Savior - Kirito x OC

Chapter Nineteen

        -Misaki's P.O.V-

        "But y-you haven't even seen her in battle before..." Asuna says softly. I can tell that she's unhappy about this in the tone of her voice. I don't blame her. Sharing such a high position in the game's top guild with a stupid soloist like me? I'd immediately try to stop this if I was in her shoes, and that's what she's trying to do. 

        "I have seen her skills with a bow, but not with a blade," Heathcliff says. Kumaru clings onto me even more. She has a bad feeling about this guy, and I too too. But, what can I do? "So, how about this... We duel. If you win, you don't have to join the guild, but I I win... You'll have to join no matter what."

        I look down at me feet and think for a moment. Then I look back up at the guild leader, angered. "You can't just expect me to agree with this!" I shout at him. "Making me fight to decide weather I join or not. This is absolutely ridiculous!" Heathcliff smirks and lets out a low laugh.

        "Well, you are Sword Art Online's top player. You are first place is basically every leader board out there. Don't tell me you're afraid of losing..." He says deeply and darkly. I step forward.

        "O-of course not! Tomorrow morning at exactly 11:00!" I yell in reply to Heathcliff's comment. I know that he's just trying to get under my skin. And it's working. "Fine! Let's duel! I'll prove you wrong to doubt me." I say and walk out with Kumaru without permission. We both leave Asuna there to face Heathcliff alone about this... Situation, I suppose it should be called. Though, I wish we hadn't. Kumaru and I teleport back to floor fifty-nine where I left both Klein, Tadashi, and Kirito. This time we spawn in the middle of town and I spot Kirito's raven black hair right away. Klein turns to me and points which make Tadashi and Kirito turn around. Kumaru runs into the middle of the group, probably to tell the three boys about... Well, everything. Klein looks shocked, tadashi looks amused, and so does Kirito. They all glance between Kumaru and I. I sigh and just jog towards them. By the time I reach the four, Kumaru has just finished explaining everything.

        They all say nothing when I step in between Kirito and Tadashi. "No hellos? I see how it is." 

        "Hi." They all quickly say in unison, except Kumaru of course, she just waves at me. Tadashi pulls me aside.

        "Misaki, if your match is tomorrow then we better get training. Heathcliff isn't the top guild's official leader for no reason." He does have a point. I just nod my okay and I guess he communicates with the rest of them through his eyes, or mind, or something. Tadashi pulls me away and Kumaru leads us to - I guess - the best training grounds on this floor. We all stop when we see a floating island and Klein almost falls over the cliff but Kirito stops him before he plunges to his death. Kumaru looks at all of us and then a bridge appears out of thin air. She runs across it. We all share a look and quickly sprint across the bridge also. I don't trust bridges. It's weird, I know. But it's true. 

        "I've never seen you do hand to hand combat before..." Klein points out. "Tadashi says that you would spar with your high school's Martial Arts team."

        "I've never really likes Martial Arts.." I say. "But, I do know how to fight. How about I fight all of you, one by one, no armor whatsoever. Only so it's fair." The boys all nod their heads and they change into anything but their armor. Kumaru covers me up while I change. I wear some random outfit I think would be comfortable fighting in. I clasp my hands together. "So, who's first?" The three boys don't say a thing and stare at my figure for the longest time. I step back a bit. "Umm, guys?" They all snap back to reality and Tadashi steps up first. I smile, what a worthy opponent. The rest of the group for a well, circle I guess around us. Tadashi steps in along with me. I don't know if it's just my imagination or not, but I think I see a small smile on his face. I hear a few more people come over to us, but I have no idea how they got here. I challenge Tadashi to a duel and he accepts. The crowd starts to bet on who's going to win. From my data that I've just collected from their conversations. Half are going for Tadashi and the other half is betting on me. The countdown begins and the crowd goes quiet. I look over at Kumaru and she gives me a thumbs up. The duel begins. 

        Tadashi strikes like a bull, a battering ram. How reckless of him.

        I'm not worried about losing this fight. But, I'm just worried that I might actually hurt Tadashi just a little too much. Tadashi slightly tilts his head at me and grins as we face each other in the ring the audience has made. I take a deep breath. Already has he started to circle me, stalking me like prey He knows how I fight with the Martial Arts team back in the real world, but that's martial arts. He steps forward with his right foot, something that I didn't know about his surfaces. He's left-handed, surely this would throw me off, but I've been trained for this, prepared. My father used to teach me how to fight, he used to train me since I was twelve. I shift the way I walk. My ears drown out all of the murmurs of the crowd. 

        I let him strike first. He bares his teeth at me and lunges forward at full speed. But I can see him preparing to kick. I sidestep. His kick whooshes past me. I use his momentum against him and strike Tadashi hard when his back is turned. He loses his balance and nearly falls. The crowd cheers.The rules of this fight are simple, but different from the traditional ones where you're armed. When one player's health goes down to red this time, the other one wins. 

        Tadashi whirls around to face me again. This time his smile is gone. Funny. He lunges at me again. I block his first two punches, but his third one catches me across the jaw and makes my head spin.

        Every muscle in my body wants to end this now. But I hold back. I might as well test Tadashi's strength, I've never seen him fight before, or ever fought him before. Tadashi's stronger than he looks. I let Tadashi strike one last time. The crowd roars. He smirks at me, and I return it which surprises him a bit. I wait until he's ready to charge. Then I duck down, and trip him. He doesn't see it coming - he falls heavily on his back. The crowd screams in approval.

        Tadashi forces himself onto his feet. He wipes a bit of virtual blood from his mouth. Before he can even catch his breath, he lets out shout and lunges for me again. He punches me several times at a great speed. I was only able to block a few of his many punches. The pain makes me light headed. Tadashi charges at me and raises his fist. I leap back and roundhouse the side of his head. Tadashi staggers to the right a bit and I can tell I've stunned him. I take this moment to my advantage and launch him upwards. In mid-air I use full speed and continue to strike him. I catch him twice across the jaw, a few times in the stomach, and I let myself go up a bit higher than Tadashi and bring my leg down onto the top of his head. Tadashi flies down to the island in a flash and crashes down. I think I kinda over did it.  His health hits red and the winner sign pops up. I won. 

        I help Tadashi up and he slowly staggers towards Kumaru. I ask her to quickly heal him and she does so. Even though it's a game, it doesn't mean that you can't get hurt. Kirito looks at me fearfully but then smiles and congratulates me. Klein looks stunned, like he just doesn't believe what he just saw. I help Kumaru patch Tadashi up. He congratulates me too and I smile gratefully at him. Kirito then patches me up. I guess I can't fight again after this match. The crowd doesn't part and I see Asuna shove her way through towards the middle of the ring. 

        She looks over at the injured Tadashi. "Did I miss something?"

        "Tadashi and Misaki fought and.. and Misaki won! It was such a good match, you should've seen it!" He tells her enthusiastically. Asuna looks at me then back at Tadashi. 

        "I kinda over done it with the whole fighting thing..." I say and rub the back of my neck awkwardly. Not only because I find this conversation awkward, it's just that my neck hurts too. Kirito notices the pain I'm feeling now and I almost collapse to the ground. But, before I do, he caches me and holds me up. I cough up some "blood" which signals that my injuries are worse than we thought. Kumaru heals me and Kirito puts his arm around me and supports me while we walk out of the ring. Both Klein and Asuna help Tadashi out too. The three of them follow close behind while Kumaru runs up beside Kirito and I. Kirito looks at me, worried. But I give him a reassuring smile.