Sword Art Online: X

The Reaper - Asuna

We turned up at the place X had specified.

X had told us that he had some errands to do, so he couldn't join us just yet.

Kirito seemed to have the situation figured out.

He took us to find Grimlock before going to the place where Griselda's grave was erected.

"Why am I here again?" Grimlock asked, for the nth time that day.

"Because we find you guilty of arranged murder, thus, you are under arrest and will be kept in the Aincrad Prison." I retorted agrily, holding my sword at his back.

When we found Caynz, Yolko, and Schmitt, Schmitt was apologizing at Griselda's grave.

Then out came Yolko and Caynz, disguised as the ghosts of Griselda and Grimlock.

"I-I'm sorry! I put the piece of paper in the chest! I don't know what else happened!" Schmitt pleaded.

Then Yolko and Caynz took off their disguises.

"We recorded all of that, Schmitt." Yolko said, holding up a record crystal.

"Yolko? Caynz? Y-you're not dead?" Schmitt asked meekly, disbelief in his eyes.

But before any of them could say another word, Grimlock grinned, and a dagger flew out from the woods and stabbed Schmitt in the shoulder, paralyzing him.

I was about to take action when Kirito motioned for me to stop.

"Don't interfere just yet. Observe." Was the message he sent me with his eyes.

Laughing was heard, and three cloaked figures approached.

"Well, our contract was correct, these three were here indeed!" One of them sneered.

Yolko, Caynz and Schmitt all stared in horror.

But another cloaked figure jumped in, wielding a very familiar weapon.

The Reaper.

Wherever he goes, deaths of Laughing Coffin members followed.

He himself is a green player because he only kills red players.

I honestly don't understand how he can bear the burden of murder, of blood on his hands.

With a singular swing of the scythe, one of the Laughing Coffin members shattered.

The other two immediately ran, and the Reaper chased after them.

He took out the other one but the third got away.

He then shook his head, and left on the ground his signature mark: A scale with a scythe and a feather on opposite ends.

He then teleported out with a teleport crystal.

A moment later, X came jogging along with Sachi.

"Well, well, well. How goes it? Schmitt, have you confessed?"

Schmitt could barely manage a nod.

"Good! Good! Now, I should probably tell you that Schmitt didn't actually do it." X chuckled, "You were looking at the wrong man. Isn't that right, Grimlock?"

He was looking directly at us.

I stepped out, pushing Grimlock along and hauling him in front of Yolko, Caynz, and Schmitt.

Kirito followed behind me, "How did you figure it out, X?"

X just laughed, "Well, it's all quite simple, you see. Grimlock is married to Griselda in-game, and married players share an inventory space. Grimlock could've arranged a murder and stolen the item from his own inventory! And no one would know. Besides, there's just no way Schmitt would've done it himself. One, he's still green, and two, he wouldn't have trusted a bandit to extort the ring out of Griselda's inventory."

He then turned to Yolko, "You see, Grimlock wanted someone else to answer to his crimes, and then kill everyone involved through contract killings. I imagine y'all were attacked by Laughing Coffin? That's this guy's doing."

He nudged Grimlock with his foot.

But then Grimlock burst out into hysterical laughter, "Are you insane? I didn't kill my wife for something as trivial as an item! No... My story is far sadder."

He then went on to explain his entire life story, "Griselda was my real life wife, too. When we were trapped inside Sword Art Online, I was deathly scared of death. But my wife just seemed more lively! She was living in the game, despite her knowledge of our status here as prisoners! Slowly but surely, she became more and more immersed in this death game. She was no longer the Griselda that I loved. No, that Griselda has died a long time ago! What I killed was the thing that took her place."

X's eye twitched, "So what you're saying is that you arranged a contract killing for your wife... Because she was playing the game?"

"Exactly! She loved the game more than she did her own husband! That's when I knew that I had to take action. I contacted Laughing Coffin, and arranged for them to kill the thing that killed my wife and took her place." Grimlock laughed, "And what man can blame me? Surely if your wife loved something more than she loved you, you would also make sure it was wiped from existence! Caynz, Schmitt, you know what I'm talking about, right?"

"Don't... don't talk to us." Caynz muttered.

X knelt down and pulled the dagger out of Schmitt's shoulder, and slashed it across Grimlock's throat, taking his HP down to a quarter.

"People like you are the reason why this world is fucked up as it is. I need to purge the world of people like you." X hissed, shoving the dagger into Grimlock's chest, where his heart would be.

The rest of Grimlock's health disappeared, and Grimlock shattered.

Everyone stared at him, shocked, "X, what did you do?! You just killed an innocent man!" I yelled.

"He was nowhere near innocent! You heard his confession. The man is a classic Yandere. His kind should not be allowed to breed, so I nipped the problem at the root." X snarled.

X then put the dagger away into his inventory, claiming it as his loot, and walked off, Sachi following him.

Kirito stared, dumbfounded.

"Are you okay?" I asked Yolko, "I mean, you did just witness a murder."

Yolko shook her head, "No, he had a point. The man was pure evil. Even though I don't agree with killing him, I can see where he came from. He most likely had a traumatic childhood that he's trying to force himself to forget about."

I stared off in the direction X and Sachi went, "I should really apologize to him..." I muttered.

Kirito shook his head, "Don't be like that. He made his choice. He'll come around eventually. He always does."

A/N: There we go. X is officially a Red Player.

Why?

Because I can. Anyways, if you guys enjoyed this chapter, consider voting and leaving a comment. 

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Peace out, everybody. Goodbye.

Photonfrost 95, signing out

Shadowflame 95, signing out