Progressive Factor II: Lacrimosa Of A Reaper

Liten and Shivata

Mito

She couldn't say she agreed with Kirito's method of drawing Shivata out, but in the end, it worked.

After leaving the bath, Argo left the village of Shiyuya while Koharu and Asuna sought out the rest of their party. They only found Kirito and Mito resting by a tree; Jaymes is currently outside the village, following up on a piece of information Argo gave him on her arrival. In the meantime, the quartet discussed the best course of action for tonight, in which ALS will skip out on the New Year's Eve celebration and countdown to take on the floor boss by themselves.

The two guilds are currently in Mananarena, a village in the center of the floor not far from Shiyuya and on the other side of the underground passage they cleared days ago. The celebration will happen back in Karluin late in the evening, but Kibaou and ALS will either depart the party early or leave Mananarena and go straight to the labyrinth tower to take on the gigantic golem Kirito spoke of as the floor boss in the beta.

It's unlikely ALS has done any of the boss quests. This time, the Elf War Campaign did not relinquish any information on the boss; to Mito's knowledge, only Argo has gone through them and still is. There must be a reason Kibaou is willing to risk lives with no information other than the beta's to get ahead of the rest of the frontline, but that's not the most bothersome part. If ALS heads to the dungeon, Morte and his PK group will have succeeded in their plans. Kirito, Asuna, and Koharu couldn't allow that.

One option was leaking the news to DKB, which would mean canceling the party. The party is a proposal by the more peaceful members of ALS and DKB, like Shivata and Hafner, while trying to mend relations between the groups. Mito didn't believe they should leak the news, for if Morte's group are looking to cause a greater division between the guilds, disrupting the party by any means would aid in their endeavor.

The second option stems from a split of opinions. Kirito and Koharu believe that the party planner on ALS' side may be using their role as a front. Mito and Asuna believe that the moderate faction of ALS doesn't know of the raid plan and might be willing to talk to them and figure things out. But with no idea who's in that group, the four decide to use DKB to draw them out.

Arriving in the spiraling mining town of Mananarena, Mito and her party found DKB's top brass in a restaurant. Shivata, a tall, dark-haired guy, stood at the bar, ordering from the NPC server, separate from Lind and the others. Kirito sent him a quick message, and once Shivata saw them, he spoke to the other blues and headed out of the restaurant to the party's location at the adjacent building. However, he kept going up the spiral path for a couple of hundred feet until they entered an empty cabin.

That's where Mito is now. Just as Asuna shuts the door, a rageful voice echoes in the dark cabin interior from the figure leaning against the wall. "What are you playing at?"

"What kind of message did you send?" Asuna questions Kirito.

"Uh... I just asked which ALS member had been involved in planning the countdown party with them..."

"And that's why he's so angry? You didn't put anything else especially insulting in there?"

"I-I didn't! I think."

Mito sighs as she looks apologetically at Shivata, whose rage disappears as his brow turns from a V to a reverse V. "You...you didn't contact me because you knew about me and my partner?"