Twinblade and Angel of Death

by WaterBendingQueen88

When SAO becomes a death game, many players take up their weapons and fight to escape. One of them is Taicho, a young man who wants to get back to his family for answers, and another is Haruza, a young girl who seeks redemption for herself after a real-world failure. This is their story.

11. Illusionary Avenger

I thank whitworth5274 for helping me.

The next day

The next morning, Haruza and Taicho rejoined Yolko close to ten in the morning in Marten, the main town of the fifty-seventh floor and where the murder occurred. After exiting the inn, they met Kirito and Asuna outside, then returned to the restaurant from the previous night for tea as everyone had eaten breakfast.

"So uh, Yolko… we uh… we were wondering if you had ever heard the name "Grimlock"."

Gasping, she answered, "Yes, I have. Actually, until a few months ago, he was in a guild with me and Caynz."

"Listen, we took the spear that impaled Caynz to an appraiser. We had him go over it pretty carefully, and we found out Grimlock made it. Can you think of any reason why he did?"

"Yes, I can. I should have told you everything yesterday. It's just I couldn't. It's something I've been trying very gradually to forget. But now, I have no choice. I should tell you about how my guild was destroyed…"

"When we formed it, Golden Apple was the name we chose. Six months ago, we killed a rare monster. It dropped a powerful ring that raised a player's agility by 20. Some of us wanted to keep it for the guild, others wanted to sell it and split the earnings. We couldn't agree and in the end, we put it to a vote. It was five to three in favor of selling it. Our leader, Griselda, took it to a large town on the front lines. She was going to sell it to a broker and was staying overnight. We waited and waited, but she never came back."

"Griselda?" Since Haruza respected strong swordswomen, she was a fan of Griselda's and was upset when she heard that she died.

"Yes, that's her. It was until later we learned that our worst fears have come true. Griselda was dead. To this day, I still don't know how she died."

Kirito muttered, "No one's going to leave a safe zone with a rare item like that. Too risky. You think someone could have pulled a sleep PK on her?"

"Not if it was six months ago. That method's still sort of new."

"You're right, but she wasn't a random victim either. No, the killer was after the ring. It has to be someone who knew she had it. Which means…"

"The killer is one of seven others in our guild. Yes," Yolko finished.

Kirito nodded and faced Asuna, Taicho, and Haruza. "We have our suspects, now we just have to figure out who didn't want to sell the ring."

"I doubt the killer waited til after Griselda sold the ring. She was killed before she sold it, that's my guess."

"Probably. Tell us what you know about Grimlock."

"Well, I guess for starters, he was Griselda's husband. Oh, but not in real life, just in the game. Griselda was a powerful swordswoman. She was beautiful and smart. Grimlock was kind and I can't remember a day when he wasn't smiling. They made a great couple and got along as husband and wife. If Grimlock is really the one who killed Caynz yesterday, then he's probably going after the three guild members who voted against selling the ring. Caynz was one of the three who wanted to keep the ring for the guild. I was the other one."

Everyone gasped. "And the last person?" Taicho asked with a sense of urgency.

"The other's a tank named Schmitt. And he, the last I heard, is on the front lines now with the Holy Dragon Alliance."

"Schmitt, huh? I've heard that name before."

"He's leader of the defense unit of the Holy Dragon Alliance. He's an exceptional lancer."

"Oh yeah, him."

"Wait, do you really know Schmitt?!"

"Well, I've run into him a couple of times while clearing bosses, so…"

"I need to see him right away! Could you please take me to him? If he's on the front lines, he probably hasn't heard about the murder. He needs to know before what happened to Caynz happens to him."

"We'll help you get in touch with Schmitt. I know someone in the Holy Dragon Alliance. He'll help us out. We'll visit their HQ."

"Ok, but first we should make sure she gets back to the inn. Yolko, you have to stay there, ok? Seriously, don't go anywhere until we get back."

"Alright." Kirito and Asuna decided to go retrieve Schmitt, while Haruza and Taicho decided to stay with Yolko to protect her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

No time later, Schmitt was delivered to Yolko's inn room. Haruza and the others are positioned randomly around and behind Schmitt, watching his leg twitch after Yolko relayed last night's events to him. "So that's what killed Caynz. And you're sure about the spear? Was it really Grimlock's?"

Yolko, seated across from Schmitt with the waning sunlight from the open window illuminating her figure, nodded. "There's no doubt."

Schmitt bolted out of his seat. "But then why would he wait six months to kill him?! Unless, wait, could he have stolen the ring?! Do you think it's possible he killed Griselda after all?! Does Grimlock want to kill the three of us because we didn't want to sell the damn ring? Is that why he's after you and me now?!"

"Maybe Grimlock made the spear for someone else from our guild and maybe they're the ones who killed Caynz. Or maybe Griselda's come back from the dead to get her revenge."

"Huh?"

"A player can't kill another player inside a safe zone, but something else like a ghost could."

"A ghost," Haruza muttered to herself as tension and chills spreaded throughout the room. There's no such thing as player ghosts in SAO… Right?

And that's not it. Yolko's entire demeanor from this morning up until now has warped. She was mildly cheerful when she came back with Taicho and Haruza, but now it's like she's seen a ghost herself — or possessed by one. "I couldn't sleep at all last night, so I stayed up thinking… IT WAS EVERYONE'S FAULT! EVERYONE IN THE GUILD IS GUILTY! HER BLOOD IS ON ALL OUR HANDS! OUR FATE WAS SEALED WHEN THAT RING DROPPED! WE SHOULDN'T HAVE VOTED! WE SHOULD HAVE DONE WHAT GRISELDA TOLD US TO DO!"

Everyone's uneasy as Yolko backed up to the window, strangely calmer. "Grimlock was the only one, the only member of the guild who said we should leave the decision to Griselda. You see, he's the only one of us who can avenge Griselda. He's the only member of our guild who has the right to avenge her."

Schmitt, shaking in his metal armor, shouted fearfully, "You've got to be kidding… You've got to be kidding! Why now, after all this time?! Why kill us now?! YOU CAN'T BE OK WITH THIS, YOLKO! HOW CAN YOU EXPECT TO BE KILLED OVER SOME STUPID VENDETTA?!"

Kirito grabbed Schmitt's wrist to prevent him from approaching Yolko, yet in that moment, a strange thunk is heard from the direction of the window. A sound of flesh being pierced… Eyes turn to Yolko as her body leaned forward and turned, showing a dagger protruding out of Yolko's back. A breath later, her body dropped out of the window.

"Yolko!" Kirito shouted as he ran to the window, but it's too late. A moment later, the Black Swordsman shouted back, "Keep an eye on him" and jumped out the window.

"No, wait!"

Haruza faced the other male swordsman in the sword. "Taicho!" But by the time she got his name out, he's already flying out the window.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Taicho

"It happened again. Dammit, it happened again." Taicho muttered that to himself as he followed Kirito, leaping across the rooftops of Marten in chase of a figure in a dark cloak. He and Kirito didn't communicate, but they found themselves catching up to the cloaked assassin and splitted off to flank him from both sides.

How many have died in the last year and a half? If two thousand died within that first month, there had to be at least another thousand since Diavel's death on the first floor to Illfang the Kobold Lord. If Taicho went to count the names on the memorial in Black Iron Palace, he might know the truth…and be forced to swallow his despair at being powerless to do anything about it.

But he can try to catch this guy and avenge Yolko and Caynz.

Up ahead, the guy noticed he was being followed by Kirito and Taicho, and looked to reach into his cloak. Since Taicho is to the figure's right and they're facing left to Kirito, he can't see what the man retrieved, but he heard Kirito shout, "Damn" and threw his throwing picks at the man. They were deflected by purple hexagons — the kind one sees when an "Immortal Object" is struck. Before Taicho figured that mystery out, the figure was swallowed by blue light and disappeared from the rooftops just as the hourly bells started to ring.

A Teleport Crystal. Taicho skidded to a stop and gritted his teeth together. "Damn you!"

Kirito and Taicho returned to the inn and went into Yolko's room. Upon opening the door, they were greeted with a rapier and longsword pointed in their direction.

"You idiots! What's your problem?!"

"Both of you have gone crazy!"

Kirito glanced at Taicho as the latter avoided the drawn weapons to enter the room and shrugged silently. "Uh…"

Asuna sighed and sheathed the rapier. "Well, what happened?"

Kirito closed the door behind him and stated, "We lost him. He teleported off somewhere… The system's supposed to protect players inside the inns. I thought if anywhere, she'd be safe in here. Damn it!" With a clenched fist, he hit the wall. The "Immortal Object" icon appeared underneath his fist.

Seated and trembling, Schmitt spoke up. "That robe was Griselda's. It was Griselda's ghost. She's come back to get revenge on us! Think about it. Only a ghost can PK someone in a safe zone!" He finished, laughing madly.

"He's lost it," Haruza murmured.

"That wasn't a ghost. Someone's using the system to kill. That's the only way these murders could have happened in a safe zone! I know it!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After dropping Schmitt back off at the HDA headquarters, Taicho excused himself from the rest of the group on the grounds that he wanted to investigate something on his own. No one pried in into what that meant, so Taicho was almost able to get away from the others. However, Haruza volunteered herself to join him, on the grounds that whoever killed Caynz and Yolko could do the same to any one of them for being on the trail. He found logic in that.

He kept Haruza in the dark, but if he knew her well, she figured out what he was planning the moment he sat down in a spot within sight of the HDA headquarters. He didn't say a word, and if a conversation did happen with Haruza, it was kept short. She did find ways to keep her entertained with Comet if staring at a gaping hole into the headquarters' entrance bored her, but it didn't take long for their target to come out and make their way towards the Teleport Gate: Schmitt.

Call it a hunch, but if you believed a ghost was haunting your friends and you were next, where would you go? To go talk to the ghost, or the person's resting grounds, of course.

Realistically, Griselda's body is not present in SAO, but if she was as loved as Yolko and Schmitt allowed them to believe, then they would have set up a memorial or something to commemorate her. Schmitt would head there to confront the ghost. And he did exactly that, unknowingly leading Taicho, Haruza, and Comet to the nineteenth floor to the Hill of the Cross.

Hiding nearby behind some trees, Taicho and the others listened in as Schmitt knelt down in front of a large tree. "Griselda, the only way I can be saved now is if you forgive me." The large man collapsed on his hands and knees. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me, Griselda! I swear, I never thought this was going to happen! You have to believe me!"

"Oh, really?" A disembodied female voice echoed across the foggy hill, causing

Schmitt to gasp and tremble. A moment later, a shadow loomed behind him. He looked back to see a white Ragout Rabbit behind him (what was that doing there?) but Taicho's eyes weren't on it. His attention, with Haruza, Comet, and Schmitt seconds later, were on a hooded figure in front of the armored tank player.

"What did you do to me? Tell me, Schmitt. Tell me what you did. Tell me now." If that's "Griselda's ghost", it inserted a new fear into Schmitt once she pulled out a sword. Haruza reached back for her own sword, ready to act, but Taicho silently gestured for her to do nothing. He wanted to see this act play through completely without their interference. After all, these people weren't orange-cursored, but green.

Head bowed, Schmitt said, "Okay! Okay! The day we voted to sell the ring, I-I looked in my belt patch and there was a crystal and a note with instructions!"

"Who were they from? Who gave you them?" Another hooded figure came, this one carrying a male's voice.

"Grimlock? You're dead too?"

"Tell me. I want to know who gave you those instructions."

"I don't know! I swear I don't know! The note said for me to bind the crystal to Griselda's room at the inn she was staying at so whoever it was could get in. Then I had to put the crystal in the guild's shared storage."

"Then what?"

"That's all I did! I swear! I didn't want her to die! I didn't want to be a part of that! Please, believe me!" Schmitt's sobs were the only thing to be heard as the conversation died there. The hooded figures looked at each other, then after a moment, the female spoke again...but in a tone that was much more familiar.

"We've recorded everything you've said, Schmitt." Hoods flew off the heads, revealing the female holding a Record Crystal to be a blue-haired woman and the male tall and dark-haired. Taicho barely recognized the male, but he knew the female the moment he saw her face: Yolko, and her partner must be Caynz. Both alive and well.

"H-How are they—"

"Hush, Haruza. We're here to observe and figure out the mystery. We'll get those answers later."

"…Okay."

Schmitt was just as shocked that his old companions were alive. "You were… recording? So, that's how it is, huh? You cared about what happened to Griselda after all."

"Of course we did," Caynz stated, "but you didn't betray her because you hated her, did you?"

"No! I didn't hate her, honest! Sure, I feel guilty about getting money from my part of it, but the rare weapon I bought helped me get into the Holy Dragon Alliance, so…"

Then…If these three didn't betray Griselda… Could it have been the other guild members? Unlikely, the people who voted against selling the ring are all innocent of killing her. Who else could have done it… No, who killed her is not the problem. That's irrelevant in comparison to finding the true criminal who ordered her to die.

As Taicho wrapped his head around that, Schmitt suddenly gasped and dropped to the ground. There was a dagger stuck in his right shoulder, but his body was unmoved. "Paralysis?"

"Onnneeee ddoowwwnn!

Quickly three more hooded figures appear from the fog. Unlike Caynz and Yolko, though, their cursors aren't green, but orange. Two of them held their weapons in front of Caynz and Yolko while a third, not the thrower of the dagger but certainly a leader type based on his walk, approached Schmitt with his giant cleaving-type weapon.

"No… way…"

"That's a hell of a catch. A big shot from the Holy Dragon Alliance."

"Laughing Coffin, the murder Guild!"

The leader looked to his companions. "Ok, what game should we play with these three?"

"Oh, I know! I know! Let's play the one where they have to kill each other! Last one standing wins!" The guy with the bag over his head chimed.

"I know it's your favorite, but last time you did that, you killed the winner anyway."

"Oh, come! You spoiled it! It's no fun if they know they're gonna die!"

"In that case, Johnny Black, I got a game we can play." Taicho and Haruza made their presence known, Comet remaining in hiding on Haruza's command. Weapons drawn, including Haruza's second blade, the pair approached the trio of players.

The one called Johnny Black had at least the lower part of his face covered by a mask of sorts, but he's no stranger to Taicho and Haruza. One of these guys are; the one holding an estoc towards Yolko and Caynz is known as Red-Eyed XaXa, and the leader in the center of the group, bearing a purple streak down the right side of his face, is Laughing Coffin's leader, PoH.

And this is just the latest of the murder guild's schemes, ever since Johnny Black, once a member of Aincrad Liberation Squad, first declared Kirito a beater.

"And I call it, 'Let's Get Arrested!'" Before Haruza and Taicho acted, the sound of hooves striking the ground gathered their attention and everyone else's. From behind came a horse outlined with yellow light. It whinnied and bucked up on its hind legs, dropping a player dressed in black behind it. Upon seeing who the newcomer is, Taicho felt second-hand embarrassment at the uncool entrance of Kirito while Haruza murmured, 'You've gotta be kidding me."

"Damn!" Kirito got up on his feet and sent his horse away with a smack to its butt. Seeing his friends present first shocked him, but he reined it in and joined Taicho and Haruza in confronting PoH and the others, sword out. "Looks like I made it just in time. So, now what? I got thirty players from the Assault Team coming. You guys wanna stay and fight 'em?"

"Blackie, Twinblade, and Angel of Death? What a gathering we have here. Unfortunately, we're not up for this today." PoH snapped his fingers, and Laughing Coffin shelved their weapons. "Come on."

Once the murder guild vanished in the fog, Taicho, Kirito, and Haruza sheathed their swords. Kirito sighed and faced Yolko. "Nice to see you alive again, Yolko."

"You owe us an explanation, now."

Yolko bowed her head and started to explain. "You won't believe me, but after it was over, I was going to tell you the truth. I am sorry we had to trick you to help us out."

Schmitt, freed from the paralysis, got to a kneeling position. "Kirito, Haruza, Tachio, thank you for saving me, but how did you figure it out? How did you know those three would attack us here?"

"I didn't figure anything out." Kirito answered. "I was attacking on a hunch is all. Hey, Yolko, Caynz, level with me. You guys asked Grimlock to make the spear and the knife, didn't you?"

"We did, but he was against our plan from the beginning. All he wanted was to let Griselda rest in peace."

"He did forge the weapons for us, but only after we got down on our knees and begged him."

Taicho turned to Kirito. "Was Grimlock against the plan because he didn't want to reopen old wounds? That was the person closest to him in the game, close enough to be his wife."

Kirito shook his head. "Sorry, but he had a different reason for not liking your plan. Griselda had nothing to do with it. He was worried faking PK's in a safe zone was going to draw a lot of attention. He didn't want to take the risk of someone snooping around for answers. We figured out the whole thing half an hour ago."

Schmitt gasped. "It was Grimlock? And those were his instructions. And he killed Griselda, too!"

"No, I doubt he was the one who actually killed her. Although, I'm pretty sure he went and found himself a red player to do it for him."

Haruza looked over her shoulders. "In other words, one of those guys."

"My God!" Yolko responded, wide-eyed. "But then if he really did have her killed, why would he go to all that trouble just to help us out?!"

"You explained your plan to him in detail, didn't you? Your plan was the perfect chance for him to bury the ring incident and any witnesses once and for all. All he'd have to do was sit back and wait for you, Schmitt, and Caynz to get together. You'd be sitting ducks."

Haruza smirked and pointed to herself and Taicho. "But he didn't count on me and Taicho following them."

"That's it, that's why. They knew we'd be here because he hired them!" Schmitt realized.

"Yeah, and as Haruza mentioned, it was probably the same bunch he hired to kill Griselda."

"Oh my God…" Yolko dropped into Caynz's arms. Silence ensued for a moment, then Taicho asked the burning question on his mind.

"Kirito, you figured out how they mimicked their deaths?"

"Yeah. What we thought was them dying was a sleight of hand. Player health points are conserved in the safe zone, but armor and item durability isn't. The spear and the knife were used to reduce their armor's durability, then right when the armor would shatter, Caynz and Yolko used Teleport Crystals to simulate how it looks when one dies."

"…I see. That's actually genius. Now that I think on it, Yolko, you weirdly turned towards us when you were 'hit by the dagger.' You even went to the window… All to set up the idea you were attacked when in reality, the dagger was in your back the entire time."

Haruza gripped the bridge of her nose, unamused by the set-up unlike Taicho. "And we didn't notice it."

"Found him." From the woods approached Asuna. A step in front of her is a tall man with a wide-brim hat and black glasses, If this was who Taicho thought this was, his suit attire made him look more like a hitman than a blacksmith.

"If you want to know, you can ask the man, yourself."

The man smiled as he faced everyone else. "Hello, long time no see, comrades."

Haruza clicked her tongue in aggravation. "Drop the pleasant act."

"I can't believe it," Yolko said. "Did you, did you really plan this?" "HOW COULD YOU, GRIMLOCK?! ANSWER ME! WHY DID YOU KILL GRISELDA?! Was it the money?! Was the money so important to you that you'd kill your own wife for it?!"

Grimlock chuckled. "Hmph. Money? Did you say money? It wasn't for the money. I had to. No matter what I had to kill her while we were stuck in this world. I had to kill her while she was still my wife. And because she was also my wife in the real world."

Grimlock let that revelation settle with dramatic flair, then resumed, "In a way, she was the perfect wife. Ideal, so pretty, so submissive. The whole time we were together, we never had a single fight. But when we were trapped in here, in this world, she changed. In here, I was the one who was afraid. Terrified of playing this death game. But she looked so much happier here. More alive than she ever did in the real world. There was nothing I could do about it. She changed. The Yuuko I loved was gone! Gone! But then I realized I didn't have to live with the way she was. Murder is part of this game. If I couldn't have the Yuuko I loved back, I'd settle for the memory of her and who could blame me?!"

Everyone gasped, and in a fit of rage, Haruza lashed out, "Everyone would blame you!"

"That's why you did it?! That's the reason you killed your wife?!" Kirito gasped.

"It's reason enough. But someday, you'll understand too. Once you've found love, believe me, you'll do anything to keep it."

Asuna drew in her rapier to face him eye to eye. "You're wrong, Grimlock. You've got it all wrong. You didn't love Griselda. That's not what you felt. You stopped loving her when you became selfish and possessive!"

"She's right! To you, she was nothing but a prize you won! But she was human, not a toy! And because of that, you'll never see her smile again! And just so you know, we will never end up like you!"

"I wonder when you removed your wedding ring… Because I bet Griselda never took hers off. While you denounced her, she never stopped loving you, no matter the world."

Gasping at the harshness of Asuna, Haruza, and Taicho, Grimlock fell down on his knees. Caynz and Schmitt walked up to Grimlock to take him away. Before they did, Caynz faced the investigators and gratefully said, "Kirito, everyone, we appreciate your help. But I think this is our problem to deal with, now."

"Ok."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After Yolko and the men carried Grimlock away, Taicho and the others faced the rising sun. While Kirito stretched his arms, Asuna glanced at him. "Hey."

"Hmm?"

"Say it was you and you married someone and later on, you found out she had a side to her you didn't know about. How would you feel?"

"I guess that I was lucky? Uh, because I mean if you marry someone, that means you already like whatever you know about them, doesn't it? And if you discovered something you didn't know about them before and fell in love with that too then that would be awesome?"

Asuna closed her eyes. "Right, good answer. Anyway, I'm hungry after all this. I didn't really get to finish my dinner."

"Oh, yeah you didn't."

"We should get back to work tomorrow. We've been off from the front lines for two days."

"Yeah, I was hoping to have this floor totally cleared by this week."

As those two conversed, Taicho was lost in thought while staring at the sunrise. The murder mystery had been solved and it ended somewhat on a good note. At the very least, the safe zones were determined to remain safe for all players. "Hey, Taicho. About last night, after we met with Argo… Are you okay now?"

"Hm?" Feeling a tug on his sleeve, he turned to Haruza. Last night, Argo, and feeling okay? "…Oh, that… Yeah, I'm good now. I'm sorry I yelled at you. Don't worry about it."

"Okay, great. But, you know… I guess it's hypocritical of me to say this, but you know I'm here for you."

"Yeah."

Haruza went ahead of him just as Asuna started to move forward to lead the group away from the tree, Kirito stopped her. "Now what?" Kirito pointed at Taicho and Haruza, but not directly at them. More so in their direction. They turned around looked too and saw a cloaked woman standing by the twisted tree. She didn't say anything, just nodded in their direction, like giving the two pairs her blessing.

Once she disappeared, Asuna turned to the group. "Hey, Kirito. Do you want to friend me? The same for you, Haruza, Taicho? It's kinda silly not to. It's convenient. We are on the same Assault Team after all."

"I'm a solo player. And so are they."

"That doesn't matter." Haruza raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I didn't say you'd all have to form a party with me. You should try to make some friends while you're here."

"That never stopped me." Taicho pointed to himself.

"Yeah, I don't know. It's not like I don't want — Hey!"

Asuna giggled after she and Haruza slapped Kirito on his shoulders. "Think about it while we eat. No pressure. Come on, let's go back and find a good restaurant."

"Let's go, boys."

"Oh, ok."