Sword Art Online - Volume 6 - Phantom Bullet

by Reki Kawahara

  She could only fight. That’s all she could do right now.

  Gash! Shinon forcefully stamped her soles at the floor and head towards the elevator that’s deep within the atrium.

  However, someone again called her from behind. This voice that called her name was clear and somewhat hoarse, different from the deep voice of Spiegel. Sinon could only close her eyes on hearing this voice call her.

  As she turned around with an irritated feeling, the one who was standing in front of her was obvious— «that guy» she so hated.

  Chapter 9

  The place I landed at was at the most northern area of GGO’s capital, «SBC Gurroken», on the corner near the presidential tower.

  Under the depressing sunset sky, the bustling neon lights continued to move through the crowds. The contents above seemed to be corporate advertisements. If this was ALO, the players would be complaining loudly about how this would ‘destroy the world view’, but the depressing scenery does match the theme of a futuristic wasteland city. And of course, the most glaring one of these neon lights was that advertising the upcoming 3rd «Bullet of Bullets» tournament. My body started to tremble the moment I saw those bright red words. Of course, this wasn’t out of fear, but out of excitement—or at least I would hope to believe.

  I heaved a sigh and turned around, and subconsciously flung the black hair on my shoulders. As my hair came to rest back on my shoulders, I found myself sighing at my actions, but still managed to convince myself that in the end, this is the proof that I’m already used to my own avatar.

  I intended to complete my registration at the tournament and then move slightly far away from the presidential estate, but there were a few stares aimed at me from both sides of the road. This felt somehow unbearable. I wanted to glare back at them, but decided against it in the end.

  Actually, they weren’t really noticing me. It was just that my avatar here looked just like a girl—a pretty girl at that too. If our positions were switched too, even I would be looking.

  Normally, there wouldn’t just be stares, but also two or three players coming over to talk me up. However, the guys will immediately keep their distance once they saw me approach. I guess the reason was because everyone saw me fighting like a berserker with the photon sword and charging at the enemies yesterday during the preliminaries of BoB.

  The tournament only revealed the names and number of times participated in the tournament from the data of the participant, and «Kirito» was a gender-neutral name. That’s likely why everyone in GGO felt that I was «a girl who is also a psycho; a savage killer that deliberately chooses to swing a saber, instead of a gun».

  I didn’t really wish to be viewed as such a person, but that misunderstanding was worth it if I could let the other players in the BoB finals hesitate. Besides, my aim wasn’t to win, but to meet that guy with the broken mantle—«Death Gun».

  The «Death Gun»’s name wasn’t amongst the 30 finalists, but he was definitely participating in the finals. If his aim was to show off his power in the world of GGO, the BoB in the game would be the best stage for all to see. Death Gun’s real name—even though it’s weird, should be the name of the other character in the system.

  First, I have to find his name, and then talk to him again in the tournament. Once I find out the name he used in SAO, I can use that information to find out his name in the real world. Kikuoka Seijirou said that he should be able to access the player account data that had become classified. Once we get to know that person’s real name, we should be able to find out whether he really killed «Zekushiido» and «Usujio Tarako», no, if he could really kill.

  However, during this process, I need to go through my own past crime.

  That fear still hasn’t disappeared.

  But this is a necessary emotion to prevent myself from choosing a path to run away, to forget.

  I clenched both fists, stomped hard on the ground with the soles of my battle boots, and headed towards the large tower of the presidential estate that was gradually appearing in front of me.

  As for a tournament against others, I would get excited during ALO, and even during SAO.

  Unexpectedly though, I would have to take part in this tournament with fear.

  As I showed a self-depreciating smile, I headed up the wide stairs that lead to the tower, and found that there was a familiar sand-colored muffler swaying about at the entrance hall in front of me.

  Without even looking at her clear blue short hair and the long legs that extended out from under the jacket, I knew that it was the avatar of my final opponent in the preliminaries yesterday –the sniper «Sinon». She was the only person I knew of in GGO, but I was still hesitating over whether I should head forward to greet her.

  As I was immediately lost the moment I dived into this world yesterday, I had to brace myself and ask Sinon, who I just met, and at that time, I didn’t realize immediately that she mistook me as a female player because of my appearance and somehow ended up acting as «a beginner girl who didn’t know what to do at all». Other than asking her to explain the game mechanics and helping me to choose my equipment, I even went overboard by witnessing her avatar wearing only her underwear in the rest area.

  No—That wasn’t all.

  During the tournament, I suddenly met the shooter «Death Gun» and was approached by him. I learnt that he was «a survivor of SAO» and also a member of the red guild «Laughing Coffin», which really shocked me. Thus, in the finals against Sinon after that, I nearly gave up on it. Basically, I was walking weakly during the start of the battle, trying to get Sinon to shoot the fatal round at me so that I could lose the battle.

  However, Sinon didn’t hit me.

  She shot 6 rounds that were burning in blueish-white flames due to anger, then gave up her advantage, and met me straight on and shouted.

  She said, stop joking around, I should die alone if I wanted to, and even said that it’s my right to think that this was just a match in a game, but I should not force my values on others—

  To be honest, these words hurt me deeply.

  Actually, I said something similar to someone else a long time ago.

  It was four years ago. At that time, I was just promoted to second year of middle school, and was very lucky, or rather, unlucky to be chosen as a player of the «Sword Art Online Closed Beta», and everyday, I would dive into what I didn’t know was a death game, the floating game city Aincrad until the next morning.

  It was really a little embarrassing for me to say that, but the «Kirito» that later became a legendary warrior wouldn’t really interact with people back then as compared to now even though I used to be a little famous for being amongst the top in PvP events, so I didn’t have any people I could call friends in games. However, amongst the people I knew, there were still a few players who I thought that I could become friends with. One of them was a mild-manner tea-haired swordsman I would often meet in a duel event. He was skilled in using a one-handed sword.

  This person would often fight with great logic and sharp senses, and I’ve always hoped to meet him in the finals of the tournament. I had been secretly wishing to fighting him in the finals, but when that stage finally arrived—I received a great shock. At the last moment of this intense battle, he deliberately took the slash that he should be able to avoid. I guessed that he deliberately lost to earn some quick cash from gambling, and basically blasted him with those words Sinon said to me.

  I was scolded like how I scolded him during the final stage of the BoB tournament, so I sincerely apologized to Sinon. Even though we faced off against each other head on, it should be hard for Sinon to accept it. No matter what, she’s a sniper, and her greatest weapon is to shoot those long distance sure-kill bullets. During the battle royale tournament today, I suppose she would be trying her best to shoot that bullet of revenge right between my forehead.

  Because of the above mentioned reasons—or rather, because I caused all of them, I was hesitating over whether I should say hell
o to Sinon, who was a few steps in front of me.

  But after a few seconds, I shook off my hesitation and took huge steps up the stairs before calling her by her name.

  “Yo, Sinon, please guide me through today too.”

  That muffler of hers that looked like a tail stopped, and the aqua blue hair looked cat like the way it pointed upwards. The sniper girl who spun around with the right foot as her axis gave an irritated expression that showed that she hated me to the bone, and then coldly snorted.

  “…Please guide me through. What do you mean by that?

  The anger in her blue eyes made me immediately regret it, but I didn’t call her just for naught. It’ll be bad if I said something wrong and made her ignore me. Thus, I said with a rather serious expression,

  “Of course…I hope we can both fight with all we got.”

  “Stop being disgusting.”

  —Looks like I made a mistake right off the bat. However, I didn’t give up as I continued,

  “Speaking of which, why did you dive in so early? There’s still 3 hours before the tournament.”

  “Wasn’t that because a certain someone caused me to nearly miss the registration yesterday.”

  Sinon looked away and grumbled before glancing at me, who’s giving off cold sweat.

  “…Speaking of which, aren’t you logged in now too? Why are you talking like I’m the one who had nothing to do.”

  “The, then, let’s use this time effectively! How about we get a drink before the battle begins…no, exchange information…”

  I really won’t dare to say this to a real person in the real world. No, considering that I already have a girlfriend in Asuna, it’s unforgivable even in the virtual. However, I dare to swear to god that this isn’t about trying to get a date in the VR world, but to fulfill my duty and mission, and also a necessary step to ensure Sinon’s own safety.

  —In the end, Sinon seemed like she didn’t notice my complicated entanglement as she glared at me for a few seconds before snorting and nodding her head with the minimum action.

  “Alright then, I’ll be the one telling you all the information again.”

  “I, I, well…it’s not that I didn’t have this intention…”

  I managed to mumble vaguely and had to run to keep up with Sinon, who was walking away in front of me.

  After completing our registration at the hall of the presidential estate through the machine there, Sinon brought me over to a large spacious underground area. As the lights were dimmed to a minimum all around, I could barely see the faces of the players that were gathered at different tables. The few large-screen panel monitors on the ceiling were dazzling with their original colors.

  Sinon went into a booth that was far inside and then looked at the menu displayed on a simple metallic board. She then pressed a small button beside the iced coffee label. Soon, the similarly metallic table opened up a hole, and a glass that was filled with black liquid appeared from within. Compared to having to order our food with the NPC and waiting for them to serve it up in Aincrad, this method is somewhat simple, but it also does fit the game atmosphere of GGO.

  I pressed the button for ginger ale and grabbed the glass that appeared before gulping down half. While waiting for the imaginary bubbles to disappear from my throat, I decided to start off.

  “…The battle royale finals is to put 30 players in the same map, and to begin a gunfight once we meet the opponent, and the winner will be the guy that lasts till the end…am I right?”

  In the end, Sinon glared at me through the coffee glass, and said,

  “See, you’re intending to let me explain, right? Speaking of which, this information’s written on the e-mail the operating company sent to the participants.”

  “I, I did look through it…”

  Actually, I did look through it briefly. I intended to read the specifics after logging into the game, but before that, I met Sinon who was a veteran, so I guess it’ll be faster for her to teach me directly…I wouldn’t dare to say that, so I merely coughed dryly to continue on.

  “Well…I just want to check if there’s anything wrong with my understanding…”

  “You actually dared to say that.”

  That extremely cold voice of hers caused my heart to freeze in half. Luckily, Sinon placed the glass back at the table and quickly started to explain the rules of this round.

  “…Basically, it’s like what you just said, the final round is really held with all 30 players fighting each other on the same map. The starting positions are randomized, but every player will be at least 1,000m away from each other, so there won’t be cases of the enemy appearing right in front of you out of a sudden.”

  “1… 1,000 meters? That means that map’s rather big…?”

  I couldn’t help but interrupt, and the blue laser-like eyes shot back at me.

  “Did you really look through the e-mail? This was written in the first paragraph.. The map of the final round is a circle with 10km diameter. It has hills, forests and deserts, so nobody will have superior equipment or abilities.”

  “10, 10km!? That’s rather big…”

  It’s about the size of the first level of the floating city Aincrad. However, that means that in this area that’s large enough for 10,000 people to hunt, there are only going to be 30 people that will be separated from each other by 1,000m.

  “…But, can we really meet our enemies like this? There’s a possibility we can’t even see anyone until the tournament time’s up…”

  “This is a game where we fight each other using guns, so there’s a need for such a wide map. Sniper rifles have 1km shooting range, and assault rifles have about 500m. If all 30 people are all packed in a small map, everyone would be shooting madly, bang bang, when it starts, and more than half the participants would be dead already.”

  “Hahaa, I see…”

  I nod my head in agreement, and Sinon continued with her detailed explanation. Maybe behind this sharp and cold avatar is a kind and gentle girl—if she finds out that this is what I thought, she’ll definitely walk away without finishing off, so I still continued to listen to her explanation,

  “—Well, just as you said, you can’t fight if you can’t meet an enemy. Some people will also use this to hide until the last person remains. Therefore, the participants are automatically given a device called a «Satellite Scan Terminal».”

  “Satellite…is it some spy satellite or something?”

  “That’s right. Every 15 minutes, the satellite in the air will be set to scan through. At this moment, everyone’s terminal will receive the location of all the players. And the name of the players will be indicated if you touch the flashes on the map.”

  “Fmu…so, there’s only 15 minutes to hide at one spot? So we’re likely to be ambushed once our locations are shown on the map, right?”

  “That’s the case.”

  I smiled and asked Sinon, who’s nodding away.

  “But isn’t this rule bad for snipers? Aren’t you suppose to hide and cover like a taro and snipe at the enemy?”

  “Describing me as a taro is too much.”

  Sinon glared at me with those explosive blue sparkling eyes, and then coldly snorted and gave a proud smile.

  “15 minutes is enough for me to fire one bullet, kill one person, and move 1km.”

  “Is…is that so.”

  I don’t think that would be an exaggeration. If I try to ambush Sinon through the satellite information, it’s likely that she will snipe me from afar instead. I remembered this dearly in my heart, coughed dryly for a bit, and then sorted through the information I received.

  “Eh—this means that I have to continue to move and take down the enemies once the round begins, and then hang on until I’m the last one…something like that. And every 15 minutes, the map terminal on my hand will show the locations of all the players, so I can tell then who’s alive and who’s not—well, is my understanding correct?”

  “That’s basically it.”
/>
  Sinon nodded her head in affirmation and finished up her iced coffee before forcefully putting the glass onto the table and got ready to get up.

  “Then, there’s nothing else, right? I’ll fire the trigger without any mercy the next time I meet you…”

  “Waa, hold on hold on, I’m just getting into the main point.”

  That really sounded like a line from a certain civil servant, I secretly thought as I hurriedly reached out to tug at the corner of Sinon’s jacket.

  “…What else do you want?”

  Even though she showed an extremely irritated expression as she deliberately look at the military watch on her left wrist, I continued to nod my head without looking dejected, and Sinon sighed hard before sitting down again. She placed both elbows on the table, and then pressed her small chin against the fingers that were intertwined together, telling me to continue with the movements of her eyebrows.

  “Erm, well, I’m…I’m thinking about asking something that’s a little weird…”

  I stuttered as I finished and quickly waved my left hand to call out the menu window.

  VRMMO that were in the specifications of «The Seed» have an almost similar menu window, so I changed it into a mode where others could see it and quickly scrolled the tab down.

  I showed the page with the names of the 30 players the operating company sent to the participants of the BoB finals. Of course, we could see the names of the finals of group F, first place ‘Kirito’ and second place ‘Sinon’.

  After glancing at the screen I showed her for a moment, an angry twitch appeared on Sinon’s nose as she frowned like a cat—no, like a jaguar.

  “…What, are you gloating your victory over me in the finals yesterday?”

  On hearing that spiteful low growl of hers, I hurriedly gasped and shook my head with a serious expression.

  “That’s not it, I didn’t mean that.”

  Perhaps she noticed my change in attitude? Sinon frowned her beautiful eyebrows and said,

  “…Then what do you want from me? Showing this participant list out of a sudden.”