Sword Art Online: Desert Army

Secured

«»

Out of the corner of Kazuto's vision, a blur of red hair and a bandana slid onto the stool to his right followed by a rough hand to the shoulder.

"Oh, come on man. You don't have to be so mopey. It was only a matter of time with you two anyway." Ryotaro commented.

Kazuto sighed and gazed down at his loosely clasped hands. "Y-yeah, I guess."

Agil finished wiping down the glass nestled in his hands and set it down gently. "So are you two going to continue chatting, or are you planning to order something?" He asked, approaching the two from his spot behind the bar.

Ryotaro gave a wave of the hand and removed his other from the sulking teen's shoulder, "I dunno, surprise me."

The tall man behind the counter nodded and turned to Kazuto.

"Bourbon on the Rocks." The swordsman replied with an exasperated breath.

A few moments later, a glass slid across the bar's surface and slowed to a stop in front of Kazuto's hands. He looked down for a second before picking of the glass of brown liquid. Taking a sip, the bitter but flavorful taste sated his thirst but a hint of disappointment graced his face in the form of a frown.

"Unsweetened Iced-tea. You may be a good friend but I'm still not serving a minor any kind of alcohol." Agil deadpanned as he began stirring together a second drink.

Ryotaro's brown eyes glanced at the black-clad teen next to him, his careful gaze taking in his friend's depressing appearance and lack of attention. They've known each other for nearly 3 years now, and he always liked to pride himself with knowing what's going on in that kid's head.

This time was no exception.

"Ah hell, let's get this over with." The young adult groaned as he rolled his shoulders, acting as if he was preparing to engage a Titan in hand-to-hand combat. With the current situation, maybe that would be the best option for the combat addicted teen anyway. Kazuto always seemed to enjoy watching Ryotaro get his ass handed to him by a couple of mini-bosses.

Maybe later.

With a baited breath, Ryotaro's eyes caught Agil's nod to continue. "Talk about it. Tell me what happened. I can be your counselor for today."

Kazuto swirled the iced-tea in his glass as he looked down into the vortex with an empty gaze. "It's nothing to worry about. Asuna and I have come to terms with it. Heck, we've probably already known this day was coming ever since we got together after SAO."

He stopped the movement of his drink in favor of taking a sip before continuing.

"Ever since we did that, we both noticed that we just weren't getting along like we did in-game. I don't know why, or…maybe I do but just don't want to admit it." Kazuto's onyx eyes drifted to Ryotaro's before snapping back to his glass and continuing, "I guess we just…drifted apart. After a while, things slowed down to the point of barely getting together at all during the span of each week. And finally, last weekend, she called me and asked if we could meet."

His black hair shifted as her shook his head and gave a faint chuckle. "I guess I knew what she wanted to say. We both did. That's why we're still friends after that last meet up as a couple. I don't blame her, and she doesn't blame me. I actually feel kind of relieved, you know, with not worrying about being in a relationship."

"You're the only man with that kind of problem, you know that?" Ryotaro complained as he extended his hand, catching the sliding glass of his own drink.

"What do you mean?" Kazuto questioned, a look of honest confusion taking residence on his features.

Ah, sometimes I just wanna smother you with a pillow yah dense little bastard. Ryotaro threatened in his head and tightened his grip on his glass. His mind rushed through a scene of an accidental homicide during a pillow bar-fight, but he immediately wiped that thought from his head. Loosening his grip, he just sighed instead of taking action.

"You know what, never mind." His own features hardened exponentially after taking a swig of the alcoholic contents in his grip. "Gah, Agil! What the hell is this?!" Ryotaro exclaimed, hoisting his glass up in shock and disgust.

"What? You told me to surprise you…and I did." Agil chuckled as he poured the man a new cup of something simple. Whiskey.

"Now that's more like it!" The red-head remarked as he pushed his previous glass out of the way to make room for the new one.

Agil exchanged drinks with the now chipper man and emptied out the first concoction's contents into the nearby sink. The only two men in the bar were both fully aware of the small amused smirk that graced Kazuto's lips.

It's a start.

"You know what?" Ryotaro smirked, gaining the attention of the other occupants in the vacant bar. "Let's go check out that new desert region, just us guys. Maybe a little fighting will cheer yah up some more."

"You mean the new island that's been recently discovered in the west? Past Sylph territory?" Kazuto responded, his interest beginning to spike.

Ryotaro raised his glass and gestured to the boy clad in black, "Yup. That's the one."

The teen's pristine dark eyes glanced to his phone for confirmation on the time before downing the remains of his iced-tea.

"I'm in. We can scout it out tonight then get everyone together for some quests tomorrow." Kazuto offered after passing his empty glass of ice over to Agil. A similar second cup slid across the surface moments later.

"Yeah! It'll be a guy's night out! This'll be tons of fun!" The chipper red-head cheered as he stretched his arms behind his head, clasped fingers rested securely behind his head in a relaxed manor. "Agil, you in?"

Agil looked up from the running water in his sink before placing the two glasses underneath the warm flow. "Nah man, I've got a bar to run. Unlike you two, I have a stable job."

"Hey, some people just aren't so lucky." Ryotaro retorted, earning an amused chuckle from both Agil and Kazuto.

"That's fine. This unemployed failure of a lady's man and I can still do some scouting in new territory." Kazuto commented. Immediately after he cast that remark out, a heavy hand landed on his shoulder as the taller red-head used it to hoist himself off of the bar stool.

"Oi, you know that wasn't necessary." Ryotaro grunted in mock hurt as he stood up.

Kazuto shrugged off the man's hand and stood up soon after, "Yeah, but it was some much needed entertainment." He replied with a shrug of his shoulders and a smile on his face.

"Good to see you smiling again, I was getting worried." Agil announced from behind the bar with a slight laugh.

"Yeah, and it's good to see you getting customers again in this dump." Kazuto retorted, knowing full well that Agil's bar does fairly well despite being tucked away from the main streets.

"Still pumping out the blunt comments I see. Man, you never change." The bartender chuckled before giving the two a wave good-bye, "Now get out of my bar." He added in a friendly voice.

Ryotaro lifted his hand up and extended his fingers, "Yeah, I'll see yah tomorrow if you're in for some new quests."

"I'll think about it." Agil replied honestly. If he had time, he'll definitely join in on some much needed VR action. "Take care you two."

Kazuto gave a lazy wave over his shoulder as he walked toward the door. Ryotaro soon fell in line beside his friend and the two exited.

The teen shoved his hands into his long black coat's pockets. His slim figure took a second to readjust to the chill of the afternoon air. The extending tails of his coat kicked back slightly in the winter breeze, revealing a pair of black jeans and similarly black sneakers.

Ryotaro had a much less silent re-adjustment.

"Whoo, the temperature seriously dropped didn't it? I wasn't expecting it to cool so quickly. I mean, we are entering winter, but this is way too fast!" The red-head stated, wrapping his arms around his red coat hugging his upper body and shivering against the slight wind. His own worn blue jeans and brown boots illuminated in the fading light.

"We should get home quickly. I'll meet you at the GreenLeaf Inn over in Sylph territory. Try to be there within an hour. That should be enough time to log in and fly there." Kazuto informed, his breath visible in-between the two. With a quick 'see you later', he tucked his chin into the confines of his collar and began walking away.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll see you there." Ryotaro called out, watching as his friend began his solitary walk back home. After a few seconds, he turned and made his way toward his own apartment.

Kazuto let his breath waver slightly as he shook off the remains of the cold climate that lingered outside his front door.

"I'm home." He said, as he slipped out of his shoes and padded across the wooden floor toward the coat rack, where he hung up his black coat alongside his sister's dark green one.

Soon after his hands left the fabric of his winter jacket, the sound of feet roaming down the hallway upstairs echoed down to his ears.

He looked up past his bangs just in time to see his little sister, Suguha, bound down the stairs.

"Welcome home, Kazuto-kun!" She exclaimed. Her short, neck length black hair bounced around as she made her way down the steps. Dark grey eyes danced across Kazuto's form just as she landed at the base of the stairs. Her cute childish features only supported the 'younger sister' role she played in Kazuto's life.

Even if they weren't actually brother and sister, she still acts like it. Suguha was actually Kazuto's cousin. Having been adopted at a young age, Kazuto grew up with the fact of knowing where his true blood resided. His sister however, only found out during the 'Death Game' incident of Sword Art Online. Despite that disaster, the two cousins have grown quite close because of that. They've interacted as actual family, to an extent, for their entire lives so it's only natural to continue doing so.

Even if Kazuto is the only one who sees it that way.

"Thanks, Suguha-chan." He teased, unknowingly causing her face to flush red as he turned to look toward the kitchen.

I have some time before meeting up with Ryotaro. So I guess I can grab a bite to eat then head up. Kazuto thought out before making his way through the entrance into their shared kitchen.

"T-there's some rice and left-over curry from this morning in the fridge. You can have some of that if you're hungry." Suguha said, standing in the doorway with her hands clasped behind her back.

Kazuto nodded and took in what she stated, "Alright."

He made his way over to the fridge and opened it up. True to Suguha's words, a medium sized bowl of curry sat on the center shelf. Above it sat the extra chunks of rice from earlier within the confines of its own smaller bowl.

Kazuto pulled the two items into his grasp and kicked the weighted door closed. His strength has gone up quite a bit compared to how he was, physically, during rehab. It took some time, but measured food and plenty of exercise helped him get back into a healthy shape. Thankfully, everything worked out for almost all of the SAO survivors. They even put together a school to catch them all up on what they missed in those 2 years of being trapped in that game.

Or so they said. In all reality, Kazuto couldn't shake the feeling of it just being a place to spy on all the teens that were once a part of the most violent incident that wasn't considered an actual war. Pitting young people together in a 'life or death' situation was concerning to the majority of society. So, it was safe to assume that some of them may still have violent tendencies. So far, that theory has been proven wrong.

Grabbing a small plate from the cabinet and placing a decent sized helping of curry and rice onto it, Kazuto began reheating the contents in their microwave.

"Are you going to eat?" He asked kindly as he approached the left-over containers.

Suguha shook her head from her place in the doorway and made her way over to a seat at the kitchen table. "No thanks, I already ate. I didn't think you'd be back so late." She replied, placing her chin atop her interlaced fingers.

Is he still depressed? She asked herself as she watched her 'brother' re-seal the food containers and place them back in the fridge. He's acting slightly more cheerful than he was this morning, so that's definitely something to take note of.

"I have a meeting with Klein in about 26 minutes. We're going to scout out the new desert territory that's been discovered. Are you up for some questing tomorrow?" He informed after removing his now steaming meal from the confines of the microwave.

"Sure. I'm interested. Who else is joining?" She responded, watching as Kazuto looked up in thought as he approached his own seat.

"Well, Agil is a maybe right now. Klein is definitely in. If I know Shino-san like I think I do, she's probably in. Could you message her and the rest for me?" Kazuto requested, sitting himself down and looking across the table.

Suguha nodded and pulled out her tablet, soon she pulled up the contact information and opened up a group chat, "What time do you want everyone to be online by, and where?"

Kazuto tapped the wooden table idly and gave it a quick thought, "Just tell them to group up at the western docks over in Sylph territory and sail across the water. They'll find Klein and me at the nearest city in the new territory. If they start sailing at 10:00, they should reach us within an hour at the latest." He suggested.

Suguha smiled, realizing that the whole group was finally getting together again to do some dungeon clearing or even just completing a couple of quests. She didn't comment on his decision to let her inform Asuna about the plan, but she didn't blame him either.

She's just glad they didn't have a rough breakup. Actually, it went quite smoothly. Somehow, Kazuto and Asuna are still close friends. It vexes her mind at how lucky he can get when it comes to girls.

Kazuto smiled his thanks before looking down at his food, moments later his eye brows furrowed in realization.

"I forgot a spoon." He sighed.

The teen pushed himself back to his feet and made his way to the silverware drawer. Suguha's quiet giggling warmed the atmosphere ever so slightly, causing a smile to grow on Kazuto's face.

He swiftly grabbed a spoon and marveled at the fact that he didn't end up having to shuffle around in the small compartment to grasp one of the handles. He soon made his way back to the table and began digging into his now nicely heated dinner.

Kazuto ate in silence for a little while. The only sounds resonating off the kitchen walls were the clatter of metal against his plate and the typing Suguha was doing. After a few minutes, she finished messaging everyone and placed down her black tablet to look across the table.

"Isn't it weird?" She asked, confusing Kazuto.

"What's weird?" He replied before finishing off the last bites of his food.

"The fact that ALO hasn't updated. There was no official announcement, or any announcement at all. Someone just happened to sail out and find a massive island of sand and sandstone. You'd think someone would've discovered it before, right?" Suguha elaborated.

Kazuto placed down the spoon within his loose grip onto his plate and leaned back in thought. "Now that you mention it, it is pretty weird. Someone should have discovered an island that large by now. In fact, tons of people have gone sailing before and come back with nothing. For an island like that to pop up out of the blue, it's a little mysterious. Usually there'd be a reveal trailer for new land updates." He pondered in thought for a little while before shrugging his shoulders.

"Whatever it is, it's exciting and players are beginning to find out about it. So, we should check it out soon before the majority catch wind of the new region." The boy reasoned.

"Okay. Just…be careful. Most of that land is undiscovered, so we don't know what's out there." Suguha spoke quietly in a worried tone.

Kazuto gave her a warm smile and stood up, "You know me, I'm as careful as they come. Besides, I'm not going alone this time." He reassured her before dropping his dishes into the dishwasher and disappearing up the stairs.

"I hope so." She sighed under her breath, but she couldn't help but feel excited for what tomorrow holds. New land means new quests, and that will undoubtedly lead to fighting with Kazuto and the rest of her friends. These next few weeks are definitely going to be more fun than they've had in a long time.

Kazuto closed the door to his dim room and padded his way over to the bed. His eyes registered the existence of his Nerve Gear sitting idly on the shelf across the room. Countless memories resurfaced just from looking at its slightly battered and used shape.

After a few seconds, he turned his head away to look toward his bed. A new Amusphere was plugged in and placed lazily atop his pillow. Alfheim Online was already inserted, all he needed to do now is initiate the link.

The Nerve Gear was upgraded recently to the current model for VRMMORPG diving. Something about constantly using his old gear just didn't feel right to him. And this new machine was significantly safer as well, so there were tons of pros to upgrading.

Still, he couldn't stop himself from using the Nerve Gear every once in a while. It carried a sense of nostalgia with it, despite the events it's associated with.

Deciding to jump right in, he threw back his blanket and snuggled himself into the warm confines of his bed. Kazuto got into a comfortable position and let the comforter fall on top of his form. Reaching up, he grabbed the familiar object above him and nestled it into place around his head. The visor screen displayed the time as usual, it wasn't that late.

19:48

Plenty of time. He confirmed before tucking his arms beneath the blanket. His smile grew as he naturally let the initiation words slip out of his mouth.

"Link Start!"

Immediately, his vision faded into blackness and then everything grew white. Beams of an assortment of colors flew past his vision before English words of the five senses appeared and disappeared quickly, confirming his ability to play.

He swiftly logged himself in and enjoyed the feeling of loading up his character into the Virtual World.

Kirito opened his eyes to the site of a room to an Inn. Remembering where he logged out, he strolled out of the door and down the stairs into the main room of the building. Every piece of furniture in the Inn had a certain 'Sylph' design to them. Some focused on using a leaf style of architecture, or others just made of something wooden and natural.

It was still breath taking. Just the fact of being in a new, beautiful world was amazing.

Few players roamed around the Inn, some just entering while others sat idly at the tables throughout the main room. The friendly NPC behind the bar gave him a quick wave before resuming cleaning glasses. Everything about this place was warm and inviting. Not just that, it was also near the outskirts of the city and out of the way. So it's the perfect place to meet up with someone.

While he waited, Kirito scrolled through his inventory to look over his gear. He was grinding for nearly 32 total hours on floor 66 of Aincrad for over the span of a week, just to try his luck on getting a better sword. To his unrestrained pride and overwhelming sense of relief, he finally received the ultra-rare drop. It wasn't at all that he was lonely and had a lot of time on his hands.

After discovering the blade's existence, nothing was going to stop him from getting his hands on the weapon.

«Veldi's Eostryder»

He read over the name and spent a little while admiring it. To his preference, it was a heavy black long sword. The blade itself was made out of some of the most durable materials known to exist in the world of ALO and SAO. This blade was made almost entirely from hardened dragon bones.

Veldi's Eostryder, it was a unique name, but so far the meaning behind it was obscure. The lore behind the weapon wasn't very descriptive. All he got out of it was what it was made out of, and that the blade had superior magical properties and strength.

Over all, it looks cool and it's powerful. Essentially it's an excellent weapon to pair with his legendary golden Excalibur.

"Yo! Kirito!"

Kirito looked up to the sight of Klein, clad in red Salamander red light armor and a bandana. Basically the usual Ryotaro. His katana is sheathed and unequipped considering where the two of them are currently.

A Spriggan and a Salamander in Sylph territory. It wouldn't end well if they both had their weapons equipped and on show.

"H-hey, Klein."

Kirito responded in his usual reserved greeting. The red samurai strolled up to the swordsman and pat his shoulder. "Same as ever I see. So, you got a plan or what?"

The teen in question swiped through his menu and pulled up the map of the area, "Yeah, we'll take a small ship out of the port nearby and we should be able to reach the new region within 50 minutes of fast sailing. After that, we should make our way to the closest town and look around for some quests. We'll probably run into some mobs along the way." Kirito stated, pointing to the respective locations on his discovered map of the mainland. The areas out at sea however were un-rendered, so he hasn't gone out that far yet. He's never had a reason to.

Klein nodded along to Kirito's explanation and placed a hand on his hip. "Sounds easy enough, let's get going."

"Someone's eager." The teen clad in black commented.

"Who wouldn't be?! This is new territory we're talking about!" Klein exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, keep it down. Let's go." Kirito took the lead and exited the Inn with Klein following close behind. The two strange outsiders made their way through the Sylph territory and arrived at the port within a few minutes. They could see the stars across the vast darkness of the sky above in the reflection of the water. It gave the ocean a certain glow to it, almost like there was some sort of armada of glowing lights just below its surface.

The young teen spotted a small shack at the edge of the land, just before the docks. Soon, the two of them entered the shop and were greeted with a homely welcome. Behind the counter, an NPC stood in some sort of Sylph Sailor's outfit designed to look more fairy-like than the real world's.

Kirito approached the counter and stated his business, "Hello, we'd like to rent a small sailing vessel." He spoke professionally to the NPC in the boat house. The back wall was mostly open and led straight out into the port itself. Klein couldn't make out how far the port went, but he was sure it was pretty extensive. Throughout the port were numerous ships varying in size and shape. Most had sales of different sizes, while others had sets of oars. Those were the dirt cheap ones.

A chart of different ships appeared and listed off all the available vessels along with respective prices. Kirito picked a cheaper, two person vessel that was equipped with a decent sized sale and medium storage.

"That'll be 2,500 yrd." The man behind the counter replied in a thick sailor accent. A purchase message popped up in front of Kirito with the option to confirm or deny the request that was presented.

Kirito selected 'confirm' and paid the man his money. The boat merchant bent down to grab something behind the counter and came back with some sort of small glowing gem.

"Use this to locate and enter you're rented boat. Thank you for your service!"

"Well, he's a cherry fellow isn't he?" Klein remarked as the two of them left the boat merchant's shop.

"Yeah, I guess he was just programmed that way." Kirito responded as he looked down at the small gem in his palm. It gave off a faint blue glow, and a small digital compass hovered above it pointing down the length of the dock.

Kirito led Klein past all the expensive looking ships, and eventually approached a much smaller boat. It was made of some sort of reinforced wood and at its center was a small sail.

"You know, most people have no idea how to use these things." Klein said, gazing down at the slightly disappointing vessel before them.

"Well, lucky for you, I do."

With that comment, the gem in Kirito's hand transitioned to green the second he approached the ship. A magic barrier seemed to dispel simultaneously and the ship's sail descended, ready to catch whatever wind was blowing through.

Kirito smirked and jumped onboard. His onyx eyes quickly looked up to meet an unfortunate site.

Klein shifted in his spot, one hand rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly while his eyes roamed on anything but the floating boat.

"Listen, uh, I've never-"

A quick fingerless-gloved hand shot up from the vessel and snagged Klein by the collar. The small boat shifted and bobbed to the added lump that was forcefully dragged onboard.

"What the hell!" Klein complained, rolling to his feet only to stumble and nearly fall overboard.

"Hey, you were going to make up some sad excuse about this being you're first time on a small boat. So, I persuaded you." Kirito stated over his shoulder as he pushed away from the dock and set sail. The thin cloth immediately caught the light breeze and surged forward.

"What the? How light is this boat?" Klein exclaimed, falling unceremoniously again onto his back.

"It's made of durable but light wood cut from trees in Spriggan territory. They make some efficient boats. That's why I chose this one." The teen explained.

"Well, as long as it gets us to where we're going." Klein commented uneasily before sitting himself up and leaning against the back wall of the boat.

Similar to the samurai, Kirito propped himself against the front end and crossed his arms. "It will, but it'll be a while. About 45 minutes to an hour, depending on wind speed."

"At least we don't have to fly." Klein commented and rested his head back against the ship's light Spriggan wood.

"If we tried to fly, we'd probably only make it about one fourth of the way to the island before our flight time ran out. Then we'd have to swim until we can fly again." Kirito responded as he closed his eye and kept his chin tucked within his collar. Most of the water in Alfheim Online was inhabited. But for some reason, sea mob attacks have become more common ever since that island was discovered.

The wind kicked up and the tension in the sail went up drastically, pushing the small boat to its max speed.

"That doesn't sound so bad." The red-head offered, head shooting up in alert at the sudden whip of the sale in the wind.

"Yeah, tell that to the girls of the group."

Klein's face paled instantly, realizing just how dangerous that situation could get.

Kirito's smirk was hidden within his collar as he took a deep breath through his nose and continued, "If the sea monsters don't devour us, then the girls will certainly be the ones to murder us."

The samurai shook his hands in front of himself and tried to dispel the conversation, to no avail.

"I think you'd be the one to go under first. I heard the color red is a more favorable target than black." The teen clad in black continued, eyes still closed.

"Hey! I'm a fast swimmer when I wanna be!"

"You wouldn't get far once Sinon equips her bow. 200 meters out, and you'd still get shot in the back of the head."

"O-okay, then I'll just dive under the water!"

"As long as you can swim 300 meters away in one breath, that will actually work."

Klein ran a frustrated hand through his hair as he let out a disgruntled groan. "Yeah well, once I'm gone, what'll you do then huh? You're next!"

"I'll teleport."

The boat suddenly shifted greatly and rocked, threatening to overturn the entire vessel.

"Oh come on man, it's just hypothetical." Kirito complained as he opened up his eyes to expect Klein standing up in his spot with his weapon drawn. To his surprise, Klein was nowhere to be seen.

Kirito immediately shot up and grabbed hold of the mast to regain his balance, "Klein!?"

…

…

…

Nothing.

"Klein!" Kirito yelled out again over the waves.

…

Still no answer.

His onyx eyes switched to tracker mode and glowed green as he scanned the water around the boat. There were no life forms in the shallow depths. Maybe he was dragged deeper than my scanners can reach.

No sooner after he finished that thought, the boat began to shake and rocked again. Kirito's eyes couldn't pick up any movement anywhere, but he knew something was there. His gut was screaming to draw his sword.

Just as he unsheathed his gleaming black blade, a massive shadow passed just beneath the wood. The sheer size of it dwarfed Kirito's little ship, making it look like an ember surrounded by a raging bon-fire.

Damn it Klein! Kirito cursed as he dropped into a fighting stance.

The shadow disappeared into the depths and everything went quiet for a few seconds. Nothing moved, nothing stirred, even the wind died down.

It was deathly silent.

…

Just as Kirito was about to dive into the water, a massive two story high five-headed Hydra exploded out of the water just a few feet from the bow. The small ship was thrown backward and nearly tipped from the sudden outburst.

Kirito looked the beast over, its five heads hissing in anger and just above its center head was a name.

«Depth Lurker»

Two green health bars generated beside the name and stacked on top of each other.

"Seriously, a mini-boss already?" Kiroto question, earning a blood curdling screech mixed with a roar in return.

The teen shrugged his shoulders and prepared for his first sword skill.

"Kirito!"

Just as Kirito was about to lunge, he heard his name tickle his ears. It was feint, but it was enough to confirm that Klein hasn't perished yet.

Yet.

"Give me back my scruffy friend you overgrown lizard!" Kirito roared as his black blade shined a bright orange.

The Hydra reared back and spewed flames from two of its heads. Kirito leapt into action and kicked off the boat. He immediately flexed the muscles in his back and the familiar feeling of his black wings generating allowed him to confidently evade the dual torrents of fire.

His cloaked figure flipped through the air then dove toward the sea beast. Kirito drove his sword down the center of one of the head's necks, slicing straight through the length of it and plunging the heated blade into the base of the Hydra.

Kirito made sure not to sever the head. Myths are just stories, but they still hold good lessons to live by.

The teen kicked off the beast's chest and flew through the air, weaving in and out of columns of fire.

One head down, 4 to go.

Kirito roared again as he swooped in, slicing down the length of another head and driving his sword down to its base. The beast screeched in pain and began to lash frantically in all directions, blowing fire everywhere it can.

In that moment, Kirito backed away and hovered at a safe distance. Every once in a while, he had to deflect a surge of fire with a sword skill, but nothing he couldn't handle.

The Hydra's top health bar lowered into the red and dissipated, leaving just one bar to go.

Kirito steeled his resolve and charged another sword skill. The length of his blade became shrouded in dark mist as he dove in again. He swooped below a feral bite of one of the heads and spun around a quick column of spewing fire. Dropping within the monster's guard, Kirito unleashed a devastating 9-hit combo of dark magic and strength. His body flipped and twirled in the air to fuel each strike and lead into the next.

Every time Kirito slashed through the Hydra's hard scales, the beast's health would drop and it would howl in agony. Soon after his combo ended, he plunged his blade deep into the monster's back and watched as the last of its health dropped into the red and soon vanished.

The Depth Lurker sprawled out and released a pained screech toward the dark sky above, then the whole monster shattered into polygons of different shades of blue and green.

Kirito swiped his blade through the air in a flourish then returned it into its sheath lying behind his right shoulder. He didn't get anything good from the mini-boss, so he quickly dismissed the message and looked around.

A smirk graced his lips as he noticed a figure clad in red plunge into the water from its place at the center of the dissipating polygons.

"How're you feeling, Klein?" Kirito asked as he hovered down to just above the water's surface.

"Y-you try getting eaten by a Hydra! Then come back and ask me again!" The man whined, his entire body drenched in the dark waters.

Kirito shrugged and extended his friend his hand, "Not likely."

Klein huffed but smirked, reaching up and taking the finger-less gloved hand and was soon hoisted out of the water. He took a second to release his wings but once he did, he was hovering on the same level the dark Spriggan was.

"So uh, where's our boat?" The Salamander asked as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Burned."

"Seriously?"

"Yep." Kirito sighed as he pointed to a dark mass of land a few kilometers out. "We're close enough to fly now, so we should be fine." The teen began flying in the direction of the new region.

Klein released a long sigh and flew forward, "Oh what the hell, not like we have a choice anyway."

He fell in line with Kirito and the two flew just above the dark waters below. They could still see the stars easily in the reflection that graced the water. It was a nice distraction to look at as they covered the distance within minutes.

The two friends finally reached their destination and hovered just above the shores of the desert covered land mass.

"What's that noise?" Klein asked the question they were both thinking.

He was right. There was some sort of continuous noise echoing off the rocks and sand dunes below. The landscape was surprisingly mountainous and rocky. Nearly all of it was covered in sand aside from the sandstone structures dotted randomly throughout the land.

"I don't know." Kirito admitted. It sounded almost like a mass of mobs gathering and releasing some sort of noisy call. It sounded like there were thousands of them, but not a single one of them could be seen.

"Alright, we're nearly out of our flight duration time so we need to touch down and find the nearest town." Kirito informed as he lowered himself to the ground.

The second his boots made contact with the sand, all sounds came to a stop. The once continuous noise died off in the same instant Kirito touched the ground.

Everything grew silent.

"What's with that kind of response?" Klein pondered as he touched down next to Kirito.

"It's because we're here, that's why." The teen explained as he stepped forward. It looks like this new region is going to get really interesting really fast. I can't wait. Kirito decided, scanning the horizon as he walked deeper into the massive unknown island.

Klein groaned inwardly at how creepy his first impression of the island was and soon jogged to catch up with the indifferent swordsman.

"Alright, our main goal for tonight is to find a safe zone. We can use it as a place to meet up with the rest of us, then go exploring for quests or dungeons." Kirito spoke as he made his way toward the direction of a group of shadowy structures.

"You think that's a town up there?" Klein asked as he walked alongside him.

"What else could it be?"

"Well, it's not exactly lit up."

"Good point, but that's more reason to go and check it out."

"Touché." Klein admitted, eyes fixing themselves on the square like structures in the distance.

15 minutes later, the two of them set foot into the dark town. No lights were blazing, no torches lit, it was completely dark and quiet.

"Huh, it's like a ghost town." Klein commented as he passed by a closed door.

Kirito stayed silent, his dark eyes constantly flicking to anything creating noise. The haunting sounds of loose wood banging on stone echoed through the sandy streets as they moved cautiously toward the center of town.

Everything about this place seemed out of whack, but above all, abandoned. They eventually made it to the center of the village and came across a dust ridden sign. It was dead center in the middle of the road, its wood looked coarse and worn, and its lettering was faded. Kirito reached down and wiped the dust and sand away, revealing red streaked lettering. What it said, didn't sit well with either of them.

"Help. Overrun. Please save us." Kirito read out loud.

The wind whistled through the empty streets as they let Kirito's words linger in the air.

Suddenly, a pop-up message appeared just before the sign and caused Klein to stumble back in shock.

«New Quest: Save the Town»

Category: Survival

«Accept - Deny»

Kirito looked toward Klein's sprawled out form and chuckled slightly, "You up for a quick quest tonight?" He asked the man on the ground.

Klein's brown eyes met onyx as he lifted his head from the sandy clutches of the street, "Yeah sure, whatever man. Just ignore the friend lying on the ground in pain."

"You can't feel pain."

"Oh shut up!" Klein exclaimed as he jumped to his feet and slapped Kirito's back.

Kirito raised his hand and pressed 'Accept' on the message in front of him. The two of them looked up to see words appear just above the dried up fountain before them reading: Quest Accepted.

"Now what?"

The ground suddenly shook violently as the two whirled around to locate the noise. It's coming from all directions! Kirito screamed in his head as he kept turning in his spot, trying to make out what was causing the noise in the darkness of the night.

"There!" Klein shouted, drawing Kirito's attention.

What he saw, wasn't very reassuring.

"Swords! Now!" Kirito commanded, drawing his Veldi's Eostryder and simultaneously equipping Excalibur. The golden sword digitalized in its sheath on his back, crossing the sheath of his primary.

Klein didn't miss a beat, he drew his silver Katana and propped his back against the black swordsman's.

They were surrounded.

Kirito was the first to swing his sword, carving his hardened black blade through the hard shell of a medium sized scorpion. It was a mixture of tan and black, and its body was the size of a large boar. Countless amounts of them scurried across the sandy streets, surrounding the two back to back fighters and hissing violently.

"Their shells are hard, try to focus on a weak point!" Kirito yelled over his shoulder as he kicked away the wounded insect and blocked a deadly slash from a serrated pincer.

"Got it!" Klein replied in confirmation, parrying a quick strike of one of their deadly tails away with his sword.

The two of them looked around frantically as more and more seemed to crawl out of the ground and surround them further.

20? No, maybe 30 by now. If we don't figure out how to kill these things, we're as good as dead. Kirito thought as he plunged his golden blade into one of the numerous orange eyes of the Sand Scorpion in front of him.

The insect tried to scurry away and shield its other eyes, but Kirito caught on quick and immediately slashed out its other glowing eyes. The insect quickly collapsed in on itself and shattered into golden digital polygons.

"Their eyes!" Kirito informed as he pressed up against Klein's back again.

Klein nodded his head and plunged his own steel blade deep into the piercing orange gaze of one Sand Scorpion in front of him. It immediately stopped attacking and shattered just like Kirito's kill.

The dark teen pushed off Klein's back and flipped over the initial wave of scorpions, placing himself behind the front lines. "Try to take out as many as possible! Whatever you do, don't die!" Kirito called out, slashing away at the wave of enemies.

"Easy for you to say!" Klein retorted, noticing how quickly they re-surrounded Kirito and himself. With a growl, the samurai charged into the wall of insects and cleaved his shining Katana through the eyes of the ones he got close to.

"We can do this! Just hold out just a little longer!" Kirito exclaimed as he initiated sword skill after sword skill, alternating between Excalibur and Eostryder. He twirled in place after being entirely surrounded, making quick work of the scorpions that were scurrying around him and soon charged after more.

Klein grunted as he fended off his own army of insects. "Show off." He dashed forward with his own sword skill and slashed clean through two of the mobs moving to attack him. Quickly pivoting on his foot, he slammed a pincer into the air and slashed the orange orbs glowing before him before it could recover.

The two swordsmen we're constantly moving and dodging, making sure to keep themselves alive and at the same time devastating the enemies that surrounded them.

"Six left!" Klein yelled.

Kirito grunted in understanding and skidded to a stop beside his companion. Just as they were about to finish off the remains of the Sand Scorpions, a much louder screech stormed through the streets from the near-distance and shook the sand. A blast of vibrating air surged from the origin of the noise and caused the two fighters to falter slightly.

Before they could regain their balance, the remaining six scorpions screeched and scurried away in the direction of the noise.

This can't be good. Kirito concluded as he watched the insects disappear around the corner of the town's outskirts.

"Hah, they ran away!" Klein cheered, moving to sheath his Katana.

Kirito swiftly placed his hand on Kleins shoulder, prompting him to stop and wait. The swordsman's onyx eyes closed as he focused on his ears, trying to listen to any kind of disruption or sound coming from the direction of the screech.

Immediately, Kirito's eyes shot open and he tackled Klein out of the way. The sand where they just stood imploded in a flurry of dust and the fountain that was behind them exploded into a cluster of flying rubble. A shadowy mass in the shape of a much, much larger scorpion shook itself free of any rocks and turned to glare at the two that we just standing up again.

"Oh." Klein remarked, his hair was quickly blown back by the power of a second screech coming from the beast in front of them.

"Another mini-boss." Kirito informed, readying his blades again.

«Shadow Crawler»

Two green bars appeared atop each other next to the boss's name like before. This one however had the powerful ability to spawn in minions.

"Careful, usually mini-bosses don't possess the ability to spawn in minions to fight for them." Kirito advised while running to the side to avoid a lunge from the Shadow Crawler's tail. That was when he noticed something off, something deathly unsettling.

The beast was armored. Its massive shell across its back was covered in rusted steel panels and it's pincers seemed to have a sharpened edge to them. The tail was reinforced with numerous metallic spikes that could deal massive piercing damage.

Something…or someone upgraded this thing. Kirito leaped over a wide sweep of the boss's massive pincer and slammed away another tail strike.

"Let's see what we can do to this thing head on!" Kirito suggested as he charged forward.

Klein followed suit and began charging a gleaming red sword skill, "Right behind yah!"

The black swordsman parried away a strong pincer attack then spun off to the side, leaving an opening for the samurai, "Switch out!"

"HAAAAAH!" Klein yelled as his flew in and skewered one of the boss's glowing orange eyes with his shining Katana, "Take that you ugly bastard!"

The beast screeched in pain and slammed itself forward, throwing Klein away from its face and taking a heavy swipe at his thrown form.

"I got you!" Kirito leapt back in and slammed away the lethal pincer, "Let's try that one more time!"

"You got it!"

Kirito surged in again and swung his sword, a resounding clang was sent through his arm as he smashed away the lightning fast stinger and spun himself out of the way again, "Switch!" Kirito yelled. He watched as Klein began his charge, but in the middle of hit turn he caught sight of something. When he parried the Shadow Crawler's tail, the boss reared back a bit and revealed a huge weak point.

Klein slipped past Kirito and drove his blade into another one of the beast's eyes before backing off. The two combatants dug their boots into the sand and skidded to a stop a small distance away.

"I'll draw its attacks! You try to flank it and attack its legs, slow it down! I have a plan!"

Klein heard Kirito yell over the sound of heavy attacks rumbling the ground as he knocked away the massive stinger. "On it!" He yelled back, sliding under a sweep of a pincer and running his way around the shadowy beast.

He was quickly greeted with the sand around him shifting and vibrating. Within seconds, he was surrounded by little Sand Scorpions that attacked him without delay.

"No good! He just spawns minions to protect where he's unguarded!" Klein screamed as he bashed away one of the deadly insects and stabbed another.

Kirito's eyes hardened to the challenge as he dug his boots into the hard sand. The pincer of the Shadow Crawler soon pierced through the air and made a powerful lunge toward the boy. He quickly kicked off the ground and charged forward, sliding onto his knees to duck the blow. The sharpened appendage passed by dangerously close, barely grazing Kirito's black bangs as he passed beneath the attack. Behind him, the hard sand exploded into a flurry of chunks that pelted his back as he slid.

Once he was clear, he unleashed as many combos as he could directly into the soft underbelly of the boss. The massive damage sent the Shadow Crawler slamming into the surrounding buildings as it howled in pain, frantically swinging its pincers around in vain.

Critical hit after critical hit, Kirito mercilessly destroyed the beast's remains of its two health bars and dove out from beneath the monster. The entire Shadow Crawler shook violently as it shed its armored plates and shattered into countless golden polygons.

The swordsman clad in black rolled to his knees and breathed a sigh of relief. The sound of Klein finishing off the remaining Sand Scorpions sounded distant, but that soon stopped as well.

Right as the final scorpion was slain, some sort of victory music sounded out from above the fountain with the satisfying words of: Quest Completed!

Kirito looked in front of himself after taking a breather and noticed a message box hovering before him.

«Quest Reward: Safe Zone Conquered»

He looked at the message, a look of confusion gracing his features before casting his gaze up to Klein. The man clad in red had the same message hovering in front of his own tired form and a look of similar confusion plastered across his face.

Kirito looked back and confirmed the quest reward, soon followed by Klein as well. They both were pleasantly surprised by the massive XP boost they received from the survival quest.

The message box then disappeared from its place in Kirito's and Klein's points of view. Right after it concluded, the ground hummed in a steady vibration and the ruined fountain at the center of town began to shake.

"What the…" Klein muttered as he backed away.

"I've never seen something like this before." Kirito admitted, falling in line with his confused companion, but he had a pretty good idea as to what was going on.

The rubble strewn out across the plaza of the town began to stir and move. In moments, every shattered piece of stone rolled across the sand and merged itself with the rest of the rocks. Quickly, the fountain rebuilt itself piece by piece.

Once the last stone fell into place, the fountain burst with crystal blue water. That seemed to initiate a huge chain reaction. The sudden flow of water seemed to release some sort of magical force outward, like a wave of energy passing through the town. As the wave of magic passed down the streets and past the houses, everything it touched began to come to life.

The streets, no longer dark and dreary, glowed with light and shining sandstone. The dark empty windows lit up with varying golden hues, and the sounds of voices soon filled the silent air. Once the wave of energy reached the outskirts of the town, it seemed to crash into some sort of surrounding wall and surge upward. The wave encased the entire village in a shining powerful dome before dissipating from view.

High above the fountain, well up into the dark sky, three huge yellow words shined brightly as a beam of light was released from the reconstructed fountain to bath the letters in a magnificent glow.

«Safe Zone Secured»

And just like that, the town bustled to life.

Beta: demonic1556

Editor: Allix Stowe

Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything from Sword Art Online, Gun Gale Online, or anything associated with the Light Novels. I have never read them either, so no spoilers should be in this new fic. I wish I did own these creations though, that would be awesome! Anyway, the only things I do own is the fabricated plot I came up with and the new characters that show up.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Sword Art Online is amazing. And I agree with you. That's why I've picked up this new little side project. I plan to write this new fanfiction and I plan to finish it. Yes, that's right, I have an end in sight for this adventure. I can't wait to see what you guys think of it.

I also know that I may or may not have chased away a few of you with the shocking news that occurred at the start of this fic. Asuna x Kirito, the must have canon pairing, has come to an end. Yes, I know that's completely OOC for the two of them, but I don't see any real way to break them up. The way they feel for each other is too deep to pry them apart, aside from killing one of them off. I plan for this fic to be a Kirito x Sinon pairing. Because it's new, and I like new.

For those of you who know me as an author or are familiar with my writing, this fic will be packed full of ACTION. If you've read my XSRA fic, then you'd know that I like to do over-the-top fight scenes and intense events. There will be NO shortage of these in this story. I'll make sure of it.

If you didn't notice, I am going to be using the character's real names when in the real world. Then while they're in-game, I'll use their in-game names. I hope there wasn't too much confusion with that. I'll also try my best to keep all the characters acting as they would in the Anime.

Keep calm and let Kirito do the work, I hope you enjoy what's to come. Please, leave a REVIEW. I seriously appreciate any and all kinds of comments and constructive criticism you may have. I take everything into account. That said, be sure to favorite and follow the story, be sure to look forward to chapter two.

Cya XP