Sword Art Online: Eclipse

Chapter Twelve: Triforce of Courage

At first, there was silence. It felt like a black hole had warped its way into the empty Buddha temple. Every sound vanished into the void until it couldn't contain itself and combusted. Rouge shouted aloud, "What?" Other players cried phrase such as "holy shit" or "what the hell dude." While some of their peers questioned me out loud with "What the hell are you talking about?" or "Are you insane?"

Magenta quickly snatched my bicep and pulled me away from the leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath. Heathcliff seemed to have just processed what I had just said. He was still typing in his console before he stopped abruptly. Sinister cloud gray eyes slinked their way up to my gaze.

"You can't deny it," I said a fracture splintering in my call, "we all just saw what you did, hell, we heard what you said." I turned to the rest of the raiding party, "Right? In what other context does that make sense?" I looked specifically between Magenta and Rouge.

"He is our guild leader!" A KoB member shouted, "I think we would know if he was the asshole who trapped us in this hellscape."

"But how?" I implored, "This is his world, in this game he is basically a god, he can command whatever he wants and control what he likes."

"I have heard his health never leaves the yellow," Rouge said, frozen horror of the realization he was coming to, "of course, he even has the best damn skill in the game." He looked at him with fury in his eyes, "You can't even beat your own game without using some damn cheat codes!"

Tikish!

Fractals of blue light gallivanted into the dreary atmosphere right were Rouge was standing a moment before. Screams elevated into the air, along with the polygons, as people cursed in surprise and backed away. I swiveled sharply back towards the gamemaster, his hands were still on the keyboard. A meandering cold scuttered up my spine as the commander and I exchanged a look at each other.

"I do not che-" He started, but before he could finish I parried his remark.

"He was right, wasn't he? That why you fucking just killed someone! Because they were right about you?! I bet if I went at you, you wouldn't even lose more sixty percent health! Am I right?!" My roar was infected with anxiety, and the frost now plunged my entire back into a shiver.

Mantegna squeezed my arm, "Teal," she warned. Now «Delta Soul» quivered in anguish with a feeble hand clenched around it. My fingers twitched in small spasms, looking for a sleeve to tug aggressively.

"I am getting sick of you people," Heathcliff said through gritted teeth. His hand suddenly flew over his keyboard, and in an instant, a lightning bolt insignia charged itself over my HP bar. I felt my legs give out, and I toppled over. I wasn't the only one, apparently, everyone behind me fell as the sound of metal armor clattering drummed into my ear. «Paralysis» had sunk its fangs into the whole party and left one red figure towering above us all.

My mind decided to give me a flashing slideshow of my first day in «Anicrad». The imposing hooded figure that had gloured over us like a warden to his prisoners sent my mind in a spiral. His words had caused me to crack the first time I had ever seen him, and now it made sense why there was always so much electricity between the two of us. He was fear incarnate, he was literally the bringer of death, the reason why Magenta, and I always held each other in a teleport, one of the reason why I had let my friends and allies die around me.

Akihiko began to pace back in front of us, a pile of useless bodies. His face looked distressed and filled with annoyance. A lament that players who thought themselves better than others often wore casually.