"Enough!"
Drifter's roar wasn't shrill with rage. Instead, it was deep and grave with pure and unadulterated fury.
It carried throughout the bridge, and, indeed, the entire tower, halting the battle dead in its track.
Well, that wasn't entirely true. Those who were already engaged still traded blows, at least until they could safely separate, and one unlucky red player died an ignoble death at Lind's hand when he got distracted, but for a few brief minutes, everyone stopped to turn their heads in Drifter's direction.
The spearmaster, however, had his glare focused solely on the hooded red player carrying an oversized meat cleaver and facing Akari.
Laughing Coffin's guild leader, PoH.
Drifter had momentarily lost him in the heat of the battle, what with players brawling and trying to stab each other to death everywhere he looked, and Laughing Coffin members stupidly attacking him every other minute.
But the moment his gaze had found the red guild leader again, it hadn't left him, even as Drifter carved a bloody path through the man's subordinates to get to him. Already, 5 red players had met their demise by Drifter's hand in this battle.
Still, his target had never changed. And it was the spearmaster's single-minded focus on PoH that saved Akari's life, although neither of them would ever know it.
PoH's Unqiue Skill, Darkness Blade, was different from all the others. It didn't come with an entire new skill tree for him to unlock, but it did give the red player something which was, in his opinion, much better: it let him become stronger by killing other players.
It was the reason why PoH could kill frontliners so easily, other than his natural combat power. PoH actively received buffs when fighting other players, both in the form of permanent stat increases when he killed someone, and also a series of temporary power ups.
That was what the black smoke connecting PoH and Akari was. As long as he injured someone, for as long as they stayed in a combat status, his own stats would increase while their's fell, and a life-stealing effect would be applied.
And, if that wasn't enough, it also stopped the afflicted player from using healing items, which Akari discovered when the red crystal she smashed on her chest did absolutely fuck all.
Drifter wasn't aware of any of that. But his anger, which had only been growing as he watched frontliner after frontliner die meaningless deaths, finally exploded when he saw one of his closest friends in danger.
His call of enough wasn't to put an end to the battle, however. Nor was it a declaration of surrender. It was more of a wake-up call.
"Enough. Enough holding back. Enough mercy. Enough of you, dying to this scum."
A wake-up call for the Assault Team. His words were heavy with disappointment and reproach, and several of the frontliners who had shots at killing red players but didn't do it flinched.
But throughout all of it, his eyes never left PoH. And the red player, who had lifted his head enough for Drifter to see the lower half of his face under the shadow of his hood, was smiling in something that resembled approval.
"All of the red players... They aren't people. They are monsters. Monsters standing in our way to freedom, and doing it proudly. So enough staying your hands. Kill them all."
Normally, those words would be a signal for the battle to restart. But something told all the gathered players that Drifter wasn't done yet.
"And PoH..."
And indeed, as the frontliners and red players slowly separated, forming two blocks, one behind Drifter and the other surrounding PoH, Aincrad's first spearmaster continued talking. Only, now he was directing it at the red guild leader, who smiled even more indulgently from behind the 30 or so red players who weren't dead or arrested yet.
"...You are a monster. But that wasn't enough for you."
"Ha! What gave it away, Broken Spear?"
Drifter ignored the sarcastic quip. He flicked his hand, and his spear was back in his grasp, the double-pronged tip pointed directly at PoH.
"Congratulations, PoH."
The sudden nonsequitur had even the criminal Unique Skill holder tilting his head in confusion. But Drifter didn't waver.
"You wanted to transform us into murderers. Into monsters like you. You succeed. Now you can bear the consequences, and die for it."
Before anyone could react, ally or enemy, Drifter's figure blurred forward in a golden glow no one had seen before.
For a moment, it looked as if there were two of him: one still standing on the same spot, and the other right in front of the red players, body tilted forward, and spear going through the head of the Laughing Coffin member at the front of the pack.
ROAR!!!
The red player's body bursting into shards seemed to be the signal for the battle to start anew. The Assault Team surged forward, Reaver's Requiem and other guild leaders in the lead, while three murderers jumped Drifter at the same time.
Two died before they could even realize it. Drifter's spear changed into a pole-axe, which he swung in a Tidal Sequence, carving the already low health criminals in six pieces.
The last survived a little bit longer, but only because his HP had been slightly higher.
His death was, somehow, even more unsightly, however.
"Ack!"
He looked down at the weapon protruding from his gut. It was one Drifter rarely used, a spear-tipped billhook. Similar to a halberd, but slimmer, and able to be used, even if momentarily, with just one hand.
Which left Drifter's other hand free to pierce through the red player's neck when the spearmaster used the curved tip of the billhook to tug the other man forward and end his life with a Martial Arts: Hand Knife.
In a flash, Drifter had brought the total amount of people he had killed in his life to 12. And he wasn't planning on stopping anytime soon.
No, that wasn't right. He was planning on stopping soon. But not because he turned over a new leaf.
No, it would be because by the time today was over, he would have already killed everyone he needed to kill.
PoH must have sensed that, or maybe it was the way Drifter's glare barely strayed from him as the spearmaster chose the most direct path to get to the enemy guild leader: a straight line through his followers.
Whatever it was, PoH threw his head back and cackled, a mad laughter that almost caused the battlefield to halt again. Frontliners and red players alike shivered from hearing it, albeit for different reasons.
All except Broken Spear Drifter, who used a Comet Break to jump forward like he hadn't heard a thing.
His spear found another target, and this one actually managed to defend from two strikes before Drifter's Snake Bite put a hole in his shoulder, and a Sting and Triple Thrust put four more in his chest.
The next red player showed something more than madness in her gaze. Fear. Maybe the others would have too, but he had killed them too quickly.
A Split Stream bisected her straight down the middle.
Now there were only two more Laughing Coffin members between him and PoH, the others all engaged with the Assault Team, although Drifter had pierced far deeper into their formation than anyone else.
They held their swords in front of them, but they were shaking, and this time Drifter saw it clearly.
Fear.
He almost laughed. The only red players still fighting were the ones who wouldn't surrender in any way. By all rights, those two should be like PoH, delighting in what they accomplished. Turning the frontliners into murderers. Even Broken Spear Drifter had acknowledged it.
That was probably why it felt less like a victory to them. What they wanted was the hesitation, the fear, the disgust, thebrokenness the frontliners showed when they forced their hand.
Not the absolute nothingness they saw in Drifter's gaze. In it, there was was only the promise of death. It would be swift, because they weren't worth his time, but that was all.
There was no acknowledgement, not in him, despite his words just moments before. The two red players looked at Drifter and realized their deaths, and the complete lack of reaction it provoked in him.
Oh, that didn't mean they gave up. They were, after all, insane, so it was quite the simple and easy process for them to convert that fear into anger, which powered their swings.
But not a single one landed on the spearmaster. Drifter ducked under the first sword, his spear tracing a Horizontal that almost scratched the ground, and severed both of the red player's feet at the ankles.
While the murderer flayed about and fell due to the sudden lack of appendages to stand on, the second Laughing Coffin member tried to nail Drifter to the ground with a downward stab at his unprotected back.
The keyword being 'tried'. The Reaver simply moved his shoulders, almost as if shrugging, and the sword cut the empty air in front of his chest.
Drifter's spear didn't miss, the first stab of Double Tap puncturing a hole in his throat, while the second pierced the underside of his jaw and came out the top of his head.
Amidst the shower of shards that followed, Drifter straightened his body and deftly spun his spear, stabbing the first red player, who was trying to crawl his way to safety, through the heart with a Rage Spike, and finishing him off with a Dirty Play when that wasn't enough.
That left only PoH in front of him, who hadn't moved a muscle to save his subordinates. Instead, the criminal guild leader was racking his nails across the sharp edge of his cleaver, eliciting a shrill sound not unlike dragging your nails over a chalkboard.
"Of everyone, I always knew it would be you, Broken Spear Drifter. At first I thought maybe that loud fool Kibaou the Challenger, or Black Swordsman Kirito, but since you dealt with Morte, I was sure you would be the one."
PoH's tone was surprisingly devoid of laughter now. It was scarily neutral, actually. Enough that the spearmaster almost paused his steps.
Almost.
Instead, Drifter chose to convert his hesitation in momentum.
"Heh. You will have to try better, Broken Spear."
The 5-hits combo of Pinpoint Star was meant to have wiped out PoH's HP in one go. Instead, it was blocked by the man's giant cleaver.
With just a glance, the Reaver knew the weapon wasn't normal. It was a dull black, with only the edge shining silver, and the way PoH's grip fit the handle perfectly made it clear it was a custom job.
Not one of Liz's, obviously. While open to commissions, the blacksmith would never forge something so blatantly designed for PVP.
Plus, and this might be Drifter's negative emotions towards PoH talking, but the weapon just looked plain evil in his eyes. Liz would have never crafted something like it.
Regardless of where PoH got it from, the collision of the weapons told Drifter everything he needed to know. He would not be winning this fight by relying on the gap between their items, as there wasn't much of it in the first place. The cleaver was almost as good as Drifter's main spear.
And that wasn't all the information he derived from the clash. How fast PoH had raised his weapon to block Drifter's, how few steps he had been forced to take back, the grin still on his face...
PoH was Drifter's equal. Equipment, stats, and skill, the man had it all, unlike most of his Laughing Coffin dogs. Enough to fight and win against any frontliner in a straightforward battle.
And the dark miasma that shrouded him was unsettling. He had heard PoH bragging to Akari.
A Unique Skill, Darkness Blade.
He didn't know why the red player had it, but from his experiences with his own Infinite Spear, Kirito and Yuuki's Dual Blade, or any of the other Unique Skills out there, he knew it would not be easy to beat.
But beat it - and its owner - he would. Of that, Drifter had no doubt. Regardless of how strong the Unique Skill was, of how strong PoHwas, he would die today. He had to die today.
Drifter's spear swept up in a Sky Render, aiming to knock PoH's weapon out of his hands.
But PoH was faster and bolder than he expected. The man let go of the weapon, causing it to drop and Drifter's attack to miss, and twisted his body so he was now deep enough inside the spearmaster's guard that he would have trouble retaliating.
Drifter's response was a swift Martial Arts: Low Blow, a kick aimed directly at PoH's crotch. It wouldn't actually do any more damage than if he kicked anywhere else, but it was hard to prevent the natural reaction from being targeted there.
PoH was no exception. His eyes widened minutely and he unconsciously turned his body so the kick hit him in the right leg.
It barely fazed him, no additional debuffs taking effect since Drifter hadn't hit any technically fragile areas like the knees, but the unexpected movement threw a wrench in PoH's plans, which had been to grab his cleaver with his other hand while it fell, and cut Drifter in half with a diagonal slash.
He fumbled and managed to get ahold of his weapon, but wasn't in any position to launch an attack. Instead, he was treated to Drifter using Infinite Spear to equip a staff and slam it on the side of his head.
PoH stumbled back, noticing the not insignificant decrease in his HP, and grinned.
"That's it, Broken Spear. This is gonna be fun!"