Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online.

Kings of Insanity

Chapter 4: The Arrival of the Second and Third Rivals

Year 1 November 2023 Floor 21 Kings of Insanity Main Base of Operations

John was pacing up and down the Hall. The month before they had cleared a dungeon and helped by Kirito, who had also quickly become a friend of the Kings. He knew that the others were just as concerned as him; however each had their own method of coping. Lucas shut himself in his forge and refused to talk until he finished his current projects. Logan was always out with his girlfriend collecting materials. Lawrence was running around the lower floors punching enemies in the face. Joe was running damage control over rumors that they were involved in the bust of the Fists of the Dragon. Robert was off buying and selling loot and what-not, even managing to snag ridiculous deals sometimes. John was more concerned about the fact that Robert had come into some information that made them all swear to avoid any and all people who were involved with any of the major guilds, the Knights of the Blood Oath were handing out rewards for any information that could lead to the capture of a known member of the Kings. John thought that anyone who could capture one of them probably deserved a fucking reward if they survived; of course that required for them to have a few people to help them. Taking a deep breathe he decided to head to the 14th floor and thrash some monsters to take the burden of worrying about all the shit that has happened so far off of his mind.

John was stunned at the sight of all the orange and red markers currently hanging over the heads of the players on floor 14 since he had first appeared there a few hours beforehand. He was wondering if he found a monthly gathering of PK-ers and would have to fight his way to the teleporter. He remembered that Robert and Joe both confirmed rumors that the Hands of the Reaper had people stationed on the 14th floor and realized that this must have been whichever division that had been stationed in the area. Upon the realization he sent a message to the others telling them to get their asses to the floor and help him the fuck out. Lawrence was the first to answer and showed up a few minutes later and Robert teleported in behind him a minute later. Robert started off with a sarcastic question, "So what kind of party did we drop into, eh Commodore?"

"The kind of party that won't get kinky. I think that we have just found yet another division of the Hands."

Robert observed the people that had yet to notice the three friends. "No, that is not just one division, it is three separate divisions. I see the insignia for the Fourth Division, the Second Division, and the Seventh Division. So that means I will more than likely see that Cammy chick if I'm unlucky."

From behind the three a sarcastic voice chuckled, "Unlucky doesn't even begin to describe you three. I see that you are still a bit of a prick Robert."

The three turned around and drew their weapons. They saw three women staring at them with hate in their eyes. The one who spoke was a blonde with a red gauntlet and armor that appeared to be based off of a blue leotard. On her left was a red-head in armor that had the insignia of the Second Division and a longsword on her back. On Cammy's other side was a woman whose pink hair was in a long ponytail that actually appeared to be a tail of sorts, her armor was reminiscent of a cat and bore the Seventh Division insignia.

The pink haired one stood in front of Lawrence and held herself proudly as a warrior. "My codename is Haruko, and I am here to kick your ass."

Lawrence stared at the femme fatale in front of him and whistled. "I shall call you Kink-Kitten."

The silence that came after his comment made everyone wonder just what the hell was about to happen. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST CALL ME!?"

"I called you Kink-Kitten. You look like a cat and you threatened to kick my ass, therefore you are Kink-Kitten."

As the grunts ran away due to the concentrated killing intent in the air from the femme fatale that was currently equipping an axe from her equipment, the red-haired woman stood in front of John and introduced herself. "I was granted the codename of Erza."

Robert noticed that Cammy had not done anything besides tightening the red gauntlet over her arm. "Well, we know your names, but not why you want to kill us. So why don't we just talk about this over a game of poker." He noticed the deadpan look coming from every single person there, even a creature that was looking from a distance. "What, I like poker and it is the game of true champions."

Cammy stared at the dark-haired arch bastard that was in front of her. "You are such an insufferable bastard. I told you, we are going to kill you and your friends because that is what our leader demands. She hates your guts and demands that we kill all of you."

Robert just sighed before bringing out the hook swords. "Well I'm sure that your leader has her reasons, unfortunately for you; those reasons might just lead to your deaths. Don't forget that we don't really give a fuck if we go orange or red, as far as we are concerned: that just means that we will go to any length to keep on doing what we are doing." He got into his stance with the hook swords while Lawrence had Haruko follow after him when he tacitly ran away from the area where his comrade was going to fight. John and Erza both left the area as well, neither really wanted to get involved with another's fight. Cammy rushed forward and tried to punch Robert with her gauntlet only to hit a cross block.

As she jumped back from his counter strike she had to ask. "Do you have no honor?" she saw that instead of the smirk that he usually had he was being unusually serious. "Well, you are fighting an un-armed woman, are you sure that you should be using weapons? I noticed that last time you only used the martial arts skill, why did you not use any weapons last time?"

Robert sighed as he noticed she was waiting for an answer. "Simple, last time I only had these and I wasn't confident enough with them to use them. Not only that but it is harder to hold back from killing someone when you have a weapon than when you are using martial arts. As for whether I have honor or not… What about you? You are the person who is a divisional leader in a PK guild. What honor is there in the killing of those weaker than you? Any person that I have killed was in self-defense or they were so far gone that killing them was a small bit of mercy to other players. Do you think that you are the first or will be the last person to question whether or not I have honor? I have always kept true to one focus, that I will get out of here and I will help get my friends out of here. So yeah, I do have honor, what about you?" He then unequipped the hook swords and switched to a dagger. "I will at least make it so that I will only use this dagger instead of my hook swords. That is as far as my honor will allow me to go."

Cammy wondered about the questions asked of her and scowled at Robert, "How dare you question my honor?" She rushed at him before he could answer and she tried her hardest to tag him with a single punch, sometimes pulling back so that the blade of his knife didn't cause her to lose an arm in her struggle to punch him in the face. In one exchange they both ended up getting hit, a small cut across Cammy's cheek and a slight bruise on Robert's cheek. "Wow, you are really pretty good. I wonder if when you die I will be able to use some of your items in memory of such a skilled opponent."

Robert had his smirk back on as he watched his health and her health return to max due to their battle healing. "This is going to take a while. Neither of us will just lie down and die and neither of us will walk away nor let the other walk away." They went back at but Cammy tripped Robert and knocked the knife out of his hand and picked it up for herself before she stood over him and held the knife to his throat.

"Guess you were wrong, this seems to have ended rather quickly." Just as she was about to finish him off the two were surrounded by members of the Knights of the Blood Oath. "What the hell is going on?"

A member of the Knights walked up and pointed his sword at them, "Cammy and Robert Robinson, you both are under arrest for the murder of several players and for attacks against the Knights of the Blood Oath."

Robert kipped up and stared at him, "Go bugger yourself, you annoying son of a bitch and step out of this."

"What, you are under arrest and therefore can't talk to me like that!"

"Um, go fuck yourself you annoying idiot. Since I'm under arrest I can and will talk to you like an incompetent idiot. Don't worry, its how I usually talk to people I don't like. It's a rather annoying habit if you ask the people who I deal with on a daily basis." Robert and Cammy then both teleported out of the area.

A few minutes earlier with Lawrence and Haruko…

"So, I introduced myself earlier, who do I have the misfortune of dealing with?"

"Well I am the paragon of awesome, known to most as the most badass of the Kings of Insa-"

"I want the truth."

"I'm Lawrence, the Stone Dragon of the Kings of Insanity."

"Well, then I guess that I will be the one who eliminates the tank of the Kings. This will definitely make sure that our leader rewards me excellently for my actions. Maybe I will even get to be her personal guard." She then swings her axe forward and watches as he parries the blow away from him and causes it to cut a tree down. "So you're faster than the average player… that just means that I will be able to cut you even more."

"That is rather kinky, Kink-Kitten. Are you sure that you are not attracted to me in some odd way or other?"

She glares at him with the intensity of an artic blizzard, "I will tear you into so many pieces that no one will ever be able to find you, I will ensure that you suffer till the end of time in pain and misery."

She swings the axe at him and he pulls out the long sword and matches the hit in speed and strength, "Don't forget, I am still a tank and I am still stronger than you." The two are matching hits back and forth before she swings up and thrusts the axe into his stomach and causes him to hit the ground before she goes to drop the axe and split his skull like a ripe melon. She is then stopped by Asuna and a large group of the Knights of the Blood Oath.

"Halt. Lawrence Blankenship and Haruko, you both are under arrest for the murder of several players and for several counts of public indecency. You are also charged with attacking members of the Knights of the Blood Oath."

Lawrence suddenly appeared next to Asuna. "Thank you Milady, you honor me with your appearance and the act of saving my miserable life that would have no use without a person such as you in it. Alas I must leave so that others may have the knowledge that a beauty such as you saved a wretch as wretched as I. Farewell and may you always remember this as the day you saved the paragon of awesome that is-." Lawrence's speech was cut short as he teleported out of the area. Haruko just stared at the area before she teleported away as well.

A few minutes earlier with John and Erza…

The two people stood apart from each other and drew their weapons; John's kusarigama and Erza's longsword. Erza stared at him, "So who are you?"

"I'm John, one of the Kings of Insanity."

"So, why are you fighting against me? I will not go easy against you, I will defeat you." She charged at him before he could reply and he barely caught her blade in the chain connected to his kusarigama. "Oh, you are actually skilled."

"Much more skilled than you would believe." John then twirled the scythe end around and swung it at her at speeds higher than most people are prepared to handle, only for her to dodge and hit the kusarigama down and cut John above his eye and caused him to lose roughly an eighth of his health. He pulled the scythe end back and it caught her in the arm. The two smirked at each other and as they were both about to clash they both jumped back from a blade of pure light being shot between them. They turned to the side and saw Heathcliff.

"You two are under arrest for multiple crimes against the people of Aincrad. So I will have to arrest each of you, and you will in turn tell me all about your comrades."

John brought the scythe up. "Like hell I will, and like hell you will." He teleported away after flipping Heathcliff off as Erza used that incident to teleport away without being seen.

Floor 21 a few minutes after all three teleported away…

Robert immediately sent a message for the entire guild to meet in the meeting hall. As he went in he sat down in his chair, while everyone else filed into their chairs he motioned for John and Lawrence to explain what happened on the 14th floor. "I believe that we are gonna need to increase our training to some rather unprecedented levels. All three of us lost because they knew about us. Joe, from this point forward I want you to find out about each of the divisional leaders of the Hands. Lucas, we need some stronger equipment and we are gonna need to buckle down on our training. Alice, I want you to be extra careful whenever you go out with your friends, from this point forward it would be better if you avoided any major areas. I know that it isn't really fair that you must suffer, but this is so that they don't 'arrest' you like they tried with us." As everyone agreed and muttered to themselves about more training, no one noticed the extra set of eyes watching from the shadows outside the house.

Cut. Mwahahaha.

Omake: Lawrence's Reasons for Fighting.

Lawrence relaxed on his bed staring at the ceiling, pondering the course his life had taken to this point. Once a valedictorian, he now served as the tank in the guild, Kings of Insanity, for he never much cared for the use of intellect and would sooner take up a pickaxe and dig a ditch than answer a simple polynomial function. Besides, he truly enjoyed the work and the chance to play out his anger issues that had plagued him throughout his years in the real world. He was a social outcast, though mostly by choice. He could feign interest and maintain a conversation with most anybody, but his antisocial behavior and paranoid tendencies made it a rare moment indeed when he would let his guard down and assume the role of a normal person.

However, his friends accepted him as he was, much to his surprise. They knew him for the volatile, antisocial, and often manic person that he truly was, but they still stuck by him through it all. His friends meant enough to him for him to stick his life on the line everyday as the main target for any enemy that presented itself. He smiled at the realization that he had indeed grown to care for his friends as a sort of second family. Unfortunately for all enemies of the guild, he was especially protective of, and unpredictable, when it came to family.

Now, he came back to ponder the question a player had leveled his way earlier. The kid had posed a simple question but with no simple answer apparent. Now he sat and considered it.

"Why do I try to grow stronger?" he thought aloud.

"Because you wish to survive this ordeal." said the little voice in his head.

"It is not as simple as that though. That answer seems as hollow as I'm sure your head to be." He retorted.

"I'm a manifestation of your thoughts so you basically just called yourself stupid."

"Shut the fuck up and stop sounding so smug!"

"It seems you truly belong within this guild."

"Why is that?"

"You're currently holding a conversation with yourself. Need I say more?"

"Am I really this big of an asshole? No matter. I came to accept that fact a long time before I ever even started hearing you, though now I know why my enemies outnumber my friends ten-fold."

"I think we're getting off topic. We were discussing why you desired to grow stronger."

"In life I desired strength to protect myself and my family, but I feel as though that is just part of it. I suppose that I'm no longer content with just simple protection and survival. I want to thrive and to live, not to cower in fear at the Town of Beginnings as so many other players have. Though this is a game, I feel more alive than ever when I'm on the frontlines, facing seemingly insurmountable odds with my friends at my side."

"Now you have your answer, but does it not trouble you that one false move could spell the end of your days?"

"Yes, and no. Do I care if I cease to exist? No. Do I care if my family and friends are left to fend for themselves and suffer because of it? Yes. My life holds little value to me, especially if I lose it while doing what I believe is just, but I know my life does mean something to others. Therefore, for their sake, I trudge on and accept blow after blow, verbal or physical, so that my family and friends can rest easier."

"That was kind of deep, especially for an asshole like you. Perhaps there is still a chance for you and we'll survive this."

"Of course we'll survive. You know I refuse to die until I experience once again that which I always think about."

"You don't mean…."

"TACOS!"

"So much for that brief moment of insight and honesty…."

"Aw, just keep your lips, or whatever it is you have, shut. I'm going to try and get some sleep."

"Seems a bit earlier than usual."

"Yeah, but I need to wake up extra early tomorrow. I have plans."

He slept soundly that night and early the next morning he awoke and snuck over to Joe's room for a little fun at Joe's expense. Later, at breakfast, Joe was unaware as to why everyone was laughing when he entered.

"What's going on here? Why is everyone laughing?" Joe asked.

Alice quickly suppressed her giggles and rushed to her brother's aid. She handed him a metal shield, freshly polished, and he soon saw why everyone was laughing.

"PUSSY!" he shouted. "Who the hell wrote pussy on my forehead?"

Before he had even finished the question his glare landed squarely on Lawrence and his smug smile. Fuming, he stormed right up to him.

"Why would you do this to me? You are such a fucking asshole!"

Lawrence just grinned all the wider.

And Now I can truly say cut.