I leaned back in my seat as I looked at both Matthew and Nancy. I was patiently waiting. As a matter of fact, I was patiently waiting the moment the recorded testimony started. Specifically, I was waiting to be asked the million dollar question.

"Here's the thing," Matthew said finally. "There's a question I want to ask you. Now, how you answer the question has no bearing on your acquittal. Everything that happened in Sword Art Online is under the jurisdiction of Japan's Ministry of Defense."

"Right," I said, nodding in understanding.

"However, how you answer this question may have bearing on what the state does with you," Matthew continued. "Personally, I think the fact that you haven't exhibited any violent behavior since you've exited the game should have been enough, but that's me. So, with that said, I have to ask – did you kill anyone in the game?"

I really wish I was able to say that I didn't. Unfortunately…

"…I killed about five or seven people," I said reluctantly, frown on my face. Matthew stifled a sigh. I knew he wanted me to say otherwise, but it was what it was.

"I see," he replied in an ambiguous tone.

"Look, I'm no murderer," I said somewhat defensively. "I wasn't looking to kill anyone. But my hand was forced. All of our hands were forced."

"…'Our'…" Matthew tilted his head. "So, these killings involved multiple people?"

"All of my killings happened in one event," I explained. "See, the Laughing Coffin members we captured were interrogated, and one of them finally talked. We found out where their hideout was." I shook my head. "We didn't want to kill anyone. Our intent was to capture them and detain them at Black Iron. And we managed to do that with a lot of them. However, some would much rather die than be captured."

88888888888

Once the information was gathered, a force of clearers led by Schmitt was on their way to the hideout. The hideout itself was a former boss room.

"Doesn't that piss you off a bit?" Lancer asked of that fact.

"I don't know how to feel about that," I replied.

The seven of us… The Killer Seven… walked together amongst the huge unit of 100 or so. It was probably the only thing keeping me from dry-heaving.

I was nervous. This was pretty much the first time I was in a position where I felt like my life was going to be in danger while facing somebody who wasn't a boss or an NPC. Plus, up to that point, I never killed anyone.

"Well, the quicker we deal with them, the quicker we can go back to focusing on clearing," Athena said as she walked with me. I sighed. "Chalquin, you okay?"

"I will be when this is over," I replied.

"I hear that," Lancer said with a chuckle. Athena, on the other hand, just gave me a look of concern.

"I'll be fine," I said, putting on a weak smile. I was speaking to myself as much as I was speaking to Athena.

"We will be," Athena said as she grabbed my hand and held it. "Just stick close to me."

"We're all just going to have to look out for each other," Klein said with a smile. His smile then faded. "Still, situation is kind of tense."

"Well, no one goes up against Laughing Coffin expecting a good time," Agil pointed. I remained silent, not wanting to bring up the subject anymore. For better or for worse, the chatter died down when we reached the doors of the room. Schmitt turned towards all of us gave a bit of a speech. I was barely paying attention – not that I needed to. It was pretty a hyped up version of the score.

We go in, subdue Laughing Coffin, and port them to Black Iron Prison. It sounded so simple. However, it was far from it.

I barely remembered walking in with the others. I was too busy making sure I remembered what my role was. I was to provide medical support. So, I had my shuriken equipped, with a lot of them imbued with potions and antidotes the night before.

Once we in the middle of the boss floor, we all readied our weapons. We all looked around, trying to spot them. As people started to wonder out loud if we received bad information, a group of 40 or so cloaked individuals started to jump down on it. It was supposed to be a surprise attack. However, we outnumbered by so much that as soon as they landed, we all ganged up on them. Athena and I stuck close together as we converged on one them. Athena had her new set of claws equipped – The Claws of The Nemean Lion. I myself drew a dagger. Our target tried to lunge for Athena with his sword. However, Athena moved to the side before bringing her claws around and slicing off his arm.

The Touch of Nemea, I thought to myself. As the man screamed out, I quickly moved behind him as I pulled a glowing pick. I threw it into his back. He dropped down to the ground, paralyzed.

"We just have to keep doing that," Athena said. I looked at her and nodded.

That was pretty much what we did. One of us would move in to disarm an assailant while the other one would subdue him or her. The only time we took a break in the routine was when someone would call for the medic. Things were going well as laughing coffin member dropped one after another.

However, things started to turn left.

I turned my head to the right to see a member of the Dragon Alliance fall to the ground with half of his head sliced off. My eyes went. I then reached for a pick, thinking I'd be able to revive him somehow. It was no use, however. He disappeared, shattering into tiny lights.

A second later, I felt something blunt hit the side of my head. I fell onto side as I grunted out in pain. I vision a little dark as I slowly moved onto my back. As I sat up, everything was moving in slow motion, and I could barely hear what was going on around me. The only thing I knew was that people were dying all around me. I slowly stood up… and just stood there, not knowing what to do.

And then…

"CHALQUIN!"

I snapped out of it. I knew that voice. It was Athena's. I quickly looked around until I saw her on the ground. She had both of her legs and one of her arms cut off. Surrounding her were three Laughing Coffin members. My eyes went wide, realizing that her life was in danger. Even with sounds of clanging metal and screams of agony around me filling the room, I could practically hear the demented sounds from their mouth. Seemingly slowly, I was starting to thaw as my mixture of fear and helplessness gave way to rage.

Thinking quickly, I opened up my menu and changed my gear. No longer was I wielding a dagger. Instead, I was wielding my ninjato – Wolf Fang. Once I drew it from its scabbard I ran forward. A few Laughing Coffin members moved into my path. One of them was immediately axed down by Agil. Another one made all of two steps into my direction when a spear went flying through his head. Briefly, just briefly, I allowed myself to smirk.

Good ol' Lancer.

I took one more step before I started running at my top speed. In a flash, I was behind one of the ones that surrounded Athena. I reared my sword back before I drove the tip of it through the man's chest. As he screamed out, I pulled the blade out, grabbed him by the collar, and threw him into the ground.

"Stay away from Athena!" I yelled out. Three of them merely laughed before they moved to converge on me.

On any other day, I would have just dodged then, scoop Athena up, and get out of dodge. However, I was angry. And all three of them lined up real nice. Without a second thought, I drew my blade back. Once I felt vibrate, I brought it around. There was a flash of black light before the three bodies fell to the ground without their heads. For a brief second, I was given pause by the fact that, for the first time ever, I killed someone. Actually, it wasn't just someone – it was three people. I shook it off as I moved to Athena's side.

"I guess I'm the one who is getting slow," Athena said with a laugh. She smiled wryly, even as tears rolled down her face.

"Just hold on, Sweetie," I said as I moved through my menu. I looked through my potions and selected a purple one. Once it materialized in my hand, I brought it up to her lips. "Drink."

With her lone hand, she grabbed my hand and started to drink from it. I kept my head on a swivel, keeping an eye out for danger. Out of my peripheral, I saw someone moved in, only to be cut down by Klein. Klein, along with members of his Fuurinkazen guild move around us.

"Do what you have to do!" Klein declared. "We got you!"

"You're a Godsend, you know that?" I replied graciously. I looked down at Athena, seeing her limbs slowly regenerate, minus the arm. Around us, I heard Klein and company clashing with other Laughing Coffin members trying to attack us. All the while, Athena kept her eyes on me, her hand tightening a bit around mine. I gave her a sympathetic smile before I brought my lips down upon her forehead.

Finally, she finished off the potion. Her limbs were back. After taking a deep breath, she stood up and re-equipped her claws.

"Let's finish this!" she said. I nodded.

We stood at each other's side, fighting alongside Furrinakazen until the end. We did everything we could not kill anyone else, but even that turned out to be a lost cause. The two of us cut down any person who was Laughing Coffin. I wasn't sure if I killed two more people or four more. But by the time it was over, we lost 15 clearers. Twenty Laughing Coffin members were killed, and the rest were captured… except for one – their leader.

As the rest were being hauled off, I sat down cross-legged, Wolf Fang sheathed as I stared off in the distance. Inside of my head, I was trying to justify myself.

They had it coming, I said to myself. They were going around killing people – anybody if the price was right. You saw it yourself. One of them was going to kill a child right in front of your eyes if he took the opportunity. Canus and Loki popped into my head. They even killed some of your allies were going to kill Athena. Screw them, okay?

Yeah, screw them. They were scum, as far as I was concerned. They pushed us. We merely pushed back. We did what we had to do.

…Right?