Sword Art Online: Faithful Hymn

Chapter 18: Eiji, Part 2: Sinon

With Eiji making his way to the top of the cliff, he manages to stay unnoticed due to the party's lack of soldiers.

"A party of 6 people, I assume. One of them likely awaits me further up, with the sniper and leader on the top." predicts Eiji with the skilled GGO mindset he has developed since the day he joined. Further and further he goes on the cliff, until he notices a human's shadow in the distance. He's in luck today. If the sky's red light was not shining this brightly today, he wouldn't have been able to see a shade, thus luring himself into a trap. The shade is facing east, with a pathway likely going to the west with Eiji moving in from the south. Since he is about to face a corner, he is not able to see the shade's owner himself. The man probably awaits a possible intruder, awaiting to stab him with a dagger as soon as he gets close.

"Hmph, bad luck for you bud." says Eiji softly before advancing to the shade. Before he gets there though, he activates the skill: Muffled. This mutes all player's movements for 15 whole seconds, allowing him to be stealthy once again. He is not able to use his Photon Sword in this situation, since it emits a luminous sound, thus revealing his surprise attack. Therefore, he unequips all of his weapons, leaving him with his hands to work with.

Eiji then turns around the corner, aiming his hand for the hidden man's face, not allowing the soldier to emit any sound to tell to others he's being attacked. What he could do however, was using his knife in his left hand to stab Eiji in the right of his chest. Because the pain absorption level is level 8 out of 10 in GGO, Eiji feels a soft stab in the side of his body. He notices that his HP-bar is depleting.

"Damn it!" yells Eiji as softly as he can while he grabs the knife with his remaining hand and pulls it out of his body. He runs forward with the soldier's face still covered by his hand, thus bringing the man with him. With the knife out of his body, he stabs the man in his shoulder. He then lets go of the man's face, giving him consecutive punches in the process, allowing the man to shout out loud. With the beating he just gave the man, he pulls the knife out of his shoulder and stabs him in the side of the man's head. Luckily gore is replaced with red, pixelated shards, otherwise things would have been way messier. Probably even too much for Eiji to handle as well. A few second after the man falls onto the ground, a message pops up: DEAD. Since the corpse yelled out of pain a few seconds ago, the remaining members must have noticed that someone is coming. Still assuming that there only are two players left, Eiji runs off, equipping his Photon Sword to quickly make his last kills.

"Crap, he's coming!" shouts the leader of Sinon's party. Eiji easily hears this, giving him more faith in that he will succeed due to their fear. Before he gets in their sight though, he activates one more skill that should be able to help him. This skill, being Hyper Sense. It's an incredibly rare skill, only used by a few top players. Eiji is lucky to have his hands on this almost impossible-to-get skill. It allows the user to negate one type of damage. Upon hit, the player phases to the side, allowing for a flank.

With Eiji in sight, both Sinon and the leader start shooting at him. With Eiji's trump card being revealed to the two, he dodges all of their bullets and phases to the leader's side, managing to flank him, as well as slashing him to his demise. With having 3/3415 HP left though, the cowboy attired leader seems to recognize the boy from somewhere, revealing big eyes as he is starving. Eiji also seems to recognize the man, feeling his backbone disappear as he remembers the man.

"N...Nautilus...?" says the party's leader.

With Eiji having no idea what to say in response, he is left with no expression on his face.He scrapes his teeth while he stands speechless. Sinon who sees the situation in front of her, does not know what to say. Assuming that it's something personal, she lets the two men talk.

"...Cut the crap."

Eiji then stabs his Photon Sword into the man's chest, allowing him to finally die after letting him suffer for 6 seconds. The man's corpse disappears, revealing the message: DEAD. Sinon, who still does not know what to say, raises her SMG, preparing to shoot the killer in front of her. Eiji quickly gets to his senses, though charging to the girl who is roughly 40 feet away from him.

"A... Photon Sword? No..."

Eiji dashes in an instant towards the girl. Sinon pulls the trigger, utilizing half a magazine. Sixteen bullets are advancing towards Eiji's face and body. He predicted that she would do something like this, and for that speculation he raises his Photon Sword, quickly deflecting all the bullets that Sinon fired. Eiji then grabs Sinon's scarf, pulling her closer to him. With his sword still being in his right hand, Sinon is unable to move. Yet Sinon can't help it but to feel remorse for the boy.

Using a Photon Sword as a high-skilled player could only mean one thing.

The user is from the death game, Sword Art Online.

"...That sword. You're an SAO Survivor." says Sinon while she is lacking air. Eiji, who is still speechless, is trying to find the right words.

"Don't... remind me. Don't you dare..." says Eiji with a quiet, yet monotone voice. Sinon who feels utterly bad for the boy with a traumatic past, only is trying to comfort him. She has friends who know how it feels like to lose someone in Aincrad, so she knows how to deal with it.

"I'm trying to make you feel better. I know people who have lost peopl-"

"I said don't you dare TO FUCKING REMIND ME!" yells Eiji at the now warm-hearted sniper before pushing her onto the ground, not having what it takes to finish the job.

"I can't do this. Not with having her face in my mind again..." Eiji thinks in himself, tears flowing from his cheeks onto the ground.

Sinon does not feel anything regarding anger to the boy. She's been there, at the point where you can totally snap. Ten years ago, she took the life of a person by accident. Even though the man was robbing a bank, it was not her purpose back when she was only ten years old. She then gets up, having tears coming from her eyes as well. She throws her gun off the cliff, attempting to give the traumatized boy a hug.

"Yuuna would be ashamed of me. Ashamed of the animal I have become.." says Eiji softly, letting Sinon hear his words.

Eiji then raises his left hand, making a few swipes and taps before he exits the game. Sinon, who misses her chance to comfort the boy, falls onto her knees before crying herself.