Sword Art Online ALICIZATION- Reversal

Chapter 54- The Devil Returns

Hello everyone! Yeah, sorry the last few have been so short. I just thought they deserved their own sections and it gives me more time for the juicy stuff! So, without further ado, let chapter 54 commence!

-cut- 

Sinon spawned in and looked around, she saw endless red and black rocks, with no plants in sight. The sky was also red. However, Sinon's eyes soon fell on another. A blonde girl. "Philia?" Sinon questioned. Philia turned to face Sinon, her eyes wide. "Sinon? You're here? I thought all the STLs were used." Sinon tilted her head to the side. "STL? I'm not using one... whatever those are, I'm using an Amusphere. Kikuoka sent me the information to this world and an account." Philia's jaw dropped but she quickly regained her composure. "Right... anyways, that Vector is going to be reappearing here soon. So, we should probably stay. It'll be easier with both of us." Philia said. Sinon nodded and then looked around absentmindedly. "So, Philia, are you using a Goddess account as well?" Sinon asked. "WHAT?!?!? You're a Goddess too?!" Philia exclaimed in shock and disbelief. "Umm... yes. The account was made today, specifically for me, I'm guessing." Sinon explained and Philia nodded.

The two girls waited in silence, their eyes remaining sharp as they looked for their foe. Eventually, Sinon noticed a wormhole open up in the sky with... a black light, shooting out of it. A swirling sludge appearing on the ground. Sinon watched as a familiar hand reached out and her eyes widened. A blonde man who was muscular but lacked any remarkable facial features, barring his smug expression, rose from it. He was on a platform. 'That face.... those eyes... There's no doubt... I know him!' Sinon thought. She recognized the man before herself and Philia. The man looked to Philia and flicked his wrist, pushing her into the ground as he slowly and calmly reached out his hands as if grabbing for something. Suddenly, he closed his fists and Sinon's eyes widened. It was as if he was squeezing her insides with the hand of God! 

Suddenly, Sinon realized who the man before her was. "Y-you are... you're Subtilizer!" Sinon choked out as the man who had humiliated her and chilled her to the bone in Gun Gale Online stood before her. Suddenly, the grip vanished and she began panting. "Did Alice Escape?" Subtilizer asked her, Sinon looked up at him bitterly. "No matter. I'll catch up soon enough." Sinon took a deep breath and reached for her bow. "You're not going anywhere... Subtilizer." With the reflexes of a cat, Sinon put an arrow in place and drew the bow back, releasing the string. Subtilizer moved to the side, her shot missing. Yet she already had another arrow in place, Sinon fired once again. This time, Subtilizer drew a sword and blocked it. Sinon took a deep and shaky breath, she then used the Explosive Arrow ability from ALO which hit Subtilizer and burned him. He scowled and threw his sword at her, which Sinon shot with an arrow to deflect, sending it back torwards it's sender. Sinon then fired off three arrows at once, doing it 5 times in a row. Subtilizer looked like a Pin cushion, his sword even piercing his eye. He had dodged several of the arrows, only eight of the 15 had connected. He then ripped out the sword, his eye reforming as he removed the arrows.

"Clever. Using my own sword against me..." Subtilizer then took out a handgun with his other hand and Sinon got ready to dodge, loading up two arrows in her bow. However, just then, a gaint beam blasted from the ground. Subtilizer extended his hand torwards it, dispersing the attack using his experience as the Dark God to do it. Philia flew up to Sinon's side. "Don't worry, Sinon. Let's kick his ass!" Philia exclaimed. "Right." Sinon said. Sinon then flew to Subtilizer's left side as Philia took the right. They each fired off arrows, Sinon shooting two at a time. Subtilizer shot some out of the air and cut others apart, trying to shoot Sinon in particular but the girl's time in GGO and especially ALO meant she had fast reflexes, especially since she was a cat-girl in ALO and so her reflexes needed to stay high to allow for her fighting style, especially with her feline-like traits that she had in ALO that made her rely on more complex acrobatics to dodge attacks. With the reflexes of a cat, she was able to move and contort her body to prevent any bullets from making contact. Suddenly, Vector's hand extended and he yanked Philia torwards himself. He then relied on his martial Arts to break her bones and knock her to the ground. Sinon landed beside her, biting her lip. 

"Hey, Philia... you can still fly, right?" Sinon asked, the blonde girl nodded, weakly. "Then head back to Kirito and the rest, I'm dealing with Subtilizer. He's my demon, a ghost from my past... so I have to deal with him." Sinon told her and Philia started floating again, picking up her bow. Sinon then floated up to Subtilizer's level. "If I remember correctly, I faught you in Gun Gale Online, didn't I? Your name is... Sinon, isn't it?" He questioned calmly, Sinon simply nodded. "I thought I recognized you, Sinon... To think we'd meet again here." Subtilizer said. "And you? Why are you here?" Sinon asked him, beginning to feel a bit creeped out by the blonde man. 

"Because it was inevitable, why else?" Subtilizer responded, sounding calm and creepy to Sinon. He came off as someone who was crazy but thought they were normal, and it made Sinon's skin crawl. He extended his arms to either side, as if bathing in some divine light Sinon was blind to. "This is fate. It is the power of our souls thag attract each other. Now, we'll be able to understand all kinds of things. Like rather or not one can suck in the soul of a living human through the STL. And also, after not getting a taste in the BoB, finding out how sweet your soul is." What Subtilizer said chilled Sinon to the bone, making her eyes widen as she recalled his words to her when they last met. 'Your soul will be so sweet.' That was what he told her and it had haunted her since.

While trying to find her way out of her flashbacks, a black mist crawled torwards her. It's place of origin? Subtilizer. The Devil's soul, or lack there of, is what allowed the monster to ensnare Sinon in the mist and pull her torwards him. 'I can't... I have to resist, I have to fight...' Sinon thought, but the mist was so cold, she felt as if she were encased in ice, and it numbed her senses and slowed her thoughts. Starring into his lifeless eyes, it felt as if he was trying to fill the avoid behind them with her soul! Since, it was now clear to Sinon that he had no soul of his own, but... could she really fight against a monster? Sinon had no clue, and she didn't know what she could do against him. Especially when she couldn't move. 

His arm wrapped around her waist, and another grabbed her wrist. And the Devil began to whisper into her ear. "Sinon, have you ever considered the meaning of the name Subtilizer?" The monster asked, Sinon tried to shake her head but could only whimper. "It means, 'One who sharpens, one who renders, one who chooses, and... one who steals'!" While looking into his eyes, she saw what those bright but lifeless blue orbs concealed. A black hole. An endless, bottomless and eternal hunger that craved one thing. Energy, life... the one thing with both, was a soul. And now, that black hole threatened to swallow her in her entirety, devouring everything she had! Her hopes, her dreams, her fears, her ambitions, obsessions, and... her memories! In that moment, as she looked into the black holes behind his blue eyes, Sinon knew she had to escape! But, how? How could she escape? She couldn't. There was no way out, just like when Spiegel attacked her in her appartment, and this time... Kirito wasn't here to save her. All Sinon could do as those eyes drew nearer, and her breath turned cold, was watch.