Chapter 127: The Four's Punishment
"Asuna, sorry... it took me over two months to finally get here…"
"It's okay. I always believed you would come."
At that moment, Yui, who had been hiding, flew over and began circling around Asuna.
"Mommy! I finally found you!"
"Yui-chan, it really is Yui-chan... I'm so happy to see you again."
"It's all thanks to this place being built on the SAO server backup."
"Exactly," said Kirito. "On the flip side, this guy definitely couldn't have made something like this on his own."
As Hachiman said this, the three of them naturally turned their gaze toward Sugo, who stood there stunned, completely frozen as if he hadn't even heard Hachiman's sarcasm.
"Hey, Komachi, come over here. Looks like that guy's an empty shell now. He shouldn't be dangerous anymore."
"Okay!"
Komachi responded energetically, nonchalantly walking right past Sugo and running over to the group. She stared joyfully at Asuna for a moment, then suddenly gave her a big smile and greeted her.
"Let me reintroduce myself! I'm Komachi! I'm Onii-chan's little sister! So that means I'm your future little sister too, Asuna-oneechan! Please take care of me!"
"My little sister..."
Asuna had only ever had an older brother.
She was so happy she could hardly contain herself and suddenly hugged Komachi tightly, saying to Hachiman:
"Hachiman-kun, thank you for giving me such a cute little sister!"
"Uh, oh…"
"Wah~ such a passionate big sister."
"Haha, Asuna must be really happy."
The four continued their warm and happy conversation. Sugo still stood there, frozen like a statue. But Hachiman felt it was time to wrap things up, so he ended the chat and turned to face Sugo directly.
"Alright, time to deal with this guy. Honestly, at this point, we could make him suffer however we like."
Sugo shuddered at those words, trembling as he looked at Hachiman in fear.
"But let's make this clear—I'm not the kind of guy who abuses admin privileges to torture people one-sidedly. So, everyone, how about we give him a chance?"
"A chance?"
"Let him duel us one-on-one, all four of us in turns. Set the pain absorber to level zero. I mean, I'm scared of pain, after all."
"Wait, isn't level zero the most painful setting?"
"That's just a misunderstanding. Since it's zero, it must mean low. Yeah, definitely."
"Fine."
"Sure, no problem."
"Komachi agrees too!"
The three nodded in enthusiastic agreement with Hachiman's proposal.
"Let's set the damage reduction rate to 99%, that way we can attack freely... ahem, I mean, 100% would be too dull."
They nodded again like bobbleheads.
"Anything else to add?"
"Let's leave his weapon as-is. If we're gonna fight, let's fight him at his strongest."
"Right. He called himself a god of this new world, after all. He should have some real skill."
"Did he actually say something about a new world?"
"Can't remember, but it's close enough."
"As a kind and gentle angel, I, Komachi, say that if he manages to defeat any of us, we can consider forgiving him."
"Oooh! That's our Komachi! You hear that, Sugo? Be grateful to the kindest little sister in the world!"
"Oh right, this guy also said some crazy stuff earlier about assaulting the unconscious Asuna and then escaping after returning to the real world."
Kirito added this like he'd just remembered.
"Oh really? He thought Asuna would be completely defenseless in her sleep? What a delusional little 'god.'"
"Asuna's hospital room is full of police officers right now. They're just waiting for her to wake up."
"Ah, so everything was already arranged."
Asuna had been wondering why Hachiman hadn't been angry before—now she understood completely.
"Of course it was."
"Hehe, feels just like during SAO, doesn't it?"
"Yeah... this kind of thing is really Hachiman's style."
"Waa~ Onii-chan's always been doing stuff like this, huh…"
"Stop praising me so much, Komachi, you're making your big brother blush."
"Yui-chan, my Hachiman-kun is awesome, right?"
"Waa~ Komachi's gonna have to listen to this kind of flirting every day now."
"Since the cops are waiting, shall we get started?"
"Yeah. Order will be Komachi, then Asuna, then Kirito, then me. Sound good?"
The three nodded. Komachi stepped up to Sugo and slapped his cheeks lightly.
"Hey, you hear me? We're starting now."
Only then did Sugo seem to awaken from his stupor. His bloodshot eyes glared at the four of them.
"You brats think too highly of yourselves! You're facing me—max-level in all skills, armed with the strongest weapon!"
"Onii-chan, looks like this god is finally fired up~"
"Settings are done. We can start any time."
"Then I'll go first, Great God Almighty."
Komachi got into a stance. Sugo raised his weapon and swung it down with a roar.
"DIEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Eh? Where are you swinging? Komachi's already behind you, y'know?"
"Wha—!?"
A second later, Sugo's back was struck by a flurry of blows, and he let out a blood-curdling scream from the excruciating pain.
"GWAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Hey hey, what's with the overacting? Pain absorber is set to zero, remember?"
"W-what!? Level zero...?"
"What, didn't we say it before? Because I'm scared of pain, pain level zero, damage reduction 99%."
"Th-that's the highest pain setting—!"
"Oh right, also, your HP won't drop to zero, so you can't log out. Now then, next round."
"God dude, if you don't get up, Komachi's going in for another hit, okay?"
"Y-you bastards!"
Sugo endured the pain and swung again—but Komachi was already gone.
"How many times are you gonna repeat the same mistake?
You can't read your opponent's moves at all? You made this game and still don't know how it works? If you'd even played it a little, you could at least scratch Komachi. Your skills and weapons are better, after all."
Before she finished, Komachi again slashed Sugo's back.
"GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
Sugo let out another inhuman scream and curled up, refusing to get up. Komachi walked around to the front, grabbed his chin, and forced him to look at her.
"But since I'm a kind girl, I'll stop here. A loser who can't even move—don't go acting like some kind of god, you scum."
Then she carved a cross-shaped cut on his face.
"GYAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Sugo clutched his face and writhed on the ground. Komachi didn't even glance at him, just walked straight back to Hachiman.
Hachiman, dumbfounded, asked, "Komachi... when did you learn to say stuff that rough? Onii-chan's a little scared now."
"Oh, Onii-chan, don't be silly—it was just acting! But still, that jerk did awful things to Onee-chan. I'm seriously mad."
"O-oh, I see…"
"Now it's Onee-chan's turn. Onii-chan, give her the sword."
"Oh right, here you go."
Hachiman materialized a rapier and handed it to Asuna. Asuna, holding a sword again after so long, gave it a few light swings.
"Oh right—Asuna's skills should still be from the SAO era. Be careful and adjust accordingly."
"Mm, got it. It really does feel like back then."
"Alright, second round."
Asuna pointed her sword at Sugo. Sugo, still in pain, slowly got up, staring at her with fear.
"Now you're scared? After tormenting me so long? Figures—people like you can only dominate women through power. You're not worthy of a proper girlfriend."
Sugo was hit right in the ego and roared, swinging his sword— But the moment he raised it, a wave of pain struck his body, and he froze mid-attack.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
Asuna delivered a series of precise stabs that kept him from falling while maximizing the pain.
"You can't even read sword trajectories and you call yourself the strongest? What a joke. Who could you possibly defeat like this?"
With those words, she delivered a powerful strike that sent Sugo flying.
"That's enough. Kirito-kun, you're next."
"Alright."
Kirito stepped up, grabbed Sugo, and muttered:
"I'll just use one hand."
A flash of light followed—and Sugo's left arm dropped to the floor.
Sugo, too shocked to even scream, groped the stump with his right hand, finding nothing but emptiness, then collapsed into a sobbing ball again.
"Without your fake 'strongest magic,' you're just a low-level mob."
"AS... ASAS…"
Kirito turned away and walked off.
"That was fast, Kirito."
"He's just too weak... besides, if I got serious, even with 99% damage reduction, he'd be dead in one hit. Hachiman wouldn't get his turn, and we wouldn't be satisfied."
"Alright. Last round—my turn."
Hachiman said as he walked toward Sugo.