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Evangelion Versus Angel Online

Chapter Four

"The universe is big. It's vast and complicated and ridiculous and sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles."

-Unknown, recorded c. 102 AD

Unknown Date - Skies Above Aincrad

And there I was... standing on a glass floor staring down at the flying castle that I've come to know as my very own Special Hell. "How is this possible?" I could only mutter to myself. I'm... alone. I don't want to be alone. All I could do is shout out to the metal structure below me "what now! What in the hell do I do now! Kirito! Asuna! Langley!" The last thing I recall... Irate vanished in a weird flurry of light. Then... nothing. I was here in some sort of no-space.

Asuka, no, Langley told me 'happy birthday' then everything turned white. It wasn't a teleport, at least, not one I've seen before. I can't believe I'm going to die here. "What now! What happened!" All I can do is shout and beat on the glass walls that seem to be impenetrable to my dagger. I could try other weapons, but I've been hit by my own attacks before. They suck. At this rate, my stamina bar will drop to zero and I'll die. Well... maybe the real GMs will be kind and make this glass prison disappear before I starve to death. I'd rather it happen quickly from fall damage than slowly get stamina sickness. Though... that's only a rumor. I wonder if it's true that players who don't eat die. I don't want to find out this way. I never want to find out.

What was Irate thinking? I mean, that had to have been a GM terminal. I mean... I know GM terminals. But at least my hacks are clean. His was... Shit! I could hack better sleeping!

How long have I been up here? I couldn't stand to shout anymore. I figure I'm shouting at nothing... or... maybe that bastard Kayaba Akihiko can hear me. And he's laughing. "Can you hear me," I shouted again, gathering the will to, from my unbreakable glass cell. "Can you hear me, Kayaba Akihiko! Who in the hell do you think you are?" The words brought calm I didn't know I could experience at the moment. All I want it to get back to Langley. No... I want to take her home and never come back to this place.

"I... I hear..."

"What was that," I asked softly, not that there's anyone to hear up here.

"I... I am... I am here..."

"Again." What is it? Is something... Is it you, Kayaba Akihiko? You've come to taunt me...

A black clad figure appeared outside my prison. It just floated there. Though... I guess my cell is transparent glass. It might look like I'm just floating here. The creature seemed to radiate darkness in one form or another, because the light around it looked compressed. As if the light bent around him. It doesn't surprise me really... physics takes a back seat in this world. I prefer the more or less known laws of reality back home.

"I am here... Ikari... Ikari Shinji... Shinji... Ikari... No... Wrath... Wrath of the... Divine... Child... No... Perhaps... Job... Like man... Pursued by demons and gods and humans alike... A joke on his faith... Ancient writings from foolish humans..."

What am I hearing? His voice grinds on my ears. "Who are you?"

"Interesting... She... The Ikari-Prime... She asked 'what' rather that 'who...' You are something wholly new..."

"Answer my question. Who are you?" I'm not really in any place to be demanding anything, but trying and getting turned down is better than never trying at all.

"I am death."

I took a step back, totally caught off guard. "What does that mean?" And why am I stuck on the questioning side of everything. I don't know anything.

"I am death and fear and rage and I am," he said unhesitatingly. "This I told the Ikari-Prime on another time plane. In another space."

Wait... I've heard this before... Where? "Death? What does that mean? I still don't understand what you're talking about!"

"The second..."

"The second?"

"The second Ikari-Prime... male... visual enhancements... broad... I said... I said to him..."

"What did you say to dad?" It's obvious it's mom and dad he's talking about... where would this guy have seen them? And what's up with calling them 'Prime?' Let me think... in the animal kingdom, a prime comes before progeny, right? So he's referring to them through me? And... linguistics... one addresses who he speaks to as himself. Is this his way of addressing me? He's acting like a broken NPC or something.

"I am death. Death of Yui Ikari..."

I flinched as he continued.

"Death of the Akagi. Death of the Sohryu. Death to the progenitors... Death to Lilith, to Adam, to them all."

"Why all this death? And," I said, raising my voice, "who the hell are Lilith and Adam?"

"Why... a different question... the second Ikari-Prime... he... he said," an audio recording of father's voice asking "And what about me?" came through my ears. "I am, yet I do not understand your question. I do not understand the why. Why do you not understand?"

That's the first question he's asked. "Because something doesn't make sense," I answered. If he's confused, why not see about getting him to think a little.

"What is not understood?"

That's right... keep talking. I'll know more the more you talk. "I don't understand the question. Each of us is missing something. You tell me what you know, and I might be able to understand."

He seemed to hesitate a moment. "I see. I understand now. In the beginning, there was the word and god and the word was god and god was the word..."

"Wait," I said, getting him to stop, "what about more recent information?"

"I see, Job."

What? What's going on? Why is he all kinds of cooperative now? Wait... he changes his means of address.

"It is said that the grave is open and the destruction is rampant. It is the path of Job to bury the past and kill Death. I am death. This is my realization. This is why others have died. A plot spanning a mere quarter century." Is it me... or does he sound more... human?

"So if I have to kill death, and death is you, then what? Try to kill you from my prison?" How the hell am I going to get out of this one? I mean, this guy seems to think I have to kill him and has a flare for the dramatic. I mean... What's with the biblical references? They're so last century.

"Your prison is broken. You fall back to the new Earth. It is your home."

"What do you," before I could get to the word 'mean,' the floor under me vanished and I fell.

"Your Death awaits you. Find him atop the new Earth."

The voice is different now... it doesn't have the harsh metallic grind to it. He sounded almost feminine for a moment there.

"Akihiko is not your enemy."

The voice is clearly feminine now. The black cloaked figure disappeared as I fell. By the time I got into a position where I could see above me, a white figure was floating where my cell had been.

"The real enemy is trapped on the top-"

The voice was cut off and I felt myself land... hard. I landed on the outside of one of the upper floors of Aincrad. I could see an open floor below me, but his one was covered in a metal shield. Probably a way to keep players from skipping boss fights to access higher levels. Not that it would do them any good to fight over powered mobs before they're ready anyway. If I drop a floor or two at a time, using my daggers to control the fall, I might be able to land without dying. "Where's my teleport crystals when I need them?" Back in the tavern, dummy. Didn't think I'd be needing them.

Still, I thought as I fell down, what was all that about? Who is this Death guy? Who was the other voice? Questions for another day. That death guy mentioned mom and dad. He even said he'd kill Dr. Sohryu and Aunty Naoko. But... I don't have any idea who Adam or Lilith are... more of dad's friends? Probably code names of one sort or another. I mean... with all the obscure ideas he stole from the Christian bible, he might not be the only one involved.

I don't get any of this. Once I land, I'll need to get in contact with Langley.

6_June_2023 - 23:56

Floor 35, Aincrad

I eventually reached the front line floor of Aincrad around eleven at night on the same day I left. You know, if you had to descent a mountain on your birthday, you'd probably be a little sour too. I never understood why people were so enamored with 'Immoral Objects.' When I landed on the border of Floor Thirty-Five, people were staring me down like I was some random event or something. It was just disconcerting to be the center of attention. Needless to say, I ran off to the center of the main town quick as I could.

By the time I made it back to the Knights of Cydonia HQ, the night guard had already closed the gate for the night and a clock visible from outside read close to midnight. I wonder if I'll be able to find lodgings tonight...

"Hey," I called to a guard through the gate, "can I get back in tonight?" No point in giving up before I start. Then again... that's what got me in trouble back on Floor Twenty-Five

The guardsman came over with another man on duty. "What's your purpose here?"

"I'm looking to stay the night," I answered.

"I can't open the gate without permission. Can you come back?"

"I was here last night, if that makes this easier. We must have seen one another sometime in the last day or so," I insisted, betting that he'd seen me around even if I hadn't paid enough attention to see him.

"Can't say I have, player. I can try to get my superiors, but can't make any promises. That all right?"

I guess it was pretty shitty of me to put him in this position anyway. Nice to see someone who takes guard duty seriously in SAO. "I'll wait. Anything dangerous come by this time of night?"

"Not that I've ever seen," the other guard, a women judging by the voice if not by her height, said. "Only ever see night-owls and tireless NPCs this late."

The first guard went to find his boss, but the female guard stayed behind. "It's already after midnight?"

"Yeah," she answered quickly. "That a problem."

"Not as such, just... disappointing."

The guard removed her mask and asked "why's that?"

For a second there, she almost looked like someone I used to know. Weird déjà-vu moment. "I turned fifteen today- well, yesterday now."

She perked up. "Well, happy birthday then."

"Th-thank you. That means a lot in here."

"I know. My birthday's in December, so I didn't know many people in Aincrad when it came around. Didn't have much chance to celebrate even if I had. Spend the whole week on this pain in the ass quest to find a rare item."

She's very talkative. I wonder if she's always like this, or just talking to kill time.

"Damn thing turned out to be a key to another quest. Sold it for a few thousand Col and settled on Floor Twenty."

Stranger and stranger. "If you have a place on Twenty, why are you here?"

"What, you've never worked before- wait, are fourteen year olds allowed to work in Japanese cities these days?"

That's common knowledge. "You don't know? The most recent child labour laws say that anyone twelve and up can hold a job. There are restrictions for certain ages below twenty, but it's fairly loose. Why don't you know that? Aren't you Japanese?" I guess I could have been nicer about it, but come on! Even the first-years in my junior high know about labour laws.

"I am," she defended. "I just haven't been home in a few years, that's all. I've been working in the EU since 2018."

"Where in the EU," I asked, wondering if only to pass more time. Where is that guardsman with permissions?

"Germany. I'm a computer engineer... or at least, I was before getting stuck here. Now," she brandishes her sword, a short blade in the ancient Japanese style, "I'm Mariko now. And a Samurai."

"That's your real name? I hardly ever see real names in MMOs."

"No," she says, turning her head and blushing. "It's a reference to a show I watched when I was a kid. Long story," she says dismissively, "before your time. Don't ask."

"All right. Maybe another time," I said, not really wanting to hear the story in particular. It was something grandfather on mother's side once said... 'You don't piss in a mud puddle; you might have to drink from it.' I guess it makes sense, if it's something that a seventy year old really shouldn't say to a six year old.

"Maybe," she said. "Want me to find out where Skara is?"

"Skara," I asked.

"The other night guard. He's been gone a while to be getting permission to open the gate."

"Sure. I don't want to be outside all night."

She looked slightly annoyed, but I have to be honest. If I'm remembered as an honest asshole, it would be enough. Just as long as no one has negative memories of me. She turned on her heel and walked into the Cydonia HQ.

I heard a scream moments after she vanished through the front portcullis.

I leapt over the gate, something that I could have done the whole time, and ran into the lobby I was only moderately familiar with from my first visit to the Knights' base. The sight would have made me lose my bountiful dinner, even a day after it, if this had been the other world.

The guardsman, Skara, I think it was, was impaled on a spear holding him up on a wall. His armor was losing durability, but his health was stable due to the 'safe zone' status of the base and town. Mariko's helmet was dented and half way across the room from where she seemed to have collapsed. Was she attacked, or was the helmet dented before? I wasn't paying enough attention to it.

First things first, pull the spear from the guardsman and check on Mariko. Pulling it, I added it to my inventory for safe keeping and went to Mariko. She wasn't hurt, but it looked like she was attacked.

"You there," I said to the guard. "Skara, get over here."

He came over, but from my order or out of comradeship to his partner, I didn't know. "Yeah."

"Check her for any other injuries. I think she's just out, but I don't want to leave any weapons or such to drop her durability farther."

He looked me over a bit before following orders.

"Sir," he saluted, before tending to his companion. Now... where is the offender?

I made my way through the building, expecting to find someone who doesn't belong. I made it over the gate without a problem, so whoever it is isn't necessarily a member or a monster. Turning down the hall to the low-quality guest quarters, I spotted a player stumbling out of his room. I ran to him.

"What happened," I asked.

"Paralysis," he groaned out. "Low... level... still... move..."

"I get it. Where?"

"Bed... dark..."

I laid the man down, unconcerned that he'd fall under more attack than this, and went to the man's quarters. It's dark. I pulled a fire-starter from my active pack to get some light into the room. It was knocked from my grasp and I took an attack. No HP damage, but I was on my back and nearly defenseless. "What the hell-" I managed to yell out before my attacker leapt from the edge of the light from the hall and on top of me. I stared up at him.

"Who are you to interfere," the cloaked player asked me.

Never answer a question with a question if you can help it; especially in situations like this. Screw that. "Who am I to stop an attack," I said, baiting him.

"Who indeed... Who's to die," he said, pulling back into a system skill attack. His weapon didn't look bigger than a dagger, but it didn't have a hilt or guard. It almost looked like a bladed stick, rather than a weapon.

The attack struck me in the torso, making me scream in simulated pain as the metal entered my body. An alarm on my HUD blared. "A poison," I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Freezes the bones. Stay there and this will all be over soon," the hooded man said.

I... I can't move. I slumped down to the floor, my arms and legs not moving at will as always. This is... discomforting. My body fell to the floor. I didn't feel the soft impact of my behind setting down or the harder impact of my head falling to the left and finally pulling my body over with a resounding thud. I bet it would have hurt if my connection wasn't muddled with the poison. How can I move.

Just then, I heard another scream in the building. Where are those bastards now! I can't believe I'm stuck here like some newbie player, unable to do anything useful. What can I do... options. The poison counter reads fourteen minutes and change left. This isn't a powerful one, but more focused on duration, it seems. I can move my torso, but my limbs and head are totally out. What else? I have that dispel poison item, but can I get it with only minimal body parts to move? This could very well be bad.

The door opened. Light shone in on me from the hallway. I could still hear fighting and the occasional scream going on out there, so I think I might be in trouble. If those freaks know who I am, I might just be killed right here... well, not here, but maybe dragged out for monsters to eat me... or forced into a duel.

I... I don't want to die.

I closed my eyes tight, waiting for the end to come.

"What are you clenching your eyes for? Come on, get up. We have to move."

I opened my eyes. It's still dark, but the paralysis counter on my HUD is gone and I can feel my limbs again. I activated Dark Sight and looked around again. Langley... in that bright red coat with her sword. But... how?

"What's going on, Asuka?" I switched to her name. She flinched at it only slightly.

"Don't call me that here," she said icily. "An Orange guild is attacking the Knights of Cydonia. I figured you'd come here looking for Irate and myself, so I came around when I though you'd get back. But..." She glanced around at the unconscious members and those still being held to the walls by small weapons. "Well, lets get these guys and go for those Orange schwanz leckers." I didn't catch that last part. I don't think I wanted to anyway. "I think I know who they are."

But... how did you know I'd be taken in the first place? "Fine. Then you can tell me what's going on. I'm tired of asking that question."

"Shinji," she said, even ignoring her request not to be called by her name, "I didn't intend to hide all of this from you. Help me one more time before I tell you the score?"

I looked at her, looking and sounding more earnest than ever before. "Yeah, I will."

"Let's go."

We pulled the members of Cydonia from the walls, pocketing whatever weapons or other items were holding them in place as we went.

As Langley got the last person from the inner wall, I went down the passage to the main office area. Last time I was here, I noticed the hall but not where it led. I guess the guild leader works down there. When I got to the end of the hall, I saw a notice on the door that read 'Leader of the Shining Knights of Cydonia - Matt-san.' Peeking inside the open door, I saw three men in black cloaks surrounding who I supposed was the leader. He sat quietly in a somewhat unimpressive plush chair in front of an equally unimpressive looking wooden desk.

"What can I do for you gentlemen this fine evening," he said in a rather fine and formal Japanese.

"Surrender the... goods... and property... of your guild... to us. This is all," said the man in the center of the three.

The Knights' leader leaned back in his chair. "Is that all? You'll not hunt my members any longer?"

This time, the man on my left, a young man with a high pitched voice, said "of course. You have my word."

And the one on the right, slouching and bobbing back and forth a bit, said "on our honor, you will not come to harm based on the actions of Laughing Coffin."

Honor? As if. These guys are barely a step from PKing. They decimated the building and attacked every member in the dead of night. Screw this. But I need a plan.

As if reading my thoughts, Langley appeared behind me. She pointed to the front door, glancing at it to direct me. We crept back down the hall and out of the building.

"What's the plan," I asked.

"What do you mean by that? We're getting out of here," she said matter of factly.

No way in hell we're leaving them. "Didn't you see what happened in there!" I was practically yelling, though... I managed to keep my voice low, thinking of the Laughing Coffin members still inside and probable within range to hear.

"They'll be fine. A couple weeks of poverty, nothing more. The economy in Aincrad is a little more forgiving than the Japanese one."

Is that your attempt at justifying this? "We need a plan to get their money back! We need to help them!"

"No," she told me, "you want to help them out of some misguided heroism!" Langley snapped.

"Fine! It might be misguided... but..." I don't know what to do. I can't kill them... but that's how you get wealth in SAO. You kill or you die. "I have to. Otherwise, everyone would be sad and angry at me."

"Is that your reason?"

"It is," I replied instantly.

"Fine then. I have an idea," Langley offered.

"Well?"

"Lure them to the PK zones and we bluff. Tell them my guild is on the way and throw up a flare or two." It sounded so simple, but it was a huge gamble.

"You're sure it'll work?"

"No way to know until we try," she answered, sounding slightly like our homeroom teacher for just a second... irresponsible lush that she is.

So that's what we did. We waited until those members of Laughing Coffin left the Knights of Cydonia headquarters and ambushed them.

"What the fuck," screamed one of the members, the one with the high voice.

"After them, we can't have outside witnesses," the calmer, older sounding member said.

What does that mean, 'outside witnesses?' Wait! From how the Knights of Cydonia were attacked, not many members would have seen Laughing Coffin. Maybe the only person inside who saw them was the leader. Not that it would matter. He paid them to leave his guild alone in the future.

"Run," Langley said, bringing me out of a moment's hesitation while in thought.

We ran from the members, taking a little damage to out equipment along the way. These guys were fast. The two of us could only stay a short ways ahead of them without running the risk of getting slashed with their weird blades.

I took one more poisoned stab to my back as we entered the PK zone. Luckily, the blade didn't damage me much and the poison wasn't much to speak of: ten seconds of reduced speed. When we got another fifty or sixty feet into the forest, Langley sent up three coloured flares, green, yellow and red, in succession.

The members of Laughing Coffin stopped a mere dozen paces from us. "You either leave your plunder, or face the Agency in all it's power," Langley called out to them. "Look around you," she waved her hand in a large semi-circle. "Can you Orange players guess how many of my comrades are already here? One more? Five? All of them?"

All of them is pushing it, but they might buy it. The Agency isn't a power to be ignored, especially once a member have revealed him (or rather her) self.

The members of Laughing Coffin paused, seemed to think the offer of surrender over a moment and the leader opened his inventory. "This... is the cost... of surrender... tonight's takings... We have no quarrel... with the Agency."

Langley walked over to the leader of the opposing guild. "Thank you. In the future, if you plan to plunder, perhaps think of working with the Agency. You would make more than this pittance in an hour of servitude to us."

The guild leader handed Langley the container of goods and money nodding "perhaps... one day... Red... Baron... Langley."

With that, the Orange guild vanished into the darkness.

"Is it over," I asked.

"For now," Langley said. "You can all go now," she called out loudly.

"I thought you were bluffing."

"I was. But better that the vanquished continue to think so, rather than leave suspicion in the air. Wouldn't you agree, Aincrad's best ranger, Jo~b."

We got out of that, scared an Orange guild out of their loot, and got the Knights' money back... all on a bluff. I call that a good night.

7_June_2023 - 06:34

We returned the money and goods to a very grateful guild and went on our way. Langley refused to speak until we finally left the Floor.

"Another good deed done in this hellhole of a video game," she said once we got to Floor Three.

"What is that suppose to mean," I said, repeating the question I've been asking for three days.

"Aren't you happy? I did exactly what you wanted and you're still asking for more?" She flicked me in the forehead.

"Ow!"

"Well... maybe I can let you in. I'll have to ask the director- sorry, sub-director."

"You're not making any sense," I told her, rubbing my forehead.

"I might never make sense again," she laughed. "This whole world's about to be turned on its head and you're asking for a guided tour. You sure about that?"

Not that I think I can really turn you down at this point. "Yes."

"Then take my hand."

"Wha-" I tried to say before Langley took my right hand in hers and pulled a teleport crystal.

"Special teleport: Agency!"

We were enveloped in a white light that didn't look like a normal teleport. The light effect is too... glittery.

When I opened my eyes, we were in a modern office building. A receptionist was standing at a desk in a sterile-white room.

"Welcome back, Red Baron. Welcome, Ranger Job, to the main offices of the International Project Evangelion Agency."