Chapter 68 - Death, Shi, Décès, Tod, Morte

"Shut up!"

They did. Drifter was almost as stunned by the fact that all the yelling players - including his guildmates - all followed the order, as the players were shocked when he suddenly shouted. The frontliners stared at Drifter with gaping mouths, having never seen Drifter be anything but polite before. Taking advantage of the few seconds of startled silence, Drifter stared straight at Kibaou and started speaking before the ALS leader could make a comeback.

"Not mentioning the fact that this discussion shouldn't even be happening in the first place, since it was decided by everyone that whoever gets the last-attack bonus keeps it - something you agreed to, Kibaou - did you really try to order our guild leader around?"

Kibaou flushed red at that, whether of anger or embarrassment didn't matter. At the time the frontliners gathered to discuss the last-attack bonus and other rules for raids, back on the 2nd floor, it had seemed like a great idea for him to make it a first-come first-serve order, as he commanded the largest guild in Sword Art Online. Now, he was starting to regret it. But his pride wouldn't let him admit it.

"So what if I did?! Y'all are just a buncha cheaters, and he's even worse! He's the Beater!"

"Are you fucking stupid, Kibaou?! Huh?!"

Everything Drifter had just told Kirito, about how it was better he spoke to Kibaou because the ALS leader disliked him a little less than the others, was completely forgotten. The way Kibaou said that hateful word as if it were a title, a curse to hang over Kirito's head, pissed him off more than he could describe.

"You!"

Stunned into speechlessness by Drifter swearing, it took Kibaou a few seconds to regain his voice. When he did, the spearman immediately interrupted him again.

"What?! Are you going to tell me you aren't an idiot? Then stop behaving like one! You are a fucking adult, so start acting like one! Stop taking out your anger on a fourteen years old boy just because you can't withstand your own incompetence!"

Drifter glared at Kibaou, daring him to say anything. He didn't. The spearman took a deep breath.

"You are a fucking good fighter, Kibaou. And you are a good leader too, when you can get your head out of your own ass. But you have no right to accuse Kirito of being a cheater. No right!"

Drifter sighed, and shot an apologetic glance at Kirito for what he was about to say. He knew the swordsman didn't like when people brought this up, but he needed to drive the point home.

"He should've been entering high school about now, Kibaou. Instead, he's here on the frontlines, risking his life day after day just like everybody else. This doesn't make him better than you or me or anyone here. This just makes him one of us. Kirito's a frontliner, and so are we all."

Kibaou fumed, but said nothing. Drifter knew something had finally gotten through his thick skull. The fact that most of the ALS and DKB players had the decency to look at least partly ashamed helped him calm down.

"It's exactly because he is a beta-tester that Kirito has been taking this far harder than anyone else. That he's been fighting harder than anyone else. We all want the same thing, don't we? We want to escape this prison. So stop pointing fingers before you become the reason this dream is shattered."

If before Kibaou had shut up simply because he couldn't think of any good arguments, now the player froze. Drifter's last sentence impacted him harder than anything else that had been said.

The spearman swept the room with his gaze. Most people avoid his eyes. Shivata nodded resolutely. Agil and Klein grinned. Argo - and when had she arrived? - tipped an invisible hat to him.

Reaver's Requiem had varied reactions. Nautilus, Merida, Sinon, and Ran kept stoic expressions, supportive of his claims. Asuna, Yuuki, and Liz smiled sadly. Yuna squeezed his arm and winked. Drifter shook his head at her, a fond smile on his face.

It was Kirito who had the biggest reaction. The swordsman was looking at Drifter, seemingly trying to cry, smile, and frown all at the same time. In the end, he just nodded once. Drifter put a hand on his shoulder.

"The << Flag of Valor >> belongs to Reaver's Requiem. No one can dispute that. But I can see how it may play a bigger role in the hands of larger guilds."

Kibaou and Lind showed hopeful expressions at that, which Drifter would admit, he felt a small amount of pleasure in crushing.

"But, we can't have people fighting over it. So here's what we are gonna do. Argo the Rat, I'm calling in that favor you own me."

"Oh? What do ya want me to do, Dri-bou?"

The info-broker smirked as she stepped forward, completely at ease even with everyone focused on her. There was no favor to call in. They were just putting on a show.

Drifter unstuck the flag from the ground before throwing it to Argo, who almost fell over when she caught it. Drifter smirked back.

"Take it. Whenever we do a floor boss raid, join the guild that's leading the battle. You can leave right after. That way, everyone gets to benefit from the << Flag of Valor >>."

Argo nodded and quickly pocketed the item when Drifter transferred it over to her. The spearman then looked around. Had it been before, many would have felt disgruntled by his actions and would have made their dissatisfaction known. But after Drifter's verbal spanking, no one had the face to argue. He huffed.

"Consider it a loan from Reaver's Requiem to the Assault Team, on behalf of all SAO players."

After a few seconds of staring down the frontliners, daring any of them to disagree, Drifter nodded to himself and turned around to walk over to his guild. It was just as he turned his back that several people shouted.

"What the...!"

"Hey, stop!"

"Careful!"

"Argo, no!"

Drifter spun around just in time to see Morte run out of the ALS ranks, his axe having been switched for a sword - the same sword that almost killed Kirito, he thought with dread - and charge. Not at him, like he had imagined, but at Argo.

"That flag belongs to the Aincrad Liberation Squad!"

"Argo!"

Drifter watched frozen as Morte closed in on Argo, swinging his sword in a << Slant >>. The info-broker tried to dodge, but everything had happened so suddenly that she had barely taken one step back when the weapon dug deep into her flesh, carving a diagonal red line that went from her right shoulder to her left flank.

"Ack!"

Argo screamed, her health falling all the way to half in one blow. A reverse swipe of Morte's sword left her at the edge of the red zone.

'Little rat!'

Morte readied his sword for another blow, a sick grin plastered on his face. Drifter's brain went into overdrive as he watched one of his closest friends, someone he considered his little sister in all but blood, about to be killed in front of him.

Without time to think, and too far away to reach them in time to stop the murderer, Drifter's body reacted faster than his mind. Before he knew it, his spear had already left his hand, flying towards Morte. The player never noticed it, focused as he was on bringing his sword down on Argo, and the spear pierced through his left side, its momentum carrying him away and saving Argo.

Morte, now with an orange cursor above his head, rolled a few times, his HP decreasing by a fifth, before jumping up and glaring viciously at Drifter. The frontliners, and, indeed, the entire world, watched in stunned silence for a few brief seconds before pandemonium broke out.

"Morte! What the hell are you doing?!"

"You bastard!"

The Reavers quickly positioned themselves in front of Argo, while Liz basically shoved a health potion down the info-broker's throat. Meanwhile, they were all glaring at the orange player with murder in their eyes. Drifter especially was straight-up growling. If it wasn't because there were other people in the way, he would have already attacked Morte.

"Morte, what the fuck was that?!"

Another player who was fuming was Kibaou. One of his party leaders, someone he trusted enough to give control over the lives of other ALS players, had just tried to murder Argo right in front of him, and in full view of thousands of players. And it was a murder attempt, no one doubted that. They had all seen Morte preparing that last swing, and he would have succeeded if not for Drifter's quick thinking.

"That item belongs to us, boss! We were the ones who worked the most for it! We can't let the beaters take it!"

Morte, completely unrepentant, tried to plead, but he didn't fool anyone. Drifter could still see the mocking smirk on his face, as if he considered everyone else idiots. Kibaou also saw it, and was furious.

"Don't bullshit me, Morte! We never raise our swords against other players! Never!"

"We gotta do what we gotta do to survive, boss. You don't need to do anything, I will get the flag from the little bit..."

Morte was giving Argo a sinister look, but stopped mid-sentence, staring at the air in front of him. And it was a good thing he did, because there were at least a dozen different players ready to hack him into pieces if he had finished what he wanted to say.

The orange player read through something invisible to everybody else before throwing a vicious glare at Kibaou. His words were dripping with venom.

"Really? You would kick me outta the guild because of that?"

"Not just that, ya scumbag. You tried to kill someone. You're going to << Black Iron Palace >>."

<< Black Iron Palace >> was the one and only building in SAO where players could be held against their will. And that was because it was a prison, located in the Town of Beginnings on the 1st floor. NPC guards in any city across Aincrad could send captured orange and red players to it, where they would serve their sentence. For orange players, that was usually a few days. For red players, it was for life - or until SAO ended.

There was only one way players could send other players to << Black Iron Palace >>, and that was by using a special item to teleport them there, which Drifter was pretty sure Kibaou didn't have. But seeing the guild leader gesture for three of his subordinates to grab Morte, Drifter supposed that could work too. They would just have to escort the orange player to the next city, where the NPCs could then take charge of him.

"Hahaha... Hahahahahaha! You stupid fucking idiots. You think I'll let you do that to me?"

"You don't have a choice, Morte. Take off all your equipment and come with us."

Kibaou's voice was cold. After everything that happened today, the boss raid, his fight with Drifter, and now one of his guild members attempting to murder someone - all the while blabbering on about how he was doing it for the guild - Kibaou was past the stage of anger. He was irate.

Morte backed away as his former guildmates approached him, not quite pointing his sword at them, but not putting it away either. He was still sneering in disdain.

"You know, you could have been great, Kibaou. The ALS could have been SAO's number 1 guild. If only you stopped being a fuckin' coward."

"I'm not a coward, Morte. But I'm not a psychopath either. Clearly, the same can't be said 'bout you."

Hearing that, Morte laughed maniacally. At that moment, Drifter confirmed what he already knew. The player was gone, completely. Whether he had always been like that, or it was SAO's fault, Morte was utterly and completely broken. And in the worst way imaginable.

"Look around you! We are never getting out, Kibaou! We are all gonna die here! Me, you, everyone! And you too, beater!"

"Morte..."

"Hahaha! We are all gonna die, so stop being so fucking boring! Let's have some fun, shall we?!"

"Wait! Get back..."

Drifter saw what Morte was going to do a second before he actually did. When the first ALS member got close to him, the orange player suddenly struck, leaving a red line across his former guildmate's waist. Then, while everyone was still shocked by the fact that he actually dared to fight back even in this situation, he immediately attacked again, this time using a skill.

Later, Drifter would regret not doing the same thing he did to save Argo, but the unfortunate truth was that his body moved faster than his mind when someone close to him was in danger. The same couldn't be said for a player who he didn't even know the name of. So, just like everyone else, Drifter watched powerlessly as Morte's third attack scored a critical hit, lopping off the ALS player's head with a single blow.

Time seemed to stop, with only Morte's sword and the soaring head moving, as if in slow-motion. Until the moment the body of the deceased player shattered, and Morte cackled crazily, the cursor above his red turning bright red.

With a flourish, Morte turned and attacked the second player. He managed to put on more of a fight, and when the third one joined him, they barely restrained the frenzied PK'r. It was clear Morte was much more skilled than he had been showing.

Finally, one of the ALS players stabbed Morte's shoulder, leaving him with only a sliver of health. The players unconsciously stopped their attack, seeing as just one more hit would make them into player killers. Not everyone was as cold-blooded and unfeeling as Morte, who murdered his own guild members without a shred of remorse.

Drifter would probably have stopped too if he was in their position. Unfortunately, that was when disaster struck again. Completely uncaring for how close to death he was, Morte laughed and brought his sword down on the opponent to his left. With a scream, the ALS player watched his health vanish, right before he too, shattered.

Having witnessed two deaths in less than thirty seconds, the frontliners were too slow to get moving again. Morte took the chance to kick the third and last player close to him - who still had over half of his HP - away, and ran.

Many made to chase him, including Drifter, but then faltered. So what if they caught up? What would they do? Kill him? Yes, Morte deserved it, but could they do it? Take another human's life? Hating himself for it, Drifter realized that no, he couldn't. The very thought of that, after having watched two lives be snuffed out in front of him, disgusted his very being. And so he just stared as Morte disappeared up the stairs for the next floor, leaving behind just a threat.

"Watch your backs, people, watch your backs! Jump at every shadow, because one day I'll be there. Hahahahaha!"

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

I always was interested in the name of the player Morte, because (for those who don't know) Morte means death in Italian, Portuguese, and other languages. And, I'm Brazilian, so the first time I saw the player Morte, I knew immediately he had to be evil. I was right.

The above was your fun fact for the day. Other than that, I hope you enjoyed the title, it's a little wordplay. All five of the words mean death in some language. Two of them you already know, but try guessing the others ;)

Just so you know (because I know some of you are going to ask) I originally planned on having Morte die too in this chapter. In my first draft, I had Drifter kill him in a moment of rage. But later I decided to scrap that, because I thought of a better role Morte can play in the future. It will be quite a few chapters before he reappears, however. For now, I'll bring to you the repercussions of his actions, both in SAO and the real world, in the next chapter.