May 30th, 2024. 4:00 AM.

Floor 58: Mount Kita. Death's Base of Operations.

"Hey, Booth." Eri said, putting her hand on her husband's shoulder. "Are you OK?" Booth turned up to look at her idly, then put his head down again.

"My plan backfired." He said. Sora's loss was... painful to everyone. Trona didn't seem as though she would get over it anytime soon.

"So?" Eri asked rhetorically, trying to comfort Booth.

"So I got someone killed, Sora died because I didn't consider Johnny Black's chaotic nature." Booth said, getting up and angrily punching the wall.

"So you screwed up once, but you learned from it." Eri said.

"But it was such a massive screw up. Sora is gone, Trona won't get over it. Ever. She might never forgive me as well..."

"I forgive you." Eri said, hugging him from behind. A sob wracked Booth's chest, quickly followed by another few, eventually turning into a torrent of tears. "Booth, Booth, my love, calm down. You had nothing to do with this." Eri turned him around and kissed his forehead, then hugged him with both her arms and her legs. "Cry it out, love, hold me, feel me. It's not your fault. You work with absolutes," Eri said, running her hands up and down his back, "You were faced with a wild card where there shouldn't have been one." Eri whispered in his ear.

"What would I do without you?" Booth asked, clutching her to himself. An hour or two later Michael knocked at their door, but found it open so he walked in. Booth and Eri were peacefully sleeping next to each other, intertwined like they were a human braid. He watched them sleep so peacefully, his heart aching for someone he could lie like that with, then shook his head, dismissing those thoughts away.

"Booth. Hey, Booth." Michael said, feeling guilty to wake them up.

"Yeah?" Booth asked as he saw Michael in a sort of subdued voice.

"We gotta have a meeting." Michael said.

May 30th, 2024. 6:00 AM.

Floor 58: Mount Kita. Death's Base of Operations.

"Yet another blow has been struck to us by PKers, and I have called this meeting because of that." Michael said, matching eyes with everyone. "Booth and I started this mission a long time ago, and so far everyone who has added themselves in besides us has been killed." Michael closed his eyes and gripped the chair in front of him tightly, straining the flexibility of the leather cover. "Booth and I have come to the agreement that we should not pursue this quest anymore. I hereby disband the Valkyries." Booth said, summoning a scroll and then deleting the item, dissolving their guild. Trona sort of sat comatose, Booth nodded solemnly, Lydia shook her head, Death's hands closed into fists, and Eri sat as she had been.

"If you do not wish to continue, fine. I will carry on, against all costs, to bring this threat to a closure." Death said, walking out the door with long, angry strides. Eri watched him go idly, then looked at Lydia.

"I... I... You'll have to forgive me, folks, I have a husband to follow." She said, picking up her lance and following Death out the door, albeit calmer.

"Michael... I think you need to consider something before making a decision like that: What is God's will in this?" Booth said, leaning forward so his rosary fell out of his shirt. Trona looked on with interest, watching Michael's expression with sudden interest.

"Well, I uh... I'd think he'd want us to stop. We're throwing away too many lives." Michael said flatly, not really believing what he was saying.

"What do you think the Christians in the first century thought when the persecution started up?!" Booth said, losing control of his voice. "Did they think 'Well, shoot, we just got butchered. Ya know what, let's all go home, curl up around a fire, and sip on some tea.'?!" Booth had stood up now.

"I think we are in an entirely different situation here!" Michael said, standing up in turn.

"We are following a cause! Yes, people died, but the cause goes on! It is the exact same principle." Booth stated coldly.

"I lost Donovan, my own brother! I lost Sora, I lost Tabor, I lost Emma," Michael roared, "I lost Momoe, I lost Takara, and- and- I might lose Trona too at this rate." Michael's voice had gradually diminished in volume and emotion as he went down the list. "How can I live with that?! What am I going to tell everyone?! I came into this game with the sole purpose of seeing my brother and my friends finish it. Alive. I failed... I failed everyone." Booth backhanded him across the face so hard Trona suspected bones would have broken in real life.

"That is the most selfish, inconsiderate statement I've ever heard." Booth said, disdain heavy in his voice and his eyes. "You focused only on saving those dear to you while not considering everyone!" Booth picked Michael up easily and slammed him against the wall. "How hard would that be? Change from 'I will save those dear to me' to 'I will save everyone I can'?" Booth let Michael slide down the wall slightly. "Huh? Come on, answer me." Booth said calmly.

"I'll do it." Michael said, slapping Michael's hands away. "For Pete's sake, man, I'll do it, all right?" Michael looked up at Booth bitterly. "You started this fight anyways. Right when we started suspecting Niramabuto." Michael looked up at Michael and scowled, his eyes narrowing as his mind processed the events. "What are you trying to accomplish?!" Michael said, anger filling his voice as sudden as the realization he had just had. "What the hell have we been working for?!" Michael pinned Booth to the wall, slamming his fists into Booth's shoulders. "The rhetoric you used against Sora, no, not even that, how simple it was to brainwash Sora. What did you ask him to do?"

"Sora volunteered." Booth said calmly, his eyes matching Michael's. "He asked me if there was anything he could do, I told him what I was planning. I needed him to take over after my own death." Everyone's eyes suddenly widened.

"Your what?" Eri blurted out.

"My own death. Originally, it was supposed to be me who would die at this encounter. During the fight, Sora would have to enter into friend status with one of the Laughing Coffin members by forcing him to accept a friend request. This owuld be accomplished by me dueling the Laughing Coffin member and allowing this person to kill me so he wouldn't notice the friend request and we could track them to their base. Sora had a better idea. He would allow himself to 'fall under the sway' of a Laughing Coffin member I designated so he could access their base. He would then send a friend request from PoH or one of his lieutenants so we could track them." Booth said, looking downwards. "We knew he couldn't remain in this state forever, and he also saw the fact we would need to justify a period of inactivity within our own guild. He suggested another period of mourning, caused by his own death. I advised him against it, but he said he wanted to do it. He justified by saying I had a plan laid out from a while ago, and that I myself was required to carry out this plan. He also told me to avoid telling you guys this until after the game was cleared."

"Sora..." Trona started.

"Yes, he died a hero. None of this would have been possible without him. We accomplished three things: One, I can track Red-eye XaXa now, even though they've spent an awful lot of time moving around all sixty floors, so I can't pinpoint their base yet. Two, PoH has become significantly cockier because of this planned failure. If you noticed, he followed us all the way to our house. That is an incredibly bold move for his position. He will also be more likely to reach out to recruit more people. This leads me to my third point: Death is on the loose." Booth looked at his notifications and brought one up for all to see. "If you've noticed, ownership of this lot and the Hades lot have passed over to me. He has rejected our strategy and returned to his old one: Elimination of Laughing Coffin, member by member."

"Booth, you magnificent bastard. Sora as well... if he gave his all, what should stop us from giving ours?"

"Sora..." Trona said softly, smiling at what her little brother had accomplished.

"And so it begins! The Fall of Laughing Coffin!" Booth announced, watching the 'friend' dot move as XaXa followed PoH around Aincrad.

Hello, everybody, I am back with the latest chapter and announcing that this book is now out of hyatus. Thank you all for your patience, I should have the next chapter up before the end of the week.