The Tri-Blade Alliance
Chapter 11: The Message
A/N: Hope everyone had a Happy New Year! This chapter is bound to be a good one. Enjoy!
S/N: Sorry if the previous chapter was bad for you guys! Still, I hope you enjoyed it some extent.
Disclaimer: We don't own SAO.
(x)
January 4, 2024
K.O.B. Headquarters
"What do you mean, no?!" Asuna growled, slamming her hands onto Heathcliff's desk.
"I meant what I said," Heathcliff said in a calm tone. "I am not authorizing the manhunt for Shadow. And besides, who is Kirito to you?"
Asuna looked away. "A valuable player to have on the front lines," she responded stubbornly.
Heathcliff smiled. "Yes, as are Shadow and the Tri-Blade Alliance. Besides," Heathcliff stood up and walked around his desk, "an alleged attack on one player does not make Shadow a menace."
"Then what do you propose we do?"
"We," Heathcliff walked back to the other side of his desk, "do nothing."
"Why?!"
"Do I need to remind who you're talking to, Asuna?" Heathcliff sternly asked the vice commander. "I will deal with Shadow. In the meantime, go ask Kirito what happened. If you don't believe him, then ask the leader of the Tri-Blade Alliance. You of all people should know that he is not a liar."
Asuna was silent for a minute. "Yes, sir," she finally muttered. She turned and left without another word.
When she left, Heathcliff sat back down. "So sorry you had to hear all that," he said, turning to the figure behind him.
"Not a problem," Shadow said. "I was hoping that you'd do a better job of convincing her that I'm one of the good guys. I wouldn't have cared if you told her about our alliance."
"Yes, I should have told her. Regardless, I believe she'll lay off you for a while."
"That's enough. We're getting off-topic. Now," Shadow walked to the front of Heathcliff's desk and placed his hands on it, "how do we take down the murder guilds?"
"Titan's Hand, I believe, is being sought out by Kirito."
"We'll leave them in his hands, then. About the others?"
"It would appear that your presence has scared them all. None of them seem to making a move. Most appear to have disbanded."
"That leaves Laughing Coffin, then. You know how dangerous they can be, Heathcliff." Shadow, being a solo player, can call the commander what he wishes, as he is not held back by formalities.
"Indeed. They did nearly kill Kirito, from what you've told me. Also, I recorded your entire interrogation with the imposter." At this, Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Whenever you go to a public location, I always have some recording robots, such as that," Shadow saw a tiny robot with a camera for a face flying around, "record you. Of course, they are never made public."
"I suggest that you show your vice commander the moment when F. Shadow attacked Kirito. Nothing else."
"It shall be done."
"Good. Now, I ask again―what do we do about Laughing Coffin?"
"They tried to deliver a message, and simultaneously destroy your image. I think you should do the same. Show them that you will not let something of this caliber slide."
"I'll see what I can do."
As Shadow turned to leave, Heathcliff called, "And what of the Tri-Bladers?"
"..." Shadow looked over his shoulder to address the commander. "I fight for myself. Besides, they're no pushovers. They can handle themselves. My only concern for them is that if they're gone, then I'll lose my best clients. Now, I'm headed to the Town of Beginnings. I'd appreciate it if you didn't have some robots tail me." With that, Heathcliff blinked and Shadow was gone.
"Yes," Heathcliff chuckled. "I'm sure that's the only reason."
(x)
It was a normal day in the Town of Beginnings. All of the passive players in the town were minding their own business, happily going along with their lives.
One man in particular was in an especially jovial mood; for today was the day where his wife returns from the front lines, if only for a week. They can use that time to catch up.
Earlier that day, he had received a message from her. "Meet me inside the daycare," it had read. "3:30. Don't be late."
It was 3:25. He left early after getting everything prepared for when she gets home. He was just outside the daycare when someone bumped into him. "Watch where you're going," he muttered. He looked back at the rude individual. They were wearing a heavy cloak with the hood drawn up, so it was impossible for the man to discern whether they were male of female. The player kept walking away. The man turned back around and walked inside the daycare. Before he could reach the front desk, however, someone screamed.
It was so sudden, the man and the receptionist both flinched before realizing that it was a scream of fright. They both barely had time to get out before the blast knocked them out of the building.
A huge crowd had gathered around the daycare, staring at shock and horror at the massive flames engulfing the building. One of the guards had wrapped a blanket around the stunned man; he merely drew it tighter around himself as he screamed.
"NO!" he screamed. "MY WIFE'S IN THERE!" He heard a sound behind him and turned to see a black-clad man. It was the mercenary everyone was talking about; he was also the man his son idolizes, Shadow. "Please," he begged. "You have to help them!" he said as the mercenary walked to the front of the crowd. His only response was a stare as Shadow looked back at him, then to the roaring fire.
The man blinked. When he opened his eyes, he was shocked to see the mercenary had disappeared. Breaking free from the guard's hold, he stumbled forward before falling to his knees. "YOU BASTARD! WHY?! WHY DID YOU LEAVE?!"He started to cry.
Suddenly, one of the villagers gasped. "Look!" she said, pointing to the window. Everyone looked to where she was pointing. They saw an elbow break the glass of the window, said glass shards shattering. Shadow jumped out landing in a roll as he held himself together. He looked up, directly at the man who was shouting earlier, and opened his coat. A child stepped out. He looked around timidly before finding the man. "Daddy!" he shouted, running towards the man at the front.
In response, the man pulled his son into a tight embrace. He looked up at Shadow, who nodded. The man nodded back.
He ran back inside, gliding like a shadow across the stone and dirt. He broke the windows and let each child hit the ground gently before they ran to the crowd. Eventually, all of the children made it out, and Shadow double-checked to see if he missed any. Thankfully, all of the children were safe. That left the adults.
Shadow looked inside all of the rooms, finding whoever he can and bringing them out. Eventually, he had to find one more person, by his estimate. He looked in all of the rooms.
"Where are you?!" Shadow shouted, hoping he'll get an answer. He got his answer, straining hard enough to hear a cough at the other side of the building.
He dashed to see the woman stuck under debris, losing HP fast. He got the debris off of her and asked, "Are you okay?" The woman nodded in response.
To avoid her losing more HP, Shadow opened his inventory and pulled out a steel mask he made earlier that week, and transferred it to the woman. She opened her menu and equipped it, and as a result stopped the steady flow of her HP decrease.
Shadow picked her up bridal style and attempted to use his Black Star. He cursed when it failed. Can't use a normal crystal either. From what I heard, the daycare is an Anti-Crystal area in order to stop the children from using teleport crystals. How inconvenient.
Shadow pulled his scarf up and began the trek back to the door.
"Thank you," the woman managed to say.
"Yeah, no problem," Shadow murmured, completely new to the feeling of being thanked.
Why the hell am I doing this? I only think about myself. So why?
Eventually, they made it to the door. But before they could get out, the building started to shake. Shadow threw the woman out before bringing his fists up to block the incoming debris.
It was unsuccessful as the debris fell on him, burying him.
(x)
The man embraced the woman whom Shadow had thrown. "Rose!" he exclaimed. "Thank God you're safe!"
"We need to save him, Yin!" the woman, Rose, said, referring to her savior.
Yin looked towards the crowd watching, then back to Rose, who was staring at him with a pleading expression. Eventually, Yin relented and ran up to the debris. He started picking up the rocks and throwing them aside.
Soon, everyone began following his example, going and removing the debris, calling for the mercenary. It was so influential, even the children were searching.
(x)
Shadow coughed under the debris. Did I die? he questioned. If so, then am I in Hell?
He scowled when the rock obscuring his vision was moved, the bright rays of the sun hitting him.
Hell is a lot brighter than I thought.
"Come on, champ," Yin said to the mercenary, smiling. Yin gently pulled him out. He looked like he went through all circles of Hell; part of his face was gone, his right arm and left leg were separated from the rest of him, and he apparently breathed in a little smoke, as he couldn't stop coughing.
"Why?" Shadow questioned through his coughing as Yin walked him down to the waiting crowd. Everyone cheered when they saw the two.
"You may be an asshole," Yin said, "but you saved us all. Think you can stand?" he asked once they reached the stone floor of the town.
"I think I can manage," Shadow responded. When Yin let him go, Shadow promptly collapsed, coughing violently. He felt his conscience leave him as everyone gathered around him.
(x)
When Shadow woke up, the first thing he did was check his surroundings. He was in a hospital, judging from all of the white in the room. This is not my kind of place, the mercenary/savior thought to himself. He sat up and looked to his left. There he saw his coat. Shit! He looked down at himself and saw that he was only in his black undershirt and his pants. At least those were left alone. He got up and walked to retrieve his coat. Once he re-equipped it, he pulled the hood over his head, right as the door opened.
"Oh! You're awake." Shadow turned and saw the woman he saved holding his scarf and his mask. Without a word, he reached out for his items and Rose handed them without a word. He put the mask back in his inventory, and put the scarf back on, tying it the way it normally was. Once that was done, he turned back to Rose.
"Where's my sword?" She pointed under the bed, and Shadow went to retrieve it. Once he put the sword back on his back, he looked towards Rose. "Thanks for looking after me. I'll be―"
"You're not going anywhere. There are still some people who want to thank for what you did. Follow me." The two left the room, and Shadow was greeted with cheers when he left the room.
"It's him, everyone!"
"Thank you, Shadow!"
"You're the best!"
"We love you, Shadow!"
One person even shouted, "I don't care what everyone else says, you're a hero!"
This surprised Shadow to no end. Eventually, one of the children walked up nervously. It was one of the first kids he saved.
"Um, Mr. Shadow, sir?" Damn, the kid was a nervous wreck.
Shadow knelt to his level. The could couldn't have been older than 13. 14, maybe. And yet, he was so tiny. "Yeah, kid?"
"My name is Jacob, and I was hoping that you could make me a coat. Like yours." Shadow was silent for a minute. He stood up and opened his crafting menu. He had the necessary materials to make one duplicate coat, but that was it. Without a second thought, Shadow crafted the coat, and, as it was forming, he placed it on Jacob, and the coat formed. It was comedically oversized for him, but Jacob was happy nonetheless. He could hear the other kids whispering in awe, and it made him feel good. "Thanks, Mr. Shadow!"
"It's just Shadow, Jacob." With that, Shadow pat Jacob on the head, then turned to the crowd of adults. "Where's Jacob's dad? I need to ask him something."
Yin stepped forth. "What is it?"
"Did you happen to see who started the fire?"
"No. But I did see a suspicious player walk away from the daycare before the fire began."
"How suspicious are we talking?"
"Does the name 'Laughing Coffin' ring any bells?"
Shadow froze for a moment, as did all the others. Even the children knew of the infamous Laughing Coffin. He walked towards Yin, and told him, "Come with me."
The two men walked outside the hospital. Shadow asked the other man, "How did you know they were LC?"
"Their attire. All members of LC wear black, tattered cloaks, right?"
"As far as I know. And you're positive it was LC?"
"I saw them clear as day. He even disappeared once the fire started."
"They must have known I was going to be in Floor One," the mercenary whispered to himself. He looked back towards Yin. "You've no idea how much you helped me today, Mr…"
"It's Yin. And my wife's name―the woman you saw when you woke up―is Rose."
"Nice names. Now, if you'll excuse me," Shadow turned around and began walking away, "I have to send a message."
(x)
The Laughing Coffin Headquarters. It's been known that the building is very heavily fortified, to the point where the building itself has been made an Anti-Crystal Zone. No one knows what floor it's located in, but there has been speculation that Floor 13 is the supposed place. If an intruder gets in, then they'll have to deal with the hundreds of mercenaries LC bought the services of.
At that exact moment, the head of Laughing Coffin and his top soldiers are holding a meeting.
Inside the Fortress…
"Welcome, all of you," the leader said once everyone was accounted for. "Today, we discuss an urgent matter," he stated while taking his seat at the end of the table. The room was dimly lit; the only sources of light were the torches on the pillars in the room. "We gathered to discuss our next plan of attack," he continued.
"Pardon my asking, sir," one of the soldiers said, "but just exactly who are we attacking?"
"Show some respect!" one of the other members stood up from his chair and growled.
"It's quite all right," the leader said, waving for the member to sit back down. "An apt choice of words, actually. We will be attacking Shadow, both in mind and body. The reason why is because he's giving people too much hope; hope that everyone can get out of SAO. And we plan to crush all semblance of hope so no one can ever escape; so we'll have more to kill."
"Why do we kill, sir?"
"You're new, aren't you?" When the soldier nodded, the leader told him, "We kill because it's fun. And do we have any way to kill Shadow once and for all?"
"If the fire I caused did its job," another member said, putting his feet on the table. "Then everyone in that daycare should be dead. Including Shadow."
The leader smiled. "Excellent, XaXa! A bold plan indeed."
"But," a third member spoke up, "we should make contingency plans in the event Shadow does survive."
"Right you are. So, what do you say to an ambush? I bet not even he would suspect that, right?"
"A brilliant idea!" everyone chorused.
"Now to close the meeting," the leader said. He stood up and held his sword downwards in front of him. Everyone else soon followed their leader-except for one.
"Johnny Black," the leader said. "Please stand up."
Johnny Black, who sat at the other end of the table, raised a finger and opened his mouth to speak, and promptly fell forward, a knife wedged deep in his back. Everyone jumped back in alarm.
His HP was extremely low; he had been stabbed with his knife and was paralyzed as a result. They all saw...something pull the knife out.
The remaining members looked around before seeing the knife drop right next to the fallen Black's head.
After some time in a deadly silence, the guild's gift box rang. The leader cautiously opened it and received a crystal. It started glowing.
When it activated, the message it delivered was:
"I'm still alive.
This is war."
As the crystal dropped to the table, the LC members made one conclusion:
Shadow had survived.
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