Shattered: A SAO Tale (Sword Art Online)

Once again, Drifter was walking through the corridors of Black Iron Palace, like he had done for the past 3 days since the Laughing Coffin raid.

It wasn't because he enjoyed the company of the red players, nor because he wanted to gloat. No, like Argo, he simply wanted to commit their faces to his memory now that they couldn't hide behind their masks, to make sure that, once SAO was over, they paid for their crimes.

Most of the red players he passed turned their heads away from him. A few muttered curses or just outright threatened him, but he ignored them.

Most didn't have the will to do much more than shy away from him. After all, while a few were true psychopaths who had been captured with the use of Liz's items, the majority of the prisoners were those who had, when confronted face-to-face with death, backed down from Laughing Coffin and PoH's grand act of suicide by Assault Team.

Oh, they were still twisted motherfuckers, no doubt, but when push came to shove, they valued their lives more than traumatizing some frontliners with their deaths.

They were the ones who Drifter despised the most. Cowards who only acted strong when hurting those weaker than them, but who folded immediately when confronted by someone stronger.

At least the rest of Laughing Coffin, monsters that they were, had the guts to stand by their resolve to the death.

Those who had been given a choice, that is. Gods knew Drifter, Agil, Wolv, Akari, and Fuumaningum as a whole hadn't even contemplated granting mercy to any of the red players. The ones who came across them died, without exception.

Of the 23 Laughing Coffin members they had in custody, Drifter only had more than a passing interest in two.

He stopped in front of Viper's cell first. Now without his hood, the red player looked just like any other prisoner, although more composed.

The cursor above him read: Malick. That was the name of the killer known, until the end of the raid, only as Viper.

He was handsome. Enough to be part of one of those idol groups that had become more famous in recent years.

Drifter had no idea if they were still a thing after the two years they spent trapped in SAO.

"Viper. I see you haven't disowned your association yet. Some of the other scum did, although I don't know what they expect to gain with it."

The former Laughing Coffin executive looked up, lips curling in a facsimile of a smile. The brand of his guild was still visible on his wrist.

"Heh. I don't give a shit 'bout what those cowards are thinking. As for Laughing Coffin... You said it yourself, nothing to gain by erasing it. And while I hated that fucker PoH, I love the guild and what it represents."

Drifter stared at him, unimpressed.

"I'm not surprised. Kirito said you were one special kind of fucked up."

"Hehehehe! Did he now? And how's the Black Swordsman doing? He hasn't come to visit once, you know?"

Again, Drifter's expression remained unchanged.

"He won't. And this is the last time you will see me or anyone else who isn't an NPC guard until we leave Aincrad. Then you can expect to see us again, on the other side of a courtroom."

Viper smirked, as if the possibility entertained him. Drifter shook his head and turned around.

He was still warring with himself and the murderous intent the red player's unleashed on him. But one side was clearly wining.

'We should have killed them all.'

...

The second player of interest for Drifter, and his last stop before leaving Black Iron Palace - hopefully for the last time in his life - was a long-haired, emaciated man. He once held a prestigious position in the Assault Team, but now he amounted to less than trash in the eyes of the frontliners.

Kuradeel had been a team leader in the Knights of the Blood Oath, before Drifter had ordered all members of the Assault Team guilds - not just the frontliners either, but all affiliated with them - to be inspected for Laughing Coffin's brand.

Kuradeel had been one of the three spies who turned up on KoB. He had been the most indignant one when they arrested him, and also the quickest to break once he realized all his future entailed was a small cell and no one to keep him company but his mind and the occasional NPC.

He had been a wealth of information on Laughing Coffin. One Drifter was somewhat disappointed they hadn't been able to tap before the raid, but they had needed to move fast.

Personally, the spearmaster thought Kuradeel wasn't Laughing Coffin material - especially after meeting PoH. Oh, he could still be a killer and red player alright, but his motivations didn't match Laughing Coffin. He didn't want chaos and blood like them.

No, the reason Kuradeel took the red guild's tattoo was much more mundane: jealousy. He wanted to kill the people he was jealous of.

And boy did he have quite the list. Drifter, because everyone looked up to him. Kirito because he was a kid. Asuna because he asked her out once - which was just fucking creepy - and she rejected him. Lind and Shivata because they had rejected his application to join DKB. Heathcliff because he wanted to be guild leader. Godfree - another of KoB's team leaders - because the man was friends with everybody.

And just about every other person he came across.

The man had a problem, and likely not just with his personality. Kuradeel belonged in a psychiatric hospital.

But he was also desperate enough that, just by hinting they might have a way to get him out since his cursor wasn't red, he spilled everything.

Who and how Laughing Coffin recruited him, which players he knew were part of it, or at the very least sympathetic, possible targets, hideouts he had been made aware of, and even guilds like Titan's Hand, which, although not part of Laughing Coffin, either knowingly or unknowingly worked for them.

Argo and Akari were already checking all of it. Most of the information was useless, outdated, or just plain fake, but some of it had panned out. Quite a few names had been added to the info-broker's 'untrustworthy bastards' list.

"Hm? Hey. When are you letting me out of here? Hey! You promised-"

Drifter kept walking by his cell without breaking stride. Kuradeel was deluded if he thought they had been telling the truth.

The Reaver couldn't bring himself to feel the least bit guilty about the lie.

...

"Ya done? Finally?"

Argo was waiting for him when he came out, reclining against the building and basking in the sun. He ruffled her hair, hood and all.

"Hm. If I never have to see this prison again, it will be too soon."

"Lucky you. I'll be in an out of it for a few weeks still, at least. Havin' to see those creeps everyday is a pain."

In the past, Drifter would have offered to join her, or even go in her instead. Now, he recognized they had both grown. Argo didn't need him holding her hand for this.

"Anyhow, let's not talk 'bout this now. Ya goin' to the 46th to meet the rest of the Reavers?"

"Yup. We are challenging the floor boss in a week. We need to get a move on with all the time Laughing Coffin made us lose."

"Good. Think ya can pass a message to Griselda for me? I would do it myself... But honestly it's uncomfortable."

Drifter raised an eyebrow.

"So you are pushing it onto me?"

"Yep!"

The info-broker grinned, but her eyes weren't so amused.

"Fair enough. What's the message?"

"Grimlock offed himself yesterday. I had Fuumaningum keepin' an eye on him since he was released a couple months ago, to make sure he didn't try anythin' dirty again, and they saw him jump over the edge after the news of the LC raid broke. Dunno why that's what pushed him, but I say good riddance."

Honestly, so did Drifter. Grimlock had only been held for 6 months in Black Iron Palace, since he hadn't actually killed anyone, and Griselda had been a nervous wreck for weeks after he was released. Thankfully he hadn't done much more than hide in a shady inn on the 7th floor since then.

The spearmaster wasn't sure if his guildmate would celebrate the news or mourn the man who was once her husband, but he nodded to Argo.

This was part of his duties as guild leader. Not one he was looking forward to, but necessary nonetheless.

"I'll tell her. And please thank Fuumaningum again for doing this when they already had a lot on their plate."

"Eh, they were hopin' Grimlock might try to contact someone from Laughin' Coffin again. Maybe he did, and they didn't answer. Might be what pushed him. Don't really matter now, and I don't really care. But I'll pass it along. See ya 'round, Dri-bou."

"See you, little rat. Be safe."

"Always!"

He waved to his excitable little sister, and started making the treck to the teleporter.

"Haa..."

There were more eyes on him today than normal. Or rather, the weight behind those gazes was different.

Everyone in Aincrad now knew of the raid against Laughing Coffin. And, thanks to a frontliner who got overly chatty after drinking, plenty of the details of the battle itself were now making the rounds, each a seed for rumors to grow. And some were reaching truly outrageous proportions.

At first, it had been fairly close to the truth. The Assault Team had launched a raid against the murderous red guild Laughing Coffin, during which Broken Spear Drifter had killed over 10 red players including their leader, died, and been revived by a special item.

Pretty tame, other than the fact Agil had been the one to deliver the final blow to PoH. And even then, one could argue Drifter had done most of the work.

But now, not even two full days since Argo released the news, the story had already grown to Drifter challenging all of Laughing Coffin on his own to avenge Shigio's death, slaughtering a path through them to get to PoH, and ending in a sacrifice of his life so valiant it had impressed Cardinal itself into bringing him back to life.

How anyone could belive any of that, he didn't know. But the bottom line was that all the rumors agreed on two things: Broken Spear Drifter had killed plenty of red players and died.

The later was easier for people to come to terms with, Drifter believed. They were inside a game, and rumors of the revival item had run rampant not long ago.

But the former was what unsettled most people, and changed the stares Drifter was used to receiving into something heavier.

Not that he particularly cared. He had done what needed to be done, and didn't regret it one bit.

Now if only he could convince Yuna and Silica of that. And the rest of his guild that they didn't need to coddle him just because he died - it hadn't been that bad!

If only...

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

Watching Broken Spear Drifter sigh to himself, Seijirou suppressed a smirk. He had nothing against the Reaver - much the contrary, he was a big fan - but he felt the spearmaster somewhat deserved the cold shoulder his wife was giving him - because that was the only thing that could make a man sigh like that.

He imagined the young man would also catch hell from his family once Sword Art Online ended. Seijirou had heard his mother, Kana, had collapsed when he died on the broadcast. Thankfully, her husband rushed her to the hospital and the doctors said she would be okay, it was just a case of strong emotions causing a short fainting spell.

He would have to visit her when he had the time. What her son had done, leading the Assault Team to annihilate Laughing Coffin, while it had created a lot of work for him - nearly a hundred deceased players - had also set Seijirou's soldier blood boiling.

In his eyes, what Drifter had done had been nothing short of safeguarding the future of the Assault Team and all SAO players. If Laughing Coffin had been left alone, they would have grown and festered into a cancer that couldn't be cut away.

It didn't mean he still couldn't find it funny to see Drifter scolded repeatedly by the people who cared about him.

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

Yuna's silent rage and the chastisement of the rest of his guild lasted until the 46th floor boss raid. Then, something happened that finally took the attention away from Drifter.

They had just defeated the floor boss and climbed the stairs to the 47th floor, stepping on a picturesque flower field, when Silica suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

"Ah!?"

That had everyone turning to her, weapons at the ready in case they were already under attack - it had happened before - only to see the young girl was unharmed, and looking down at her chest.

Through the gaps of her clothes and breastplate, a bright green light was shining. Silica slowly reached inside her clothes and tugged out her necklace, revealing the source of that light.

Feredir's Fang.

Silica blinked at the memento before something in her HUD caught her attention. Swiping through her menu, her mouth opened in shock. It took a good while before she recovered and looked at her guild and the Assault Team.

"I-I... Think I just got a Unique Skill?"