David, who was guarding the left flank with his squad, watched Pitohui with a bitter expression as she prepared to charge alongside Shana. Rumor had it she had mellowed out since she started running with Shana, but the image of the "old" Pitohui—the one whose sheer insanity had been burned into David's retinas—wasn't so easily erased.
"That red lightsaber… it's as ominous as she is. But still…" David muttered, his voice trailing off into a childish whine. "Dammit, I'm so jealous. I want to swing one of those around one day…"
David's wish would eventually be granted, though not until much later—just before the third Squad Jam.
Clarence fired her rifle with a bored sigh.
"Sigh… I guess it's impossible to get close to Shana without a proper connection."
She decided that the victory party might be her best bet. For now, she resigned herself to quietly grinding for credits.
"Hey, Yukko, Haruka. Isn't this a bit too easy?"
"Makes you wonder why we struggled so hard to earn anything before this…"
"Shana-san really is on another level."
XeXeeD clicked his tongue. "Tch. That's not exactly fun to hear."
"But it's the truth."
"Which is exactly why it pisses me off."
Despite his grumbling, XeXeeD continued to mow down mobs. The golden rule of GGO was to earn while the earning was good. He intended to walk away with a full pocket.
A player approached him—Noir. Masking his intent with casual small talk, Noir spoke up.
"Impressive as always, XeXeeD-san. Your power and accuracy are in a different league."
"Heh, it's all skill, kid. Skill. Though I won't deny the hardware helps."
"It's a beautiful gun. I bet the STR requirement is through the roof."
"You bet. An AGI-build player couldn't equip this in a million years."
"I figured. Anyway, I'm heading back to resupply. Catch you later."
"Yeah, keep grinding. Maybe you'll get to my level one day."
"Thank you. I'll certainly try."
It was a brief, unremarkable exchange, but Noir walked away with a look of immense satisfaction.
"Noir-san, what were you talking to that guy about?" Spiegel asked, stepping out of the shadows.
"Just confirming whether what you said about him was true," Noir replied. He leaned in, whispering into Spiegel's ear. "You were right. He looked down his nose at AGI types. That piece of trash really is insufferable."
It was a gross exaggeration of what had actually been said, but that didn't matter. The core "truth"—that XeXeeD held AGI builds in contempt—was enough. Even if someone fact-checked the conversation, XeXeeD's general attitude would always support the lie. Noir's goal was simply to pour gasoline on the fire of Spiegel's resentment.
Sure enough, Spiegel's eyes flared with murderous intent. "He's still saying that garbage? Even now? That filth…"
"I know," Noir added. "I honestly want to kill the bastard myself."
"You feel it too, then."
Perfect, Noir thought. Now to pass the torch to Sterben.
Noir caught Sterben's eye and gave a subtle nod. Sterben turned to Spiegel.
"About that matter we discussed… I've found a way. I have a plan."
"Really? How?" Spiegel asked, desperate.
Sterben suppressed a smirk at how easily Spiegel took the bait and began to explain.
"I see… so if we can get his real-world address, it's possible."
"Provided he lives alone in an old apartment or something similar," Sterben cautioned.
"The information is the key… but how do we get it?"
"That's the catch. Can you get close to XeXeeD and convince him to choose a model gun as his BoB prize?"
"A model gun? Oh… I see! That's the trick!"
"Exactly. After that, we just use the Metamaterial Optical Distortion Camouflage Mantle to peek over his shoulder while he enters his shipping info."
"That's incredible. You're amazing, Brother."
Sterben looked Spiegel in the eye. "Are you sure about this?"
"Yes. Justice is on our side. This will make everyone happy. I'm sure even God will forgive us."
He's beautifully broken, Sterben thought.
Aloud, he said, "Yes. Everything is for the sake of justice. And for you to claim Asada-san. You deserve that much as a reward."
"Yeah!"
Spiegel turned to look toward Sinon with a feverish, obsessive gaze. In that moment, Sterben realized he had made a miscalculation.
Wait… so that Sinon girl is Asada? I thought they were different people. So they're real-life acquaintances? This is bad. She's too close to Hachiman.
Sterben pulled Noir aside and whispered, "Hey. It turns out Spiegel's 'Asada' is that sniper, Sinon."
"Are you serious?" Noir's eyes widened. "I knew he liked Sinon, but I had no idea she was Asada. I thought they were separate targets. This complicates things—we can't have Hachiman interfering. Should we just kill her?"
"Let's let Spiegel do it. If they know each other in reality, it saves us the trouble of tracking her down."
"True, he can probably find her address easily. Let's go with that."
"We'll have to lead him to it carefully."
"That'll be easy," Noir smirked. "A man blinded by love killing the object of his affection? It's a tale as old as time."
And so, Sinon was added to the list of targets.
Had they known from the start that Sinon was Asada, Sterben and Noir—who wanted nothing to do with Hachiman—might have hesitated to manipulate Spiegel using her. But at this stage, the gears were already in motion. Behind the scenes of the event, the seeds of malice were beginning to bloom.
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