The Lightning Flash

Chapter 38: Man of the House

Seeing Suguha, Minetaka and Midori in such a state made my blood boil like few things had in my life.  I recognized the feeling...it was all too familiar.  It was the exact same way I felt when I had seen what Sugou had done to Asuna back in his VR world.  The way her face was so bruised made me want kill the fucker in the most painful way possible and, now, I was feeling that exact same resentment for the deranged monster standing in front of me, wielding a butcher's knife, without a care in the world.  That was the thing about Vassago. Whether it was the VR world or the real one, he didn't give a shit about the consequences of his actions, as long as he was having fun.  He was a completely different kind of monster, in comparison to the other player killers in SAO, who were, merely, killing other SAO players because they knew there wasn't any punishment for doing it.  Vassago, genuinely, took pleasure in killing and causing chaos in the real world, the repercussions of his actions be damned, and this fact made me hate the bastard, even more.  When I had met Ms. Tanaka...when I met his little sister, Lilith, I actually thought that Vassago was only half a monster but, in that moment, seeing him hold that weapon so close to my family made me give up on that false belief, instantly.  Despite having a sister to come home to and to take care of, he chose to throw all of that away just to come to my house and hold my family hostage.  If I took him down here, he was finished and there was no way that he didn't know this.  If I beat him, he'd be arrested and he would never be allowed to see his sister, again, and, yet, he was doing it, anyway.  It, honestly, made me question how much the son of a bitch even cared for his sister? If all of the horrible things he had done in his life were just for his sister's well-being...then he wouldn't have been at my house, right now, but, rather, he would have returned to his apartment, where his sister was.  I had to know why...why he didn't choose that option...why he chose to do this stupid shit, instead?

"You're...a dumb ass," I insulted, finally, managing to talk, despite the current rage I was feeling. 

"Haha, that's not very nice, Black Swordsman," responded Vassago, still grinning.  "Hell, I'm surprised you would resort to petty little insults when I'm this close to your little family, holding something that could kill one of them, before you could even reach me."

"Fucking...fucking dumb ass...how could you possibly be so fucking stupid?!" I yelled, taking Asuna, my family and Vassago off guard. "Why...I have to know why...why you would do this...when you could have just gone home to your sister?"

The smile on Vassago's face disappeared at the mention of Lilith but wasn't replaced with a scowl...rather, the look on his face seemed like returning to his sister wasn't even something that had crossed his mind.  The expression on his face...seemed like genuine shock...shock at himself for not even thinking about doing that, after our fight in GGO. 

"You already beat me in GGO...you could have, easily, just left it at that and gone home to your sister that's waiting for you to come back," I continued.  "She misses you...so much...I could tell that much just from talking to her. You...risked never seeing her, again, just so you could make me 'suffer.'  Like you haven't already made me suffer, you psychotic piece of shit?!  Like you haven't already made life hell for Asuna and I both?! Now, not only do you have to fuck up our lives but your sister has to grow up without a brother as well?!"

"Careful, Black Swordsman," Vassago warned.  "You're talking about some shit that you have no reason to be speaking about.  If you piss me off enough, I'll start slitting these fuckers' throats in a heartbeat.  I've killed...so many times...at first, you're right...it was to provide for my sister but somewhere along the way, it...grew into something else, entirely. A...bloodlust, of sorts.  Now, I kill because I need to...because it makes me happy."

"Is killing more important to you than your own sister?" I questioned. 

Vassago thought for a moment.