Takes place in the SAO canon through the perspective of Red XaXa, also known as (One third of) Death Gun in the Phantom Bullet arc. May be inaccuracies, so tell me about them and I will try my best to edit them out.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, it is owned by Reki Kawahara

I've never known why I've had this urge. It's just been there all along. The urge to kill. To cause pain in people. Then end it with a final blow. Then I was set up with the perfect opportunity: Sword Art Online, also known as the death game by many; and that's just the way I like it.

December 29, 2023, Floor 43, Grassy Plains

The purple window opens itself in front of me. I am being invited into the guild, Laughing Coffin. I give myself a small laugh in my head. My reputation has grown to be known by the top PK-guild. I tap my finger onto the blue circle icon, and I am part of this guild. The man in the tattered black hood and skull mask puts his hands in his shallow pockets and turns. "You have made a wise choice." He opens his menu and initiates a trade with me and gives me my own tattered hood and mask. This was different to his, though. It had a red tint in the eye holes. I equip them and wield my weapon, Dragon's Bane. I stab the man in the back and he falls to the ground.

"You have not made a good choice of location, my friend," my voice has become deeper than it had been. "If only you we had conducted business in town..." The man's HP drops to zero, and he is shattered into a thousand green shards.

December 30, 2023, Unknown Floor, Unknown Location

"XaXa!" The meeting was being held in the Laughing Coffin Headquarters, the leader of the guild, PoH, is addressing the new members to the veterans,"Everyone, this is XaXa, he is one of the game's top murderers." The group, although quite small, gives out a large cry of envy at my kill count. The guild had a way of viewing the kill count of a player. Right now, mine was 38, the fourth highest in the guild - well, technically third now that I killed the third place. The player who held the first place spot was PoH. I hold up a hand to silence the crowd. They do so. They wait for me to speak, but I don't. I step down and sit back in my chair and put my feet up on the table.

January 3, 2024, Floor 34, Siriha Inn

I was called here by a player named Grimlock. He told me he had a request. It better be good. A man in a black coat that looks like it should belong in the real world enters. He has a black short-brimmed hat and glasses. I stand up. "Welcome, Grimlock-kun."

"XaXa." He gives a small nod.

"Get this over with," I say,"I have somewhere to be."

"I have a request for you. My... Colleague... Is going to be selling a ring soon. I want you to kill her."

"I need a name. And a time and place. And of course a reward. I don't work for free." He grins.

"Of course."

The smell of the 30th floor is quite sweet. The town is crowded, as the floor is one of the big residential floors. Today's target - Griselda - should be here any second now. A beautiful woman with brown hair tied back in a ponytail passes by. Her thin armour makes noises as if it is in dire need of repairing. I stand and try to be as stealthy as possible as I follow her. She steps into an NPC marketplace and I slip in before the door is closed. I need to kill her before she sells it. I take out a teleport crystal and lay a hand on Griselda's shoulder. She jumps in fear and turns. She realises my reputation as I speak. "Teleport, Ronbaru." We are enveloped in a flurry of blue particles and we are suddenly in the town of Ronbaru.

I lift Griselda off her feet and run as quickly as possible out of town. The time of day is just right so it is at it's lowest player rate. She is kicking and screaming as I throw her down onto the ground of the forest. I take out my Dragon's Bane and raise it. I execute my Death Strike skill and she is killed almost instantly. A high pitched scream ruins the moment and I turn to see a girl collapsed with fear. Tears flow down her face at the sight of the murder, and I know what I must do. I walk over, and she is too scared to move. Horizontal Square, the one-handed sword skill, is all I need to kill a player of her level. I dart toward her and she jumps back. She can fight. It's too late, the skill has already been activated. My body keeps moving, and Dragon's Bane performs a 4-hit combo at the air. The girl draws her two-handed shortsword and charges at me.

The girl is much more experienced that I had anticipated. She executes a powerful longsword skill, Master Slash, one of the most powerful. I try my best to parry it, but my sword is sliced in half and her blade strikes my face. I equip a new weapon as quickly as possible and successfully parry the next two hits, and counter with a strike to the head. It seems she knows the majority of my skills, so she knows how to block them. I will have to use my own skill.

I swing my blade to the left but she parries the hit and I stumble. I fall on my face and turn my body to see that she has her sword pointed straight at my face. A grin crosses her face and she digs the blade into my arm. The pain is unbearable, but I pull my arm to the right and the blade cuts though, my arm is free, but barely usable. I pick up my sword with my good hand and run. I made it back to Ronbaru and look back. She is nowhere to be seen. I double over and notice that my HP is in the red zone.Who is she?

January 12, 2024, Unknown Floor, Unknown Location

PoH stands in front of the long table that extrudes from the wall of the room. We are meeting to discuss the incident. The girl. We are forming a party to hunt her down and kill her. PoH, Johnny Black and I. "XaXa, Johnny," PoH slowly pressed his back against the wall where the blue tattoo under his eye glistened,"you'll be ambushing the girl. I'll come up behind her and execute her, while you pin her to the ground, each of you on a set of limbs."

January 14, 2023, Floor 27, Robaru

I casually sit with my feet up on a table of the night elf town, with Johnny a few tables across. PoH is somewhere behind me waiting for us to signal him. I notice a girl with long purple - and obviously customised - hair walk by. It's her. I stand and place my hands firmly in my pockets and follow. Soon after, Johnny stands and does the same. Although we are wearing very suspicious clothing - me a black hood with a red tinted skull mask, and Johnny, with his short sleeved shirt and a tattered bag on his head - none of the minimal people seemed to care. PoH sees us coming and turns the corner.

We follow the girl to the plains where I met her. Johnny catches up to me and we both catch up to her. She jumps as we each place a hand on a shoulder each. She screams and we pin her down and PoH appears from the shadows. He pulls out his trademark cleaver and smirks as he glances down at her. She falls silent and he kneels down. The cleaver makes a scraping sound as it slides across her armour and penetrates it. She gasps as the blade digs into her chest. She must have a very high HP stat, because it is taking a long time to deplete. PoH pulls the cleaver out and hauls it back in, and as a result her HP took a huge hit. Her health finally reached the red zone and she managed to grip her sword. Just as she got hold with both hands, her HP reached zero and she was shattered into countless shards and faded.

We rest in the HQ for the night as we contemplate the day. A bounty that is requested as a result of a bounty. A bounty... Damn Grimlock. I got so sidetracked by this girl that Grimlock never gave me the damn Coll.

Grimlock has the same black coat and hat as the other day. He is in the window of an inn watching a few players meet up outside. A blue haired girl, a tank, and a few others. Grimlock stands and meets them, they greet him with a sad smile. He asks why they're sad, and they tell him about the death of Griselda. He acts depressed - a very good job, if I didn't already know, I'd be convinced. When Grimlock leaves the others I approach him. He is surprisingly calm.

"XaXa," he says,"I suspect you have come to collect your payment?"

"Hmm" the grunt throws his calmness off. He stumbles through his menu and brings up the trade window. A purple square identical to his appears in front of me.

Grimlock is offering a one-way trade

«3500 Coll»

«Ragout Rabbit»

Will you accept?

«yes» «no»

I gently tap the accept icon and walk away. He tries to get my attention as I walk but I teleport back to HQ.

To be continued