Fear ran through Asuna's body as she dodged to the side and thrust her rapier forward, plunging it into the body of another player who had tried to attack her. The crusade to defeat laughing coffin was in full swing and already failing. Someone had leaked their impeding attack on the PK guild and they were now surrounded and in the middle of an ambush.
To make matters worse was what was happening when people died. It had been confirmed from the memorial wall that no one had died in many months, their data being captured by the strange death cages that would erupt out of the ground. They all had figured that the same thing would happen to the PKers, but it wasn't. It happened to the four of their own who had fallen, but the PKers they had managed to kill didn't have their data captured. They simply had burst into particles that disappeared in seconds.
Were they killing these players? Were they maybe still alive? No one knew, and it was effecting almost everyone's thoughts and morale, something that was already dangerously low due to the ambush.
"Tch," Asuna clocked her tongue in annoyance as she dodged another strike aimed toward her and struck back, taking a chunk of HP off the Pkers healthbar and putting them dangerously low.
"What's wrong, afraid to kill us become hypocrites!?" the PKer in front of her gloated with an insane smile as she brandished a large scimitar that shimmered along its edge, making it clear there was likely something on the blade itself.
"Just surrender already!" Asuna pleased as she parried her opponents blow toward her.
"NOT A CHANCE PRINCESS!" the girl screamed as she lunged forward swinging her scimitar in wide arcs and heavy swings, making it hard to do anything but parry the blows.
A second later Asuna felt her back bump into someone else's and risked a glance back at them to find it was none other than Kirito who was fighting against a man with a large halberd, a terribly weapon to be dealing with in such close quarters. Both of their opponents moved to attack and the two of them responded in the same way at the same time, rolling to the side and causing the two laughing coffin members to hit each others weapons and unbalanced the both of them. Kirito and Asuna then took action and struck their opponents, who muck their surprise and continued horror burst into particles as their HP hit zero.
"Damn, this is not good," Kirito muttered as she and Asuna moved back together with their backs to the other as more laughing coffin members jumped down from a series of nearby ledges to join the fray.
Asuna nodded in agreement, and then twitched as she heard a scream and looked to see a collection of particles in the air be entrapped by a large horrid looking cage that burst from the ground and then disappeared back into it. "We've lost another."
"Dammit, how many is that?" Kirito said before shaking his head. "Too many, this cant continue."
"Sure it can!" a laughing coffin member in a suit of bright red armor declared as he rushed toward Kirito and Asuna, swinging around an axe with reckless abandon. "Just die and add your names to our trophy cases!"
"Why are you doing this? You're killing people!" Asuna exclaimed as she thrust her rapier and forced the man to block the blow with his shield.
"YES, ISNT IT JUST LOVELY!?" the man exclaimed in an insane tone as he raised it axe to swing it.
Before he could though, every single players bodies locked up as if paralyzed. No one could move anything but their eyes, and in a matter of seconds everyone began to notice the ambience in the cavern they were within begin to change. The dull bluish light began shifting to a dark red, the very air seemed to feel cold, and a strange noise began to filter into the cavern.
A second later every player simultaneously regained the ability to move their body, just in time to witness a veritable army of monsters pour out of a tunnel and into view. The little monsters were small, no bigger than a foot and a half tall. They looked vaguely like goblins, only their bodies were a dull brown and grey and looked emaciated, like they were starved. Unlike how their bodies looked, their expressions were crazed with huge bloodshot eyes and gnashing fangs. On their heads were floppy blood red caps of felt, and in their hands they carried an array of axes, knives, shivs, and spiked clubs.
The creatures charged forward like a tide, leaping between, bounding over and squeezing through any gap among their kin to get further ahead to their quarry.
"form up! Form up or they will surround us just like the coffin did!" someone among the crusaders called out in a fit of sensibility.
Everyone began to group up, and as they did the PKers tried to use the chance to back off, only to find more of the little monsters coming out of other tunnels, complete surrounding both groups. And then, to the astonishment of the crusaders, the little monsters ignored them and began attacking all of the members of laughing coffin!
The little monsters appeared to have an equally sized HP bar, as it took a maximum of only three regular attacks to kill them. Unfortunately their size allowed many of them to scamper up and attack at the same time and their weapons leaved glowing wounds that appeared to be some kind of bleeding effect. It took only fifteen seconds for the first member of laughing coffin to fall to them from nothing else but the bleeding effect, and only another five second for another to be buried under a pile of thrashing claws and knives, dying a second later.
"They're, killing them. The monsters are killing them!" one member of the crusaders exclaimed in shock as the whole group watched themselves be surrounded by the army of mobs that were chipping away at the PK guild without a care for their own survival.
"But, why are the ignoring us?" someone asked in clear fear and confusion. "I'm not complaining but its weird."
"Is this," Kirito muttered under his breath, only the first few words being caught by Asuna.
"I GET IT!" one of the laughing coffin members roared at the top of his lungs as he hacked away at the monsters with reckless abandon. "your all in, league with Kayaba himself aren't ya!? You hypocrites are even more corrupt than we are!
Asuna, and many others, opened their mouths to say otherwise, but had no chance as another, new voice, echoed throughout the cavern.
"enough!" called out the voice. And much to everyone's shock, all of the little monsters, called redcaps if their HP bar information was correct, stopped attacking and backed just out of average attack range of the PKers.
Then alongside the sound of footsteps a new person came into view, making both Kirito, Asuna, and a couple of the laughing coffin members, to look on in surprise and shock. For in front of them stood the same women as before.
Her clothing was vastly different; a black Bustier of leather, a knee length skirt of cloth and metal, metal boots and gauntlets accented by loose flowing cloth and a deep blue capelet that hung behind. On her head was a band of bone with prongs of metal and jewel coming off of it, and in her right hand she held a spear made of jagged bone. Her expression was cold, uncaring and dim. The cavern tunnel she had come out of was slightly elevated, allowing her to look down on the crusaders and PKers alike, her eyes filled with emotions better left unnoticed.
She then cracked the bottom of her spear onto the floor as if to announce herself,, and then did so. "I am Scathach, Queen of Dun-Scaith and ruler of the Underworld. The souls of the honored dead are mine to hold until those worthy earn their freedom from me. I i should have never needed to leave Dun-Scaith, yet here I find myself for some think themselves above honorable combat and challenge. You, the murderers, bandits and brigands who take the lives of honorable warriors I give you this ultimatum. You will surrender to those honorable ones judgment, or you shall perish. You have ten seconds to comply."
It took not even a single second for one member of laughing coffin to reply in anger. "What you think were going to listen some overdesigned NPC? Not a chance!" he yelled as he pulled out and threw a knife at Scathach.
To everyones surprise she did not knock it out of the air or move to avoid the knife, but instead caught it between two fingers before tossing to the side. "I am no NPC, I am the one that holds dominion over the dead. Though ones such as you shall not be held for any to retrieve," Scathach stated as she lifted her spear and zoun it in her grip, holding it above her shoulder as I preparing to throw it. Her grip clenched, the barbs on the spear sunk into it, and she smiled . "Gae-Bolg!"
And threw it.
The killer moved to the side, thinking himself safe as he drew another knife, only for the slear to twist and bend mid flight before then impaling the man to the wall itself, much to his shock.
"What the hell? A homing skill? That's bullshit!" he declared as he grabbed the spear and tried to pull it out of his body.
Only for the barbs to suddenly begin growing out of the spear again, piercing his hands and presumably, his body as well. His health bar began quickly draining as he began screaming while scratching and flailing at the spear.
"Gae-Bolg does not miss its target, and can not be removed from the living without taking their insides with it. May your soul find salvation in whatever hell you find yourself in." Scathach said just before the PKers HP hit zero and he burst into particles. She then held her hand out, the spear suddenly yanking itself out of the wall and flying into it as she looked around the room. "Redcaps, kill any PKer who does not drop their weapons in surrender."
The redcaps all let out horrific shrieks of glee as they lunged at every PKer with abandon.
Asuna, along with all the crusaders, watched in horror as the Redcaps swarmed the PKers, hacking slashing and clubbing them straight to death even as dozens upon dozens of the Redcaps themselves were killed in turn. She also saw a number of PKers drop their weapons in surrender, only for some of their own to target them upon seeing as such. "Protect and apprehend the ones who surrender, quickly!"
Her words, and rank as a vice commander, spurned the crusaders into action in an instant. With so few attacking, and those that wanted to either being mobbed by mobs or teamed up on by the crusaders the battle ended in less than five minutes, leaving eight PKers having surrendered, while the others either had died or had managed to get away by the skin of their teeth.
It took only a few moments to forced those that surrender to use the prison crystals, and as soon as they all had used them a clapping could be heard, pulling their attention toward Scathach who was, much to their surprise, still in the room and had jumped down to the bottom floor at some point. "Very good. You all held out for a long time against odds stacked against you. You all are honorable warriors worthy of challenging me within Dun-Scaith . I shall look forward to it."
Asuna wanted to speak up, but did not when she noticed Kirito nearly vibrating with barely contained emotions that looked like rage.
Allowing klein, who was sitting at a healthy three quarters health, to speak up. "Hey now, what is your deal with all of this? You're the one who made those Dullahan and gave us these weapons, yeah?" he asked as he held up his Katana
"Yes, you handily defeated my servants and so you earned such a weapon." Scathach responded.
"Why, what is the point of it, what are these keys for, and why do you want to fight us?"
Scathach looked at klein for a moment before letting out a short giggle, something that made Kirito bristle, Though only Asuna noticed it seemed. "I am the Queen of Dun-Scaith, I watch over those souls who fell, but it would not be proper to simply release them to live again. No, if they are to live again I must be shown the proper skills, some must come and prove themselves against my spear, and those who prove themselves worthy shall earn the freedom of many other souls to live again among you all."
"Wait, you mean everyone who has died, isn't actually dead?" one person from the group asked in disbelief.
"Is that not what my servants have been telling you? They were simple allusions, little different than a child's riddle," Scathach said before shaking her head. "as you yet seem still confused I shall explain it further. My final servant, Setanta, awaits at the gate to the underworld. Defeat him and with the seven keys the gate shall open and my land become passable to you. Reach my castle of Dun-Scaith and challenge me to combat in groups no larger than twelve, and if I am defeated I shall return to you the souls of those who have died, two to a person who still stands when I am defeated." Scathach then pointed her spear at the group and smiled. "I shall eagerly await your challenges!"
Everyone simply stared in shock at the information being given so bluntly, but it was at that moment Asuna realized something. Scathach was not pointing her spear at the group, and her eyes were only on one person, Kirito. Any NPC she had encountered always looked at everyone equally, so why was this one looking straight at Kirito?
Scathach lowered her spear as a black portal opened behind her, purple mist flowing out of it as she turned to enter it.
"NO!" Kirito suddenly called out in anger, causing everyone to glance toward him, just in time to see him start marching right towards Scathach.
"No? You do not wish to save people from my grasp?" Scathach asked curiously as she watched Kirito approach her.
"NO, I'll save everyone I can, but I am not letting you wear the fzce of the one I couldn't save!" Kirito roared as he suddenly lunged forward with his blade at the ready and activated a sword art to lunge at her even faster.
Sachi grinned with utter and complete happiness as she parried Kirito's attack. He was so close to her, she was finally seeing him up close again, so close she could reach out and touch him or whisper toward him. She just needed to make sure no one else could hear what she would shipper.
She parried another blow and then took a hit to the side. The damage was negligible, but she leapt backwards with her spear swing wide to make it seem like she was wary. It worked as Kirito lunged at her to keep up, his sword swinging frantically as he yelled
Sachi smiled as she noted that no one else was moving to help as they looked on in confusion. "you don't need to yell, I'm right here Kirito," Sachi said softly as she blocked a swing and let him push against her, bringing him closer.
"Shut up! Stop wearing her face, stop insulting her memory," Kirito exclaimed loudly as he pressed his attack, forgetting stance and defense and clearly leaving himself very open and making Sachi realize in part why Kirito was so livid.
"Kirito its me. I'm not dead," Sachi said quietly to him.
"SHUT UP! She's dead, I killed her, I screwed up and she's dead because of me, and I am not letting this trick get to me," Kirito said as he broke away from Sachi and looked up. "You hear me Kayaba? You are not breaking us, you are not breaking me! I'm going to beat this game of yours and beat you for all of that you have done! You won't get away with insulting her memory like this!"
"Kirito, its me! I'm not a fake. You got my message on Christmas, right?" Sachi pressed, hoping that making mention of her heartfelt message would help.
It didn't.
"So even our privacy doesn't matter to you, does it Kayaba!?" Kirito screamed toward the caverns ceiling as he took a step back from Sachi.
Sachi, seeing her tactics were not working, decided the direct approach would be better and swung her spear at Kirito, forcing him to block the blow and moved her face closer to Kirito. "I'm not lying, it really is me. Come to Dun-Scaith and I'll explain everything."
Then before Kirito could even speak up she pulled the spear back and activated one of her abilities, sending out a Shockwave that sent Kirito flying backwards like a limo ragdoll. It did no damage, but the skill would be usefully if she was getting swamped or wanted some room to use another skill.
She then looked at the crusaders, all but Asuna looking at her in worry while Asuna herself had ran over to where kirito had been thrown. She then smile and dismissed her spear. "Again, I look forward to seeing you at Dun-Scaith to free those under my protection. I look forward to it, but until, then, good day to you, noble crusaders."
And with that sachi turned, and lefy through a portal back to Dun-Scaith.
Kayaba let out a heavy sigh as he lifted his nervegear off his head and leaned back in his chair. The PK guild of laughing coffin was undone, broken and scattered if not imprisoned. It was a good thing as now the players could focus on clearing floors and reaching the underworld. Though it wasn't without problems.
Sachi had done well in finishing off the PKers and had also done well in dealing with the surprisingly aggressive Kirito, but had gone slightly too far. The crusaders were curious and worried about Kirito's involvement and had brought it up after the crusade, causing most of the frontliners to demand answers which directly led to him spilling the beans to Sachi's original identity and the fate of that guild. Which then led into players checking the lore description of the weapons which subsequently led to players asking a few too many questions and becoming paranoid that if they died they would get turned into future bosses in the game, being imprisoned for all time as mere vestiges of who they once were.
"I hadn't even considered her using the lore sections of the items in such a way, she is more ingenious than I gave her credit for," Kayaba muttered to himself as he got up and headed to the kitchen to get a drink.
When he returned to his computer he stared at the screen for a moment in thought. Sachi was becoming far more open with her actions, likely due to finally becoming comfortable with her appearance, immortality and new existence, it could become a problem, but it also could be an answer to one of his primary worries for the future.
"Yes, there's nothing wrong with preparing for the possibility," Kayaba said to himself as he opened up his favored coding program and began writing some code that could be added onto Sachi's data if she turned out suited for it.
Time would tell.