Chapter 4: GGO-JP server pt.1

{with Charlie}

As he entered his house, Charlie dropped his helmet on the couch, and went to his bed room plopped himself down on the bed. He groaned into his hands, remembering the deal he made with Seijirou, concerning about GGO, and the Inquisitor. Before he left, Seijirou told he I will not expose Sabrina's location and Charlie that he could be a free man if he find the inquisitor and take him down.

"Fuck my life...just what did I get myself into?" Charlie was not in a very good mood right now, his friends don't want to see him and a Templar who works manages to find his files that was supposedly destroyed and he had blackmailed him to find a killer, what else could go wrong. Charlie set his feet on the bed, one of his feet touching his AmuSphere. He grabbed the device, and looked at it for a few moments, slowly remembering the reason why he wears it. Charlie though of all the possibility of who this Inquisitor is, he know it has to be someone from his guild from SAO have survived the game.

"It can't be Skoll because he's dead, can't be Jin ether because he's also likely to be dead, and it can't be Rin she's...she not the killer, not any more." he mumbled to himself. After he mentioned Rin an idea came in mind, he got out of his bed and grabbed his phone. He went in to contact and there he found Rin's contact details on messenger that they exchanged 2 years ago just case they wanted to meet again. He typed in the numbers and press on the Call button.

"Hello? Who is this?" Asked a female voice.

"Rin! It me Charlie."

"Who?" She asked curiously "I don't know any Charlie I'm afraid, so I'm going to hang up now."

"Wait, you may know me as Häyhä!" Rin's widen as she heard that name.

"Häyhä? Why didn't you say so. And what with that other name?" She asked.

"It my real name and I also failed to mention that I'm British." Dusty explained.

"Wha-" then she was rudely it off by Charlie as he wanted to avoid a long explanation.

"It a long story story. Ok. I called to now ask you one thing."

"What is it?"

"Have you heard about this Inquisitor on the news or anywhere?" He asked

"Yeah, I have. It looks like it another Death gun" Rin said "On GGO correct? I just got that game today."

"And guess what."

"What?"

"I happened to be playing on the game one day and then I got a message from him saying, 'Häyhä. Let's settle this once and for all. Before the coffin starts laughing at us'" he explain. "Sounds familiar right." Rin recognises the last part of the message and she could believe it.

"That sounds like someone from our guild from SAO!" She said.

"I know and that's the problem."

"What problem?" She asked.

Charlie think of an excuse to tell her, he doesn't what her to know about the Templars. "A guy from the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affair's Telecommunications Bureau, Advanced Network Division, came to England to find me and asked me to find the inquisitor."

"And I don't see how's that's the problem?"

"First, if my suspicion is correct then he maybe a friend in need and second, If I refuse to take this job, then I'll have a 60 years sentence in prison for all of killings on SAO."

"H-how could they possibly know! You destroy all the files and data about us so there no way they could have known!"

"I don't know but I still want to find this inquisitor and find out who he really is and as you could tell I need your help Rin." Request Charlie.

"I see. So you want me to help you find this guy."

"Yes" Charlie replied

"Alright, Charlie I'll be online in an hour or 2."

"Thank you Rin." Charlie ended the phone call, Charlie would've agreed with Rin that This inquisitor guy is possibly someone they know but not knowing exactly who. he was already lying on top of his bed, his AmuSphere already set-up to go to the Japanese severer. He looked at the ceiling and then closed his eyes and said the magic word.

"Link Start!"

{Gun Gale Online JP server}

Sinon was in the Wild Field in GGO with a squad of PvP players, all of whom were guys. Her combat outfit was a desert-colored military outfit, bulletproof armor of the same color, black fingerless gloves, combat boots, and had a white muffler around her neck. It was dusk as a dusty breeze swept across the land. They were all gearing up while waiting for another squad of players to show up, who were taking longer than expected.

"Yo Dyne," one of the players, named Ginrou, said impatiently to the man dressed like a cowboy. "Are you sure you got the right info? Are they coming or not?"

"They're coming, alright," Dyne assured. "I checked the route myself. I'll bet they're just holed up fighting some monsters. That means your cut will be much bigger, so no complaining."

"I'm not," Ginrou replied. "But this is the same gang we attacked last week, right? They could've gotten wary and changed their route…"

Dyne shook his head. "All this squad does is hunt monsters," he answered. "They don't care how many times they get attacked since they can make up for it with their next hunt. They're perfect for Player Hunter squads like us. They move by algorithm, just like monsters. As far as I'm concerned, they're chumps!"

"Damn straight," Ginrou agreed.

"They're all armed with optical guns for hunting monsters," Dyne continued. "As long as we have our defense shields, so those will only deal half as much damage to us."

"But what if they got smart?" Ginrou questioned. "Maybe they made a plan to deal with PvP squads like us!? The last time that happens we're wiped out by a dude with a mini gun!"

"hmm...We hit them not to long ago," Dyne said. "There's no way they could have gotten enough live ammo guns, which bypass defense shields, so quickly. They'll only have one firearm for support. And most of all we have more boys than last time, Besides," he turned towards Sinon, who was sitting by the ruined wall near him with her Hecate out, "if we run into that mini gun guy again. we have the best sniper in GGO to help us. We've got all our bases covered. Right, Sinon?"

"If you say so," Sinon said nonchalantly.

"Haha, its nice to have you back Sinon." Sinon tolled her eyes in annoyance. 'Only for today' she mentally muttered

{Meanwhile}

In the middle of nowhere, in a cave, the avatar of a certain player had opened their eyes. The avatar was a pale, Twenty-two-year-old boy, with short, white hair that had a scrim scarf covering his full face, under that mask lies a crimson red eyes of a hunter

He looked at his hands, flexing his fingers, and muttered,

"...I'm ready....are you inquisitor?"

Charlie pulled up his menu, and looked at the "Status-Page", making him look at his avatar in Gun Gale Online. His avatar looked exactly like him, the only exception was that now both his eyes were both red, and his hair was white. He was dressed in black multi-cam pants, which had gray knee-pads, and were also tucked into dark brown combat-boots that had gray fronts. On his upper-body, he was dressed in a black shirt, which was underneath a Black-and-Grey kevlar vest. He also had a gray vambrace on his left arm, concealing a special hidden weapon, fingerless gloves on both hands, and a black scrim scarf that covers his entire face. Charlie then decide to change the way he wear his mask, instead of it covering his entire face like a swamp monster, he took it off and wrapped it around his lower face and neck.

Charlie then walked out of the cave and began to wonder around the wasteland. He carried his M93R loaded on his hand, his finger gripped on the trigger as he exit the cave just in case any... unexpected surprises. Charlie had wonder for a good while now and to his surprise nobody ambushed him, GGO really had gone this boring, but suddenly he heard a sound of a optical weapons firing in the distance, looks like someone is near.

He then made his way to the noise hoping to find someone, the sound lead him to a ruins of a city. That was when he heard the sound of a sniper-rifle firing in the distance. The mere sound made him react, immediately dropping to the ground, took out his rifle and aimed his Sniper all over the place, trying to see where the shot came from, only to notice something.

He was a few feet away from a small group of players, one of which got shot in the head, holding a MG42 as he shattered into a bunch of red crystals. He immediately ran towards a buliding as cover, and noticed how there was a few players on his other side, realizing that the small group of players were being ambush by the other group, a few seconds later hell broke loose.

*RATATATATATATATATATA*

{Three minutes earlier}

"We're in position," a man named Dyne said through a communication device.

"Roger that," Sinon responded. "Targets haven't changed their course or their speed. They're 400 meters from you, 1500 for me."

"Pretty far off," Dyne said. "Can you make the shot?"

"No sweat," she said.

"Okay. Fire when ready. I'm counting on you, Sinon."

"Roger," Sinon said as a green circle appeared in her vision as she looked through her scope. "This pressure. This anxiety. This fear." She aimed towards the enemy player with a live ammo gun. "1500 meters. That's nothing. Like tossing a balled-up wad of paper into a trash can. This is nothing like how it felt that day!"

"Sinon...do you have a shot?"

In the midst of old ruins, and a massive clock tower, was a young girl. This girl was about sixteen-years-old, and happened to have short light-blue hair, and indigo eyes. She was dressed in a military-green jacket, that was revealing the black and white corset-like clothing underneath. She also wore a pair of black short-shorts, black combat-boots, and leggings that were also military-green as well. There was also the white muffler around her neck, and fingerless gloves on her hands.

She was lying on the ground, aiming down the sights of a massive Anti-Material Rifle.

She simply said,

"Affirmative."

Once Sinon locked onto the player's head, she pulled the trigger on her rifle and watched as the bullet soared towards its target and hit its mark, killing the player.

{Present}

Charlie peaked behind the window of the building to see the whole squadron wiped out the face of this game and the other squadron that took them all out seems like they know what they are doing, But are they friendly? Charlie watch as the player hunters laugh and disrespect the corps of the dead player whiles gaming loot and CP. But unfortunately, one player then spotted Charlie behind the window.

"Boss I think there's one more inside that building over there." Charlie heard the man and the 2 squad member move close to the building with their weapons ready for possible combat.

Charlie readied his special weapon under his left wrist, it was reveal to be a hidden blade. Charlie load a bolt on to his hidden blade and prepare himself. The one of the player hunter peaked behind the window with is MP5 ready, but to his disappointment there was nobody here. He signals his partner that it all clear and they advance inside the building. As they search room after room they found no one.

"Are you sure that you saw someone in here?"

"YES! I'm sure I saw someone in here." The two keep searching before having up but as they move out of the building one of the player hunter hears something that he can't forget.

*SHTLINK!*

He felt a blade going through his back and he could see his health bar hitting zero, then he shattered to a red crystal. The other player hunter heard the death SFX and began to panic. He aimed his weapon every where to find nothing.

Charlie aimed his hidden blade and two parts of the hidden blade extended to the side to shape like a crossbow. He fired his bolt at the target and hit him on the neck. The bolt then emitted some electricity and paralysed the player hunter.

"Who are you!" the player demands In a frightful tone. Charlie could only smile at the player as he was filled with total fear.

"I'm what you call a Phantom." He answered. The player widen his eyes as his recognised the name, but it was too late for him to do anything.

Charlie took out his pistol, and before he kills the man he touch his head, then his two shoulders and then his heart, symbolising the Cross.

*BANG*

The shot was heard by the whole squad which alerted everyone in the area. Charlie knew this would get their attention, so he went to the highest point of the building and waited for the others to come to him. Charlie took off is suppressor and replace it with a Flash hider, He was not hiding anymore.

"Those two better not had anything stupid" Dyne said to himself, he worries that something worse might happen. He then looked to a squad member next to him but something was off.

"Hey. What that green dot" He asked.

*BANG!*

The round pieces through the head of that player and Dyne was left dumbfounded of what had happened,

"SNIPER!" He shouted to his whole squad. in response everyone took cover but the amount of cover there is limited so many was left in the open waiting to be killed. The sniper took a second shot and reveal its bullet line. Dyne then soon realise who he's messing with.

"On top of that building!" The player pointed to the building, he was quickly erase by Charlie's next shot. Sinon came down from her position and made her way to the rest of the squad but when she got there,

"Oh no," Sinon said in shock. "What the hell is going on?!" Once she arrived, Dyne said, "Barstard! I thought he left GGO! That guy with the sniper, he's 'The Phantom'."

"Well we can't just sit here; we'll be wiped out," Sinon voiced. "That sniper only got so much ammo, so if we attack him all at once, he'll panic and miss all his shot. Jin and Miso, you go left. Dyne and I will go right. Arashi, you back us up from here."

"That's crazy," Dyne rejected. "What if he set up traps for us? Even if we rush him, we could get blown up by mines."

"Right, but his sniper can't fire as fast as your machine guns," Sinon replied calmly. "We can just suppress him until we could get close enough."

"That won't work! If we charge them, we'll get exposed to his sniper, that guy headshoted a top ranked player 2000m away! Sorry, but we're packing it in. We might as well log out right now…"

"I'm not having this same bullshit excuse again you coward!" Sinon said, surprising her squad leader. "You don't get away from things by logging out."

"Are you kidding! This is just a game! Don't take it so seriously. Even if we charged them, we'd only die for nothing…"

"Then die!" Sinon exclaimed as she grabbed Dyne by his collar. "Since this is a game, you should have the guts to face death here instead of whining!"

All the guys were speechless.

"We can do this," Sinon continued as she let go of the cowboy. "If you can distract The Phantom for three seconds, I can take him out." The guys all nodded in agreement. "Then let's split up and attack them from both sides."

The PvP squad then prepared to make their final stand. As soon as Sinon gave the signal, Arashi immediately fired at the enemy sniper's position, while she, Dyne, Jin, and Miso advanced. Sinon switched to her Glock 18C, since it was better for rapid-fire, and fired at the enemy sniper's position

"Dyne! Cover me!" Sinon ordered as she rolled over by a pillar and switched back to Hecate. She aimed right for phantoms's head, who barely dodged in time, however his scarf was destroyed. She then watched as he aimed his sniper at her with a smile on his face.

However, just as soon as he pulled the trigger, Dyne shot him in the arm, causing Phantom to miss the sniper.

"How do you like that, bastard?!" Dyne boasted before taking cover behind more debris.

"He hit me." Charlie mutated to himself, "Maybe I went too easy on them" Charlie then saw two more enemy player attempting to flack him. Charlie raise his rifle, ignoring Dyne's machine gun fire, he locked on one of their heads and fired.

*BANG*

"One down" he muttered. Then he aimed at he other player.

*BANG*

Both enemy are neutralised, but one seems to be standing. He aimed at Dyne, who was recklessly charging at Charlie,

"Idiot"

*BANG*

"japs...always with the Banzi charges.", but before he could do anything else, a plasma grenade flown into the window and landed next to Charlie,

"SHITE" Charlie jumped out off the window and used his hidden blade crossbow to launch a rope dart, using it like grappling hook.

*BOOM*

Dyne looked straight at Sinon with resolved look before charging recklessly at the enemy, not bothering to avoid the phantom's shots. He was killed by a sniper round in the head, causing his body to shatter into red polygons, but before he died, he managed to toss one of his plasma grenades at him, which made the phantom to abandon his position.

"Nice work, Dyne," Sinon said. "Now I've got to figure out how to get into Phantom's blind spot." She examined her surrounding to find a new position, which was a ruined skyscraper. "I have to hurry before he finds out my location."

Sinon immediately took off running towards the building, while also avoiding Phantom's gaze and hurried up the stairs. "Bullets are flying, and he's got the guts to smile like that." The stair ended abruptly due to part of it having collapsed, but Sinon managed to jump to the next level and continued ascending. "Maybe I'll do the same when I kill him!"

Sinon then reached the top of the stairs and hurried down a hallway, towards Phantom. Once she reached a broken window, she aimed her rifle down at the sniper-user, only to see that he was also aiming at her as well. Sinon quickly overcame her shock and jumped out the window and began free falling towards her target.

Charlie could not believe this crazy girl, she just jumped off a skyscraper. Charlie immediately opened fire and managed to sever Sinon's left leg, but she kept descending and actually managed to get directly above him. He merely watched as she aimed her Hecate at him and fired. The world slowed down as Charlie saw the girl fired her sniper, Charlie never gotten in to this situation before, but he quickly thought of the best ways to counter the shot. He quickly grabbed for his photon sword, time was running out as the bullet was getting closer and closer.

*VOOOM*

The .50Cal split in half and narrowly missed Charlie's face. "N-No way he cut the round in half?!" Sinon could believe it, this Player just cut the bullet in half, the only player she thought was capable of this was Kirito.

The phantom then face Sinon with his devilish eyes, she tried to grab for her Glock 18C but the Phantom was right in her face. Sinon felt a object hovering on her neck, she managed to get a glimpse of it. It was a blade hidden under his left wrist, she never seen it before and she dose not want to find out. So this is the infamous Phantom everyone is talking about?

"You're good" The phantom told her. "You're really good." Sinon doesn't know how to respond to that comment, was that sarcasm or flattery.

"How are you?" Sinon asked, hoping to find out who he really is, and also prayed that this was not going to be her last word.

Charlie smile to his worthy opponent, "you may know me as the Phantom. But consider this as a prize for your bravery." He took a deep breath. "Name is Häyhä. And remember this face well, as for today... it your victory." Charlie retracted his blade and started to walk away. As Charlie turned he expose the two patches on his right arm, one was a Red Cross and the other was a black coffin with a face on it and a finger in the middle of the lips. Sinon mange to get a glimpse of the patches before Charlie turning away fully.

"Wait! you're not going to kill me!" Sinon questioned.

"No, but next time be ready because this person is running out of Mercy." Charlie throw a smoke bomb to the floor and he disappeared. There where many questions that was going through her mind as she witnessed the phantom disappeared out of thin air,

Why didn't he kill me? Was it because he was being nice? Or was I that weak to be called a target?

{Later}

Shino Asada had logged off and found herself lying on her bed. Once she removed her Amusphere, she raised her right hand and attempted to make a finger gun but couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Damn it," Shino cursed. "I've got to get stronger."

{Somewhere }

Akio and Kazuto had gone to a café to meet up with, (the real), Seijirou Kikuoka, the man who questioned him and Kazuto when they were still in the hospital. And the one that send Kazuto in to GGO to investigate the Death gun incident, eventually taking him down. Once they approached the dining room, they were greeted by, "Kirito. Arthur. Over here!"

The duo saw a man in a business suit with brown hair and glasses, who was sitting at an empty table, waving at them. They both let out a groan as people were staring at them before walking over to the man and taking a seat.

"Did you seriously just call us by our avatar names?!" Kazuto said in a hushed, irritated tone.

Kikuoka waved his hand dismissively. "Sorry, but if you're worried about getting any unwanted attention from people, it's already too late," he replied. "Kirito! Everyone knows that you're were the one who stopped the SAO, Alfheim and GGO Incidents. And Akio, where the heck did you get the idea to name your character 'Arthur' anyway?" Kikuoka asked. Kikuoka had been playing Alfheim Online as an Undine mage named Chrysheight for a classified government research project in the Virtual Division.

Akio folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. "I got it from an old video game series I used to play," he answered. "I thought it was a good idea to use that name for my avatar handle in both the beta and the full version of Sword Art Online. So why'd you call us here in the first place? We already told you everything we knew about both those incidents."

Kikuoka shook his head. "That's not why I called you two," he said as he opened up his menu and a waiter approached the table. "But before we get into that, pick something to order. Don't worry about the cost, it's my treat."

"Thank you, sir," Kazuto said formally. "I think we'll take you up on it."

Kikuoka simply chuckled. "You don't need to be so formal with me. Just talk to me like you would in ALO."

"If you say so."

Akio and Kazuto opened their menus and nearly fell out of their seats. Everything on the menu was crazy expensive. They both ended up ordering light snacks and drinks.

"I'm sorry to make you two come all the way here," the Undine player said.

"Then why'd you bother asking us to come to Ginza?" Akio questioned. "What's this about, anyway?"

"You're as cold as ever, Akio," Kikuoka said. He handed the duo a tablet revealing a picture of a man.

"Who's he?" Kazuto asked.

"This won't be pleasant, but not just a day ago, the landlord of an apartment complex in Nakano Ward, Tokyo, was cleaning the place when he noticed an unpleasant smell," Kikuoka explained. "He followed the trail to one of the apartments and discovered this man named Usujio Shigemura, age 26, dead. He'd been dead for at least a day. The landlord found him in bed and there were no signs of a break-in, and the victim was wearing an Amusphere. So we cannot confirmed if the killer is working with anyone else."

"What?!" the SAO Survivors exclaimed in shock. "Agian!" Kazuto exclaims.

"It was ruled as an unnatural death, so there was an autopsy," Kikuoka explained. "The cause of death was deemed acute stroke, heart failure and more organ failures."

"Stroke, heart failure, and other failure in He's body?" Akio said curiously. "Why would a twenty-six-year-old have that much problem?"

That was when their food arrived.

"Your guess is as good as mine," the government agent replied as he took the tablet back. "Unfortunately, since so much time had passed and there was no evidence of foul play, the autopsy wasn't very thorough. We do know that he hadn't eaten for two days since he was logged in for that long."

"But that's not unusual," Kazuto voiced. "Gamers do it all the time. But why are you telling us this?"

"He had a game, (surprise, surprise),called Gun Gale Online installed in his Amusphere. Have either of you heard of it before, Akio?"

Akio nodded. "Of course, I have. It's the only MMO in Japan with professional players."

"On April, this man had won a tournament called Bullet of Bullets to be ranked as the most powerful player in GGO," Kikuoka explained. "His avatar's name was JeSuS_kun."

"Was he playing GGO when he died?" Kazuto asked as they ate. "so we have another Death gun incident?"

"Yes, unfortunately we have another Death gun incident but No, apparently, he was appearing as JeSuS_kun avatar on a program called MMO Stream," the Undine player answered. "We know what time from the logs. That's when things have yet to be confirmed. According to another player's blog, at the precise moment Shigemura suffered from a heart attack, something odd happened in GGO. It seems that at that moment, in a certain bar, there was a player who started acting strangely. The blog states that he shouted at JeSuS's image about judgement and power before shooting the image with his gun. There was a player there who happened to be recording the audio and uploaded it to a video site. Since the file had a Japan Standard Time counter, we know that the shot fired, and Shigemura's death happened at the same time."

"It's probably just a coincidence," Akio passed off.

Kikuoka simply smirked. "You'd think that, but there was another death," he said, shocking the Spriggan players.

"What?" Kazuto said in disbelief.

"This one happened just an hour ago," Kikuoka stated. "Somewhere in Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture. Same set-up as before. A body found in a two-story apartment. A newspaper salesman happened to look inside and saw the victim in bed while wearing his Amusphere. You don't want to know the details on the corpse's condition, trust me. Anyway, heart failure was the cause of death for this one too. The victim was another top ranking GGO player and named…" He struggled on trying to pronounce the name, "Tarako Saito? This one, however, took place in-game.

"He was in the Central Plaza in Glocken, in a meeting with his squad, which I'm guessing is the equivalent of a guild. A strange player came up to him and shot him point blank."

Akio took a sip from his drink and said, "Do you know if it was the same person who shot JeSuS_kun?"

"Most likely," Kikuoka confirmed. "He said stuff about judgement and power and identified himself by the same character name."

"What name?"

"The Inquisitor," Kikuoka said firmly.

"In… quisitor?…" Kazuto said slowly. Suddenly, both Spriggan players came to a realization. "Are you positive that they both died of heart and other failures?"

"What do you mean?" Kikuoka asked in confusion.

"Was there any more damage? Like to there brain" Akio questioned.

Kikuoka smirked. "I was wondering that myself, so I asked the coroner to check, but he said there wasn't any damage to either of their brains," he explained. "Besides, while the NerveGear used high-output microwaves to fry the signal elements and destroy the brain, the Amusphere was designed so it couldn't emit such powerful electromagnetic waves. Or so the developers claim."

"You sure did your homework," Kazuto said. "But for this story is built around coincidences and rumors."

"True, it could be a coincidence or even a hoax. I'm just talking hypothetically here. Kirito, Arthur, do either of you think to stop a player's heart with in-game gunfire?"

Both teens pictured Death Gun firing a bullet from the virtual world and killing them with it, which made them nervous.

"No," Kazuto said firmly. "It can't be done. But… hypothetically, let's say that this inquisitor character sent some sort of killer signal to JeSuS_kun and Tarako Saito's Amuspheres, but what it be?"

"I doubt it could be the sensation of a touch or sound," Akio voiced. "The Amusphere doesn't have the capability of producing something that powerful. Not to mention that the Amusphere doesn't even connect to the heart." He then glared at Kikuoka. "But I bet that you already thought of this, haven't you? You guys couldn't figure it out, so you called us in to pick our brains on it!"

Kikuoka raised his hands in defense. "No, no, no," he said hastily. "I would never do such a thing to you two. After all, I enjoy talking with you and I wanted your opinion."

The Duo didn't look convinced by his statement and stood up. "We're done here," Kazuto said. "You want our opinion, so here it is. Its impossible to stop a person's heart from actions in-game. The shots fired, and the two heart attacks are coincidences but ther rest of the organs failure seems almost impossible."

"Yeah," Akio added. "I agree"

The teens turned to leave but were stopped when Kikuoka said, "Wait! You guys can order more cake, just stay with me a little longer. Seriously, I'm relieved that you both came to that conclusion. Fact is, my opinion is the same as yours. I don't believe these deaths were caused by in-game gunshots. I've come here to ask you and Kirito if you would log into Gun Gale Online, and make contact with this 'Inquisitor' character?"

"And once we do find him, then what?" Akio questioned fiercely. "You want to let him shoot us? No thanks! I don't want to get killed!"

"Neither do I!" Kazuto added.

"Wait! Let me finish!" Kikuoka begged. "We just agreed that wasn't possible! Besides, this Inquisitor guy seems to have a very strict criteria for his targets."

"Huh?" the duo said in confusion. They then eyed each other and nodded before sitting back at the table.

"Here's the deal," Kikuoka explained. "Both JeSuS and Tarako were renowned top players. That means he's probably not interested in shooting newbies. And since you guys beat Brandon and Kayaba…"

"But that's different!" Kazuto proclaimed. "GGO's no joke! It's full of professional players!"

"Hold the phone," Akio said as he pointed a finger at Kazuto. "What do you mean by 'professional players'?"

"Easy," Kazuto said. "Gun Gale Online is the only VRMMO with a game coin-to-real life currency conversion system. That means you turn whatever money you earn in the game into real currency. Pro gamers are the ones who earn a constant stream of income every month from GGO. I heard that the top players can make two to three hundred thousand yen every month."

"So that's why many hardcore gamers play GGO," Akio muttered.

"They pour so much more time and passion into the game than any other MMO players. Even if Akio and I were to log in, no one would give us a second glance. You should find someone else."

"Hold up, hold up," Kikuoka said. "You guys are the only ones I can ask to do this! I need both of your help with this investigation. I'll even pay you for your trouble!"

That got the SAO Survivors' attention. "I don't get why you're so hung up over this," Kazuto passed off. "You hear horror stories on the Internet all the time."

Kikuoka nodded in agreement. "I know," he said. "But my superiors are worried about this. The effects of full-dive technology on the real world is the hottest topic in all fields today. Literally everyone is researching it. People are going to use these deaths to regulate the technology to their advantage, so we need to get the facts straight before that happens. How's that?"

"Why not ask the admins about it?" Akio asked. "Wouldn't they be the best people to question?"

"Unfortunately, Zaskar, the company who developed GGO, is in the U.S.," the Undine player replied grimly. "They haven't made their phone number or email address public, so it'll be difficult to contact them. Ever since the World Seed was released, shady-looking VR worlds have been popping up everywhere."

"Still?!"

"Oh," Akio said. "Sorry about that."

Kikuoka waved his hand in dismissal. "Relax, I'm not accusing you and Kirito. I know you both had good intentions when you two released the World Seed to the public. Whether Zaskar is legit or not doesn't matter. If we want to discover the truth, we have to contact The Inquisitor in the game. I'm not asking for you two to get shot. We'll take every precaution necessary. Just evaluate the situation and report back. So, Kirito, Arthur, will you help us?"

Both SAO Survivors lowered their heads as they thought about their time in the death game. "Four thousand people died in Aincrad," Akio said to himself. "Those memories are just now starting to fade away. But now, in some other virtual world, someone is committing murders in the virtual world again, and I'm getting pulled back in. It's like someone's trying to stop me from forgetting."

Kazuto then nudged his best friend. "So what do you think, partner?" Kazuto asked.

Akio looked the black-haired teen in the eye. "I'm game if you are," he said.

Kazuto nodded before they faced the government agent. "Okay, we'll help you," Kazuto said.

Kikuoka smiled in content. "Thank you both. And I swear that I won't let anything happen to you both while you investigate this 'Inquisitor Incident'."

{Later in ALO}

The golem tried to counter by swinging its right arm at the wolf, but Akio easily dodged it. The golem began attacking recklessly, trying and failing to hit the wolf, when suddenly Kirito intercepted one of its attacks with his sword.

The Black Swordsman looked over his shoulder and eyed his best friend. "Now Arthur!" Kirito exclaimed. "Finish it!"

Arthur nodded and switched back to his Spriggan form and began chanting one of his lightning spells, the «Heavenward Tempest». He swung his sword in an arc, sending a large blast of purple lightning at the golem, instantly vaporizing it in an explosion of electricity.

"Way to go, Arthur!" Yuuki cheered.

The Assassin simply sheathed his sword. "That was nothing," he passed off.

With the elite monster gone, the group went back to mob hunting. After a thirty minutes of fighting monsters, Lisbeth and Celina checked all the items they got. "Okay, I think that's enough," Celina said.

Silica sighed in relief. Even though she had become a lot stronger since SAO, fighting monsters nonstop still took its toll on her. "Finally," the young Cait Sith said as Pina let out a yawn while resting on her shoulder.

Everyone laid down on the grass and looked at the sky. New Aincrad could be seen floating above them. "It's nice being able to fight monsters without having to worry about dying in the real world," Asuna said.

All the SAO Survivors nodded.

"I can't imagine how things must've been for all of you," Thorrnn said. "Having to keep a constant eye on your HP to survive sounded really hard."Arthur looked to the sky thinking of the heaven above and thinking about his fallen friends, 'Hey Akiko how are you up there? How's Häyhä treating you up there? I hope you two can rest in peace friends.'

"It wasn't that bad," Kirito replied. "If you had any Teleport Crystals, you could always retreat if things aren't in your favor. Most of the time anyway."

After a few minutes of silence, Arthur and Kirito sat up.

"Hey guys," Arthur said. "I'm thinking of going to convert my ALO accounts to Gun Gale Online."

"What!?" Everyone else shouted in surprise. They all sat up and faced the Spriggans.

"Why would you do that?" Asuna asked. "When you convert an avatar to another game, your items reset. You won't be able to use anything you got from the other game."

The ex-Beater raised their hands in defense. "Don't worry," Kirito said hastily. "It's just for a couple days. Once we've done what we needed to do, we'll convert back to ALO and our items will be restored."

"But why?" Yuuki questioned. "Whenever you guys want to play other MMOs, you just use new accounts. Why is this time different?"

"Sorry, but Arthur have our reasons for this," Kirito replied. "We're just doing a favor for Chrysheight. We kind of owe him and the government for keeping all the SAO Survivors out of the press."

"But why you two?" Leafa said.

"He…wants to see how the two top players of SAO do in a cyber-game," Akio said hesitantly.

"Kirito, the last time you went to GGO, you where investigating on a murder case." Asuna let out a sigh. "I don't like this, but please be careful you two," the Undine told the former solo players. "You've played on a cyber VRMMO before Kirito. Watch out for Arthur, okay."

Kirito nodded. "I will," the Spriggan replied. "Promise."