[6F - SP] Calming the Soul - The Reflection in the Mirror-Bright Shield [Completed]

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 76804 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 8 - Hit! - 5 dmg - 2 Mit = 3 dmg, Bleed remaining rounds: 2

Wife: HP: 71/133, Damage per Attack: 2, Mitigation: 2
MOB: 5 + 3 = 8  - Hit! - 2 dmg - 34 Mit - 27 Regen = 0 dmg, Thorns - 14 dmg

As his anger reached its tipping point, he suddenly remembered how to use his arms. He dug in his feet and slashed out with his axe. Her weapon being more agile, she managed to cut up his arm as he followed through. His blade sliced through her shoulder, and a fountain of red spurted from the wound, its particle effects blowing at her long, draping hair to reveal her face which was twisted with hatred.

"How DARE you raise your hand to me!" her voice belted, making Shield's ears ring. "You think you're a big man now? Huh?"

As she spoke, her eyes ceased to merely be piercing and intense. The irises began to glow of their own accord, locking him in their gaze. He remembered this look. He remembered having fights with her just like this, but for some reason he couldn't remember exactly what he had said at the time.

Edited February 6, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 76806 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 2 - miss, Bleed remaining rounds: 1

Wife: HP: 45/133, Damage per Attack: 2, Mitigation: 2
MOB: 3 + 3 = 6  - Hit! - 2 dmg - 34 Mit - 27 Regen = 0 dmg, Thorns - 14 dmg, Bleed - 12 dmg

She slashed low with her knife, cutting harmlessly across Shield's belly. She swiped at his face to blind him, narrowly missing him.

Why can't I remember what I said?

One swipe after the next, each intended with deadly force despite how little they were capable of doing to him with his far superior defenses.

I can't remember anything that I said back to her in these arguments...

All the while, she cursed him and spat at him, the tendons stretching and contorting in her neck as she swung wildly at her now ex husband.

"Why won't you ever say anything?!" she shrieked.

His eyes widened, thinking back to those arguments that he had worked so hard to forget. There was a reason he couldn't remember what he said back to her when she became angry.

It's because I never said anything back to her.

Thinking back, he had always been passive, he had always fallen silent. It always just seemed best not to rock the boat.

Edited February 6, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 76807 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 2 - miss, Bleed remaining rounds: 0

Wife: HP: 33/133, Damage per Attack: 2, Mitigation: 2
MOB: 1 + 3 = 4  - Miss, Bleed - 12 dmg

"I understand," Shield said, looking down at his hand as his anger subsided down to the spark of competition that always came with a fight. "You're more than just a bad memory. The girls were more than just my sadness."

She stopped, her knife poised and ready to strike, listening intently to his odd interjection. He lifted his eyes, looking into her blue, radiating irises. It almost made him feel stupid, forgetting the name of the quest he had accepted back at the waterfall.

"You're aspects of me," he said plainly. "The girls were the memories holding me back... You're a reminder of my weakness and indecision that led me to the dark days of our family breaking."

"Nonsense!" she spat, insulted at being pigeon-holed to something so insignificant. "I am so much more than just a part of your little inner world, buddy!"

"The original was, yes."

He swiped with his blade, knocking hers out of the way as he took a step forward.

"But you? You're just an inner demon that needs taming."

Edited February 6, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 76808 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 8 - Hit! 5 dmg - 2 Mit = 3 dmg, Bleed *reset* remaining rounds: 2

Wife: HP: 30/133, Damage per Attack: 2, Mitigation: 2
MOB: 10 + 3 = 13 - Hit! 2 dmg + 2 = 4 - 34 Mit - 27 Regen = 0 Dmg

The image of his ex wife let out a blood curdling scream and swung her knife high, bringing the blade of the heavy utensil down into Shield's collar bone. Even despite the precision and power behind her strike, it still was nowhere near sufficient to stick the damage, his health immediately ticking back up to full. Hers, on the other hand, was now in the red.

He regarded her benignly. Much like the phantoms of his daughter, she was no longer a concern. She was not real. He assessed their relative states. Her wounds having just freshly closed, Shield targeted the same spot, chopping with the harpoon-like point of his axe and ripping the barbed protrusion out once again, rending her open anew so that the flow of red particles began all over again.

Her hand clapped itself over the gaping hole, the light shining through her closed fingers as she stumbled back, sobbing to herself out of pain and frustration.

Edited February 6, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 76818 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 9 - Hit! - 5 + 1 dmg - 2 Mit = 4 dmg, Bleed *reset* remaining rounds: 2

Wife: HP: 0/133, Damage per Attack: 2, Mitigation: 2 [DEAD]
MOB: 8 + 3 = 11 - Hit! 2 dmg - 34 Mit - 27 Regen = 0 Dmg, Bleed - 12 dmg, Thorns - 14 dmg

"How could you?" she wept, holding out her improvised weapon as a buffer. "You were supposed to fold under the pressure. You weren't supposed to fight back."

Shield watched her health bar's color being slowly siphoned away into the air around her. The hand that she held over the wound did nothing. The bleed effect was fresh, and she was too vulnerable now that he had seen through her. She was going to die.

"Unfortunately for you, I had already faced this demon the day I was trapped here in SAO," Shield said, his tone cold, but not harsh or angry.

With one final scream, her knife hand reared back, and she charged. So desperate was her state that she did nothing to defend herself. There was nothing to stop Shield's axe except for the promise of another attack on him, which he knew would be fruitless. He caught her in the forehead, and she likewise hit him in the stomach.

"How did you already...." she gasped, her few remaining hit points falling, no hope remaining for them to settle anywhere above zero.

"I had to."

Without another word, her body gaze way to an eruption of light, all of which dispersed and disappeared.

Edited February 6, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

"Another sound victory," said the familiar sound of The Gemini's voice in his ear. "These demons you've faced didn't stand a chance. Do you think the others will be beaten so handily?"

Shield whipped around once more to find the area to be just as devoid of occupants as it had when he first arrived.

"Is this all this is?" Shield called out into the void. "I just open a door and fight another aspect of myself until I've conquered all of my flaws?"

His echoes faded away into the black, and even as he stood and listened, there was no response from his hands-off spirit guide.

Some help he's been.

Turning around once more, he found himself back in front of the same doors, though as before, the first two were now faded and grey, no longer pertinent to the mission at hand. The third door was perplexing. While the first two had been not only realistic, but also modernized, this door was neither. It appeared to be a heavy wooden set of double doors with dangling rings for door handles, and they seemed to be heavily pixelated. It was as if they were from a video game from a bygone era.

[Shield 0]

It was an odd design choice to encounter, even in a place that seemed to defy rules. He reached out and lifted the handle, which really felt more like a doorknocker than a handle, but like the other doors, as soon as its handle was activated, the entire door melted into the darkness, leaving him standing in the darkness.

"Yo," chirped a familiar voice behind him. "You been adventuring without me have you?"

Shield froze, slowly turning to face the last person he expected to meet here. There stood his traveling companion, Beat, but not the Beat he had come to know. He stood in full battle regalia, complete with his old guild's war banner and the legendary artifacts from their previous game, Crossreign.

"You got a lot of nerve trying to leave me in the dust," Beat went on, a familiar, cocky grin overtaking his face. "Seems like you need a reminder of who's really top dog around here. Not so big and tough without your DPS detail to do your fighting for you. I've got aaaaaaall day to wear you down."

Edited February 7, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Third Demon - The Rival

Spoiler

Shield: HP: 400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Rival: HP: 200, Damage per Attack: 3, Mitigation: 3

Combat rolls

Spoiler

ID# 76831 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 8 - Hit! 5 dmg - 3 Mit = 2 dmg, Bleed remaining rounds: 2 

Rival: HP: 184/200, Damage per Attack: 3, Mitigation: 3
MOB: 3 + 3 = 6  - Hit! - 3 dmg - 34 Mit - 27 Regen = 0 dmg, Thorns - 14 dmg 

"I know this fight is unavoidable," Shield said, more than a little sadness in his deep-toned voice. "Still, if you have the ability to reconsider, please do so."

The pseudo-Beat advanced slowly, unsheathing a shining red blade, the edges of which glinted in the seemingly sourceless light that illuminated the few people or objects that had so far appeared to Shield. With a tap of his foot against the ground, Beat vanished in a flurry of footsteps.

It was the old days all over again. Shield knew every one of Beat's combos, and without even thinking, he slashed to his right, clothes-lining the DPSer with his axe and sending a shower of red sparks across the black floor. He had not even bothered to defending against the incoming attack, knowing it would do more harm to Beat than to himself.

"This isn't a fruitful battle, Beat," he warned. "You're not statted right for this game, and you don't have your posse to take the hits for you."

Edited February 7, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

 

ID# 76832 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 2 - Miss, Bleed remaining rounds: 1

Rival: HP: 158/200, Damage per Attack: 3, Mitigation: 3
MOB: 7 + 3 = 10  - Hit! - 3 dmg - 34 Mit - 27 Regen = 0 dmg, Thorns - 14 dmg, Bleed - 12 dmg

 

With a swift motion of his legs, the false beat Beat kipped back up onto his feet and vanished in a burst of speed. Even though SAO did not allow players to move at impossible speeds like Crossreign had done, the muscle memory was still strong. The only difference was, in this fight, he had no reason to defend himself. These demons were statted off of his personal specs. There was no way their damage would be sufficient to harm him.

With a triumphant shout, Beat's clone plunged his sword into Shield's leg all the way up to the hilt, ripping it out the side of his leg. Even as he did so, it produced the same result as before, and the demon's already depleting health dropped yet again, nearly a quarter of his life already gone.

"Beat, this is pointless!" Shield shouted, pushing the stubborn impostor away. "Stop this!"

 

Edited February 7, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 76833 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 6 - Hit! 5 dmg - 3 Mit = 2 dmg, Bleed remaining rounds: 0

Rival: HP: 130/200, Damage per Attack: 3, Mitigation: 3
MOB: 6 + 3 = 9  - Hit! - 3 dmg - 34 Mit - 27 Regen = 0 dmg, Thorns - 14 dmg, Bleed - 12 dmg

"It's never pointless," the face-stealing demon growled through its toothy grin. "We have to settle things between us once and for all! The Unstoppable Force against the Immovable Object!"

With a scuff of his foot, the enemy disappeared again, a rapid patter of feet echoing all around Shield. Sensing for where the attack would come from, Shield closed his eyes, gripping the handle of his axe and listening. From behind, he detected an increase in the speed of the steps.

He's coming in for the strike.

Once again, without even bothering to defend himself, Shield flung out his axe arm, swinging as he turned his body around and catching Beat's image in the shoulder. Looking down, he saw the blade of his attacker lodged in his side, but it did not phase him.

"The real Beat is smarter than this!" Shield shouted. "Look at your health, and look at mine! You're already almost in the yellow!"

Edited February 7, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 76834 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 2 - Miss

Rival: HP: 130/200, Damage per Attack: 3, Mitigation: 3
MOB: 2 + 3 = 5  - Miss

Shield pulled his axe free and swung for the impostor's head. His attack did not land, nor did the one that was intended for him as the Beat clone swung his sword. The two weapons locked together, and Shield used the hooked bottom of the axe head to pull the sword to the side. He put his face an inch away from Beat's.

"You can not win," he growled. "You cannot even put damage on me, Beat, so why are you still trying? Give up and walk away!"

"Oh, like you would ever walk away?" sneered the cocky double, a victorious grin taunting at Shield. "Even when we were locked in complete stalemate, you just couldn't let it go! I believe it was your suggestion to move here."

Shield's jaw dropped, and in the moment when his words hit, the false Beat pulled his sword loose and kicked at Shield's chest, pushing him back a few steps.

Edited February 7, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 76835 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 4 - Miss

Rival: HP: 116/200, Damage per Attack: 3, Mitigation: 3
MOB: 6 + 3 = 9  - Hit! 3 dmg - 34 Mit - 27 Regen = 0 dmg, Thorns - 14

It took a moment for Shield to steady himself, but once he had regained his feet, he pierced through the impostor with his dark eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Shield said incredulously, his head shaking slowly from side to side as he spoke. "We agreed on Sword Art Online together!"

The demon laughed aloud, his mirth laced with derision at the assertion of the tank.

"Well, you're half right," cackled the phantasm. "I did agree to your suggestion, but it's not like you made the suggestion with any sort of prior discussion or anything. You just wanted to settle the score and shut my big mouth up."

His voice still ringing with laughter, the fake disappeared into the black and reappeared at Shield's side before he had time to properly track the direction of the attack. There was another slash, more health disappeared from Shield's health, and was immediately replaced while the other health gauge continued to drop.

Edited February 7, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 76836 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 3 - Miss

Rival: HP: 102/200, Damage per Attack: 3, Mitigation: 3
MOB: 3 + 3 = 6  - Hit! 3 dmg - 34 Mit - 27 Regen = 0 dmg, Thorns - 14

Shield shook his head, closing his eyes as he fought to clear his mind.

Don't listen. Don't let him get to you. He's just here to test you. He can't hurt you.

Attacks continued to rain down on him, but with each pass through his body with the signature weapon that Shield knew all too well, he lost no actual health.

Even that blade is just a counterfeit. The sword that Beat used to use would have destroyed even my peak character build in Crossreign if I had taken even half of these attacks.

"What's the matter, oh Immovable Object?" Beat's voice taunted from out of the wrong mouth. "Decide to take your name literally? You know I'm right. You couldn't stand to not have our score settled, so you had to come up with your own means of settling things! Face it! You're as pig headed as you've ever accused me of being!"

 

Edited February 7, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 76837 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 3 - Miss

Rival: HP: 88/200, Damage per Attack: 3, Mitigation: 3
MOB: 6 + 3 = 9  - Hit! 3 dmg - 34 Mit - 27 Regen = 0 dmg, Thorns - 14

"Shut up," Shield said with a shaky voice.

With his eyes still closed, there was nothing stopping Beat's double from pummeling him with more punishment, or at least attempting to do so. Still, although his weapon did nothing, his words continued to bore into Shield.

"What's the matter, great defender?" jeered the voice, seemingly from all around him. "Are you claiming that all of this isn't your fault? Are you trying to pretend that your need for satisfaction is not the direct cause of all of this?"

"I said shut up," he said, more forcefully this time.

His axe hand had begun to shake, and even as he watched the demon's health dip down into the yellow, that was not satisfying enough. He hated that the words were getting to him. He knew that they were coming from a poser, not even his real rival, but the insinuation that this whole thing was his fault...

Edited February 7, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

 ID# 76838 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 4 - Miss

Rival: HP: 88/200, Damage per Attack: 3, Mitigation: 3
MOB: 9 + 3 = 12  - Hit! 4 dmg - 34 Mit - 27 Regen = 0 dmg

"Well, if I'm wrong, then tell me how," challenged the impostor. "Come on, mister strategist. Mister genius. Mister so much more clever than that loosey-goosey rival of yours! Tell me how I'm wrong!"

Shield's eyes snapped open just in time to see Beat's sword slide effortlessly into his solar plexus. The younger man's eyes were inches from his, their corners scrunched with the tightening of his face into a wide and knowing grin.

"Unless you can't."

"Shut up!" Shield bellowed with the same amount of force of his howl, pressing his shield against his attacker's stomach and forcing him back.

As the demon stumbled back, Shield hailed down on top of him with powerful chops from his axe, each of which the defender only just managed to deflect. His ears were ringing, and it had nothing to do with the sound of metal on metal issuing from their clashing weapons.

Edited February 7, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 76839 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 6 - Hit! 5 dmg - 3 Mit = 2 dmg

Rival: HP: 72/200, Damage per Attack: 3, Mitigation: 3
MOB: 8 + 3 = 11  - Hit! 3 dmg - 34 Mit - 27 Regen = 0 dmg, Thorns - 14

Swinging wildly with one strike after another, both combatants stood their ground, not giving the other an inch as strikes rang out through the blackness of the inner world of Shield's mind where their battlefield resided. Shield would catch the demon off guard and strike him in the shoulder, and then the demon would counter and catch Shield in the stomach. All the while, the tank's health reflected his role, never budging more than a little at a time and always returning to full.

"You're finished, you wannabe!" Shield shouted through the storm of weapons.

"Maybe you're right," teased the double. "Maybe I'm outmatched. But if you think might makes right, you got another thing coming. Defeating me won't change whose fault this whole thing is!"

Shield spluttered with anger, ducking in behind his shield to try to gather his thoughts to hit back, to try to sting him the way that his words had stung Shield, but even as he thought that, he knew that it was pointless.

Edited February 7, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 76840 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 3 - Miss

Rival: HP: 58/200, Damage per Attack: 3, Mitigation: 3
MOB: 3 + 3 = 6  - Hit! 3 dmg - 34 Mit - 27 Regen = 0 dmg, Thorns - 14

"So what do you propose I do about it?" Shield barked back.

"What?" said the impostor, blinking in response to the question and its dramatic shift of tone, ceasing his assault altogether.

"Let's say this is all my fault?" he went on, emerging from behind the shield to face his opponent. "What then? What do you propose I do with that knowledge."

There was a long pause as the pseudo-rival looked blankly back at Shield searching for a response. After a moment's consideration, the smirk returned, and he thrust forward with the point of his sword, burying it in Shield's shoulder.

"You're supposed to suffer and-"

"That's not a solution," Shield growled. "That will accomplish nothing. How is feeling bad about a decision that can't be changed supposed to get me anywhere?"

Shield knocked the blade away and squared his shoulders with its wielder, his jaw set and his eyes narrowed. Even as he did so, the impostor's health bar dropped further, turning a bright, cherry red.

Edited February 7, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 76841 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 3 - Miss

Rival: HP: 58/200, Damage per Attack: 3, Mitigation: 3
MOB: 1 + 3 = 4  - Miss

Seeing the change in hit points as well, the impostor jumped back out of range of Shield's weapon. He circled slowly, his eyes narrowed as they probed for weaknesses in Shield's armor, likely both physical and metaphorical. Shield kept his eyes on the fake, turning to watch him as he paced.

This isn't going to get me anywhere. He doesn't have a chance, so I need to keep the pressure on. I don't think he can turn this around, but I shouldn't give him any chances to try.

He advanced, keeping his weapon out as a buffer. His opponent backed away, not letting the tank get near enough to get in an attack. Shield stepped again, more quickly this time, leading with an axe strike. The fake Beat deflected the blow and made a swipe for Shield's eyes, which Shield easily sidestepped.

"Know how I know that you couldn't be the real Beat?" Shield asked, while receiving only silence in return. "Beat may be a lot of things, but a coward isn't one of them."

Edited February 7, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 76842 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 4 - Miss

Rival: HP: 44/200, Damage per Attack: 3, Mitigation: 3
MOB: 3 + 3 = 6  - Hit! 3 dmg - 34 Mit - 27 Eva = 0 dmg, Thorns - 14 dmg

The impostor screwed up his face, contorting his features with rage before letting out a strangled scream of hatred. He launched himself at Shield, striking every inch of the tank he could reach. His aim had gone out the window, most of his attacks glancing harmlessly off of Shield's armor and actual shield, despite landing the occasional blow.

Even in the midst of the barrage, Shield's health remained as untouched as ever while his rival's double continued to dwindle down further into the red. Shield tried to throw in an attack of his own, but the double dodged to the side before continuing with his own equally futile offense.

"You're going to suffer one way or the other," the fake Beat growled, his voice uneven as his body jostled from his relentless attacks. "If not from guilt, then with your own death!"

His breathing came in short, uneven bursts as he pushed harder, trying to force Shield back but failing to gain any ground.

Edited February 8, 2017 by Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 76843 results:

Shield: HP: 400/400, Damage per Attack: 5, Mitigation: 34, Evasion: -3, Regen: 27
Battle: 5 - Miss

Rival: HP: 30/200, Damage per Attack: 3, Mitigation: 3
MOB: 6 + 3 = 9  - Hit! 3 dmg - 34 Mit - 27 Eva = 0 dmg, Thorns - 14 dmg

More and more little scrapes began to open on the attacker's forearms and hands, trailing little bits of red particles as the depleting health bar continued to drop.

"Why are you fighting so hard?" Shield called out, having to shout to be heard over the great clanging and thudding of weapon on armor. "What's the point?"

"The point is that you need to suffer!" growled the phantom, not even stopping to speak.

"I see," Shield sighed. "So once you're defeated on a moral standpoint, you devolve into this. You're no different from the other demons I've faced here."

He met each attack with general disinterest, deflecting them more out of habit than out of necessity. In the end, he wanted this fight to be more like the legendary battles between one guild and another that Beat and Shield had waged against one another. They used to seek one another out from the very beginning and let the battle grow around them as the two jockeyed for position on the battlefield. This was no contest.

Edited February 8, 2017 by Shield