The Lightning Flash

Chapter 23: Round 2 of Bullet of Bullets Pt. 2

"Damn it, that bastard beat me, again," mumbled Asuna to herself, as she traversed the empty wasteland that she found herself in. "I'm still too weak to beat him...and that teleporting ability...I still have no idea how he's able to do it. Is it some kind of skill that he picked up through an in-game quest? I'll have to look that up, later, because if I can't get a handle on his teleportation bullshit, I'll never stand a chance against him in a one-on-one fight."

On top of this, there was something else that was bothering Asuna that she couldn't prevent herself from contemplating. Why didn't Death Gun just, simply, kill her? To Asuna, it was obvious that he was a better player than her and had her beaten in several instances, now. Yet, he never used that gun of his...the same gun he supposedly killed Klein with and the same one he threatened to kill Kiko with...on Asuna, herself. Asuna began to reflect on what Death Gun was saying during their fight and it seemed to her that Death Gun had some sort of personal vendetta against her which...was weird, the more she thought about it.

"I thought his whole thing was about instilling fear in the VR community?" said Asuna to herself. "But, from the way he was speaking when I was fighting him, it made it seem like he was more focused on making my life a living hell. Almost like, he hates me, personally. So, which is it? Does he want to be a symbol of fear in the VR world or does he want to prove to the world that I'm nothing but a fake? Perhaps, it's a combination of the two?"

The more Asuna racked her brain about this, the more blanks she drew, not being able to come up with any sort of reasoning.

"I'll have to tell Kirito and Sinon about what happened once I find either of them," Asuna determined, figuring that they might be able to assist her in figuring out Death Gun's true motivations.

After having made her way through the wasteland for what felt like a couple of minutes, Asuna found herself approaching a small, abandoned city, full of damaged cars and destroyed buildings, that were barely still standing. All of the sudden, she heard a loud male scream coming from deep within the small, abandoned city, causing her to, momentarily, pause.

That doesn't sound good, Asuna thought to herself, worriedly. Although, that scream didn't remotely sound like Kirito which is good. Hm, I suppose I should still check it out, though, in case him or Sinon are in the area. I just need to try my best to remain hidden. The last thing I need is unnecessary conflict, right now.

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Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

The bullets that flew out of a colossally sized mini gun, carried by a GGO player, who was covered in heavy body armor and wore a helmet that protected his head from head shots as well, echoed throughout the abandoned city area.  The bullets blasted through the body of the poor player that he found in front of him, each one spraying copious amounts of blood from behind him. The player with the mini gun watched as the player's health bar dropped to zero in less than three seconds and, before he knew it, the player shattered into tiny red polygonal shards, indicating that he had been eliminated. The GGO player with the mini gun sighed to himself, in disappointment.

"What a dumb ass, trying to attack me, head on, like that," commented the GGO player with the mini gun. "I'm surprised he even managed to last this long in the tournament but, then again, this player in the first round could have found himself facing off against an even bigger dip shit.  Still, I was expecting a little bit more of a challenge from the players in this round, in comparison to the player that I made mincemeat out of in the first round. Maybe, I expected too much."

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Asuna couldn't believe what she had just seen from behind cover of one of the damaged cars that was found in the abandoned city that was in front of her. A player, who was equipped with a mini gun, had just shredded a player in a matter of seconds with his weapon, without even having to move from the spot he was standing in.