Mirror Mirror - Aincrad Excerpt! · 11:41pm Jan 21st, 2021
Excerpt From Episode 90 - Coming Tuesday!
GASP! A non SAO gif, how could I? Shut up!
This was an atypical boss meeting. Raid Party Meetings had been relatively standardized by the 30th Floor, but they were still subject to various circumstances, and this one was on the extreme side. The boss, the Sister Witches, had been successfully scouted, but before they could launch the raid, Argo stopped everything because she discovered a quest with critical information. The raid had been held off for two days, waiting for her to finish it. At one point, she brought in the Wondercolts, twice she needed Kirito alone, and she even got a team from the KOB for the final flag mob.
With the quest completed, they were meeting in the small house of a male NPC on the edge of the small village nearest Floor 70's labyrinth. The closest teleport plaza was an hour’s walk to a larger villager. Only the necessary guild leaders were inside, in addition to Argo and Kirito, because of the tight quarters. Everyone else was waiting outside of the house.
The male NPC, some sort of psychic seer, began the meeting. "What awaits you is something foreign and with great anticipation they have been patiently waiting. It is not to be taken lightly. The Mirror of Knowledge can see the heart and show if you should or should not go to slay them. If you go when you should not, you shall surely die. If you heed the Mirror's advice, you all may yet live."
"We already scouted the boss," Asuna stated.
"Your party was too small," The NPC replied. It was an odd statement coming from the usually clueless NPCs. It was like he had outside knowledge he should not have. To top it off, it was a very direct statement.
"What you faced knew you were not strong enough in numbers to defeat them, so they did not give more than what they needed. They are three sisters from a faraway land outside of Aincrad, who have come to block your way to the Seventy-First Floor. Witches the three of them be, powerful ones who can control the will and the mind. Ever must you be prescient of their spells."
The shift in language style was another oddity that they took note of. It was like the coding was being screwed with, or more likely, it wasn't written right to start. Possibly, two separate people had written pieces of it and it had been rammed together without proper editing. For such a large game, there were bound to be a few bugs like this. Some instances had popped up, but always on one shot quests that didn't allow the errors to be studied.
"Some of you will be able to go, others will be guaranteed to die. They can see your weaknesses and have defeated many foes before. They will use your collective weaknesses to create chaos and disorder to their advantage. The more you fight, the faster they will win.
"Reflections in mirrors are often not as they are seen. They can be history, future, or an inner reflection. The mirror will judge if you should fight the Sister Witches."
None of them moved for a solid minute. They were all unsure if they wanted to face the Mirror of Knowledge. They had done a lot of odd things on quests before, but a mirror judging them for a boss battle was one of the oddest.
Kirito finally moved and strode over to the male NPC. The NPC pulled aside what had looked like a closed window curtain. Behind it was an oval mirror set in a gilded frame on the plain, mud wall.
Kirito stared into the mirror. After a few moments the NPC spoke. "The mirror judges you key. You are safe to go."
Bladescape stepped forward and walked to the Mirror. She looked into the reflection. It wasn't her in the mirror and it didn't show any of the room. It was just a reflectionless piece of glass.
The surface shifted and Bladescape saw herself, from a third person point of view. She was ponied up, floating in the sky, but that was all she saw. It was an odd thing to see and it didn't give her any information.
Totally the Dazzlings.
Or the CMC.
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I truly wish I had though of The CMC as a floor boss, but alas, it is not so.
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That would be a great break before some serious difficulty spike.
The question is not who they will be fighting. It what will the old man say about what Blade' s see in the mirror and does anyone in the room see it too?
This reminds me of the rwby song mirror mirror
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Which is also based on the fairy tale magic mirror from Snow White. "Mirror mirror in my hand (or on the wall depending on the version), who is the fairest in the land?"