Hello, my name is Chikage! Welcome to my Sword Art Online fanfiction, Phantom Blade, starring 5 (and more) of my own OCs! I will make changes in plotlines, and I'll make sure to tell you before hand when that does happen. Also, I trust that you've read or watched or associated with the original in any way, shape, or form, because a lot of things are from the original. Without further ado, please enjoy!

*Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online or anything except my own characters and the plotline!

Another disclaimer: I don't own the picture, either. It's temporary.

Chapter 1: Boss Raid Meeting
"Hmm, this isn't half bad, really. And here I thought this would be just another crappy, boring game."

Upon being stuck inside the virtual reality Sword Art Online, this was the only reaction that «Tsubasa» had. People might look at him like he's insane, but frankly, "the real world is boring"—this was how he had been feeling while purchasing the VRMMORPG «Sword Art Online», also called SAO. So upon hearing that the log out function had been disabled, hearing that you could actually die in the game, hearing that to return to the real world all 100 floors of the floating castle «Aincrad» had to be cleared; all this stirred up every ounce of excitement in his body and made him feel thrilled, on the contrary to what everyone else thought.

Two months into the game, and the first floor was still left uncleared. Two thousand people had died already. Passing 100 floors seemed impossible.

But he didn't care about that.

While countless players were trying their luck at finding the first floor boss, Tsubasa was walking towards Starting Town checking the loot he had received from a high level quest.

"Hey, Tsu-chan!"

"I told you not to call me that before, Argo. Do you want to be killed?"

The information broker «Argo» was met by a poison needle to her throat the moment she appeared next to him cheerfully, and she stiffened. The whiskers drawn on her face were as apparent as usual.

"You're as impeccable as ever, Tsu-cha—er, I mean, Tsubasa."

Tsubasa shrugged and placed the poison needle back into his bag, closing his menu tabs. "So, what do you want this time?"

"I brought some rather interesting information. Want to hear it?"

"Not at all."

Argo sighed. "Out of all of my customers, you're the only one who has no interest in whatever I say, Tsu-chan. Seriously, what is going on in that brain of yours?"

"Is that all you came here to say?"

"Well, I guess I'll say it anyway. I picked up some information on the first floor boss—"

"Ah, is that so."

"Hey, at least hear me out to the end!"

"Yeah, yeah, you can just run your mouth."

"Anyway, they found out the location of the boss room, and there's a gathering of players for a raid in an attempt to clear the first floor. I've also published a guidebook for it. You should go check it out."

"Why? I have zero interest in clearing floors."

"Hmmm…" Argo's lips curled upwards in a smirk, and Tsubasa glanced at her skeptically.

"Don't look at me with that perverted face. It's creepy."

"Wha—what's a 'perverted face'?!" Argo demanded. "You're probably tired of all the quests on the first floor, aren't you? The faster the first floor boss is cleared the more you'll have to explore."

"Isn't it the more you'll have to explore?" Tsubasa retorted.

"Uu…" Argo flinched when his point hit the mark. "Anyway, you should check it out!"

She ran forward a couple of steps before pausing and turning around again as she remembered something.

"Tsu-chan!" She yelled loudly, much to Tsubasa's irritation. "If you do check it out, there's one more thing I have to warn you about!"

"I said I won't," Tsubasa said bluntly, but she wasn't listening.

Argo's voice lowered and her words were carried away by the wind, but Tsubasa could read her lips perfectly, even from a ten meter distance.

"Be careful of the leader. I heard his name means the Devil."

Then she used a Hiding Skill and blended into the surroundings, vanishing in the distance.

Tsubasa sighed. "The second floor, huh…"

A moment of silence.

Then—

"Yeah, no. I don't want to after all. Now, how much should I sell this for…?"

SAO: Phantom Blade

"Hmm, so the first floor boss has been discovered?"

Standing in Starting Town at an information center, a girl with the screen name «Misaka» frowned to herself as she stood in front of an information booth. Her raven black hair had been forcefully returned by the game system and was tied in two low ponytails only slightly longer than her shoulders with cute red ribbons. She wore simple red and black clothing without any armor of any kind, her black ruffled skirt brushing against her thighs. A black cloak covered her upper body, the large hood dipping over her eyes. Her short heels clicked as she walked through the streets.

Her blue eyes burned with fury.

Wait for me, Emina. I'll avenge you.

She stormed through Starting Town in a tornado, leaving people instinctively moving away from her when she passed by, due to her strong murderous aura. She gripped the kodachi* sheathed at her side tightly.

I'll destroy the last boss and clear this game. I swear it.

Misaka entered the meeting area.

"Hello!" A blue-haired man smiled at her politely the moment she stepped through the threshold. "Are you here for the first-boss clearing party?"

Misaka simply bobbed her head once.

"That's great—"

"Oi, Diavel-san, it's a girl," Another man complained as he stalked up to them, hands on his hips crossly. "Are you sure she'll be of any help?"

"We don't have that sort of prejudice here," The leader, Diavel, said quickly when Misaka's hand instinctively flew to the hilt of her kodachi. "Let's all get along and clear the first floor, all right?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm not going to be stuck babysitting a little girl—"

In a slow but fast silent movement, the girl moved across the space between them with little resistance against the air, causing no sound or attention as she was suddenly standing next to the man with her kodachi placed perpendicularly at his neck.

Her kodachi was called «Amano Maihime». It had been a present from Emina when she first entered the game. It was a short sword with a wide and slightly curved blade shape, the center shaded a dark blue and the edges tinted silver. It was a truly beautiful sword.

"I'm sorry. Did you say something?"

Her voice was soft but harsh, emotionless but murderous; her eyes were narrowed calmly but mercilessly.

The man swallowed.

To him, the only thing he had seen was her entire figure vanish before she suddenly stood before him like she had appeared from thin air.

He could only give one meek reply.

"I-I'm sorry."

Misaka lowered her kodachi and hesitated before sheathing it at her side, turning her back on the man and approaching the leader with a bow. "I apologize for getting violent."

"No problem, no problem," Diavel grinned cheerfully. "We shouldn't be judgmental against girls, anyway."

"True."

Diavel sweatdropped when she agreed without hesitation.

"Well, make yourself at home. We'll be starting shortly."

"Thank you."

Misaka turned and headed towards the large rows of seats, scanning them briefly before stepping towards the empty corner.

"Ah, you!"

The kodachi-wielder turned with her head tipped slightly, pointing at herself.

Diavel nodded. "Did you pick up a manual by any chance? The one up for free at the items shop."

Misaka thought briefly before nodding.

"That's good." Diavel smiled. "Incidentally, how much would you be willing to sell that sword of yours for?"

"Not for sale."

Misaka turned immediately with a toss of her long hair and a small "hmph!" as she went over to the audience seats and sat down by herself in the corner.

Diavel sighed and scratched his head. Well, I suspected that'd happen. She doesn't look like much, but…

Misaka lowered her eyes slightly, her long eyelashes intruding on the upper half of her vision.

I guess they don't need to know that I'm a beta tester…

SAO: Phantom Blade

Misaka tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for the meeting to begin. Her blue eyes scanned the crowd of men gathered, each carrying a weapon of some sort. Most looked to be of a big, muscular build, but there were a couple of scrawny ones that she could pick out.

She sighed and muttered to herself, "This won't be any good. Each and every one of them—pathetic."

"Oi, what did you say just now, girlie?"

The man sitting in front of her scowled, breaking off midsentence as he overhead her. He turned around to face her, snarling and raising a sharp knife dangerously. His green eyes glared at her with anger and his hair stood up on an end.

"I said you're all pathetic," Misaka repeated bluntly, causing some other people around her to look over as well.

"Who do you think you are?" The man sneered, standing up and looming over her. "Perhaps I should teach you a lesson—!"

"Hey, you, no violence allowed!" Diavel called out to him, but it was too late.

The man's knife slashed forward, aiming for a nonfatal part of her body, but there was a sudden blur—

"Huh?" The man froze in shock when his blade hit air.

"Where were you aiming?"

The men all turned to see the girl standing on the top-most tier of the gathering ring, her blue eyes piercing through them from underneath her unmoved black hood. She had her hands on her hips crossly, and the red ribbons in her twintails still fluttered slightly from her sudden lightning-fast movement.

"How…?" The man was speechless.

"See what I mean?" Misaka said irritably. "Pathetic."

With this, she tossed her head before turning on her heel and stalking off.

"Hold it right there!" The man demanded, unequipping his knife and grabbing his sword from its sheath.

"No way," Misaka scoffed, giving a small flit of her hand. "I'm not into fighting weaklings."

"Why you—!"

The girl wasn't listening though. The moment the words left her mouth, her expression darkened and her feet stopped midstep. The man who had been approaching her froze when she suddenly emitted a murderous aura. He flinched when she moved her hand, but she didn't draw her kodachi—instead, she bit down on her thumbnail sharply.

The crowd around her dispersed quickly when her bloodlust only increased.

Crap. I said something unnecessary again. No wonder people often tell me my words are honest to a fault. My filter sucks. Well, nothing to do about it. It's the truth, anyway.

She sighed and continued walking. Her murderous aura vanished, and she pulled her tall high-heel boots over the bench to plop down on the top-most tier. Her blue eyes held a glint of annoyance.

It's no wonder that no one likes me.

By this time, her bloodlust had returned, and the crowd inched away slowly.

"Um…are you all right?"

She blinked in surprise when a boy's voice was directed towards her, glancing in front of her to see a teenage boy her age looking at her with a slightly sheepish smile.

Compared to the rest of the crowd, he would be what she considered scrawny. He was thin and somewhat good-looking, with raven black hair similar to hers (but his seemed to be unbrushed) and similar dark eyes. He had a simple clothing, with a blue long-sleeve sweater like shirt and long, tight-fitting black pants. Fingerless black gloves covered the palms of his hands. A relatively high-level sword hung at his waist, which caught Misaka's eyes immediately, but she quickly turned her gaze back to his.

"You mean me?"

"Yeah," The boy looked slightly confused at her surprise, but he smiled anyway. "I mean, that was a bit harsh, but they didn't have to attack you like that."

"You're pretty blunt yourself," Misaka commented. She glanced upwards towards and his green color cursor came up, but nothing else did. She was really hating this whole name blocking system—it was the only way that she could differentiate people when she was talking.

"Eh, you think so?" The boy blinked.

Misaka let out a small giggle on impulse. Which is worse—knowing your faults with speech and not being able to correct it, or not knowing there is one at all?

The boy let out another sheepish grin that matched hers, and then his expression turned serious just as quickly. "So you're here to clear the first floor as well…?"

Misaka blinked. "Oh, you can call me Misaka."

"Alright. Nice to meet you, Misaka-san, I'm Kirito."

Kirito held out his hand, and Misaka was slightly hesitant as she took it, but he grabbed her hand anyway and shook it with a knowing smile.

"Please drop the honorific," Misaka corrected, pulling her hand back quickly. "Frankly, it sounds weird."

"Understood. So you're here to clear the first floor as well, Misaka?"

"Yeah."

"…I see."

Misaka said nothing more, and Kirito didn't press on it either. His dark eyes glanced around curiously, and then he spotted another girl with a red cloak almost identical to Misaka's black one covering her face sitting by herself not far away from them, and turned to Misaka.

"Should we go say hi?"

"Are you trying to hit on girls?" Misaka asked bluntly before she could stop herself.

Kirito blinked once before blushing slightly. "No—that's not what I—I mean, it looks like she's alone, so—and plus, we'll probably have to get into parties, anyway—"

"I didn't mean it," Misaka looked away and muttered. "You're just meddlesome."

"Probably," Kirito had nothing to say to this, as it was pretty much true.

There was a moment of awkward silence, and then Misaka finally heaved a sigh and stared into Kirito's eyes, commanding, "Go talk to her. I'll wait here."

"You're not going to come with me?"

"I'm not good at conversation starters with strangers."

"I guess so…" Kirito thought before standing and heading towards the girl in the red cloak. "Then I'll be going…"

"Just go already."

The moment he left, she leaned forward into her hands, resting her elbows on her knees and stating flatly for the people around her to hear, "If you have something you want to say to me, then say it to my face. Your staring is unnerving."

"What, you chicken?" A man nearby sneered at her.

"No way. Any girl would feel the same if she had a bunch of perverted old geezers staring at her body."

Misaka stuck her fingers in her ears as this sent the other players into a ferocious fury.

"Who the hell are you calling perverted old geezers?!"

"Do you want to die, you brat?!"

"Diavel-han! What's a girl like her doing here anyway?!"

Misaka rolled her eyes, keeping her fingers firmly inside her ears. Did I say something unnecessary again? I just said the truth.

"All right, calm down!"

Diavel's voice rang out, and everyone quietly immediately as he clapped his hands twice to get their attention. All of the players sat back down in their seats (some reluctantly) and turned to face him, each with a serious and determined expression.

Kirito stopped talking with the girl, his face becoming solemn as he faced Diavel. The girl cloaked in red didn't even lift her head as she listened closely. A large man sitting in the back turned his mouth down grimly as he listened with crossed arms. The man that had tried to stab Misaka scowled as he turned around, his spiky hair standing up on end.

Misaka's blue eyes narrowed sharply. It's finally begun, Emina-chan. Wait for me…

"Tch."

Standing in the shadow of the wall and hidden from everyone's view (even more so with all the players' eyes on Diavel), a teenager made a small noise of irritation. He stuck his hand in his pocket carelessly, his dark purple eyes (so dark they could be mistaken for black) watching over the meeting in boredom.

Diavel smiled kindly and raised his hand to greet the silence.

"Let's begin the meeting."

*Kodachi: Short Sword

A/N: This is just a trial chapter for now, to decide whether or not I should keep posting this. I was writing it yesterday, and I just couldn't not post it, so I posted it, but I'll see if I should keep it up, so do review what you thought of the chapter! It was kind of uneventful, but we're only leading up to the good stuff right now. I hope to see you again on Phantom Blade!

~Chikage

A small preview:

Chapter 2: Beta Tester or Not?

Misaka finds herself in a party with Kirito and the mysterious hooded girl, but trouble awaits her when a loud-mouthed man accuses beta testers in the meeting! Who is this mysterious boy standing in the shadows and why is he here?