A Black Star Type 54...
That gun...
What...
What is it doing here now?
Pursuer of Death
The meaning of strength...
The meaning of combat...
I thought if I kept watching him, watching Kirito...
that I'd understand it someday.
I don't want to give up!
A grenade?
Kirito?
That's enough.
Leave me...
The horse is no good.
You can go off-road, but it's too hard to use.
Sinon, destroy that horse with your gun.
Okay, I'll try.
Why?
I can't do it.
Why?
I can't pull the trigger!
Sinon, hang on!
Can we escape?
Damn. Not yet...
Stay sharp!
Why?
He'll catch us.
Go faster!
Go! Go!
No!
No...
Save me! Save me!
Sinon, can you hear me?
Sinon,
at this rate, he'll catch us.
Shoot him.
I can't!
You don't have to hit him.
Just distract him!
I can't!
He's... He's...
Then you drive!
I'll fire that gun!
Hecate...
It's a part of me.
No one can use it but me.
I can't shoot.
I can't...
My finger won't move.
I can't fight anymore.
No, you can.
Everyone can fight.
It's just a choice of whether you should!
If I have a choice, I choose not to fight.
I don't want to suffer anymore.
I thought I could be stronger in this world,
but that was only an illusion.
I'll shoot with you.
So do it once...
Just move your finger.
I can't!
It's shaking too much to hit him.
It's okay.
The shaking will stop in five seconds.
Two, one, now!
How can he stay calm in a situation like this?
No, it isn't that he's calm...
He's just giving it all he has.
He's continually chosen to fight with all his strength instead of making excuses.
That's the source of his strength.
I missed.
Jeez.
It's so wide open, there's nothing to hide behind...
There's probably a cave over there.
If we go there, we can avoid the satellite scan.
Okay, let's go.
For now, let's avoid the next scan here.
He just appeared next to you, right?
Does he have the ability to make himself invisible?
And is that why he didn't show up on the scan?
I think so.
It's an ability called Metamaterial Optic-Distortion Camouflage.
We should be all right here.
The ground is rough sand,
so even if he's invisible, he'll still make sound as he moves,
and we'll see his footsteps.
He can't just appear right next to us like last time.
I understand.
Then we need to keep our ears sharp.
Hey, is there
any chance he died in that last explosion?
No,
right before the truck blew, I saw him jump off his robot horse.
I doubt he's unharmed,
but I can't believe it killed him.
I see.
At the stadium, how were you able to come to save me so quickly?
You were on the outer rim, right?
I realized immediately that the Gunner X
we were after wasn't Death Gun.
How?
It was definitely a woman.
That's when I knew we'd missed something big.
By the way, her real name isn't "Gunner X." It's "Musketeer X."
I defeated Musketeer-san,
and I looked south from the stadium, and saw you lying on the road.
I thought you were in danger, so I borrowed her rifle and smoke grenades,
and ran while shooting and throwing.
If only I'd been more alert...
You don't need to blame yourself so much.
I didn't realize he was hiding, either.
If we'd changed positions, I would've been the one hit with the tranquilizer.
And then you would've saved me.
Right?
I'm being consoled by the man I thought was my rival...
He knows I'm broken and weak.
And he's trying to console me like a child.
Anyway, I'm going.
You should stay here and rest a while longer.
Honestly, I'd rather you logged out,
but you can't do that during the tournament.
You're going to fight him...
To fight Death Gun alone?
Yeah.
He's strong.
To be honest,
it'll be tough to defeat him without his firing at least once.
If he points that gun at me again,
I might abandon you and run.
So I can't drag you into this anymore.
You're afraid of him, too.
Yeah, I am.
A while ago,
I might've been able to fight him, even if it meant I could die.
But now there are a lot of things I have to protect.
I can't die,
and I don't want to.
Things you want to protect?
Yeah.
In the virtual world and in the real one.
Then just stay in this cave and hide.
During BoB, you can't log out on your own.
But as soon as it's just us and another one,
we can kill ourselves and let that person win.
That'll end the tournament.
I get it.
That's one option...
But I can't do that.
If we just wait for the tournament to end,
there's no telling how many others he'll point that gun at.
Oh.
You really are strong.
I won't run.
I'll go outside and fight that man, too.
No, Sinon.
If he shoots you, you could really die.
I'm a 100% melee type,
but you aren't!
He can turn invisible. If he gets close and surprises you,
you're in far more danger than I am.
I don't care if I die.
Back there, I was so scared...
I was so scared of dying.
I was weaker than five years ago.
Pathetic. Screaming.
I'd rather die than live like that.
Of course you're scared...
There's no one who isn't afraid to die.
I don't want to be scared.
I'm tired of living in fear.
I won't ask to come with you.
I can fight on my own!
You'll fight alone, and you'll die alone.
Is that what you're trying to say?
Yeah.
I think that's my fate.
Let me go.
I have to go!
You're wrong.
No one dies alone.
When someone dies, the part of them that lives inside someone else also dies.
You already live inside me.
That's impossible.
I've never given myself to anyone else.
We're already involved with one another!
Then...
You protect me for the rest of my life!
You don't know anything!
You can't do anything!
Don't say that!
This... This is my battle, and no one else's!
Even if I lose,
even if I die...
No one has the right to blame me!
Or will you carry that burden forever?
Will you... Will you...
hold the hands of a murderer?!
Murderer!
You murderer!
Don't touch me, murderer!
You'll get blood on me!
Murderer!
I hate you!
I hate you so much!
I hate you, but...
Let me lean against you for a while.
I...
killed someone.
Five years ago,
there was a robbery at a post office in a small Tohoku town.
The media said the robber died when his gun misfired.
But actually, I was there, and I stole his gun.
And I shot him to death.
Five years ago?
I was eleven.
Ever since then, whenever I see a gun, I throw up or pass out.
Whenever I see a gun, I can see the face of the man I killed.
And I get scared... So scared.
But...
Yeah.
But in this world, I've been okay.
So I thought...
If I could be the strongest person in this world,
I could be stronger in the real world.
I could forget that memory...
But back there, when Death Gun attacked me,
I was scared.
At some point, I stopped being Sinon.
I was back to being the real me.
I'm scared to die.
But... But...
Living in fear hurts just as much.
If I run from Death Gun and those memories, without fighting,
I'll become even weaker than I was.
So...
I...
killed someone, too.
I told you before that I knew Death Gun,
that guy in the cape, from another game, right?
The name of that game
was Sword Art Online.
Then you really are...
Yeah.
What they call a SAO survivor.
So is Death Gun.
He was a member of a murder guild named Laughing Coffin,
a red player.
A raid-sized party was formed to imprison them.
I was one of the members.
The information was leaked, and we were ambushed instead.
In the horrible chaos that followed, I killed two LC members with my own hands.
But I'd forced myself to forget what I'd done.
Until yesterday, when I met that man, Death Gun.
Then Death Gun was a member of that guild you fought, Laughing Coffin?
Yeah.
He has to be one of the ones who survived and was imprisoned.
So...
I have to finish things with him here,
in this world.
Next Time The Meaning of Strength