Sword Art Online: The Crystal Swordsman

Bloody Battlegrounds

Competition based game modes account for teams earning points in battle. The more damage you do, the more points you score. The cleaner your kills, the more multiplier you receive. If you can sustain damage and kills and survive, you win. Sticking together is encouraged but also risky due to bunching up for enemy combatants to score easy points. It's a difficult thing to balance but that is why it's apart of the game. Elements like these are added to test your metal. Lessons, as said before. Treat them as such.

We were spawned side by side into a random location on the known map of the battlefield. I scanned the local area to see if I could spot a high vantage point to assist with my sniper.

"Be prepared for anything. There are many pro players that come out just for these events to steal the entire competition." Player1 checked and double checked that each of his mags were filled.

"Don't worry about me. I'll find a place to cover you from above." I nodded, trusting in his close range fighting ability based on his preliminary round.

"Here. This will keep our comms on a secure channel that can't be tapped." Player1 handed me an earpiece.

"Good idea. I'll get a survey of the map and relay information to you as you go." I agreed.

"Right. Let's get to work." He readied his pistols.

I nodded and ran off by myself to get a good vantage point of the local area. After some desperate searching, I found a higher cliff side that gave me an excellent view of the battlefield below. I posted up my sniper and waited patiently for my first victim to appear. With a good dug in spot like this, I was sure to take out all of my targets with general ease.

"I'm in a good position now. Give em' hell, Player1." I encouraged.

"I intend to." Player1 sounded much more growly than before.

After a long while of waiting and hearing distant gunfire, I saw a player appear cloaked in tan colors as he traversed across the distant desert planes. I lined up my crosshairs with his head and kept my finger off the trigger, ready to fire at any moment.

"I got eyes on one contact in the open. Desert camo and heavily armed." I relayed.

"Good. Don't fire until I give the signal." Player1 ordered.

"What signal?" I wasn't told prior.

I looked around and saw Player1 come into view of the enemy as they approached each other. The desert player pulled out a large LMG and aimed it directly at Player1 but instead of firing right away, they both stopped to talk. Player1 slowly dropped his pistols in the sand at his sides while the other player tossed his LMG. Player1 must have convinced him to fight hand-to-hand. The fist fight started light at first. They poked and prodded to find openings but each attack was always dodged. It quickly unfolded into much harder, almost bone breaking attacks. Player1 blocked a huge punch and clocked the desert player in the nose, making him stumble backwards from the force.
Quite the parry. The desert player recovered but was caught off guard when Player1 was aiming his finger at him like a gun. I froze and watched as Player1 clicked his thumb like he was pulling the trigger. This involuntarily caused me to have flashbacks of my past when I shot a gun at a robber when I was young. I tried to pull myself together and hold my breath to fire but my bullet flew far over desert players head. From just some stupid signal, I had cracked under pressure.

"Shit!" I called out over the comms by accident.

Player1 sprung into action by lunging at the desert player, knowing that I wouldn't have his back in this fight. He punched hard but the enemy blocked it using his crossed forearms. Player1 grabbed the players wrists, pulled them apart and sent an intense knee into the enemy's chin. He sent another one into the guys stomach which cause him to kneel down suddenly. Player1 stood and forced another knee up into the desert players face. The enemy's head shot backwards hard, causing him to tumble on his back. Player1 pulled out a combat knife from a holster on his chest and spun the blade to stab down. He dropped to one knee and attempted to cut the enemy's neck, but he grabbed Player1's wrist and pushed against it to keep himself from dying. I was going to try to help Player1 but he apparently knew what he was doing. He brought his other hand up and hit the bottom of the knife with his palm to push it down far enough to stab the player in the neck. Player1 yanked his blade out of the corpse before it exploded into pixel shards. He stood up and looked right at me all the way from the far distance he was.

"No matter who you're shooting, shoot first. It's your life..." Player1 picked up his pistols and shot one of them towards me.

I ducked in fear, thinking he might kill me for slipping up but stopped when I heard someone gargling behind me. I rolled over and saw a choking player holding an assault rifle with a bullet hole in his throat.

"...Or their's." Player1 finished.

The enemy player fell down and exploded into shards right in front of me.

"60 players entered. 27 remain. Let's flush out the good ones while we still can." Player1 told me over the comms.

Sharpshooter? He's practically a deadeye with those pistols.

After a while of careful travelling, I caught up to Player1 and we reunited before encountering any other enemy players.

"We need to get to a high ground before night falls." Player1 instructed.

"O-Okay." I hesitated.

Player1 peeked at me suspiciously, knowing something was obviously up but didn't feel it was his place to say or ask. The two of us made our way forward to a ruined city of crumbling skyscrapers. We peeked around every corner until we found ourselves a building intact enough to keep us safe for the night. Player1 and I climbed to the top and set up camp on the roof just underneath a wooden overhang. Just as we got there, it started to lightly rain as the beginnings of thunder rumbled gently overhead. Player1 sat against a concrete wall opposite me while I sat against a wooden beam supporting the overhang shielding us from the gentle pattering rain. We were safe for the night for now.

"What happened back there?" Player1 finally asked.

I sat in silence and swallowed my pride. I knew even if I didn't want to, he would want a proper explanation. Anyone would.

"I'm sorry... This usually never comes up..." I inhaled and prepared to tell my story.

Player1 looked at me and waited patiently.

"In the real world when I was very young, my mom and I were at a bank just as it was robbed. The robber came in and shoved my mom off her feet just as he pulled out a gun and aimed it at one of the people behind the counter. He shot the first guy after waiting too long and aimed it at my mom on the ground screaming that he'd shoot her too if he didn't get his money. Something inside of me made me try to stop him... in my young age all I could think to do was bite his hand. The robber threw me into the counter to remove my sunken teeth but he also dropped the gun in the process. I quickly grabbed it to keep it away from him but he tried to wrestle me for it. Even with my little strength, I managed to fight back enough and fire off a round into his stomach. He grunted and yelled but he still tried to wrestle for his own gun. I shot him again in the shoulder which knocked him down, but it still wasn't enough to kill him... He got up one more time just enough to look at me but I shut my eyes and fired again blindly. When I reopened my eyes, he was bleeding from a bullet wound in his forehead. I've been afraid of guns ever since then... This game helps me cope." I revealed reluctantly.

"You're a hero." Player1 spoke.

"No! I'm a monster!" I responded.

"No, Sinon. You protected what was most precious to you. You protected your family." Player1 assured me.

"But I killed someone! I'm a murderer!" I shouted.

"He would have murdered everyone in that store if it weren't for your heroic actions." Player1 informed.

I was silent for a long solemn moment as I processed what he said.

"The events of the past forge the person you become in the present. That may have happened then, but you are indeed a hero now." Player1 finished.

I gave him an understanding smile and fought back genuine tears.

"Get some rest. You'll need it for tomorrow's battles." Player1 crossed his arms and hung his head as if he were going to sleep sitting against the wall.

I shook my head and laid down. I was conflicted with myself in the moment but I also found comfort in Player1's support. Even tho he was a complete stranger, I told him my story and he didn't pass judgement on it. Not even in the slightest. It made me wonder what this Player1 guy would be like IRL. Who knows, maybe we could be friends.