Game Over: A Sword Art Online Story

Chapter 17

We were going to die...

Every guild member was here. Crap, that was a lot of them. There was no way we could defeat every single on of them.

I felt myself shaking as I looked all around me. I saw Reo and Mei and they knew what I was thinking. Kriyos stopped laughing and yelled, "Have fun, Nikki! Let this be a lesson, a super fun lesson!! Sun Shadow...ATTACK!!"

As soon as he gave the word, the whole guild came forward. Reo yelled, "What do we do?!"

"We have to fight!" I yelled back.

"What?! But-" Mei started.

"I know, I know! But I rather die, fighting alongside you than live running from them the rest of my life. It's been nice knowing you," I said.

Immediately, I charged towards the guild and started attacking. It had been a year since they saw me, so I had some new tricks up my sleeve. I looked at the corner of my eye and saw someone raise their sword. I spun around and slashed their arm. He shrieked in pain and fell down.

I turned and saw Cora, the girl that came to help save me with Luna. She kicked me and I fell down. "You traitor! Too bad Luna isn't here to see me finish you. It's my turn to have some fun!" she exclaimed as she raised her sword and went for the killing blow. I rolled and she missed, giving me time to get up.

Our swords clashed against each other and we had our own battle. "Cora, you don't need to do this!" I yelled.

"Yes, I do! You see, I'm a proud elite soldier in the guild. I've been so loyal to Kriyos that he appreciates my work. He even considered making me a vice commander!" Cora yelled as she hit my shoulder with her sword.

"Agh!" I yelled as I stumbled back. 

"And I am not going to let all my hard work go to waste just to help someone like you," Cora said. She walked towards me, the tip of the sword barely touching the grass.

"But Kriyos will eventually betray you in the end! This isn't about you! This is about him and his desire for power. He'll turn on you and kill you just for his own satisfaction!" I protested.

"Shut up! I know what he did to Luna. That was her mistake," Cora said.

"Do you even care what happened to her?!" I argued.

"Why should you?! When she came home that night you attacked her, she was humiliated in front of our whole guild. From that day on, she never underestimated you and of course she wanted to kill you, this time out of revenge. So why should you care?! Even if you didn't know this, you would still treat her as an enemy!" Cora yelled.

"But you're her friend!" I shouted.

Cora paused. We waited and it seemed that all the fighting going on was muffled for some reason. It was almost like the moment back at the Town of Beginnings. Then Cora laughed.

"Friend?! I don't think you get the point of this whole guild, don't you?! None of us are friends! We're just members of a great regime, one that will end this game forever and go down in history. It was Luna's mistake of getting ahead of herself, and it will be your mistake of messing with us!" Cora yelled. She ran towards me, jumped, and held her sword back.

I dodged the blow and we started fighting again. Just as I was about to make a move, Reo rammed into Cora, knocking her off her feet. "Need help?" Reo asked.

I smiled and turned to see where Mei was. She was currently fighting a soldier and by the looks of it, she was winning. Mei's gotten better ever since we met her, I thought.

Reo and I helped Mei out and we regrouped. "They just keep coming!" Mei said.

I looked to see everybody recovering. Then I saw Kriyos.

"Guys, this is going to sound crazy, but I'm going to propose a duel with Kriyos," I slowly said.

Reo and Mei looked at me, bewildered.

"NO!!" they both said.

Reo grabbed hold of me and said, "Nikki, you are not going to do that! Kriyos is the commander! We'll think of another idea!"

I touched his shoulder and said, "Reo, I have to do this. If I don't, you and Mei are both going to die."

"But if you die, then the second your HP bar goes down to 0, I'll get my sword, kill him, and then commit suicide," Reo argued.

"No! Please, Reo. Don't do that," I protested.

"If you're gone, I don't know if I'm going to live anymore!" Reo yelled. He looked at me with pleading eyes.

"Nikki, please. I've lost so much. You and Reo are the only ones I have left," Mei said.

"I'm sorry," I simply said. I ran to the battle and heard Reo and Mei calling out my name.

I came forward and shouted, "Kriyos!!"

He turned to me and asked, "What, are you surrendering now?"

"No...I propose a duel."