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Hunters... Agile fighters armed with a trick weapon, a transforming melee weapon in one hand, and a firearm in the left. They were a stranger to shields, instead using mobility to their advantage to avoid any incoming attacks. These Hunters were recruited by Gehrman or the Church itself.

These Hunters belonged to the city of Yharnam, but the existence of hunters aren't exclusive to Yharnam itself and are instead, existent throughout the world.

Yharnam is a towering, labyrinthine Gothic city, home to the Healing Church, Blood Ministrations and your worst possible nightmare.

'Yeah, that's right, this is only a soft core copy of Dark Souls, a preparatory school if you would.' He thought to himself, it could be said that this game was a preparatory school compared to Dark Souls since it wasn't as hardcore as its older cousin.

'It's bad enough that they released Dark Souls on the Console and PC.' He thought. 'Now they release its cousin in VR Gear? I prefer releasing my anger on the buttons rather than beating the crap out of a helmet with an LED Screen in it...' He thought, reminiscing on the good times. 'Screw it, let's do this.'

"Link start." He instructed, trying not to scream just so the headset could hear him.

It's all fun and games until things hit fan...

He entered the menu that had the expected background image in it, the menu displayed two options:

Play online

Play offline

'Online should be interesting.' He thought to himself, with that, he picked the worst possible decision in his entire life. But it can't be that bad, right? Let's hope it isn't.

'Ok, I'm in the Hunter's Dream with the creepy doll just ahead, let's proceed with the actual game.' He then turned to the tombstone that teleported you to the starting area (it looks like a tombstone) and there, it listed the following areas:

1st Floor Sickroom

Hunter's Dream

Central Yharnam

'I know what I'm picking.' Central Yharnam was then selected and little did he know... That things were about to get interesting.

There, in front of him, stood the Mist Door. A notorious piece of architecture to any and all players of the Souls series. 'If the guides are correct, this should lead me to the Cleric Beast...' He thought.

'Even though I spoil myself by reading posts and watching guides, who says things can't get interesting?' He thought to himself. But things were unexpected the moment he pressed the button to traverse the fog. He found himself in a completely different world, one with weird looking walls and monsters.

"The hell?" He muttered, he then realized he was able to speak. "I didn't think one of the features of a headset allowed you to talk through an in-game mouth..." He thought out loud.

'But that's not the main problem right now.' He then turned to look at his surroundings, which looked entirely different, the setting wasn't like that of Bloodborne's, instead, it was brighter and the atmosphere didn't seem gloomy or eerie. He was in a town that was under the morning sun, something that wasn't in the world of Bloodborne, or at least not till one ending.

'Maybe I should logout and see if the game will reset after that...' He thought to himself, he pulled out the menu, which looked completely different from the original menu, it had a color combination of white and orange. The menu options from the original game were still there, but there were new options that weren't supposed to be there as well.

"No time to explore, have to fix this before something worse happens." He thought out loud, and as if on cue, the logout option was nowhere to be found.

"..." He stared at the blank option for a while, contemplating on whether he should believe his eyes or not.

"m8..." [1]

"Maybe it was the vitamins I took..." He said whilst mashing and jamming his finger into the blank option, hoping something miraculous would happen.

"Definitely not the vitamins then..." He looked around for anyone who could possibly give him an explanation as to where he was and what game he was placed in. Just as he was about to take a step forward, a loud bell rang across the area and a white light glowed around him.

'The hell..?' He thought, but just as he finished his thought, he was teleported to a plaza with other human character models appearing in the same light that emanated from beneath his feet.

'Are these... Other players?' Looking around, he saw many others appearing before him, his mind was left puzzled. Trying to figure out why he was brought here, he looked up and saw a sign floating in the sky that said "Warning", followed by "System Announcement".

The red sign then multiplied and spread across the plaza, creating a dome around him and the other players. He then noticed a red liquid flowing out between the lines of the signs, it oozed out of different areas shortly. The red liquid then formed a giant entity with a robe and a cloak on.

"A GM?"

"Why is he hiding his face?" A few people from the crowd began questioning his appearance in the plaza. The entity then gazed at the players and started his announcement.

"Attention, players." He said, in a voice that seemed to have been modified, as if hiding his identity from the players, 'It would only make sense to change your voice if you were gonna hide your identity from the players in the first place.' He then continued his announcement.

"Welcome to my world... My name is Kayaba Akihiko. Everyone became surprised, some gasping and others dropping their jaws.

"I am the one and only person who can control this world."

"That really him?"

"He must've invested a lot of time into this." The crowd of players broke into chatters, some doubting and asking if he really was who he claims to be, others coming into conclusions of his work into the game.

"I'm sure that you've all already noticed that the logout button in the menu has been removed." He said, in a surprisingly calm voice that held no intimidation to it.

"However, this is by no means a mistake." He continued.

"I repeat. It is not a mistake, but a feature of the true Sword Art Online."

'So that's the name of the game I'm in, huh?' The Hunter thought, the answers he was looking for started coming towards him.

"You are all unable to log out of SAO, and nobody in the real world can remove the NerveGear or interrupt it's operation." He explained, the announcement started to sound like it had an ulterior motive to it. It was getting shadier and shadier with each sentence coming from the GM.

"Should it be attempted, a powerful burst of microwave radiation emitted from a transmitter in the NerveGear will destroy your brain, thus ending your life." Okay, maybe he wasn't looking for that answer.

"What's he saying?"

"I'm sure it's an act to get us excited."

'What's so exciting about the possibility of dying in real life just by dying in-game?' He thought.

"Come on, enough already."

"Let's go." Two players tried to leave, but ran into an invisible wall in the process.

"Unfortunately, it's certainly possible that a player's family or friends would ignore this warning and attempt to forcibly remove the NerveGear

As proof of this, 213 players have retired from both this world and the real one." He stated, explaining the outcome of removing the gear.

"As you can see, news of my warning and the numerous victims are being spread worldwide." Windows of the current news reports popped up around him with headlines stating that players have died in an incident.

"Thus, it should be safe to say that the danger of removal attempts has become minimal."

'Is that supposed to make us feel any better?' The Hunter thought, trying to figure out if he was trying to comfort the players or not.

"I hope you will all be at ease and focus on completing the game."

"..."q

"But I'd like you all to keep this in mind. From this point on, all methods of revival in the game will no longer function"

'What?'

"If your HP hits zero, your avatar will perish for eternity, and at that moment... The NerveGear will destroy your brain."

'What?'

"There is only one condition you must meet to be free: the completion of this game."

'WHAT?' He screamed internally, refusing to believe the words coming from his mouth.

'So I'm gonna be stuck here? In a game I'm not supposed to be in?!'

"You are all currently on the first floor, the lowest point in Aincrad."

'Starting area? As long as this game doesn't work like Dark Souls or Bloodborne, the enemies along the way shouldn't be that hard...' He thought, he hoped it would be that way.

"If you conquer a floor's dungeon and defeat the floor boss, you may continue up to the next one." He said, explaining the mechanics of the game.

"Assuming you manage to defeat the final boss on the 100th floor, the game will be considered cleared."

'Reach 100 and we're free? Simple enough.' He knew it was easier said than done, but the conditions were simple. Much like any other game, the only way to complete it was to end it.

"And lastly, I've prepared a present for all of you in your item storages. Take a look." With that, everyone pulled out their inventory to check on the "present" he prepared for them.

'Guess I should do the same...' With that, he pulled up the menu, which was now changed into the SAO layout. He tapped the inventory button and saw a new item inside.

"A mirror?" He muttered, he glanced at the object and white light then emanated from around him. "The hell..?" The light then disappeared and he looked at the mirror once again, no changes have been made to his appearance.

He looked around at the players who did the same and noticed their looks changed entirely.

"You're a guy?"

"You lied about being 17?"

'Guess it changed their looks to that of their real life appearance.' He thought, this was most likely true judging from what he saw. Some supposed-to-be female avatars transformed into dudes who could induce trauma into those who fell for the "Female avatar means female person" trick.

"The game must have conflicted with the current program SAO has running." He thought out loud, theorizing an explanation as to why he remained the same.

"Right now, you're probably all wondering, "Why... Why would I, Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do such a thing?" He was snapped out of his current state by a voice that came from the entity in front of him.

"I have already achieved my goal." He continued.

"I created the world of SAO solely for my personal enjoyment... And now, the preparations are complete."

'This is your personal enjoyment?' He thought, disbelief building up inside of him.

"This concludes the tutorial for the official launch of Sword Art Online."

'Some tutorial that was...' He thought, to him, this was more like a death sentence employed to the innocent.

"Players, I wish you the best of luck." He finished his speech. And with that, steam then emerge from around his body, it was as if he was melting into the air, he then disappeared from the players' sights and the dome was removed.

The players continued to stare at the empty space he once occupied, expressions of disbelief apparent in their faces.

"No...no!" A girl cried out. As if on cue, the crowd erupted into shouting, some hoping it was just an act, others wanting to log out and carry on with their lives. But he knew otherwise... This was no joke, the logout button was removed and their was only one way to escape this hell. He agreed on a thought that entered his mind.

'Shit just hit the fan...'

AN: Hey guys, I'm currently new to all this Fanfiction publishing thing, and I'm trying to figure things out (I don't even know how to look at reviews) but I've seen the reviews and will reply to them soon.