldn't explain it to you if I tried."
The witch turned back to the block of ice. Asuna the Lightning Flash stepped forth towards her. "She's dangerous. Stand back."
Without even tilting her hat to face her, Rakuno spoke decisively, as if she was ignoring Asuna herself.
"I want to have a talk with Tori."
A brief hint of confusion showed on Asuna's face, before she started to refute Rakuno's request.
"I'm afraid we can't let you do that."
"I'm willing to let you securely capture her. All I'm asking is to let me finish up some business with her."
"Well, even if you wanted to talk to her....."
"Please, Asuna-san. Nothing will change my mind."
To think that I was pretty surprised of her insistence on talking to Tori. It was safe to assume that they had met each other sometime before the invasion happened, but it didn't explain why she wanted to do that so badly.
Anyways..... I was bracing myself to an argument between 2 female players, both of whom I'd deemed as capable of escalating the situation into a full-blown duel. Well, that might be quite the stretch of thought there, but there's always that possibility.
".....I'll settle that issue for you."
Kira stepped in between the 2 girls, probably having sensed the tension.
"I mean, I'll arrange for you to talk to her once we've done all the measures to securely detain her."
She turned to Asuna and the both of them locked eyes with each other. Asuna sighed and backed off from Rakuno, who kept staring at the block of ice.
"Thank you, Kira."
I couldn't ignore the fact that Raku had just did a stare-off against the vice-commander of the KoB. But aside from that, how desperate was she on wanting to talk to Tori?
"Do you also want to talk to Tori, Zena?"
I turned at Kira's inquiry, as Raku turned around without a word and headed for the door that we went in from.
"Count me in," I simply replied. "I've got business with Tori as well. Just give either of us a message when she's ready to talk."
The redhead nodded without another word. I turned to catch up to Raku, but paused at the sight of the black-clad sword user beside Asuna the Lightning Flash.
He had a title as well. An unofficial one, maybe, but it was one that I shouldn't seem to forget.
Oh, right, I remembered.
The Black Swordsman.
For a moment, I locked eyes with him. I would've wanted to meet such an intriguing player who was said to have fought in the frontlines of Floor clearing without being in a guild, but now wasn't the best time.
I turned back to join Raku, who was swinging open the door that led back into the city streets.
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