In a cavernous, well, cavern on the 46th floor, the most monumental meeting in Sword Art Online's history since Diavel first called what would become the Assault Team together, was taking place. In total, 108 frontliners, nearly all of them, were gathered.
Not all frontliners, mind you, because then the number would have been 122. Or at least it should have been, had 6 of them not carried Laughing Coffin's brand. They were now residing in Black Iron Palace next to Lombre, Rosaria, and other such scum.
As for the other missing 8 frontliners... Laughing Coffin may have suffered a setback when Drifter and the Reaver's Requiem slaughtered XaXa's group, but far from hunkering down to lick their wounds, the red players only got more aggressive.
If there had been any doubts in the guild leaders' minds about the vital importance of destroying Laughing Coffin, the murder of 8 of their own, and the reveal of 6 traitors in their midst had erased it quite cleanly.
In a show of mistrust, objectivity, and common sense that almost broke the Assault Team where even the 25th Massacre had failed, each guild had made a through check of their members for the coffin tattoo, while also having representatives from at least a handful of other guilds watching. Reaver's Requiem themselves had resubmitted for another round of scrutiny.
While the inspections had caused unrest, from grumbling to outright threatening to quit their guilds, it had all come to a screeching halt when the first traitor was found.
The player had tried to run when she realized what was going on, but was quickly subdued. Her struggle and desperate plea had half of her guild up in arms, until their vice leader made it very clear that her options were to either show her bare arms, or get thrown in Black Iron Palace so the system itself could give them an answer.
Lind had almost killed the woman on the spot when she started cackling. Then, when she proudly showed of the tattoo of the murderous guild, Shivata and Liten had to actually hold him back while Orlando and Chuchulainn grabbed her by the arms and threw her through a Corridor Crystal straight into the prison.
The rest of the Dragon Knight Brigade had been a lot more subdued after that. As had the rest of the Assault Team when the news were broken to them, and two more traitors were found in smaller guilds, while the Knights of the Blood Oath, likely due to their more haphazard creation, had a whopping 3 Laughing Coffin members hiding amongst them. One had even been a somewhat high level executive, the scarecrow-like man named Kuradeel.
That was the first time anyone had ever seen Heathcliff enraged. Not just the cold anger he sometimes showed, especially when Drifter or Klein annoyed him, but outright fury, complete with yelling and threats.
That had been 24 hours ago. Any longer, and PoH might start wondering what happened to his spies. So, the Assault Team was gathered in the cave - the only location big enough for all of them - to discuss what would be happening next.
And it wasn't pleasant.
As it was, the mood of the men and women of the Assault Team was at all time low. But it was still getting worse as Argo and Akari shuffled into the cave, the former carrying a bunch of papers.
The frontliners let them squeeze all the way to the front, where the leadership of the Assault Team was gathered next to a wall that they were using as a kind of blackboard for their... Presentation.
The info-broker had a more serious expression than any had ever seen on her face, her hood down and her curly brown hair dropping over he forehead and hiding her eyes in shadows. Her whiskers trembled as she looked over to Drifter.
"Show's all yours, Dri-bou."
"Heh. Thanks, little rat."
The spearmaster took one step forward, amd the cave, which was already disquietingly silent, seemed to go completely still as every pair of eyes turned to him.
"Hello, everyone. I wish I could say we are here to celebrate some great victory. We aren't. By now, all of you already heard of how Shigio died. And if you have any doubts on what this meeting is about, Laughing Coffin's attacks over the last weeks, and the inspections over the last two days should have put them to rest."
The spearmaster picked up the first of the papers Argo had brought, and stuck it to the very middle of the wall. On it was a picture of a labyrinth, sparkling and deadly as always, leading up to a safe room carved away in the walls. In the image, a hooded figure was entering the room.
"This is the labyrinth on the 32nd floor. It's also Laughing Coffin's base of operations. Tomorrow, we are going to raid it. All of Laughing Coffin will be there. We are going to fight, and when the dust settles, all of them will be either in prison, or dead."
No use sugar-coating his words. The assembled players grumbled, more than a few balking at the thought of killing someone even after all they had gone through - that probably made them better people than Drifter.
Eventually, someone in the back raised a hand.
"How do you know they are all gonna be there? Wedon't stay all in the same place all day, and we aren't criminals everyone hates. They gotta be smarter than that, no?"
The spearmaster grinned at the question, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"They are. But they will be there. Because this is a trap. And we are gonna walk straight into it."
"What!?"
The incredulous shout was echoed by several throats, but they all fell silent when Drifter clenched his fist above his head.
"I know how it sounds like. But PoH - that's Laughing Coffin's guild leader - leaked this intel on purpose - at least we think it was him. He did it-"
He growled when others started raising their voices again. That shut them up real quick.
"-He did it because he is a psychopath. He wants blood and death, and he doesn't care whose's. Normal players, frontliners, Laughing Coffin, it doesn't matter to him. All he wants is chaos. To him, as long as he gets us, the good guys, to bloody our hands, he'll be happy."
Drifter wasn't one hundred percent certain of how much of that was truth. But he would wager his spear that if he didn't hit a bullseye with his analysis of PoH's psyche, he was very close.
"With that in mind, before we start this debriefing, there is one thing I need to say. One thing I know you are all aware of, but that I need you to trulyunderstand. Tomorrow, when we fight Laughing Coffin... People are going to die."
He paused. Took a deep breath. Then continued.
"Some of them will be people who are in this very room right now. Some of us won't come back. Because Laughing Coffin won't go down without a fight. They are mad, they are insane, and above all else-- They are monsters. Monsters worse than anything Kayaba could ever throw at us."
A few spots to the left, Heathcliff's eyes narrowed and he tensed almost imperceptibly.
"They take pride in hurting others. They delight in breaking us. When we fight Laughing Coffin tomorrow, they will throw themselves at you, impale themselves in your swords, all for a chance of twisting us like they are warped. If they can kill you, they will. And if they can't kill you... Then they will kill themselves at your hand, because in their minds, they win when they make us into killers like them."
Kirito, Asuna, Sinon, the twins, and anyone and everyone who had ever fought Laughing Coffin clenched their fists so hard they almost lost HP. And when they heard Drifter's following words, they felt them resonating with them.
"Normally I would say we can't let them win. But in this case... I say, let them think whatever they want. They aren't players. They aren't people. They are monsters. So put them down."
You would think the cave was an Egyptian tomb with how everyone stopped breathing simultaneously.
"Tomorrow, if you think you can arrest them, all the better. Liz has crafted restraints that work to immobilize orange and red players for up to 30 minutes, and we will have Corridor Crystals set up for Black Iron Palace for you to toss them through. But!"
The frontliners, who had just released their breaths, sucked in air again.
"But! If you feel unsure! If you have the least bit of doubt! Then don't hesitate. Cut them down. I don't care if it's inhumane. I don't care if you think it's wrong. I don't care if it makes you monsters. Because your lives don't belong just to you! You carry every soul in Aincrad on your shoulders! And if you die tomorrow because you weren't willing to kill a monster, then every death that follows will be on you."
He was being cruel. Some of them wouldn't be here this time tomorrow. And they would pass with that weight on them. Believing to their last moments and the afterlife that they failed.
And for once, Drifter didn't regret how cruel he was being. He considered it a necessary evil, even if no one in the Assault Team would ever look at him the same again. Because if it meant just one person more survived, it was worth it.
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Outside of Sword Art Online, over 4 billion people were glued to their devices, be them phones, televisions, or even radios. The largest audience SAO or anything else had ever acquired was hanging to Drifter's every word.
His image, broadcast across the entire world, was magnified on the billboards of Shibuya, where the transit stopped and drivers stepped out of their cars. It loomed over thousands of people in the Times Square and Alexanderplatz.
It was in every office, school, and home on the planet as deals were postponed and classes halted. As a couple cried for their son making himself to be a monster in front of everyone and everything.
"Tomorrow, do what you have to do. Kill who you have to kill. The only thing you can't do, the only thing anyone will look down on you for, is dying. Our nightmares, our sins... They come second. And whatever stains marr our souls the day after? Suck it up and get back to clearing. You are frontliners."
In Tokyo, Seijirou pulled the last drags of his cigarette. He had quit nearly 2 decades ago. Then he picked up his phone.
"Prime Minister? I have a request."
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Drifter let his words sink in. He knew it wasn't the most inspiring of speeches. Hell, they were downright depressing. But they needed to hear it.
"Little rat. You had something to tell us about Laughing Coffin."
He had asked her if she wanted him to do this part too. He didn't mind. His image was already tarnished and pretty much irredeemable. But she said no. She was Aincrad's top info-broker. She was Argo the Rat. She could do this.
She still winced when she slapped a series of photos onto the wall and every eye turned to her.
"Those are the executives of Laughing Coffin. Red-Eyed XaXa."
The first picture had a big red cross drawn on it. Argo moved to the next in line.
"Johnny 'Alchemist' Black"
An image of a man with a hunched back, draped in a cloak with a black mask covering the top half of his face, only his mouth, lips curled in a cruel smirk, in sight.
"Hunter Grendel."
A mountain of a man, easily as big as Agil, but built like a sumo fighter instead of a fit wrestler.
"Luring Voice Camer."
A dark figure, albeit clearly feminine, sitting on a rock with a harp on her lap.
"Viper, name unknown. "
The photo showed a lanky and androgynous shadow, spinning a dagger in their hands. Some frontliners winced when they saw that the person was stepping on top of another player.
"Grave Keeper Atrax."
A stout man, obviously a decade or two older than all the other red players despite his blank white mask. He was holding a morning star made of an entirely black metal, from the spiky head to the chain links.
"And finally, Laughing Coffin's guild leader, PoH."
The last piece of paper had only a big question mark drawn on it, but Argo snarled at it like it was the man himself.
"Most of the others, either I or Fuumaningum could get eyes on. PoH, on the other hand, we only know exists 'cause Laughin' Coffin members keep referrin' to a 'boss'. Even knowin' his name was because some of 'em slipped up."
Argo paused to run a hand through her curls, pulling them back and showing her eyes for the first time. They were glinting ferociously.
"We will go into details about each of them now. But know this: Laughin' Coffin has killed at least 227 players, and those are just the ones we could confirm. Who knows how many more. And those 7 players, no, those 7 monsters, are responsible for the majority of that number."
Unseen, Akari's fingers were digging into her arms. Only she knew just how many had been her friends. While Laughing Coffin had lost more than them in their clashes in the darkness, Fuumaningum had suffered significant losses too. She was glad it would all end tomorrow. And unlike the frontliners, she didn't need Drifter's speech. She was going to kill every red player she got her hands on, and she was going to enjoy it.
"Now, let's start with the debriefin'. We'll skip Red-Eyed XaXa, Drifter already took care of him- good riddance. Johnny 'Alchemist' Black..."
The meeting would only end 7 hours later, and during that time, Argo made sure the Assault Team knew everything there was to know about Laughing Coffin, down to how many times they picked their noses if she could.
She wouldn't be with them tomorrow, but she sure as hell would make sure they were prepared.