Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Digimon Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor Moon Online II: SAO Shippuden ❯ Arc I, Chapter 5: Wrath of Death Gun ( Chapter 5 )

Well, we are coming closer and closer to the end of this arc. As I said before, the first few arcs are going to probably be short especially this one since it will follow the ‘Phantom Bullet’ timeline of SAO, everyone. So, I think that there is enough said and it is time to continue on into the Bullet of Bullets, folks! Anyway, before I start, once again, I would like to give thanks and credit to Belletiger and Kanius and Kanius’ YuYuGiDigiMoon series, especially this author’s The Invasion of the Rajita story, for giving me permission to use the idea of Valkyrie Sailor Soldiers and everything that’s a part of them.

 

I DO NOT OWN Sailor Moon, Sword Art Online, Accel World, Digimon series, Yu-Gi-Oh R/GX/5Ds/Zexal/Arc-V, Kingdom Hearts, Naruto, Queen’s Blade/Queen’s Gate, Gundam series, including Gundam Build Fighters, Sekirei, Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed, Senran Kagura, Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, Tenchi Muyo series, Ronin Warriors, Dot-hack series, Log Horizon, Stargate series, World of Warcraft series, Power Rangers series, Tron, Code Lyoko, Rave Master, Mouse, and anything/anyone that comes from these and other stories that end up in this fanfiction! Sailor Moon is owned/licensed by Naoko Takeuchi and its various studios and publishers, Naruto is owned/licensed by Masashi Kishimoto, Yuuto Date, Jump Comics, and Studio Pierrot, Dead or Alive is owned/licensed by Team Ninja, Temco, and Tomonobu Itagaki, Ninja Gaiden is owned/licensed by owned/licensed by Team Ninja, Temco, and Tomonobu Itagaki, Digimon is owned/licensed by Toei Animation and its various directors, including Hiroyuki Kakudo, Yu-Gi-Oh is owned/licensed by Kazuki Takahashi, Toei Animation, and Studio Gallop, Yu-Gi-Oh GX is owned/licensed by Naoyuki Kageyama, Studio Gallop and its various directors, Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds is owned/licensed by Katsumi Ono and Studio Gallop, and Sword Art Online is owned/licensed by ASCII Media Works, A-1 Pictures Inc., and its various directors/publishers including Reki Kawahara and Tomohiko Itō!

 

Warning: This story contains intense mature violence, blood, gore, death, mild to explicit suggestive themes, including firearms usage, mind-control, and brainwashing, mild to explicit bad language, and mature adult themes/situations!

 

Second Warning: Some to a lot of OOC (Out of Character) actions and mannerisms in this whole story!

 

December 14, 2025, ALO

 

Inside one of the fields of Alfheim Online, we find Asuna, Lisbeth, Silica, Leafa, Philia, Strea, and Klein fighting against a single huge lizard like monster.

 

Philia’s ALO avatar is a female Spriggan with black hair in hairstyle in real-life and SAO/SAW and wearing an outfit similar to her SAO/SAW outfit (A/N: Reference Sword Art Online: Lost Song for details on Philia’s ALO avatar.).

 

Strea’s ALO avatar is a female Gnome with brown hair in her SAW avatar style, red eyes, and wearing an outfit similar to her SAW outfit (A/N: Reference Sword Art Online: Lost Song for details on Strea’s ALO avatar.).

 

Klein grabs the monster by the tail and he yells out, with a sly grin, “Oh no, you don’t!”

 

Strea says, with a giggle, “Nice one, Klein! You are really strong!”

 

Klein says, with a grin, “Yeah!” However, the lizard then turns its head towards Klein and unleashes a poison cloud attack.

 

The females of the group leap back or take to the sky on their wings in which Philia shouts out, “Poison! Watch out!” Klein holds his breath, but the lizard monster wraps the end of his tail around Klein’s neck forcing him to breathe in the fumes causing him to suffer from a poison status effect and making his HP go down and down.

 

Klein yells out, “Yipe! Poison! Asuna! Hey, Asuna!” However, Asuna has her head down as if in deep thought and Klein shouts out, “Asuna! Asuna! Asuna!”

 

Philia shouts out, “Asuna, Klein needs help!”

 

Strea says, “I’ll get her!” Strea flies over to Asuna, slaps her in the back causing her to yelp, and she says, cheerfully, “Asuna-chan, you have got your head in the clouds! That’s a big no! Klein is going to need a revival item if you don’t hurry!” Asuna, now out of her stupor, looks to see Klein’s health and condition and she yelps out in surprise in which she casts a healing spell. Afterwards, the group defeats the monster and they are assembled together.

 

Asuna says, solemnly, “I’m sorry, Klein.”

 

Klein says, with a grin, “Hey, no problem.”

 

Philia asks Asuna, “You are worried about Kirito and Usagi, right?”

 

Strea says, with a giggle, “Oh, come on! Those two are really awesome! They can handle themselves in any game!”

 

Philia says, “Well, GGO is different from any other VRMMO because it has ‘pro players’ thanks to the ability to earn real money from the game.”

 

Lisbeth says, with a smirk, “Well, Kirito has been known to adapt to any situation. Not to mention that he has a real superheroine who has her own ‘real life’ combat experience to speak of.”

 

Leafa tells Lisbeth, “Through she rather not speak of it, Liz.”

 

Klein says, with a grin, “They will be fine, Asuna. Usagi is there with him, right? The three of you worked together in SAO many times before and you know both of them are an awesome tag-team.”

 

Philia asks, “But what happens if they are the only ones remaining in that tournament?”

 

Strea says, with a giggle, “Then it means we get to see who the best is.”

 

Klein says, with a smirk, “Personally, I’m expecting those two to be the last two in that tournament. With the two of them, they are going to clean house! And then the ‘White Valkyrie’ versus the ‘Black Swordsman’! The ultimate duel! In fact, back in SAO, many players are talking about that kind of situation!”

 

Silica asks, curiously, “Really?”

 

Klein says, with a nod, “Yep. Kirito and Usagi were the best of the best, remember? They was plenty of argument between players, especially Assault Team players, of who would win in a duel between Kirito and Usagi. Since both of them are best buds and both of them are just so awesome, I’m kind of split through I’ve got to admit that before I knew Usagi personally, I put my bets on Kirito.”

 

Lisbeth says, with a smile, “Yeah, I know. However, before I met Kirito, I knew Usagi only. In fact, during her first birthday in SAO, she showed Asuna and me her real face.”

 

Philia says, amazed, “Wow, she must have really trusted you.”

 

Lisbeth says, “And know that we don’t take smack from anyone, Philia.” Lisbeth tells Asuna, with a smile, “Anyway, Asuna, it shows that Kirito will be just fine. With Usagi with him, he will breeze through this job and be right back here with us along with Usagi and the others from whatever job they are on in GGO.”

 

Asuna says, weakly, “Yeah.” As the group starts to walk away, Leafa and Asuna look at each other and they give each other a ‘look of recognition’ in which both of them believe that there is more to this ‘job’ that Kirito is on that meets the eye in which they think and feel the same way about Usagi and the others currently not knowing how right they are.

 

Sailor Moon Online II: SAO Shippuden

 

(Sword Art Online II opening song ‘Ignite’ starts)

 

In the starting scene, we find Kirito and Usagi, in their GGO avatars, standing back to back as they look in the direction that Kirito is looking, then it switches to Sinon, with a determined look in her eyes, and finally, there is none other than Death Gun and he fires his gun creating a bullet hole through the ‘screen’.

 

We next see Kazuto and Asuna sitting down in front of a table outside of a café in which images of Kirito’s SAO and first ALO avatars are walking down the street and the scene then switches to see Eternal Sailor Moon flying through the air with a plain look on her face as images of Usagi, in her SAO and ALO avatars appear by her sides, in which all of them look to see the shadow of Heathcliff/Kayaba looming over them in which the images of Valkyrie Sailor Moon and Usagi’ GGO avatar then appear.

 

The next scene shows Shino Asada sitting down on a swing as images her 11 year old self and Sinon appear and she then looks to see Kyouji Shinkawa in front of her, but he is then engulfed in flames where the infamous Death Gun appears from those flames.

 

Death Gun’s face is seen with Kirito and Usagi, in their GGO avatars, fighting back to back against ‘ghosts’ of SAO while the next scene shows Sinon being dragged into darkness.

 

The next scenes show Asuna, Leafa, Silica, Lisbeth, Klein, Strea, Philia, and Yui in ALO watching something and Asuna and Yui praying in which it switches to the Juuban Sailor Scouts, including Nebula and Neo Moon, watching and motioning from their secret base at Crown Fruit Arcade, then our Digidestined, minus Davis and Kari, and their Digimon partners also watching something, and from a room within GGO itself, Mamoru, Dai, and Akari, in their GGO avatars, are looking at the same thing with Mamoru praying in his own way.

 

Then Usagi and Kirito leap onto the battlefield in which they work together, using their photon/light-swords and guns, beating their opponents one after another with Sinon, using her Hecate II, taking out another opponent from a long distance.

 

Next, it goes into the main city of GGO itself where Kirito and Usagi are fighting against Death Gun himself where the deadly player is beating them off with an estoc and his ‘Death Gun’ with Kirito and Usagi fighting back against him with their guns and swords in which Kirito and Usagi seem the images of Laughing Coffin, the murder guild of SAO, as they charge him for one final attack.

 

On the meanwhile, Sinon snipes one opponent causing him to ‘explode’ and when she turns, she faces a barrage of bullets, but she leaps and starts to fire a submachine gun at her unseen enemy while the image of a mysterious Sailor Scout forms behind her.

 

Finally, Kirito, Usagi, and Sinon walk towards each with Kirito’s SAO and original ALO avatars behind him, Usagi, with images of her SAO and ALO avatars along with Eternal and Valkyrie Sailor Moon behind her, and finally, Sinon, the image of the mysterious Sailor Scout behind her, before all of them start running towards each other and it ends with all of them massed together.

 

(Sword Art Online II opening song ‘Ignite’ ends)

 

Arc I, Chapter 5: Wrath of Death Gun

 

December 14, 2025, GGO, SBC Glocken

 

Inside of GGO, we are in the ‘capital’ of SBC Glocken as Usagi, Kirito, Mamoru, Dai, and Akari go through the main office to get to the waiting room before the GGO finals start.

 

Just then they see Sinon walking by and Akari yells out, “Sinon!”

 

Sinon turns to face them and she says, “Oh, Akari. You and Dai are here.” Sinon says, frowning upon seeing Kirito, “And I see that you bringing him too.”

 

Kirito says, nervously, “Hi there.”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, with a sigh, “Oh, boy.”

 

Dai says, “Just wanted to make sure that he isn’t late again.”

 

Kirito thinks in his mind, annoyed, “Thanks a lot.”

 

Akari tells Sinon, “Actually, we were looking for you too.”

 

Sinon asks, curiously, “Looking for me?”

 

Dai says, “We need to ask you a few things.”

 

Akari asks Sinon, “Do you mind?”

 

Sinon says, with a nod, “Sure. Let’s get inside.” Soon enough, all of them go together inside and they arrive at a massive bar hall with multiple screens where there are legions of GGO players all over the place.

 

Kirito says, “This is crazy!”

 

Dai says, with a smile, “It is always like this. The finals tend to become one big party.”

 

Akari says, “Where they bet on the player that’s most likely to win, which player will end up where on the ranks, and such.”

 

Akari gives a sigh, shakes her head, and Dai says, with a grin, “What can I say? Boys will be boys.”

 

Akari tells Dai, with a teasing tone, “You should know, right, Dai-kun?”

 

Dai tells Akari, “Ha. Ha. Very funny, Kari-chan.” As they continued along, one player was giving out bets for the finalists in the BoB while Yamikaze, the runner up in the last tournament was being interviewed, and Dyne, the leader of the squadron that Sinon assisted in the battle against Behemoth was ‘throwing around smack’.

 

But then one player noticed Usagi and Kirito and he yells out, “Hey, it’s Kirito and Usagi!”

 

Another player says, “The Sword Twins, oh yeah!”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, nervously, “Sword Twins?”

 

A third player says, “Yeah, those two really cut through the preliminaries and I mean that literally! They were on fire!”

 

A player with military style cameo says, “Sinon is more of my type. You don’t see many snipers male or female. She has got the looks and the skills. I wouldn’t mind taking a bullet from her.”

 

Another player says, “I rather get slashed by Usagi.”

Yet another player says, “Get blasted jerk! That guy with her. His name is Mamoru and he is good. He isn’t known because he doesn’t want to be known. I saw him work. A group tried to ‘make the moves’ on that girl and the next minute, they got turned into swish chess by him. Usagi is his girl and she feels the same. The last person that bashed him ended up returning to town three times in a row.”

 

Kirito looks at Usagi and Usagi thinks in her mind, nervously, “I was hoping that no one would have heard about that.”

 

The cameo player responds, “Heh. Well, remember Behemoth? He was invincible in squad on squad combat and Sinon let him have it right between the eyes.”

 

Kirito whispers to Usagi, “It looks like you and Sinon have a bit of reputations of your own.”

Usagi responds, nervously, “We were hoping to avoid that.”

 

Akari says, nervously, “The instant that you stand by Dai and me, it usually starts something.”

 

Dai responds, with a smile, “We are the first BoB winners after all.”

 

Kirito asks, “I was wondering about: That tournament should have only one winner, right? How did both of you become winners?”

 

Akari gives a sly smile and Dai says, a bit nervously, “Well…”

 

Mamoru says, “Let’s find a seat.”

 

Usagi says, with a nod, “Good idea, Mamoru-kun.” Dai gives a mental sigh about that and all of them make it to a table where everyone orders a drink.

 

Sinon asks, “Anyway, what did you want to ask me about?”

 

Dai says, “Well…”

 

Mamoru responds, plainly, “We wanted to know if there are players in the finals that haven’t been around as long as you have, Sinon-san.”

 

Akari says, with a nod, “We’ve been going over the number of players and we think that there are three that have only been here for a month or so.” Akari then brings up her menu, creates a list of the player names for the BoB finals, and shows them to Sinon in which, with everyone looking, Akari focuses on three names: Pale Rider, Musketeer X, and Sterben.

 

Sinon says, “Yeah, you’re right. They aren’t names that I recognize. They must have started playing around a month or so.”

Dai asks, “Maybe two months at the most?”

 

Sinon says, with a nod, “Yeah, most likely.” Sinon asks, “Why are you interested in that?”

 

Akari says, a bit nervously, “It’s…complicated.”

 

Kiri to says, “Usagi and I need to know that fact.”

 

Sinon glares at Kirito and she asks, in a stoic voice that hides her curiosity, “Why is that?”

 

Usagi says, rubbing her virtual scalp nervously, “It is a long story.”

 

Sinon asks, stoically, “Oh?”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, “What are we going to say? I’m sure that she has heard about ‘Death Gun’, but most likely, like plenty of the players here, she isn’t going to believe that he has actually killed of the well-known players of this VRMMO seemly with virtual bullets! And since she is well-known, she might be a target. Kirito and I need to keep a close eye on her.”

 

Sinon asks Kirito and Usagi, “Does it have to do with your ‘freak out’ yesterday?” Kirito and Usagi give a look of surprise and Sinon says, “Dai, Akari, and Mamoru said that a player surprised you and he reminded you of something painful.”

 

Kirito and Usagi look at the name players and Dai says, nervously, “We had to tell her something.”

 

Usagi gives a sigh and she says, a bit solemnly, “Yeah, something like that. Kirito and I know each other from the same VRMMO and later on, Mamoru and my IRL friends meet up with Kirito in real life. That player that freaked us out…Kirito and me…We met him in the same VRMMO that we met each other.”

 

Sinon asks, with a curious look, “Really?”

 

Kirito says, “Yeah. Unlike what happened with Usagi and me, he was one of Usagi’s and my greatest enemies.”

 

Sinon asks, surprised, “Enemies?”

 

Usagi says, “We know that he will be in the finals with us. We know his skill and his ability and we are sure that he is one of the three names that you don’t recognize. We don’t know his name, player name or real name, and let’s just say that he isn’t a normal player.”

 

Sinon asks, confused, “Not a ‘normal player’? What do you mean by that?”

 

Usagi says, nervously, “He…He was a part of group…A group that did terrible things…Kirito and I were among the people to stop him…”

 

Sinon’s eyes widen and Kirito says, “We need to find out why he is in this game…what he wants…and if it is something bad to this game and its players…we need to stop him…”

 

Dai, Akari, and Mamoru give surprised looks and Sinon thinks in her mind, “Do something bad to this game and its players? What does he mean by that?” A curious idea came to Sinon’s mind and she asks, “Does it have to do what you told me in our match? You said: ‘If my bullet could actually kill a player in real life, could you still pull the trigger?’ Does it involve something like that?” Dai, Akari, Mamoru, Usagi, and Kirito give surprised looks through Kirito has different reasons for doing so.

 

Usagi thinks about the whole situation and she mumbles more to herself, “This might be a game, but it’s not something that you play…” When Usagi regains her focus, she finds that everyone is looking at her and she says, nervously, “Oops! I was just mumbling to myself. Just remembering the theme of the VRMMO that Kirito and I met in.”

 

However, everyone heard her and Sinon thinks in her mind, “The theme of the VRMMO that they met in? Those words…that saying…I’ve heard it before, but where?” Just then Sinon’s eyes start to widen as she realize where she heard that saying before and her eyes glance at Usagi and Kirito in which she thinks in her mind, “Could they…?” Soon after, the announcement for the finalists of the BoB was called out in the loudspeakers.

 

Dai tells Kirito, Usagi, and Sinon, “Okay, you’re on.”

 

Akari says, “Good luck.”

 

Usagi says, “Thanks, Akari.”

 

Sinon responds, “You know that I won’t need it.” Sinon, Usagi, and Kirito then take off for the elevator that will take them to the waiting room before they will be teleported to where the finals will take place.

 

Mamoru asks Dai and Akari, “Does she suspect anything?”

 

Dai responds, “I’ll give it to you this way: Sinon is not ‘dim bulb’, Mamoru.”

 

Akari says, with a sigh, “Sinon is a bright girl.” Inside of the elevator, Kirito, Usagi, and Sinon are together in which Kirito and Usagi are side by side.

 

The two of them look at each other and Sinon says, “I get that you and Usagi have got a purpose for being here, but that’s got nothing to do with that promise that you made, pal.” Sinon points her right hand like a gun at Kirito’s back and she says, “I’ve got to pay you back for that final match yesterday. You owe me a fight, got it?”

 

Kirito says, “Roger that. I’ll give you the fight that you want.”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, with a sigh, “That’s you, Kirito. You have to respect player’s honor despite it being a life and death situation about staying in this game until we defeat a nutjob that’s killing off players for real.”

 

Sinon says, plainly, “Thanks.”

 

Usagi tells Sinon, “However, please save your need to satisfy your ‘gamer’s honor’ until we are done. I don’t expect you to understand and I can understand why, but what Kirito and I have to do is important here. It is life and death.”

 

Sinon asks, “What do you mean?”

 

Usagi responds, “This may sound strange, but if you see a cloaked player with a skull mask that has red eyes, do not let him shoot you.”

 

Sinon says, “Well, of course I won’t get shot…”

 

Usagi turns her head to face Sinon, showing a strong and serious look on her face that she didn’t have before SAO, and she says, with a VERY serious tone, “This isn’t a joke or a game! And that wasn’t meant to be a pun! If you let that player shoot, he will destroy and I mean it for real! He has already destroyed the lives of two players for this game and he is trying to continue the legacy of a nightmare that started three years ago in November!”

 

Kirito tells Usagi, “Usagi, please calm down!”

 

Usagi’s eyes soften, she takes a deep breath, and she says, with a sigh, “I’m sorry, Sinon. Please…just forget it.” Usagi turns around and Sinon has a more confused and curious look than annoyed that Usagi would talk to her like that.

 

Sinon thinks in her mind, “Three years ago in November. Three years ago would be Twenty-Twenty-Two and in November…” Sinon mentally gasps as she remembers only one great…or should I say, INFAMOUS event that happened in November of 2022 in which all VRMMO players and in fact, much of the world knows causing more questions to form in Sinon’s mind. On the screens, the host of MMO Stream is talking as the countdown to the finals winds down while Kirito, Usagi, and Sinon are in the same waiting room with other players.

 

Usagi whispers to Kirito, “Sorry, Kirito…”

 

Kirito responds, with a nod of understanding, “I know, Usagi. It isn’t like we had time to recover from it at all.”

 

Within the main bar, Dai, Akari, and Mamoru are sitting together and Dai says, “Here we go.”

 

Akari says, “Good luck.”

 

Mamoru thinks in his mind, “I should be there with her. Please stay safe, Meatball Head.” However, despite wanting to keep her close and out of this, he knows that SAO holds many ‘demons’  for his beloved and she needs to do this to overcome them and gain some sort of peace. Soon enough, the countdown ends and the BoB finals starts in which all of them are teleported away to the massive field prepared for them.

 

December 14, 2025, GGO, ISL Ragnarok

 

Within the massive virtual mass known as ISL Ragnarok, we find Sinon currently hidden away between a boulder and shrubs as she looks at her opponent known as Shishigane, a VIT defensive player with armor and such to match, making it hard for Sinon, even with her Hecate II to land a fatal hit, but as her opponent keeps his distance, she then notices plasma grenades attached to his belt and she carefully aims and fires in which she hits one of the grenades and before her opponent knew it, he is gone in a massive explosion. Sinon doesn’t need to check to know that he is ‘dead’.

 

Sinon says, plainly, “Bingo.” Sinon is quickly on her feet and she takes off down a path that she scouted out beforehand to make her escape. After about a minute, she finally reaches a place where she can hide for the moment to regain her bearing and check how many players are left. She knows that she already taken out two players by this time, but she doesn’t know how many are left until she checks the satellite scan. She checks her time keeping device around her wrist and she then activates her terminal to the satellite her pouch in which she sees twenty-one dots left meaning that nine players have already been terminated already. She checked the nearest dots to see who they were and she finds that the closest is Dyne, who is about 600 meters away to the northeast, and following close behind is one of the players that Dai, Akari, Usagi, Mamoru, and Kirito asked her about: Pale Rider. Sinon thinks in her mind, “And the third is Richie. He uses a Vickers machine gun and he won’t move from his position. I can ignore him for the time being.” As Sinon sees the dots starts to ‘blink out’, her hand moves to tap the other dots realizing that she was looking for one, maybe two, others in particular. Sinon says, shaking her head, “Forget them.” When the lights fade away to show the satellite is out of range for the next fifteen minutes, Sinon heads off knowing where Dyne and Pale Rider are going to end up.

 

On the meanwhile, Dyne is seemly running for his life and he thinks in his mind, “What is the deal with this guy?” Dyne comes out of a wooded area and across a bridge that’s spanning a river in which he goes across the bridge before spinning, going into a lying position, and aiming his automatic weapon that has a bipod towards the forest knowing that his opponent has to come out into the open where Dyne believes that he will have him. What he doesn’t know is that Sinon, on high ground overlooking the bridge, is hidden away and aiming her Hecate II right at him.

 

Sinon says, lowly, “Always check your six, Dyne.” Believing that she can take out both opponents, she prepares to take out Dyne and his opponent if he makes an attempt to attack her across the bridge, but she then gets a feeling of dread in which she reaches back for her secondary weapon, an MP7, to spray at her opponent, however, before she knew it, the weapon was knocked quickly and quietly out of her hands into the hands of Usagi, who had Kirito with her.

 

Usagi whispers, “Hold it, Sinon. It’s us.”

 

Sinon responds, with a snarl and an angered whisper, “So, what? You can’t be serious. There is no plans or compromises at this stage. You shoot and you win or you get shot or you die.”

 

Kirito replies, in a whisper, “If that’s the way that you want it, Usagi just took your weapon and either one of us could have taken your head at any time.” Sinon winches knowing what Kirito just said is true. If they could have, Usagi and Kirito could have taken her down since they managed to sneak up on her without her knowing it at all.

 

Usagi whispers, “We are here to see Pale Rider.”

 

Sinon asks, in a whisper, “What for?”

 

Kirito says, “You know the reason, Sinon. Look, we just want to watch him to see if he is the one that we are looking for.”

 

Sinon whispers, in an annoyed tone, “And what happens after that? What are you going to do?”

 

Usagi says, “It depends. If he is the one that we are after, don’t interfere, please. This is between him and us. We can’t risk you get caught in the crossfire.” Usagi then hands Sinon back her sidearm and Sinon takes it with a snort.

 

Sinon responds, in a whisper, “Whatever.” Soon after, all three of them look to see someone emerge from the woods. The player was tall and think, wearing an eerie pale patterned camo suit, and his face was hidden due to the helmet with a black shield in the front.

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, “Well, at least we know why they call him Pale Rider. I know that it isn’t him. I don’t think that allow changing of ‘outfits’ during the match and since ‘Death Gun’ is from Laughing Coffin, I don’t think that he would disguise himself in that way. No, he would do something different and there are quite a few ways to do it. But I don’t see anything that would indicate another player hiding from a good distance away and the satellite scan didn’t detect anyone, but Sinon here, so, if he is here, where is he?” Dyne gives the player, obviously Pale Rider, who is only wielding an AR-17 shotgun in his right hand, a surprised look and he then smirks at what looks like an easy kill before unleashing a barrage of bullets. However, Pale Rider nimbly leaps away and up onto the top of the sides of the bridge as Dyne tries to hit him with a barrage of bullets in complete vain.

 

Sinon thinks in her mind, amazed, “Whoa! He boosted his three-dimensional movement by wearing lighter gear and his acrobatic skill must be through the roof!”

 

As Dyne fries hopeless at Pale Rider, he says, annoyed, “Bastard!” When Dyne tries to reload his weapon, Pale Rider fires his shotgun causing several bullet hit effect to slam into Dyne’s body causing him to stumble backwards from the force of it due to the low level of the pain absorbers. Dyne tries to reload his weapon, but Pale Rider gets to him, hits him with a point blank shot, hitting with damage and a movement delay effect, and forcing Dyne to his knees with the final blow after Pale Rider reloads is a shot to face. He collapses to the ground in a heap and large red indicator sign appears over his virtual avatar that says ‘Dead’ to show that he is out of the battle. In order to make sure that there is no cheating, the players are prohibited from logging out of the tournament, so, they have to stay in their ‘dead’ avatars until the end of the tournament.

 

Kirito says, in a whisper, “He is sure tough.”

 

Usagi whispers back, with a nod, “He is. However, it isn’t him. I don’t think that he would stay over his ‘victim’ in silence and you saw how silent Pale Rider was. It isn’t their way, Kirito. They would make their deaths a grand show like how he did with his first two victims of this game.”

 

Sinon thinks in her mind, “Victims?”

 

Kirito whispers, with a nod and plain tone, “You have a point, Usagi. However, it doesn’t mean that he has changed his MO back from the old days over there. Plus, if he isn’t, then he is a prime target. Look at him. Within just weeks, he has become good to fight in a game of pro players that have been around since the start of this VRMMO.”

 

Usagi whispers, nodding her head in agreement, “You’re right, Kirito. He would love to kill him. It would be perfect to show the world his ‘power’.”

 

Kirito whispers, “Bingo, Usagi.”

 

Sinon asks, “What are you talking about?” Kirito and Usagi give nervous looks and Sinon whispers, plainly, “I’m going to snipe him.”

 

Usagi whispers, nervously, “Okay.” Usagi thinks in her mind, “Best take him out of the tournament before he can be a prime target for Death Gun.” But before Sinon can shoot, Pale Rider’s right shoulder bursts with blue bullet fire, showing that he is hit, and he collapses to the ground. Immediately that someone had attacked him from their left, all of them listen in for the shot, but they hear nothing.

 

Sinon thinks in her mind, stunned, “Did I miss it?”

 

Kirito asks Usagi, “Usagi?”

 

Usagi says, shaking her head, “I didn’t hear a thing. Even a sniper weapon should make a loud sound. There are only two kinds of weapon that can fire without making a sound. A quiet laser rifle, which would be impractical in this event, or a suppressed weapon.”

 

Kirito asks Usagi, “A suppressed weapon?”

 

Usagi responds, “A suppressor is a thing that you can attach to the end of a gun that reduces the noise of the gun firing. It is also called a silencer, but that’s more of a mistake than anything.”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “Oh.”

 

Sinon says, with a plain tone, “But a suppressor on a rifle cuts down on accuracy and range as well as expensive.”

 

Usagi says, “Doesn’t mean that anyone might find a way to use it to its maximum, Sinon.”

 

Sinon says, “Good point. However, using a suppressor on a rifle, most likely a high caliber sniper rifle, make the suppressor less useful.” As she muddles on why she couldn’t hear the shot, she also sees that Pale Rider doesn’t have the ‘Dead’ indictor on him which means that he is still in the game and yet, he isn’t moving. Sinon asks, “By the way, where did you and Usagi come from?”

 

Usagi gives a light blush and Kirito responds, “We swam in the river. The satellite couldn’t pick us up underwater.”

 

Sinon whispers, shocked, “You swam? But how?”

 

Usagi replies, with a blush on her cheeks, “We took off our armor and equipment and put it into our storage first.”

 

Sinon thinks in her mind, “Geez! I should have expected that much.”

 

Kirito then asks, looking through a pair of binoculars, “Hold up! What’s that lightning effect going through his avatar?” Sinon then looks through her scope and Usagi, using another pair of binoculars, looks at Pale Rider to see some kind of ‘thorn’ that’s giving up electrical sparks.

 

Usagi says, “That’s an electrical stun round. It sends a high powered current through the target and it is used for high caliber rifles. But they are really expensive, so, they are usually used for hunting major monsters in a party.” Just then Sinon, Usagi, and Kirito gasp as they see a shadow emerge from one of the support pillars for the bridge and when that shadow is in good view, it is none other than Death Gun himself.

 

Sinon thinks in her mind, stunned, “When did he get here?” As she look and wonders on how Death Gun got here without any form of detected, she then notices the weapon slung around his right arm and shoulder. It is a massive rifle as long as her Hecate, but the barrel was significantly thinner and there is a long sound suppressor at the end of the sniper rifle’s barrel like the weapon was designed around the sniper rifle to begin with. Sinon says, lowly, “Silent Assassin.”

 

Kirito looks at Sinon and Usagi responds, “A very rare sniper rifle meant for human targets in the real world. I really don’t know much about it, but it is said that those shot by it don’t see the shooter much less hear the gunshot and that’s why it is called Silent Assassin. However, no one, not even Dai and Akari, have ever seen one.”

 

Kirito says, “It explains why we didn’t hear the shot.” Kirito’s, Usagi’s, and Sinon’s attention is then refocused on Death Gun as he stops before the paralyzed Pale Rider and shoulders his weapon as he takes out what looks like a regular black pistol and prepares to use against Pale Rider causing Sinon to be confused, feeling that it is regular weapon of the game and won’t take Pale Rider out of the BoB, but Usagi’s and Kirito’s eyes widen knowing what Death Gun is most likely preparing to do.

 

December 14, 2025, ALO, Yggdrasil City

 

Inside of the VRMMO world of ALO, Asuna, Yui, in her pixie form, Silica, Lisbeth, Philia, Strea, Leafa, and Klein are inside of the room that Kirito and Asuna rented out as their home in Yggdrasil City in which they are using the south wall as a massive television as MMO Stream is showing them the action of the BoB tournament in GGO. They are watching it because they know that Kirito and Usagi are taking part in the tournament, but only Asuna, Leafa, and Yui know the reason that Kirito and Usagi are in GGO and in the tournament or at least part of the reason since Kirito made sure that he kept out certain part of his reasoning from converting his ALO avatar to GGO from Asuna for obvious reasons.

 

As they watch the footage of the BoB on their ‘screen’, Leafa says, “They don’t have many pictures of big brother or sis.”

 

Philia says, “I hope that Kirito is okay.”

 

Silica says, with a smile, “I’m sure that he is just fine, Philia. Plus, they have the stats right there and we can tell if they have been eliminated.”

 

Strea asks, “Do you think that Kirito can’t find a fight?”

 

Klein says, with a smirk, “I don’t think that’s the thing, Strea. Kirito is a sly character and Usagi is no slouch when it comes to gaming. I mean, the only one that could ever match them is our Berserker Healer here.” Asuna gives an annoyed pout and he says, with a smirk, “He and Usagi are crafty when it comes to stuff like this. I’m betting that they are playing smart and waiting until the crowd thins itself just waiting for the right time to make his move and bam!”

 

Asuna says, with a smile, “That’s not Kirito-kun’s and Usagi-chan’s way, Klein. Though I have to admit that you have a point about them…I think.”

 

Yui says, with a smile, “I bet that daddy is sneaking up so fast on them that the camera can’t follow them.”

 

There are plenty of laughs and Lisbeth says, “Yeah, sounds about right. And he went out of his way to use a sword in a gun game.”

 

Philia asks, “Why did Kirito covert just to join a tournament?”

 

Asuna and Leafa give each other looks and Asuna says, “Well, it has to do with a job. Usagi-chan, a good time ago, made her own account on GGO to investigate it. With what happened with you know, she took it on herself to ‘investigate’ and ‘police’ the new ‘virtual universe’ that’s blooming out there.”

 

Klein says, with a nod, “Yeah. The girl is putting too much on her shoulders.”

 

Philia says, “Well, with what happened, can you really blame her? A dream that she had for others turned into a horrible two yearlong nightmare.”

 

Asuna says, with a nod, “We know, Philia. However, with what’s happened after SAO ended, it will take a long time to come before she can get over it.”

 

Silica says, “Speaking of which, I’m surprised that you joined ALO after what happened in Sword Art World.”

 

Philia says, with a smile, “I guess that I had a reason.”

 

Lisbeth says, with a smirk, “And I know a few that you are here.”

 

Philia asks, with a blush, “What do you mean by that?”

 

Klein says, “Anyway, if this is a job researching that game, he is good for the job since he will get it in no time, but I don’t get why he has to join the biggest tournament of that game to do. He could just ask around town.”

 

Silica says, “Maybe he wants to get a bit of a bonus. I heard that prize is very big and with the money conversation system, he may want to add some money to his bank.”

 

Strea asks, “Is the prize that big?”

 

Yui responds, “Based on the system that GGO uses from what I could gather, daddy could get thirty thousand yen if he converted the grand prize from the tournament.”

 

Klein says, with a whistle, “Now, that’s something. I can see why you would get lured by such a nice jackpot.”

 

Asuna tells Klein, annoyed, “Well, Kirito-kun and Usagi-chan aren’t you, Klein.”

 

Leafa says, “Anyway, this kind of hiding doesn’t fit with big brother’s personality. He isn’t the kind of person to stand back and watch and listen to other people fighting.” As the group have their questions, they witness the fight between Dyne and Pale Rider.

 

Lisbeth says, with a whistle, “Wow, he’s good. He makes this game look fun and I wonder if you can create your own guns.”

 

Asuna jokes out, with a smile, “Don’t tell me that you are planning to convert next. We’ve still got a ways to go on New Aincrad.”

 

Silica says, with a nod, “Remember, there is a new update when we reach the twenties.”

 

Lisbeth responds, with a smirk, “Like there isn’t enough updates already? Remember the newest updates from Sword Art World and those skill sets that they added from that game as well as the quests? Kirito was off like rocket when he heard of quest that can get him Duel Wielding, which by the way, I believe that you and Dai retained from Sword Art World, right?”

 

Leafa says, with a smile, “Yeah, I still have my Duel Wielding and in fact, I’ve managed to get it up to the new Swashbuckling Sword Skill set.”

 

Silica asks, “Really?”

 

Leafa says, “Yeah. I was really surprised to hear about it when I was in Sword Art World. I think that it is based on pre-Full Dive MMO.”

 

Klein says, “Ah, Elder Tales.” When everyone looks at Klein, he says, “It is the most famous MMO game in world and the oldest too at over twenty years old.”

 

Lisbeth says, amazed, “Whoa, twenty years old? Wow. No MMO has lasted that long.”

 

Klein says, with a smile, “Yep. It is the oldest and most reliable MMO that there is. Elder Tales has gone through one dozen updates and it has been way popular.” Klein says, with a sigh, “Through I hear that there has been ‘trouble in paradise’ with Kirito’s and our old game.”

 

Leafa says, “I remember that I heard about this. It happened about half-a-year into SAO.”

 

Philia says, “What’s called the ‘Elder Tales incident’. Around May of Twenty-Twenty-Three, while we were trapped in SAO for about half-a-year, thirty thousand people in Japan with them being only a portion of the several hundred thousand people world-wide that had mysteriously vanished.”

There are gasps and Lisbeth asks, “Several hundred thousand?”

 

Philia says, with a nod, “Yeah. And there was one thing that linked them together.”

 

Klein says, “They were playing Elder Tales when its latest update was about to be implemented. The twelfth updated: Novasphere Pioneers.”

 

Asuna asks, “And all of them vanished on that exact day?”

 

Klein says, with a nod, “Yep. And they were logged into the game when it happened.”

 

Silica says, nervously, “Creepy.”

 

Leafa says, with a nod, “I remember now. It is still an on-going case. On the day that it happened, it caused a world-wide panic and a few thought that Kayaba was at work on it through that was disproven quickly. I think that the VR Division of the Ministry is supposed to be working on it.” Soon after, the group witnesses Pale Rider collapsing to the ground.

 

Klein tells Lisbeth, with a smirk, “Looks like your boy is down for the count.”

 

Lisbeth says, annoyed, “Shut it. He isn’t the dead.” Lisbeth then changes the view of the screen to show the stun bullet in Pale Rider’s shoulder.

 

Leafa says, “It looks like the spell Thunderweb.”

 

Klein says, “I hate those kind of spells. The homing is too good on them.”

 

Lisbeth says, annoyed, “That’s because every kind of debuff is bad for you! You need to raise your resistance skills.” Just then feed on Pale Rider and changes into the view of Death Gun in which they look to see him take out a black pistol and makes the sign of the cross motion in which after he does so, Death Gun prepares to fire, but he then bends backward with a shot goes past, grazed the hem of Death Gun’s cloak, the location of his ‘virtual heart’ just a moment ago, and spray past causing a significant impact off-screen. As Asuna looks at Death Gun, a memory twitches in her mind and she wonders about it. Death Gun then fires into Pale Rider, lowers his health a little, and Pale Rider then leaps to his feet in which it seems like Pale Rider is about to finish Death Gun. Instead, however, the shotgun falls out of Pale Rider’s hand, he collapses to the ground, his hand over his heart, and his form went still before it vanishes in a static fashion with a sign saying ‘disconnection’. It vanishes when Death Gun stops it with his boot and the view changes to his face causing Silica to nearly leap onto Leafa.

 

Death Gun then says, “Death Gun is my name and the name of my gun.” Death Gun points the gun at one of the cameras and he says, “One day, I will pay you all a visit. And bring real death with this gun. You have seen my power. It is real. This isn’t over…not yet. I’m just getting started. It’s show time.”

 

As they watch this, Asuna thinks in her mind, “I’ve met that person before. But where? Wait! There is only one place that I could have met him: Aincrad.” Soon after, they hear a glass shatter and everyone looks to see the glass that Klein was holding shatter on the floor before vanishing into data pixels in which Asuna can quickly see that his eyes are wide with shock.

 

Lisbeth says, nervously, “Hey, way to scare everybody…”

 

Klein says, stunned, “No way…That can’t be…”

 

Asuna then leaps to her feet and she asks, “Do you know him, Klein? Who is he?”

 

Klein says, “I don’t remember his old man, but I know one thing for sure. He’s a member of Laughing Coffin…I’m certain about that.” Lisbeth, Silica, and Philia give looks of pure shock since they are SAO survivors and they know all too well about Laughing Coffin.

 

Leafa asks, “Laughing Coffin? Wait, are you talking about those people that killed off other people despite SAO being deadly?” When the others look at Leafa in surprise, Leafa says, “Sword Art World, remember? The ‘spirits’ of the dead SAO players showed Dai, Akari, and me what happened as we tried to figure out how to get out of there.”

 

Lisbeth says, with a nod, “Oh, yeah.”

 

Asuna asks Klein, “You don’t think that he is their leader? The one with the cleaver?”

 

Klein responds, shaking his head, “No, it isn’t PoH. The attitude and the way that he spoke are totally different from that sicko. However, the phrase that he spoke, ‘It’s show time’, was PoH’s catchphrase. That means that this guy had to be someone close…I mean right-hand type close.”

 

Leafa then realizes something and she tells Asuna, “Asuna, I think that this is the reason that Usagi has been gone for so long.” When the others look at Leafa, she tells everyone, “Last night, big brother came back not looking himself and he didn’t seem to be himself this morning. I think that he and Usagi found out that this person was a member of murderous group, they thought…No, they knew that because of what he is due to Sword Art Online, he is trying to recreate SAO in GGO in his own way and big brother and sis are trying to stop him. They are trying to stop him from recreating SAO and kill again.”

 

Lisbeth grapples Asuna’s hand from shock and Lisbeth asks, “What about the job that he was doing? Didn’t he jump into GGO to prepare a report for something or someone?”

 

Leafa looks at Asuna, she nods her head, and Leafa says, “The man that big brother talked to from what Asuna told me is the same guy that knows that Usagi and I are Sailor Moon and Sailor Celestial.”

 

Klein yells out, “Wait! You mean that guy from the VR Division?!”

 

When Asuna nods her head, Leafa says, with a nod, “The very same, Klein.”

 

Philia asks, “Do you think that Usagi learned this before Kirito?”

 

Leafa says, “Something tells me that it was most likely. Remember, Usagi has been investigating a lot more time in GGO lately and I think that the Digidestined are in on it.”

 

Klein says, “Yeah, they haven’t been here much lately either.” Klein says, his eyes widen, “And it was the same time that Usagi started to invest more time into GGO lately because she said that she was investigating something.”

 

Asuna says, “Everyone, I’m going to contact Kirito’s employer and find out what’s going on here.” When everyone looks at Asuna, she tells Yui, “Yui-chan, I need you to research if there have been anything ‘strange’ happening in GGO for the past month or so. Focus on that cloaked player. Since he is from Laughing Coffin, there will be some kind of story on him even if most believe it to be nonsense or something.”

 

Yui says, with a nod, “Right, mommy.” Yui flies over to a nearby table and closes her eyes to start processing data.

 

Strea says, with a smile, “I’ll help, Yui-chan.”

 

Asuna says, “Thank you, Strea.” Strea goes over to Yui, opens a special menu, and starts to type on it. Asuna tells everyone, “I’ll be back soon, everyone.” Asuna then uses her menu to logout and she vanishes in a flash of rainbow lights as she returns to the real world.

 

December 14, 2025, GGO, ISL Ragnarok

 

Returning to ISL Ragnarok, Usagi, Kirito, and Sinon have witnessed the scene from a better vantage point and Sinon is very confused at what she just saw.

 

Sinon asks, “What the heck was that?”

 

Usagi says, slamming her fist into the ground, “No, we were too late.”

 

Kirito tells Usagi, “I know, Usagi. But don’t worry, we will stop before he murders anyone else.”

 

Sinon asks, “Murders?” Sinon asks, with a serious tone, “Okay, I want answers! Something tells me that you know something about this guy.”

 

Usagi and Kirito look at each other, give a sigh, and Usagi says, “We didn’t say anything because people have already heard about him and they think about this guy as a joke.”

 

Kirito asks Sinon, “You heard of Death Gun right?”

 

Sinon responds, “Death Gun? You mean the rumored player that shot XeXeeD and Tarako and they never logged in after that?”

 

Usagi says, “Yeah, that’s right. But they don’t come back because both of them are dead. Death Gun killed them both.”

 

Sinon asks, stunned, “What? That’s impossible! What kind of game are you trying to pull?”

 

Usagi says, with a serious tone, “This isn’t a game or a trick Sinon! I know this because I know who they are in real life when I saw pictures of their corpses after Death Gun murdered them with…however he did it!”

 

Sinon gives a look of shock and Kirito says, “Usagi isn’t kidding, Sinon. Personally, I wouldn’t have believed it since you can’t kill someone in the real world from the virtual one anymore, but Dai and Akari were there at the bar, here, when Death Gun shot XeXeeD.”

 

Sinon asks, surprised, “Dai and Akari saw that happen?”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “Yep. They recorded and when Usagi and I looked at the recordings, we knew that this was no hoax. Death Gun managed to kill them somehow. I mean…Look at what happened to Pale Rider! He knew! Death Gun knew the instant that he shot him with that pistol something bad would happen to Pale Rider! It is the same from XeXeeD and Tarako and they are dead, Sinon.”

 

Sinon says, lowly, “No way…” On the meanwhile, they witness Death Gun look at Dyne after putting away his pistol and vanishes into the supports for the bridge.

 

After a while, he doesn’t reappear and Usagi asks, “What’s he waiting for?”

 

Kirito says, “He knows that we are up here. He could be making a trap.”

 

Sinon says, “Keep an eye on him. I’m going to check to see who he is.”

 

Kirito says, “The satellite. Good idea.” Sinon then goes over, takes out the terminal for the satellite, and activates it in which he eyes grow wide.

 

Sinon asks, “Where is he?” When Usagi and Kirito look at Sinon, she says, “He should be here, but there is no signal.” Sinon snaps her fingers and she says, “Ah, I get it. This is our chance. He isn’t on the radar and that means that he must be using the river like you two. And that means that he has taken his gear off like you. Once he is on dry land, he is going to need about ten seconds to reequip himself. We can take him then.”

 

Usagi tells Sinon, “Wait! Couldn’t you remain equipped with a pistol while swimming?”

 

Sinon says, giving a thinking look, “I never tried it before, but it is possible.”

 

Kirito says, “That means that he could still use that black pistol on you. I don’t know how, but you saw what he did to Pale Rider, didn’t you? And Usagi and I along with Dai and Akari saw him do it to XeXeeD. It might be some kind of trick, but until we know if it is and what kind of trick it is, all we know if he gets with that pistol, you are done! You are dead! Truly dead!”

 

Sinon asks, “But how is that possible?”

 

Usagi tells Sinon, “It has happened before and he has done it before.”

 

Sinon asks, surprised, “Done it before?”

 

Usagi says, “Yes, he has done it before. In another VRMMO, he was a group of players that killed other players and when they died in the game, they died for real. Because…Because that VRMMO wasn’t a game anymore, it was a ‘game’ of survival…of life and death. A nightmare that stole the lives of so many people and Death Gun and those like him helped it along. They actually embraced and loved the fact that you could really truly murder people with that game. He…He is a pure fiend that wants to recreate something horrible that was supposed to have ended over a year ago.”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “And we have to stop him. This isn’t a game…It is a battle of life and death for the players in this tournament…in this world…and possibly this world itself.”

 

Sinon thinks in her mind, “A VRMMO where if they die in the game, they die for real?” Sinon’s eyes widen as she remembers what they talked about in the office before the tournament started and what they just said now and remembering a ‘certain event’ that happened over the course of two years that just ended over a year ago…during November of 2024. It is something that all VRMMO gamers and even non-gamers know all too well since this ‘event’ was central in world events during the time that it happened.

 

Usagi tells Sinon, “Sinon, just forget about this guy and leave him to Kirito and me. We don’t want anyone else to die because of that sicko and the legacy that he represents.”

 

Kirito says, “Usagi is right, Sinon. I don’t know or not you believe us or not, but right now, we have important work to do.”

 

Sinon asks, “How do you plan to stop him?”

 

Usagi says, “If we remember his old name from the VRMMO that we were all in, we would know his real name in real life. Once then, we can find him and stop him for good.”

 

Kirito says, “However, Usagi and I can’t remember his name from that ‘game’ and I think that we can do so is to fight him and…reopen old wounds.”

 

Sinon thinks in her mind, curiously, “Reopen old wounds?”

 

Usagi says, “We have to get moving, Kirito. Other players have sure saw the satellite scan and they are going to be on their way here thinking that we are fighting.”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “Good point, Usagi.” Kirito tells Sinon, “Thanks for hearing us out and verifying the information that Dai and Akari gave you. We have two more targets to track down: Musketeer X and…Steven or whatever. You were a great help.”

 

Usagi says, with a bow, “Thank you, Sinon. Take care.”

 

As Kirito and Usagi prepare to take off, Sinon says, seriously, “Hold it!”

 

Kirito says, turning his head to look at Sinon, “Sinon, we don’t have the time. We need to find Death Gun and stop him. I know that it is hard to believe. Personally, I think that it is some kind of trick, but until we know what it is, every surviving player is in danger because until we find the trick, we have to assume that Death Gun has a way to get through the Amusphere’s security defenses and cause his victims to suffer fatal hearts attacks when he shoots them here.”

 

Sinon thinks in her mind, “They suffer heart attacks when he shoots them? But how?”

 

Usagi says, “It is hard to believe, Sinon, but it is a truth.”

 

Sinon responds, “It is hard to believe and I’m not sure if I fully believe you. However, you have a point. When that guy shot Pale Rider, he knew that something was going to happen shortly after he shot him. He had a shotgun in his face and he didn’t even flinch a tiny bit. Something is going on here and I’m not going to just run and hide. I’m coming with you.”

 

Kirito and Usagi gasp, turn around to face Sinon, and Kirito yells out, stunned, “What?”

 

Usagi tells Sinon, “You can’t!”

 

Sinon replies, sternly, “Who said that I can’t? Plus, separate or alone, the chances of meeting Death Gun are the same and we have no idea where he went in which there is no sign of him on the last scan which means that he was hiding in the river at the time like you, two, were which means that in order to track him, we need to follow the river and that means that he could have a chance to get out and prepare an ambush. There is also the fact that with three of us against one of him, his attention will be divided into three allowing us opening to attack him.”

 

Kirito tells Usagi, “She has a point, Usagi.” Usagi gives a groan at this, but then her eyes widen when she senses something.

 

Usagi yells out, “Kirito, behind!”

 

Sinon gives a look of surprise as Kirito and Usagi spin around, draw their photon swords, and Kirito replies, “Got it, Usagi!” Soon after, Sinon can see a series of bullet lines coming from the bush some distance away from them and then Usagi and Kirito use their ‘energy blades’ to deflect the bullets much to Sinon’s surprise. Kirito says, annoyed, “We don’t have time for this.”

 

Usagi asks Sinon, “Sinon, can you take him out while Kirito and I protect you and ourselves?”

 

Sinon comes out of her stupor and she responds, “Roger. Stay out of the way of my fire, that’s all.”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “Right.” Kirito and Usagi take positions left or right of the barrel of Sinon’s Hecate and they deflect another series of bullets in which Sinon notes on how well Kirito and Usagi work together in harmony, but she quickly focuses, aims at their enemy, a player known as Xiahou Dun, who is shocked by this, and with him exposed, Sinon takes one perfect shot right through Xiahou Dun, causing him to lose all of his HP, and sending virtual form flying before landing on the ground with a soft ‘thud’ in which a red ‘Dead’ sign hovers over him to show his elimination from the BoB finals.

 

As Sinon gets to her feet, Usagi and Kirito put their light swords away and Usagi says, with a sigh, “I need to take a vacation. Somewhere nice and relaxing in the real or virtual worlds.”

 

Kirito says, with a smile, “Something tells me that we are both going to need it after this.”

 

Sinon says, “The battle is probably going to attract more players nearby. We’re going to need to move.”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “Right.”

As they start to move off, Sinon tells Usagi and Kirito, “The two of you work well together.”

 

Usagi responds, with a smile, “The two of us met in the same VRMMO. We’ve worked together a lot in there and Kirito is my best friend…more like a brother.”

 

Sinon asks, “A brother?”

 

Kirito says, with a grin, “And Usagi is like the annoying big sister that you don’t want, but need.” Usagi sticks her tongue out at Kirito, playfully, and he says, “Real mature, Usagi. That’s not how a future queen is supposed to be.”

 

Usagi retorts, sarcastically, “That was so funny that I forgot to laugh, Kirito.” Sinon can’t help to be curious as the two of them laugh at their playful ‘gabbing’.

 

When Usagi and Kirito are done laughing, Kirito asks Sinon, “Sinon, Death Gun is probably heading north using the river and then he is going to set up somewhere for his next victim. Got any ideas on his plans?”

 

Sinon responds, “Weird powers or not, Death Gun is mainly a sniper. Without cover, he is vulnerable, but as you go north, the forest ends until you get to the ruined city.”

 

Usagi says, “Which is perfect cover for a sniper in all sorts of ways and ‘worlds’.”

 

Sinon replies, with a nod, “Bingo.”

 

Kirito says, “Then that’s where we need to go. If we keep along the river, they won’t be able from the sides.”

 

Sinon responds, “Roger.” The three of them then headed off along the river towards the city in the center of the vast battlefield for the Bullet of Bullets tournament.

 

When they reach the edge of the city, Usagi says, “We’re here.”

 

Sinon asks, “Do you think that we passed him?”

 

Kirito responds, “Not a chance. Usagi and I were watching the river closely and we would have ‘sensed’ him. Remember, he has a lot of reason to want to take revenge on us.”

 

Usagi tells Kirito, sarcastically, “Don’t remind me, Kirito.”

 

Kirito says, “He must be in town already.”

 

Usagi tells Kirito, “And remember, he won’t be going by the name of ‘Death Gun’ since that isn’t his player handle.”

 

Kirito says, “True, but we do know that more than likely one of the other two are Death Gun. We have Musketeer X and ‘Steven’.”

 

Usagi says, “Kirito, I’m not sure that name is ‘Steven’ misspelled. You know that Mamoru-kun and Mizuno-chan are both studying to be doctors, right? Well, I think that I heard that name before in medical terms.”

 

Kirito asks, “You think that name isn’t Steven, but a name from a real-life medical term?”

 

Usagi says, giving a confused look, “Yeah, but I can’t remember what it is.”

 

Kirito says, “Well, it isn’t important right now. He and Musketeer X are the main concerns of ours. One of them is most likely ‘Death Gun’.”

 

Sinon says, “Hold on. Musketeer is the name for an old fashion soldier that carried an early version of a gun known as a musket and that ‘X’ in the name could be made for the sign of the cross that Death Gun just made before he shot Pale Rider.”

 

Kirito says, thinking about Sinon’s words, “Good point, Sinon. Plenty of player’s names in MMO games are pretty cliché. Mine is just a wrinkle on my real name.”

 

Sinon says, “Same here.”

 

Usagi says, with a blush, “Mine is based on one of the nicknames given for me.”

 

Kirito tells Usagi, with a smile, “Pretty good match for you, Usagi.” Usagi gives an annoyed look at Kirito and Kirito says, “And Musketeer X is also good for being Death Gun because of the ‘X’ in the name. That ‘X’ could also be the symbol for ‘chi’ which is the symbol for ‘death’ in cultures of Asian.”

 

Sinon says, with a nod, “Yeah.”

 

Usagi says, “The next scan is coming up soon and the only places that you can hide from a scan are the caves and in the water like you and I just did.”

 

Kirito says, “Okay, we’ll find out if either of the two are in the city and if they are here, then we know that one of them is Death Gun. You and I will be the bait.”

 

Usagi asks, annoyed, “Why do we have to be the bait?”

 

Kirito responds, “Since he can’t get us both and Sinon is the sniper, once he uses his one shot, his next attacks can be seen or he is going to have to move allowing one of us to get in close or to have Sinon find his location and use her sniper skills to pop him.”

 

Sinon says, “That’s actually a good idea.”

 

Usagi says, with a sigh, “Fine.”

 

Kirito says, “Okay, let’s go.” The three of them then head into the city to find Death Gun and stop him once and for all before another player truly loses their life from this ‘remnant’ of Sword Art Online.

 

December 14, 2025, GGO, SBC Glocken

 

Back in SBC Glocken, Mamoru and Akari are focusing on the events in which Dai has logged out and returned to the real world to inform the others about Death Gun’s latest victim: Pale Rider.

 

Akari says, “This is horrible.”

 

Mamoru says, “We have to believe in them, Akari. They’ve been through so much already and I know that they can stop this fiend.”

 

Akari says, “I hope so too, Mamoru.”

 

Mamoru thinks in his mind, “My love, I wish that you let me join you, but this is your fight. These ‘yokai’ are yours that you need to overcome and while I know that this is your fight to overcome, it doesn’t mean that I don’t worry about you. Even after SAO ended, your ‘battle’ continued on and I helped you as much I can. Please, my love, stay strong.” As Mamoru, he can only despise not being able to help the woman that he loved in two lifetimes, but he knows that he being there could put his beloved in more danger since she would be worried about him since they don’t know how Death Gun is killing GGO players. All he can do is wait and hope that both Usagi and Kirito can beat Death Gun and come out ‘intact’.

 

End of Chapter 5

 

(Sword Art Online II ending music ‘Startear’ starts)

 

As the scene starts, we find Shion Asada looking around and then an 11 year old Shion Asada looking solemn with dark shadows looming all around her.

 

The next scene shows the teenage Shion running from some kind of unknown pursuer.

 

She is then in a school classroom looking out the window, looking bore sitting in front of a school desk, and walking away from a chalkboard.

 

Shion is then wrapping a long scarf around herself and she is joined by her child-like self in which they look to see Sinon, Shion’s GGO avatar, looking at them.

 

Sinon, wielding her large sniper rifle, is in her hands and the unknown Sailor Scout with a compound bow that transforms powerful futuristic sniper rifle aiming at some kind of unknown foe.

 

Shion then looks at the unknown Sailor Scout in the eyes as she extends her hand to her and she takes it into her in which Shion gains a pair of huge feather wings with the image of the unknown Sailor Scout behind her as they look to the skies as a group of people including Dai and Akari extend their hands to them.

 

(Sword Art Online II ending music ‘Startear’ ends)

 

Preview (Usagi’s voice)

 

“Next time: Revelation: Death Gun.”

 

Well, that’s the end of this chapter, folks! I know that plenty of you I’m making Darien/Mamoru to be a wimp, but remember, in this fanfiction series, Serena/Usagi went through the two years of SAO and not only that, she is the niece of Kayaba in this story. Darien/Mamoru wants to be with her, but with what’s happening with this ‘Death Gun situation’, he knows that his beloved needs to fight these ‘demons’ in her way and to try to help will hurt her more. Remember, Darien is training to be a doctor and psychology is part of being a doctor even through you might be a ‘psychological doctor’. Anyway, I think that you remember Philia/Kotone and Strea, right? While they are going to be slightly different from the ones that you know from Hollow Fragment series, they will still be the same characters. And yes, they are going to appear in future arcs. Well, we are coming to the climax of this arc, everyone! Later and best wishes, Crossover Fans!