Sword Art Online - Alternative Reality

The Vice-commander and The Scout CHP.8

It was February 26th and we had recently reached the 21st floor. After the elf-war campaign, the relationship between Asuna and I, while not poor, was certainly...tense, as our priorities in the game began to differ. I had a feeling our time as a duo was coming to an end and I wanted to try and push her into joining a guild. However, there weren't many good options available, and there was a major threat to both of us still present. The main reason the campaign ended in bitter-sweetness and the cause of much torment had reared its ugly head again that day.

The day started as normal, with breakfast, grinding out quests and levels, and making some good progress. Everything was going fine until a report came in while we were having our lunch break. The most dangerous force in all of Aincrad had made an appearance just two floors beneath us, and two lives were lost as a result.

Floor bosses and fall damage were among the most dangerous things in the game, as they could easily drop a player's health from full to 0 in a second. Although there were countless other dangers, most of them could be dealt with if you had enough experience, party members, or the peace of mind to handle the situation carefully. None of those could be applied to the force that had caused the death of two players, two humans earlier that day. The PK-Gang led by the Man in the Black Poncho, that we had several run-ins throughout our time in this death game.

Ever since the 3rd, no 2nd floor where they first attempted to manipulate the front-line into committing PK'S, they had been a fairly consistent danger to not only Asuna and myself, but to every player in Aincrad, treating this world as a true game where anything not limited by the rules was fair game, even taking other players lives.

We had many close calls, with several situations occurring where someone had nearly lost their life. Our closest call was at the end of the elf campaign where an ambush led to one of the worst possible outcomes, while we had them on the ropes countless times, but I could never finish them off...

Past the 10th floor, however, where our beta knowledge ran out, the PK-Gang made fewer appearances, only occasionally showing up on the upper floors or mainly attempting their standard manipulations. This was because turning 'Orange' meant you had no access to the normal gear and quests other players did, and you would eventually fall behind in terms of strength. Still, due to their nature, they managed to keep up with us for a while, but starting on the 15th floor was when they had practically disappeared. I was beginning to have hopes that they finally turned away from their ways until the report came in from one of the ALS members.

It was apparent that based on the survivors, they couldn't match up to the strength of the clearing group, but that wasn't the same for the mid-level players trying to catch up and join us on the frontlines. The 18th floor where this happened had a significant amount of difficult terrain, and was a major pain to cross, and based on where the attack happened and where they fled afterward, I already had an idea of where they were hiding...

Due to the major guilds tackling a particularly large and annoying dungeon that was in the way, they wouldn't return until night, so a meeting was planned for the morning of the next day. Asuna and I couldn't even finish our food after that, and we sat there idly for a few minutes before I remembered an item that had dropped for me that morning that I was interested in. Checking my inventory, I found it, the start of something irreversible and likely the end...

Information about the item in question quickly filled my brain, as several terrible thoughts and inspiration from a mob found even lower in the castle, formed an idea that sent shivers down my spine. If I went through with this, there was no turning back, and if the mantle of 'beater' was enough to drive me away from Asuna, this was infinitely worse. But looking at my partner who was still processing the news and probably recollecting on what had happened to us in the past, the pain she had suffered because of them, the tears she shed, the eventual parting we would have...