SAO FB: Scars

Face Your Past Or Fall To It

Kato reached for his back and felt the leather grip of the improved one-handed sword similar to his sword in Aincrad. He wandered in the center of the lobby for a few minutes while he waited. He had said his final goodbyes on the notepad, so nothing can hold him back. As he walked through a door, the lobby and surrounding environment seamlessly morphed into a large, open cave with floating platforms. Kato took the gaiter neck mask and raised it to his nose. He felt a sense of uneasiness as he closed his eyes and held onto the grip of his pistol. As he opened his eyes again, he saw Lobo standing across from him. He held is all too familiar sickles and brandished his devilish smile. Kato removed his hand from the pistol and reached for the sword on his back.

"So where's your friend?" Lobo's voice questioned. "I was hoping I can knock out two birds with one stone."

"She doesn't need to be a part of this," Kato answered. "This is my past, not hers."

Kato drew his sword and brought it to his side. He lowered his stance and waited for the perfect moment to strike. Kato sensed the hostility from Lobo's voice and the change in environment. Kato gritted his teeth and lowered his stance. Lobo scoffed and answered, "Doesn't matter. You're the person I needed anyways."

Lobo initiated the first move by charging toward Kato with the sickles to his side. He quickly activated a sword skill and started to go through the motion. As Lobo slashed to the right, Kato quickly moved to deflect the blow but the blade phased through the sword.

"A fake?" Kato thought.

To the left of Kato, the real sickles appeared and moved toward Kato. Kato quickly moved the blade and blocked it with the sword behind him. The sword skill ended and Lobo was in front of Kato. The latter rapidly rotated the sword and hit Lobo in the midsection. A chunk of Lobo's health was loss but Lobo quickly counterattacked and punched Kato in the gut. The two shuffled away from each other and faced each other once more. They walked around for another moment before Kato blitzed forward with the pistol in hand. He shot a few bullets down range before taking the sword into his hand once more. Lobo deflected the bullets and one impacted into Kato's shin. Kato grit his teeth and pushed forwards. He made a hacking motion toward Lobo before he felt a sharp pain in his shin. His vision slowly turned into the killing floor during his raid on Laughing Coffin. His mind slipped for a moment, which Lobo capitalized on. Lobo grabbed Kato's arm and threw him to the side.

"Worthless," Lobo muttered while he started to charge toward him.

Lobo slashed his sickles around Kato causing multiple scratches along his body. Kato quickly regained his senses and started to fall back. He took the sword and returned it to the sheath on his back.

"Why are you doing this?" Kato asked. "Aincrad is an event of the past."

"Because..." He shouted. "I want to avenge him. I want to make you feel the pain he and I felt."

A red vignette appeared in his vision and the dungeon appeared once more. There was an excruciating pain that knocked him to his knees and Kato started to panic. A small hear rate monitor appeared in the corner of his vision and started to show multiple peaks and troughs in quick succession. Kato started to groan in pain as redness in his vision faded. Lobo's boots walked up to him as Kato slowly pushed himself off of the ground. Lobo stepped on top of Kato forcing him to the ground.

"It's time to live a life worse than death," Lobo said while bringing the sickle to Kato's throat.

Kato reached to his side and grabbed the grip of the dagger. He stabbed it into the foot of Lobo. In the moment of release, Kato rolled away and activated the grapple device on his left arm. He created some distance and drew his pistol. Lobo grabbed the dagger from his foot and tossed it to the side. Kato unsheathed the sword from his back and readied himself. Lobo charged Kato and sliced a part of his cheek off. Another red vignette appeared in his vision but Kato bit his tongue to push through the pain. Kato turned around and faced Lobo once more. He sheathed his sword and stared at the dagger on the ground. Kato activated the grapple and pulled the dagger back to his off-hand. He positioned the dagger to activate a 5-hit thrusting skill. Lobo blocked the first three shots before the second two sliced off a good amount of health. Lobo fell back instead of countering. Kato chased after Lobo, firing his pistol in the general direction. Once again he repeated the combo, but he fainted the initial sword skill and activated a large thrusting skill. Lobo caught the blade with his sickles and stared into Kato's eyes.

"Bien," he whispered.

Lobo activated a sword skill and started to bring the pressure back on Kato. Kato quickly activated an emergency back step to create space, but Lobo kept pushing forward. At the end of the sword skill, Kato locked blades with Lobo once again. Kato imagined the blade of the sword turning green before reaching for his pistol. The blade glowed faintly and Lobo considered it as a sword skill. As Lobo's attention was drawn to the blade, Kato took the Glock 34 and pulled the trigger multiple times. The bullets punched through Lobo's cloak and drilled into his avatar. He lost a bit of health, causing him to fall back. Kato quickly swapped in another mag and continued shooting at Lobo. Kato repeated the 5-hit skill combo to keep this pressure on Lobo as he slowly chipped his health away. When Lobo's health reached red, Kato placed the pistol in the holster and unsheathed the sword.

"If I killed a part of you in Aincrad," Kato asked, "then who was it?"

"You killed my only family in Aincrad. My last connection to the real and virtual world," Lobo responded. "When I'm done with you here, I'll kill you in Colorado and everyone you fucking love back in Japan. I'll make you experience what it's like to lose everything you love in the real world."

Kato grit his teeth and felt the rage from deep inside of him. He charged forwards and activated vorpal strike. He pushed the sword forward and Lobo easily dodged it. Lobo moved in for a counterattack. Using skill connect, Kato quickly activated a dagger skill to counter Lobo's counterattack. Lobo's sickles were kicked up leaving him exposed. Kato threw the dagger toward Lobo and brought the one-handed sword to his side. The dagger bounced off harmlessly from the sickles and clattered on the floor. Kato rushed forwards and attacked with his swords. Lobo quickly activated a sword skill to place Kato back on the defensive. The skill sliced through Kato's armor, but would not stop his attack. Kato activated a heavy-hitting skill that placed his health into the critical zone. Lobo fell back and another red vignette filled Kato's mind. Kato bit his tongue while Lobo charged back toward Kato. Lobo activated another sword skill with the intent to kill Kato. A red aura emanated from Lobo's body. Kato closed his eyes for a moment and positioned his sword in a sword skill. Kato quickly activated the sword skill to counter him. All of the hits were blocked and the sickles eventually shattered into a sea of blue crystals. Lobo jumped back to gain some distance from Kato. Kato ditched the sword and extended his hand toward the dagger. The dagger was grabbed by the beam of light and it moved its way back into Kato's hands. For the final blow, Kato took the dagger and stabbed it into Lobo's stomach. He activated a secret sword skill that instantly stunned Lobo and brought him to his knees. Kato removed the dagger from Lobo's stomach and stepped away as Lobo's body fell to the ground. Kato grabbed the pistol from the holster and chambered the next round. Lobo gazed up to meet the warm steel barrel.

"I'll be seeing you soon," Lobo threatened.

"And I'll be waiting," Kato answered.

Kato pulled the trigger without hesitation and Lobo's avatar was declared dead. As Kato watched the avatar's body disappear, he picked up the sword from the ground with the grapple and returned it to the sheath on his back. He tucked the dagger back into the sheath on the cummerbund of the vest.

"Once again we meet," a male voice called to him. "You continue to surprise me."

Kato glanced at his watch and noticed that it was approaching midnight in Colorado. When he looked up, a brown-haired man with a white lab coat faced him. His mouth moved for a moment before he disappeared. Kato knew who it was though. Kato's avatar was eventually returned to the lobby where he found Kirito standing in the middle of the lobby, along with Asuna, Yui, and Layla. Kato walked up and everyone was surprised to see a worn-out Kato.

"What happened to you?" Kirito asked.

Kato answered simply, "I won. He's gone."

Kato swayed a little bit before Asuna caught him. Kato slowly mumbled on about he defeated Lobo. Although everyone was elated, Kato excused himself from the group and logged out. He said that he was tired, but in actuality, something worse was coming up.