The Lightning Flash

Chapter 24: Round 2 of Bullet of Bullets Pt. 3

As I spawned into the setting for the second round of the Bullets of Bullets tournament, I was greeted to nothing but a vast wasteland, similar to the one that I patrolled both by myself and alongside my friends in GGO. I knew that all of us including me, Asuna and Shino were still dealing with many of the things that happened during the first round but we didn't have time to let that slow us down especially because this round was, completely, different than the first. Rather than a series of one-on-one fights on smaller, tighter, maps, the second round was more of a free for all on a larger, more open map. Back at Agil's bar, we decided that our strategy for winning this round would be for the three of us to meet up and fight the other players, together, to increase our chances of winning. It wasn't the deepest or most well thought out plan, to be honest, and there was a chance that some of the other players had the exact same idea but it was better than nothing. I knew how imperative it was that, at least, one of us made it to the third round of the Bullet of Bullets, to prevent Death Gun and POH from causing any more distress to the VR community. A part of me was still pissed at Death Gun for what he did to Asuna and hoped, more than anything, that I would get a chance to fight the bastard and make him pay for what he forced her to do. Him and POH both needed to be stopped and I felt like it was my duty to stop the two of them. I figured the longer that I stayed in the same position, the higher the likelihood that I would get found by another player, so I began making my way through the wasteland, keeping my eyes out for anything suspicious. At the same time, I did everything I could to keep my mind as focused as possible and clear of any distracting thoughts. I didn't have time to dwell on them. Not when there was so much at stake. Time passed and it felt like I had been traversing the wasteland for like fifteen minutes until I caught glimpse of something in the distance that caused me to, immediately, use the hand technique, to quick select my dual wielding pistols. As they materialized in my hands, the three figures that I had caught a glimpse of became much clearer and I was able to get a much better view of them. One of the players was equipped with an Assault rifle, another was equipped with some kind of shotgun and the last one was equipped with just a normal hand gun. Individually, I doubted any of them would have been a genuine threat to me but the fact that there was three of them caused me to worry a little. It seemed that, unfortunately, they had the same strategy that my friends and I had. They had the clear numbers advantage against me and this caused me to grit my teeth in frustration as I pointed both of my pistols at them, prepared to shoot at a moment's notice.

As soon as the players were close enough, the player with the pistol spoke, first, "Look what we have here, boys. A poor little player that's all by himself out here in the middle of nowhere. I almost feel bad for him. Almost."

This could be bad, I, internally, dreaded.

"Hey, wait a minute, doesn't this guy look a little familiar?" brought up the player with the shotgun. "I feel like I've seen his face, somewhere."

"Oh, you're right!" agreed the player with the assault rifle. "It's that one guy...the one, who cleared SAO...uh...what was his stupid nickname...The Black...Swordsman, right?"

"Haha, wow, who would've thought that we would be lucky enough to stumble across someone so famous," remarked the player with the pistol, upon learning who I was.

All three players equipped their respective weapons as I backed up a few feet, in order to create some distance between us. If it was just a single player that I had run into, it wouldn't have been impossible to dodge some of the bullets and take them down, especially if they had a pistol or shotgun as a primary weapon but this was different...completely different. There being three players that I was forced to fight against made dodging bullets or even just taking some shots until I was close enough to the players to strike, out of the question, entirely. My only other option was to use my "Bullet Time" ability but, considering I could only use it once a round, I really didn't want to use it to fight these three, just in case there was another more dangerous player that I would have to fight in the second round. Still, my options were slim...dangerously slim. Even though a part of me felt like it was a waste of the ability, I, genuinely, couldn't come up with another strategy so I prepared to use my "Bullet Time" ability as soon as the players began firing at me.