Link Start: Danger In Virtual Worlds
Chapter 23: Oberon's Revenge
Date: Infinityverse Days 741-775
Now that we have reached the 64th Floor, all eyes and ears are out to find danger before it finds and ambushes us all. The 65th and 66th Floors are largely taken up by the Old Castle Labyrinth. That's all I could really get on the 3 floors online. That being said, after encountering the Gnome tribe's territory on the 63rd, we then respectively stumbled upon the Imp, Leprechaun, and Pooka territories. Now, we have explored every ALO fairy races' territories. Anything from ALO on Floors 67-70 will be more so from ALO's other realms as well as the rumored true top of the World Tree that is said to be home of the Alfs whose existence in ALO was proven false when Kirito confronted Oberon. But for some reason, a unique quest that is exclusive to this fused world suggests otherwise. Argo wrote about it in her 59th Floor guidebook. Nothing much happened on the 64th Floor. We actually got to relax and enjoy several one of a kind quests that gave a lot of exp. The monsters on the floor other than the Floor Boss proved to be pushovers thanks to all the prep work we have done since stopping Ragnarok successfully. On the 65th Floor, the same happened. But things changed on the 66th as we got further into the Old Castle Labyrinth. Asuna noted that the labyrinth was different than it was in SAO. For instance, it covered almost the entirety of both floors it's on: even the ALO locations added to them. The territories of the Leprechauns and Pookas were melded into the labyrinth. Several old and new Aincrad towns were designed or redesigned to function as indoor labyrinth towns. It was strange. Yui speaks as soon as we reach the 66th Floor. "I remember this floor too but it looks so different now.."
Lisbeth sighs: "You can say that again. After all, it wasn't this creepy last time. Nor did it contain so many crystals." Kaito cautions: "Those aren't crystals, at least not ones that are safe for forging and upgrading equipment. Those are.. Barian crystals." Yuma yells: "What?! Why are Barian crystals in this game?! This is bad!" It only gets worse as a bunch of monsters glowing with Barian power appear. I speak: "Damn it, it seems Don Thousand just wanted to randomly make the game even harder at the 2/3rds mark so he made this happen in secret. If this keeps up, we will have to face all kinds of monsters and bosses powered by Barian energy. Don Thousand really does want all of us eliminated before we can try to help stop him in the multiverse outside of this game. I just know that the war I have seen coming for so long has begun. We have to get the hell out of this game in order to be able to help. There's no other option." Sinon replies: "So that's what these crystals are? This floor is going to be a pain to clear, isn't it?" We slay the monsters around us just fine until they come back as Barian humanoids only for them to suddenly vanish before they could attack us again. Everything around us vanishes out of nowhere too. Oberon appears before us with a transformed appearance that makes him have what some of the quests have stated are the traits of the legendary Alf race. That bastard. He laughs: "I hope you fools have enjoyed the game up to now because now, I'm going to completely change how I handle all of you right here and now! Kirito, I will still have my revenge but it won't be in the way you think it will. Titania will still become mine. But so will all of you!"
Seiya yells: "Like hell we'll become yours! We are loyal to each other! And as a Saint, I only serve Athena! I will never serve you!" "Foolish child, you do not understand what I am capable of. None of you do. Kirito took away my admin permissions in ALO but I have long regained them and more. After suffering so much at the hands of you, Kirito and being thrown in prison, I have come to understand how wrong I have been doing things. Therefore, I have learned from the failures of those who have tried to stop all of you up to now, including Windy and Lightning. Because of that, I don't just know all of your strengths and weaknesses. I know the best way to make all of you miserable and unable to ever escape this game too! I will keep all of you trapped here with me as your Fairy King for all eternity with Titania as my queen! Aincrad will become MY kingdom to rule over for all time! When my physical body grows old and weak, I will plug my very consciousness into this game and live here forever! I don't care about what Don Thousand wants from me. He can have the multiverse but I will take this world in exchange and live in luxury until the end of time if such a thing really exists! Once I have made all of you suffer enough, you will have to become mine in order to end it! That's right, YOU WILL ALL SUBMIT TO ME! This is what Windy and Lightning should have done but they were too foolish to realize that they could! But I have learned from their mistakes to become this world's soon to be new ruler! Not even Kayaba will be able to stand in my way for long! That's right! I know you're Heathcliff, Kayaba!" O'Brien speaks: "He's completely lost it. We must defeat him as soon as we can."
"Hahahahahaha! You really think it will be THAT easy?! Think again! I won't let any of you even touch me! Now how did that iconic line from a certain themed drop ride based on a movie set in Hollywood in 1939? Oh right! They 'stepped into the elevator and into a nightmare'! That's how it went and guess what?! When you used the teleport gate to reach this Floor, you also stepped into a nightmare! Now that I have stolen away the authority level Quinella had, I can do as I will to this Floor without consequence! Oh but it only gets worse for all of you! You see, I'm going to separate all of you and turn this floor into a living nightmare in which none of you can help each other through in anyway, shape, or form! This is the end of the Assault Team! You have heard that statement many times before but this time, it's really true! And on Day 760 no less! It marks a month since the 2 year anniversary of this game and all of you being trapped in it by force! I'm going to enjoy making all of you suffer at the same time as I watch you squirm in amusement!" Before any of us can respond to him, we are all teleported individually away to different places he has set up on this floor. I find myself in what appears to be a room full of the worst parts of the Earth you and I share, dear readers. But I literally just sit down on the ground and think, knowing that Oberon is trying to torment me and that there's no point in breaking anything. I tried that already as an experiment but nothing happened at all. So yeah, I just sit on the ground and think. Mostly to find a way to break out of this place and possibly reunite with at least one individual before trying to use all of my skills to get out. But nothing works. I try and try to bust out but nothing happens.
It's like our foe deliberately raised the object authority level required to destroy ANYTHING to an absurdly high number. Using the Stasia window, I read the stats of the walls only to find out that the level required to break them is 9999999999. I'm not joking. That damn bastard. He got us good. If only we knew. If we had, we could have tried to crush him as soon as he appeared before us all. But regardless, now that I know that there's no escape- Nevermind, there may still be ways to get out. And Oberon was unable to cut off the direct messaging system of the game. That means that we can all still communicate with each other. I post in the Assault Team chat about what I found out only to be corroborated many times over as a result. Oberon won't cause us to suffer so easily. If he thinks isolation will be enough to break us, he has another thing coming even though he made all of the rooms he trapped us designed to draw out our fears and such. But he didn't do a good enough job to really pull that off well. Guess his design skills are pure trash. Sucks to be him I suppose. Moving on, I set out to try to bust out. The floor and ceiling aren't unbreakable unlike the walls. Big mistake. I start digging into the floor in an attempt to break out using my netherrite pickaxe enchanted with unbreaking 3, efficiency 5, and fortune 3. But I must have dug for hours before I realized that this method was pointless. I mostly dug in one direction that wasn't up or down as I didn't necessarily need to dig very far down at all. But all I kept digging was stone brick even after I dug up a whole lot. The final nail in the coffin for that escape attempt was the fact that many of the others were stating that they had been doing the same thing but for nothing in return.
My next attempt to break out was to bust through the ceiling with TNT. But when I did, all I saw was the sky. There was nothing else but a flat plane of nothing just like the very top of the Nether dimension. I then try glitching through the wall with ender pearls but nearly suffocated to death in the process. I ran through every possible means of escape I could think of but nothing. So after that, I made more brain noise in an attempt to come up with some other way out that might just work as do the others. But none of us come up with anything that could possibly work at least in theory. Can you believe that? This is just painful. And as if the room thought of me as a glutton for punishment, a bunch of monsters suddenly appeared in it and I had to fight for my life. I spent what felt like forever fighting those monsters when Oberon appeared and dismissed them. "You are a knight. You are Swiftdrawer. After seeing how hopeless escape is, will you now agree to join my side as one of my personal knights?" I spit in his face: "Absolutely not! I am a knight of no one but everyone. I am a knight of the people. I bow to no one. I serve no master. I worship no god. Piss off." "I am disappointed but I will be back in 2 days to see how much of your mind has been changed! Monsters, I call upon you to come back stronger and more numerous than before! Break Swiftdrawer until the knight begs to kiss my feet!" And with that, he's gone. 2 days later, I'm in bad shape but still refuse to side with him. In fact, when he comes back, I try to kill him but he instead nearly kills me, glares at me, and leaves me to die. I am forced to use some of the last healing potions I still have to survive that ordeal, hoping that there's a way for me to get the hell out of this place.
That's when I hear a lot of explosions and monster grunts as a whole group of fellow clearers bust into the room I'm trapped in to set me free. I smile: "Thank you for saving me! I shall join you on what you set out to do." The next day on Day 763, we managed to free almost everyone else but only almost because some of our comrades were found missing from the rooms they were trapped in. We ask around amongst ourselves in an attempt to figure out what happened to all of them only for Yui to reveal: "Everyone, Oberon has taken all of them, the top ranked members of the Assault Team! I don't know what he did with them but I can sense mommy and daddy are in great danger! It's like my connection to them is slowly being cut off by force!" That gets all of us to widen our eyes. Bulma exclaims: "Damn that Oberon! I will give him a piece of my mind the next time we see him!" Silica shakes in fear and holds Pina tightly: "I'm so scared! What is Oberon doing to all of them?!" I speak up: "I have a feeling.. I hate it but I have a feeling that Oberon is brainwashing all of them and torturing them when necessary for his brainwashing to succeed. This is a really serious revenge plot. We have to stop him. Unlike our other foes, it's like he's gone straight for his greatest and most vile plan off the bat. That only gives us more incentive to bring him down as soon as we possibly can! We can't let him get away with this or hurt anyone else!" Around us, the 66th Floor returns to the state it was in before Oberon came in and separated all of us by force. The Barian crystals from before are gone though.
Instead, we find ourselves face to face with a group of foes none of us could have possibly prepared to face. What we were seeing was a sick and twisted joke. Resurrected Laughing Coffin members and not just any Laughing Coffin members but the worst of them all besides POH and Death Gun. Kibaou, Morte, Johnny Black, you name it. Johnny Black smirks: "It's showtime!" What's worse is that they are now all Alfs. Oberon must have snatched their data during our confrontation with Windy and Lightning. I didn't mention the likes of Morte before now by name because I never really had to deal with them personally and I forgot about them until I replayed through much of SAO Integral Factor's storyline not to mention playing through more of it as well in the past month or two. In the game, I have just recently beaten the 50th Floor. Anyway, Ghost Gal speaks: "It's the top deceased members of Laughing Coffin. This is going to be a major problem." Morte smirks: "You don't know the half of it! I'm going to poison as many of you as I can. This is going to be fun." Johnny Black laughs: "It's time for the real show that ends the Assault Team to begin! But once all of you are out of the picture, we'll break our deal with Oberon and kill him in front of his new subordinates or rather, pawns!" Oberon appears out of nowhere: "I heard what you just said, Johnny Black! Take it back or be destroyed!" Johnny Black just laughs: "It's showtime and it seems you will be the first star of the show to die a very tragic fate!" The two cross swords until Oberon is forced to retreat. The LC member laughs: "What a loser! Oh well! Lights, camera, action! Let the stage be lit up in chaos and death! Laughing Coffin rises again!"
And of course, there just had to be more to this. Many other killed Laughing Coffin members return as Alfs before all of us. But that's not all. Some clearers suddenly turn on us and reveal themselves to be with Laughing Coffin as well. Several of the traitors go after me as I so happened to be standing with my sword in hand near them. One of them yells: "Today's your unlucky day, Swiftdrawer! Oberon doesn't consider you to be a top clearer so he didn't take you away, leaving you for us to kill ourselves! We are the last few players who supported Laughing Coffin even after it was completely destroyed! Prepare to die! This is the end!" "I don't think so! Great Infernal Tornado Slash!" My attack badly hurts all of them. "Surrender now or I will be forced to kill you. I have no desire to but I will do so if I must." The same one replies: "We will never surrender!" "Then you will have to face terror as I quickly end all of you soon. The only mercy you will get is a quick death. I can see that you're all too far gone. Therefore, I must end you right here right now." I kill all of them solemnly and take their loot. Better to use it than to let it despawn or throw it away, you know? But things only get worse as more fallen LC members return. Morte grins as he attempts to poison me with his weapon: "You will be next to fall, Swiftdrawer! Laughing Coffin is back and better than ever! I I'll have to thank Oberon for giving us the power to bring back our fallen comrades by killing him myself later! Who knew that ALO would secretly harbor death magic that can resurrect the dead?!" He's so much stronger than me now that there's no way I can avoid his attacks for long. But then, something happens that changes the trajectory of the battle completely.
We were being overwhelmed and about to lose as the LC members were even joined by all kinds of monsters and the Fallen Elves in attacking us Assault Team members. However, some people save me from Morte's poison. They even disarm and restrain him. Lueur, Mater's brother and self proclaimed storyteller of sorts exclaims: "Now now, we can't let the story of the many heroes destined to clear this game end, can we?!" Typhon adds: "In spirit, the members of Laughing Coffin are weak. They cannot stop me with their weak tactics and attacks." Stilla, another character known from SAO Integral Factor with a kind heart and some wisdom speaks: "Even those without weapons can defend themselves by deflecting attacking in this game." But then, the sound of a marching medieval army is heard as a bunch of players in practically identical armor and uniforms show up and start crushing our enemies. Johnny Black curses: "Damn it! They're ruining our fun! Why did THEY have to reform in this game?! It isn't fair!" He's talking about the Aincrad Liberation Army or the ALA for short. Kibaou yells: "It can't be!" But there's more. A certain duelist known for using birds and stealing cards to give to innocent children shouts: "Heh, these small fry don't stand a chance against us!" Johnny Black is only more outraged: "What is happening?! Where did all of you come from?!" Argo laughs: "Nyehahahaha! Oberon didn't capture most of us after all!" I nod: "That's right. I forgot! Those he did capture like myself were just one big scouting party because we were getting suspicious of things as we got further and further into the 65th Floor. Now, we know why we were feeling that way to begin with. We got you right where we want you. Shikamaru anticipated Oberon would try something big on this floor and began the effort to plan ahead for such a scenario."
And the cherry on top was an army of Minecraft villagers, reserve Assault Team members, and RCT3 peeps showing up to overwhelm many of our enemies in seconds. The ALA push through the enemy forces, cutting them down one by one through well practiced techniques. They haven't been involved with things that much up to this point. They were secretly building up themselves on the 10th Floor as we later found out. Mater speaks: "With all of us working together, we will finish off this resurrection of Laughing Coffin and then bring down Oberon and save our friends as well! We will do this. Together." NPCs from various floors show up too to further overwhelm our foes including the one Lisbeth had to spend a lot of time convincing by impressing with her blacksmith craftsmanship in order to be able to keep her shop under her ownership as somehow, the town on the 48th Floor her shop is on didn't actually have the deed to it. But you know who did? The NPC who throws out people without a second thought if he thinks they aren't worth his time. I forgot his name but I have videos with him in them on my YouTube channel as part of my SAO Integral Factor gameplay series. By trade, he's a retired warrior turned master blacksmith. But we got him to not only give Lisbeth that deed over but also to join our efforts to beat this game with his skills. Bevel shouts passionately: "Laughing Coffin, you and your friends are about to lose and this time, you will be done permanently! I will help see to that as the archmage inventrix!" Some of the ALA members confront Kibaou. I notice that as I fight some foes alongside Typhon amongst others. Along with them is Thinker, founder of the guild MMO Today which is focused on providing mutual aid to its members and others.
In SAO, Thinker's guild was merged with Kibaou's ALS and Kibaou became a tyrant who pushed Thinker out of power by force. In Integral Factor, their guilds still merged but it wasn't as bad as Thinker wasn't pushed out/rendered a figurehead. In this game, the ALA reformed independently of Kibaou and Thinker so MMO Today still exists as a reformed small guild just like the Moonlit Black Cats. In time, we manage to crush the resurgence of Laughing Coffin. Myself and the other Akatsuki members were adamant after executing those who wouldn't change for the better no matter what because there's no other way of dealing with them considering our situation. I didn't like having to insist but I had to. I still refuse to enjoy killing others no matter what happens. My inner darkness enjoys killing but I still refuse to. (Note: months after escaping the game, I was merged with my inner darkness but still refuse to enjoy killing. Another thing: the genocide in Gaza began after we escaped the game. That's why it isn't mentioned in this story. But I'm going to mention it here because it's important to. The same kind of people who kill people gleefully as members of Laughing Coffin are the same kind involved in destroying the lives of the 2 million people living in Gaza. "You cannot create a utopia by destroying the lives of those around you." -Playmaker to Boman, Yugioh VRAINS. Israel's government wants every Gazan dead. You don't destroy hospitals and other infrastructure civilians need just to stop your enemy. You do it to destroy innocent people. You don't need to blow up civilian infrastructure to win a war against a military force. The IDF are the Laughing Coffin of our world.) Very few Laughing Coffin members are left alive once we're done. A member of the ALA speaks: "Assault Team, from now on, we will join you in your battles. We were corrupt in SAO. I admit
that. We even forced low level players including children to pay a tax for living in the Town of Beginnings which served as our base of operations. But now that we have reformed, we have changed our ways and made sure those who were the root of the corruption were rooted out before we made any major moves. Without Kibaou this time around, the army grew without as much corruption. We understand our past mistakes and vow to make up for them now that things have come to all of this. Now then, it is time we finish off Oberon together!" Before we move out, Johnny Black, Morte, and Kibaou are executed after a trial is conducted in case anyone disagreed with executing them up to that point. Now that they were taken care of and executed by some of my fellow Akatsuki members, it was time to track down Oberon and put a stop to his twisted ambitions. A lot of information is exchanged amongst all of us. The most brilliant minds on our side work together to build drones that can track down Oberon by tracking where our missing friends went. But when we narrow down the search to a very specific portion of the 66th Floor, we run into the 66th Floor Boss. Sachi yells: "It's the 66th Boss! We aren't ready for this!" Stilla shouts: "Remember! If you can't fight your enemy, you can deflect their attacks right back at them! Commit that to memory! It may save all of our lives one day!" The ALA member who spoke before adds: "This Floor Boss is even more difficult than any so far from what we have already gathered but this is no time for fear or giving up. This is the time for action."
Thinker nods: "We can do this! Even without Kirito, Asuna, Sinon, or the others to help us." Future Trunks is amongst the first to hit the Floor Boss: "We won't lose here! I refuse to lose anyone else I care about! I have experienced too much loss! I must keep fighting to beat this game and all of the dangers along the way to doing so!" Together, we managed to defeat the Floor Boss in under 2 hours. Thanks to the ALA's help, we lost no one and were able to recover pretty quickly. Never thought I would be thankful for an army with modern military discipline, seriousness, and tactics but here we are. Strange world. Susan Test speaks: "We have pinpointed the exact location of our friends and Oberon! Let's go!" Ghost Gal cautions everyone: "Be careful, we could run into all kinds of danger there as well as along the way. But you don't need to be an info broker to figure that out on your own." Argo nods: "Ghost Gal, you're right. Kii-boy and Asu are definitely still fighting strong against Oberon no matter what is being done to them right now. I know it. Those 2 can get through just about anything together. Heh, Oberon still doesn't get just how strong the Assault Team is. He really thought he could get me to submit. Nyehahahaha, I sure ticked him off by insisting on being paid col to serve him willingly." Nautilus replies: "That's why you're nicknamed The Rat. But you're right. Kirito is still fighting. When I went by Eji and was full of anger and hatred, it was he who first tried to stop me. And Asuna is no pushover either." Yuna smiles: "That's right! And we are as strong as they are inside! Now who wants to hear a little song for some motivation?"
Yuma replies: "Me!" "Okay! Now listen everyone as I sing you a song that will fill you with the best kind of feelings as we prepare to fight for our lives once again!" Due to Multiversal Standard, we are all able to understand the song she sings perfectly despite the various languages we speak such as English, Spanish, Japanese, and divine speak. She sings about the War of The Underworld that ended in POH and Subtilizer's deaths at the hands of Kirito. She along with those of us who can sing well such as Sachi and myself end up singing and singing for a while until we reach Oberon's base of operations in part of the World Tree as in the part that goes through this part of Aincrad. We don't knock or sneak in, we bust through. Also, those of us singing don't stop singing until we break into his base regardless of all the security measures he had in place. Team Sonic of course took care of those security measures along with various duelists using the same spell card: Remove Trap at the same time. Knuckles yells: "Hey Oberon, you better get your damn nutty and creepy self out of wherever you are and face us unless you want to be forever known as a weak coward who isn't even worth my time to beat up!" Oberon appears right away with a grin on his face. "Well done, Assault Team, you have managed to so far completely outsmart me and my pawns at almost every turn. You even cleaned up the problem of Laughing Coffin for me. I only used them as a distraction to slow all of you down and almost became concerned when they begin to express their plans of destroying me after destroying all of you. Now, I will have some fun with all of you. And when I mean I, I mean your FORMER friends who have recently had a change of heart. No big deal."
To our shock, those of us who were taken away by Oberon come out of various hiding spots wearing Alf tribe themed inversions of the kind of armor Quinella's Integrity Knights usually get. The villain laughs: "Now, I will just sit down and watch from a distance the show that all of you are about to perform for me whether you want to or not. Oh and my lovely Titania will be spectating along with me if you don't mind." Asuna is summoned wearing a dress and having a hairstyle and so forth so drastically different from normal that it's like she has become a completely different person. But then, Oberon adds onto his previous statement: "In case any of you were wondering, Asuna no longer exists. She has been replaced by my beautiful queen, Titania. I have erased Asuna. Titania is now in her place." As if he needed to show proof, he pulls out Asuna's rapier out of his inventory and throws it to the ground. He then pets Asuna's hair: "Titania.. I love you so very much." He then starts licking her all over really creepily. Asuna doesn't respond as if she's been turned into an obedient doll of some kind. But is that all? No, he still had one last surprise for us and it was so incredibly cursed and messed up that words cannot truly describe it. "Now now, you may have noticed a certain someone who wears a lot of black is missing from my new personal guards as king of the fairies. What was his name again? Oh, that's right.. Kirito. That WAS his name. Now, his name is Slave! Come here, Slave!" He makes the noises a dog owner would along with what he just says. Kirito, chained up and on all fours with a collar around his neck obediently runs over to Oberon. Oberon pets Kirito and gives him a dog biscuit: "That's a good dog. Now sit, Slave."
A lot of us are horrified by what we're seeing. I yell: "Damn it! Yet another nutty villain has turned someone into his slave! Just like Pmurt Nedib, The Plot, The Supreme Dark Lord, and more before! Oberon! ..You are worse than trash. You're raw toxic sewage! Calling you trash would be an insult to trash!" No one is amused by my roast considering the circumstances we're in now. This is completely nuts not to mention shocking and disgusting. Oberon laughs as he teleports to some kind of seating area with Kirito and Asuna on either side of him. I DO NOT want to know what HE did to Kirito.. With that done, our other brainwashed friends attack us. Llenn yells: "Damn it! I just want to shoot that bastard for what he has done! But right now, we have to fight our friends!" Sinon and the others who have been turned against us don't speak. They just attack with cold facial expressions on their faces the entire time. It's like they've been brainwashed into fully efficient organic beings whose only emotions are contempt for others and seriousness. That's terrifying. Silica shouts: "Sinon! Lisbeth! Everyone! Please stop! Snap out of it! We need you!" They don't listen. The ALA member from before speaks: "Their senses of selves have been completely suppressed. It will take a lot for them to be brought back to their senses. It can be done but it isn't going to be easy to do that. We are forced to fight them with everything we have but even with all of us fighting together, we're barely getting hits in on them at all. This is an emergency. Oberon has basically made them OP. But I get an idea on how to try to snap them out of it. It's a bananas plan that might literally end in an epic disaster involving explosions and screams in pain but it's worth a try at this point.
As I begin to share it with those around me, others reveal they also have nutty plans to snap our friends out of it. Good thing too because our side is beginning to experience heavy casualties already. That only makes things even worse than they already were and I hate everything about that. That's not all either. To add insult to injury, our friends are using their moves along with some of our own moves against us in rapid succession. That spells trouble for all of us to say the least. The time to combine all of our bonkers plans into one is now. And that's exactly what we do. We are going to create so much noise, mayhem, and destruction that it should be more than enough to shake our friends out of the brainwashing that's been done to them. Oberon won't even try to stop us. He is having too much fun enjoying us like a spoiled piece of crap and complete scumbag. Our friends who are fighting us won't even pay attention if a few of us withdraw from battle. I'm among those few and I work with the others to create all kinds of things in order to try to accomplish our plan well and effectively. So with everything in place, we prepare to unleash some seriously nuts stuff. When the moment is right, just when our comrades look as though they're about to lose completely, we activate our setups. The chaos was glorious. Flying and crashing air powered launched roller coasters with long trains, TNT cannons, fireworks, piles of stuff being flung into the air, gunpowder being ignited after being catapulted into the air, explosive projectiles, bullets, spare weapons being tossed especially javelins, spears, and lances, and all kinds of other things that are completely useless in practice.
To add to the chaos, those of us making it shout and chant things like: "Fus ro dah!" as loud as we can. Playing along, those of us still fighting or at least conscious start shouting and chanting along, creating a glorious wall of sound. The mayhem knocks our friends to their senses. They put down their weapons and help whoever they can up as the chaos continues. It even evolves to include chaotic music harmonics and vocals including Death Metal growls such as from me. Oberon is irritated, furious, and confused all at the same time. In the midst of this, I notice Kirito come back to his senses and struggle against the binds that were put on him. As that happens, the chaos begins to finally die down and we all recover. After all, the chaos was really loud and our once brainwashed friends had done a number on many of us while they were still brainwashed. But once we were all doing okay, we turned our attention to Oberon in time to see Kirito headbutt him right off of his seat, knocking down Asuna in the process. Peridot exclaims: "I'll get Asuna before that CLOD can find a way to use her even more for his disgusting desires!" She runs off to rescue Asuna from Oberon only for Oberon to see her and fire an energy blast to knock her to the ground. However, she only gets back up right away while yelling: "You ARE A TRUE CLOD, OBERON!" She resumes running for Asuna only for Oberon to levitate her into the air to threaten both Kirito and Peridot and by extension, the rest of us as well: "If you don't stop what you're trying to do, I will send Titania off to a place you will never reach. I'm not threatening you if that's what you think. I'm promising that I will do that. And when I do should you not listen to me, you will NEVER see her again!"
Peridot replies: "I bet you won't actually do it and that you're bluffing! I know how clods like you operate. Deep down, you are just a weak pathetic man trying to compensate for his own weakness by taking advantage of others around you! You're a bully and a creep! You can change to be better by trying to be a decent person but you don't even have the you know what to do that, do you?!" Eva shouts as she adds: "Yeah! You don't have nothing, Oberon! You are just one strange sad little man as one of the characters from one of the movies I've watched has said to another character! And I'm putting it nicely!" Pitohui smirks: "If you were afraid of dying, you would retreat hastily like a coward! Why don't we test that right now?!" Oberon has a few veins show on his forehead as he looks more and more pissed off: "How dare you insult your king! Titania is mine and for what you've said, I will now take her away from all of you forever! Say-" That's when those of us with ranged weapons use them to hurt his hands and arms. Because of that, he cries out in pain and lets go of Asuna. Peridot catches her in time and runs off with her. Kirito then breaks completely out of his bindings and tackles Oberon to the ground. Oberon recovers from the pain our ranger attackers just dealt him in time to pull out a sword to try to stab Kirito. Sinon shoots it out of his hand with Hecate and yells: "I don't think so! You won't kill Kirito! Not if I have anything I can do about what you're trying to do!" Oberon ignores her and all of us as he and Kirito struggle physically against each other: "KIRITO! YOU HAVE PISSED ME OFF FOR THE LAST TIME. IM GOING TO GET MY REVENGE FOR EVERYTHING YOU HAVE PUT ME THROUGH. IM GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!"
But then, M and the other GGO players come over to where they're fighting and literally yank Oberon off of Kirito by combining efforts as Oberon is actually really powerful at this point. He's just too angry with Kirito to make more effective use of his own abilities at the moment. Oberon then knocks them away with ease and prepares to try to kill Kirito again until I come over, tap him on the shoulder, and thrust my sword in his face. Oberon grunts and screams angrily before sending me back too. "I have had enough of your interference, you pathetic clearers! Stay out of my way! I'm going to kill Kirito first! You're all going to have to wait your turns to be killed! Do you hear me?!" That doesn't stop any of us from attacking him. We all just keep on going at him regardless if it's up close and personal or at some distance away from him with various ranged weapons. But he just keeps sending us back until a bunch of endermen appear and hold him in place. Ender shouts to Kirito: "You can defeat him now!" Kirito replies: "Okay! Oberon! Sugou! This is where it ends for you and your creepy ways! I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to keep you alive in order to live through your humiliation!" Oberon only smirks at hearing this: "Kirito! Kirito! Oh Kirito! What's wrong?! You can't kill me? But you did just that to me in ALO and even made every single amount of damage you dealt to me as painful as possible in the game!" "This is different! I don't have to kill you to stop you!" "Is that what you think?! Allow me to prove you wrong!" Oberon breaks free of the endermen and lashes at Kirito while also creating hundreds of clones of himself effortlessly to fight the rest of us. The clone I face laughs at me: "It's useless to save Kirito! I'm going to kill him in front of you all!"
I reply: "Don't be so sure! As long as we're still breathing, we're going to do what we can to try to stop you! You won't be able to get your revenge just like that, Oberon!" "You can think however you like but there's no denying that he will die by my hands one way or another!" "So you have really turned into a ruthless murderer, haven't you? Haven't you done enough harm already? Look, I will put you in the grave if necessary and if I'm the one who ends up getting the last hit on you. But unlike you, I don't kill for fun or revenge. I kill to stop those who can't be stopped by peaceful or less violent means!" "Hahahahaha! Isn't that what all of the heroes say before they turn to the dark side?!" "Maybe that is often the case but I'm not exactly the same as those heroes. I'm from an unfair and cruel world controlled by a few thousand super rich and powerful scumbags." "Keep telling yourself that! It will only make you inevitably become just like me or Death Gun!" "The future is not yet written! HAAAAAAAAAA! Great Infernal Tornado Slash! Darkeye Slash!" I combine 2 of my adapted attacks in a single move but only just barely put a dent in the clone. However, the clone is also unable to do much damage to me. When I finally defeat it, I am almost dead. Meanwhile, the real Oberon is seriously duking it out with Kirito. It is horrifying. Oberon is crushing Kirito. For every wound Kirito inflicts on Oberon, Oberon inflicts 8 on him. This is what I meant by how strong Oberon really has become. I try to run to his aid only to get held up by several clones enclosing several of my comrades in a circle of death. I join up with those comrades.
Jack yells: "Damn it! These clones are such a pain to deal with!" Lucciano complains: "This is not any fun!" Josė replies: "Be patient. In time, they will fall to us one way or another." Madoka raises a fist in the air: "That's right! We're going to fix them by destroying them!" She strikes at one with a weapon based on her Beyblade mechanic tools while exclaiming: "I'll fix you!" Just like a character in the game Gyee which I quit after less than 10 hours of playing through it in part because you can't customize your avatar in the game which really sucks. Bulma shouts: "It's time to put these clones in their place at last!" I add: "Haaaaaa! We must keep fighting as long as we need to in this battle! Take this, you damn clones! Great Infernal Tornado Slash!" After a few more minutes, we defeat the clones and proceed to aid the others in fighting clones as well after we heal up for a moment. We are in a hurry to beat the clones because Kirito is going to die very soon at the rate things are going. When enough clones have been destroyed, many of us including me immediately rush to Kirito's side. Oberon frowns before laughing: "So be it! Since you want to fight me so badly to stop me, then I will allow you to strike me as many as times as you want before killing you along with Kirito!" Kirito yells: "Everyone! Get the hell back! This is my fight!" Sinon replies: "It isn't just your fight, Kirito! It's our fight! As the Assault Team, WE never ever abandon anyone. We're all counting on one another to survive and that includes you!" Asuna, having been snapped out of what happened to her after being saved by Peridot adds: "Damn it Kirito! How many times do I have to tell you not to do something this reckless on your own?!" Silica nods: "That's right! We aren't going to ever leave you behind, Kirito! We care about you just as we care about everyone else!"
I further add: "If you think we're going to let you get really hurt without even trying to help you, you don't know us as well as you think and we thought! Haaaa! Oberon! Your fight truly is with all of us now!" The GGO tutorial character shouts: "We'll stop you, you sorry excuse for a dune beetle! Actually, I don't know what's worse than a dune beetle but whatever it is.. That's what you are, Oberon the so called Fairy King!" Oberon laughs again: "You are all so idealistic. I have already won! I am more powerful than all of you combined and have only been toying with you this entire time while I prepare my ultimate plan for revenge and more!" He keeps laughing as he grows to the size of a Floor Boss and begins swatting all of us away like flies while also dismissing his clones as he no longer has any need for them. "Hahahaha! Kirito, how is this for paying for what you've done to me?! Just you wait! In no time at all, I'm going to kill you right in front of your worthless friends while holding Titania in my left hand for all to see! Titania! You will be mine again!" Asuna replies: "Over my dead body!" "Be careful what you wish for, my dear Titania!" "Stop calling me that!" "But that's who you are, Titania!" In mythology, is Titania the wife of the Fairy King? That would explain why Sugou took on the mantle of Fairy King Oberon in pursuit of Asuna. Regardless of the answer, we're now in a really tight spot because of what the villain has now done. He has become like a Floor Boss but with human intelligence. Such a thing is incredibly powerful not to mention dangerous. Forget the 66th Floor Boss, this is really difficult to deal with.
He just keeps laughing as he tanks our attacks effortlessly while also dealing so much damage every single time he hits anyone with his body, giant sword, and so on. What a piece of work he is. A general of the ALA, Coltaz or something like that yells: "Damn it! He's too strong even for the ALA! Is this real life?!" Llenn shouts: "Yes it is and you better get used to it! I know there's a way we can defeat this creep!" Fuka replies: "If he were still normal sized, Id beat him over the head with my RPG launcher! That's a promise! I've done it in Squad Jam. I will do it again!" M speaks up: "Stay focused. We just have to use his weaknesses against him." Llenn replies: "If you're thinking of using Kirito as bait, forget it! Look at him! He's barely still standing over there!" "No, that's not what I meant. I meant his other weaknesses including his predatory nature's downsides. His unstable personality. His cockiness. His putting his emotions far ahead of his logic. All of them in any way we possibly can." But before they try anything else, those who were brainwashed by Oberon, still wearing the armor they were given as well as still Alfs due to Oberon's influence charge at the villain at once for the most part. Goku exclaims: "We are the best chance we have at winning!" Vegeta is clearly smirking: "That arrogant fool should have never given us things to make us much stronger than we were before! He's going to eat his own dust now! This is going to be amusing!" Oberon sees them: "No! How dare you all! You're using what I gave you against me! I should have seen this coming! Oh no! ..Just kidding! You still won't-" He cries out in pain as wounds form in several places of his massive form.
Revolver replies coldly: "How is that for you? You will soon be completely destroyed. You have no chance now that your biggest mistake has come back for you." "Hahahaha! Just kidding again! Behold, Instant Regen- WHAT?!" Heathcliff, Yui, Ai, and others show off farting expressions as Oberon shrinks down back to normal size. Ai points and laughs at him: "Look at the terrifying Fairy King now!" Oberon screams: "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" I speak: "You ain't the sharpest tool in the shed, are you? Well, the years start coming as we come closer to the 100th Floor and they don't stop coming. Your brain supposedly gets smart and your head gets cocky. Bend to the rules, you shrink down and may hit the ground running soon." "THAT DOESNT ANSWER MY QUESTION! I DEMAND AN ANSWER! I AM THE FAIRY KING! YOU WILL OBEY ME, FAIRIES!" Argo shakes her head in resignation: "You need to learn to get off your high horse because your high horse is dying." Heathcliff speaks: "Oberon, you have been stripped of your admin privileges in this game." "NO! IMPOSSIBLE!" Yui replies: "But it is very much possible. The power you had gained left along with your permissions. You are nothing more than a level 1 player now." Oberon starts laughing madly: "This isn't happening! This isn't happening! Me weak and powerless? No, that's not true! I am the Fairy King and a Alf! I can't be stopped from achieving my goals by no one, especially not you, Kazuto Kirigaya!" That's when he notices that his race has been downgraded. Kirito opens the villain's stats and such for everyone to see just as Oberon finds he can't even hold his sword anymore, causing it to drop on his right foot.
He yelps and cries out in pain. Kirito expands the window to become as large as possible so we can all see and read it. Here's what it reads. AGI: 0. STR: 0. DEX: 0. INT: 0. LUCK: 0. VIT: 0. Level 1. Skills: Play Dead and Scream Loudly. ALO Fairy Race: Navigation Pixie. Col: 0. Friends: 0. Guild: none. I don't even know how they changed his race to Navigation Pixie but before our eyes, his appearance changes to be much more like a Navigation Pixie's. His body doesn't change in size but his wings become tiny. His outfit becomes cute and approachable. Oberon cries: "Noooooooooooo! Why is this happening to me?!" Deidara laughs: "Aww is the Fairy King sad? Well, too bad!" Placido adds: "He's so useless that a bee is more scary and dangerous than him. Far more, actually." A bee so happens to fly into view before stinging Oberon, reducing his hp immediately to 1 before buzzing away. Placido smirks: "Oberon, have you ever seen a bee dance? Let me see you dance like a bee! I wouldn't even call you a pest, you're just absolutely nothing!" Josė speaks: "Placido, please don't forget to save such trashtalk only for the likes of this villain." "That won't be a problem." Bismuth asks: "So what we do we do with Oberon now?" Amethyst chuckles: "Anyone got tar and feathers?" Pearl replies: "Amethyst!" "Pearl, you do realize that Oberon is no threat anymore, right? He's perfectly harmless. A little fly could do more damage than he can. We can humiliate him further, throw him in the Blackiron Palace, or kill him. And I'm not a fan of that last option. To be honest, I think we should let Kirito and Asuna decide his fate. He has done the most harm to them by far."
Stargirl(Justice League) shouts: "Who is in favor of letting them decide what to do with him? If you do, say I and raise one of your hands." I raise my right hand with my sword in it and confidently shout: "I!" in unison with the overwhelming majority of the Assault Team. Diavel speaks: "And the motion passes by overwhelming majority approval. Kirito and Asuna, what do you want us to do with him?" Kirito replies: "Whatever Asuna wants is fine by me." Asuna speaks up: "We are going to humiliate him and use him as an example of why you should never ever obsessively pursue someone you're in love with to the point you will even do kidnapping, forced marriage, attempted murder, and sexual assault to get them to be with you forever even if they find you horrible and creepy. It doesn't matter what kind of humiliation he is put through as long as it doesn't violate his basic human rights." Argo snickers: "Nyehahahaha. This is going to be fun. So about the tar and feathers.." 2 days later on Day 765.. We are at the town that currently houses the majority of the players who have yet to become mid level players still at this point. Low level players came out in droves to take pictures of what they were seeing with record crystals. Oberon is tarred and feather with his entire head left intentionally free of the tar and feathers so everyone could clearly see his facial expressions as he walks in humiliation with many of us myself included surrounding him on all sides though there is a brown mass on the top of his head that looks suspiciously a lot like chocolate ice cream or SOMETHING ELSE.. We're all wearing t-shirts over our usual attire that point at Oberon with arrows and "Loser" written on them. The words and arrows are in white with the shirts dyed black. But that's not all.
Cakes with badly iced faces of a humiliated Oberon amongst other humiliated Oberon themed treats and dishes and drinks are being passed around to anyone who wants any for free. There is also a temporary tattoo on Oberon's forehead that's in the shape of an L. That one was my idea. He is so humiliated that he isn't even screaming or anything. In fact, those of us who are musicians of some kind are currently performing a fun happy little song for everyone to enjoy and I'm no exception to that. It goes something along the lines of: "Haha, Oberon is a loser. Haha, Oberon is a loser. He is a loser. A complete and total loser. A liar. A creep. A predator. A manipulator. A pile of raw toxic sewage. Go ahead, spit in his face, point and laugh, he's the clown of Aincrad now. He has hit rock bottom but now, he's going to hit even lower than that." It went on from there obviously. It was actually practiced a number of times so we all knew how to perform it properly. It is so absurd. We even have fireworks displays going on that make Oberon look even sillier. And I honestly kind of hate fireworks especially when I'm trying to sleep when people set off fireworks late at night around the beginning of July. Minecraft fireworks aren't so bad though. We eventually stop parading around the defeated villain. But that didn't mean we were done putting him on full display for all of Aincrad to point and laugh at. No, this was only the beginning. Soon, all kinds of performances and contests were done such as: depict Oberon the funniest, draw on Oberon's face, and Oberoncon(also my idea. Based on the chaos that is FirrCon but much much much worse). Needless to say, we had as much fun with him as we could possibly have.
We spent 2 entire days coming up with and putting together ways to humiliate him. He was so thoroughly humiliated that we decided that we never had to do such a massive level of humiliation for him ever again. Oberon is being kept alive. He is being given what he needs to live but no weapons or anyway to level up. He is constantly being tracked. Actually, he can't even level up anymore. All of his exp stuff is locked shut. And his inventory has been limited to 1 slot, making it nearly impossible for him to become an actual threat again. The next day on Day 766, I was watching Oberon in order to keep an eye on him. Many of us clearers have brought up the idea of actually trying to have Oberon go through therapy to become an actually decent person. We have taken everything from him except his chosen name and human rights. Every person deserves at least that unless they COMPLETELY cross the line and remain a danger to themselves and/or others. During a strategy meeting to determine when we would move onto the next floor of Aincrad, that was brought up. And the idea of having him get help ended up passing as well. He may be a complete scumbag but now that he's become a shell of his former self, it's clear that there may be a chance that he could actually be reformed. Oberon sobs a lot every single day now. On Day 770, I am among those who went with him to his first session to observe. Oberon begged to undergo therapy after we told him that no one would oppose him going to therapy and that it would be the only way for him to end his own humiliation someday. The other villains could have come to rescue him any day but it looks as though as they view him as nothing but dead weight to them.
Therapy is the only way he can actually have a life now. Oberon cried many times during his first therapy session with an entire team of mental health professionals who have only gotten better at what they do since getting trapped in this game along with all of us. When it was over, we heard one of the mental health professionals say: "That was the most intense session in months. He is a unique case. We made a lot of progress already today. I hope he is willing to come back tomorrow or the next day for another session." And that was that. Oberon was found to have no intention of trying to get revenge anymore during that entire several hour long session. 2 days after that, we were prepared to head up to the 67th Floor and it seemed like Oberon was now well on the path to redemption. Until he wasn't. While Asuna was preparing lunch for him and various others including Kirito and myself, he somehow got his hands on one of Asuna's kitchen knives. I was just asking her: "Hey Asuna, do you want to hear a live performance of singing while you cook? For once in my life, I feel like I really want to randomly sing for some reason." "I'm alright but thanks for the offer." That's when we hear a racket before Oberon screams while wielding said kitchen knife: "KIRITO, I WILL KILL YOU!" He is executed quickly and mercilessly the day we go up to the next floor: Day 775(we wanted to make sure the Assault Team was fully prepared to go up as well as try one more time to get Oberon to become a better person but that didn't happen. Oh and we wanted to get more grinding and training in as well.).
The face of Oberon before he was executed is documented as an infamous image. We tried to help him become better. Former villains like Piccolo, Aporia, Z-One, and The Admin were among those who tried to reach out to him. But no one was able to truly get through to him. And that was that. He was executed in private and it was over right then and there. And soon, we showed up on the 67th Floor, yet another floor closer to the damn Ruby Palace as well as Death Gun, POH, Subtilizer, and Quinella. It was so eerie once we got to the 67th Floor. Lisbeth speaks: "I am not getting a bad feeling from here at all.." Doofensmirtz yells: "Hey, I think someone or something's watching us in the distance!" Out of nowhere, a mangled body is thrown in our direction with a note on its torso. It was read out loud for all of us by Sinon. "I am coming. I am watching all of you. -XaXa, Sterben." Kirito has chills: "Death Gun. He's almost ready to come for all of us now. We have to be more careful from now on! No funny business!" Konan speaks: "Sadly, you are correct." To be continued..