Sword Art Online.
The Guilty Hero´s Rescue.
Chapter one – Prologue
I have been kept here against my will for three months now. In Alfheim Online. It´s another virtual game for the Nervegear. And ever since I escaped Sao I have been stuck in here. It´s been three months since I killed Kayaba and beat Sao. Three months since I saw my beloved Asuna for the last time. Or what I at least thought to be the last time. As I had been fighting with Kayaba it had, for a brief moment, seemed like I would win. I knew that Kayaba was the one designing the Dual Wield skill, and all its sword skills. So I knew I had to win without using sword skills and it seemed like I would win. But I made a terrible mistake. A mistake that would take my most special someone away from me. In the battle, Kayaba had managed to scratch my cheek with the tip of his sword, which threw me into a fit of rage. This rage blinded me, and made forget everything about strategies and not using sword skills. The only thing I could think of was to kill the man who had hurt so many innocent people. The man who had destroyed friendships and families because of his own lust for control. The man who had killed more than 3000 players with this death game. In this blinding rage I felt in my chest I activated my best skill, " Starburst Stream". Only then I realized what terrible mistake I had done. Kayaba had a self-satisfied smirk on his face as he blocked every single one of my attacks with the greatest of ease. I knew his defenses were too strong, so as the cooldown-timer began to tick to 0, I closed my eyes and accepted my destiny. I would now join all the people I had been at fault for dying. Diabel, The Moonlit Black Cats, Sachi. I don't know if I was sad that I would leave Asuna´s side, or I was happy because I now had a chance to finally say sorry to Sachi. I just know I closed my eyes as Kayaba said the words I thought would be the last I ever heard "farewell Kirito-kun "as he activated his simplest skill and lunged towards me. " Asuna " I whispered " farewell my love " as I opened my eyes. But to my horror, what I saw at that moment was not Kayaba´s sword impaling me, but slashing at the figure of a young chestnut-haired girl standing in front of me and taking the damage. It was Asuna. The girl on which my mind had been set ever since the murder mystery of The Golden Apple Guild. The girl I had teamed up with several times since the first floor boss. The girl I ended up raising a child with, and despite the fact we were trapped in a death game, having a lot of fun times together with. And now she was here. Defending me from certain death, sealing her own destiny. Sacrificing her own life for me to live mine. There was a soft crunching sound as Kayaba´s blade made its way through her virtual flesh, from her right shoulder and across her chest and waist, and to her left hip. A soft moan escaped her lips as she stumbled back, her HP gauge quickly making its way to 0. I could do nothing but stare in absolute terror, as the love of my life fell into my arms. I looked down at her beautiful face, tears creeping to the corners of my eyes as I desperately called out to her "No Asuna… please don't leave me… " tears ran down my face as waterfalls as she weakly smiled up at me, and on the verge of death managed to whisper "I'm sorry… goodbye "a single tear escaping her eyes before she glowed brightly and exploded in a horrible, yet beautiful sea of glass-like light blue polygons. I grabbed out after each beautiful polygon, in desperation for her to come back, to feel her warmth of her body when I hugged her close. I just needed to hear her beautiful laugh one more time. But to no avail. I knew somewhere deep in my heart that she was gone forever. And it pained me to even think the thought to end. In complete hopelessness I fell to my knees, screaming out my beloved's name, as I hit the ground in abject misery, crying loudly as my tears hit the ground with soft plops. But what replaced my despair and hopelessness with anger and fury, was what Kayaba said next "well that was unexpected. I didn´t know you could neutralize paralysis yourself. Maybe a game glitch? "I growled at his words and looked at him with absolute fury in my eyes " ARE YOU TAKING THIS AS A GAME?! MY WIFE JUST DIED YOU ASSHOLE! "His arrogant smirk was replaced by, first an expression of surprise, then one of anger. He was clearly not used to being talked to with big words, being the leader of the strongest guild of the strongest guild of all of Aincrad "Shut your mouth boy! Now are we going to fight or what!? "His complete arrogance and carelessness towards what just happened only enraged me even more. My mind draw a complete blank as thoughts of Asuna and sorrow, were replaced with thoughts of how much I would enjoy seeing Kayaba suffer for what he had done. It was at this moment I saw Lambent Light, Asuna´s rapier, lie on the ground next to me. My face turned from anger to surprise, then back to anger, as I quickly grabbed Lambent Light and got to my feet, before Kayaba could have a chance to finish me off. "I have to win this battle. For everyone here. Im gonna avenge Asuna "I whispered to myself before staring into Kayaba´s eyes " FOR ASUNA! " I yelled at the top of my lungs, releasing the infamous war cry I had been known for throughout Aincrad, before launching at him with few hesitations and blinding speed. In the next millisecond I was fighting him just like I did before, but my actions and moves were quicker, and my attacks much more aggressive and powerful. I knocked kayaba back several times with jab after jab of Lambent Light, before slashing countless of times upon his shield with my Elucidator. For each attack and the more exhausted I became, the more desperate my war cries sounded. Kayaba had gone all out now too, and didn´t plan to go down easily. He smirked evilly as he duck behind his shield, and used every opening he had to deplete my HP. After around 10 minutes of constant attack and defending, we were both in the red zone. We had both only managed to get small jabs and slashes in on each other, which meant every time we actually managed to hurt each other, it would only take away so much of our HP gauge. As the battle calmed down a bit we both stood at one side of the room, panting violently and staring each other down. At this moment, flashbacks of what I had experienced throughout Sword Art Online ran through my head, almost like a film. Pictures of Sachi, The Moonlit black Cats in the inn, the moment my whole guild was killed off, the night under the fir tree and my battle with the Christmas inspired boss, how I left Klein behind after learning the effects of the revival item, the day I made Asuna cook me Ragout Rabbit stew, our first kiss, my proposal to her, and our week in our small cottage on floor 22. All these memories flooded into my mind as I stood there, waiting for an opening to kill Kayaba. I smiled sadly and let a tear run down my cheek, as I yelled out one last time, and used the final bits of my strength on an all-out attack on Kayaba. I screamed from the top of my lungs as I stabbed, jabbed and slashed at Kayaba, managing to knock his shield back " this is it! " I said and smirked. But as I was about to deal the final blow my smirk was cut short as I felt a slight irritation in my abdomen, and as I looked down I realized that Kayaba had somehow managed to slash a big wound in my abdomen when he was knocked back. My vision began to fade and all I could see was the red polygons waving up from my wound, and a faint vision of his arrogant stance, smirking as the "You Are Dead "message appeared on my HUD. I faintly closed my eyes and fell backwards, my back hitting the ground and dispersing into hundreds and hundreds of polygons. But as the polygons started to disappear and I almost fell into unconsciousness, I remembered some of my wife´s final words to me " I believe in you Kirito-kun " in that moment before death I felt a strong fealing of will growing in my chest, and the next thing I saw, was a bright golden light. And I realized as I opened my eyes once again, that I was still standing on my feet, holding Lambent Light in my left hand. "not yet… " Kayaba stepped back in surprise and to my happiness, lowered his guard. I smirked slightly as I slowly stepped forward towards him and raised Lambent Light in pure protest against the system which was supposed to kill me " not yet… " as I positioned Lambent Light I let out one final desperate war cry, and plunged forward, stabbing kayaba right through the abdomen. He stepped back slightly and gasped as he felt the cold steal through his stomach, and closed his eyes, leaning lifelessly upon the rapier who had saved all of Aincrad " we did it.. " I said as I smiled weakly down at Lambent Light, its blue crystal giving of a faint shine. I smiled and gave off a faint sigh as I finally gave in to the system and disappeared in a golden light. The last thing I heard before leaving, was Klein, tearfully crying out my name "KIRITOOOOO! "
For around a minute I did nothing but wait. Wait for my end to come. Waiting to die. But as I had waited long enough my curiosity got the better of me and I slowly opened my eyes. As I opened them to my surprise, I was somewhere I never had seen before "huh? Where am i? "I looked around a bit, but the only things around me were clouds, a see-through platform at my feet, and a couple of dragon-like creatures flying through, what i first thought were heaven. But then I looked down and saw the floating castle in the sky Aincrad, and I realized where I was. I opened my menu, and as I had expected, instead of my equipment slots and character stats, I only saw a timer, around 50 % done. "Initiating final face. Please stand by "I sighed a little and closed my menu, looking down upon Aincrad from above, as I heard a voice from behind me " Kirito-kun? " I widened my eyes in surprise and gasped a little, as I could recognize that voice anywhere. I slowly turned to see my beautiful wife Asuna, standing before me in her so familiar KoB uniform. Silence. The wind flicked some of my hair up in my face but I didn´t care. I only had my focus on Asuna "Asuna?! " I looked at her shocked for a moment but then smiled sadly and looked down " im sorry. It seems I was killed too " she smiled at me sadly and a tear crept up in her eye as she responded " idiot.. Baka… "As we looked at each for a moment she started sprinting towards me, I stretched out my arms and caught her in my grasp, as she pulled my face close to hers. I smiled slightly before sharing a deep and passionate kiss with her, which for me only seemed to last a second or two. As we broke apart I smiled sadly and hugged her close as I took her hand in mine "where are we? " she asked curiously as she looked around. I did nothing but silently point down upon the Aincrad castle, which had now began to crack, and pulverize mid-air. I gasped and frowned as I saw my family´s cottage fall and get deleted, alongside the rest of the Sword Art Online universe. I frowned a little and sighed, just as I heard a familiar voice from beside us. It was none other than Kayaba Akihiko. "It's beautiful isn´t it? "He asked with a smile. I simply nodded slowly and looked at him, Asuna asking "what is happening to Aincrad? " Kayaba took a quick glanse at us before looking back at the more and more destroyed virtual world "The servers at the company are deleting any data related to Sword Art Online. Now that the game has been beaten there is no reason to let it run anymore is there? " I nodded slowly and looked down at the Aincrad, which I had lived two years of my life in " what about the players who survived? " he looked at me and gave me an ensuring smile " don't worry. When you beat the game every last survived player was forced to log out of the game by the system. Anyone surviving the game will return home. For those who didn´t, they will never come back. No matter in which world you die, you´re dead. "I nodded and sighed "oh and by the way Kirito-san, Asuna-san. Congratulations on completing the game. "I smiled a little and sighed "why did so many people have to suffer? Why did you create this world? "He sighed and looked up into the sky as if wondering "I don't know. I seem to have forgotten a long time ago. I just know I always dreamed about flying to a giant iron castle in the sky "I frown a little as I didn´t understand, but I just nodded and looked down at what was left of Aincrad, which was almost completely gone by now. I frowned as the tip of Aincrad cracked and fell, soon disappearing forever. Kayaba sighed and looked at us "well I think it´s time to go. Until I see you again "as he disappeared into thin air. I sighed and looked over at my beloved with a slight smile as we sat down at the edge of the see-through platform, snuggling up to each other as we shared another passionate and long-lasting kiss. We knew that the time was neigh, but we just wanted to stay together a little longer. I suddenly burst out into tears and looked down "I'm sorry Asuna. I promised I would send you back to reality. I promised you. Bit i…I... "She smiled a little and tears began to form in the corners of her eyes as she gently caressed my cheek, making me look up into her eyes "It's okay Kirito-kun. I'm happy I chose to put on my Nervegear that day. I'm happy I got to live these two years in here. This was destiny and I'm happy to have met you. I'm so happy. I love you. Thank you "she finished as tears rolled down her cheeks, a wide and cheering smile forming on her beautiful face. This only made me cry louder and suddenly hug her close, putting my forehead on hers as I cried. "Before we disappear tell me your real name "she said as she looked into my eyes. I sobbed a little and wiped off my tears as I smiled sadly " my name is Kazuto Kirigaya. I think I turned 16 last month "she smiled wide and nodded " Kazuto huh? So you´re younger than me. I'm Yuuki Asuna. I´m 17. "She said as more tears welled up in both our eyes, we hugged each other close, sharing a last passionate kiss and outing our foreheads together, as a blinding white light filled the sky. And the next moment, I could no longer feel Asuna in my arms, and everything was pitch black. I couldn´t even see my palm If I stretched it out in front of me. " am I… dead? " I thought to myself as I suddenty got stricken with surprise as I saw a blinding the light. The next thing I knew, I was somewhere I had never seen before. The room was cold and damp, probably crawling with insects and other animals. It mostly looked like a prison of some kind. I tried to move but to my surprise, I was chained tightly to the walls, and couldn´t move a muscle. I frowned a little and looked around " what the hell?! " I tried to unchain myself but it was to no avail. I was stuck for good. Right then and there I heard an evil laughter from somewhere outside the room I was in " huh? " I decided to keep quiet until I had eyes on my kidnapper. The wooden door to my room opened slowly, and in came a man I had never seen before. Besides from the crazy look in his eyes he didn´t look all that threatening. I found the fact that he had wings the most surprising. Green and shaped like those of a butterfly´s. I would almost have found it funny if it wasn´t for the fact that the guy kept me prisoner somewhere. I growled lightly at him and yelled " Who are you!? What do you want from me!? And how the hell did I survive Sao?! " he simply smirked and pulled out a dagger from his waist belt " Don´t worry. All your questions will soon be answered "
- Back to present time, Kazuto POV -
That was three months ago. The last three months has been a hell. Every day the man who kept me prisoner, would torture me, and take screenshots of his doing. I don´t know why Oberon (that´s what he likes to call himself) would take me prisoner and begin torturing me all of a sudden. Every time I ask a question he simply laughs and continues whatever he is doing to me, whether it´s torturing me or something else. But I managed to get one little detail out of him. Asuna is still alive and well, in the real world. She is under her rehab and she is doing well. That small info is the one thing that keeps me going. Knowing she is well and going. I do not know what Oberon´s intention is, but im going to find out. Sooner or later.