The Red Player (A Sword Art Online story)

Chapter 6: A Laughing Coffin

Chapter 6: A Laughing Coffin

Piifalo

“Where are you going?” Ashas calls from behind me. “You’ve already killed that mini boss, what else is there to do?” She tries to stop me on my way to the forest where I battled the armor.

“Until I’m strong enough to take on this floor’s boss alone, I’m still too weak.” I can see her look of disapproval before I head deeper into the woods.

She runs to catch up with me as we leave Mokénop town behind. The forest around us is silent, ominously so. A chilling breeze blows through the leaves, causing the trees to sway. Ashas shudders. “This place is kind of-” A shrewd cackle suddenly interrupts her. “What the?” The laughter continues, resonating from all directions.

Wait a minute, I recognize that laugh… a thin layer of fog begin to roll in. Oh, how convenient. A twig snaps somewhere nearby. My eyes dart in the direction, but there’s no one to be seen. There’s more than one. They’ve gotten much better at stealth skills too, even with my detection I’m not getting anything from them.

Directly behind me a dull thump hits the dirt path. I spin around as fast as I can, revealing an insane smiling face. “Boo.”

I jump backward, sliding along the dusty road. “Hey,” he says with wide eyes. “I missed ya when you ran from me last time. As I recall I had my sword firmly planted in your right arm!” I reach down and grab devotion by the handle. I knew I recognized him. There’s no way I could forget his shining white hair, frenzied black eyes, and of course his crazed smile.

“Just in case you somehow haven’t figured it out yet, I’m here to claim my prize!” In the corner of my eye I can see Ashas already has her knife drawn and ready. I had almost forgotten she was the one who dragged me away in the middle of our fight.

I growl through my teeth as I hold tightly onto my sword. Honestly I haven’t grown much since our last fight, but I’m anxious to get some blood on Devotion.

 I watch him intently, looking for an opening when I see Ashas rush in blindly from the right, her knife ready in hand. He stands unwavering, as though he barely even notices her charging towards him. That was a clear warning sign that she should back off, but she keeps going ahead regardless.

Her knife is mere inches from his face when another man leaps out of nowhere, slamming into her side. The two of them roll off to the side from the impact as two more Laughing Coffin members step out of the bushes, one a boy, the other a girl. Ashas gets up and holds her knife with scorching intensity.

“Aren’t you going to help her?” The leader asks as Ashas and his three underlings begin the fight.

“Why should I?” I ask with a smirk. “It’s not my fault if she dies. I don’t know how many times I’ve told her that.”

“Ahahaha!” he laughs hysterically. “I never realized before, I guess that’s because I was having too much fun killing you, but we’re not so different, are we? Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Ryuga, one of Laughing Coffin’s lieutenants. Nice to kill you!”

“And I’m Piifalo, I’m looking forward to killing you myself!” I say with an excited smile on my face.

“Bwahahaha! You know, if you hadn’t run away from me before, I might have considered letting at least one of you two live!” His laughing stops abruptly a few moments later and his head rolls forward frighteningly seriously. “But it’s much too late for that. Now if you don’t mind, I’ll begin!” He steps toward me alarmingly quickly and drops and overhead slash attack. I barely have time to raise my sword to block. The impact causes me to stumble backwards. When I regain my balance and focus, he’s gone. I search feverishly but he’s nowhere to be seen. Less than a second later I feel his foot drive into my back, launching me into a tree.

Damn, I need to move faster. All I need to do is land one hit with Devotion and he won’t stand a chance, but at this rate he’ll be running circles around me! He’s wearing a heavy smile, boasting psychotic power. Almost instantly he vanishes once again. I don’t understand! He’s using a heavy two-handed sword also! How could he possibly move so much faster than me? Just as I finish my thought I catch a glimpse of his sword moving toward my chest. I slide backwards, allowing his blade to slice my chest straight across the center. My health bar drops from full to 7/8.

He doesn’t stop there, he pushes forward again, launching his fist at me. I barely manage to slip to the side, but I can feel his knuckle graze the side of my cheek. As he follows through I immediately take off further into the forest. I sprint through the trees, ignoring the path. It’s obvious he would catch me in a foot race.

I turn my head slightly left to check if he’s following, but all I see is his deranged smile directly beside me. I swing hard in his general direction, but before I can make contact he’s gone. When I turn to face forward again, I see him running backwards, facing me still with his sadistic joy. “Rrragh!” I thrust Devotion aimed at his heart, hoping to end it with a single blow, but he deflects it with ease. I skid to a halt.

My breathing is chopped and stressed. “Ehehehehe!” he laughs, clearly enjoying my struggle. Come on! There has to be some way I can keep up with him! Even just… once…

“Hey Ryuga! Don’t hold back on my account! These pathetic attacks are hardly worth anything compared to what I’ve seen. If you don’t start fighting with your full power, then I will!”

Ryuga raises an eyebrow in confusion. “I don’t think you understand, I’m really going to kill you… but if you insist!” He appears in front of me even faster than before, and delivers a swift uppercut to my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. He raises his sword above his head and is about to slice me in half when I barely manage to roll out of the way.

That was close! His sword attack was just what I needed, but that first punch distracted me. “How was that?” He says smiling broadly.

I scratch my stomach and smile back at him fearlessly. “Show me your real strength,” He cackles with pleasure before hopping up onto a tree branch, gripping his weapon tightly. Yes! This is exactly what I need! He jumps high into the air, and descends quickly with his sword over his head. Ha! It doesn’t matter what you do now, you’re mine! A moment before striking me with his sword, he disappears, and reappears just in front of me.

“Hyah!” he yells as he swings his massive sword. His sword is less than an inch from my face when all of my senses completely turn off. There’s only darkness, I can’t hear anything, smell, feel, or even taste, anything. Just darkness. Looks like I win. A second later I quickly regain all of my senses. And I find myself leaning against the tree, with Devotion in my hands. Ryuga lies on the ground with a deep gash across his chest, through his light armor.

“W-what happened?” He asked, completely shocked.

A small smirk spreads across my face. “That, my friend, was my hidden ability; combat reflexes. I discovered it when I was fighting a mini boss. Apparently, whenever I’m cornered in a fight, all of my senses shut down, allowing my pure instincts to kick in. Thanks to you I’ve also learned that it doesn’t work if I’ve been stunned. I’d like to fix that part about my senses though. It’s kind of annoying that I can’t make fun of the way I kill my enemies.”

Ryuga begins to laugh, but stops almost instantly. Everything becomes completely silent. Even the wind fades leaving behind nothing but my ragged breathing. Not a single animal dares to make a noise. That’s when I hear his footstep. Ryuga’s face turns to a look of pure horror. “Oh god, the captain is coming.”

End of chapter 6. Whew, I had a bit of fun writing this chapter XD