Progressive Factor II: Lacrimosa Of A Reaper

Attack on Castle Galey, Part 2

Jaymes

It was reckless. It was profoundly stupid. It was purely instinctual. It wasn't like him at all.

But as Jaymes heard the gate of Castle Galey close behind him and sprinted towards the canyon, he knew there was no turning back. He knew something was wrong, and the conversation with Kirito only aided his understanding of the situation's truth: the Fallen Elves are involved and seek to retrieve the four keys kept in Castle Galey, and Qusack, one way or another, assisted them unwillingly.

Kirito asked him to message Mito while he went to open the gate, but something about doing that seemed wrong. Mito knew the truth, so Qusack wouldn't let her respond to her friends. But he did see Mito's name colored white, so she was still alive. Alive and nearby, and that didn't make sense to Jaymes. Why would Qusack keep her alive, knowing her friends are possibly nearby? Knowing that they're powerful frontier players? And why aid the Fallen Elves at this point?

The timing of the two tones of the bell and the Fallen's poisonous picks were the key to his final deduction. One member of Qusack helped the Fallen for reasons they couldn't control, and if Jaymes had to guess, the other group members were held hostage and paralyzed. To protect the others from something or someone. There are three possible answers: a powerful member of the Fallen Elves, a member of the PK group led by the man in the black poncho, or both.

If the third possibility is correct, the poncho's group and the Fallen are in cahoots. But why?

As far as Jaymes could figure out, there is no reason the PKers would ally with the Fallen. Weapons aside, what purpose would it serve? Say they wanted to kill every player on Aincrad, the Forest Elves' plan to return Aincrad to the surface below would serve that goal in the lore. But that's insulting the group's intelligence: if Morte and Joe are part of the DKB and ALS, which made their sides known on the third floor, that goal is moot.

As far as Jaymes figured, Morte, Joe, Annihilator, Devesta, and their leader want to prevent DKB, ALS, and their allies from beating SAO. But what do the Fallen Elves want with the six keys? What did General N'ltzahh say?

"It is not worth complaining about, Kysala. Pay them as much gold as they want. Once we have all of the keys and open the door to the Sanctuary, even the greatest magic left to humankind will vanish without a trace."

"What does that mean?" Jaymes mumbled to himself. Humanity lost the power of technology and magic when their kingdoms crumbled upon Aincrad's creation. The elven magic is weaker than before the Great Separation and might run out one day. There's no great magic left to humanity for the Fallen to get rid of...unless it isn't the humans of Aincrad that N'tlzahh was referring to. But the "magic" that Kizmel and Myia spoke of, the Mystic Scribing and Far Scribing the adventurers had, wasn't something that -- hopefully -- Sword Art Online would remove from all players if the Fallen opened Sanctuary.

That was the same conclusion he came up with the day before after they crossed the lake to the southern cavern region. There must be a magic humanity has retained, a magic that the Fallen want to take away from them and that the freaking PKers would join forces with them. The goal of removing humanity's greatest magic and preventing the frontier from reaching the hundredth floor must have a connection.

Time would reveal the reason for the alliance. The four keys must be protected. Mito and Qusack must be found. He glanced at the time, noting that by now, the girls should have finished meditation training and left the library. He'll be alone for the moment, yet he's sure Koharu and the others will follow him once the castle is secure. Intuition told him Mito was on the other side of the canyon, back in the desert, so he kept running as fast as his legs would take him.