Yuuki Shouzou watched with clenched fists his daughter battle 3 Laughing Coffin players at once, assisted only by the NPC Dark Elf Kizmel.
Even his wife Kyouko sat next to him, despite them not having lived together for the last 4 months. Although, her reason for being there wasn't so much worry for their daughter, only glancing disinterestedly at the television now and again, as it was to keep up appearances. It would not do to be seen somewhere else but with her husband when such a grand event was going on. Especially after the Prime Minister himself had come forward. And good thing too. She would not be shamed by having a criminal for a daughter.
Shouzou, while having a fairly good idea of what thoughts were running through his wife's mind, couldn't care less at the moment. His worry for his daughter overpowered everything else, even the loathing he felt for his wife when her actions again and again so callously confirmed she saw Asuna as nothing more than a commodity that had lost value.
Although, his swelling pride for Asuna was an almost equal match to his worry. It had started after she first fought and killed a Laughing Coffin player on the 22nd floor - after the horror had settled - and only grew when he watched how much she was willing to sacrifice to save the other Sword Art Online victims.
Shouzou wouldn't deny, he had been terrified when he watched Asuna kill that red player over a month ago. Terrified and, to his shame, a little scared. Of Asuna.
Of all things, it had been that fear that led a powerful man like Shozou to see a psychiatrist for the first time in his life. All the backdoor deals, his mostly loveless marriage, his questionable decisions over the years, and nothing left him feeling so disgusted with himself as that short moment did.
Now, all Shouzou wanted was for his dear daughter to kill those Laughing Coffin bastards as quickly as she could, and be done with it.
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In the Ogawa household, Kana and Genji clutched each other tightly as they watched their son buckle under the weight of the ax buried in his shoulder, only to retaliate by piercing a hole through a Laughing Coffin player's neck.
Death flickered in shards around him as their son killed someone else.
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Kirigaya Suguha hadn't gone to school today. She was huddled under her blankets in her dark room, eyes never straying from the phone in her hands.
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Today the Dicey Café was closed.
Trisha poured Hana a stiff drink, which Wolv's girlfriend took and drained absent-mindedly. Agil's wife and co-owner of the small cafe rubbed her back comfortingly.
"Kyoukai is asleep in our guest room upstairs. I left the door open, we'll hear if she wakes up."
"T-Thanks, Trisha. I-I'll get out of your hair as soon as-"
"Nonsense! You and the little one are staying here today! And tonight too. Bed's already made. You aren't going anywhere, girl."
Hana sniffled, and hugged Trisha, although her gaze never left the television mounted on the wall.
"Thank you."
"Don't speak of it. You aren't the only one who doesn't want to be alone tonight."
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In a humble but clean house in the outskirts of Hokkaido, an elderly couple watched the raid against Laughing Coffin in the device they had bought just for the SAO broadcasts.
Klein's parents were crying as they saw the stern expression on their son's face. Despite how many times they nagged him about his happy-go-lucky attitude, they would pay anything to see a smile on his face.
The Redblade had already killed one person today. While his katana hesitated several times against his own opponents, it hadn't shaken once when he swung it in defense of his guildmates, severing the red player about to stab Dynamm in the back clean in half.
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The large family home of the Shinozaki blacksmith clan was nearly silent, save for the clashing of weapons coming from the screen.
Liz's last living relatives, her brother and her grandfather, held hands as the Forge Master - a title well-earned - crushed a knee to paste with her warhammer and slapped the special handcuffs she had crafted onto the red player.
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In different ends of Tokyo, two lives already marred by tragedy shook while the last lights in their worlds fought side by side, a flute countering the hidden singer seeking to impede the Assault Team, while arrows protected her of all who would do her harm.
In another part of Tokyo, something less than human gnawed on their nails until they drew blood, alternating between looking with sick adoration at a cyan-haired archer, and unmitigated hate at a spearman standing amidst swirling shards.
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The tea in front of her long-since cooled and forgotten, Koujiro Rinko watched the Laughing Coffin raid with rapt attention. Of all the players, from the Holy Sword to the Hero to the Dragon Tamer, there were two that caught her eye the most.
Untamed Storm and Precise Blade.
In the real world, one was dying, and the other was dead already. But in Sword Art Online, the sisters were a deadly force of nature that didn't hesitate to shred red players to death in the case of the former, and condemn them to death by a thousand cuts I the latter's.
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Others didn't admire the frontliners so. In Sugou Nobuyuki's view, the entire debacle was just insects tearing each other apart.
Although, the data they provided was valuable. By having his technicians illegally tap into the old ARGUS system, Sugou was acquiring all kinds of world-breaking data. It would boost his private research like a rocket engine, and save him years in wasted time - not to mention sell for a fortune when he was done.
Sugou licked his lips perversely. Not that he would need the money once he convinced the old fool Yuuki Shouzou to let him marry his daughter like he had originally planned. Then he would become the heir to the old man's empire, with billions at his disposal.
He just needed that stupid boy Kirito to die. Maybe Laughing Coffin would take care of that. Then Shouzou wouldn't have an excuse to stop his wife from signing their daughter over anymore.
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Far away from Japan, in an old but well-maintained family house - almost a mansion, really - in the outskirts of Paris, nearly a dozen people were watching the SAO broadcast from a certain shield-bearer's PoV.
Because of their mother's heritage, Vallerk's family always spent at least a month in France every year, visiting his grandmother and all the his umcles, aunts, and cousins. And while the mold for those visits had dampened after SAO started, they still went through with it.
The Laughing Coffin raid had caught them all by surprise. Of course, the entire world knew it would happen someday, since the meeting between Drifter and the other guild leaders of the Assault Team immediately after Red-Eyed XaXa's last day, but when it was set in motion, it was almost immediate. In 3 days the Assault Team went from sleeping with an eye open for red players, to launching a raid against Laughing Coffin's base.
Vallerk's younger sister, now 7, had been especially affected. And no amount of talking from very parents and relatives would convince her not to watch the raid.
"S'il te plaît, fais attention, grand frère."
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The familiar feeling of uselessness was back at full force. Seijirou had always known the SAO task force post would be a rough one, but he thought that being constantly in the public eye would be the problem. Not the feeling the helplessness from being able to do absolutely nothing to help the people trapped inside the death game.
Two years after he accepted the position, and it hadn't gotten any easier. Especially not at this particular moment.
"Chi-"
"They are still there, sir. And don't show any signs of leaving. In fact, more are joining every minute. We've already called for reinforcements to keep the peace."
"Oh, the media is going to love that. Make sure the arrivals know thry are only to keep them away and nothing more. Most of all use force."
"Yes, sir."
Seijirou sighed, and rubbed his eyes. He had been staring at the screens mounted on the wall so intently that his eyes hurt.
Unfortunately, the only other place he could look was outside the window, and that made his head hurt instead.
Hundreds of people stood outside the gates of the 1st General Hospital, held back only by the police line. It had been just a couple dozen at first, but if they kept arriving at this rate, Seijirou would have a mob in the thousands to deal with.
And they were all clamoring for the same thing. Seijirou thought the woman holding the cardboard sign at the front represented the demands of the crowd pretty well.
RED MEANS STOP --- HEARTBEAT TOO!
His secretary, Naguouka, must have seen the same sign - it was hard to miss it - because he stood next to Seijirou and sighed.
"Remind me again why we can't let them in?"
Seijirou shot his subordinate a side-eyed glare, but there was no heat behind it.
"Because that would mean letting Laughing Coffin win. And I won't let them ruin more lives outside of the game too."
Naguouka sighed again. Then he lowered his voice.
"And if I went into their rooms... And stumbled over the power cables?"
This time Seijirou turned away instead of facing his subordinate and letting him see the same desire reflected on his face.
"That would be a court-martial. And I won't lose good soldiers over that scum more than I would let the righteous souls outside lose their everything over momentary outrage, well-placed as it might be. So go make sure the guards are in place. No one in or out of the red players' rooms until the raid is over. Even medical personal. And Noguouka?"
"Yes, sir?"
"No accidents."
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In a seedy bar on one of the tackier corners of the Town of Beginnings, the once famous, then infamous, and finally forgotten Kibaou the Challenger grimaced for no reason.
The Assault Team had been very particular about who knew anything about the raid. Until the day before, the leadership had kept everything on a need-to-know basis. Meaning, no one but them.
Even so, Kibaou could feel something was going on. It was an instinct born from his time as a frontliner. He just didn't know what it was.
Kibaou scowled and ordered another drink.
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"Gwahahahaha! This is FUN!!!"
PoH was having the time of his life. He had already killed three frontliners - and one Laughing Coffin player, but that was their own damn fault for not getting off his way quickly enough.
With each kill, PoH felt his Unique Skill, Darkness Blade stacking, and him growing stronger. Growing even more powerful for more and more and more slaughter.
This was why he had dived into Sword Art Online. This was why he had, for only the second time in his life, ignored Gabriel's orders. And only because the other man couldn't reach him here. PoH still remembered the first time he tried to defy Gabriel.
He had never known you could be so close to death and yet not be granted the sweet release of oblivion.
There was always the chance that his boss would simply pull off the NerveGear and off him, but that was a chance he was willing to take.
Because this? This madness, this dance of death and blood? This was what he lived for.
And it came right on time. PoH was starting to grow bored in the real world. Out there, there were orders, laws, lines. Even a professional mercenary and killer like him couldn't just do whatever he wanted.
Can't kill that person because he's the client. Can't kill that other guy because it will blow their cover. Can kill those guys but have to make it quick because it's a job, not pleasure.
Boooooring!
And annoying. PoH had become a mercenary because that was where his life pushed him. His status asa bastard born to a lover and a cheating husband meant that, his stepmother family always treated him like less than trash. So it was no wonder he ran away - though he was man enough to recognize that he always was a twisted motherfucker inside. He didn't need to track down his father and stepmother years later just to kill them. But he did.
One bad decision led to another, and once his thirst for blood awakened, there was no quenching it. So he sought battlefields, anywhere he could kill to his heart content.
That was where he met his boss. The only man who he feared. The only person who could control him.
But like all beasts, PoH only endured the leash because he was more scared of the hand holding it. And when the chance to cut loose came, in the form of a NerveGear he stole from a lucky soul who hadn't been able to play the day SAO was released, and hence wasn't trapped inside.
And so, while the world was horrified by what Akihiko Kayaba had done, PoH was delighted beyond words.
A world without laws or order? A world where he could let the beast free, fight who he wanted to fight, kill who he wanted to kill?
Sword Art Online was made for him.
But PoH, for all he was an insane psychopath and an unrepentant killer, wasn't dumb. He did manage to survive for over 2 decades in a life where the smallest mistakes led to death. Not unlike SAO, in a way.
Most people, Broken Spear Drifter and his merry guild included, thought PoH founded Laughing Coffin because he was a madman who liked hurting others - and they were right. That was definitely the main reason.
But it was also a disguise and a net. A disguise, because he could hide amongst the red players, keeping his identity and objectives in the shadows until he was ready - which was a few months ago, when he sent Red-Eyed XaXa after Reaver's Requiem, although the loudmouth manages to fuck that up.
And a net, which PoH cast nearly 2 years ago and let lay dormant. And now he pulled it, and it was full to bursting.
Full of cowards who thought killing made them strong. And full of idiots who thought not killing made them better.
Laughing Coffin and Assault Team. Red players and frontliners.
Both of them breaking and broken. And all by his hand.
"GWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Truly, today was an incredible day.