Assassin

Assassin's wandering spirit had brought her to the fourth floor. She needed to get stronger, but bugging sis about doing quests all the time just made her feel really annoying. After what happened on the sixth floor, she found herself looking over her shoulder a lot. Putting out a want for help with this boss was the right call. She got a call for it nearly instantly.

Heading to the snowy fourth floor, she would look for the man who called himself Alkor. He was probably going to judge her for her age when they first meet, but maybe he'll just look past it and fight the boss.

After finally finding him with the description that he provided the teenager waved him down. The leopard that was her partner growled slightly as they closed in, but she calmed her pet quickly. "Sorry, she doesn't like meeting new people. Very protective. I'm Assassin."

Finally, she made it back to town completely unscathed by her encounter with the armed stranger. Laughing Coffin. She had no idea who they were or what they wanted with her. They wanted her to join them, but to do what? It's not like she was necessarily strong compared to most of the players in Aincrad. Maybe if she put in the back of her mind, they would just forget about her and leave her alone.

Though she had a feeling that wasn't going to be the case. Her and Nero would surely see each other again and it wasn't going to be pretty. If she couldn't protect herself, she was sure that Hidden would be there to help her. 

Stepping up to the teleporter of floor six, she looked took a deep breath and called out: "Floor 3." She needed to go home and take a nap now that ordeal was over. Today was way too stressful.

The Player Killer fell to the ground unmoving as the kid slashed a shallow wound into his abdomen. Paralysis afflicted him. "Gah! Stupid kid! How lucky can you get?!" He wasn't in any danger of dying to her. She didn't do near enough damage to take him on one on one in a fight to the death, but she was using this time to escape. "Walk away then! It doesn't matter if you make it back to town. We'll find you! We have our ways. We'll find you and you 'sis' and kill her right before your eyes! Then just when you think that pain can't get any worse, we'll torture you to death too!"

Assassin was unmoved. She didn't care about Laughing Coffin or anyone but her family. If someone was going to try and mess with her, Onee-chan would beat them up. She was sure of it, though she hoped this would be the last she'd see of this man.

Shadow's Infection beckoned a paralytic, miasmic aura. It wanted to unleash it's unique ability here. Assassin could feel the malevolent power in her arm. As Nero charged forward, Assassin's blinding speed charged for him. He wasn't able to change his course the moment she moved. Her dagger slashed through his stomach, inflicting the paralysis that she needed. Looking at the man's health bar she could tell he was a much higher level than him. He was also orange, so she would be able to get away from him by entering a safe zone. His body limped over and his health was barely touched by her blade. What she did deal was healed nearly instantly.

"How pitiful that you can't even win against a child when you are so much higher of a level." Assassin mentioned as she started to walk away. "Don't ever talk to me again, or sis is going to hurt you, badly."

"I don't know what that is, and I don't care. Leave me alone." Assassin replied, not even stopping to acknowledge him. Her hand beneath her cloak was still resting on the dagger. The man with the PKing guild grinned and returned his hood to his head.

"Then what was offered cannot be ignored. Either you join, or I end you here." Her threatened, drawing his blade from his side. Assassin stopped and glanced at him over her shoulder. The fierce emerald pupils burned through the darkness of her hood.

"I said, leave me alone." Her low growl mixed with her familiar's as she drew Shadow's Infection from it's sheath.

"It can't be helped? Then know that Nero is the one who sent you to the underworld you stupid brat." He growled back, lunging at her with his blade charging a sword art. Assassin charged her own Eternal Cyclone, waiting for him to get close.

"Name's are hardly important. What matters is the assets someone brings." He responded. She figured that meant he was unwilling to share his name. "I'm here because I want to extend to you an offer. I watched your fight with your Gemini. You finished him off without a problem even though he had the upper hand, and you didn't even bat an eye when you went in for the kill."

"So what. I don't like people who talk bad about my friends when they don't even know them. They had it coming." She put rather coldly, as she turned to continue her walk back to town. Of course, the man pursued her.

"That's great and all, emotions are a strong sword when wielded in the correct hands. As I said, I'm here to extend to you an offer. One I'm sure that you don't want to deny. I am inviting you to join Laughing Coffin."

Absorbed in her thought, Assassin hardly noticed Hyou's growling. Something was watching them and she could feel it. She stopped in her tracks and took a look around, placing her hand on her dagger behind her, ready to draw at a moment's notice. She couldn't see anyone, but she could feel their eyes staring daggers at her. Hyou could also hear them, but didn't seem to have a good idea where they were located.

"So you noticed me." Their voice called from behind a tree. The man walked from behind the tree trunk and grinned at the girl. He was an older guy, cloaked the same as her but his hood was down. "That was quite the impressive display. You killed the Gemini without remorse. You would make a great addition."

"Who are you?" Assassin asked, fixing her hood to disguise her face further. "I don't want to talk with strangers, leave me alone."

The forest was mostly quiet except for the quiet howls of wolf mobs in the distance. They sounded far enough away to ensure that she wouldn't get caught by them at least. Not that it mattered. Nothing on this floor actually scared her anymore. With her sister's dagger to back her up and Hyou to keep her going, nothing was going to stop her from getting stronger. The Gemini had thought to weaken her resolve by making her feel like she used Hidden for protection. That was all wrong. Hidden was like a sister to her at this point. She wasn't helping her because she had to, she was helping Kaya cause she wanted to.

Though, it had occurred to her that she has yet to return the favor to her in some way. This was the first sense of what it felt like to have a family for the child and she didn't want to lose it. Hopefully there was a way that she could fulfill that favor to her sister.

Reaching down and taking up the cloak in her hand, Assassin would throw it over her shoulder and around her neck. It was a perfect fit for her, if not just slightly long. That didn't matter to her as long as she could still run in it though, which was doable. It hid her blade belt well enough too. Giving her dagger a few swings in it, the girl decides to keep it. Shadow's Infection slowly slipped back into it's sheathe behind her as she turned to her familiar and lifted the hood over her head.

"We're all done here Hyou, let's go back home. I wonder if Nee-chan is there doing anything." She thought out loud. Hyou simply followed behind her master, making sure that nothing would sneak up on them easily. The darkness of night made it hard to maneuver through the woods since something had caused her to lose her sense of direction on the way out here. Hopefully she could find her way back.

With the deed done and her health barely in tact, Assassin fell to the ground on her backside. The weird feeling in the air finally dissipated and her familiar could finally rejoin her. Hyou inspected her master, worried more than anything when they had gotten split apart.

"I'm alright... I think." Assassin mentioned to the feline as she struggled to get on her feet. Kneeling down and petting the cat, she catches a glance of the cloak dropped by the Gemini when it removed it from it's head. Looking over to the rags that she was using, she realized that it was probably unusable now that she had tore it off when the fight got serious. "Looks like I'll be needing a new cloak..." She said walking over to the cloak left by the Gemini. If it was connected to the Gemini, why didn't disappear when they died? It should have right?

The two stared each other down for a moment, both breathing heavily. A hit from either side would surely leave the other dead. After a moment, the two converged on each other. Clashing of daggers against each other sounded between the two of them again. The only audible sound for leagues.

The danced around each other, speeds too fast to follow for someone who was watching. No one would see the outcome of this duel, however. Assassin's dagger reached into the Gemini's stomach again. Vice versa, the Gemini's dagger sunk deep into the girl's stomach. The both of them coughed on each other, faces inches apart. Watching the health bars drop between them The Gemini falls to zero and grins slightly to the person they copied. "Well.. I guess I found that challenge that I was looking for... Look where it got me..." They said before exploding into a shower of data.

The Assassin dropped to her knees and raised her dagger above her head. The anger was unmatched to anything she had felt in Aincrad since she started playing this stupid game. "Shut up and die already." The voice of anger reminded her of her first interaction with Hidden. Back then she really terrified her with that voice. However now, she could see why she used it. It instilled fear in the target.

With a quick plunge, the girl plunged the dagger into the Gemini's stomach. Twisting the blade even deeper into the enemy's flesh, she felt no remorse. Finally, the  Gemini was able to move again. They threw the girl off them just as their health dropped into the red. "You're cold blooded aren't you?" The Gemini asked her.

"When it comes to my family, no one will talk bad about them." Assassin replied spinning the dagger in her hand, readying to finish this fight for good.

"But, what about you? Are you going to continue to use her as your toy? You are using her to protect you." Assassin's brows furrowed in anger. She threw her power into an upward strike and sent the dagger they were holding up into the air along with her arm. "Don't talk about Onee-chan like you know her!!! I am not using her!! We're like sisters! I-I would never do something like that to her! She is too important!"

Darkness enveloped the blade in her hand. Malevolence unmatched by anything that she had ever wielded before. The hairs on her arm stood on end as she plunged the dagger into her counterpart's chest. The moment the blade connected, the yellow lights flooded into the doppelgangers body. They became stiff and fell to the ground before her. Assassin stood above her target menacingly, blade at the ready. "You are finished, copycat."

The clash of steel and the pitter of boot's on soil dancing around each other were the only thing the two combatants could hear. With every attack, Assassin matched the Gemini. She was getting serious now and wouldn't allow them to get the better of her. Losing meant death. Nobody was going to kill her. Nobody. If she died hear, she was going to make her sister sad. Win for Hidden.

"You think you know what you want?" The Gemini asked her. Assassin's heart skipped a beat. When she first started, that question would have been awfully hard to answer. Even now it was still nearly impossible to know what she really thought she wanted. The girl gnawed her teeth angrily. "Don't you try and read me! You don't know me!" She pressed even harder on her attacks, adding as much force as possible. "I'm not a toy for you to play with!!"

The Gemini was much faster than she could follow. It may have even been faster than herself. She prided the fact nothing could keep up with her blinding speed, but this doppelganger was outpacing her. She needed to be a little bit smarter with this fight or she was going to lose. Grabbing the cloak around her neck, she tore it from her body and threw it into the wind. She no longer needed it.

Rushing in to attack the Gemini again, she came up just short of an attack on the copy cat's side. They twisted their dagger to an underhanded grip, mocking her combat style, and stabbed the girl in the back as she reached in. Assassin watched as her once green health dripped into the yellow. Her breathing intensified. How was she letting this guy walk on her? Picking herself up off the ground, she stances off with the Gemini, ready for the next engagement.

Smoke resonated off the familiar. She wasn't sure why but it was obviously intended. Perhaps Hidden called for her to do so. If she did, she couldn't really hear her sisters voice from here very well.

Looking at the health bar of the boss at the top of her heads-up display, she realized that it was pretty close to dying. All she had to do was strike it one more time and let Nee-chan finish it off. Switching her dagger to an underhanded grip while keeping her hand firmly in place on the giant, Assassin slashed the beast with several attacks. It was much more difficult to perform the speedy attacks she could normally do, she still found a way to pull off her damage to the best of it's ability.

"Almost there." She whispered to herself. "Just a little bit more. Nee-chan can finish it off easily, right Umbra?"

The revelation of seeing herself as an animated person right before her eyes was so overwhelming, Kaya wasn't ready to see what was about to come next. The doppelganger of herself charged forward with a blinding speed that she wouldn't be able to react to in time. It was mocking her playstyle just the same, slashing the dagger through her from every angle at speed her eyes could just barely follow.

Her health dropped significantly more than it ever had. Things got dangerous really fast. The child took a swipe at the copy of herself, forcing them to back off before it got even worse. "Alright then, if you want to get kicked, I'll take you on! Nobody is going to bully me and get away with it!" She replied, tightening the grip on her dagger. The enemies raw strength was all they had going for them now that they had copied her. They wouldn't be able to copy her weapon's ability or she would be stunned.

A short few second went by. Assassin wasn't really sure what all of that was about. It seemed like she just imagined all of it, but that couldn't be true, right? If she only imagined it, the coat wouldn't be there. It was real enough for her.

A splash sounded from the pond. Ripple in the water waved through the quiet stillness. From there emerged what she was least expecting: Herself, or at least someone who looked a lot like her. The Gemini's name revealed above it's head and the red cursor alerted the girl to pull out her weapon. They brandished a copy of Shadow's Infection, but it didn't have the same ominous feel that hers did.

"Are you ready then? I won't make it easy for you." The voice was even copied. It was like looking into a mirror. She hated it. That was something about this fight that was already ticking her off.

Assassin's heart skipped a beat. She quickly ran over to the coat that had hit the stone with her familiar and looked through it. It was as if nothing was even there in the first place. What sort of tricks were happening? Did she just imagine all that? The long walk following a person? The conversation that she had with them?

"What do we do now? They're gone. Were they really ever there in the first place? I'm so confused Hyou." She ruminated to the feline companion. Hyou cocked her head to the side. She was just as confused as her master was. Standing from her crouched position, Assassin would take another look around. The person still had to be around somewhere right? Maybe they used one of those teleport crystals to abandon her here without help. That would only work on low level scaredy-cats though. She wasn't scared to be out here on her own.

The non-player character would lead them towards the edge of the city. Assassin was unsure of what was happening for the most part, but she assumed that you weren't allowed to fight within the safe zones because the game wouldn't allow it. Therefore they would just head outside of the safe zone for now and duel. She would hit him a single time and finish it without a problem. However, the hooded figure seemed to want to lead them further away.

With some time passed, they would soon end up in a clearing. A small pond met with stonework would take up most of the space in the clearing. The hooded figure would stop just short of the pond and stand quietly. Assassin was starting to feel a little nervous. Was this some sort of trick that the computer was trying to pull on her? When the figure removed their hood.... the coat simply fell to the ground and nothing remained.

Through the darkness of night, Assassin was met with a figure cloaked in the shadows. They stopped her in her place, sizing her up before speaking anything. "You seem strong, traveler. I have been seeking a challenge worthy of memory. Perhaps you can oblige." They said, face blacked by the hood over their head. Assassin wasn't quite sure what to make of their words honestly. To them, she most likely just looked like a child in rags. How could she give them a 'challenge worthy of memory'?

"Uh, whatever you say, dude. I'm not doing anything else, so I guess so." She replied. Looking up above their head, she realized that they were one of the computer dudes like most of the other people in the game, despite looking a lot like a player from where she stood. Assassin's eyes went down to her feline companion, who seemed somewhat unmoved by the situation. Probably more engrossed in what it wanted to eat later.

In the quiet of Floor six's night, Assassin was no longer scared to brave this harsh world by herself. There were people that cared for her enough to help her stay safe. She had grown so much stronger since she started going out of the safe zones. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that she could wander anywhere she wanted without being scared of anything around her. The confidence instilled in her by Hidden was what kept her going. What she was really fighting for in this game wasn't apparent even to her, but what she did know is that she would spend that time finding out with her sister.

The town on the sixth floor was quiet during the night. It was a nice place for leisurely walk with one's pet, which is exactly what Assassin was up to. Walking with her snow leopard Hyou in the night, just thinking about everything up until now.

The presence of the shadowy fox reminded the dagger user that she needed to keep hold of the being tight enough to not fall. If she fell off and got hurt, the pressure that she put on her sister would be too great if she were to fall off the monster at this point. She needed to do her part for her and help deal as much damage as possible. She wasn't putting in near as much damage as hidden was, but her damage was still supplemental.

Finally, she got to the next weak point. The chest was much more difficult to stand on compared to the head, so she would wait for the beast to shake another time before she started trying to stab it to death. Gripping tightly to the stone, Assassin would wait out any shakes that the Colossus used to shake them off. With the help of Umbra, there was absolutely no way she could slip off the stone.

Her hand passed through the shadow figure leaving a cold feeling within the familiar's body. Assassin's nerves shook for a moment but she knew that didn't reflect the fox's feelings for protecting her. Even if she was just following orders from her master, she was still going to make sure that Asssassin didn't fall off the beast.

With that being said, she needed to make her way to the next weak point. Looking for the indicator wasn't hard at all. The closest one that she could locate was on the giant's chest. She would simply need to slide down and hack it to pieces without falling off the Colossus's body. Easier said than done really. Climbing down was much harder than climbing up. She couldn't see where she was putting her feet thanks to the arc of the titan's chest. Wherever she went, the fox would follow, making sure that she wouldn't slip off without aid.

The tiny and agile frame had some how kept herself from being sent of the side of the ginormous golem for way longer than she expected. When the adrenaline of her rage-induced spat had finally ended, Kaya got a look at Hidden's health bar. It was already improving faster than she initially expected. With that in mind, she was able to actually calm down and focus on the task at hand.

Soon, Umbra had joined her at the head of the beast, Hidden's pet, if you could even call it that. They way she bossed it around was way different than how she treated Hyou. It was hardly worth their time to argue about though. Gripping her blade tightly, the girl slashes across the crippling mark on the Colossus's scalp. The moment the damage was dealt, the weak spot exploded, making it unusable. The shock nearly sent her falling backwards off the side. If not for Umbra, she would surely have tasted the dirt far below her. "Th-Thanks Umbra." The girl said, patting the head of the shadow being once she regained her balance.