Asuna sidestepped to the side.
She sprinted to the end of the road.
"Why—why can't I get through?!"
She was going to die.
She was going to die.
She was going to die.
The mist blocked the way forward.
The mist sealed off the space behind her.
A huge, grotesque monster let out a thunderous roar.
The Grafted Scion charged at Asuna again.
Its speed utterly belied its bloated body. Its greatsword thrust forward with a tearing gust, swift as lightning!
Asuna desperately dodged.
She almost instinctively slid backward to the side. The greatsword swept past her helmet, and the wind pressure it kicked up stung Asuna painfully.
"Urgh...!"
Pain settings could be adjusted in the game, but when Asuna entered it, she had left them at the realistic default.
So Asuna could still feel pain now.
And pain brought even greater fear.
Asuna was extremely dedicated when acting. If she could truly experience something, she would never put on a false performance.
That was what a real idol was like.
"Crack—"
The iron mask shattered, then vanished.
Asuna's terrified eyes and expression appeared before the audience once more.
"I'm going to die—I'm going to die—I'm going to die—if I die—"
Everything from the past flashed through Asuna's mind.
"Wouldn't it... be easier?"
The greatsword slashed toward Asuna.
Yet Asuna's body suddenly steadied.
She took a retreating step to evade the attack, then raised the longsword in her hand toward the front.
Just as she had on the competition grounds in the past, her rapier thrust toward the Grafted Scion's joints.
Swift and precise.
The attack did not deal much damage.
But Asuna seemed to have calmed down...
[Image: Cleanse your eyes]
Author's Note:
It wasn't as though there truly weren't ways to escape or revive, but this was