Chapter 1: Return Remastered
Disclaimer: I own nothing, owning things is not something that I do, it just isn't. Sword Art Online is a thing, and I don't own things, ergo, I do not own Sword Art Online.
His teeth clenched together, and the blade of his newfound sword sparked lightly from the contact of steel on steel. A sidestep, a whirl, and a cry of pain sounded the monster's death as he swiped his blade along its length, dragging the deadly tip over its virtual flesh, and dissolving it's being into a swathe of sparks.
The weight of the weapon was familiar in his grasp, if slightly off from his well-remembered Elucidator, but it served him well enough for the moment, and that was what mattered at this point. Another step forth as the Black Swordsman wheeled through yet another foe sent bits sparkling about, and tiny windows detailing his earnings spinning about the famed her of SAO.
It had been two months since he had escaped that cursed death game, along with the six thousand players left alive.
All except for one. His wife in Aincrad, and the girl he had promised to become the boyfriend of once they escaped, Yuuki Asuna, had not awakened. She was alive, as he had verified with the hospital and her family, but her body remained comatose, mind pulled under in whatever had become of SAO, after what he had assumed to be its destruction upon the death of Kayaba Akihiko.
So, the question remained, ringing in his mind even as his body twisted and turned, the unfamiliar, and yet so welcome blade in his hand moving thoughtless to bring to an end all those who opposed he, the undisputed master of swords.
The interface, the messages, even the manner in which mobs died all of them spoke to one thing and one thing only. This was SAO, Sword Art Online. This was the Death Game.
And yet, he did not recognize this landscape, the ever-present shape of the tower did not loom in the distance, nor did the indicator in the bottom right of his vision display to him the level upon which he now stood, instead it simply read "X"
Biting back the growl which rose in his throat, Kirito moved to swing his blade up, sheathing the weapon, upon inspection a rather generic longsword, if still his preferred black.
Still, the weapon had served him well enough for the moment, and it was with a mild satisfaction that he swiped his hand across the air before him, shuffling quickly through his stats, confirming what he had at once hoped for, and feared with all his being.
"Name: Kirito" it read, followed by a list of his statistics, most of them maxed out at 1000, a likely result of his defeat of Heathcliff. In his experience, games which allowed one to continue playing after the final boss was defeated tended to offer hefty rewards for such an achievement.
Nodding to himself then, he moved to turn his gaze upwards from the now clear ground before him, taking in for the first time since he awoke, the landscape around him for more than the fact that it did not contain the obvious sights which it should.
The sky was bright and blue, and the area around him was, to sum it up, beautiful. The trees and grass were a soft but vibrant green, and the mountains in the distance dusted with a soft coating of snow.
Were he forced to; he would have compared the view to that picture of the Swiss Alps his cousin, no. His sister, he corrected himself for what was not the first time in the past weeks. That picture of the Swiss Alps his little sister had shown him in one of her magazines.
Sighing, he pushed the thought away as his hands rose up to brush off the surface of his dragon leather cloak, thankful for the fact that at least his favorite garment had somehow survived the, whatever it was that had returned him to this place.
Kirito could not remember a single incident in which he had laid hand upon a NerveGear since he awoke besides the times he visited Asuna in the hospital, and when he himself had awoken, and yet here he was, unmistakable returned to the world of death and battle which had claimed two years of his life.
A moment of slow, crushing silence consumed his being, before as if to quell the emptiness, a soft pinging rung through his ears, and drew his attention down, to where a small, orange circle hung before him. "A message?" He breathed out disbelievingly, even as his hand rose upwards, moving to tap a single finger upon the blue circle of acceptance, bringing to bear before him the short, damning words of one of his closest friends.
Tsuboi Ryoutarou, better known as Klein was a twenty-four year old, and a fellow Japanese. The Guild Leader of Fuurinkazan, Klein had become famous not only for his role as a front-line clearer, but for his unprecedented feat of surviving the two years within the Death Game of SAO without losing a single member of his guild, each of them a real life acquaintance and close friend of his.
"Hey, Kirito!" The message began, the falsified sincerity drawing a frown to the Black Swordsman's lips, he knew Klein, and in the two years that they had risked their lives at each other's sides, Klein had only indulged in such levity in times of utmost danger, or, as the self-styled samurai had himself put it. 'When shit be most fucked.'
'Do you have any idea what's going on, man?' Klein continued, his impeccable grammar drawing another pang of worry in Kirito's gut, a rather abysmal sense of spelling had been yet another indulgence he had noted in his friend, something which yet again had only disappeared in times when the message carried held with it a desperate urgency.
Quickly typing out a response in the negative, Kirito tapped the blue circle to send his notifier of unknowing out, turning his gaze back upwards then, as the air before him shimmered, another of the nondescript, wholly unthreatening beasts spawning into place before him.
His hand rising up from where the message had once hung, Kirito curled his fingers around the blade's grip, before lunging forth, a trail of blue signaling the beast's demise, as Kirito shot off, his hands dancing around him, re-sheathing his blade and opening his player interface, pulling open a diagram of the surrounding area, or at least what he had managed to make of it so far, his discovery as such amounting to the small area around where he had awoken, and the blank, blue-crisscross of the surrounding area, simply waiting to be discovered.
He cared little for the prospect of mapping in that moment though, as his eyes focused upon the pinging dot of his sole visible friend's location.
Free hand spinning through the short list he had compiled, his heart sank in his chest along with whatever hopes he had held at the text which read "Asuna: Offline." However, he pushed himself in that moment onwards, for as great as his grief may have been, he knew in the pit of his chest that his chances of finding Asuna so easily were slim at best, and that he would simply have to give finding her his all.
With that, Kirito pushed another burst of strength into his legs, pushing himself over hill and around tree trunks, tearing past various mobs, until he finally reached his destination, skidding to a halt which sent his black coat aflutter, his hair waving wildly every which way.
Across from the black-haired, black-garbed swordsman sat a rather crimson-fellow, his brick-red hair had grown longer, spiked locks falling back to reach halfway down his neck, and his armor had disappeared, leaving the man sitting there in what approximated a simple Gi and Hakama mix, his ever-present katana resting upon his folded knees.
"Neeeehhh." Klein began as Kirito blurred into existence before him, one hand rising up to flick at the tip of his nose. "I guess I wasn't the only one to lose some of my loot when I woke up here." He began, only to then hop down from the stump on which he had sat, sheathed sword in hand, tapping the hilt against his shoulder. "But, that's just it." He concluded with a groan, both shoulders rising along with his hands in a gesture akin to asking 'now what?' "Where is here? It looks and feels like SAO, but, it doesn't seem like Aincrad. More, open."
Nodding lightly to this, Kirito's arms rose to cross over his chest as he looked over his old friend, Klein had grown since that day two years ago when he got on his knees and begged him for aid in learning the game. A smile spread cross the Black Swordsman's lips at the thought, only to be quelled by the grave reminder of their current situation.
Straightening fully, Kirito glanced about once, before turning his gaze again to the leader of Furinkazan. "I don't think we're in SAO." He breathed out, lips pursing together for a moment, before he continued. "It feels similar, I'm guessing we're in another game, based off of SAO's interface."
Nodding once to this, Klein raised a hand to his chin, stroking at the scruffy extension of his jaw pensively. Letting out a light hum, Klein then brought his hand down in a fist, pressing into the open palm of its brother. "Alright then." We might as well get to it, and see if we can find anyone else trapped here.
Letting out a soft 'hmmph' of agreement, Kirito raised his hand to comfortingly grasp the haft of his blade, only to stop halfway, a shudder running through his form before, with a lurch of movement, the air around the two flashed red, before dissolving into a spray of pixels, clearing away to reveal the two once more, scattered amongst a crowd of people, seemingly equally confused.
Disarray ran through the crowd, gathered into the center of this seeming town, as shrieks of terror split from those without gear, and the wary warriors of the former frontlines grasped at what equipment they had kept, trading glances throughout the crowd to those faces they recognized. The message of the series of nods was obvious, and at the same time utterly horrifying.
They had returned, and there was no escape in sight.
"Welcome." intoned a voice all-too familiar, drawing a snarl to Kirito's throat, and his gaze towards the skies above.
As he did so, a great shadow crossed over the crowd, heralded by the arrival of a massive, hulking shape, as if the entirety of a landmass had singularly tugged itself from the ground, and now hung above them.
Which, upon closer inspection, it became terrifyingly apparent that such a thing was exactly what had occurred.
Whatever cries of shock had begun to rise in the throats of the survivors of the two year death game were silenced however by the screaming roar of crimson which shot down from the massive shape, crashing into the open center of the crowd, swathes of that self-same ruby red energy licking about, searing at the ground, and assuring that all kept their distance.
As the energy died down, the silhouette of a figure within faded into view, carrying with it a visage all too familiar.
Heathcliff. Shock painted across his features, Kirito stumbled back a step from the form of his deadliest enemy, clad in his crimson armor as he stood atop a newly appeared podium, his hands rising as if in greeting to his captives. "Welcome!" He cried happily out, waving to them. "To the expansion of Twenty Twenty-Two's best selling game, Sword Art Online."
His eager smile seemingly undeterred by the cries of shock and horror, Heathcliff dropped into a low bow, before rising once more, and sweeping his arms out to the side. "Welcome, my friends, to Sword Arts World! A new land to conquer spanning multiple continents! New equipment! New skills! An immersive, plot-based storyline with new bosses!" Heathcliff eagerly cried out, uncaring still to the screams of those below, as his voice boomed out above them.
"There is much more as well, but that's for you to find out. However, there is one last feature, I'm sure you'll all love." The man continued, his voice growing soft then, and his lips curling into a cruel smirk, before he spoke once more. "A resurrection system, so as not to mirror the horrible, horrible losses of our original release. Though, I will warn that, upon death, all items carried and not equipped or bound will be dropped, and become lootable by all players."
With that, Heathcliff turned, crimson cloak flowing about him, his final words echoing through the town. "I will await you in the Sanguine Empire, should you seek to once more leave this game. As the final boss, of course."
And with that, Heathcliff was gone in a flash of light, leaving a silenced, speechless crowd in the wake of a man who should by all rights have been dead.
Turning then, Kirito moved to push through the shocked crowds, joined in his movements by a good deal of the more assertive clearers, working their way through the streets, until the makeshift group had reached the outskirts of the town, and gathered together.
His gaze dancing about, Kirito's heart sunk once more at the lack of Asuna's presence, sinking into his hunched shoulders, and pulling back into the mass of the group, as Klein pushed himself to the front.
The self-made samurai glanced about, looking over the group, his lips turning up into their trademark grin upon espying each of his friends, heartened by their presence.
"Alright." He began, bringing a fist up to punch into his open palm. "I think that that bastard Heathcliff made his point clear enough, we're going to need to level up, clear the bosses, and then kill him if we want to escape."
Slow murmurings passed through the group of players, nods of agreement, and musing thoughts, until; finally, one of them, a former Knight of the Blood Oath by his garb, spoke up. "That's true, and, if what he says is true, and we can't die in real life from dying in here, then, we should be able to scout out bosses, and learn their strategies. So, it's very likely that they'll be a lot harder to get right. Maybe not stronger and more deadly with each hit, but with more moves that will kill us without positioning right, like in other MMOs."
Nodding pensively, Klein moved to scratch faintly at his chin, before chuckling lightly to himself. "Well, in that case, I guess we ought to get to leveling, so that we can find the first boss."
Nodding to himself, Klein raised one hand, gathering the members of his guild to himself, before glancing over his shoulder. "I'd suggest that the Knights of the Blood sort out their leadership, you're some of our best players, and I'd hate not to have you fighting at my side."
Swinging his hand down then, the oriental warriors of Furinkazan darted off, drawing whatever weapons they either still held, or had been gifted upon their return to this world, followed soon after by each of the groups and guilds, each making their way in a slightly differing direction, so as not to interfere with one another's farming.
Shocked speechless for a short moment, Kirito stood there, struggling to find belief that they had acclimated so well, and had regrouped so fast, only for his surprise to fade into a smile, as he moved to grasp his own weapon, turning down one of the untaken paths, and beginning his own departure.
After all, he had less than an hour ago displayed the same degree of determination in his need to find Asuna, a desire which still burnt in his chest.
The leveling passed quickly; it always had for him in this world, if perhaps not for others. Perhaps it was due to him being a Beater, or perhaps it was something else, it mattered little though, for at that moment, he could not be bothered to consider those thoughts, far too busy with eviscerating whatever mobs came within his path, his single blade hacking through them at a pace which would have most likely given any other player pause.
It was good to be a solo player. And it was an hour or four into this grinding that the first major event since the clearers and he had split apart to begin their quest.
The event came in the form of a message, one that he had not expected, though by many means most likely should have. 'Kirito-Kun!' it began, drawing a small smile to his lips, only a few people had earned the right to call him that, and he would be glad for the presence of any of them. "I'm guessing that you could use a new sword or two? I've been doing some questioning, and from what I gathered, Heathcliff let each person keep one equippable, which for you seems to have been that dragon leather piece of yours."
Kirito paused for a moment at this, he had not until now thought of the meaning of his missing swords beyond lamenting the lack of their presence, and such widespread information could be a life-saver. Nodding to his line of thought, Kirito moved to hastily type out a message for Klein, before turning back to the one he had received. "I've managed to get my hands on a few pieces of higher-level metal from players who didn't want or need them, and I can't think of someone more deserving of them than you! 3 Lisbeth-Chan."
His smile still firmly in place at the thought of his personal smith, Kirito hefted his current weapon in one hand, weighing it lightly, before nodding to himself. This thing couldn't hold a candle to Lisbeth's work.
Turning back towards the way he had come, Kirito started a sedate walk back to town. He was at least a good ten levels above everyone else in the game thanks to his having defeated Heathcliff, and the few missed minutes of grinding couldn't possibly set him back by more than a fifth of one of those.
Soon enough, Kirito found himself back in the expansion's seeming starting town, a hasty addition of Lisbeth to his now growing friends list serving to help him in locating the smith who he had always before been able to find simply by visiting her shop.
Reaching the shop which the map reported her to have situated herself within, Kirito moved to knock once, before pushing the wooden mass inwards, strolling in, his lips once more being tugged at the edges by the faintest hints of a smile as he took in the pink-haired profile of the smith, already pounding away at a block of metal which he dimly remembered as 'Daemonite', a commodity that had only been discovered in the dungeon of the seventy fourth level if his memory served.
Letting out a low whistle of approval, Kirito moved to settle himself down within a seat across from her, returning the faint smirk she shot him as she worked. "How'd you manage to get your hands on that?" He breathed out disbelievingly, knowing at least personally that he had never laid hands upon such an item, and that if Asuna had, then he would have seen it in their shared item storage.
"That would be telling, Kirito-Kun." Came the rosette's teasing response, as with a final strike, the mass of metal before her shone for a moment, before it slimmed, lengthening and smoothing out into the shape of a single handed, straight bladed sword. She knew him too well.
Hefting the item, an approving 'ooo' escaped the Smith's lips, its stats flashing into existence before her, and drawing a smile from her "Not a matching set, but their weights are similar enough, and the stats are good." She quipped, before reaching down beneath the anvil, and producing a second weapon of similar length and shape. Tossing the two to him, her arms moved then to cross over her chest proudly, her smugness only growing as the Black Swordsman effortlessly caught the two, moving to cross them over his back, sheathes hooking into place with a flick of his wrist across the user interface.
"Thanks." He breathed out, only to be silenced as Lisbeth moved, taking a step forwards, and grabbing at his chin, lifting his gaze up from the interface to meet her own. "You find her." The smith bit out, tears beginning to well up in her eyes, as she moved to repeat herself. "You find Asuna, and you keep her safe, whatever you do, please." She fell silent for a moment, her arm falling to her side, and its sister moving to hold her upper arm weakly. "I don't know what I'd do, if something happened to her, and with her missing from my friends list, and my messages not getting through." She began, only to be silenced by Kirito, who moved to gently embrace her, his arms enwrapping her shoulders, and holding her there, ceasing her shaking.
"Of course I'll find her." He breathed out, before pulling himself from the now stilled Lisbeth, moving to continue past her, towards the door. "You never had to ask." He finished, before slipping out of the door, leaving Lisbeth standing there, pink dyed locks shadowing her flushed cheeks with a blush that had gone on unseen.
As he exited the shop, Kirito's hand moved upwards, dancing across the opened user interface, taking in the two names which now hung before him.
The first of the two was the sword he had watched the creation of, a longsword as he had guessed, going by the name of Black Tongue, a fitting name upon closer inspection of the weapon, Drawing the sword into his right hand, he then flipped to the second, a brow arching at the name of the weapon. "Autumn Sky?" He read out, before shrugging off the rather out of place name in comparison to those he had encountered in the past on SAO.
Glancing down to the stats, his eyes widened for a moment, threatening to bulge out of their sockets.
This was insane, he had never seen an item with powers like this one, and he suddenly felt somehow smaller. Sure Black Tongue had outstripped his Elucidator and Dark Repulser, just as a level seventy four item had the right to. He had loved those two blades, but even he had to admit that they had reached their limits of reinforcement. This weapon however, just from holding it on his back it was as if he was diminished. "Is this, the power of items from Sword Arts World?" He breathed out, looking it over. "This was forged from a new metal in the expansion, it has to have been." Nodding to himself at this line of logic, Kirito moved to gently grasp the hilt of the blade, drawing it forth, and blinking once.
The weight was right in his hand, and a couple of swings reassured him that yes, it still handled just as he was used to with his longswords, but Kirito had not been expecting to see anyone but Klein toting a katana, it had been somewhat of a defining feature for the samurai guild leader.
Shrugging the thought off, Kirito moved to sheathe the weapon once more. He would simply have to practice with the blade on some mobs before he fought anything seriously, it was already bound to him, and he would never be one to deny a friend, especially not one so kind as to yet again forge for him such a powerful weapon for free.
Autumn Sky handled well, he decided after the first forty kills. It's handle felt at once smooth and sure in his grasp, and it's blade tore through the mobs like tissue paper.
Sure, Black Tongue alone was a sight to behold, but it paled in comparison to his newest acquisition, a feat that a group of Knights of Blood had not failed to notice when he intersected with them during his grinding, the trio exchanging friendly words with their former member and savior, before continuing on their way.
"As good as always." He remembered the leader of them commenting upon witnessing the solo player that was the Black Swordsman as he tore through a pack of NPC bandits, pixels parting before him.
The humanoid monsters were a new facet to the expansion that he had only recently encountered, and his first time killing them had been rather unsettling for the Black Swordsman, however, the red crystals above their heads, and their jerky, almost mechanical movements betrayed their nature.
The mobs he had encountered earlier in the day, and those that he had fought in the original game had moved much smoother, and he could only guess that the ones he currently faced had been so programmed so as not to unsettle players, a rather foreign concept to the Heathcliff he knew, but one that he was far from disapproving of.