Her Mission To Save Them All || Sword Art Online Fanfic

Chapter 54

POV: Kayoko 

Tori's lips curve into a sneer. "You're too predictable. It would have been your advantage to attack me while your position is unknown. Don't tell me that you were expecting a fair duel."

"I don't believe the word fair is in your vocabulary, Tori." I raise my knife in preparation, angling the serrated edge towards Tori. I start to run through the sword skills available to me, the best way for me to string them together to achieve victory. "I just want to end this. There's no need to fight any more. It's over. I've won this game." 

"Keep telling yourself that if it makes yourself feel better." She shifts her weight from the tips of her toes to her heels and back again.

 Her hand falls to the sheathed sword at her hip, hands closing around it. "You are blind! Keep deluding yourself that everything is black and white. Good and Evil. But it's never like that. It's never that easy!" 

'Keep her talking.' I try not to snap my head towards where Yuha still presses herself against the fountain edge.

'The only way to defeat a user of her unique skill is to be faster than they can charge their sword skill. I can boost your speed so focus on charging the strongest skill you can. Use that one if you have to.'

"You're not the right one to be talking about that, Tori. That cursor tells me so." I say, not sure where I am going, only that I'm talking; I'm leaving the bait in the hope she will fall into the trap. 

"Your cursor is the exact reason why you cannot judge those like us. Did you know my first kill was a defence? " She presses her hand against her chest as though if she presses there, she really could feel remorse. Her voice grows cold, distant. "It was either me or him and I choose myself." 

A laugh bubbles from her, dredging up with it a deep tone of bitterness. "But no one thinks of that when they see a red cursor. They think you did it for the fun. They turn you away from every town, every market, every event so you cannot make any progress. That's why we're gathered here. Katraylsis is important because this is the only place we can live."

Planting her feet, she draws her sword. "You will not take this from us too."

'Her sword is level 48. Can you handle that?' 

I dip my chin, enough so that it clearly looks like a nod to Yuha but not so much that it looks like one to Tori. "You won't take our lives from us anymore."

"We ensure that every kill is registered. We do not take as many lives as you think. Surely you know how many have died from that tattoo. We only need you to bend over to we can count." She snarls. 

My spine stiffens but I don't let her find the wound so that she can further pull me apart. I wonder why she hasn't sprung forward to attack yet. Her face is scrunched in anger, lined with frustration. I want to know what she is waiting for. 

'Now.'

As soon as I see the first letter across my visor, I dart outwards, running my hand across the surface of my blade. Tori's face changes, cooling to unreadable stone. She moves her leg back, preparing to take the blow as her white blade raises upwards in a white crescent arc. 

In the shadow on my vision, I see Yuha peak between the flow of water of the fountain. She holds her hand out, fingers splaying from her palm.

"System call. Generate Aerial element. Discharge."

I feel my limbs lighten as though a gust of wind catches, sending my arms swinging out. There's more force behind my sword as it meets Tori's. The clang sounds louder. I force the flat of the blade closer, feeling as Tori's sword bends under mine.