Breathing Techniques in SAO

"I… did we succeed?"

"That's… that's great!"

"WOC, critical hit!"

Everyone instantly erupted in excited cheers, and the three—Akimi and the others—who were sitting weakly on the ground also smiled.

"That was a perfect coordination, just like on the first floor," Agil praised with a smile, giving them a thumbs up.

Akimi laughed and said, "Thanks for the compliment."

Then he turned to look at Nezha, who was standing alone on the other side, and added, "But half the credit this time goes to him."

The others nodded in agreement upon hearing this, because without Nezha, more than ten players—including Akimi and Asuna—might have died.

Akimi slightly turned his head toward Asuna leaning against his back and gently held the girl's fair, soft hand, saying to her, "That was close. You did well, Asuna."

When their hands clasped, Asuna's body trembled slightly and stiffened, but soon relaxed again.

She shook her head gently, saying nothing.

"Tired?"

Sensing the fatigue in her body, Akimi softly asked, "Hmm, then let's skip the third floor today. Let's go back to Urbas and have that trembling cream strawberry cake again. How about that?"

"Mm."

Asuna squeezed his hand lightly and replied with a soft "mm."

After resting for a while, they stood up and walked over to Nezha's side.

Noticing them, Nezha immediately showed a bright smile.

"Really impressive," Nezha said. "That was a very beautiful attack."

Akimi patted him on the shoulder and said, "Haha—you're pretty amazing too, mastering new skills and weapons so quickly."

"N-no, not really," Nezha said a bit shyly.

"Thank you very much. It's thanks to you all that I've had the chance to become a warrior…"

"No problem. But the way you threw that flying ring just now, you finally looked a bit like Nezha."

Akimi's praise made Nezha even more embarrassed.

He slightly turned his head away—toward the direction of the "Legendary Heroes."

At this moment, Orlando and the others were surrounded by a large number of players, their faces showing some pride—it was obvious that in this raid, the contributions of the "Legendary Heroes" ranked among the top, and they would be the core strength of the raid team going forward.

Asuna noticed his gaze and asked, 'Nezha, are you going over there?'"

"No, no need… I still have something I must do," Nezha said in a deep voice, gently stroking the blade of his flying ring.

While they were talking, suddenly three people came walking in their direction.

It looked like two members from Lind's team and one from the Kibaou's team.

Among these three, the leader was Shivata—the Lind team member who had been tricked into giving up the "Thick-Bladed Sword."

He walked up to Nezha with a grim expression and said, "You… are the blacksmith from Taran a few days ago, right?"

"Yes."

"Then why did you suddenly become a warrior? And that rare weapon… can a blacksmith really make that much money?"

Listening to the conversation between Shivata and Nezha, Akimi and the others realized that Shivata had already become suspicious.

The situation caught the attention of others not far away, including the five members of the "Legendary Heroes."

Everyone fell silent, looking over with surprised expressions.

Akimi and the others couldn't defend Nezha because he had indeed used improper means to trick Shivata out of his weapon.

At that time, Shivata had desperately suppressed his feelings and didn't blame Nezha too much.

Now, the weapon Shivata was using was two tiers lower than the Thick-Bladed Sword.

When he managed to successfully clear the boss using such a weapon at the risk of his life, who else could have the right to deceive him?

Nezha slowly knelt down, placed the flying ring to the side, bowed his head deeply, and said in a heavy voice:

"I… swindled them by swapping the swords of Shivata-san and the other two with an end product that had run out of enhancement times ."

The entire boss room instantly fell deathly silent, and an invisible pressure gradually weighed down on Nezha.

The three victims' expressions turned furious on the spot, but they restrained their anger with great composure—only the veins bulging on their foreheads silently revealed their rage.

Shivata was silent for a long moment, then asked in a hoarse, trembling voice, "So... do you still have the weapons you tricked us out of?"

"No... I exchanged them for Cols."

As if he had expected this, Shivata tightly closed his eyes and said, "Is that so...?"

He took a deep breath and then asked, "Can you at least return the Cols you got to us?"

Of course, that was impossible, because the large amount of Cols he obtained by exchanging the weapon and other equipment was already shining on Orlando and the others.

Nezha pressed his forehead against the ground and answered, "Sorry... I can't compensate either. I spent all the money at fancy restaurants and luxury hotels."

Nezha hadn't even considered what might happen.

These words enraged everyone, and all their anger focused on him.

A Lind team member standing beside Shivata could no longer hold back.

He raised his clenched fist and shouted, "You… you, you, you!"

He bellowed at Nezha, "Do you even know how much pain we feel… when we see the swords we worked so hard to enhance shatter?!"

"And you… you sold our swords, comfortably enjoyed yourself, and still want to storm into the boss fight and become a hero?"

A member of the Kibaou team also said, "I thought that without my sword, I would never be able to return to the front lines... The weapon I'm using now was only obtained because my teammates worked desperately hard for it… You… you didn't just betray us—you betrayed everyone!"

The surrounding players echoed in agreement:

"You bastard, do you even realize what you've done?"

"You've held back the progress of the raid—you're a criminal!"

"What's the point of pretending to apologize now?!"

Everyone's voices echoed throughout the wide-open boss room, making the air tremble.

Nezha's body curled up even tighter under the pressure.

At that moment, Lind stepped forward and lightly pressed his palm down, signaling everyone to quiet down.

He looked seriously at Nezha and said in a deep voice, "What you took from Shivata and the others wasn't just their swords—it was also the time and effort they poured into them."

"So, you must take responsibility—contribute to the upcoming raids and make proper restitution to Shivata and the others."

But before he could finish speaking, a short member from the Kibaou team suddenly shouted, "Are you kidding me?! That's it?! But someone died because of this! Their weapon was stolen and they got killed by a monster they could've beaten otherwise!"

His words sent a shock through the crowd.

"If… if there were casualties, then this isn't just fraud anymore… it's PK!" one of the victims from Lind's team said with a trembling voice.

Here, "PK" didn't mean "Penalty Kick," but "Player Killer"—a player who kills other players.

Since SAO didn't prohibit player killing outside the safe zones, there were quite a few PK incidents during the beta test.

However, since the official launch, there hadn't been any reports of PK… until now.

The short man shouted again, "How can kneeling be enough to forgive a PK?! No matter how much you apologize or compensate, the person who died isn't coming back! How are you going to take responsibility? Say something!"

After silently enduring the accusations, Nezha's hands slowly clenched, and with a trembling voice, he said, "I'm willing to accept any punishment from all of you."

Everyone fell silent once more, understanding what he meant by "punishment."

After a long pause, someone suddenly said, "Then take responsibility."

Those few simple words ignited the crowd, who shouted in a furious uproar:

"That's right! Take responsibility!"

"Redeem your sins with death, PK!"

"Kill him and be done with it!"

The voices of anger likely didn't contain just hatred toward Nezha, but also hatred toward SAO—toward Aincrad, the place that imprisoned them.

The pressure and rage that had built up in this death game all erupted onto Nezha.

Akimi and the others had a good idea why the person who told the "Legendary Heroes" about the weapon-switching trick didn't ask for any reward—because the outcome he wanted was probably exactly what was happening now.

This way, the mysterious person could reduce the players' resistance toward killing without having to lift a finger himself.

Just as Nezha, in despair yet with a sense of resignation, closed his eyes and awaited punishment, someone moved—not the Lind or Kibaou teams, but the "Legendary Heroes."

Orlando and his companions stepped in front of Nezha.

He gently raised the Anneal Blade in his hand.

This movement made Akimi and the others tense up.

They were ready—if Orlando swung the sword, they would immediately step in to stop him.

But the +8 Anneal Blade did not fall upon Nezha.

Instead, it was placed on the ground beside his chakram.

"I'm sorry… I'm truly sorry, Nezai."

As Orlando spoke, he also placed the helmet from his head onto the ground, then knelt beside Nezha.

Following his lead, Beowulf, Cu Chulainn, Gilgamesh, and Enkidu did the same—placing their weapons and helmets down, and kneeling beside him.

As everyone watched them in confusion, Orlando slowly said,

"Nezai… Nezai is our companion. It was us who asked him to carry out the scam."

Clearly, no matter how angry the players were, things would not escalate into a bloody scene where six people were "executed" at once.

And so, Nezha was saved.

Orlando and the others removed their high-grade equipment, indicating they would sell it off to pay compensation.

Any excess would go toward covering potion expenses for the boss fight.

Once the matter of compensation was settled, Orlando and his group said they wanted to find the deceased player and their companions to personally apologize.

So, they asked the small member of the Kibaou's team for the name of the dead player.

But that guy only stammered for a long while before saying, "I only heard about it... I don't know the name."

And just like that, the incident came to an end.

As they were parting, Akimi said to Nezha—now a "Legendary Hero" returned to having nothing:

"I hope you can be like Nezha—reborn through nirvana and keep moving forward."

Yes, what Nezha experienced was so similar to the legend of Nezha: he made a mistake, repented, gave up his flesh to repay his debt, and was reborn through a lotus.

Likewise, this Nezha made a mistake, resolved to take responsibility, and was willing to pay with his life.

All that remained was one final breakthrough—contributing once more to the game's progression—and then he, too, could be reborn like Nezha.

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