Shattered: A SAO Tale (Sword Art Online)

"How many?"

"Dri-bou..."

"I asked, how many?"

The room was quiet, the inn vacant by all but Reaver's Requiem and Argo the Rat. People knew better than to bother Broken Spear Drifter when he was in a bad mood.

The Reavers themselves were tense. They had just come back to the 35th floor after their day and a half vacation, and had been instantly hit with the news of a conflict between players turning into an all out battle between guilds.

Argo hadn't wanted to tell Drifter about it, but she knew he would find out one way or the other. The only silver lining was that she knew the spearmaster wasn't as arrogant as to think it was his fault. He simply needed to know.

"7 in the fight itself. 31 overall in the 35th floor."

The guild leader took in her words. 31 people dead in less than 48 hours. Seven of them in a stupid fight for a necklace - with good stats, sure, but still just a necklace - because someone refused to show it - as was their right.

"And did someone get the fucking revival item?"

"If they did, they're keepin' quiet 'bout it. Smart too. It's what I would do."

Argo shrugged, and Drifter didn't blame her. Just because he wasn't willing to lead his guild in a wild goose chase for the rumored item, didn't mean he wouldn't be overjoyed - and conflicted - to have it in his hands. And he most certainly wouldn't advertise it if he got it, not even to Reaver's Requiem closest allies.

"What about the guilds involved in the fight?"

"All but dissolved. They weren't big to start with, and with so many dead or in prison, it's over for 'em."

Drifter nodded. This didn't actually have much to do with him, but as one of SAO's foremost players, it was his responsibility to know.

"How many?"

"5 on Black Iron Palace. Three are orange and will walk in a month or so. I already got Akari-chan to put a few shadows on 'em when they come out. The other two are red. They'll be keepin' Louze company."

It seemed unfair, to put two players who had killed in the heat of the moment in the same level as a Laughing Coffin murderer. But at the same time, they were also killers, weren't they?

Like Drifter.

"Does anyone have any bit of good news?"

The spearmaster looked around. Again, it was Argo who shrugged and spoke first.

"I've got some not-bad news, if that works for ya?"

"Perfect. What's it?"

"We've already got the tower entrance and made a start on mappin'. Expect to fight another raid in 2 days' time."

That wasn't bad news. It wasn't good, either, since everything was still a mess, but hey, maybe if they passed the 35th floor, things would calm down?

"And we got the next part of that chain quest?"

Yuuki spoke hesitantly. Drifter raised an eyebrow.

"Why was that a question?"

The young swordswoman grimaced.

"It's on the 35th floor wilderness. The Forest of Wandering. Where pretty much half of Aincrad is nowadays."

"Of course it is."

Drifter sighed. Reaver's Requiem joining the chaos on the floor was not what they needed right now. And especially not the guild showing in force. That would almost certainly be misunderstood as them going after the revival item.

"We can wait some. Probably should, actually. It's not like it makes a difference."

Agil pointed out wisely. Hidden map bosses where like floor bosses. Unique. You killed them once, that was it.

"We'll revisit it later. For now... Kirito, reach out to Klein and Orlando. Asuna, you get Heathcliff, he seems to like you. I'll take Lind and Shivata. Griselda, Kizmel, Ran, the other frontliner guilds."

Reaver's Requiem had many leadership-capable players. Too many, some might say. But it helped in times like these, when Drifter wanted to delegate tasks.

"What do we tell them?"

"That Reaver's Requiem will be keeping out of the 35th floor until the boss room's found. We advise - use that word exactly - they do the same to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts with normal players. Also, they are to be ready to raid the floor boss within the next 72 hours."

The spearmaster nodded to himself. That would have to do. Then he turned to his favorite info-broker.

"Little rat, sweat your sources. Any and all information on the boss, deliver to the Assault Team immediately. I'll pay for it."

The whiskered girl raised an eyebrow.

"That's nearly 2 dozen copies. It's gonna cost a pretty cor, Dri-bou. Ya sure? I can just make 'em pay."

The spearmaster shook his head.

"I'll talk it out with them later. I just want to get over with the 35th floor without delays."

"If ya say so. I'll shake up my web. Get the ones who hadn't gone crazy to step on it."

That was good. The only way to get past the whole unpleasantness of the search for the revival item was to get past the 35th floor itself.

"Sounds like we have a game plan then. Beat the floor boss, explore the 36th floor, and circle back in a week to complete the chain quest. That good?"

The Reavers nodded. And just like that, they were back in business.

---------------------

There was someone else who was particularly dissatisfied with the current state of affairs in Aincrad.

Heathcliff oversaw the inner workings of Sword Art Online from his inn-room-turned-office. Especially the details of one revival item he had specifically told Cardinal to remove before game launch.

"Cardinal. What is this?"

[ Divine Stone of Returning Soul. An item which allows for a player to be brought back to life as long as the conditions are fulfilled. ]

The AI responded in a robotic tone. A vein ticked on Heathcliff's forehead. He knew his creation could be a lot more expressive than that if it so wished.

"Why is it still in the game? I told you to get rid of all revival items."

[ Your order was followed. However, you did not command me to erase the special boss Nicholas the Renegade. As the Divine Stone of Returning Soul is this particular boss' only drop, it was deemed to go against the fairness guidelines you set to erase the item. The fairness guidelines preceed the erasure of revival items, and, as such, was given preference. ]

A reasonable, logical explanation. So why did Heathcliff fell like punching something?

"And the rumors about the stone? How did they come about?"

[ Player PoH discovered the clues present in one of the two quest chains directed towards the acquisition of the Divine Stone of Returning Soul. He has not continued to complete the quest chain, however. ]

PoH. That was a name Heathcliff knew well. The red player, leader of Laughing Coffin, and a psychopath worse than even him, who jumped into SAO after the game was released.

It was easy to deduce what the owner of the only Unique Skill targeted towards PVP wanted: chaos.

Heathcliff sighed, massaging his temples. Giving PoH Darkness Blade was, without a doubt, the right decision. There was no one more suited for the skill than him. But he was starting to become a headache.

After all, Heathcliff's - or Kayaba's, in this case - objective wasn't to kill all the players. That would have been only too easy if he wanted it.

No, he wanted the players to beat Sword Art Online. To climb all 100 floors and complete his storyline.

PoH and his Laughing Coffin were starting to become an obstacle to that goal. And not just a stepping stone for the frontliners as Heathcliff first thought, but an actual threat.

"Keep me appraised of PoH's movements, Cardinal. And verify that no other loopholes like the Divine Stone of Returning Soul are standing. Delete all revival items except for it, and execute a system check for other possible anomalies and previous commands not followed. Those orders will take precedence starting now."

[ Understood, sir. ]

It was too late to erase the Divine Stone of Returning Soul now, with all of Aincrad scouring for it. He would not be caught by surprise again, however.

Worried about all the possible things he could have missed, Heathcliff never thought to ask Cardinal of anyone had taken up the second quest chain related to the Divine Stone of Returning Soul.

----------------------

If the 1st floor held the record for the longest players spent in a single floor, than the 35th would forever hold the unbeatable record of the shortest amount of time to be cleared. 4 days to the discovery of the boss room, and then another for preparations, for a total of only 5 days to beat the floor.

In those 5 days, over 70 players died. Together with the 100 or so that Laughing Coffin murdered before, that was nearly 200 people in less than a month.

To that, the frontliners could do nothing but continue to advance, while trusting Argo the Rat and Shadow Blossom Akari to find the damned murderers.

The rest of the Assault Team hought that the info-broker and Fuumaningum were simply working on that. Drifter, on the other hand, knew better. He had direct access to Akari, after all, something only he and Argo, other than her guild members, could boast about in SAO.

Fuumaningum had already clashed with Laughing Coffin a few times in the last month. They had lost another one of their number, while 3 of the red players were put out of circulation. Forever.

Drifter didn't consider it a worthwhile trade, and neither did Akari. But it was what it was. And at least it sent a message to Laughing Coffin that, just because the normal players feared them like the plague, it didn't mean they could do whatever they wanted.

Saying it scared the red players would be an exaggeration. Drifter didn't think Laughing Coffin feared anything. But at least it put the murders on the back foot after their month-long hunting.

The frequency of attacks fell, and eventually ended, at least for now. That was the only silver lining Drifter could see.

In a way, it was survival of the fittest. The players who were still left alive, after coming out of their frenzy for the revival item - which many were starting to believe was just a rumor - were a lot more cautious. Laughing Coffin didn't have nearly as many openings to do what they liked. The careless players, their preferred prey, had already been... Weeded out.

Still, PoH was satisfied. Sure, his guild may have lost a few members to those annoying ninjas - who would have thought a bunch of role-players would be so deadly - but it wasn't like he cared.

He just wanted to have fun.

And Laughing Coffin's official public debut had been magnificent. Followed by the frenzied chaos his discovery of the existence of a revival item had sparked, it was... Fun.

PoH didn't care for the item. He didn't even try to finish the quest chain. He had lost all interest after finding out what the reward was. There was no fun in having a second chance in your back pocket.

And fun was what it was all about, so it bore repeating a few times.

PoH closed the broadcast for the 35th floor raid, seeing as the Assault Team had already won.

He would let them have their peace for a few weeks. Then he would be back.