Well, here we go again. SAO has too much potential to pass up, so give me a bit. I'm going to be writing something off-the-wall here, so bear with me. So, let's get some specifics out of the way. This is 100% au, starting over from the beginning of the series. Sword Art Online is a separate VRMMORPG that will be released later along with ALO, but is still Kayaba's. The characters will be kept, with some additions. The death game is a game of my own design. Kirito is not reliant on deus-ex-machinas and plot armor, most of the time, and when I do use these, it'll mostly be for comedic purposes. Speaking of which, WARNING! dumb jokes ahead, as well as harem shenanigans and rather... dark moments. I will probably mess with personalities a good bit. Rating may change. Constructive criticism accepted, I don't want insults, if you don't have advice, keep the hate to yourself, kay? Positive comments or helpful advice is all that I will accept, and zero tolerance will be enforced with flames. Also, I can't guarantee update frequency, so I appologize in advance for any long hiatuses that may be in store.
Disclaimer: I do not own SAO or any cannon characters, nor any referenced works.
Now then, I present the prologue for your reading enjoyment. See y'all at the end, hopefully.
Kazuto Kirigaya was still very young when it happened, too young to remember it. His parents were both killed in car crash with a drunk driver, resulting in him being adopted by his aunt. The result was him growing up with his aunt and cousin as his mom and sister. It wasn't too long after that that his grandpa made him and his cousin, Suguha Kirigaya, start practicing kendo.
Why are we here again? This is so boring, Kazuto thought to himself. His Grandpa had made him go to a tournament to 'watch the masters,' which Kazuto thought was better than practice. But it was still really boring. The clacks reverberated throughout the area as the boy debated risking his elder's wrath to get his phone out. As the current match came to a close, he sighed, thinking about how this was all stuff he'd seen before. He was a gamer, not an athlete, despite whatever potential his elder thought he could have. Speaking of, there was rumors that someone was developing something called "Full Dive Virtual Reality," and he was very curious as to just what it is. I'll have to check into it more at some point, the young boy thought as the next match began. He looked up, and then, something peculiar happened. His face contorted into awe, and he never looked away for the rest of the match. Two shinai? Wow, that's AWESOME! It's almost like a video game hero! I could be just like a video game hero if I could learn that. He looked pensive for but a moment before deciding, I may as well try, it seems like it's actually interesting, and me saying that about kendo is something!
Kazuto researched the technique extensively, discovering the practice called Nito Kendo. He researched heavily online, far more heavily than the author cares to do himself, but when he later asked about learning it, he was ordered to master standard kendo first. His grandpa almost found it strange when the young boy started practicing harder than his sister next practice. Barely a year later, he was learning to wield two shinai, and it wouldn't be long before the boy became a real world legend.
Several years later
Sitting in his room, Kazuto glanced at the NerveGear in his hands, then at a similar, if slightly less professional looking, device on his dresser. That was a full dive device he had made a while back using leaked specs for the NerveGear. Those specs had only included how to compress the necessities into a smaller package, but apparently Akihiko Kayaba of Argus had the same thoughts as him. How his device looked so similar despite being made out of mostly scrap and connected to his computer was beyond strange to the teen.
Even more fascinating was that Argus was not working on a big title for their own platform at the moment, but the rumors were suggesting that they were planning to let a separate company, Revolution, produce the first big game. Having provided all the necessary neurological data to Revolution, Argus was planning to take a cut of the profit, but the piecing together and actual coding of all the facets of the game had fallen to Revolution, or so the rumors said. Kazuto himself knew them to be true because dad/uncle's brother, Ryo Kirigaya, was the one spearheading the game's development. Despite this, Kazuto only knew that the game was in the works, not its name, not its premise, not even when it started or when it's expected release date is, nothing but the fact that it was to be the first VRMMORPG. Heck, he only found out because his uncle let it slip last Christmas on accident, which caused Kazuto to press with little success outside of confirming its existence and that the primary designer was his Uncle Ryo.
Ryo had also explained that Revolution had been the ones to develop the first dive pods, which was what most full dive tech was at this point. These dive pods usually had preset games, and as such, full dive games had been expensive arcade games until the recent, and surprisingly inexpensive, release of the Argus NerveGear. But that, as previously mentioned, had no games aside from really simple things like visual novels, simple sport games, and, unsurprisingly, an 18+ game or two, so take that how you will. Rule 34 was a force to be reckoned with, apparently.
Kazuto sighed and set his game 'controller' to the side, moving to his computer. Having three screens, a clearly custom tower, a high-end headset, and even a needlessly expensive keyboard and mouse set, it was obvious that he was a slightly obsessed technology and gaming junky. He sighed, scrolling through his gaming forums, finding little of interest until something unexpected caught his eye as he scrolled through a news thread, a post/sub-thread by Revolution's media department, "Accepting applications for open beta test." Kazuto always enjoyed looking into games, and, knowing what he knows, was always even quicker to look into Revolution's new releases. He clicked on the link, and saw the new game was titled Sky and Space: Magic War. He then sighed, seeing the game was nothing but a deep-story, multi platform, bullet hell game. The beta test was to be a month, though. This wasn't the game he was waiting for, and went back to scrolling. He didn't see a small, obscure line of text at the bottom reading "Space Blade Online closed beta application in 3 months."
A couple weeks later
Kazuto was bored out of his wits. He was in math class, but he already knew most of it. However, he was unfortunate enough to be the one to break the cliché and not be at a window seat, so daydreaming was a little less calming, resulting in... daydreaming anyway, because he still had nothing better to do. This mostly went on until the bell rang and the teacher gave the homework.
Kazuto left quietly as ever, preferring to not deal with the people around him. He found it to be more irritating than it was worth most of the time, but none the less, he had a few friends.
"Yo, Kazuto!"
Speaking of friends. The boy turned to look at the other male, a thinner teen than him, though somehow still more masculine in appearance, well, too an extent, "
Hiro," he acknowledged. 'Hiro' was 17, had laid down hair, freshly bleached to white (his normal hair was brown,) he was nothing shy of a total, stereotypical nerd, glasses and all, and stood at about 6'.
"So, Kaz, you sittin' out the kendo tourney again this year?" The boy with unnaturally white hair asked as the black haired boy put his backpack over his shoulder.
Said boy answered, "Yeah, even if my skills are still high enough, I doubt I'm fit enough to even make it past the prelims anymore."
"Really? You could fix that, I mean, you took home the top spot from lower el to middle school. it can't take that much work to brush up on," Hiro comments.
Kazuto raised an eyebrow, "Why are you suddenly pushing this? You encouraged me to relax that year, whitey."
Hiro didn't even bother to fake being offended, "Maybe because I bothered to check the reward."
He handed the half-athlete-half-gamer a paper with a crap ton of writing. "Hmm?" Kazuto hummed, taking the pamphlet, "I'll check it out later, but I should probably go get my homework finished."
"So that means you can't come to the arcade with us, or hang out after at my place to watch some anime?"
"Arcade? Anime? I guess homework can wait. I already know the stuff anyway. Beating the living daylights out of your little entourage sounds far more entertaining. I assume you plan to do some VR gaming while we're there?"
Hiro let a sweat drop, before answering, "Yeah, the new VRFPS sounds like a fun challenge."
"And what anime did you pick up this time, oh great man of culture?" Kazuto teased, and Hiro puffed up dramatically, "I am pleased to say I chose but one of the best in the collection, the great, the glorious, Boku no Pico!"
"No, I'd rather spare my mind." Kazuto deadpanned, causing Hiro to laugh, "Kidding, kidding. But I did get my mitts on Trigun."
"Ah, now we're talking, meet you at the arcade in a half an hour?" Kazuto answered with a small grin.
Hiro grinned as well, "Your brain really is top notch."
"I know." Hiro rolled his eyes at the boy's self-confidence.
After going home and telling his "little sister," Suguha, his plans for the day, he left for the arcade on his motor bike. Kazuto much preferred this mode of transportation over a car, finding a much higher grade of freedom in it.
He arrived quickly enough to the arcade, apparently too quickly, because as he checked the arcade, he noticed his friends had yet to show up. Sighing, he sat an waited as other streams of people came and went. He found watching other people fascinating, if only because pointing out things they did that wasn't necessarily the best course of action to himself was rather entertaining. What, of course he can do that, he's smarter than probably all of them, and more physically capable then most of them too, even after a couple years off from kendo.
As his thoughts went to kendo, he brought out the flyer, only to get interrupted before looking over it with a familiar, "Yo, Kazuto!"
He looked towards the familiar call and, sure enough saw Hiro and three others walking towards him. "Hey Hiro. Ayumu, Kyo, and Kiyoko, nice of you losers to join us as well," Kazuto replied with joke.
Ayumu was 18, and had dyed his black hair blue, and evidently messed it up on purpose. His outfit consisted of blue wind pants, and a grey sweater, finished with white sneakers. He stood at about 6'2" and was not muscular, though not fat either, leaving about the same width as Kazuto.
Kyo was a girl who was appealing to the eye, curvy and busty, 18 years old, and standing at about 5'5". She had black hair as well, but hers was dyed red and reached her lower back, and her outfit was a short, purple skirt, and a lavender low-cut t-shirt, with blue shoes. She was Ayumu's date.
Her sister, Kiyoko, was 17, and stood about 5'8". She had little in terms of a chest, and was more muscular instead. This was partly because she was only a part time gamer, unlike her die-hard sister and friends, instead taking on athletics as well. Her dark brown hair had been bleached then dyed blue, resulting in her hair being a vibrant turquoise, and it reached her upper back. Her color scheme was almost all blue green and green, though her skirt and top were modest, unlike her sister's.
Ayumu called, "Hey edge lord, what's cracking?"
The group shared a chuckle before Kiyoko spoke, "So, where's this new full dive installment?" when she wasn't studying, practicing sports, or doing something of the like, Kiyoko was rather excitable, in direct contrast to her eternally laid-back sister.
The 16 year-old Kazuto replied, pointing, "Over there, where the line is."
Kyo answered, "We'll have to wait? Guess I'm not surprised."
Hiro chuckled, "Let's just go."
As they went, Kazuto spoke, "You know I'm going to win right?"
The answer was a unanimous, "Not this time!"
They said that, and Kazuto did, in fact, get dominated by them. Predictably they ganged up on him, and it's hard to fight a 1v4 firefight. He was trashed, and Hiro took the win. This left a very salty Kazuto who was muttering something about hating VRFPS games and bad controls. The others were just entertained that he was so salty after losing in an unfamiliar game. All of them, including Kazuto, knew that he wasn't the best with guns. They also knew that he would have obliterated them all in a sword game, magic game, or really any other game. The "great" gamer was too stuck up to try and be a sniper, which he probably would have excelled at. Oh well.
There were a few more games played. Most of these were merely serving as Kazuto's revenge, but they came to an end soon. It was after this that they headed back to Hiro's house. The group looked like a small motorcycle gang. Hiro took the front, Ayumu the back, and the other three camped the center, with Kyo being the center most.
It took very little time to arrive at the white haired boy's house, and Hiro was taking a moment to make some popcorn before playing Trigun while the others argued over extremely serious matters like pineapple pizza and whether or not water's wet. And this where I put in a not-sponsored plug to go watch Trigun. It's available for free streaming on Funimation, and is a better way to spend time than reading this. All hail Vash the Stampede.
Continuing, they watched about 6 episodes before it started to get dark out and the group of friends had to split and go their separate ways. It's here we find Kazuto arriving home and walking up to his room. His "family" mostly leaves him alone now, a fact he is honestly kinda grateful for. Sitting down, he pressed the power button on his computer.
He idly remembered and pulled out the kendo tournament pamphlet while he was waiting for the machine to boot up. It started with some promotion of the event, followed by some basic rules and regulations. Nothing he hadn't seen before.
It continued with the prizes. Trophy/title? Meh, had that before. 1,000 yen? Meh, nothing to put that into right now. Opportunity to participate in the closed beta for Space Blade Online? ... What? An MMO beta as a prize for a kendo tournament? What is this MMO? His computer booted up and he checked a forum. There, in Revolution's stream quietly stood an announcement trailer. Kazuto watched the trailer, and up until the end it seemed like standard fare. But at the end he saw one little tidbit that read "coming to the NerveGear in 2022." It may only be 2020 now, but he wasn't missing this chance to get way early acceptance into this game's beta. I guess it's time to brush up on my skills, huh?
Oh look, another time skip.
Well, so far two and a half months of training haven't been in vain. He'd finally reached the tournament finals. Using is twin shinai, there wasn't much in his way that lasted as Kazuto Kirigaya quickly became one of two front-runners. He had heard the name of the other front runner and it felt oddly familiar.
Walking on to the mat as he heard his name called, he breathed slowly. In... Out... In... Out...
He looked up calmly as his opponent's name was called. He saw shoulder length black hair. The girl had an excitable but determined expression. She held her shinai with one hand, and but the stance, though weird, was familiar. Her name and appearance... When it suddenly clicked to Kazuto, the world around him seemed to fall silent and all he could hear was his rapidly spiking heart rate.
Flashback (Or a backwards time skip!)
Kazuto was only in first grade or so the last time he saw her, a girl the same age as him, the daughter of a family friend. For first time nine months which Kazuto would swear off as plot convenience, he remembered that last time he saw her.
It was the summer before he entered grade school. Sadly, summer was coming towards its end. A family his parents were friends with had come over to visit, and Kazuto was fighting a girl of the same age with a foam sword. He himself was smiling, happier than he would be for a long time, and that was saying a lot cause he would still very much enjoy the next few years of his life. He was wearing a bright blue t-shirt and cool green shorts. The other girl wore an almost identical expression along with a light blue t-shirt and dark blue jean shorts.
Suguha had been rendered a referee in this match after having her butt kicked by the similar, if much thinner, girl. The fight had been going on for a while, but in the end, he won when the girl made a reckless side strike. Against most people his age, that would have ended fine, but with these two, the first even light mistake was the end. The sword was slapped up, and the point of Kazuto's sword was at the girl's neck.
Kazuto then jumped away and did a little victory dance as the other girl pouted. Sugaha was pleased that her brother got revenge for her. The girl was being adorable, "It's not fair! No matter how much I practice, I can't beat you!"
Sugaha would cut in, "That's cause he's the best! No one can beat onii-chan!"
Kazuto swung his sword dramatically, "That's right! I'm Kazuto, the great hero who will save the world!"
Sugaha laughed, "Only if I can be your partner!"
Kazuto would jump excitedly, "Okay! We'll save the world together!"
The other girl would perk up and laugh an adorable evil laugh, "Only if you can beat me and my dragon! We'll rule over the entire world, and you won't ever stop me! Mwahaha!"
The three kids entertained themselves entertained themselves, and somehow managed to convince their parents to let them sleep outside in a tent in their yard. Suguha had agreed to run in to get goldfish and juice boxes.
In the meantime, Kazuto and his young friend were pointing out 'constellations' when the other girl grew a bit sad, "Kazuto. You know we're moving, right?"
Kazuto nodded and seemed a bit serious when he answered, "I know, but we'll still see each other again, even if you move to the other side of the world!"
The other girl nodded, hopeful, "You promise, right? I can't take over the world without a hero to fight."
He would nod, "Of course! I promise. We'll always be friends!" At this time Suguha came back out as they kept themselves busy for a good while before Kazuto's mom came out and made them go to bed.
The girl and her family would leave the next morning, and it would be the last time they'd see each other for almost 10 years. She'd be mostly forgotten by Kazuto within only two years. But seven years later, seventh grade, Kazuto's personality would finally change for the worse. This was when he managed to hack into the records. He found out that Suguha was not his sister but his cousin. That his mom was actually his aunt on his mom's side. He also found out he had a sister by blood. This fact shook Kazuto, along with that she went to live with his birth dad's sister. He tried to file this knowledge away, hold it close, but the stresses that came with high school made remembering this lose priority, and he forgot the name over a year ago. A name that had seemed familiar. Both parts of the puzzle had been forgotten until now. Now they clicked, he remembered his twin sister and close friend. He remembered the name that would keep a promise. The name:
Yuuki Konno.
Returning to the present, the pounding of his heart was all Kazuto could hear as the revelation, the memories, hit him like a ton of bricks. He looked into her eyes and apparently it hadn't hit her yet. He calmed himself, it was just Yuuki. No small talk until after, but he could still have a bit of fun. One more trip back into the old times. He'd be a sad hero if he couldn't stop so simple a villain. A duel for the title, the money, and most importantly, the beta test. Staring her dead in the eye, his determination to win spiked. (note: This kendo match won't quite look like real life. I'm taking some creative liberty to create an exhilarating battle. Thank you for understanding.)
With a stance that was speed focused, Kazuto held his twin shinai with confidence. Across from him, Yuuki held a balanced one-handed style, though her other hand was close enough to use a second hand to try to counter any more powerful strike that may come. Start was called and Kazuto made the first move. Yuuki was expecting speed, but she wasn't used to fighting someone this fast. Kazuto's strikes came in with terrifying speed and precision. Left horizontal, right stab, left feint into right horizontal. The attacks continued in this manner, but Yuuki was no less impressive, and though she couldn't seem to get an attack in, she parried every strike creating a slow machine gun-like effect with the clacks. Try as Kazuto did, not one of his attacks would land. Seeing his left and right arms up and to the side respectively, and went to call her strike on his left wrist when she heard a shout. "DO!" Kazuto cried this and felt his shinai hit her side. He took the first point, and smiled for it. Exactly as planned. Yuuki meanwhile was thinking, Damn, he's good. But thinking back, his wrists are pretty wide open. I may only get one more shot at this. He clearly lured me there last time, so I do need to watch for that.
The next match started, and this Yuuki charged in as Kazuto did the same. This time, however, the equation felt a lot more balanced as Kazuto frequently had to block or parry. The blows went back and forth, as neither fighter gave an inch. Kazuto would strike vertical followed by horizontal, only to have to parry a thrust at his throat. A slash thrust combo would be followed by a strike at his head. Had just moved to block a side cut and strike her head. He realized too late that her trajectory had changed and he felt a tap on his wrist before his strike could connect. Yuuki had grinned and shouted, "KOTE!" One to one. Kazuto and Yuuki both began to think about the next plan of attack. Kazuto frowned, It comes down to this. I need to focus a bit more on the guard this time without letting up on my attack. This is gonna push me to my limit. She'll see through my faints and baits now. But I can't lose! She'll probably never let me live it down if I do, and I do still want that beta opportunity. Yuuki, meanwhile, had a similar track playing, I won't be able to pull that twice, he'll be on guard for tricks now, just as I am. This'll push my limits to the end. but I can't lose. That beta chance is mine!
Start on the third match was called. Almost immediately the competitors who stayed to watch realized that these two were truly in another league from them. The clacks rang out almost too quick as the twins were immediately absorbed in the fight. They had now blocked out everything but themselves and each other. Every move the other made was countered early enough and the advantage went back and forth so quickly almost no one could tell who truly had the advantage, and those that could saw it was too small to be taken advantage of. Every strike from Kazuto was parried, each from Yuuki blocked. Each block or parry left both back where they started. Eventually, Yuuki began to gain ground. Then Kazuto took it back. Slowly both began slowing down and breathing heavier, but neither seemed to notice. Kazuto went for broke with a horizontal strike as they both finally realized they were getting tired. Yuuki countered with a thrust. "DO!" "TSUKI!" Yuuki took a hit to the side. Kazuto felt a thrust to the throat. The result was a draw. They both set up again. This time their thoughts were the same, I can't let this go on much longer. This is it.
The fourth match began. Though slower, neither side gave an inch, yet again. This particular fight wasn't so fore thought heavy and both players were more defensive, trying to regain their breath enough to go more offence again. Through this, all the spectators could tell this fight was winding down. Kazuto discarded his second shinai, as both reverted back to basics. For a moment, Kazuto thought he was looking at a young girl with a foam sword again as a familiar attack came in. he faltered a bit, but still managed a block. Yuuki faltered a moment later as he remembered one of his signature strikes from all that time ago. She too blocked as a bit of confusion flickered through her mind. The fight grew less consistent after that as both competitors started playing safe. Time was called.
The last match began the same as the next as they got their minds back in it, and the bit of rest towards the end allowed the speed to pick up just a bit, and only for a bit. But eventually one had to falter as the clacks slowly slowed their tempo. But finally, the end came. Kazuto saw a familiar strike, she opened too wide to the side, and it was over, "Tsuki!" she felt the hit on the throat, and she knew she lost. But the familiar situation haunted her a moment before his next line caused the memories to hit her like a wet towel whip, "Kept my promise, and slayed the dark lord. I'm still the hero."
A man was in the balcony. He was pleased by the fight he saw, but he could only smile for a different reason, remembering all those years ago. He supposed he might be able to pull a few strings to get them both in the beta at least.
Yuuki walked out of the arena in a daze. I nearly forgot about him, even after mom told me. He found me, and so soon after I came home? Not only that, but he remembered? Was that perhaps what flickered in his eyes when he saw me? She was startled from her musings by a certain voice, "Hey, Yuuki! Why're you running!?"
Turning around, she saw the effeminate black-haired boy running towards her, somehow not hitting the people he was in the middle of, "Kazuto?" she smiled hopefully.
"Long time no see, huh," he commented in response before suddenly being taken off guard by the girl suddenly appearing in his arms.
"Took ya' long enough, ya' doof. I almost forgot about you..." she'd state, clearly a bit emotional but also happy. By this point they were ignoring their surroundings.
He hugged her back, glad that he finally got to see his twin sister again, "Same, but I'm glad we didn't... sis."
She blinked, "Your adoptive parents told you too?"
"Only when I pressed them after hacking the records. I've become quite the techie. That's actually why I entered this tourney, to get into the beta test offered," he'd talk happily.
"Hehe, that makes two of us. I wanted the beta too," she'd smile, a little sad she lost though.
He was about to tease her when another voice, one Kazuto hadn't heard in a while cut in, "I might be able to help with that, if you want."
Kazuto turned and addressed the man approaching with mild reverence, "Uncle Ryo." The same man from the balcony, he was tall, thin, and pale, clearly spending too much time inside. He looked tired, but he also looked happy, excited even, "You'd be willing to?"
He'd nod assuredly while guiding them to a less crowded location, "Sure. You are both relatives, and you did put on one heck of a show in there," he then looked to Yuuki seriously, "You'll still have to apply of course. But I think you two both really deserve it. It might help you bond after all that time. Speaking of, long time no see, kiddo."
Yuuki grinned hugged the man grateful and happy to see Kazuto's cool uncle again, "Hello Ryo-san! Thank you, too!"
He laughed. Suguha then seemed to come in out of nowhere with a loving hug, "Congrats on your win, Onii-chan!"
He smiled awkwardly, still not good at interacting with his step-sister, "Ah, thanks."
She turned to the other two, and confusion would flicker across her face again, "Hello Uncle Ryo! And, um...?"
Ryo waved as Yuuki faked offence, speaking with over-the-top hand motions, "Oh come on, the fight didn't ring any bells? I'm your old friend, Yuuki Konno!"
"Yuuki? ... Oh yeah, the one person who'd reliably beat me aside from onii-chan. Who let you back?" she teased as her memories returned easier.
"Hah hah. My family finally moved back!" she'd say happily, practically bouncing. Both Kazuto and Suguha seemed very pleased and promptly started peppering her with questions as Ryo slipped away to talk to their families at a nearby table.
One month later, Yuuki and Kazuto received the closed beta for the game Space Blade Online. Like Kazuto, Yuuki had long had a NerveGear. These two items sealed their fates. Their lives would never be the same, and their lives would become a mess. Would they stay strong, will they turn, or maybe, will they die? Only time will tell as we enter the saga of Space Blade Online.
If you're still here, thanks for bearing with that mess. Not sure how it'll compare to the rest of the story, but I'm still happy you gave me a bit of your time. I know my jokes are crappy. Shut up. I don't need your crap... They made me laugh, alright!? That counts for something? Bargain with me, please. Dumb comedy act aside, this chapter took me quite a while to make, and I can give no guarantees on when the next update will be. So while patiently waiting, join my forum, Of Light, Night, and Heart. Until next time!