The Kaige leader hadn't lied—he had sent a call for help when facing Laughing Coffin.
Being a beta tester, he was cautious, not blindly confident. Seeing a numerically inferior but audacious enemy, he wisely warned Argo.
Argo acted as the hub of a web: beta testers were nodes. She immediately relayed the Kaige leader's message. Lillian had previously mentioned Laughing Coffin, so she prioritized it and notified multiple strong guilds.
Soon, reinforcements arrived from all directions, including Kirito and Asuna. They first saw Lillian, their longtime rival, and then the Laughing Coffin members.
The ongoing battle saw seven or eight Laughing Coffin members attack Lillian, but in seconds, they were all down. Lillian did not kill, only reducing HP below red to intimidate them.
Only PoH remained Lillian's focus, who also refrained from verbal attacks, concentrating solely on offense.
"Should we intervene?"
The arriving players hesitated. Some suggested waiting—the outcome between two orange-names would resolve itself. Kirito and Asuna exchanged a look, worried: if all these players swarmed Lillian, there could be casualties.
"He's not the culprit!"
The Kaige leader, with his remaining members, stepped forward, taking Laughing Coffin members aside and shouting:
"He attacked first!" He pointed at PoH. "We saw him draw a sword like that, and his subordinates confirmed it! We blamed the wrong person!"
Bang!
Lillian blocked PoH's rapid attack with the blade of his sword. Hearing the murmurs from the crowd, he chuckled lightly: "PoH, your plan has been exposed. How does that feel?"
"I… I'll kill you!"
PoH's attacks came relentlessly. Neither of them was using sword skills. Lillian hadn't ended the fight immediately because he wanted to hear what the crowd would say.
"That guy was pretending?! How could it be… Kibaou clearly said…"
"Kibaou deceived us."
At that moment, Kirito and Asuna stepped forward decisively to speak to the crowd: "We visited the sole survivor of that incident. He mentioned that the attacker had some differences from Lillian, and most importantly, he heard Kibaou say, 'Is it all him?' We believe Kibaou intentionally framed Lillian due to a personal grudge."
"I agree," Asuna added.
Two top-tier players suddenly defending Lillian caught everyone off guard. Coupled with the Kaige guild members confirming they heard the person in the laughing coffin confess… could it really have been a misunderstanding?
The crowd exchanged glances. Many were swayed internally, though stubbornly refusing to admit it out loud.
"If it wasn't him, why did he try to kill Kibaou?" someone asked, prompting others to respond: "Yeah, why? Didn't he just explain things?"
"He also killed someone on the plains… didn't you all forget that incident?"
"That incident started because they wanted to steal his equipment, right?" Argo suddenly emerged from the crowd, speaking to everyone. "They attacked first and turned orange as a result. Since this is a death game, killing in-game is equivalent to killing in reality. By that logic, when those people attacked Lillian, wasn't his retaliation legitimate self-defense?"
"But those people… weren't trying to kill him! They just wanted to scare him!"
Argo shot that person a glance. "In the real world, would you swing a blade at someone just to 'scare' them?"
"I… this isn't the real world…"
Argo ignored him and addressed the crowd: "Those with judgment should be able to decide after this incident that he—"
"You're not wrong."
A low, sudden voice interrupted her. From the crowd stepped a fully armored youth, the famed guild leader of [Knight's Hall], Diavel.
"Argo, indeed, the incident on the plains could be seen as Lillian's self-defense. Those people said they were scaring him, but Lillian didn't know for sure—reacting was justified. Yet, mid-battle, both sides realized the gap in strength. At that point, he could have stopped without killing, but he still chose to kill. Isn't that excessive self-defense? Even by real-world law, it could be considered intentional harm."
Argo frowned slightly.
Diavel continued: "Furthermore, even if we overlook that incident, Lillian killing Kibaou cannot be excused." He looked at Kirito and Asuna. "Even if Kibaou intentionally framed Lillian, does that justify killing him? Think carefully. I'm not defending Kibaou; I speak as one who upholds knightly ideals."
"Exactly. Even if it's Kibaou's fault, that doesn't justify murder."
"Why not just expose him back then?"
"Clearly, he wanted to kill…"
Diavel's words immediately gained support from many. Lillian, fending off PoH's attacks while listening to this, couldn't help but chuckle internally.
Kibaou and Diavel clearly knew each other; it was natural for their guilds to be connected. And "knightly ideals"? Spare me… he just didn't get a single LA and is bitter about it.
Seeing no need to delay further, Lillian glanced at the still-attacking PoH. "Sorry, you late-game villain. Since you ran into me, you'll have to meet your end now."
With that, his speed and strength skyrocketed. PoH hadn't even reacted before the cold flash of Lillian's sword struck—his HP bar emptied in an instant.
"Ah!"
The crowd, who had been watching the battle closely, gasped at Lillian's sudden burst of power. They saw PoH fall to the ground.
"You…" PoH, still clutching his rapier, glared at Lillian. "You'll regret this…"
Crackling… his body shattered into pieces.
Someone exclaimed: "He killed again!"
The comment set many on edge. Instinctively, they grabbed weapons, forgetting Kirito, Asuna, Argo, and Diavel's earlier statements.
"What are you doing?!" Diavel shouted. "That guy just killed several of my comrades!"
"…"
The crowd froze. At this moment, Terusuke, along with about thirty guild members, stepped forward firmly: "After listening to all of this, we admit we were wrong. We stand with Lillian. If anyone dares oppose him, they'll have to go through us first."
He approached Lillian, eyes downcast in shame. "I'm sorry I didn't trust you before…"
"No problem. Don't take it to heart," Lillian said, patting his shoulder. He wasn't particularly concerned. Then he walked toward the crowd and stopped before Diavel, speaking words that made the guild leader's expression turn pale.
"Diavel, you were having fun pretending to be a public-test player, weren't you? I must say, your knightly spirit is admirable. Let me return the compliment—you did a great job playing your part." Lillian looked around at the crowd and smiled. "By the way, does anyone know he's also a beta tester?"
Wham!
The crowd erupted in astonishment. Everyone turned to look at Diavel, who had always appeared to be a public-test player. How…?
"You… how…" Diavel stammered, shocked. He didn't know how Lillian discovered his beta identity. His beta-test character's appearance and voice were so different that even Argo hadn't recognized him. How… who is he?
Diavel stared at Lillian in horror. No matter how he thought, only a few beta testers existed whom he knew. Lillian couldn't be one of them, and even if he was, he couldn't have recognized him!
"So, you've been pretending as a public-test player all along. Awkward, isn't it?" Lillian grinned. "I can see you were tired of the act. Why bother? Beta test is beta test."
"Is the guild leader telling the truth?!"
"You've been deceiving us…"
"Guild Leader!!"
Diavel's guild members questioned him furiously. His face went pale as paper. At this point, it was too late to refute anything.
His own actions had betrayed him. Had he remained calm and claimed he was falsely accused, Lillian wouldn't have had evidence of his beta identity… but now, no one would believe him.
Regret washed over him. Why did he have to step in and suppress Lillian? Damn it… now…
Diavel looked at Lillian. Lillian's face held the victorious smile of a winner, and he said one more thing to infuriate Diavel further:
"With me around, you'll never get an LA."