I Chapter 7 Illusionary Avenger
After Yolko died the four players were in shock in what just happened.
"Not again!" Sora exclaimed.
"Someone must have thrown that dagger from somewhere, so the killer is probably still near by." Kirito said.
"And I think I found him look!" Sora exclaimed, while pointing out the window to a player in a brown robe on a near by roof running away.
"Then let's get moving. Stay with him!" Kirito said, as he and Sora jumped out the window to run after the killer.
"No wait!" Asuna exclaimed, but the boys were already outside.
Sora and Kirito ran after him on the roof, when Sora was about to pull out his keyblade, Kirito stopped him when he saw he had a teleport crystal on him. If Sora tried to attack the killer would just teleport away. Kirito tried to attack by throwing a few needles at him, but an invisible barrier protected him.
"That's it…" Sora said quietly.
Sora then jumped high of the roof he was running on and tried to pounce on the killer, but the killer just used the teleport crystal he had and escaped.
"You've gotta be kidding me." Sora said, annoyed the killer got away.
"Come on, let's head back." Kirito said.
"Okay…" Sora responded, as they headed back to the Inn.
As Sora and Kirito returned to the Inn Asuna wasn't very happy to see them.
"You idiots! What's your problem?" Asuna asked, annoyed that they just took off.
"Hey don't get mad at us! We were trying to catch that killer! And I'm having a problem with your attitude." Sora said, sounding very irritated.
Asuna just huffed at comment Sora made and calmed down.
"Well, what happened?" Asuna asked.
"We lost him he teleported off somewhere." Kirito said.
"Now this is really getting out of hand. The Inn should have been the safest to keep her in." Sora said.
"It should have been, the system is supposed to protect players inside the Inn's." Kirito said.
"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 P.K someone in a safe zone!" Schmidt said while shaking in fear.
"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!" Kirito exclaimed.
After all that the players left the Inn, later at night Sora, Kirito and Asuna were sitting outside, trying to think of an explanation on what's going on.
"I don't know what to think. Was that robed figure Griselda's ghost?" Asuna asked.
"(Sighs) Honestly anything's possible at this point."Sora said.
"No, that wasn't a ghost I bet my life on it. Why would a ghost need a teleport crystal? Wait… teleport crystal…" Kirito said, thinking about what happened.
"What is it?" Asuna asked.
"You figured something out?" Sora asked.
"Nah, it's nothing." Kirito said.
As they were thinking Asuna handed Sora and Kirito something.
"Here." Asuna said.
"Is that for us?" Kirito asked.
"Well what do you I'm doing showing it off? Are you gonna take it or what?" Asuna asked.
"Uh.. okay thanks thank you." Kirito said.
"Yeah thanks." Sora said.
When Sora and Kirito opened the purple napkin covering it, it revealed a sandwich underneath it.
"Better eat it fast before it disappears, its durability is almost down to zero." Asuna said .
"Huh? Oh yeah." Kirito said.
"Mmmm this is great!" Sora exclaimed while munching on the sandwich.
"Yeah, when did you have time to pick this up?" Kirito asked.
"I had a feeling we wouldn't have time for lunch today. So this morning I packed one for us, hurry up and eat it okay?" Asuna said.
"Got to hand it to you, for second in command to the Knights of the Blood Oath you rock, when'd you have time to pick these up?" Kirito asked.
"I didn't… I made it." Asuna said.
"You can cook?" Sora asked.
"Yes I can cook, so what?" Asuna asked.
'Hmm so you can cook in this game. Maybe once we solve this mystery I can ask Asuna how to cook in this game.' Sora thought to himself.
"Wow I… I don't even know what to say. I mean if your looking for a second career you make a killer selling these."Kirito said, chuckling a little bit at the end.
But Asuna was a little annoyed at comment and stomped her foot hard on the ground. It shocks Kirito he drops his sandwich and it disappears.
"You should have been eating instead of talking." Asuna said.
Then Kirito feel on his knees while looking hard on the ground.
"Uhhhh are you alright Kirito?" Sora asked.
"Are you crying" Asuna asked.
"Shhh! No way! That's right! That's it!" Kirito exclaimed.
"What's it? What did you just figure out?" Asuna asked.
"I… no wait, we never saw a thing. We just thought we did, but we were seeing something else." Kirito said.
"What were we seeing?" Sora asked, Kirito kept talking not answering his question.
"I was right, the game doesn't allow killing inside a safe zone. There's no weapon or system exploit!" Kirito exclaimed.
Meanwhile, on Floor 19 in forest called Cross Hill, Schmidt was at Griselda's resting place begging for forgiveness.
"The only way I can be saved is if you forgive me. (Schmidt said as he went on his knees to beg for forgiveness.) I'm sorry, I'm so sorry please forgive Griselda. I swear I never thought this was going to happen you have to believe me!" Schmidt exclaimed as he begged for forgiveness.
Then out it winds was a mysterious voice.
"Oh really…. Oh really.. Oh really?" The mysterious voice said.
Schmidt looked behind him but there wasn't anyone there, but when he looked in front of him the same robed figure was standing in front of him.
"What did you do to me? Tell me Schmidt. Tell me what you did, tell me now." The robed player said holding out a sword threatening Schmidt's life.
"Okay, okay! The day we voted to sell the ring I… I looked at my belt pouch, and there was a crystal and a note with instructions.
"Who were they from? Who gave you them?" Another mysterious voice asked.
In shock he looked up and saw another robed figure walking close to him.
"Grimlock… your dead too?" Schmidt asked in fear and shock.
"Tell me. I want to know who gave you those instructions?" The mysterious figure asked.
"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 shared storage." Schmidt said.
"Then what?" The mysterious figure asked.
"That's all I did! I swear! I didn't want her to die! I didn't want to be part of that! Please, believe me!" Schmidt exclaimed while crying.
They all stayed silent for awhile until one of the robed figures broke the silent treatment.
"We recorded everything you said Schmidt." One of the robed players said.
When Schmidt looked up he leaned the two robed players aren't Griselda and Grimlock, they were Kains and Yolko, and she was holding a crystal that recorded everything.
Back with Sora, Kirito and Asuna Kirito told them news that made Sora and Asuna's jaws drop.
"WHAAAAAAAAAT?!" Sora exclaimed.
"Wait they're alive?!" Asuna asked.
"Yep they're alive, both Kains and Yolko." Kirito said.
"But they both died right in front us. We saw them both disappear." Sora said.
"Inside safe zones a player's H.P doesn't deplete on it's own, but the durability of an object does. Just like that sandwich you gave me." Kirito said.
"What?" Asuna asked.
"That day, the spear was sticking out of Kains's armor it wasn't draining his H.P though, it was draining the durability of his armor." Kirito said.
"Then, the armor was the only thing that disappeared. But what happened to his body when his armor got disintegrated?" Sora asked.
"Once his armor's durability expired, Kains used a teleport crystal to teleport out of his armor at the same time." Kirito said.
Sora and Asuna were still in shock that the people who claimed to be dead were actually faking their own deaths.
"Sure it looks a lot like what happens when a player dies in the game. Only he didn't die." Kirito said.
"Then, what happened to Yolko?" Asuna asked.
"I bet the dagger was rigged to her back the whole time. She had it all planned out." Kirito said.
"But we were there the whole time, we would've seen it." Sora said.
"Only if she'd turned around though. Remember she never turned her back to us, not even once she kept an aye on her equipments durability level while she was taking. Once it got down to zero all she had to do was act like she had been hit by a dagger, thrown from outside the window." Kirito said.
"Who was the person in the brown robe you and Sora were chasing?" Asuna asked.
"It wasn't Grimlock I'm pretty sure of that. But Kains, he and Yolko were it together they figured out how they can use this method to fake their own deaths. Getting people to think they were murdered in a safe zone was a calculated twist." Kirito said.
"I get it, they were trying to draw out and expose the person responsible for Griselda's murder." Sora said.
"And they did it by faking their deaths and creating an illusionary avenger." Asuna said.
"And Schmidt was the person they'd peg for it, probably since the beginning. Hey, you both still have Yolko on your friend list don't you?" Kirito asked.
Sora and Asuna opened their main menu and went to their friend list to find Yolko.
"Right now she's in the field of Floor 19, looks like she's on a small just outside of town." Asuna said.
"Should we go after her? They might need our help. Sora said.
"Nah, they've managed to get this far they can handle it own their own. Besides our job's pretty much done now wouldn't you say?" Kirito asked.
They both agreed in letting Kains and Yolko handle the case on their own. Meanwhile back on Floor 19 Schmidt just found out he was being recorded by two players who were believed to be dead.
"You were… recording? So that's how it is huh? You cared about what happened to Griselda after all." Schmidt said.
"Of course we did but you didn't betray her because you hated her did you?" Kains asked.
"No! I don't hate her honest. I mean, sure I feel guilty getting money for my part of it, but the rare weapon I bought helped me get into the Holy Dragon Alliance so…" Schmidt said, but before he could finish a dagger went right into his right shoulder.
"Paralysis…" Schmidt said, as he fell on the ground and couldn't move a muscle.
Then the players looked around to find out where that dagger came from, and they spotted a player with a red curser above his head is orange meaning he's a red player. He wore hood acts to hide the players face from those around them, only people looking from in front can see past the hood, helping him maintain a sense of mystery. The armor is a dark, eerie cloak which covers the full body without any openings. Bandages are wrapped around the wearer's right hand, preventing others from seeing what lies underneath, white on a black background with the words "SAO Guild - Laughing Coffin." Lastly he wore a pair of dark boots allow for quiet movement, to help the members to hunt their prey.
"One… down!" The red player said.
Then two more red players came and one of them pointing a sword) at Kains and Yolko threatening their lives.
"Well this is certainly our biggest catch yet. A big shot from the Holy Dragon Alliance." The other red player said.
"Laughing Coffin… the murder guild." Schmidt said.
"Schmidt, Kains and Yolko were all afraid of their lives, Laughing Coffin are remorseless assassins and they kill people just for the fun of it.
"Now, what game should we play with these three?" One of the Laughing Coffin member said.
"Oh I know I know! Let's play the one where they have to kill each other last one standing wins!" The other Laughing Coffin member said.
"I know it's your favorite but the last time we did that you killed the winner anyway." The other Laughing Coffin member said.
"Oh come on! You spoiled it! It's know fun if they know they're gonna die!" The other Laughing Coffin member said.
"Alright, let's get this show on the road" The other Laughing Coffin member said.
The laughing Coffin member was about to end his life, until they heard footsteps approaching them. They looked and saw a horse approaching them, and Sora and Kirito falling off the horse. " Next time we go horse riding I'm riding up front." Sora said.
Kirito just rolled his eyes at that comment.
"Looks like we made it just in time." Kirito said, as he smacked his hand on the horse's butt causing it to run.
"As for you guys, we got thirty players on the assault team on there way. You guys think just the three of you can handle that?" Sora asked.
Then Sora and Kirito pulled out weapons staring down Laughing Coffin in the eye, both groups looked at each other. But at the end Laughing Coffin decided it wasn't worth it.
"Come on." one of the Laughing Coffin's members said, as they all walked off into then
"Nice to see you alive again… Yolko." Kirito said, sounding a bit mad that she tricked him.
"You won't believe but, after it was over I swear I was gonna tell you the truth. I'm am sorry we had to trick you to help us out." Yolko said with remorse.
"It's okay, we know why you did it." Sora said.
"Guys thanks for saving me but, how did you figure it out? How did you know those three would attack us here?" Schmidt asked.
"We don't figure it out, we were acting on a hunch that's all. Hey Yolko Kains level with me, you guys asked Grimlock to make the spear and the knife didn't you?" Kirito asked.
"We did but he was against our plan from the beginning. All he wanted for Griselda to rest in peace." Yolko said.
"He did forge the weapons for us, but only after we got down on our knees and begged him." Kains said.
"Actually that wasn't the reason he refused, it wasn't about Griselda he was worried all the would draw to much attention. He didn't want anyone snooping around for answers. We figured it out a half an hour ago." Sora explained.
Flashback
In the restaurant the three players just went over everything they found out.
"We ended up playing right into Yolko hands didn't we? You know what I don't really mind." Kirito said.
"Yeah me neither." Asuna said.
"As long as everything works out for her and Kains I don't mind." Sora said.
"Hey, if you guys were in there guild and a super rare item like that dropped what would you have done?" Asuna asked.
"Oh I don't know. I normally play solo to avoid situations like that." Kirito said.
"I say if someone drops it it's theirs, and that person decides what to do with it." Sora said.
"In my guild the one who got the kill gets it, those are the rules we have to play by. You know how in S.A.O if a player gets a drop no one knows unless someone reports it? Our way, no one can hoard stuff because we find out who gets what ahead of time. Also, the rules my guild play by gives the concept of marriage real meaning. Think about it, if you marry you have to share your item storage. If your single you can hide whatever you want but, you know when you married you can't hide it anymore. I think sharing storage with the person you're married to is wonderfully pragmatic, at the same time I think it's very romantic." Asuna explained.
Sora thought about it and he realized she was right, in real life with marriage you share what you have with your partner, but if your single you can hide whatever you want.
"Hey." Kirito said.
"Yeah what?" Asuna asked.
"So, uh how many times have you been married anyway?" Kirito asked.
Asuna got mad at that comment, and pointed a fork up to Kirito's neck. Sora decided to hide under the table until she cooled down.
"Wait I didn't mean it! That didn't come out right! You were talking about how it's romantic and plastic and…" Kirito exclaimed in fear.
"I did not say that you idiot! What I said is that it's romantic and romantic and pragmatic! For your information the pragmatic means practical! I mean seriously!" Asuna exclaimed.
Sora decided to rise up from under the table to ask her a question.
"You think marriage in S.A.O is practical" Sora asked.
"Of course if you're married everything is is out in the open. You know cause of common storage." Asuna said.
After saying that, Kirito realized something else.
"That's it, common storage. Okay say you're spouse dies what happens to the items?" Kirito asked.
"Huh?" Asuna asked.
"Why bring that up?" Sora asked.
"Item storage is shared right? So when one person dies what happens to their stuff?" Kirito asked.
"If you're talking about Griselda and Grimlock.. If one of them died…" Asuna said, before Kirito spoke up.
"Everything would go to the surviving spouse." Kirito said.
"But that would mean that the ring in Griselda's storage…" Sora said, before Kirito spoke up again.
"Should be sitting in Grimlock's storage not the killers. It was sitting there the whole time." Kirito said.
"It was never stolen in the first place." Asuna said.
"No it was stolen, it doesn't matter if it's still there. Grimlock was basically stealing it the minute he put his plan into action." Kirito said.
They decided they had to help with this new information so they split up. Sora and Kirito would find Yolko and Kains and Asuna would go after Grimlock.
Present Time
"It was Grimlock? Then those were his instructions. Then he killed Griselda too!" Kains exclaimed in anger.
"No we don't think he's the one who actually killed her. It's more likely he found himself a red player to do it for him." Kirito said.
"But if that's the case, then why would he go through all that trouble just to help us out?!" Yolko exclaimed in shock.
"You explained your plan to him in detail, didn't you?" Kirito asked.
"Grimlock used your plan as an opportunity to burry the ring incident and any witnesses once and for all." Sora said.
"All he'd have to do is sit back and wait for you, Schmidt and Kains to get together, you'd be sitting ducks." Kirito said.
"That's it, that's why, they'd knew we'd be here because he hired them." Schmidt said.
"Yeah, and I bet they were the same ones Grimlock hired to kill Griselda." Sora said.
Yolko broke in tears knowing that the one they trusted was the one who killed Griselda.
"Found him" Asuna said.
Asuna came with a man wearing dark clothing, giving off an aura of mysteriousness, and a hat. He also was wearing glasses, has short black hair with long bangs and is relatively tall, that man was Grimlock. She pointed her sword at him to make sure he didn't escape.
"If you wanna know more you can ask the man yourself." Kirito said.
"Hello, long time no see comrades." Grimlock said.
" I can't believe it. Did you? Did you really plan this?" Yolko asked.
But Grimlock didn't say anything, only made the smile on his face a little wider.
"HOW COULD YOU GRIMLOCK?! ANSWER ME! WHY DID TOU KILL GRISELDA! WAS IT THE MONEY?! WAS THE MONEY SO IMPORTANT TO YOU THAT YOU'D KILL YOUR OWN WIFE FOR IT?!" Yolko exclaimed, while breaking down in tears.
"Hmph money? Did you say money? (Chuckle) 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 my wife in the real world." Grimlock said.
Everyone else was surprised to hear this, no one knew that they were married in real life. Now everyone was even more shocked he would kill her since they weren't just married in the game, they were married in real life to.
"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 then she ever did in the real world. There was nothing I could do about it, she changed the Yolko I loved was gone. Gone! But then I realized I didn't have to live she was murder is part of this game! If I could have the Yolko I loved back, I'd settle for the memory of her and who could blame me?!" Grimlock said.
"That's why you did it? That's the reason you killed your wife?" Kirito asked.
Sora was furious that Grimlock didn't like Griselda changing to a strong powerful player to defend herself and her teammates. Sora remembered when he saw Kairi again in The World That Never Was and she was fighting heartless. He knew she changed, but he was amazed by it. She didn't want to wait in the island anymore, she wants to fight by his side.
"You really believe us to think you loved her? You only liked the version of Griselda you wanted to have! When she came to S.A.O she proved she was a strong independent woman and you just couldn't handle that!" Sora exclaimed, angry that he killed his wife after she changed.
"Please you're to young, but you'll understand. Someday when you find love, believe me you'll do anything to keep it." Grimlock said with no remorse.
Sora was actually about to raise his keyblade at him until Asuna spoke up.
"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!" Asuna said.
Grimlock then became shocked by those words and realized that she was right. He fell down on his knees realizing the terrible mistake he made, but it was to late to make it right.
"Sora, Kirito, Asuna we appreciate your help but I think this our problem to deal with now." Kains said.
"Okay." Kirito said.
And with that Schmidt and Kains carried Grimlock and all the remaining members of the the Golden Apple Guild disappeared into the forest.
"Hey, say it was one of you and you married someone, and later on you had a side to her you didn't know about. How would you feel?" Asian asked.
"I guess… that I was lucky?" Kirito asked.
Asuna looked at him with confusion and Kirito was getting nervous. But Sora knew what to say to help his friend.
"What he means is that if there was a chance to get to know that person even more that would be lucky. Right Kirito?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, I mean if you marry someone that means you already like whatever you know about em doesn't it? And if you discovered something you didn't know about them before then, that would be awesome? Kirito asked, worried about accidentally making Asuna mad again.
"Right good answer. Anyway I'm hungry after all this, I didn't get to finish my dinner." Asuna said.
"Oh yeah right you didn't." Kirito said.
"(Yawn) We should get back to work tomorrow, we've been off the frontlines for two days." Asuna said.
" Yeah, Sora and I were planning to have this floor totally cleared by the end of this week." Kirito said.
As the three players started walking Kirto stopped them before they moved to far.
"Now what?" Asuna asked.
"What is it?" Sora asked.
They looked back at Griselda's grave and actually saw Griselda's ghost smiling at them. After awhile she disappeared leaving the three players alone again.
"Hey guys, do you want to friend me? It's kind of silly not to it's convenient, we are in the assault team after all." Asuna said.
"Sure I mean we're friends already." Sora said.
"I guess but I'm a solo player." Kirito said.
"But the two of us fight together since we met on Floor One." Sora said.
"I know, but I'm still getting used to having someone else fighting by side." Kirito said.
"Well I'm not asking you two to form a party with me. You should try to make a few more friends while you're here." Asuna said.
Sora then decided to push Kirito alittle bit closer to Asuna.
"She's right you know, there's nothing wrong with expanding your circle of friends." Sora said.
"Yeah I don't know it's not like I don't want…" Kirito said before Asuna walked closer to him smiling and hitting him on the shoulder.
"Hey!" Kirito said.
"Think about it while we eat no pressure. Come on, let's go back and find a good restaurant." Asuna said.
"Uh okay." Kirito said.
And with that the three players headed back to Floor 57, but Sora had a lot of thoughts going on in his head.
'(Chuckles) Those two are made for each other. But there's still one mystery left, how did the heartless appear in a safe zone. I better talk to Ansem and the others about this before the situation gets worse.' Sora thought to himself.
Back in the castle Ansem the Wise and his apprentices just saw everything that happened and were surprised.
"They sure had a clever plan to catch the murderer." Ienzo said.
"Yeah, but I still can't believe Grimlock was the murderer the whole time." Even said.
"Me too, but how did the heartless show up in a safe zone? We scanned everywhere on S.A.O and we didn't find any glitches." Ienzo said.
"I have an idea, you know why we digitized Sora's keyblade right?" Ansem asked.
"It's because that world doesn't have any magic and for Sora still needs to use his keyblade to access the System Sector in the game." Ienzo said.
"Yes and to also have his sword act like a regular sword to blend in. Like when Sora and his friends travel to specific worlds he needs to blend in. But heartless aren't like that, they just act upon their instincts. When the players panicked on Floor 57, the heartless managed to sense their fear so strongly they appeared in a safe zone." Ansem said.
"So heartless can appear in safe zones, but only if a the players fear is strong enough for the heartless to sense." Even said.
"Exactly, I just hope that'll be the last time the heartless appear in safe zone or everyone in Sword Art Online will be in real danger. Now we definitely have to find that player before something worse happens!" Ansem exclaimed.
There you have it! A new chapter and an answer to how the heartless can appear in a safe zone. But this next chapter won't be based on the show it'll be something brand new. I believe it's time Kirito learned about Sora's secret.