Sword Art Online Gameverse x Reader

Chapter 89: Philia's Present Presence

*FLASHBACK TO MARCH 31st, 2023 (The first March since being trapped in SAO)*

Other than the siege on the Laughing Coffin Headquarters that was yet to happen- in more than a years time, today was the worst loss of life in a single day that we had ever seen.

As today was the day when the ALS Guild pushed as hard as they could in their boss-clearing competition, the same competition that they had created against the DKB Guild and that had created major fractures between the two guilds of which sparked many conflicts and fights between its members.

Unfortunately, the ALS were unprepared and overconfident, a deadly combination that ended up with the ALS losing the majority of their forces within minutes. Kibaou and the other survivors were forced to retreat from the Boss Room, letting the DKB and the newly found Knights of the Blood guild take over with support of myself and my duo partner for that floor: Philia.

We were able to defeat the boss without any further casualties after the ALS backed down, but the mood after clearing the first quarter of the game finally... it could not have been much more sombre than it was. 

After clearing the new Floor, my friends and I still returned to my room to celebrate like we had all originally planned... but nobody was in the mood to celebrate today- and Asuna didn't attend that party due to the altercation she had with Kirito where he told her to stop partying with him and to find a strong guild who could help her develop her skills better than he could.

*FLASHBACK TO MARCH 31st 2024 (The second March since being trapped in SAO)*

It just so happened that there was another Boss Room Raid on the same day the year after, this time it wasn't a particularly difficult one. Floor 57, as bog-standard as a Boss Fight can be at this point in the game. Not a single life was lost either!

After clearing the Boss Floor I did my normal post-Floor clear task, of heading to the new Floor's Inn and relocating my room to the newest Floor, at this point Lisbeth had already moved out of the room and had her own place on Floor 48 in the town of Lindarth... I never realised how lonely it was to come home to an empty home, and I hadn't had the motivation to cook myself a real meal since...

After relocating the inn room, I then went out again, looking on the earlier Floors, hoping to find a hint as to where the Laughing Coffin members were hiding out, this was before I met Lux and she told me what I was looking for- before the raid on their headquarters by Asuna and the Assault Team where they would stumble upon me already in the dungeon delivering Final Deaths to Red Players.

Back then, I headed into a dungeon I hadn't checked yet. But what I didn't realise was that Philia had sent me a message whilst I was in there, asking if maybe we could meet up for a drink and a meal, to celebrate clearing the 57th Floor and to catch up with what each other had been up to since we last spoke.

Unfortunately, I didn't see this message until a day later when I emerged from the dungeon empty-handed. I replied to apologise and asked if the offer was still up, unfortunately she was in the middle of her own dungeon-clearing session and we ended up not being able to schedule a meet-up until almost half a year later - which brings us to...

*THE PRESENT DAY*

October 18th, the front lines had reached Floor 74 and were ready to explore the Labyrinths and find the Boss Room.