It's so warm. If I didn't know better, I would say it was real.

Ergon had just logged onto the new game he had bought earlier that day. It was a VRMMORPG called Fantasian Online. It was said to be a lot like the game Sword Art Online, just without all the death and it now had magic. Some even say it's an updated version of Alfheim Online.

Ergon had never experienced the full dive system before, a machine that allowed you to feel, smell, hear, taste, and see everything in the game as if it was real. He had had to slap himself just to make sure that he wasn't actually in a dream.

He had been walking through the city he had spawned in for about an hour. He had passed countless shops and stalls selling many different wares. He had seen everything, including swords, food, armor, clothes, wands, knickknacks, furniture, pets, spells, jewelry, and much more.

As he stopped to examine a large sword at a weapons stall full of various weaponry he couldn't afford with his balance of zero, he caught a flash of black in the corner of his vision. He turned, curious, and then froze. Walking down the street was a man.

He wore a black coat with silver decorations that reached down to his knees, along with a black tank top and pants, which matched his jet black hair and dark eyes perfectly. On his back he carried a one handed sword that was pitch black with silver streaks, just like his coat. At his side hung a second sword, this one a pale greenish-blue and also one handed. He walked down the street with a vote of confidence in his walk, but not in the way that would make you label him as a jerk. His walk was more like that of a gentle lion. He wouldn't harm you, but if you made one wrong move, he would have you by the throat.

As the man came closer he glanced at Ergon and stopped when he noticed that he was staring. The man continued to stare at him with a gaze that seemed bore through him and search his very soul. Unnerved by the look, Ergon quickly looked away.

"Can I help you, Brookcede?"

Ergon winced as the man casually used his race to identify him. Not only that but his avatar was an accident. He had been rushing through the introduction section and had skipped the customization section. It wasn't too bad cause he still looked mostly like himself, but the fact that he had made such a big mistake was embarrassing. He was taller than the man and had spiky brown hair that hung in long strands around his fairly nice face. Other than that he looked like your typical Brookcede. The Brookcede were a race that was a mix of human and fish, though they were almost always human in appearance, with varying fish qualities. Ergon, like all Brookcede, had gills along the sides of his neck. His special quality was in the rock hard blue scales that covered his chest and back like his own personal armor made from shimmering sapphire.

"Um…um…" Goddamn it, just say something!

"I… I just… you look powerful."

The man smiled. "To be honest, most of this equipment is obtainable by level twenty, and there are plenty of better sets of weapons and armor. Hey, you're new to the game right?" Ergon nodded. The man smiled. "If you want, I can show you something that not most noobs get to see. In fact, there are some admins who don't know about it. Follow me." And with that, the man began walking toward the town gate.

"Wait! I can't go out there!"

"Why not?"

"Well… I don't have a weapon." Ergon said, embarrassed.

The man smiled. "Is that all?" He calmly drew his second sword from the sheath on his hip and handed it to Ergon. The moment the man let go of it, however, Ergon was almost dragged to the ground from the weight of the sword.

Jesus, he must be crazy strong to fight with this!

Ergon heard a sigh and looked to see the man was rubbing his head, now thoroughly embarrassed. "Sorry, I'm so used to it that I forgot it's actually really heavy. Here, I'll buy you a lighter weapon." The man then deftly scooped up the sword as if it weighed nothing and put it back in its sheath. Then he turned to the stall Ergon had just been looking at and opened a trade menu. As he began scrolling through numerous pages and tabs, Ergon noticed that the shop sold much more than what it displayed. As he watched, he noticed various items like knives, maces, swords, bows, and dozens of other weapons.

Finally, the man seemed to find what he was looking for. He selected an item and purchased it. As he closed the window and turned back to me, a spear appeared in his hand. It was twin pronged, kind of like a pitch fork, and made from a dark metal that made it look like it was made of burned ash and it had a red strip of cloth wrapped around the middle of the shaft. It looked decently powerful, and probably wasn't anywhere near cheap. The only problem was…

"Um… the thing is… I don't know how to use it."

The stranger smiled. "That's not a problem. You have all the time in the world to learn how to fight with it, though it would be helpful if you knew how you want to fight with it. For example, you could just fight with a spear, or you could use a shield or net, or you could get a bunch of them and use them as throwing weapons. Heck, I've even seen people combine spears with magic attacks. The possibilities are endless really."

"I see…"

"But you don't have to decide now. Come on, let's go." And then the duo left the town.

Once they were outside the city wall, Ergon couldn't help but look at the life like artificial world that surrounded him. As he looked around he saw beautiful plains filled with a rainbow assortment of flowers, trees that stretched upwards for miles and blocked the sun from view, floating islands with waterfalls rumbling down them, creating spectral images in the mist, and mountains that seemed to span for hundreds of miles. Everywhere he looked there were various beasts, from the cattle grazing in a field, to what seemed to be an orc watching them from the ruins of an ancient bath house.

As he continued to gaze at the landscape around him, he realized that the man had been speaking to him. Shit, I drifted off again.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I just asked your name."

"Oh, Ergon."

"Ergon… interesting choice of a name. I'm Kirito."

Ergon stopped in his tracks. Kirito. There's no way that he's actually… he couldn't be… no way… He looked down at the swords strapped to Kirito's back and side. Well, if he's a fanboy, then he definitely did a good job making himself look the part.

"Hey, you still with me?"

"Huh?" Ergon said, returning to reality (virtuality?). Kirito had stopped in front of him and seemed to be studying him. "Oh sorry, just got lost in thought."

"Forget about it."

"So why are we stopping? Are we here?"

"Yup." Kirito said, pointing over his shoulder at a crumbling doorway behind him. The doorway was built into the side of a good sized hill and seemed to be made of some sort of stone inscribed with runes of some sort. "What's in there?"

"A field boss."

Ergon stopped for the second time.

"Um… you do remember that I can't fight, right?"

"True, that would be a problem. If you were going to be fighting, that is. All your going to do is observe, understood?" Ergon nodded. "Good, now when we get inside, just hang out by the door. As long as you stay by the exit you should be fine."

"Oh, uh, okay."

"Come on." And with that they entered the hill.

As Ergon entered the structure he side stepped to the left as Kirito continued on his way to the center of the room. The room itself was far larger inside than it appeared to be outside. Inside the dome shaped walls was enough room to fit two football fields side by side and still have room left over. On every surface were intricately carved writings and pictograms that seemed to have been there for centuries. The floor was made of a silvery material that somehow gave off a bronze glow that bathed the entire room with a warm light that set a comfortable mood. In the center of the room was a ring of pillars and arches that formed a circle about fifty meters in diameter. In the center of this circle stood a lone broken throne.

As Ergon watched, Kirito walked straight for the throne. As soon as he passed through the ring, the runes, letters, and pictograms suddenly began glowing and moving, replacing the comforting warm orange glow with a chilly blue one. As Kirito continued to approach the throne, it began to glow. Once Kirito made it halfway to the throne, he stopped. The moment he stopped moving, the light vanished, revealing the boss. He stood over four meters tall and had a dog like head with bright red eyes that sang murder. His body was covered in rough red skin and tattered pieces of armor. Running up his body, from his stomach to his head, was a pale line that seemed to be a scar. On his back was a large empty sheath and as he stood there facing Kirito, an axe and shield appeared out of thin air and he took them. The boss roared and dozens of creatures appeared, all wearing heavy armor and wielding giant maces that no man could lift, though the monsters were twirling them around with no problem. Finally, above the bosses head appeared a name.

Illfang the Ruined Kobold Lord

No way… a player named Kirito is going to fight a boss named Illfang… just who is this guy?

"Make sure you watch carefully, okay?"

And with that the battle started.

Kirito became a blur as he dashed forward, both swords in hand. He ripped through the boss's minions like they were made of paper, even though they were all equipped with heavy armor. He's so fast! And his strength is incredible! In about twelve seconds, the only combatants still standing were Kirito and Illfang. With a roar, Illfang charged at Kirito, but Kirito managed to block every blow that Illfang threw at him. As Ergon watched, Illfang let loose with another flurry of blows, but not a single one cam anywhere near Kirito. Than Illfang launched a surprise attack. Instead of retreating like he had before, Illfang brought his axe in a low sweep aimed at Kirito's legs. Just before the axe hit his legs, Kirito leaped upwards and hung in the air. What! How is he flying? As Ergon watched, a pair of transparent black wings appeared on Kirito's back. Oh, I see. He's a fairy.

The battle continued on, Kirito flying around blocking every single attack the boss threw at him as Illfang became more and more agitated. Suddenly, Kirito looked back at Ergon. "Hey! I thought I told you to stay back!" That brief distraction was all it took for Illfang to swat Kirito out of the air, sending him flying across the room.

Huh?

Too late, Ergon realized that he now stood at the ring in the center of the room. While watching the fight he had slowly moved forward to get a better view of the battle, not realizing just how far he was coming. And now that Kirito was no longer in the ring…

Ergon froze as Illfang turned to face him. The boss's cold eyes stared straight at Ergon as Illfang took a step forwards, closing the distance between them in a few strides. Illfang stood in front of Ergon, who's panic refused to let him move. As Illfang raised his axe to deliver a blow that would undoubtedly kill him, Ergon fell to his knees. Damn, I hope pain doesn't feel the same in here. He said, surprised at how calm his thoughts were.

As the axe began to travel towards him in a deadly arc of steel, Ergon closed his eyes and braced for the impact of the blade that never came. Instead, he heard the sound of metal striking metal, as well as a grunt. Slowly, Ergon opened his eyes and looked up. Standing above him was Kirito, holding both of his swords in an X above him with Illfang's axe trapped between them.

"You need to learn to follow orders." Kirito said with a smile as he pushed Illfang back, causing him to lose his footing and fall. "Alright, enough messing around. Time to end this."

Illfang rose to his feet and turned to face Kirito once more. But before the giant could launch another attack, Kirito was suddenly surrounded by a storm of golden runes and letters. The twisted and turned around him and lit up the entire room. He's using magic!

"Deftlin Hurga Ratun Yesty Gorra!"

As Kirito shouted the words, the runes and letter began to make a column of words in front of him. As he finished the spell, the words began to glow brighter and brighter, until Ergon was forced to look away from them. As the glow began to fade, Ergon looked back at where Kirito had stood a moment before. But it wasn't Kirito that stood there.

Where Kirito had been now stood what could only be described as a demon. It was about five meters tall, with fur traveling all the way up its body. It had the head of a ram with eyes that somehow managed to be even more murderous than Illfang's. Instead of weapons, the monster had claws on each hand, each easily a meter long and sharp enough to tear through solid steel. As the beast reared its head and let out a roar, Ergon could see row after row of razor sharp teeth.

Illfang finally managed to get over his shock and decided to attack. A fatal mistake. As Illfang rushed at the monster and attempted to hit it with his axe, the monster dashed forward in the blink of an eye and swept Illfangs feet out from under him. It then proceeded to sit on top of the now pinned boss. With another vicious howl, the demon raised its arm and brought it down on Illfang's back, its claws digging deep gouges into the monsters' body as he let out squeals of pain.

Ergon looked away as the demon began hacking and biting at the boss, slowly wearing down its health. Before long, the squealing stopped, and Ergon turned around. The demon was standing above Illfang, whose body was an indistinguishable mess of glowing red 'blood'. As he watched, the demon began to glow again and after a few seconds it was replaced by Kirito. Kirito looked down at the boss, who now had almost no health left. Somehow, the demon had managed to bring him within millimeters of death. Slowly, Kirito reached into his coat and withdrew an item that shouldn't have existed in this world. In his hand, now pointed at the boss's head was…

"A handgun?"

With a sad look in his eyes, Kirito said something that Ergon couldn't hear, and shot Illfang in the head. The boss seized up and, after a second of convulsing, broke into hundreds of crystal shard with the sound of breaking glass. Ergon and Kirito watched as the crystals slowly faded from view. Ergon couldn't be sure, but he thought he heard Kirito say, "Goodbye.".

Ergon just sat there, unable to believe what he had just witnessed. He had watched a battle that every gamer in the world would have killed to see. He had watched a single man take on a boss and not only win, but win in a fashion that was impossible. Ergon was now convinced that this man was right, he wasn't powerful. He's invincible.

"You alright? Kirito asked, reaching a hand down to help him up.

"Wh… wh… Who the hell are you?"

Kirito smiled and opened his game menu. He tapped a few buttons and suddenly turned the screen so Ergon could see it. There was a picture of Kirito's avatar along with his stats, all of which seemed to be maxed out. As he continued to read the information on the page, his eyes stop on a symbol that made him catch his breath.

"Y… Y… Your really him!"

Kirito smiled. "I'm Kirito the Black Swordsman, Game Master of Fantasian Online."