I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters.

Death Game

Michael stared at the screen. Work had stopped. Everyone was gathered in the office, or the lounge, or the main room and all the screens were on the same news report. One that Michael was the only one to truly understand the full gravity of.

"It's time for Laughing Coffin to rise again!" PoH was saying on a piece of footage from Gun Gale Online less than five minutes ago. "Go! Slaughter and kill as you please! Show the world our power!"

Michael's hand, which had been holding a drink from a convenience store just down the road went numb, the drink falling to the ground and exploding, sending the drink all over, though no one noticed. The image of PoH's face on the announcement screen cut to the Laughing Coffin emblem as a demonic laugh began to ring out, most likely through the entirety of the game, and Michael expected, every other Virtual World as well. Explosions and screams began to ring out in the city as players began to run around, or drive around, killing other players rapidly, some with machine guns, some with explosives, some with pistols, some by throwing them off of buildings. The camera zoomed in on one couple who were kissing. Then, out of nowhere, the girl drew a pistol and put a bullet through her boyfriend's head. The camera panned around to a stairway where a player, who was undoubtedly Behemoth, slaughtered at least a dozen others with his minigun before beginning to laugh. Then, the camera panned around to something so very much worse. A singe female player with green clothes and blue hair being pursued by dune buggies.

"Sinon," Michael breathed, feeling his entire body go numb with fear.

Sinon used a grenade to blow up one of the buggies then turned to run as bullets hit around her. Then, the video cut out and returned to the reporters.

"Sources say that the organs of players who were logged into the Virtual World and were killed following the message stopped functioning in real life," one reporter said. "It is unknown how, but it seems like in-game deaths are causing real life deaths again, just as with Sword Art Online."

"Hang on," the other said, listening for a moment on her earpiece. "Bring it up on-screen."

A video of PoH appeared again. His sadistic grin constantly in place.

"Hello world," PoH greeted. "My name is PoH. And I am the leader of Laughing Coffin. For those of you wondering about the legitimacy of the footage you've been seeing on the news, I can assure you, it's real. Every person that dies in a game from now on, will also die in real life. For months now, my guild has been working on a...let's call it a virus. I had three of the four best hackers in the world working on it, so I am completely confident you will never be able to destroy it. The virus was uploaded to the Virtual World as a whole, then any AmuSphere or NerveGear, or any other FullDive technology that was linked to the Virtual World was infected. The Virus initially only caused glitches in the Virtual World as it was spreading. Once it spread to the FullDive technology, however, it created a Sword Art Online paradox. It rewrote all of the safety programming so that any and every FullDive technology will microwave the wearer's brain if they are killed in-game. In addition, if the helmets are removed or lose power, the same will happen. The logout function for the Virtual World as a whole has also been removed. No one inside will ever escape, except by dying. But don't worry. I know there will be people that don't believe me. So I'll give you proof. The image split in half, with half of it being PoH, and the other half being a video camera over a sleeping person. The person, was Seijiro Kikuoka, the man in charge of investigating the Sword Art Online incident and helping the survivors after they were finally released.

"Allow me to introduce Seijiro Kikuoka," PoH said then stepped to the side, revealing a player being held on his knees behind PoH, head bowed and a pistol to the back of his head.

PoH grabbed the player by his hair, forcing him to look at the camera, revealing it to be Kikuoka.

"Look familiar?" PoH sneered. "Tell them your name."

"You bastard," Kikuoka snarled. "You know full well you're going to be stopped."

"I think not," PoH sneered. "Well World, keep watch carefully."

The pistol fired, killing the avatar. The Amusphere on Kikuoka's head instantly began to glow and smoke. Kikuoka began to spasm, frothing at the mouth for a moment before falling still. Whoever was holding the camera held up a portable heart monitor, placing it on his wrist to show that it worked, and that he was perfectly calm, then placed it on Kikuoka. It flatlined instantly.

Michael spun, sprinting out of the building and to a motorcycle nearby that had the keys in the ignition. He started it up and sped off toward the hospital, pulling out his phone and dialing Kirito, asking him to meet him there. He put the phone away and sped up, speeding through the streets, knowing no one would bother to pull him over right now. He reached the hospital in record time, abandoning the motorbike without bothering with the kickstand, and sprinted into the hospital to the waiting room for the ER, finding Kazuto, Asuna, Agil Lisbeth, Klein, Silica, Suguha, Recon, and even Eugene, Alicia Rue, and Sakuya there. Eugene, Sakuya, and Alicia Rue actually all looked almost exactly like their avatars, minus any fairy or Catsy characteristics.

"Michael," Kirito said. "Laughing Coffin...they..."

"I know," Michael growled walking past them to the room where Kirito had been during the Death Gun incident. "He turned the entire Virtual World into Sword Art Online."

"What do we do?" Kirito asked, the others all following Michael.

Michael was silent until they reached the room, finding the Amusphere was still present.

"I'm going in," Michael stated, turning to them. "Sinon is in there. I...I have to save her."

"We understand," Kirito nodded. "But, what about the virus?"

"Once I get Sinon somewhere safe, I'll start working on it from in-game," Michael said. "You and Agil will be helping me. Also, I'll need someone to keep anyone from pulling me or Sinon's plug. And Sinon will have to be brought to the hospital."

"Right," Kirito nodded as Michael loaded Gun Gale Online, logging in and laying on the bed, putting the AmuSphere on then looking at the others. "Good luck."

"Be careful," Asuna said. "And save help Yuuki and the others."

"Kick his ass," Klein said. "And bring Sinon home alive."

"We'll take care of things here," Agil promised.

"No one's pulling my second-in-command's plug," Eugene stated.

"Good luck," Recon said.

"Come back safe," Suguha said.

"You can have Pina when you get in there," Silica said. "Just keep her safe, okay?"

"I'm sorry you're in this situation," Lisbeth said. "Do us all a favor and kill Johnny black and PoH."

"The Sylphs that are in the game and aren't Laughing Coffin are yours to command," Sakuya said. "I'll send the message as soon as you're in."

"Same for the Catsy," Alicia Rue said.

"And the Salamanders," Eugene said.

"One more thing," Kirito said. "Please take care of Yui while you're in there."

Michael nodded, looking at each one last time before closing his eyes and gritting his teeth.

"Link start," Michael said, hands trembling.

Then, he was pulled into the game.

THE END

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