Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online. All rights are owned by Reki Kawahara. This story is for entertainment purposes only and not for profit. Any similarities to other characters and stories is purely coincidence.

Prologue- Invitation to Another Game of Death

Greetings,

You are cordially invited to join the beta of Evolation Online. Where adaptation and evolution is the name of the game. I am Ginjinko Torakage, the creator and sole programmer of the game. I have personally selected you because of several factors, but mainly because you are a survivor of Sword Art Online. I understand that it was a nightmare that you couldn't escape for two years. A game where dying in it means death in real life. I completely understand your feelings when I announce that Evolation is such a game that you won't be able to log out from, and that SAO's death rule is also applied. However, I give you three choices.

The first is to simply decline the invitation. However, keep in mind that reporting to the authorities is a futile effort to catch me. I am in a place they can't reach me without causing a multitude of international conflicts that will cause irreversible damage. Including some that could trigger wars. Also, any who try to trace this email will find a firewall that changes the password every thirteen milliseconds, essentially making it impossible to hack. Courtesy of the same system used to manage SAO's server.

The second is to join the game as a denizen of it, able to live without fear of death. There are some of you who actually wish to have remained in Aincrad because it was a better life than the one that existed in the real world. You could have a family that is abusing you, or exploiting your talents for their personal gain without a single regard for your feelings or wellbeing. Perhaps you've hit rock bottom, lost everything and are all alone. Or you've just found it impossible to readjust to society, or simply just prefer the virtual world. I have created a device that allows one's complete mind to become digitalized, granting you an eternal escape from reality. Even if your physical body dies, you will still live in the virtual plane like nothing happened. This has happened once before. However, if you've taken a life in SAO, then this option is invalid for you.

The third is to join in as a player, and try beating this game. I have recruited several fellow SAO survivors who were all too eager to join this game. They used to be part of a guild called Laughing Coffin. Does that ring any bells? Should you succeed, the fate of me and my "associates" will lie in your hands. Would you bring us to the real world's justice for our crimes? Or execute us? Or do you want answers? Like where to find other members of Laughing Coffin who have decided to lay low? Where your savior, the Black Swordsman is, and what he looks like online? Or perhaps a desire that I can fufill with my knowledge and technology. Power? Money? Being able to kill someone and get away with it? Or perhaps an AI reconstruction of someone you loved that perished in SAO, complete with their memories up until their death? Anything that can be done with my knowledge and technology is possible if you ask me.

Should you choose to join Evolation Online to fight, take comfort knowing that you will not be cut off from your loved ones unlike your isolation in SAO. A special email system will be put in place to keep contact if requested.

For those that choose to accept my invitation, regardless if it's to fight or escape reality. You will be picked up at an undisclosed time in at least two weeks time. It is strongly recommended you have all personal affairs put in order during this time.

For those that wish to decline, simply delete this message . If you don't within two day of opening this, I shall interpret this as you accepting my invitation as a player.

For those that wish to escape the real world, reply to this with this response: Liberation.

If you plan to fight, reply with: Revolution.

Thank you for your time to read this. I will await you within the world of Evolation Online.

Sincerely,

Ginjinko Torakage

Two weeks later - Wolf of Midnight

I charged forward while my defiant screams echoed throughout the ravine, followed by the clashing of my scimitar with my cloaked adversary's blade like talons. I noticed on his forearm was an all too familiar tattoo of a black coffin. The lid had leering eyes with a matching mouth twisted into a malicious smile while being opened by a skeletal hand from within it.

I looked at my right shoulder, my eyes briefly focused upon the very same tattoo etched into it.

"You're going to pay for ratting us out back in Aincrad, traitor!" my adversary said venomously. "Thanks to you, our fun was ruined!"

"I naively thought everything we were told about dying in the game was just one elaborate lie to scare us." I retorted. "I thought we could've respawned."

"What about that man you killed huh?" the cloaked man asked while flexing his fingers. "I was there when you did it."

I flinched as that dreaded memory came to mind. It was a man who was in his late thirties or early forties. Before SAO, I enjoyed annoying other players as a player killer, so naturally I joined Laughing Coffin not long after they established their infamy. I didn't kill right away as I wanted to first work on the ideal skill layout for an assassin that couldn't be tracked. I also honestly didn't believe then that we truly died in the real world if we were perished ingame, convinced that what Akihiko Kayaba showed us was just an elaborate hoax. I found out the hard way that the death rule was real after I killed that man. Before I committed that crime, I had him listed as a friend, all part of a plan to lull him into a false sense of security. The change in his status that happened afterward was the bitter wake up call I desperately needed, the one that came too late.

Since then, I begrudgingly acted as a scout for LC, keeping tabs on their enemies. At the same time, I chose to rebel, mainly by discreetly leaking bits of information about where some members were heading to thwart ambushes, as well as hints of where the group hid. Before the group was decimated, I was discovered by four of my "comrades" that I have betrayed them. After being forced to kill three of them, the last survivor chose to fled. After that, I chose to hide in the lower levels that few players lived until we were freed from our virtual prison. I was too scared to confess my crime, living with the guilt and fear that ate away at me.

I received the invite for joining Evolation Online two weeks ago. I chose "Revolution" because I was too scared to face my sins from Aincrad in reality, and Torakage has given me the perfect chance to not only repent in my own way, but to also bring those members of Laughing Coffin to pay for their heinous crimes. I also had questions that only Torakage could answer.

My scimitar shattered into brilliant bits of light as I opened my mouth and screamed as loud as possible, releasing a powerful shockwave that knocked the murderer off his feet. I stampeded forward, grabbing him by the face before slamming his head against the nearby cliffside as hard as possible. The bedrock cracked upon impact as my enemy groaned in pain. I gave him no time to recover as I began running, dragging his face against the wall.

"TIME TO TASTE DESPAIR!" I screamed as I picked up speed with each step. "ADAPT INPUT: CLIFFSTALKER!"

Upon that, my body began glowing a vibrant aqua. My arms elongated while my hands widened as the fingertips became curved claws. The legs below my knees stretched as well, while my feet morphed into a pair that were flexible and saurian with talons. I opened my mouth as my teeth became pointed and sharp as a row of spikes emerged from my back and elbows. I slammed my foe's head to keep him disorientated while I felt a tail grow from my back. I knew at this point my eyes were now the golden orbs of the monster I was turning into as the darkness became daylight to me. My head became more reptilian in shape as my skin became jet black and scaly, allowing me to blend with the darkness. A nocturnal beast that lives in ravines and cliffsides. In any other terrain, they're clumsy and pretty much helpless to other Daemons.

The Cliffstalker. A special transformation type adaptation given to those who have taken a life in SAO. Evolation apparently is able to read the data on SAO avatars and what they've done, and murderers are given this form that's the perfect killer in a cliff like terrain or to approach an unsuspecting player and kill them before they realize what just happened. These monsters of Laughing Coffin have it, as do myself. It's basically the perfect appearance for us.

My running soon switched to me scaling the rocky wall with absolute easy and speed while dragging my foe along, keeping his face against the stone. I rocketed up the wall at such a speed that everything was a blur to my eyes before I leaped into the air.

The Laughing Coffin member was groaning weakly at this point, and I can see that his health bar was almost in the red. Obviously, he has focused on endurance a fair amount, since I knew that that usually such physical abuse did a bit more damage than that. Still, I wasn't planning to kill him. I arched my tail upwards as the stinger at the end punctured his back, and I can see the paralysis symbol appear next to his health gauge, noticing that my venom has kicked in.

I grabbed the LC member with both hands as we both started to fall. I landed on the upper edge of the top with my foe in hand, ensuring that he didn't die.

"Go on, kill me." he taunted. "You're already a killer, so what's wrong with taking one more life?"

I growled before dropping him away from the edge.

"I am not giving you what you want, murderer." I hissed before transforming back to my human form.

The rules of this game was simple, the players, or Rebels of Paradiso, are to locate and either incapacitate or kill the twenty Generals of Inferno, seven of which are members of Laughing Coffin. The Generals are scattered amongst the realm of Purgatorio, a gigantic continent that consists of forty territories of various terrains. I learned though that there's a few more of those LC bastards who work underneath them as assassins and scouts, like the one I've just captured.

The brief tutorial that we were forced to complete revealed that the skills we had in SAO were carried over, though for weapon based skills, that was reset completely, mainly because there was a larger variety to choose from. Tonfa, crossbows, chain sickles, and boomerangs were just a few of the countless new weapons to use.

However, there was one new feature that was obvious that every Rebel needed to master quickly, Adaptation Input. Players all have this ability to adopt traits of enemy monsters they slay after a certain amount. It can range from night vision to unleashing a stench worse than a skunk's, flying to being amphibious. Even impossible abilities like breathing ice to telekinesis can be obtained. I personally have only obtain two, Sonic Bellow and Danger Sensitivity.

Each Rebel can acquire only five adaptations and they're permanent once obtained, although we are able to choose whether or not to keep an acquired ability upon gaining it. However, one can unlock a special form if the five special traits compliment each other, allowing one to transform into a beast like form called a "Daemon" . Evolation unfortunately gives the killers an unfair advantage with the Cliffstalker as an alternate Daemon transformation.

As for the players who joined in order to escape reality, they were indeed giving ingame immortality as promised, and they've became what was called "Liminals". They were simply humans with additional animal appendages. They didn't look grotesque at all compared to the few Daemon forms I've seen, rather they look like what catgirls look like in anime, but with other animals as well. Liminals are incapable to fighting or venture outside of towns, though they can warp from town to town at will. Torakage empathized that even if the players won, the Liminals will not come out, as they've chosen to abandon the real world of their own free will. He also said that any players can change their mind and become a Liminal if they wish to remain.

I had to admit, this guy made certain that those who joined were of their own free will, so no one could say they were forced against their will to join, unlike in SAO. Still… Why did we decide to join another death game? Why did I choose to act when I was a coward in SAO for my crime when that email came?

I could be just lying to myself with saying that I'm doing this to repent, when I'm actually just running. I don't know, but it doesn't matter right now. I'll deal with that when I cross that bridge.

I knelt down beside the scout and opened up my menu to bring out a red sphere with a black moon inside it. The Blood Moon Spheres were basically Evolation's version of teleport crystals, but were rarer to obtain, as they had to be crafted, despite players getting three at the start for free.

"Teleport: Awara Crystal Fortress." I announced before placing the sphere onto his chest as he began screaming in fear.

Awara Crystal Fortress was the main hub for the players and the home base of the Rebels of Arawa guild, and also the worst place for player killers, as it acts as an inescapable prison to anyone who has killed someone, whether it's in Evo or SAO. I leapt back just as the scout turned into a red light that immediately dissipated after the Blood Moon Sphere activated.

I know I could never step foot in that place, but it doesn't matter. I need to accomplish what I was here to do…

Thank you for checking out Evolation Online. I hope you've enjoyed it and I apologize about any typos and spelling mistakes present, since this story doesn't have a Beta at this time.

I had this story in mind for a while to be honest, but it was totally different than the way it is. For the record, NONE of the canon SAO characters will be appearing, as in no Kirito or Asuna. This is an entirely OC-centric story after all. Speaking of which, this story will be focused on more than the character that's currently called "The Wolf of Midnight." In fact, he's not even the main protagonist. I have a totally different character in mind for that role. Also, I just want to point out that I'm working on two other stories, so updates will be slow.

If you're interested in submitting an OC, there's a few things to keep in mind.

1. Your character cannot have any relation to canon characters. So no being friends or family with Kirito and company. The closest that will be accepted is that the character was a front line fighter in SAO, but only had very limited interaction with the canon characters.

2. Your character can't be uber powerful if they're going to be a Rebel. Everyone is going to start off weak. The Wolf of Midnight does has an unfair advantage, but so does Laughing Coffin. IF your character is to be a killer from SAO, then they'll have the Cliffstalker Daemon form.

3. Just about anything could happen in this story. And this can extend to your character. This also is applied to Liminals, though they won't die. Depending on how it goes, the rating may go up later.

4. Be warned that romance will possibly be across the spectrum. So don't complain if there's Yaoi (gay) or Yuri (lesbian) pairings present . However, I'll only do such pairings if there are compatible OC's in terms of orientation.

5. I will greatly prefer receiving OC Submissions through PM over one in a review if possible, in order to avoid any spoilers if I decide to use your character(s). I'll accept ones in reviews if it's an anonymous review, but PLEASE make sure you have SOME KIND OF TITLE that I can address you by. It's for the OC disclaimers and I want to make sure to give proper credit for your character.

Here's the outline you need to fill out for each OC submission.

Avatar Name:

Age:

Gender:

Avatar Appearance:

Personality:

Bio:

Reason for joining Evolation:

SAO Frontline Fighter? :

Open to romance?:

Orientation:

Liminal or Rebel: (If Liminal, Ignore the rest except Extra)

Weapon: (No Dual Wielding weapons but some weapons will come in pairs like gauntlets, twin hooks, and tonfa for example. also, no guns)

Adaptations : ( Won't have all available at your character's debut, but will gain them as the story progresses. If the five are seen as compatible to me, I'll come up with a suitable Daemon form for your character, but will consult with you for details. Also teleporting abilities will be different compared to teleporting with Blood Moon Spheres, and any immortality abilities will have some weakness that can be fatal.)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Killed someone in SAO? :

Allegiance: (More factions may appear later, and you can choose only one)

Hunters of Purgatorio (Those who want to stop Laughing Coffin at any cost.)

Rebels of Awara (Those that want answers about Torakage's motives.)

Laughing Coffin

Eaters of Sin (Those who act upon desires, no matter what they are.)

Solo

Extra: (anything important you want to mention about your character that wasn't covered?)

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Otherwise, I hope to see you all next time.