Hi everyone, SemiInsaneCentipede here with the twenty-fifth chapter of Player Killer Killer. I have to say, I'm rather proud of myself for completing this chapter within a few days of the last. I'll try to make a habit of it. I do not own SAO, I only own my OCs. Please enjoy.

Player Killer Killer

Chapter 25

It's night. I'm lying awake on my bedroll, waiting for a surprise attack that I know will happen. While I know that it will occur – and it will occur – I do not know where my future foes are, who they well be (to some degree), or where they are currently. All I do is lie on my back, rapier at my side and hand folded over my stomach, feeling the rise and fall of my stomach. The crystals on the bottom of the above floor are glittering alluringly, but I shall not fall prey to their hypnotic illusion and drop my guard. Something many people here fail to remember is that everything that we see is but a pixel and individually devoid of meaning. Now yes, while one could argue that they have strength in numbers, it serves my purpose now to look at them as mere vessels of a single colour, an imitation of life (which is also an R.E.M. song, but that's not my point).

I have heard accounts from war veterans that possibly the worst part of war can be the waiting. Waiting for conflict, for violence, for death. Now, I dare not compare myself to those soldiers who give their lives for their friends, family and country in war, for this is but a game. I also won't say that I can understand how they felt, for the situations are not identical and that would also be disrespectful. I will, however, say that I agree. Yes. The waiting. The insufferable waiting. I am waiting for an event that will surely result in the deaths of those around me. Yes. The waiting is the worst.

I close my eyes, not to sleep, but to listen. I hear the wind, it is light and taunting, what can it see that I can't? Some pseudo-insect is chirping, shut the hell up, you annoying program. I can hear the breathing of those around me, good, they are not dead yet. I cannot discern the Shadowmare members' breathing from the others, I cannot tell who knows of the massacre to come. I know nothing of the situation around me, but I do have a plan. It is safe to assume that the attackers will use the Cat's Eye skill to enhance their night-time vision, this is something that I can prey on by creating light, a lot of it, which is something that I have the ability to do.

I open my eyes and slowly move a hand to the handle of my rapier, which lies drawn on the bedroll at my side, its naked blade gently reflecting the light from the 'sky.' I didn't hear anything incriminating, but I had a premonition, a feeling. Somehow, I am able to stay calm despite know that I am about to be attacked. Assaulted with all manners of swords, axes, lances, ma- ahem, daggers, projectiles and poisons, yet I am able to maintain completely tranquil and unshaken. Many of those around me will probably fall, but it's like their survival is secondary. And why shouldn't they be? If I can't ensure my own safety, how can I assure theirs? If I can't live, how will I know if they will? The crunch of boot on dirt tears me from my thoughts and my eyes shoot wide open and my grip tightens on my rapier. I bring my knees to my chest and force myself up to a standing position. Before I'm even sure of my footing, I lunge out behind myself with and underhand slash, my blade sparks as it collides with a red player's dagger and I subject them to an intense glare. "I will make you regret this day." My coarse voice tells them. Having astonished them briefly, I step away and pull my weapon to my face, the silver blade between my eyes, a rapidly growing, golden light spawns from the hilt and I hold my rapier high above my head.

All around me I hear exclamations of surprise as our attackers are momentarily blinded by my light. This move is called Angelic Light, and it's no coincidence that Marine's guild shares this name. Back when it was a small guild, the leader was known for excessive use and abuse of this sword skill. My light fades and it seems that everyone is awake, assailants and assailed alike. Darkness returns and confusion sets in. "What is going on?" Someone yells.

"Someone's attacking me!" Another cried, this was followed by the sound of shattering glass and a red shower illuminating the area, bathing everyone in a dull crimson glow. "You must all fight to live!" I bark at everyone. "We've been betrayed by Shadowmare!" I also wouldn't be surprised if there were some Laughing Coffin players here as well, I add mentally. The night lights up as everyone repeatedly uses sword skills to survive and create light, unable to tell friend from foe, all we know is that it is death to let anyone else's light touch us. I duck away from an attack coming my way and crouch to the ground, invisible in the darkness as I activate Cat's Eye for myself. My vision goes from a monochrome black to a variety of green hues, I can see the footprints of everyone and their forms wielding weapons with blinding multi-coloured blades.

This is chaos, even if we can see each other with Cat's Eye, we still cannot tell each other apart, not only will this be a slaughter, but we'll all unknowingly tear each other apart! I neglect offense and change my fighting style to an entirely defensive stance while I get my mind sorted. I avoid attacks from two people on either side of me, ducking, dodging, deflecting, weaving, parrying and blocking, anything to not get hit! For if someone hits me, I may accidentally kill them in retaliation, only to find that they were on my side all along.

My mind begins to analyse the situation. I know who the ALF members are as they are all in heavy armour, so their forms are larger in every aspect, so they are on my side. The AL members armour generally looks like a type of robe on either top or bottom, if not all over, so I can rule out anyone with a flowing outline as an enemy. Shadowmare and KOB, however, their armour styles are indiscernible without colour to tell them apart. However, there's also another factor I need to consider: Laughing Coffin. The group that is technically not a guild has not set armour conventions and are therefore all anomalies. The attacker on my left is wearing some sort of poncho-thing, an item which KOB, ALF, AL and (maybe) Shadowmare would never be caught dead in. I parry their next attack and use execution to murder them. Stepping through the rain of red, I focus on my other attacker, who wears heavy armour. "You're with ALF, right? I'm on your side!" I hiss at them, but they do not falter in their attacks. "How do I know I can trust you?" They asked, my most recent murder and red player tag probably don't help my situation. "I'm the solo player in the group!" I respond. "Get out of here, it's a slaughterhouse!" I tell them, lowering my weapon and stepping back. "R-right." They stammer, regardless of whether or not they believe me, escaping should be a high priority of theirs.

I watch as my armoured ally lumbers away as fast as they can to the mouth of this trench before turning my green glare back to the battle at hand. Ah, what a mess. The player killers must have some way of distinguishing each other from their prey, but I don't have time to ponder what it could be as a bright light appears to my left and shatters. Crap, someone else has been killed, what to do? Ah-ha! I have an idea! I turn off Cat's Eye so that I don't blind myself as I use angelic light once more. The light only lasts a second, but it's enough. I rush over to two AL members who are duelling and grab their shoulders. "You two are guild-mates!" I snap as both of them gasp and look at me. "Run! Get out of here! I'll make sure no-one goes after you." They both nod and sprint off. Panting, I observe the fight scene before me, flashes and sparks everywhere, contrails and afterimages everywhere, making this all seem like a surreal dream, or possibly an incredibly deadly disco party.

I use angelic light once more to gain a sight of the chaos. I see a KOB member with their back to me bring their longsword down on a Shadowmare assassin and spraying red polygons into the air to be blown away by the slight wind. "Someone get that bastard!" I hear a rough female voice growl and in the fading light I see an unusually dressed player covering their eyes. She must be their leader, I conclude. As darkness shrouds my surrounds once more, I see three disturbingly close glowing weapon blades and hastily activate mirage blade to defend myself. The light from or four weapons is enough to show me that I have three Shadowmare-affiliated attackers. As my blue shield fades away, I take a step back and use blade rain. My first jab catches an assailant in the centre of the chest, and I am unable to stop a wolf's grin creeping over my face as the remaining four stabs all hit their mark and I follow up my attack with a normal thrust to rob them of their life. I dodge a glowing yellow axe sweep and use straight strike and stab my enemy through the neck and they too shatter into crystalline shapes. I turn to face my third foe, only to see them fragment before my eyes, and in the dull red glow the lightly falling triangles create, I see the same KOB member from before.

"Rin?" They ask as darkness hides our forms once more.

"Yes, that's me." I reply and by some unspoken signal, we both turn our backs on each other and step back, I feel the other player's back against mine, both our weapons at the ready. "Look's like we're both murderer's, huh?" He muses distastefully.

"So it would seem." I answer in the same disgusted tone. "I don't believe I know who you are."

"Name's Shin-Jin. What say we help each other out?" He asks, despite already knowing what my response will be. I grunt in agreement. "Are your two guild-mates still alive?" I ask and Shin-Jin hisses in annoyance. "Not sure."

"You got Cat's Eye on?"

"Yes."

"Turn it off, it's about to get bright." I warn and he chuckles humourlessly, after a few seconds he speaks. "Alright, let's go."

I pull my rapier to my face and hold it up golden light emerges from the hilt and bathes everything in colour. "There." Shin-Jin points to where an ALF and a KOB member are desperately fighting for survival. "You take your man." I tell him and we sprint for them. I cannot see who is attacking the ALF member, but I can see their glowing weapon, it's a sword, so it's rather obvious where the person holding it is. At my high speed, I body slam the attacker away roughly. The ALF member must be using Cat's Eye because they mutter "Woah."

"Quick, get out of here! I'll cover you!" Much like the other ALF member I saved earlier, they don't question my orders and run off to the mouth of the trench as fast as their heavy armour will allow them, they are quickly caught up with and overtaken by the KOB member that Shin-Jin went after. I see Shin-Jin in the glow of yet another killed assailant and I use Angelic Light to see the person I body slammed picking themselves up off of the ground. A quick stab to the forehead stops them permanently.

"Why hasn't anyone killed him yet?!" The one I assume to be the leader screams with her eyes covered yet again. Darkness seeps back in and I hear the sound of an inventory closing beside me. "What say we get out of here, Rin?" Shin-Jin asks me and I smirk.

"Angelic light?" I query with a grin.

"On three." He replies, I can hear the amusement in his words. "Three, two, ONE!" He yells and light emerges from the hilts of both our weapons simultaneously, bringing on another round of curses from our assailants. After a few preliminary skips backward, we both turn tail and sprint away to join those whom we saved, after a few steps, it becomes clear that I have invested more effort in movement speed and pull ahead of my new friend.

I wait for Shin-Jin at the beginning of the trench and when he catches up, we walk together over to where we can see the players whom were spared an early death. They are all panting, all on edge, several of them have torches burning away in their hands. "Did we leave too early?" I ponder.

"There was nothing more that we could do back there aside from murder." Shin-Jin tells me. "Besides, you weren't the only one with the idea to get the innocents to safety." I look up at the group as we approach to find that the situation is much more optimistic than I had initially thought. "Shin-Jin!" The one other KOB member present exclaims and comes running over. Shin-Jin does not share in his comrade's enthusiasm. "How many did we lose?" He asks bluntly and the player thinks briefly. "Well, we lost one from AIF, three from AL, um, Hansen died." At this, Shin-Jin hisses angrily, Hansen must have been the one in charge. "And from Shadowmare… well, I don't see any of them here." I step in and wave aside the last snippet of information.

"Shadowmare betrayed us, they are no longer in this group. Sounds to me like five people died." I conclude and the KOB player's eyes widen at my abruptness. "Rin…" I hear him mutter beneath his breath. "Yes?" I ask, a hint of anger in my tone, the player does not respond, so Shin-Jin steps in.

"Worry not, Rin. Us KOB members were told to watch you carefully and regard you with animosity." He tells me. "It seems that you and Heathcliff have a bad history." He adds almost as an afterthought. "Now, Kobano, Rin here saved most of the people you see here, I don't care what Heathcliff said, you will treat him with respect, if not friendship." He tells his fellow guild member, who sighs in relief. "Thank god, I'm not very good at being mean to people anyway." Kobano replies.

We learn from an ALF member that the other group on floor twenty-three has been contacted and that they are on their way to assist us in any way that they can. In the meantime, Shin-Jin and I stand watch to make sure no enemies approach us from the trench. One of the AL players starts a small fire and procures a pot (much better than my crappy little one) and begins cooking straight away as they used a special potion to turn the firewood to hot ash in an instant. Some half an hour later, Shin-Jin and I have hot bowls of soup in our hands, which we slowly consume. There's something about Shin-Jin, I don't know, I just like him. He's not an exceptionally nice person, but I know that he's someone that can be trusted, in fact, it's not hard for me to see him in my shoes, which, I guess, he is in now that we're both murderers. There was no hesitation to his actions as he cut through his enemies and he was able to accept in that moment that it was either he killed them or was killed himself. He is someone whom I can respect easily.