Her Mission To Save Them All || Sword Art Online Fanfic

Chapter 31

Merry Christmas everyone!

POV: Asuna

The grey morning light filters through the un-drawn curtains of my room. I twist my body away from the light, shoving my face back into the pillow. I had fallen asleep, waiting. Waiting for Kyo to come back, to apologize. I don't know what I was expecting when I know that he holds his loyalty to his Queen above all others.

I guess that's where we differ.

My body feels heavy as I force it to go through the motions of getting dressed; donning my armour has become as normal as plaiting my hair into its style. I loop my sword belt around my waist before leaving, my hand falling to its natural position.

I know I'm the first one up, so I make my descent down the stairs slowly and don't bother to hide my yawn behind my hand. I'm so tired and yet everything in my blood, in my bones, tells me to keep moving.

"You must reach the 100th floor," it whispers in my ear.

The bar area below the inn is empty, even the NPC bartender absent. At that, I breathe a sigh of relief. I used to hate staring that their eyes, glassy and inhumane. I hated standing by and listening to the things players could get away with saying to them because they knew that there shall be no consequences other than my wrath.

The wrath of a simple, low-level player who has no experience in the world of MMORPG's is insignificant to them. So, I made myself significant. I learned how to use the mechanics of this game to my advantage. Begged and borrowed for the information to raise even the smallest touch of my level.

I became who I am today, someone who's fearless and cold, someone who when I look in the mirror, I hate the eyes that stare back. They're as glassy and inhumane as the NPC's; they stare and look and examine but yet, cannot act upon the feelings that rage through their blood. Because they are programmed to remain, and I am destined to be insignificant.

I think that's the reason Kayoko and I don't get along. She has the ability to act, and yet, she does not. She has the ways to raise her level far, far above mine -above anyone else's- and will not dare to invest it in freeing us. Whether it be reaching 100 floors, or killing her uncle.

The first is a realistic goal, the second is not. What happens if we spend all our time trying to kill Kayaba Akihiko and it ends up failing? We will have no other option to re-spend all that time to conquer all the floors. Time in Sword Art Online is a luxury don't have.

I move to walk out the inn door, when a dented wooden circle catches my eye, somebody's knife stuck in the middle. I've never bothered to train any skills other than my sword, and normally I wouldn't give the knife a second glance, but the anger in my veins boils. It needs a release.

I was planning to go and kill some monsters and use the swing of cold, hard iron to smooth out the rage. As I turn my head to examine the square and the hills beyond, I decide that I'm too tired to go all that way.

I shut the door and stride to the board, yanking the knife out the wood with the full strength of my rage. Gripping the knife so hard my knuckle turns white, I back towards the white line etched into the floorboards and pull my elbow back. I hurl the knife.

It misses the centre, embedding into the left side of the wood. In the corner of my visor, I receive a notification that I've gained a new skill, knife throwing. I grit my teeth at my lousy throw, pick by the knife and throw again.

And again, and again, and again.

Time flies each time the knife is hurled from my grip, the sunrise's beautiful red, oranges, and reds filtering through the windows. I've been awake almost an hour now, and have only managed to raise the skill by 1 level.