ONLINE GAMERS {ARC 1 CHAOS IN ASTRAL CITY} CHAPTER 7

“Heh-heh-heh! Aha! Ha! Ha! …The two of us,” he screamed, “can fight as equals to the death! In this ideal world!”

As he made this declaration, a large amount of energy swirled around Kagashi’s body.

<MAX BOOST!>

He had unleashed a unique skill to boost his MP.

The power overflowing within him was like a massive river. It filled up the air. Stretched across the land. And spread throughout the whole district seven. It was both proof of his strength and a show of intimidation to his opponent. Now he had MP equal to that of Kimiko within his body, creating a worthy opponent who could rival her, he believed.

Standing there with a wide grin, Kagashi laughed, they were now fully an even match he thought. But of course, Kimiko hadn't even bothered taking him seriously.

“Aren't you excited!?” he shouted.

“I don’t care.” Kimiko shot back, with a disgusted glare. To her this was nothing more than tedious work.

There was a flash of light, followed by the screams and panicked voices of NPCs and players alike as they scattered the district seven streets. Blade met against blade in a head on clash. Streaks of crimson light could be seen everywhere. It was a battle far removed from common sense, a battle between two level nines’—and it nearly ended in a single instant.

What might have looked like a single second of spectacular light to the average player, was actually a long-drawn-out contest of swords for the two of them.

XXX

“...I can't believe my eyes, Kimiko, and Kagashi-sama, a-are unbelievable. It isn't just about level with them.”

Beretta couldn't hold back her surprise at the sight before her.

“T-The sheer power and speed of their attacks is something else...”

Their techniques and adaptability. The way they move. It's as if their avatars were handpicked for them

“I don’t know what to say but level nines sure are monsters LOL, nothing we can do but laugh ayy Be-chan... Kwaaah-ha-ha-ha!!”

“…So, you came back—I thought you ran away White.”

Beretta grinned mockingly as she glared at White, her expression was noticeably strained. She was in immense pain. Her right arm and left leg had been ripped clean off, exposing the bone, muscle and fat tissue. And because she played with the sensitivity on high, the pain was next to realistic.

In real life the pain would have caused a

Even though Kagashi had shielded her with his body she was still brutally damaged by Kimiko's initial attack.

Rather than heal any of Beretta's injuries with a potion or any healing item in her inventory, White took to apologizing in the most overly dramatic way possible.

“O forgive me! My heart aches, I'm really really, really sorry Be-chan please forgive me!” she said as she clasped her hands together.

White had no qualms about letting Beretta or Kagashi die, at least that was what Beretta thought...

“Oh, don't look at me like that B-chan! I care about you; it's just healing potions are pretty expensive! And besides I'm sure you have an item that can fix you up already riiiight? “

Beretta couldn’t help but find her reasoning a little too convenient.

“I do.”

“See no harm no foul!” She grinned.

White, coming up with reasons to save her own hide, was something Beretta was used to by now they had been friends for a long time even before this. So, Beretta knew whether or not she would help depended solely on if she wanted to or not.

The two of them decided to watch as their leader and Kimiko fought, White seemed to be enjoying the spectacle, Beretta however was…

“Huh you're worried? Well, if her target is our leader, then it’s got nothing to do with us— and besides you should have more faith in Kagashi-chan he's a decent enough fighter!”

The true reason for her worries was a far more complex mix of reasons than White could ever hope to understand. One the fact that she had heard about Kimiko from a player named Noir, aka Akari. Two witnessing her fighting style first hand for the very first time she realized Kimiko was deadly. And three realizing that no matter how hard Kagashi tried he would never beat her.

XXX

“Ahhhh—?!”

Why can't I hit her? There's no way! No way that I can't actually beat her in a real fight? This isn't right! I deserve to win!

“Oh, you’re not coming at me? You are quite slow on the uptake mongrel.”

He had decided to stop his attack as he heard Tsurugi Kimiko's mocking voice.

“Come on, won't you try harder you mongrel? How unbecoming that someone as weak as you share the same level as me.”

“Aaaaah!”

If he tried to get close to her, she would evade and put distance between them. It was clear to Kagashi that he had the advantage in close quarters combat, and in terms of speed they were fairly even. So, he couldn't understand why he couldn't hit her.

Gritting his teeth, Kagashi unleashed a massive fireball the size of a small building at the petite level nine. His MP was quite high so his attack had a lethal force to it, and yet.

Kimiko felt no excitement as the deadly blast hurtled towards her.

The sound of NPC's and players screaming filled the district seven streets.

Kimiko was standing atop a pole as she stared at the streets and the ensuing carnage.

There had been an immense number of casualties.

She didn't care one bit about the lives of nobodies, however, if she let this go on, she could imagine Rin would scold her. And so, she had to put an end to this fight quickly.

From what she could tell Kagashi had the ability to use just about every one of the six elemental attributes avatars in the game were granted. Most players only had access to one or two, for him to be able to use all of them was a surprise but nothing Kimiko couldn't handle.

When it came to attributes Tsurugi Kimiko was the only player in NWO to not possess a single one. In terms of skills, she had her unique summoning skill, and maxed out versions of most of the generic magic skills and only one ultimate skill.

However, these drawbacks did not make her weak. She was the third strongest level nine for a reason. She had the most MP of any player in the game. And the single unique skill she possessed was the unique skill of <<summoning>>, the skill allowed her to summon just about anything.

While Kimiko herself couldn’t wield elemental attributes she could still summon spirts that could.

She snapped her fingers and a massive glowing golden distortion of light appeared in the sky.

A tsunamis worth of water poured out of it, putting out most of the fires around district seven and submerging Kagashi in water.

Kimiko grinned as her opponent charged at her for the umpteenth time.

“No, you don't mongrel!”

“What’s the point of throwing a little water at me huh?! Oy Kimiko! Do you think this is enough to stop me! Do you think you're better than me! I'll kill you!” He howled.

Kagashi instantly evaporated the water around him. With his multitude of skills and high-level MP such a task was child’s play.

Kimiko sighed.

Hm? Oh, he is pretty fast.

The next instant a sword moving at an incredible speed reached for her neck. While she was sighing Kagashi had closed the distance between them in a fraction of a second.

Heh... Still slower than me however.

XXX

It was an attack that would decapitate her in a moment yet she did not to move an inch. In fact, she smirked at Kagashi as their eyes met. Her lack of urgency or care fueled his rage as he put all his strength into the swing!

The tip of the blade touched the skin of her neck but didn't go further than that. His sword had been brought to a halt by a hand that wasn't Kimiko's.

Unique skill <<FIRST BLOOD>> It was a skill that did not belong to Kimiko.

But who's was it? The answer came with a punch to the jaw. It was a hand belonging to a dark-skinned woman with black hair and strange clothing, she had a bow and arrow around her back. Kagashi had no idea who this strange new woman was or where she came from.

He poured everything he had into his attack but it had still been stopped.

In a contest of power this woman was overpowering Kagashi, but how? Only a level nine, or someone with a strength build comparable to a level nine, should have been able to overpower him physically.

Kagashi had no time to figure this out as the woman quickly closed the distance and hit him square in the face. Her punch threw him at the side of a building with ease.

“Master that warrior is truly a strong and worthy opponent! Do I have your permission to go all out on him?”

“No... that mongrel is hardly worth you using more MP than I have already given you. And more importantly you allowed that mongrel’s filthy sword to touch my neck Atalante.”

“Aha! Ha ha! My apologies, master...” The woman smiled as she scratched the back of her head.

“Never the matter I'll make sure to punish you thoroughly later.”

“Yes, I understand, but can I go and fight now, please master?!”

“Fine...go ahead.” Kimiko sighed.

XXX

Atalante and Kagashi exchanged blows in a brutal bare-knuckle fashion, both grinning at each other in excitement with each passing blow. At first it had looked like Atalante held the advantage strength wise, but that wasn’t the case Kagashi was definitely stronger he had only been knocked back by her first attack due to the effects of one of her unique skills.

“You’re pretty strong!”

“You’re not bad yourself.” He smiled unable to hide his excitement.

Another one of Atalante’s abilities was her unique skill<<war cry>> to create and master any weapon to have ever existed in any war or battle. She used this skill in quick succession with her strength and speed to try and overwhelm Kagashi.

Unfortunately for her Kagashi had a counter for just about any move she could throw at him.

Atalante’s expression twisted in annoyance when Kagashi slipped behind her. The upward slash he unleashed was so devastatingly fast that it immediately sent her flying backward.

It was a merciless shot; she was sent through several buildings crashing through them like a recking ball.

A normal player may have died instantly from such a hit but Atalante managed to block the blade with a shield she conjured.

“—! That was close you nearly got me…” she grinned.

Atalante couldn’t wait to keep fighting.

Despite her injuries and the obvious power gap between them, she was having fun.

She who was once considered the goddess of war of this world, there was nothing she enjoyed more than fighting and violence. As a spirit her powers and personality had been greatly diminished but she was still a force to be reckoned with.

Kagashi enjoying the battle as well grinned in anticipation he reached for his blade when—

“Enough of this farce! Atalante, it seems you will not be enough to handle this mongrel alone!”

Interrupted in the middle of their fight Atalante and Kagashi both glanced up at Kimiko, she was standing on top of a street light looking down at the two of them.

“Whoa, don’t be in such a rush master. Just give me a little more time. I need to fight him fair and square in a one on one, right? You can’t—”

Before she could continue her protest Kimiko forcefully took complete control of Atalante’s body and leaving her a mindless puppet.

Kimiko lowered her hands, summoning a hundred or so servants to attack kagashi. Rather than fear Kagashi felt a different emotion.

He showed a changed expression and glared at Kimiko.

“Tch! Finally decided to take me seriously Kimiko!”

“Just be quiet and die!”

BOOM!

Swords, spears, knives, axes, arrows, guns, rays, bombs, magic, and everything in between.

He leaped from side to side, just barely managing to dodge the onslaught of attacks that came to him from every direction.

Kagashi engaged all of the summoned spirits at once, he was struggling but he could match their speed and intensity if only barely.

“Tch! Ugh, gah!”

The hundreds of summoned spirits continued their furious assault, gradually cornering Kagashi.

It was slow but victory was inevitably going to be hers, the only problem was…

“How frustrating at this rate we’ll destroy the whole city.” Kimiko groaned.

Kagashi was bleeding, but he was still composed, and that confident gleam never left his eyes. He had been fighting for several hours and a portion of district seven had been destroyed. As much as Kimiko tried to keep the casualties to a minimum the bodies were piling up. If Kimiko kept up her assault for ten or more hours, she was certain she could kill him, but at that point the entire city would be destroyed.

“Listen closely you mongrel I am willing to pardon your sins and spare your life! If you swear to me to keep the reign of your influence confined to the limits of district seven alone, I will overlook your filthy existence!”

The gist of her words was that if Kagashi remained in district seven she would leave him to his own devices.

“Make your decision now mongrel will you die today or take my charity and live to see tomorrow! Kahahahaha!”

While she made it sound like her offer was out of pity, it was actually a last-ditch effort gamble to solve the conflict with minimum harm to the city. If he refused, she would be in a very tight position.

Kimiko tapped her foot repeatedly; she thought about what Rin would do in a situation like this.

This feeling in my chest…

If Kagashi refused what would Rin want Kimiko to do? No. Regardless of whatever that answer was, the only thing Kimiko could do, the only thing Kimiko was obliged to do, was dispose of him. Even if it meant losing more than a quarter of the citizens of Astral city, even if it meant Rin would hate her so long as Kimiko could win and keep the overall losses to a minimum, nothing else mattered.

“Hmph,” she said and looked down at Kagashi. He was at her mercy if anyone should be nervous it should be him. And yet not even a minute later it felt like an eternity. Drumming at her own hand repeatedly with her fingers she waited for his answer.

“In this world you and I are equals! And you want me to surrender to you!” He looked up at the girl looking down on him. Her disgustingly confident eyes mocking him, as if appraising him as not of value. He couldn’t stand their mocking gaze; he would make her regret ever looking down on him.

“I REFUSE I WON’T—"

“W-we gladly accept your kind offer Kimiko, for the time being we will hold a truce!”

Kagashi had been cut off just before he could give an answer by a woman in a long black hat decorated with golden feathers. She was covered in scrapes and bruises; it looked like she had just recovered from some injuries.

“What the hell are you talking about Beretta! Get out of my way! I can’t just let her get away with looking down on me!”

“You want to fight the strongest right! According to Akari the strongest player isn’t here yet. If you want to go all out in a battle to the death it should be against the person at the top! The person worthy of fighting you! So please Kagashi, she isn’t worth your time!”

Kimiko nearly lost her temper and killed Beretta for calling her not worthy of Kagashi, but she stopped herself. This woman probably one of Kagashi’s subordinates Kimiko surmised, had successfully put an end to his outburst for that Kimiko spared her life.

Beretta’s voice had barely had enough force to constitute a shout, she was quaking with fear. She used every bit of her power to try and convince Kagashi to withdraw from a serious fight with Kimiko and by some miracle it worked.

And so, the battle in district seven came to an abrupt end.

XXX

Later that day. Back in district one. After hours. Rin was asleep.

Atalante’s punishment for losing to Kagashi began.

Her hands guided against her own will Atalante slipped on a bunny girl outfit. It clearly accentuated the amazons’ dark thighs, bust and butt, worse off her own hands brought her to such a debauched state.

“Kimiko-sama, is such an appearance necessary? I fear it may limit my fighting capabilities? Shall I say not to my liking.”

This was an unsightly appearance for an amazonian princess descendant of the gods. However, Kimiko was satisfied with this as a punishment and decided to leave the demi god like this for a bit longer.