[Comprehensive] Light and Shadow

SwordArtOnlineAugust 2024, 8

"Kirito, are you okay?"

The figure of the black swordsman who was wielding a sharp sword like a ghost trembled for a moment, then turned around stiffly and looked at the orange-haired girl. Asuna's delicate fair face showed a worried look.

"fine."

Kirito froze for a moment, looked at the exhausted clearing team around him, and then looked at the area that became empty in an instant, his voice was a little hoarse, but it seemed a bit ethereal in the empty place.

The Smiling Coffin was established in January. The red-named guild that takes pleasure in killing players cruelly kills players with a sword. When the player’s HP clears to zero, the dead coffin also descends on the body in real life. That is the real death, and the people of this guild take pleasure in it.

——Just like the name of this guild, honor death with a smile.

Eight months later, the ingeniously hidden "Laphin Kofin" base was finally discovered, and powerful players also assembled a large-scale crusade force, even Heathcliff, the head of the strongest guild, joined in.This is a crusade, but also a fight.

Even if you can't see the scene of blood and flesh flying across the field, even if you can't feel the hot feeling of blood splashing on the skin, even if the wound on the body is ruptured, there is no real pain, but when you see the sword in your hand piercing the opponent's body Everything behind the body became transparent and shattered, and Kirito realized clearly——I killed someone.

Kirito felt the hands of the interpreter holding the black sword tremble slightly. When he lowered his head to look at the blade, his brain burst into tears, but he saw dark red thick blood dripping down the blade in a daze. He slid down, and his hands were covered with horrible red blood, but there was nothing.

"Kirito, you don't look like you're okay."

Klein, who got up from the ground after drinking the blood tonic, also looked at Kirito with a pale and gloomy face with some concern. Kirito was only fifteen or sixteen years old, so it was really too reluctant to participate in this kind of thing.When Klein walked up to Kirito and wanted to pat Kirito on the shoulder, the boy easily avoided him.

That kind of reaction doesn't seem to be deliberate, but rather subconsciously not wanting to be touched.Kirito didn't seem to have reacted himself. When he looked up stiffly and saw Klein's astonished expression and his hands frozen in midair, Kirito's hands trembled and clenched into fists, and then he turned around resolutely.

"Now that it's over, I'll go first."

More panic and anxiety than when I was trapped in the town of the beginning and found out that I couldn't exit came to my heart. It spread from my throat to my chest, and the pain seemed to be on fire, and the pain seemed to be mixed with the heat of blood splattering.

He could indeed slash and kill monsters with all his strength without hesitation, but he never imagined that the strength he developed step by step for clearing the game would one day be for killing people.Even if he just ran away and didn't look at it, Kirito seemed to feel that the eyes of the person who was beheaded by himself behind him were still staring at him.

Eyes cannot be deceived.

When Kirito inserted the blade into the enemy's chest, he thought he had already gone with such an awareness. This time, the task was to destroy the smiling coffin. If the red-named guild is not removed, more players will suffer, so He just did the right thing.

But when Kirito tried his best to kill the enemy, when he saw the enemy's HP value drop rapidly, when he finally saw the face hidden under the cloak, Kirito froze completely.

It was a very ordinary face. Under the dark cloak, the face seemed to be still lifeless. The man lowered his head in disbelief and looked at the sword pierced into his chest. He looked up at Kirito.

Those dark brown eyes were full of fear.

He is extremely afraid of death, he is also forced to wait for death, and the person who killed him——was me.

With trembling hands, the man grabbed Kirito's hand holding the sword with the last bit of strength, struggling to look at Kirito who was motionless, and there seemed to be a kind of extreme pain emerging from his eyes full of fear.

The man's trembling voice was low and desperate, but there was a hint of painful begging, "I don't want to..."

What a sad desperation it is to be able to hold on to one's arm so tightly, begging oneself as an enemy to save him.

However, before the man could finish speaking, his life was reduced to pieces.

Kirito knew what he wanted to say - [I don't want to die. 】

However, that person is dead, killed by Kirito, and will never wake up even in real life.

At this moment, Tongren realized that he had never made up his mind, which was the awareness of becoming a murderer.

Back to the resting place, Kirito sat on the bed with his knees hugged, biting his lip hard, feeling a sense of fatigue spreading all over his body.He wanted to just sink into the bed like this, and didn't want to fall into a deep sleep, but no matter what, as soon as he closed his eyes, he could think of those eyes full of fear and despair, and the life that was cut to pieces under the sword.

There was a cramping pain in his head, and even though he told himself it was the right thing to do, he felt like he was just deluding himself into forgetting the fact that he had actually killed two people.

After all, what right do human beings have to deprive other people of their lives?

He really wanted to ask Kayaba Akihiko this question, he really wanted to ask the members of Laughing Coffin, but now it was his turn to ask himself, and he had become a 15-year-old murderer who killed two people with a sword.

There was a panic and emptiness sweeping the whole body. Kirito looked in the dark room, but suddenly there was an extreme sense of unreality and fear. Everything is not real, the world is not real, the players are not real, I Not really either.

It's just a fake game, but it's really going to die.

Yeah, in this game, maybe one day I'll die too.

The memory has been dusted for a long time, and he remembered the girl named Xing, who stood at the door with her pillow in her arms, looked at himself with a shy smile, and said that she dared not sleep alone because she would be afraid.

It wasn't until this moment that Kirito finally understood the fear that Xing said.Sleeping alone in an empty room, looking at the dark world, I feel that everything is unreal, but my heart is beating at an abnormal rate, and my mind is constantly thinking wildly. The more I feel empty and unreal, the more I feel. Feel more and more afraid.

In this death game, maybe one day I will die too. Before I die, will I watch my blood value cleared indifferently because of fear?Will I see my body penetrated by a weapon?Will I watch my body shatter piece by piece after I stop breathing?And after I die, will I just cease to exist at all?

Kirito jumped up violently, covered his head with his hands and shook his head violently, he could no longer let himself think about these things.

What to do, you must do something to divert your attention.

Kirito took a deep breath, trying to calm his chaotic heartbeat, stretched out his hand and swiped a few times in mid-air, flipping through the menu randomly and fidgetily, and finally saw an item in the item bar, Kirito stopped.

【TROHS Mystery Shop Admission Ticket】

how come?

I obviously haven't bought an entry ticket anymore, and I definitely haven't seen it in the inventory before, why did it suddenly appear?

In the dark room, the flickering pages seemed to be more dazzling, and Kirito quietly stared at that item without moving for a long time.

When Agil said before that he had an admission ticket, he actually found it for himself on purpose, but he didn't want it.He just felt that he shouldn't have too much involvement with the NPC in this game. Even if the boy can't speak, he can only provide rare props and equipment, but when he sees the boy, there is always a feeling of peace and tranquility. The illusion of being cherished.

If I let myself go all the time, as a lone traveler, I will involuntarily rely on that NPC.The NPC created by Akihiko Kayaba's data, but he relied on it wholeheartedly, and Kirito didn't want to do that.

For some encounters, it is enough to hide in the heart and change.

only……

Kirito's finger pressed lightly, and finally the world fell into pure darkness.

Obviously just now I still felt fear and emptiness, but when I was completely immersed in pure darkness, I suddenly felt at ease.

When stepping through the darkness step by step and finally lifted the thick flannelette, Kirito finally saw the boy again.

The boy in the wide black robe seemed to be completely cut off from the outside world and time, he just sat quietly in this small world, fused in the fine shards of light, the pair of clean purple pupils Never be contaminated by outside interference.

When the young man saw him, as if meeting him for the first time, he slowly reached out and caressed the long table. Even if he didn't look at Kirito, he knew what the letters were entangled on the long table by the light golden light.

It just so happens that this has not changed, which makes Kirito feel very peaceful.

Kirito thought a little self-deprecatingly, maybe such a self is so cowardly that he wants to seek some comfort from other people.However, he couldn't expose his timidity and fragility to anyone, but in the eyes of the young man in front of him, I am afraid that he is nothing as a player, so standing here, he feels that no matter what he does, he is nothing. It doesn't matter.

It's just that, even if he thought so, he couldn't confide anything, he couldn't retell those chaotic memories from his painful mind, and the NPC who couldn't speak in front of him couldn't give him any response.

Can't talk?

Kirito suddenly had some doubts, would NPC have feelings?Couldn't speak, couldn't talk, and stayed in this small space all the time, would the boy feel lonely?

When Kirito looked at the young man who had been sitting indifferently, even his purple eyes were empty and unable to reflect anything, Kirito felt that he was thinking too much. NPCs are only set by precisely calculated data, and they don't have other redundant thoughts and emotions.

"Then, is that your name?" Kirito felt a little unaccustomed to being silent like this, so he stretched out his finger and pointed to the name that appeared next to the young man sitting quietly - TROHS, no matter what, he didn't know how to pronounce it Call out the boy's name.

After waiting for a while, the boy slowly shook his head.

"Then what's your name?" Kirito was a little curious, so he continued to ask the boy.Even if he can't speak, the boy can still gather the light and write characters on the long table.

The boy looked at Kirito with those dull purple eyes, then raised his right hand with the black fingerless glove, and put his index finger on the lips covered by the mask, as if he was keeping some secret .

Name, can't you tell the player?

[Whether to accept the TROHS mystery shop mission: Get the flower in front of the mirror in Nalos, the city of mirrors on the [-]th floor. 】

Before he could react, a task prompt popped up on the page, and Kirito remembered that the information said that he had to complete the task in order to obtain rare equipment.However, he didn't ask for any equipment, so how did the mission come out?

Kirito suddenly remembered, just now he asked the boy's name, the reward for knowing the name of the NPC by completing the task?

The clearing team has not yet cleared the [-]th floor, and they don't know what the difficulty factor of this task is. Kirito, who should have chosen to refuse, looked at the young man sitting quietly in front of him, but chose [Accept] by accident.

If no one knows the name in this game, even if it disappears, it will be as if it never existed.In that case, it was as if there was really nothing left.

Kirito at least wanted to remember his name for this lonely NPC boy who was sealed in time and space.

The hand was pulled suddenly, and Kirito looked at the boy holding his right hand in surprise.The young man's movements were still slow and serious, gently holding his hand and then spreading his palm upwards, the young man put an orange-gold glowing glass bead in Kirito's palm, although it was small, it was very warm.

The boy's temperatureless fingers slowly slid across Kirito's fingertips, and the boy's dark purple eyes just stared at the glowing beads.I don't know if it was because the light was too soft, but Kirito felt that the boy's hollow pupils were finally stained with a soft warmth.

Before Kirito could speak, the field of vision changed rapidly in the next second, and Kirito had already returned to his dark room.

Kirito stood on the floor in a daze, still unable to react, but the feeling of false fear before entering the shop had dissipated.There was still a warm touch in the palm, Kirito raised his right hand and slowly opened his palm, the bead was emitting light golden light.

A ray of light flowed out of the bead, fluttering in the dark room like the wings of an angel, the bead shattered little by little, and more and more shards of light flowed into the air, the soft and clear light Wisps of wisps filled the entire dark room.

The faint light is not dazzling, just like a little firefly, in such a beautiful halo, it seems that the whole person has merged into a beautiful dream.Stretch out your fingers to touch the soft light, and the shards of light seem to wrap around your fingertips like life, delicate, transparent and warm.

When Kirito carefully touched the light flakes on his fingertips, the light slipped away suddenly, and then the light that filled the room slowly merged together in the air, and the orange-gold font gradually appeared, penetrating through the The glimmer of darkness now shines brightly.

【Kirito, wish you sweet dreams】

Kirito stood in the room, staring blankly at the words floating in the air, and finally couldn't help laughing.It turned out that the NPC boy really remembered his name. Just looking at it like this, he felt as if he really heard the boy calling his name.

What, is this a mission benefit?

Kirito's light-colored lips slowly curled up, and then he sat on the bed, watching the light flakes in the air gradually dissipate and hide in the darkness, but a corner of his heart still seemed to be filled with that warm and faint light.

It's really strange, what kind of thinking did Akihiko Kayaba have in order to use data to create the TROHS mystery store?

That NPC boy is really too gentle.