Chapter 8: Reap, End, Repent
[4/23/24 | 5:43 p.m. | Floor 57, Martin | Sword Art Online Let's Play Part 506]
"Because, I was there."
I leaned against the wall, letting the tense silence take over the room.
"She left her inn and crossed paths with me on the road to a town with the Teleport Gate, carrying the ring you guys were talking about. Since we were going the same way, we walked together with some small talk. Until we reached a halfway point to the town where all kinds of dense plant cover surrounded us, an ambush was sprung by a group of red players. During the fighting, Griselda was killed by an assassin. That's when I was told to find her guild. So, it's been six months since her death and, coincidentally, I find Golden Apple and the fact that some elusive avenger is killing off possible suspects who caused her death from the same guild."
Schmidt asked hopefully, "Then, none of us were Griselda's murderers. We're all innocent?"
"Well, her murderers had been already dealt with. Whoever's killing you guys off is hunting down the fucker who hired them," my answer said.
"Hired?" Asuna interjected.
I turned to face her, "They only wanted Griselda. If they just tried to kill both of us without a thought, then I would have dismissed it as a red guild having a party. But, they were too focused on her. They might've tried to kill me, too, yet it seems like I was more of an unfortunate witness than any normal prey."
"I also see another thing: this could be the work of Griselda's revenge," Yolko's response surprised even me, "It's only natural that a ghost could kill a player in safe zones. No human soul could defend him or herself from it. And, last night, I stayed up thinking. Thinking that …" Her eyes visibly widened at her thought.
Her shrieking realization might as well break windows, "IN THE END, IT WAS ALL OF US WHO WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR HER DEATH! WHEN THAT RING DROPPED, WE NEVER SHOULD HAVE LET IT COME DOWN TO A VOTE! WE SHOULD HAVE LET HER DO WHATEVER SHE WANTED!"
She calmed down on the surface of the open windowsill, "Grimlock was the only one who wanted to give her that option. So it's his right to take revenge on the rest of us for her."
The quivering figure of Schmidt panicked, "You're kidding me … You're kidding me … After six whole months, why now?" He stood up in protest, "Are you just going to allow this, Yolko? Allow yourself to be killed like this?!"
Before his fellow ex-guildmate could reply, everyone heard the physical 'squick' of a blade piercing virtual flesh. Yolko's face of shock and horror only confirmed our senses when she turned around, revealing a dagger of similar design to the sword that killed Kains.
"Yolko-san!" Kirito was the quickest to react as he dashed for the window while Yolko fell off the side of the building.
The shatter of data sounded the passing of the player who had fallen.
"What the hell, Kawahara? She had a nice ass!" a complaint said totally not by yours truly.
A rapier was pulled out of its sheath, "What did you just say?"
The same voice that was not me pleaded, "Nothing! Nothing at all!"
Kirito leaped out the window, saying, "Asuna, I leave the rest to you!"
"Wait!"
Seeing that the swordsman was on pursuit, I spotted the runner in the black cloak running through the rooftops, while my hand readied a tomahawk. "Okay, guys. Let's see here. Wind direction, speed, and pressure. Check. Weapon balance. Check. COD skills. A bit rusty. Here we go!" And I threw the axe hard and high, watching it arc towards the player. However, just before it made contact with the cloth, the head bounced of a purple hexagonal barrier. "What the fuck! That's bullshit! That should've one-shotted him. Where's my Scalper achievement?! C'mon, Call of Duty Multiplayer skillz don't transfer here!"
(It is a n RPG. Call of Duty has pretty much nothing to do with it. Deal with it.) (Shut up, TF2 kid.) (Oh, look out. Ass-sore COD noob on the page.) (Okay, just kidding. I love both COD and TF2, so shut the fuck up.) (Not while I'm awake.) (I can make you sleep forever with Mr. Sharpy Thingy here. Meet up with me in SAO, will you?) (Touche ….. How about no!? Different dimension, dickwad! Can't catch me here!) (Fuck!)
After me and The Guy Beyond the Wall of the Fourth ended our little 'banter', Kirito entered through the door upon his return.
Asuna scolded with her weapon pointed, "You idiot! Don't go on being reckless!" Then sheathing it, she asked, "Well? What happened?"
The teen in black shook his head, "No use. He teleported to get away." His fist tightened, "Inside the inns, we're protected by the system. Certainly, she should've been safe."
Shaking in new fear with his hands wracked on his head, the HDA officer muttered, "It was her robe. Griselda's ghost … She's finally come for her revenge on us." The poor guy lost it, laughing in his crazy 'revelation', "For a ghost, pulling off safe-zone PKs would be simple, right?"
At the same time, Kirito and I stated, "That was no ghost."
He hissed in frustration, "There's got to be some systemic logic to make sense of these safe-zone murderers. There just has to be."
I grumbled inaudibly, "I don't think it's even possible to begin with."Eying the crazed figure of the last Golden Apple target, "Guess I have to shadow him. Hopefully, whatever 'avenger' this person is can be caught in the act."
(Some time later on Floor 19)
In the forest, the misty forest ~
The players bitch toniiiiight!
In this forest, the foggy forest ~
I can't see shit without flashliiiiights!
Icantseeshit, icantseeshit, icantseeshit, icantseeshit.
"Seriously, what's with this fog? It's so thick that I can barely see anything – WHOA!" my brakes went off before I could ram myself into a dead tree like an idiot schoolboy, "Yeah, like those sneaky trees. Let me guess what's next. A panda?"
"- so sorry! Forgive me, Griselda!" the pleas of the man I was tracking reached my ears, "I never imagined that something like that would ever happen!" He knelt in fearful prayer in front of a large, twisted tree trunk.
"Oh, there you are. Thought I lost you for a bit. Okay, guys, let's see what happens next to this poor confessor."
"Really?" a voice echoed.
"Who dat?" a not-so-subtle question slipped from my mouth.
"Really?" it repeated again.
Both of us turned our attention to a rapidly advancing blur of shadow, which turned out to be a bunny after the smoke cleared only to hop away again.
'So fuckin' cute. Ka-ka-kawaii.' Just a stray thought. "What? A guy can't like adorable animals?"
Trying to follow its shadow to the distance, it was only a moment later till a gasp of shock grabbed my attention once again. "There it goes again. So is this the part where it reveals or – oh holy shit."
"What did you do?" a cloaked woman stood in front of Schmidt, "What did you do to me, Schmidt?" She then revealed the toothed sword hidden beneath her cloak. The instantly recognizable weapon that could kill players in safe zones.
Schmidt bowed down again, head lowered, "I – On the day we agreed on the deal for the ring, there was a crystal and memo on my belt pouch, and the orders – "
"Whose, Schmidt?" she interrogated further, "Whose orders?"
Another cloaked figure slid smoothly across the barren ground, promptly joining his partner.
Sweating in his angst, Schmidt recognized the figure as another lost acquaintance, "Grimlock? You're dead, too?"
'Grimlock' repeated the interrogation, "Who was it? Who gave you the orders?"
The armored man replied, trying to shake his head in denial, "I don't know! I really don't! The memo only told me to sneak into Griselda's room, save the position of the crystal, and then deposit it in the guild bank."
"So?"
He looked up for a second, seeing that they're still unsatisfied, before bowing again for one final plea, "That's all I did! I would never murder anyone! Please believe me!"
All was still in the mist. The sky sank from gray to a deeper black. The eerie feeling of suspense was slightly suffocating.
That time ended with the sudden speed of realization, "We've recorded all of it, Schmidt."
The duo flipped up their hoods revealing to be Yolko and who I assume to be Kains.
"Well, looky here, viewers. The ghosts have come back to the realm of the living. Told ya guys it was fake. But we all have to admit, though, whatever trick they used was pretty good. Damn! Plot twist that was so obvious from the start unless you really really believe in ghosts!" I cheered in my branch cover.
Schmidt gazed at the warm glow of the recording crystal in Yolko's hand, "You recorded it?" Then, he dipped his head in relief, "I see … so you cared for Griselda that much."
"You didn't hate her either, didn't you?" Kains asked.
"Oh," he waved his hand hastily in hope of clearing his feelings, "Of course not! Believe me …" His face sullied into something more of guilty seriousness, "Sure, I only passed the entrance requirements into the Holy Dragon Alliance due to the rare weapon I bought from the money I received."
"Hmph, someone needs to wash their hands," I commented drily. A few silhouettes flashed my system-enhanced vision, "I sense something … dark." Then a gleam of light streaked the fog and landed on HDA armor, and Schmidt fell paralyzed.
An accented voice cheered in gratuitous English, "One down!"
Out of the shadows, three new cloaked players stepped into the scene. The one who just spoke and most likely threw the paralyzing dagger knelt down next to his victim. Another held his swordpoint threateningly against the other two. The last followed from behind. Unlike the cloaks of the Golden Apple members, these shorter cloaks were ragged on the edges and gave off a more urban Grim Reaper look, very much like the style of the one murder guild …
"Laughing Coffin, eh?" I grumbled, magnifying the grinning image of the black coffins on their hands, "And it looks like they came to cut off loose ends."
The last one appraised his findings, "Quite a big catch we have here." He acknowledged Schmidt, "He's one of Holy Dragon Alliance's higher-ups." His next question seemed to amuse his accomplices, "Now then … what game shall we play?"
The excitable dagger-wielder exclaimed, "That game! Let's play that game, boss… The game where they kill each other, and only the winner lives!"
His boss noted, "You say that, but … last time we did, you killed the survivor anyway."
"Aaa!" he whined, "You can't tell them that now! It won't be a game anymore, boss!"
"All right," the leader said in finality, "Let's get started." Schmidt could only watch as the two slowly walked towards him as the thick, rectangular edge of the cleaver swung and gleamed in deadliness.
However, the red players hesitated at the sounds of hoofbeats. Also, two knives were thrown at their feet. The horse reared up, whinnying in rebellion, and none other than the Kuro no Kenshi fell on his ass.
Seemingly unfazed by the damage done to his virtual tailbone, Kirito calmly praised his timely arrival, "Guess I made it just in time …" Slapping the horse's plot, he sent it off. (Every brony's dream, am I right? ;D) "So what are you gonna do? I've got backup on the way. Do you really want to fight 30 people from the Assault Team?" He drew his own sword in the standoff.
"Bluff! I mean – BULLSHIT!" I coughed ever so discreetly.
After yet another tense moment, (Really tense episode, I guess) (No more like more screen time to fill up for lack of anything else but CSI: Aincrad.) the Laughing Coffin leader snapped his fingers. The other two withdrew their weapons and waited for further orders.
"Let's go," he said flatly, and the group moved along.
Before they disappeared into the mist, my boots jumped off from branch to solid ground, "Oi! Chottomatte!" Their hoods turned to me.
"Oh, you were following him, weren't you?" Kirito asked.
I confirmed, "Yeah." Then, my question was directed to the murder guild members, "So, heard from your friends recently? I believe you missed a couple after the one mission about this woman." My head tilted towards the gravestone in front of the tree.
"Why, yes, we did. It was shortly after one of our members reported that he got the job until we lost him several minutes later. Then, the rest of his party went dark, as well. I could only believe that they died by monsters or whatnot, such is the natural way of this world. Death is anywhere," the leader replied.
"Hmm, 'tis sad, ain't it? Well, off you go then, just wonderin'," I waved them off.
Nodding in agreement, the trio once again resumed walking off to the distance. Till they fully disappeared from view, we all relaxed.
Sheathing his sword, Kirito voiced his relief, "I'm glad to see you again, Yolko-san."
Yolko looked at the ground, guiltily, "I was going to apologize to you properly, once everything was over," her gaze shifted upwards, "But I can't expect you to believe me."
"Eh, you're fine. Just means not only did you did what you needed to do, but we can replay episode 5 and pause at the 11-minute mark over and over again," I tried to console her.
"What?"
"Kirito," Schmidt shook off his paralysis, "Thank you for saving me, but how did you figure it out? The fact that those three would attack us here?"
The savior only answered, "It's not like I figured it out. I just guessed it as a possibility." He turned to the other two, "Hey, Kains … Yolko. You asked Grimlock to make those two weapons for you, didn't you?"
They looked at each other and nodded. "At first, he didn't really seem up for it. He said he wanted Griselda to rest in peace …" the girl began.
"But when we begged him, he finally forged them for us," her partner answered.
"Sorry, but the reason he opposed your plan wasn't for Griselda's sake. He thought that staging a dramatic incident like a safe-zone PK would draw too much attention, and people would figure it out, sooner or later. In my case, I only realized it half an hour ago," Kirito spelled it out for them, "Since Grimlock and Griselda were married, and they shared the same storage, the killer wouldn't get Griselda's items. He had no benefit from the murder, so the items, including the ring, could only go to the true benefactor. The one who organized her assassination was her spouse, Grimlock."
"It was him?" Schmidt questioned in horror, "It was Grimlock who sent the memo? And he killed Griselda?"
"Not personally, did he kill her," Kirito corrected, "Like Var said, he left the actual murder to red players specializing in such villainous acts."
"In this case, people who would have been part of the officially announced red guild, Laughing Coffin," I added.
"No …" Yolko gasped, "If he was the real killer, then why would he have helped us?"
"Really? Have you ever played the first Assassin's Creed?" I asked incredulously.
Ignoring my comment, Kirito continued, "You explained the whole plan to him, right? So this was the chance for him to use it to his advantage and bury the ring incident once and for all. All he had to do was wait for you, Schmidt, and Kains to gather together, so he could kill you all at once."
"So that's why …" Schmidt connected the dots, "That's why that murder guild came here."
"Most likely, he probalby knew them from when he hired them to kill Griselda."
"Called it," I said matter-of-factly.
"That's horrible," her blue hair fell with her from the horror.
"Found him," a new voice reported. In came Asuna, along with a tall man that could only be … Grimlock.
Kirito glared hard at the man, "We can ask him for the details."
"It's been a long time, everyone," Grimlock greeted.
"Grimlock-san …" Yolko's soft voice whispered, "Did you … Did you really …" Finally, she couldn't hold back her tears, "Why, Grimlock? Why did you need the money so badly that you had to rip it off after killing Griselda, your own wife?"
The widower scoffed, "Money? Did you say money? No, not for money. I – I had to kill her, no matter what … while she was still my wife. She was mine in the real world, too," that statement elicited even more gasps of horror, "The ideal wife, the perfect wife … Pretty, submissive … We never had a single fight."
"Sounds like someone had a happy marriage," I remarked sarcastically.
"But when we were both trapped in this world, she changed. Only I was scared, overcome by fear, cowered at this death we were forced to play. However, she never looked so much more alive, more fulfilled than she ever was in the real world."
"And how is that bad? You know, 'Happy wife, happy life'?" I quoted.
"I had no choice but to accept it … That the Yuko I loved was gone. Therefore – Therefore, I wanted to seal Yuko within my memories forever … while we were still in this world where murder is legal … and who could blame me?" he reasoned.
"I would," I answered under my breath, holding in my anger, "Murder ain't legal. Murder ain't cool. And murder makes you a massive dick if you do it on your own wife."
"You killed your wife for that reason?" Kirito argued.
"It's more than enough reason. Someday, you'll understand too, detective. Once you've found love and are about to lose it, that is," he concluded his point.
"No, you're the one who's mistaken, Grimlock," Asuna came by her future boyfriend's side (Oh come on! Anyone can see this coming, no matter how cheesy it is.) , "What you felt for Griselda wasn't love. Your only feeling for her was possessiveness!"
"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! #GETREKT!" Okay, let's not point fingers here, guys. I'm not that disrespectful. (Well, sometimes.)
And Asuna's romantic badassery had the dickhead on his knees. So, Schmidt and Kains stood by his hunched figure.
(Grim, can you explain how that works?) (It's a psychological thing, you know. Breaking a man's heart is pretty painful, and don't get me even started on the side effects.) (No, I mean how does that make Asuna a badass?) (Believe me, there are badasses in romance stories, too. And they pull it off without being in any action story. But I guess you have a point there.)
Kains made a request, "Kirito, could you let us deal with this man ourselves?"
The swordsman allowed it, "All right."
Lifting Grimlock over their shoulders, the two men walked away, and Yolko followed after, bowing in gratitude. In return, we bowed back. This case is finished.
"Alright, everyone. I think this ends yet another episode of the Sword Art Online Let's Play. A soul and a case finally laid to rest. I wish you all happy lives. And for the guys, happy love lives and wives, as well. Sending you off, this is Varlancer. Love ya' all. Bye. And why the hell is the sun shining now of all times?" Video end. "Seriously, I wouldn't have gotten lost like those times I've been to this place before, if it only shined like this." I was still angry from letting Grimlock go without at least a beating, but my mind composed itself at the view of radiant light shining through the hill.
When I marveled at the beauty of the light, my wonder grew as I noticed an image materializing on top of the gravestone. There stood the smiling figure of Griselda. The sight struck my mind to make me feel mixed emotions from the past, but I let them go, feeling them dissipate from my thoughts. She watched Asuna and Kirito come to see her, giving them a brief nod. Then, to me, she simply stared with her softly glowing eyes. It was a second later, and she had already faded away.
"Oh well. I forgot to fulfill our promise, so sorry for that. And I don't think I'll ever get the chance again. Besides, I don't deserve your kindness, anyway," I said to her memory, looking at my hands.
[Flashback Start]
[6/23/23 | Griselda's P.O.V.]
"Yeah, I ain't a counselor or anything, but even I think a relationship should be a bit more balanced than what you had before. You know, like, you get some critical roles; your man also get some others. System of checks and balances. Gender-equal democracy. That good stuff," the boy in front of me mused nonchalantly.
I deadpanned, "Have you ever been in a relationship?"
"Oh, hell no. If I had a girlfriend, I'd be checking my texts by now instead of picking up a freaking NerveGear. It's either that, or she would be a gamer and be my partner here with me like some badass battle couple right now, along with some friends that I don't currently have in large supply."
"So, why should I listen to you?"
"Absolutely no reason at all to. I'm just trying to get some words out of my mouth."
My hand slapped my forehead, "Now, I understand more about the problem child."
"Just saying, I'm a pretty average teenager, so what more do you expect?"
"An average teenager with his head actually on earth."
"I wouldn't be surprised if we're on the Cloud or some big server that's definitely not on the ground. Join the club."
"I pass. Now's a good time to start regretting the times I spent learning English."
"Wait, how did you learn English? Japanese Rosetta Stone?"
Of all of the times to come up with this topic, now he has to address the fact that I was speaking fluent English the whole time.
"No, I studied 2 years in America adding the fact that I also attend regular business trips there."
His eyes sparked with interest, "Really? Man, last time I tried learning something besides English, I gave up after the first year and just went to play Hearthstone under the desk all day."
"Can't you stay quiet for at least five minutes?"
He silenced himself, and I relaxed for five minutes. As annoying as he is, I do have to admit that he doesn't seem to be a bad person at heart. Plus, his confident and somehow impossible demeanor has the confidence of a player worthy to be up here in the frontier with those in the big guilds.
"Okay, five minutes are up. So, what cargo are you holding that you want to sell up here?" the boy said.
"Oh, it's this rare ring from the lower levels with an incredible Agility stat boost," I answered.
"What about Hiding?" he asked.
"Why do you ask?"
"Besides you talking about your marriage problems, you mentioned your guild was divided on whether to keep that item or not, so I just had an idea. It's nothing, really. But, seriously."
"Nothing at all on it."
"You don't have a split personality that insists you call the ring 'precious'?" he looked at me with a straight face.
Is he …?
"Of course not! This is not Lord of the Rings!"
With a sigh followed by a shrug, the boy surrendered his hands, "Sorry, just making sure. Can I see it then?"
How can this kid even consider that possibility? But at least he's honest. After some searching, my inventory presented the said ring on my palm. Before he even bent down to examine it, the shield dropped down into his hands, and he also drew the huge greatsword from his back. A hail of throwing blades rained from a side of the trail, and in a blur of metal sparking against metal they all fell harmlessly to the ground. Dust settled around the now alert figure.
"Griselda-san, you might wanna put on that ring," Varlancer said.
(Flashback to Part 231 | Varlancer's P.O.V.)
Temporarily disregarding how I just perfectly deflected all those blades like a badass, I noticed a translucent coat of liquid along the edges. With my experience dabbling with herb- and potion-mixing (totally not in the hopes of my fulfilling my dream to open up a bar complete with an underground black market for illegal drugs. *cough* And not trying to make Weed Art Online*cough* Version 4. .it *cough*), the paralysis poison was only elementary in deducing from its common appearance. To make matters worse, these are obviously the work of players, most likely orange or maybe even red.
Behind me, Griselda drew her sword and shield and moved to cover my back. Very nice of her.
"Just focus on blocking and dodging them. 'Cuz if you get hit, you're a sitting duck. And, oh, here comes another one from the bastards!" I called out on the wave of knives that came around next.
Hunkering down behind the shield, I picked out my own collection of sharp projectiles. My own wave of kunai were soon scattering the bushes, and a few cries of astonishment confirmed the hits. However, the klang of locking blades turned my attention to the flanking group of players ganging up on Griselda. I threw both of my armaments at enemies, knocking most of them down with their size and weight. This was soon followed up with a charge as my saxe knife slid from under my sleeve to the grip of my hand. A rush of the flickering blade punctured through the thin cloth of a black cloak only to do so again and again in rapid succession. Kicking away the wounded body, my next move was towards the next target who occupied the green-cloaked swordswoman in a furious whirlwind of hatchet and sword. A thrown knife stunned him long enough for me to run up, retrieve my weapon, and beat him senseless with the hilt. Then, after hiding away the knife under my sleeve again, I scooped up my previously discarded weapons as the stunned survivors slowly got back up. I took some time to catch my breath by my ally's side. I felt an invisible crosshairs on my forehead, like the sense of my blinking orange cursor made me targeted.
"Did you put on that ring?" I asked with eyes shifting through the half dozen assassins out for us.
She answered with a "yeah".
"Then, run. I'll cover you and keep those guys occupied."
"But, I can't just let you …" she hesitated.
"Goddammit, senpai. Just go! At least, just notice me for crap," my sword caught two daggers mid-lunge, and I pushed the two offenders away.
Still with initial hesitation, she turned and, with a burst of speed not of her own, sprinted for the direction of the town. On my side of things, I had to face these guys in ragged black cloaks.
"Get out of the way, boy. We only want to kill the woman," the calmly expectant tone of the player only fueled my suspicion of whether these people are even in their right minds. (Wait a minute. Var is questioning sanity? Wow, best joke of the chapter.) Like, is that seriously something a rational murderer would say? Wouldn't he just kill me and get it over with? Screw drama and mercy.
I rolled my eyes, "Get the fuck out of here, assholes. I only want you to not kill the woman."
One of the reds ran towards me with a sword raised. I sheathed my sword and let my knife once again be thrown from my hands. It pinned down a foot and the runner halted in his tracks, kneeling. Two more knives slid from my hands, thrown to pin down his hands next. Effectively stuck to the ground, the player could only writhe around in futility.
After, the assassins looked at their comrade then looked at the knives I was currently juggling in my twirling hands.
I only looked up at the knives flying high, "So, who wants to play 'Pin the Knife on the Stupid Jackass'? Sadly, we don't have a poster," my eyes came down on them with a sharp glint of warning.
However, said jackasses only rushed forward with their clearly superior numbers.
"But, I guess you will do," I finished with a sigh, "Thank you for the Skewer in advance."
As knives flew left and right, more and more of the players fell as the blades dug in like stakes, stopping them in their tracks. After the onslaught of poor souls being put down, I couldn't help but feel much more of a badass than I should. Partly because this isn't the kind of badass I wanted to be. Much to my chagrin though, I heard more rustling in the bushes behind me growing quieter as the escapee is back on the hunt for his target. With a curse, I gave chase.
"Damn me and my stupid weapon weight. I should've bought those Kon Boots while I had the chance. How can I catch up to this guy and drop him with his buddies?" However, the more disturbing thought yanked on my already strained line of thought, 'Will I make it in time so that he doesn't get to her?'
My legs speeded along the trail for the one who slipped from my grasp, and my eyes roved through the undergrowth furiously for any sign of his progress coming to cross paths with the one I have to protect. I've felt this vague helplessness before. Like my times playing soccer in a league as a typical defender and a pretty good one at that, I've felt the small pride of being able to stop and push back anyone who comes me and my partner's way, all for the sake of protecting the goal and the goalie inside it. I'd never let anyone get past me without me hot on their heels, but there are those who do anyway. And all I do is run as far as I could go, hoping that the goalie, our lone last survivor, can just push back that ball once to buy those precious seconds for another to come reinforce him.
"Heh, it's just a game. People win some, and people lose some. It's just motherfuckin' life. Life doesn't care what it gives and takes. Why the hell should I?" I tried to laugh at myself, "If the cheeky forward scores a goal, well, we can always come back. Hah!"
Oh yeah, the reality is that the crazy guy's gonna kill a bitch when he finds her. As much as I don't want to call her a bitch, she is the only other person in the scenario, plus she's actually female. And, crap on a biscuit, I hope she can stay alive long enough to live. If the insane bastard's gonna score any points, it's for taking a life. Like, seriously, just because gamers have no lives, it doesn't mean we have to take any, right? Unless you're a WoW warlock. Because that's what I had to do whenever I played that class. Either way, I'm an ass for making life and death sound so trivial.
A surprised yell interrupted my thoughts, and the thud of a falling body heightened my alarm. "Shut up, Var. She's probably already paralyzed now!"
With a newly awoken fear inside, my feet pounded harder on the dirt road. I couldn't help but hear another blade plunged through data, data that is all that is for a human's material existence living in this world. I couldn't help but see the imaginary images of what I will find. I couldn't help but feel like the worthless teen again who couldn't get off his ass fast enough. I couldn't help but run yelling and kicking up dirt as I watched the murderer bring down his last blade through Griselda's body. In a brief moment of clarity through my emotions, I remembered the weapons on my back and put them to good use. The shield, hurling towards his back in a razor sharp arc, knocked him off his straddling pose. He let out an agonizing groan as he pushed upwards in an attempt to stand again before I dropped from the heavens with a Sonic Leap, jamming my sword deep through his torso. The man jerked in pain but instantly fell limp soon after from the shock. When that skirmish was over, I immediately turned my attention to the wounded player I came for.
Griselda spoke in a ragged voice torn with labored breaths, not fitting with her more graceful tone I've heard not so long ago, "Var – haa – lancer, can you promise me something?" Her Japanese words made me turn my gaze away from the weapons I was pulling out of her virtual body hastily to check the text plastered on my HUD.
"Now's not the time. You're not dying, okay?" I growled in restraint of my feelings and fears. Fingers fumbled around my belt hidden under the robe, digging through my deep pockets. Why do I have so many weapons and not enough healing crystals to match? I'm so hatin' life right now.
"Find my guild – huuuuuuh – Golden Apple. Tell them I don't blame them. It wasn't them. – haaah – I lived." Her HP bar was a thin line, and by then I could only grunt out a "yeah" as I stared at her final expressions. It was a simple neutral gaze with a small look of contemplation slowly being realized into slight disappointment. Her lips lifted into a serene smile till I watched them crack and release into glittering lights reflected by the wonderful shards of her life.
That was my first time being at someone's side as I watched her die.
[Flashback and Video End]
(She just died in my arms tonight! It must have been something you wrote. I should've been more cool! Damn, why the hell do I get serious scenes now? They don't fit my character! I'm supposed to be ridiculous, charismatic, insane, twisted, and shit; and this doesn't fit the bill at all!)
(Well, excuse me for trying to give you character development.)
(Right now, I think you suck at it. So don't try.)
(Oh my God. Hey, try to look at the fuck I'm trying to give your 'I think you suck'.)
(I can't see it, moron.)
(Yeah, because there is no fuck I'm giving you. I don't give fucks to what you think.)
(-_-….. Well played. …. You're in a different dimension! It's obvious!)
(Does it look like I care?)
"Hey, Var," Kirito called out, "Wanna join us for a meal?"
I faced the two players, "Nah, I'm fine. I'll just see you guys later."
"Oh, yeah. I need to ask you something," he called again, "What happened to the Laughing Coffin members? Do you know?"
Should I tell him? "Uh, well …" I don't think I can. "I just sent them packing. After that, they were gone." I informed. A bright flash happened, and my trusty partner Daito stood beside me. Mounting him, we strode off to town.
'So, you didn't tell them.'
"Well, how could I? I'd just be more insane than I already seem. It'd be better if no eyes were constantly staring at my back, waiting for me to break."
'When you told me the story, I thought you were right to do so.'
"Daito, your kind is meant to fight us and pretty much kill us. You're a biased opinion."
'You admitted that humans are assholes. Besides, we're all killers to live.'
"A lot of them are. And the ones I dealt with that time especially so."
'Then think about it. You really did have your reasons.'
"But, they were more emotions than reason."
'Quit overthinking it. Just think like you always do.'
"I always overthink things."
'Well, for fuck's sake, don't punch yourself too hard.'
"*Sigh* I should stab myself at least once."
[Moments after Griselda's Death | Varlancer's P.O.V.]
Griselda's actual murderer was struggling to remove the blade dug deep through his torso. His hands tried to wrap his hands around it. He pushed his body in futility only to collapse in a heap, bored out of his mind from inactivity.
His head jerked towards the sound of my voice, "You know what you've just done, right? Killing a perfectly beautiful, married woman is a dick move."
His eyes widened in slight surprise, glued to the sight of my hand gripping the hilt over him. Then, he looked at me uninterestedly after calming down.
"Yeah, you get that sword off my chest, brat. Just let me go, have me meet up with my buddies, and I just might convince them to let you live. I already killed the woman, so nothing left for you. Am I right, hero?" he grinned at me, sickeningly.
I mimicked a thinker trying to gather his thoughts together with some head-scratching. Finally, a look of decision spread across my fake face.
The decision was, "Oh, you wanna see your friends? Don't worry. I'll handle that. Just sit tight for a sec."
The sword slowly pulled out from his body, and the body's owner grimaced in slight pain. Inch by inch (Or 2.54 centimeters by 2.54 centimeters for you non-U.S. readers. Just being considerate.), metal smoothly slid out until only the tip was grazing the flesh. Just before his expression freed itself from its painful grimace, it quickly reverted to its previous shock of being impaled again as the sword swiftly inverted itself in an upward swing. His body fell once again deep through while the man gave a surprised shout. Heaving the blade, including the red player over, my shoulder; I jogged back to where I left the rest of his party. Already, one of them was freed by his other comrades who I didn't pin down. Once they saw the limp figure of their party member, they froze in place. One drew his weapon and thrust forward as if to distract me. I simply threw my sword at him, wounding him again; but as a consequence the impaled man already occupying it split in half from the circular motions and promptly exploded in shards in his death. The cursor immediately gave off a slight burn on top of my head, branding a criminal. Red was my status and that was how I ended up on the level of these murderers … and buried myself even lower.
Once again, my new knives crossed the distance with the rest that were still standing, sending them back to the ground. Having lost one of their own, they paled at my steadily contorting, twisted grin. My thoughts went berserk with my newfound taste of death, and self-control couldn't seal the widening cracks in the armor covering my mind. Unfortunately, the barriers couldn't hold. Within me, all hell broke loose.
My voice impressed me with a demonic undertone, "Sentai Avatar Change."
The oh-so familiar transformation sequence didn't feel as normal than what I was used to. It felt like a shroud, hazy and also hazardous. This time didn't feel right.
This loadout included a long, black samurai robe with regular sandals. Strapped onto my back was another greatsword with an unusual knife-like appearance with no crosspiece or guard. If the outfit seemed ordinary enough, then the most striking feature was the intimidating mask concealing half of my face. As if from a ghost story, the grinning skull-like face also had my headgear theme of the compass star covering my eyes horizontally but also split my face vertically. Behind shadowy depths of the sunken interior, only hollow eyes glared coldly back.
"Death pities those who laugh. Those who laugh cannot hear Death laughing over their shoulder. I am the Death's reaper of souls. Shinigami, Egaodosō. Sanjou." My amusement with these monsters should have been satisfied, I guess. "Now, who wants to visit Hell? I heard their torture chambers are superbly state-of-the-art just recently. And they were already advanced enough with the new tools last time I came."
After a wide sweep of the area, the lucky winner was picked up by the neck, hurled at a tree trunk, then had a spear through his center to keep him there. What was scarier to me, I wondered. The fact that I was executing a player in my own sadistic way, red cursor or not; or that I was laughing a real, authentic, hysterical laugh that might as well make yanderes go crawl back to a cage. (Yeah, if any of you felt bad for Yuno, well, I might sound like a dick. Or a common author making a reference. Screw it.)
The details fast-forwarded in an attempt to make this whole turn more forgettable, but they were just too important and scathing to disregard from my memories. I just couldn't free my mind from the murderous blur.
Spinning that spear-pierced man like a record lasted only a minute before a knife came between his eyes.
Lopping off a man's arms and sending him running only served my insane entertainment. It wasn't long before axes bounced and skidded along the ground till they dismembered the rest of his limbs. And the axe finisher before his torso was another addition to the slaughter.
Grinding a man up with a spinning naginata made a fine sparkling mist, scattering the area.
Two men were complete porcupines after having an entire rain of weapons hail upon them. Makin' it rain!
Oh, beating someone's face in with a healing crystal was so ironic. I made a bet with him, saying that if I could beat him with it till it breaks; I'd heal him with the crystal. But, the thing was … it did break. It only healed me, for some reason; so we had to go for round two. Sadly for him, he died after a couple smashes. Wish he could've lasted longer.
And then I – Well, you don't want me to go further, right? Because who knew that it would turn out this way, right? You know how the most carefree and entertaining characters can have their dark moments. It's not like the author just wanted to experiment with dramatic and more violent scenes. (Fuck you!) (I'm currently a psychopath, whatcha gon' do 'bout it?) (Let's start by establishing that you aren't a psychopath!)
Oh, phew. Just one more to go. Then it will be all over.
I sat cross-legged next to the last man who was sweatier than a yak in Ecuador. Taking out my sleeve to clean my blade up a bit (despite having no real blood or such on it), I consoled the last victim.
"Aye, don't worry. I'll make this one relatively quicker than the others because you've made it this far. Just do me a favor, will ya?"
He only tried staring deep through my mask in a last attempt to persuade me otherwise.
"Stupid people. Not giving any response when a man has to give another man a solid. Baka," I grumbled out the last foreign word in disdain. Rolling my eyes, I sighed, "Okay then, any last words or requests?"
Before he could answer, my sword hilt butted him in the forehead. His body slowly glowed with a clear blue light.
"Sorry, asshole, but you're not doing me a solid. Therefore, I'm not doing you one, either!" I knocked him up into the air. I started yelling really loudly, "Since you're the last one to die, I'm gonna make you do my request anyway. First thing, give the Devil a brofist for me. Really nice of him to put extra cheese on my burger. Next thing, please tell Death that I'm frankly getting tired of the texting. Would be great to see her. Last thing, tell the rest of your buddies this 'cause I forgot –," I jumped up to where the doomed was falling, with hugeass knife-blade in hand that is definitely not a moon that slays shit, "REPENT MOTHERFUCKER!"
SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE!
Landing back to the ground, I basked in the final death before my thoughts and senses came back to my will.
I slapped my forehead, "God. Damn. It. I'm a murderer now and an insane one at that." After I lay down on the trail where so much carnage was never seen again but had already happened, multiple deep breaths calmed me down, "What have I done?"
[Flashback End]
"Well, at least, I got over it."
'Yeah, make sure you get a grip, though. You don't want to risk breaking yourself down anymore.'
"I'm pretty sure it's gonna come back to bite me in the ass."
(Character development, huh?)
(Fine, more like character 're-definition'.)
(You made it up. Now, not only am I scaring off Laughing Coffin, now it's your viewers, too.)
(I'm sure they'll be more understanding. This is probably as dark as this story gets. The rest is going to have some shady parts, yes; but nothing else to be concerned about … I hope.)
(I'm now a dormant psychopath. They have every damn right to be concerned.)
(Sociopath! You have more anti-hero qualities, I believe. So, if you want make yourself look like a bad guy, go for it. Though, take Daito's advice. This is probably the worst you'll ever do in your fictitious life. Nothing else.)
(I'm still insane, however.)
(We're both that since the beginning, just a more entertaining kind of insane.)
[-]
Yeah … that was a thing. Technically, the summary did say, quote on quote, "probably insane Let's Player".
Like I told Var, that was the darkest part of his time here in Sword Art Online, and given his usual mentality he'll keep himself together till the end.
Nothing else to say really, but … GODDAMN! THIS TOOK AGES TO UPDATE! I don't know about you guys, but a month in summer goes by so fast and makes me so fuckin' lazy. It's ridiculous!
Now onto the reviews:
Ithilgoree: Really, you noticed? Well, I guess it's not too hard to tell given my updating speed and random stuff spewed out of my mind. Thank you, however.
Axel The Moon: CALM DOWN, BROSKY! Just think. Who else talks in bold letters? (Play Jeopardy music. Doodoodoodoo-Doo~doodoodoodun!) …. Deadpool in the Son of a Mercenary fanfic that I favorited. That guy loves breaking the fourth wall. (Like who else? Me? | Randomly-conjured Imaginary Ego: Oh my, Lock. Why do you talk so boldly?)
Crimson Homura: (totally not embarrassed and totally not blushing) Well, it was meant to be a usual comedy chapter, but it wasn't that outstanding. Either way, I can't say anything else but be honored to have your praise and privilege. BUT, this might not be the next chapter you're looking for. (runs out AFK)
That's it for this chapter of Let's Play Sword Art Online, and while also praying for both me and Var's sanities, I'm here as GrimRangerLock. Ja ne!