Then she saw it. A flicker of light—not a scope glint, but the reflection off a polished boot. Top of the collapsed clock tower, three hundred meters out. Her finger caressed the trigger.
She didn’t take the shot. Something was wrong. The enemy sniper wasn’t aiming at her teammates. He was aiming at her blind spot. Sword Art Online II Episode 7
“They were already dead.” He stepped closer, unafraid of her rifle. “That sniper in the clock tower? He’s not a player. He’s a Death Gun proxy. If he’d fired, you’d be dead in real life. Not logged out. Dead. ” Then she saw it
“You just killed my squad.”
The machine-gunner opened fire. A wild, panicked spray. Kirito didn’t dodge. He flowed —a blur of black and silver. The saber wasn’t drawn; it was simply there , deflecting rounds in a singing arc of sparks. In two heartbeats, he was behind the gunner. One silent slash. The man burst into polygons. Her finger caressed the trigger
Kirito’s hood fell back. His face was young, tired, and terrifyingly sincere. “Together?”
She crouched behind a collapsed pillar, her Hecate II’s scope pressed to her eye. Through the crosshairs, she watched the last two opponents on her team move up: a burly machine-gunner and a jittery scout. They were bait, and they knew it. The enemy sniper was somewhere in the western rafters.