[Sword Art Online Arc]: The Eternal Saga

Yin was about to take a bite of his sandwich until he noticed Kane nod at how he was The Midnight Swordsman. He dropped his sandwich on the plate and gave a smile. He always thought of the Midnight Swordsman as some cool vigilante.
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Yang did the same, she turned her head to look at Kane, a look of worry was in her eyes, however her food was still in her hands.

"You're not really getting the recognition, no one know's it's you." Akimoto responded calmly. "I knew it was you when I saw the manipulator in your inventory, of what I've heard of him that's the sword he normally uses."

Maeko sat in silence, but her facial expression could speak millions.

Kane stood up. "Some random player nicknamed me The Midnight Swordsman." Kane replied. He set his fork down and scooted his chair back. "I know how much people hate him, and I know that I need to keep who he is a secret." He turned his head and his eyes were visible again. "Thank you for the wonderful meal, Maeko. I promise I will pay you back Akimoto." He lifted his head and was about to walk off.

"The Midnight Swordsman isn't who I want to be, it's my curse that I can never get rid of until the game is complete. Hopefully we'll meet again." He started to walk and turned his head towards the other's table. He held his hand up to wave goodbye.

"God dammit Kane, you don't just leave like that. You can keep your Badass attitude, but at least sit down and have a proper meal with friends." Akimoto said, nearly shouting. "Take a day off, god know's we all need it. Get a room in the inn across the street, stay here and finish the meal Maeko cooked!" He said, slamming his hand down and standing up. "You're going to end up killing yourself out there, take a god damn break. A night, that's all. Then you can go back to all of the shit you do on a normal basis." He said, calmer now but still slightly infuriated.

Maeko gripped Akimoto's hand, looking up in his eyes. As a sign to "Stop, let him do it."

Kane turned his head, a serious and dark attitude was on his face. "As much as I'd love to finish her wonderful food that she prepared. I will not rest until I have done what the Midnight Swordsman is known for." He turned his head to Akimoto. "I hope you remember that promise I made to you after I caught you sneaking out that one day when we first met. I said that even though this is a game, we can still die and we shouldn't get too close to anything. I promised you I would try to help you guys as soon as I could, getting you all out so you could live your lives in peace." He turned his head and walked out of the door.

After Kane left the shop, Akimoto got a private message from him titled 'Open'. He opened it and read it. The message said.

"Keep your eyes on the news reports tonight around Midnight."

"God dammit Kane." Akimoto muttered and closed his menu. He finished his plate, and walked to the back room where he sat them on the counter. "I've got to head out." He said, kissed Maeko on the forehead and then walked out.

"Be safe." She said to Akimoto, then hugged him before he left. She turned to the twins and asked. "Do you have a place to stay for the night?"

Yang stared at the door watching Kane and Akimoto leave, she didn't answer Maeko, instead Yin did. "Well, we used too, not now though. Our in game landscaper kicked us out of the small cottage we were living in, back on the 17th floor."

"You can stay here for the night. There's a spare room upstairs." Maeko smiled and sat down, starting a conversation with them.

Later that night, Akimoto opened his menu at, let's say, about 11:56 P.M, 4 minutes before Midnight. He scrolled to a section of the menu that allowed him to read news letters for past floors. He turned on notifications and waited for news reports. Once Midnight struck, a notification popped up on the notification tab. He tapped it and the news for floor 22 popped up.

Akimoto nodded to himself and then entered the teleportation gate he was standing next to. He teleported to floor 22, and then looked for Kane's dot on his map. Once he found it, he began to run in that direction.

Floor 22 was a foggy floor. The majority of the floor was a dark forest with black trees that had no leaves on them. The farthest a player could see through the fog was at least 40 or 50 yards. Akimoto reached where he thought Kane was, although Kane was no where in sight. Just a small device that looked like two pyramids stacked together, it was a holographic message device.

Akimoto turned on the device, and watched the hologram.

A fully cloaked man appeared in Akimoto's hand, he had his arms crossed behind his back. He started to speak in a low tone.

"To those who pick this device up -"
"We would go into detail on this message, to make it all sappy and what not. Although we're just going to cut to the chase. The Midnight Swordsman is no more, We, the Death Bringers, have captured this so called vigilante and plan to dispose of him sometime around Midnight. Now if you, the viewer of this message, are willing to save him. Go ahead, think of this as some game of hide and seek, you shall seek The Midnight Swordsman, hopefully before you run into one of us, and well. If you run into one of us, your death will result in game over."

"Signing off, The Death Bringers."

Akimoto clenched his fist, the device shattering in his hand. He clenched his jaw and then began to search for a sign of someone.

As Akimoto walked, the fog became denser, just enough so he could hardly see what was in front of him. He heard a sharp click and skid to a halt, when he did so, the blade of a sword appeared, an inch apart from his neck. The fog seemed to disperse around, like a dome, revealing a man in a black cloak that covered his entire body holding his sword towards Akimoto. He lowered it and stepped back.

"Deathbrings I presume?" Akimoto scoffed and pulled out his sword. He held it at his side as he spoke. "Where's the Midnight Swordsman?" He demanded.

The man lifted his gloved hand and removed the hood of his cloak, he swung his head and his red hair swung down in front of his face. Akimoto watched as the man opened his left eye, the other eye was covered with a black eyepatch. "The term is Death Bringers, don't mistake that." He said. "Why do you need the Midnight Swordsman?" He held his sword at his side while his other hand rested on his waist. His sword was completely black and seemed to have a red aura swirling around the blade. The hilt was all red except for the bottom, where a black skull was placed.

"Why the fuck is it any of your concern?" Akimoto spat, looking around. He heard footsteps far off in the distance, but he ignored them.

"If it isn't any of my concern, why is it yours?" The man widened his eye and lifted his head to give a sadistic smile. He gave a laugh through his teeth.

"Simple. Because if you don't tell me." Akimoto said, and mid sentence he ran forward, his sword at the mans neck. " Your sword becomes mine." He gave a sly smile, not looking at the man, however he was looking down. When he did turn his head, he did it slowly. The look on his face was one of pure intent on killing this bastard.

"You mean this sword?" The man's sadistic smile turned into a sarcastic frown as he looked at his sword and spoke in a whiny tone. "You can have it then." His sadistic smile and voice came back as he stabbed the sword into Akimoto's side causing his life to go down a few inches. He pulled the sword out and headbutted Akimoto causing him to stumble back. Akimoto caught his balance and opened his eyes to see the man in the air, he had jumped towards him. He kicked Akimoto in the stomach with both feet and sent him flying into the ground.

Akimoto stood, grinning. "That's all I needed." And with a flash, Akimoto ran at him, jumping in the air a few feet away, he swiped his foot in the air, kicking the man in the side of the head. He landed, and then kicked the mans sword away, he held his sword to the mans head and began to get closer. He acted as if he was going to keep it there, but then in one fluid motion he sliced his ear off, then stepped back.