Sword Art Online - The Midnight Shadow

Chapter 10 - Floor 74

*swish* *CLANG* *swish* *CLANG*

The sounds of metal clashing against metal rung out across the field.

A boy wearing a fully black attire – adorned with a fully black ensemble, topped off with a black longcoat – was deftly dodging strikes from a standard sword.

There was not a trace of concern on his face as he dodged the opposing weapon.

Getting a little serious, he moved his own sword forward and tried to attack his opponent with a downward slash.

It was caught by a bluish-gray metal shield which was emblazoned with the symbol of a black cat against a simple white background.

Behind it was a girl in a light blue tunic. On her arms were silver and gold pieces of armour covering her forearms, elbows and shoulders. On her legs were silver greaves with stripes of gold at the top.

She hesitated to return the strike with an attack from her own sword, unwilling to leave herself vulnerable for even a moment.

Instead, she kept her shield firmly in place and planted her feet to brace herself.

Ready to see more, he made a particular combo. It was a complicated 8-hit combo that he could perform the incomplete movements of with no «System Assist»; A good thing, because as he did it now with the improper conditions, he couldn't be helped by the system.

Amazingly, she was able to block each of the hits with some difficulty as evidenced by the slight shaking of her shield; Then again, she had seen the proper combo several times.

The boy grimaced before attacking again, this time starting with a horizontal slash.

Responding to his attacks, she moved her shield to parry each of his increasingly faster sword strikes with her shield, however her sword stayed uselessly by her side.

His strikes continued, reaching towards her sword hand.

Suddenly, he attacked to her left side, cutting through her armoured arm.

The boy himself couldn't help but flinch at his own actions, but he quickly put it aside for the moment – she had accepted the risk.

The damage was negligible, but it made her realize how vulnerable she had left herself.

Realizing that she had been played, she tried to attack... but when she tried to swiftly bring up her sword, it accidentally clashed against her own shield.

With a smirk, he quickly struck the side of her shield, throwing her off balance and making her body vulnerable.

Unable to defend herself, she closed her eyes and prepared to take the attack.

But it didn't come. Hesitantly opening her eyes, she looked to her opponent. She saw that his sword was a centimetre from cutting into her, but it stayed in the air as he looked at her with a grin.

"I win again, Sachi," he teased her. His eyes glittered with amusement.

"You win again, Kirito," she conceded.

He withdrew his sword and with a dramatic flourish, returned it to its scabbard as he offered his free hand to her.

Putting her shield over her sword, she took his hand as he helped her stand up straight.

He gave her his infectious smile, which she couldn't help but return.

Currently, they were in the forest of the 74th floor, which was currently the highest floor that the players could reach.

After having made a productive venture in the labyrinth, Kirito had put forward the idea of having an informal one-on-one duel between them.

In spite of knowing that there was absolutely no way that she could beat him, she had agreed on the grounds that she wanted to show him everything that she had learned.