Sword Art Online: Faithful Hymn

Chapter 17: Eiji, Part 1: Gun Gale Online

Somewhere, deep in a barren wasteland, come thousands of players every day to become the strongest of all. It's a place where the sun won't shine. Instead, the sky is colored red, orange or yellow. These being the colors resembling fire, resembling the plot of this vast world: Gunfire.

The sounds of gunfire and the sight of bullets create a situation that would be tense for any player in this dangerous world. An environment like this is the perfect place for a daredevil to live in, as well as to claim his homeland. There are a couple of those people who play in this world, and a small fraction got one major aspect in common.

They all have played VRMMORPGs for at least two years..

"Eiji, take cover!", shouts someone's voice in the direction of the guy. The boy named Eiji quickly obeyed the guy's order, getting to safety from all the incoming bullets. During the time Eiji looks around him for alternative cover or a shooting spot, the enemy has time to spare to move as well. Two players that move positions throw a smoke bomb in front of them to stay unnoticed, as well as throwing a frag grenade in the direction of Eiji.

"Grenade, watch out!", shouts the voice yet again. Eiji, who notices the grenade coming his way, avoids the place where it'll land, thus staying out of its blast zone. After the explosion took place, Eiji coughs due to the grenade's smoke, thus revealing his location.

"Over there!", shouts one of the enemy troops. The two soldiers who are fully clad in armor run with their trusty LMGs towards the location where Eiji just revealed himself. Once they arrive at this location, no one else could possibly be seen.

"There, 3 o' clock!", shouted one soldier. The other soldier immediately looks east, to see a smoke bomb getting near them. Since they're surrounded by lots of obstacles, there's no way to escape with all of their heavy armor on. With the smoke bomb releasing its contents, the soldiers are left with only one option: Standing with their backs to each other while shooting recklessly around themselves.

"Reveal yourself damn it!", shouts one of the heavily clad soldiers whilst shooting around. Eiji, who successfully got out of the situation, smiles as he is not willing to run away with his pray being caged like this.

"Got you now.", says Eiji to himself while unequipping his M1911, replacing it with a purple-glowing sword. The Photon Sword, releasing its infamous lightsaber sounds, releases a blurry glow once Eiji leaps into action, into the smoke area from a container he hid on. According to the sounds of gunfire, Eiji is able to pinpoint both soldiers their location within the big amounts of smoke. Succeeding in landing in between the two soldiers, he performs a move that would greatly resembles the Sword Skill: Horizontal Square, back in Aincrad.

"AAAAHHH!", shouts the 18-year old boy whilst slashing his photon sword through the thick armors of the two soldiers, as well as piercing through their bodies. As a result, red shards of death get released from their body, eventually letting the soldiers fall on the ground. Once the smoke has disappeared, Eiji looks around him, seeing two red messages floating above the corpses: DEAD.

"Hmph, bunch of weakling.", Eiji says softly to himself while walking away from the area, assuming everyone's taken care of. Not 5 seconds later though, does he notice that a red line is aimed at him, aiming at his heart. As soon as he saw a glimpse of the red line, as well as the location it's coming from, Eiji leaps backwards, managing to dodge the sniper's bullet.

****

"Darn it, missed." says the cold-hearted sniper to her party members. A middle-aged man quits leaning on a bunch of rocks, walking towards the sniper.

"Does he have a weapon that can counter us from there?" asks the man behind the sniper.

"Negative. He is close range." responds the sniper to the man. The attire of the man is quite distinguished from the other players, from most GGO players, yet it's rather ordinary for himself. With his cowboy themed outfit, he leads most players of his parties, asking for intel as well as giving out orders.