AN: So sorry for the delay! There's been a lot of delays, but I promise to end the fic at the end of June. The prologue takes place a few days before Floor 74.

There's going to be a bunch of chapters between Floor 74 to 75, and there shouldn't be as much time skips.

This is the first chapter I wrote a outline of, and I still sorta… strayed off.

Also, there's a poll, that may add a extra chapter. The topic is: Should I add Yui? I always thought she gave me diabetes, but mattered a lot to the plot. So I decided to give the choice to you.

This would've been a lot longer, but, I split it to two parts, because I do not want you to think this is dead. I'm working to boost the length of chapters nowadays, and the time to make chapters goes up.

Sorry about the delay still.

Chapter 11: Crusade Part 1

Prologue

Floor 36

The Divine Dragon Alliance soldier walked carefully on the beaten path, nervous from the floor aesthetics; bare trees, a violet atmosphere. The metal plate armor created a rhythmic clanging with each step. The Laughing Coffin members are rumoured to gather up here. They have killed hundreds of players, and the DDA, had enough, and sent messengers to negotiate with them peacefully, like him. He came upon a tree, with a coffin drawing scratched on the surface.

They're close.

He saw a glimpse of light among the barren trees, soft candlelight. A throwing knife whistled towards him, burying itself on the warrior's shoulder, the force pushing him to the ground. A thunderbolt icon appeared right next to his health bar.

"What?!"

"Hey boss! I got another one!" A raggedy figure rose from the shadows,his armored gauntlets grasping three other knives. A yell came from afar. The soldier looked at the direction, and saw two glowing eyes.

"You can have him!" The figure cackled, and revealed a jagged dagger. The soldier feared this; all messengers before him never returned.

Floor 75

"Wait, are you serious?!" Klein was taken aback by Kirito's generosity.

"Yeah, we got lots of Col, so…"

"It took you two years to realize that?" Kunimittz asked dryly.

"Shut up." Kirito finished the transaction between the NPC vendor. "Anyway, I have to go to Lisbeth to get a new sword, so buy furniture or something."

"Wait, how much did that cost?" Asuna asked before Kirito left to the teleport gate.

"Oh, like, 50 million Col." She looked at the huge mansion-like house, a and looked at him.

"That is extremely cheap for that size. I'm pretty sure there's a catch." Issin said skeptically. Dynamm shrugged, and ran towards the doors, revealing a main hall, with a open kitchen, with white tile floors. There was almost no furniture but still very extravagant.

"Yes!" The guild poured into the room, extremely excited. Asuna finally was able to cook to the full extent, not relying on campfires.

"You heard Kirito; let's go get furniture." Dale said, and walked out the doors.

"You're telling me, that Blinkstrike, is still your most powerful sword? After three months?" Kirito said skeptically, slightly annoying Lisbeth.

"News flash; I make other types of weapons. Like spears. Spears are a lot more popular that swords."

"This is Sword Art Online. Key word being 'sword'-"

"Do you want it or not?"she said tiredly. Kirito took the sword, complaining about it's light weight. Lisbeth got even more annoyed.

"Honestly, what's wrong with having a light sword?"

"Just that it doesn't hit hard." Lisbeth sighed.

"If you want a heavy weapon, you use a mace, or an axe. Not a sword." Kirito nodded.

"But-"

"Weight's actually a disadvantage, by many RPGs."

"Fine, give me the sword," Kirito looked at the silver-bladed weapon with disdain, and then opened a trade request.

"Yeah, good night." Silica yawned, and started to retire to the bedroom. Asuna nodded, and headed upstairs. She changed to comfortable light pink pyjamas, and collapsed on the bed, tired from lifting furniture into place. Her eyelids shut, and her thoughts drifted.

A Sword Skill sound effect chimed, activating her instincts.

"What the-" she rolled off the bed, and faced the intruder. A apparition stood at the foot of the bed, a white, ghostly woman, with black hair, and pale clothes, carrying a kitchen knife.

[How dare you trespass my family's land!] the woman shrieked, scaring Silica out the door. Shouts of surprise filled the house.

"Ghosts!" he warned, trying desperately to navigate menus and equip his sword. A scabbard appeared on his hip, and he slashed at a ghost near him. Another ghost, now a young boy with a razor, walked towards him, seemingly unfazed by the strike, and Dynamm's blade phased through the body.

"It doesn't wor-" the boy slashed his neck, leaving a red gash.

"Out of the house!" Issin charged to the door, into the cool night air, ghosts forming a crowd, chasing them. Asuna was the first to leave, tumbling out, followed by Silica and others, with Kunimittz, the most damaged, straggling behind.

"What the hell was that?!"

"Don't know. Side quest?" Dale suggested. Asuna muttered shakily, remarking that a apartment in lower levels were almost the same price as the manor.

"Asuna, you okay?"

"I hate astral-type monsters…" She looked up, seeing the ghosts at the door, gazing silently.

The sound of feet crunching dirt was behind her. She turned around, seeing a familiar dark red coat.

"Uh…" Kirito stammered, looking at the group on the grass. Some threw looks of fatigue, and Kunimittz was riddled with red wounds.

"Ghosts spawned while we were sleeping," Dale explained, "And we had to evacuate." Harry One continued.

"..8..9.. Where's my sister?!" Kirito recklessly busted in the house, disintegrating the ghosts guarding it.

"Wait, how?" Dynamm's jaw dropped at the sight of the ghosts dissolving. He chased after him, Asuna on his heels.

"Suguha, why didn't we go to the doors?" Recon asked Suguha. She had her katana out, still freshly shocked from the scare.

"I was nervous, and, well, you followed me anyway."

"After dragging you into the orange-cursor mess, I won't be leaving you anytime soon." Suguha smiled at the remark, but the corridor they were on, suddenly got dark, leaving one lantern Recon put on the floor, fighting back the dark just a bit.

Suguha stared nervously down the darkened hallway, sensing a danger among the shadows. She threw a knife, tipped with poison to the presence, hoping to slow it.

"I don't know if that poison will work!" Recon said, watching the opposite end of the hallway. They heard the knife thud against the floor, impaling through the wood.

The intruders attacked. Recon threw more knives, his 'emergency' ones with poison in the middle. It phased through the approaching apparitions.

"Suguha!" Kirito yelled, and ran towards first sight of her.

Right in front of the knives. He was pushed backwards by the force, and collapsed on the floor.

Unable to move.

Dynamm saw Kirito on the floor, and Dark Repulser. He grabbed the pale sword, and slashed across the ghosts, disintegrating them.

"Dark…Repulser. Now I get it." Asuna rounded the corner and saw Kirito paralyzed.

"What?!" She poured a anti-debuff potion down his throat, and helped him up.

"Sorry…Kirito," Recon stuttered. Kirito stood up, eerily calm. "Kirito?" Dynamm asked him. Kirito pushed him aside, and grabbed Dark Repulser.

"I got paralyzed. Last I heard-" he grabbed Recon, and pushed him towards the wall, a blade pressed against his neck. "Laughing Coffin did that! So tell me, how did you do that!"

"Kirito, stop that!" Suguha exclaimed, and pushed him away, defending Recon. "No, he's right." Recon stood up, head bowed down.

"I don't work with Laughing Coffin, but we used to."

"We? Suguha, you…" Kirito whimpered, looking at both of them, almost tearing up. She silently nodded.

"It's a long story."

"Tell me." Kirito whispered. Recon drew a deep breath, and began his tale.

The Death Game had begun. Suguha looked up in tears, daunted by the task ahead. Recon sniffed, croaking out a apology.

"Sorry for bringing you into this."

"You didn't know." Suguha replied. She consoled herself, and wiped her face of any tears.

"What next?"

"Grind. Try to raise our level."

"Maybe we should try to find my brother, he's a beta tester,"

"There are nine thousand people around us. It's going to take a while to find your brother. Besides, we need to train up as soon as possible." Suguha nodded. "I guess you're right."

"But why didn't you find me?" Kirito asked him harshly, a steely look in his eyes.

"Kirito, I think it's time to sleep." Asuna reminded him, with Dynamm quietly agreeing. "You can, but not me. Dynamm, take Dark Repulser, kill the rest of the ghosts here. There must be a way to stop them from appearing, because I have a feeling they're not going to stop. Find any weapons among the guild that it's name seems to be anti-astral type monsters. Go." Kirito fired out orders calmly, still looking at the two orange players.

"…okay." Dynamm ran off.

"Kirito, I have to talk to you." Asuna grabbed his arm, and pulled him back.

"What is it?"

"We'll leave you alone with them, but, don't do anything stupid." She explained nervously, twirling her hair.

"What do you mean?"

"Just, if you're really sad, don't run off again. I know I said that you can take time off, but-"

"But why not?" Kirito asked softly, his hard look turning to a curious one.

"Because..." She paused, looking at the floor. "Justdon'tdoit." Asuna blushed and rambled quickly, and headed out. Kirito took the word into account, and then faced the two.

"Continue,"

A month later from First Day

Thousands died. On the first month. A shaken duo walked on a dirt path, discouraged from the sight they saw from their previous destination. A giant field, filled with players, each desperately to grind. All monsters were taken. They moved from village to village, hoping for levelling opportunities. Both barely reached Level 5.

Recon looked ahead for any enemies. Wolves took off from the bushes, sprinting at them.

"Watch out!" she looked up, and brought up the basic Scimitar. The pack hit them like a storm, rapidly depleting health. Their health reached the red, and the feral creatures never relented, until they disintegrated from a unknown party. Recon saw the man. A man with a chiseled jaw, and brown skin, with some other members, with one in a mask, and another in a dark hood.

"All of you okay?" he said in a stern voice, sheathing a dagger. The two victims nodded.

"Thanks for the rescue," Suguha said hesitantly, causing him to smile.

"No problem. I'm PoH. The two guys behind me are XaXa," he pointed to the one in the mask, "And Johnny Black." He pointed to the one in the hood.

"Well, anyway, thanks."

"Wait." PoH said, and Recon froze in fear. Suguha slowly turned around, cautiously.

"We came here to, rob you actually, so, do me a favour, and give us all your stuff." His two party members started to surround them.

"What if we don't?" Suguha quivered. To think they actually caught up!

"We kill you. Pretty simple, really. Or, maybe…" PoH pretended to be in deep thought.

"Or what?"

"You join us. We need more people to surround players. That, or all of your items."

Recon and Suguha looked at each other.

"Okay, so you joined an orange guild?"

"Not willingly. They just wanted us to stay quiet and surround players we robbed. If we said anything, they would've killed us. They were literally better than us in every way." His sister explained.

"And we didn't actually kill anyone, or at least, before he preached his ideas."

"What ideas?"

"That it was okay to kill players."

Floor 1- Horunka Village Tavern

The orange members held a New Year's Eve party, with PoH preaching about his philosophy with other orange players.

"How is it okay?" Recon shouted to PoH. The group has grown to thirty members, all from orange guilds.

"The system allows us to. And besides, it's not like there's proof people actually die," he reasoned. Recon scowled.

"You're insane," PoH grabbed his arm.

"Leave if you want to!" he offered. Recon turned away. XaXa laughed. "Oh right, you're too weak!" Recon walked outside, with Suguha on a bench.

"How's the party?"

"'Party'," Recon said sarcastically with air quotes. "Bastard's was just spreading his ridiculous idea. We should escape."

"Escape? Look at us; we only have gear barely better than the starting set." Suguha responded.

"What's the party about anyway?"

"Something about discovering a new potion. I stolen their copy of the recipe and replicated it, then put it back." Recon admitted.

"Do you know it's effects?" she asked, deep into the subject.

"Dunno, wasn't in the note. Also, they said something about making a message." Recon added.

The members burst out of the tavern, seemingly with a plan. Johnny Black dragged the two up, and forced to follow them.

"Wait, what are we doing?"

"Announcing ourselves." The member grinned. They went to the outskirts of the floor, and spotted a guild, having a party out in the field, and very few passerby. They all crouched down, and brought up throwing knives.

The duo stayed silent, scared of what's to come. A flurry of knives were unleashed by the orange group, hitting the guild members, forcing them down to the ground.

"Help!"

"I can't move!"

The orange group sprang into action, stabbing the helpless players. They both stood in fear from the sadistic actions. And Recon found out the effects of the potion.

Paralysis.

The players died one by one, exploding into polygons. Bystanders screamed, it was utter chaos. And they were in the middle of it.

"Let it be known!" PoH shouted. "We are Laughing Coffin!"

"Laughing Coffin started out, as an orange guild?" Kirito yelled. Both of them nodded.

"Yeah, we were pretty much puppets." Suguha admitted.

"We escaped while they were..busy. We still had to join another orange guild, but they didn't kill."

Kirito stood up, and walked away.

"Wait, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to the Divine Dragon Alliance Headquarters."

"What's there?"

"They're leading a crusade. Against Laughing Coffin. I thought they can handle themselves, but now,"

"You want to join." Suguha finished.