AN: Hello, I decided to get rid of the schedule. The reason why is that, in a week to week basis, I only made myself do around 1k words each. My most delayed chapter (X'rphan), was actually my longest chapter (3k words). Now I'm averaging at 2k chapters, and that requires 2 weeks. I also accepted a beta request. Also, I don't think I could finish this by the end of June. Sorry for the BIG delay, I had a three week vacation..

This is one of my biggest chapters.

Chapter 12: Crusade Part 2

"You want to join," Suguha finished. Kirito wordlessly walked away to the exit.

"Fine. We're coming with you." Recon decided, making him stop. "Stay here." he warned. Recon squinted.

"No, we're not. We want to fight against them!"

"Yeah, we're finally strong enough! They killed hundreds of people!" Suguha agreed. The dual-wielder reconsidered their request.

"I don't know about this. What if they recognize you?"

"So what if they do? They're going to be imprisoned anyway!"

"Just please, don't…"

"We're coming with you, whether you like it or not." Suguha affirmed their intentions. Kirito turned around, his hand on his face.

"Fine. But be careful, and always be behind me." Kirito then walked out towards the doors.

"Ghosts, family land. Does that ring a bell?" Dynamm said frustratingly to the NPC vendor on the front of the manor. The AI shook it's head.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," the vendor said for like the millionth time. Dynamm really wanted to punch him.

"Maybe you should put it in a proper sentence first, then it kicks in," Klein said, the only one awake enough to assist Dynamm on the quest. The rest of the guild slept in a nearby inn.

"When does that ever work?" he said through gritted teeth towards Klein in a condescending tone.

"Dynamm, here; I forgot to give you this. The ghosts dropped it when I killed them." Kirito tossed to him a bottle.

[Ectoplasm].

"Alright. There are ghosts in my house!" Dynamm shouted, holding the bottle right next to his face. The NPC stepped back in shock.

"I am sorry sir, I didn't know of this unforeseen circumstance," he bowed down. Dynamm turned his head to thank Kirito, but he was already on his way to a teleport gate.

"Kirito, where are you going?" Klein asked.

"Nowhere. Keep going on the quest,"

"Right. 'Nowhere'"Dynamm said with air quotes.

"Might as well tell them," Recon said. Kirito took a deep breath.

"We're going to take down Laughing Coffin."

"Just you three?" Dynamm asked dryly.

"Along with the DDA. They have been suggesting a crusade against them recently."

"Well, I'm coming along. Klein, finish the quest." Dynamm tossed him the bottle. The man in question dropped his jaw. "Wha? Why? I'm coming along too!" Kirito facepalmed.

"Fine! Klein, find someone else in the guild to do the sidequest. But don't tell them anything about the crusade."

"On it."

Kirito saw him go towards a nearby inn, before heading to the teleport gate.

"Right."

Klein went inside the inn's second floor. He went to a door and knocked.

"Asuna?"

The girl opened her eyes slowly, staying frozen. She looked outside the window, looking at the moonlight.

"What?"

"We need you to do the quest to get rid of the ghosts,"

"I thought you and Dynamm did that?"

"Well, uh… we have to leave!" Klein said through the door.

"Why? And how's Kirito?"

"Uh…" Klein paused.

Oh crap! He thought to himself, quickly trying to analyze possible solutions.

"We um… We is…" he slowly crumbled to the floor, unable to think of anything.

The door opened. Asuna looked at the kneeling samurai.

"Where are they?"

"They're… going to take down Laughing Coffin," Klein admitted, unable to lie.

"What?!"

"Quiet!" Kunimittz called out from the room next to hers. She winced, and went out of her room, closing the door behind her.

"Alone?"

"No, not alone. Apparently DDA was planning it for weeks. They want to join up."

"They?"

"Suguha, Recon, and Dynamm came with him. I don't know why they're going." He explained. She nodded and opened up menus, putting on her red-white armor.

"Right. I'm going with them." She started to walk away.

"Asuna, they can handle themselves. Why do you keep thinking you have to protect him, to duel for him? He's a beta tester!" Klein asked her, stopping her progress. "What, so you don't care about them?" she shot back, not faxing Klein one bit.

"Of course I do. But you also need to have faith in his abilities. Let him go. We still have to clear the ghosts out." Klein half lectured. Asuna hesitated to move on, but steeled herself.

"I have to make sure. Sorry Klein, but find someone else." She said softly, filled with remorse, leaving Klein disappointed.

A door opened, revealing Kunimittz.

"Did you-" Klein was cut short.

"Heard everything. And, well, I friggin' knew it."

They arrived at the foot of the Divine Dragon Alliance's headquarters. A castle with thick iron shod walls, towers at each corner, and at each side of the drawbridge, and a moat.

"Here Kirito, Dark Repulser." Dynamm handed him the pale blade, with Kirito putting it in his right shoulder sheath.

"Thanks. Better hope there's another weapon that can kill those ghosts." Kirito started walking up to the edge of the moat, shouting at a sentry on a tower.

"We want to join the battle against Laughing Coffin!" he yelled at his loudest voice possible. The sentries nodded, and started to raise a drawbridge, revealing the space inside. Barracks, and other building were inside, with a grand castle within.

"The KoB tower may be bigger, but holy crap!" Dynamm commented. Once they got inside the castle, there was a meeting room, with a circular table, with…

No one apparently.

In fact, no one was out, except for guards, but other than that, everyone was sleeping.

"What are you guys here for?" A nearby guard asked them.

"We're… joining the crusade against Laughing Coffin." Kirito explained to the bored guard.

"Fine. Are you Cleare-" the guard noticed the twin swords on his back.

"Obviously. Alright, sleep anywhere here, in the lobby , and don't touch anything. You're not the first ones here."

The guard took his leave. Kirito scanned the area of any previous visitors, and saw the Moonlit Black Cats in bedrolls.

"Keita?!"

"What?" he snorted awake. "Oh, Kirito, hey!" Keita greeted him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Signing up for the crusade. It was really hard convincing them we were Clearers, but we got Kotaru to get us in."

"Any reason why?" Kirito asked, surprised he was here in the first place.

"Laughing Coffin gave us hell. They stole from a lot of mid-level players, and at the time, well…, y'know." Keita responded in a low voice.

"Sorry about that," Suguha added. Keita smiled.

"Well, it's time they got some payback!"

"How do I get rid of the ghosts on my land?" Kunimittz shouted to the NPC vendor.

"You need to find the original deed to it. It was lost, but people say…" Klein watched the NPC blab on.

"Fetch quest. Damn it," Kunimittz groaned.

"Where's the deed?"

"Buried with the original owner, in a cave north from here." The NPC responded. Klein stretched and yawned.

"Do we need to do this now? It's midnight."

"Kirito said to do this as soon as possible,"

"Yeah, but we're exhausted. Sword Skills makes us even more tired. And no doubt is the cave packed with monsters. "

"Good point. But still-" Klein hesitated.

"The manor was extremely cheap. This quest is going to be hard as hell. Might as well have the guild for backup,"

"Fine. You're right, this isn't the time for late night quests. I'm going to Kirito." Klein decided.

"Hypocrite."

"Alright, shut up! I won't." Klein demanded. Kunimittz had a extremely smug smirk on his face. They started to walk back to the nearby town.

"Hey, do you ever wonder what Akihiko Kayaba's doing?" he asked Klein.

"I guess managing the game. I don't know if he'll ever get caught though."

"Why's that?"

"He's holding thousands of people hostage. I'm pretty sure that when the police try to capture him, he's going to pull the plug." Klein answered.

"You know, this MMO's actually really fun." Kunimittz looked around the crafted landscape. "If only we weren't trapped here."

Kirito woke up, looking at the vaulted ceiling. It was probably early in the morning, the dark blue sky showing through the window. The rest were still sleeping, but the Black Cats were nowhere to be seen. He turned around to his side, facing Asuna's resting face, inches from his nose. His head jumped backwards.

"Oh, geez," he whispered, and slowly got up. "Why the hell are you here?" he muttered, careful not to awaken anybody. He then kicked her legs softly, coaxing her to wake up. When her eyes opened, he pointed towards the entrance.

"We have to talk."

Once they got outside, Kirito was the first to talk.

"Did Klein send you?"

"Oh! Uh, no. In fact, he opposed me."

"Then why did you come here? Why did Klein tell you where we're going?"

"I think Klein tried to lie, but gave up," After that line, Kirito groaned. "What's wrong of me joining you?" Asuna continued.

"Well, it's just that, I don't know how to say this, um…" Asuna watched Kirito stammer a little bit, trying to phrase his sentence right.

"What I'm trying to say is, why are you so… interested in me?" Asuna reddened at the question.

"N..Not like that, I mean," Kirito stuttered, from her embarrassed expression. "I mean, why do you keep defending me?" Asuna sighed, trying to calm herself.

"Like when?"

"Duelling that guy at KoB because I disagreed with him. Klein says the reason he tracked me, was because you insisted. Not that I'm complaining about it, but, still. And, well, following me here." Kirito explained. Asuna sweated, looking at the grass. She stood up.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"You want me to leave, right?" She said halfheartedly, walking to the exit. "No, that's not what I meant," he scratched his head.

"What's wrong with defending you?" she responded. "Anybody in the guild would do the same thing."

"You volunteer first though. Why do you?" he questioned back. Asuna burst out.

"It's because I…" Kirito looked at her even more, with a confused look. And she held back.

"Never mind." She turned around to the gate. "Wait! I didn't say you had to leave!" He said hastily, reaching out to her. "You didn't need to." She replied simply. He winced, and ran to her, grabbing her shoulder.

"Don't leave, I need you here." Asuna hid a smile on that comment, and turned around.

"Alright. I'll stay." Kirito let out a sigh. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Asuna walked towards the castle with a cheerful look, Kirito watching her walk away.

Floor 50

Keita lead his guild through the metal city of Granzam, finally arriving at the steel gates of the Knights of the Blood Oath's headquarters.

"I don't know if they want to join the crusade," Sasamaru said skeptically, "If they did, I'm sure they would voluntarily join."

"Dude, don't be like that! I'm pretty sure they're going to join!" Ducker patted his back. They met with a guard.

"What is it?" he asked.

"We need to see a sub-leader here." Keita stated. "You can't just go in, y'know. They're training." The guard explained.

"DDA's going to eliminate Laughing Coffin! Aren't you gonna join?" Tetsuo added.

"Wait, seriously?! Alright, Heathcliff's on top of the tower." He pointed at the huge stone tower, with four spires.

They walked into the lobby, and no one was inside, all of the soldiers were grinding. A teleport crystal was in the side, along with a list of the levels of the tower and their function.

[To go to a specific level of the tower grasp the crystal and say the desired level.] A popup said.

Keita was about to grasp it, but then a Sub-Leader went inside, a brown-haired man, with a white cloak, and a big shield.

"Oh, can I talk to you?" Tetsuo stopped the red armor clad knight.

"Do I know you?" he said uncertainly, stepping back a little bit. "Oh, no you don't. We're here to tell you that DDA is leading a crusade against Laughing Coffin, and do you want to join?" The knight paid attention when the red guild was mentioned.

"You're in this… crusade?"

"Oh, yes. Are you interested?"

"I'm not sure. We should've heard about this news sooner." The knight muttered. Then held out his hand.

"I'm Barry. Thanks for telling me. When is the crusade?"

"Around 3, are you coming?"

"Again, I'm not sure. Heathcliff's been training a lot, and we only see him when we're fighting bosses, or on meetings. I don't know if I can track him down, and get him to agree and send people."

Kirito watched the DDA warriors train and get ready for the oncoming fight. He sat against a wall, along with his guild.

"Let's see if we can get some food from them," Dynamm said, hungry and with no food from the ill-prepared journey.

"No, I got some," Asuna announced, and opening up her menus. He was still a little freaked out that she tracked them. Suguha and Recon couldn't really care less, focused on the task at hand.

She handed out rudimentary sandwiches, in which Kirito bit down instantly.

"Needs a bit of work. Nonexistent sauce, too little lettuce, too much meat and cheese, tomatoes suck, and there are way too much onions," Kirito critiqued through a mouthful of food. Recon began to drink copious amounts of water, and Suguha just smelled it, and put it back into it's wrap.

"I'll get some food from them," Dynamm got up after seeing everyone's reactions.

"Well, it's my first time making these," she muttered.

"I can tell." Kirito said dryly, earning a eye roll from her. A man nudged Kirito with his foot.

"Hey, we're setting off in five hours," the man, who was a guard, notified him.

"We got some time to burn. Any ideas?" Dynamm said.

"All of you should go levelling."

"I… no."

"Why not?"

"Well, last time we left you, you were gone for a long time," Dynamm replied. "That's true.." Asuna added.

"I needed some space,"

"You took three months. I expected a week, even two, but not three months!" Asuna argued back.

"You encouraged me,"

"We had to send Klein to get you back," Asuna said.

"I was going to go back, but if you want to know…I had to train up my Dual Blades skill, so I took some more time."

"Did you absolutely had to though?" Asuna asked.

"If he didn't train it up, the 74th floor boss would've survived long enough to kill a lot of people." Recon said.

"Do you just want me to go with you guys?" Kirito groaned.

"Yes." Asuna and Dynamm clarified at the same time. "You're always the silent and brooding type. You barely talk to us, other than the daily meeting."

"Wha- hey! That's not true!" Kirito stammered, much to their sniggering.

"When was the last time you talked to Dale? Issin? Kunimittz? Harry One and Two? Me?" Dynamm fired off.

"At the 74th boss battle, all of them-"

"Outside battles, Kirito." Asuna enforced.

"Well, not really." He admitted. Dynamm chuckled. "Told you," he said smugly, getting up. "Let's go."

"Do we absolutely have to go questing right now?" Kunimittz whined, much to Klein's annoyance. "We did what you suggested, so get your lazy ass up!" "But I got like, six hours of sleep! Barebones!"

"It's thirty past ten. Shut up. We'll be taking the rest of the guild by the way." Klein replied casually. The discouraged man sat up, and opened his menu, equipping armor and a spear.

"It gets a little repetitive, doesn't it? Levelling and grinding." Klein asked him. "It took you two years to realize this?" Kunimittz drawled sarcastically. "Well, no, but there was a lot of stuff to do, like go on quests, get a skill," Klein explained, then leaned back on the wall.

"After clearing the house quest, let's relax. Screw mapping dungeons; we spent two years doing that!" Kunimittz suggested. Klein nodded.

2 hours later…

"I can't find Heathcliff," Barry said to Keita worriedly, panting from searching the forests.

"Can you still go?"

"The other two Sub Leaders don't want me to go, unless I have XP quotas to fill,"

"XP quotas?"

"I have to gain a certain minimum amount of XP per day, so I need to level a lot for the next three hours." He started to open up menus.

"Whoa- party request?" Keita exclaimed at the popup in front of him. "Yeah; I can't fight alone, right? I'll be your forward."

Tetsuo started going nuts from the proposition.

3 hours later…

Floor 14 Outskirts

Kirito has never been as tense in his life. The crusade party walked in the forest, pursuing Laughing Coffin. Their base has been revealed by a survivor of a guild they targeted to kill. Supposedly, they lived in a safe zone in a dungeon.

Considering the amount of messengers that died around here, it's probable, a DDA sub leader thought.

"Do you know where's the Black Cats?" Kirito whispered to his guild. "Yeah, I do, I just didn't tell you!" Dynamm said sarcastically, but the dry meaning was lost in the tension.

The front of the party stopped, startled by what's ahead. A cloaked player blocked the path in.

The red cursor lingered above him.

"Stand down!" the DDA warrior leading the crusade boomed. The cloaked man raised his head, chuckling.

"We killed your messengers. Do you seriously think we'll still do that?!" he laughed, angering the leader further. The rest of the group stayed silent, but mentally readied themselves. The leader walked forward, shield raised, three men following him. The Laughing Coffin member's face turned from smug to serious.

"Back off!" he said, but the DDA leader kept walking. The man then casually took out a carved wooden whistle.

Kirito stepped beside Asuna, twin blades held with outstretched arms.

BEEP!

The shrill sound ran through everyone's ears, and almost instantly, half were down paralyzed from a storm of poisoned throwing knives.

"SHIT!" the DDA leader yelled, and started aiding paralyzed allies, abandoning his target.

The phantoms leaped and ambushed the crusaders, blades clashing. The Laughing Coffin members are unusually high-level, and almost equaled the Clearers.

Polygons disintegrated to the air, signalling the deaths of crusaders.

Kirito went on a spree, dual blades cutting through Laughing Coffin members, killing them.

The red guild did not relent. They knew that they would either be arrested, or killed. Most of them believed that the death rule didn't exist, and that Player Killing was allowed for a reason.

However, PoH did believe. He saw the members of his guild start to lose their element of surprise from the better-equipped Clearers.

"Hey!" Keita yelled, attracting attention. His guild ran behind him, in an effort to shore up defences. Barry and Tetsuo ran forward.

The Laughing Coffin members saw the Knight of the Blood Oath , and knew they wouldn't win. Barry's guild was the leading group of the Clearers for a reason.

"Get him!" A member called out, and five broke off the main fight, activating Sword Skills at Barry. The man looked at the incoming assassins, and tightened up. He blocked the speeding blades, and turned around to face them.

Kirito saw the Black Cats busy with their skirmish, and surveyed the battle. The crusaders were hesitant to kill them, but they kept them at bay, trying to pin them down and arrest them. Some were already forcefully pushed to the dirt by Clearers, but relatively few in number.

When the crusader death count reached ten, the DDA sub-leader yelled.

"Kill them! Kill them all!"

The warriors cut loose, after seeing their comrades die, they can take revenge.

Dynamm duelled a member, going back and forth.

"Surrender!"

The member, a man wearing a trench coat, stabbed his dagger at the side of Dynamm's gut. He retaliated, decapitating his arm, and pushing him to the ground, sword pointed at his face. Dynamm's face drained when he saw his victim's health fall. He quickly took out a potion to heal him, but the assassin refused to accept it.

"Shit." The bandana wearing man whispered, when his enemy disintegrated. He sat there for a moment, contemplating the situation. A Sword Skill chimed behind him, and he turned around, slashing behind him.

Barry looked around at the five brown-coated men. The rest of the party was paralyzed, and abandoned for the more experienced target.

Him.

Kirito saw his situation, and dashed forward, followed by Asuna.

All five men went forward to try and stab Barry. He blocked two with his shield, and knocked away another with his sword, but two blades pierced his armor. Kirito knocked the invaders away.

"Back off!" Kirito said warningly, twin blades in display. Three kept their distance, but the rest tried again. He slashed in a wide arc, both blades going in different directions. The two were repelled, and disintegrated.

"Pin them down!" he shouted to his group, and Suguha, Recon and Dynamm arrested one each, taking down the last three members still not arrested, or not dead. Asuna came to his aid. The battle was over.

"Heal them." He jerked a thumb to the Black Cats, then knelt beside Barry.

"Are you okay?!" Kirito quickly took out a red bottle. Barry's HP drained alarmingly fast, and a green icon was beside his HP bar.

"Health-draining poison," the red knight said, "They had more tricks up their sleeve than we thought." Kirito poured the potion down his throat, but there was no effect.

"Asuna! Health Crystal!" Kirito shouted, his voice cracking. Asuna threw him one, and he was starting to crack it when…

The poison effect stopped. The poison apparently drained a certain amount of health, then stopped. 100 HP was still left, and was regaining by Battle Healing.

Kirito felt all the tension release. A knife suddenly appeared at Barry's side, and he started to shed off polygons.

"No!" He cracked the crystal, but Barry's HP was already at 0. "Klein, the stone-" Kirito looked around desperately.

Recon looked at where the knife came from. There was one more member of the red guild.

And he was escaping.

Recon let go of his inmate, and pursued the killer. They ran to a dungeon, and Recon was catching up. Asuna ran past him, and they were closing in. Monsters started to spawn right in front however.

They killed the creatures as fast as they could, but they were swarmed.

"We can't get to him!" she yelled, and Kirito caught up, eliminating the opposition, and DDA players followed. Recon started running again, and the escapee started to choose paths from a split in the path.

"Left!" Once they turned, their target was already halfway to the next split, teleport crystal in hand.

"He's gonna lose us!" a DDA scout yelled. Recon took out a throwing knife. "Should I?!" Recon asked Kirito.

If he escapes, he can start a new Laughing Coffin…

"Yes!"

The knife whirled towards his back, and he collapsed.

"Wait, what happened?" Asuna went beside the assassin.

"I'm paralyzed." He cackled, knowing what's going to happen. "Who threw that?!" he continued. Asuna lifted his hood, showing a bone mask, depicting a skull.

PoH. The leader.

"What's your name again? Recon? It's been two years! Where's the other one?" PoH said, creating tension. The DDA scout took out a dagger at Recon. "You're with Laughing Coffin?"

"Let me explain!" the brown haired boy raised his hands. The rest of the crusade party caught up. Suguha went beside him.

"What's this about?!"

"He paralyzed him!" the scout pointed at PoH.

"We can arrest him now!"

"He knows! He knows how to kill like them!" the scout shouted, and the crusade party started to take out weapons.

"Enough!" the Sub-Leader boomed. "Arrest him!" he commanded the scout, and he started to walk to PoH.

"You're in Fūrin Kazan. Where's the leader?" Kirito started to walk forward.

"What is it?"

"Your friend. You have to surrender him."

"No." Kirito replied simply. "It's complicated. But he's not a threat."

"How is he not? He has to join Laughing Coffin to learn that!"

"Alright, I'll explain-"

"The fact that he knows, means that we have to keep an eye on him."

"You are not sending him on a dungeon!"

"Wait- you are very calm. You knew that he can do that, didn't you?!" he accused Kirito, and he stayed silent.

"Do you know how to paralyze? Maybe your whole guild does!"

"We're Clearers! We fought with you for almost two years!" the DDA leader shook his head, and pointed at Recon.

"Well, surrender him. Or else." He unsheathed his sword, and his guild was ready. The Black Cats started to separate from the crowd.

"Or else what?" Keita asked, sword and shield ready, his guild joining up. Kirito's twin blades glowed blue, right in front of the armored man, ready to activate a Sword Skill.

"He's not part of Laughing Coffin." Kirito warned.

"We have to be sure." The man swung his sword at Kirito. He immediately reacted with a storm of blades, whirling around, glowing. He finished the 10-hit combo, blasting him to the air.

The DDA sub-leader was the leader of the forwards, and known to be one of the best players defensively. The rest of the DDA looked at their leader, his health at the red zone.

"Take out the teleport crystals." Kirito commanded. The DDA leader got up.

"Escape and we'll find you!" The words rang in his head,but he shook it off.

"Teleport: Corinth!" Kirito yelled, and his guild teleported to the capital city of Floor 75.