[ SWORD ART ONLINE]

[ ASCENSION ]

by
SERODIN007
[ Mikhail Barlow ]

(^^,)

[ This is a work of fiction based upon the original story and characters created by Reki Kawahara. All similarities to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, are purely coincidental ]

[ Sword Art Online was created by Reiki Kawahara. This novel is a homage to his work. ]

[ A note to the fans]

[This story takes place after the events of Alfheim (books 3 and 4), and briefly before the events of Gun Gale (5 and 6). Note that I have not read past book 4 in the series, so if you have any continuity complaints, please remember this. Being a work of fiction, be open-minded and understand that I have taken some liberties with the characters. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy my work. ]

[ Updates to this fiction will come as soon as I have time to grind my keyboard to dust for an afternoon or two. ]

"There is no meaningful difference between a virtual world and the real world. The player and the character are one and the same. To act as the villain here would be to change who you are in reality. To act the hero would mean to accept that mantle in reality as well."
- Kirigaya Kazuto

- Chapter 01 -

Gentle light creped through the window that morning. It was warm in my bed, and I didn't want to stir from my sleep. As the warmth of sunlight finally crossed my face, my eyes slowly opened. I took a deep breath of warm air, and felt the soft weight of a sleeping girl on my chest. Asuna, my love, was still sleeping deeply, her head resting on my chest and her fingers intertwined with mine. I raised an arm and ran my fingers through her braided chestnut hair, which was gleaming in the warm light. She was truly beautiful, and I was blessed to have her in my life. After everything she and I had been through together – everything we had suffered through together - having her finally safe and sound in my arms gave me a feeling of peace.

I moved my hand down and rubbed her back, feeling the softness of her skin underneath my palm. With this, she finally stirred.

"Mmm…Don't stop," She whispered. I smiled widely, and gently rubbed her back more. She shifted in response to my motions. After a few minutes, Asuna finally pushed herself up with her arms, towering above me in all of her beauty and pushed a single lock out of her face. She smiled, then covered my lips with hers. We kissed softly for a few seconds.
"I'm going to shower." She said. "I have work in an hour,"

"Okay," I reluctantly let her leave the bed and walk to the bathroom. The door clicked closed, and I heard the shower start. I let out a big sigh, closing my eyes, still not moving. I felt at absolute peace.

Minutes passed before I stirred. I was also obligated to get up. It was summer, in the rainy season, and though I was on break for school, I had studying for college entrance exams to do, not to mention work. Two years stuck in Sword Art Online had pushed me back a grade in school, and I had spent my entire summer catching up in cram school. The little free time I had after finishing cram school was spent either studying or working, selling video games at a local store. Though school was off and I was enjoying the extra time I was getting to spend with Asuna, the real world had its own share of challenges for me to face.

This apartment, after all, wasn't going to pay for itself. It was more like a shanty, on the second floor of a medium-sized complex with small rooms and an unappealing exterior. But, Asuna and I had made the decision to start living together a few months ago, and we did the best we could with our money. It wasn't much, but it was ours, and we wanted to protect it.

Business with each of our families was touch-and-go at the moment. We wanted to be intimate with each other; openly express our love as often as we could, but doing that while both of us were living at a house with parents and siblings had been impossible. The occasional date and hanging out were certainly possible, but we wanted more than that. After all, we had been married in Aincrad. Truthfully, our dream was to eventually earn enough money to move into a suburban cottage or cabin away from society, similar to how we had lived together in the game. But that cottage in SAO didn't have the restrictions of the real world. Owning our own home, and starting a family, eventually, would take considerable money. But, it was our dream, and we were willing to work for it.

Asuna emerged from the bathroom ten minutes later among a waft of steam. She was wearing a towel and her hair was tied up in back with a bun. She moved into the next room to change into her work uniform. I reluctantly rolled out of the warm bed, lazily replacing the sheets and covers, and trudged over to the shower myself.

After I was clean and dressed, I could smell the familiar scent of Asuna's cooking from the kitchen. She was making spicy omelets - my favorite breakfast - wearing a cute apron with red bows on the shoulders. Her amber eyes glittered as she welcomed me to the kitchen table. She presented me with a beautiful wrap of eggs, ham, and a red sauce that made my nose tingle. She giggled at my expression and took the seat across from me at the table. We ate our breakfast quickly, and then I took care of the skillet and our two plates in the sink.

As I was scrubbing, Asuna came up behind me, still wearing her apron, and put her arms around my waist. "Mmmm…" she hummed in my ear. "I'm off to work. I'll be back a bit late tonight. There's something I want to pick up from the store on the way back."
"Okay," I said. "You be careful, Asuna,"
She nibbled the lobe of my ear, which made me flinch. She giggled.

"You too, Kazuto." She let go of my waist and skipped out the door of our apartment, glancing at me once more before leaving me to finish the dishes uninterrupted.

I sighed. The last few months of living together with Asuna had been like heaven. Without the inconveniences of having parents, siblings, or other nuisances around, we could be as romantic with each other as we wanted to be. She and I had taken full advantage of this fact, as often as we had time and energy. After all… we were healthy young adults…

I suddenly felt my face begin to tingle with a familiar feeling as I thought about that. Asuna and I almost seemed like one of those faerie-tale romances out of a monthly manga magazine, and I had to admit, I felt as though I was playing the part of a character rather than living a real life. It was pessimistic of me to think so, but I admitted that this way of life couldn't last forever - certainly not while both of us were attending college next year. Though Asuna came from more substantial money than I, it wasn't enough to afford our lifestyle without getting a job. The next few years would be busy, for both of us.

"I wish these days could last forever," I said aloud to myself. I knew that one day, we would be able to relax a little more and return to being more intimate, but, perfect mornings like this one… I feared they might disappear someday.

I finished the dishes and retired to the bedroom. I cleaned it up, making the bed and putting discarded items back in their places. The sun was now high in the sky outside. It was a beautiful day, with blue skies and a warm summer breeze coming off of the western shores. I had to shake the urge to skip my studies and go outside, so I reluctantly opened my desk next to the bed and pulled out a book titled "Modern Gaming: Programming Minds and Metal." I flipped it open to the bookmarked page, sat on the edge of the bed, and began to study for my programming examination.

Asuna and I were both trying to get into the same college: Kokibura University of Technology. It was a premier college near Okinawa that had opened its doors in 2017, and it specialized in programming technology. It was also home to the world's first college-based Full-Drive research division. Since I was dead set on my career as a Full-Drive technician, Kokibura was the best I could hope for.

Asuna wanted to work on network security. Before the events that trapped us in Sword Art Online, she had no real interest in video games, though she had always been good with computers. After the events of those two-and-a-half years, however, an ever-increasing interest in technology had begun to grow within her. Though her original aspiration had been to become a doctor, her newfound love for computers changed her mind. Kokibura had an amazing networking and computer security program, which caught her attention. It was also the same school that her father had attended before becoming the C.E.O. of the now disbanded RCT-O Processes Engineering Corp. It wasn't like her to want to follow in her father's footsteps, but she could not deny that the school produced excellence.

Kokibura was also the same university that the infamous Kayaba Akihiko had attended. Kayaba, creator of the Full-Drive Integration System (FDIS) that all virtual reality was based on, as well as the tyrant that had created the mess that was Sword Art Online, had received his diploma in hardware design and theoretical neurology from this very college.

I gritted my teeth at this fact, since I promised I would wash my hands of anything having to do with him. But, the events of Sword Art Online, as well as those of AlfHeim Online, were not the machinations of Kokibura University. I couldn't post the blame of all those deaths and illegal experiments on the faculty of the university, nor could I deny myself a proper education just because of my spite for that man. If anything, I could learn from the mistakes of the pioneers of virtual reality, and maybe even develop a world that surpasses his.

It was a good goal, but entrance to Kokibura University was pretty exclusive. Students from Europe, China, America, and the rest of the world were also very interested in what the college had to offer. It wasn't going to be a simple matter to be accepted – I knew that. Your grades had to be good, and there was a very strict screening process - background checks - especially if you wanted to be in the Full-Drive research division. After the fiascos of SAO and ALO, anyone working with Full-Drive technology had to be screened to prevent any further disaster. I was confident that I would be accepted, but that didn't make the entrance examinations any less strenuous.

I looked up from my studies after a while and looked at the digital clock on the wall next to the bed. It was twenty minutes to noon. My work started at one. The little game store I worked at was only three blocks from our apartment, so I still had some time before I needed to leave. Feeling confident that I had studied enough, since several hours had already passed and the material was starting to feel redundant, I closed my book and put it back in my desk drawer, bookmarking the page with a pen. I flopped back on my bed and began to review the material in my head quickly.

A loud buzzing sound – my doorbell – interrupted my review. I slowly got up from the bed and walked over to the apartment door. I hadn't been anticipating any visitors, though It was true that Klein, Lizabeth, and Silica were known to drop by once in a while to see Asuna and I. However, they usually called first. Our families didn't really visit us either, since we made sure to keep in constant contact with them over the phone or email. It's probably just a salesman or someone from the apartment.

I peered through the spyglass in my front door, but there was no one there. Or, I thought, it could be someone playing a prank! I cautiously unlatched the door and opened it, hoping that a water balloon or some other trap wasn't awaiting me on the other side. "Hello?" I called, looking around. There was no one there at the door, nor anyone on the street below the second floor terrace. Confused, I turned around to go back inside. Then I noticed a small white envelope at my feet. I picked it up. It had no address listed on it, just the name Kazuto-kun, written in English letters, on the front. Someone must have personally delivered it.

There was definitely no indication of whom it was from. I glanced around once more for the letter's sender, then went back inside and closed the door, never taking my eyes off of the envelope. I made a b-line for the bed and sat down, brushing a bang out of my face. I carefully opened the white envelope. Inside was a small notecard with beveled corners. On it, written in red ink from a calligraphy brush, were the words, "Guess Who?" in English letters. The letters were very jagged and stylized, and had a chilling look to them. Below those words was a picture of an eye with a bleeding tear descending from it, drawn in black acrylic. There was nothing on the back of the card, and there wasn't anything else in the envelope.

"What the heck is this?" I said aloud. I thought it might have been a prank. Either way, it wasn't a very funny one. In fact, it was downright disturbing. It definitely wasn't sent by anyone I knew. Maybe it was meant for someone else at the apartment complex?

I put the card back in the envelope and set it aside. I still had an hour before work, so I decided to do a little investigating to see if I could get to the bottom of this. Something in the back of my mind really bothered me about the message. I started by knocking on each of the doors on my floor and asking about the letter. Only two other people were home at the time, and neither of them could offer me any answers. I didn't know when the other patrons would be back, so, at least for now, this was a dead end.

I returned to our apartment on the second floor after apologizing for the trouble. I pulled my laptop out from my desk in the bedroom and opened it up. I started searching the web for information. Maybe the card was propaganda for a cult or club? I started searching for the phrase "Guess Who?" and the eye symbol. I searched for a frustrating amount of time before deciding that I had hit yet another dead end. None of my queries had resulted in any answers. I glanced at the clock once more. It was ten minutes from noon. I sighed, closed my computer, stowed it in the desk, and got ready for work. I'll figure this out later.

I trudged across the three-block walk between our humble apartment and the small game store I worked at. It paid a meager amount, only nine-hundred yen an hour, but it was enough to pay the rent and necessities for living. Once in a while, and using the store discount, I was able to afford myself or Asuna some luxuries, but all I cared about was protecting our little piece of paradise. Not to say it was a bad job. Getting to work at a game store was just fine for me, and I enjoyed it enough.

Today at work was particularly slow. I worked the front counter, taking money for sales and providing information for customers. There hadn't been a big game release for the Amusphere or its struggling competitors in a month, so there hadn't been many customers frequenting the store in the first place. The occasional otaku would come in, asking for a niche game or for peripherals like statuettes, since my store catered those things as well. But, today it felt painfully slow. Only a handful of people came in during my shift, so I had plenty of time to think about the letter sitting on the bed at home.

During my break, I opened up a copy of MMO Today. There was an interesting article on the AlfHeim Online incident for its one-year anniversary. It had a section talking about its creator, Sugou Nokibuki. It also drew comparisons to the new version, created using the Seed, and how it deserved praise. Truthfully, I think the way they treated Sugou in the article was far too kind.

That man, as if he were the ghost of Kayaba Akihiko himself, had captured and imprisoned over three-hundred players of Sword Art Online and toyed with their minds for his own gain. Not only that, but he had done terrible things to Asuna; things that I almost killed him in cold blood for. He had imprisoned her in virtual reality as well, taking a special interest in her, and using the fact she was in a coma to his advantage. He was a coward, and the very definition of despicable… and I hated him. When I confronted him in AlfHeim Online, I did so much damage to his virtual body that his real body had a violent reaction in reality, and he suffered several disfiguring injuries. He went limp on his right arm, scar tissue appeared in his abdomen, and he became blind in his right eye.

He hadn't take these injuries lightly, either. After dealing with him and releasing Asuna (and the other players) from AlfHeim, I raced over to the hospital where she was being cared for. Sugou was waiting for me. He attacked me, meaning to kill me for what I had done to him. His injuries put him at a disadvantage, however, and I was able to subdue him, despite his size and build. That night, I had an opportunity to end his life in that hospital parking lot. I wanted him to pay for what he had done to Asuna, but, in the end, I spared him and put my trust in the authorities to bring him to justice. He was arrested that night.

However, justice doesn't always keep up with the latest technology. What Sugou had done was blatant kidnapping, illegal experimentation, torture, not to mention fraud. However, criminality in Japan didn't fully understand the concept that was being pitched. Because the victims weren't under any physical duress, and proving any of the "torture" when there were no physical marks was impossible. In the end, he was only sentenced to seven years in prison and eligible for parole in two.

It was a joke. He wasn't even charged with abusing Asuna, because it had been her 'virtual' body. Since there were no signs of physical abuse on her body, and despite her desperate testimony, those charges were dropped as well. After all he had done, after all he had put us through, his punishment felt more like a slap on the wrist. We had hoped we would never need worry about him for the rest of our lives, but something told me that wouldn't be the case.

The article was short, only a few paragraphs long. I felt like they could have described in more detail the horror that was AlfHeim online. It seemed they were doing their best to support the newly recreated version of the game that had arisen since the incident, so the grittier details, like the imprisonment of three-hundred SAO players, were omitted.

I closed the magazine and looked up at the sky, my back leaning against the stone wall of the shop. Dark clouds were starting to form on the horizon. There was a thunderstorm approaching from the west. I could already hear the faint rumbling of thunder off the coast. I only hoped it would wait for my shift to finish in a few hours, so I could get home before it hit.

I finished work at five with relief; the second half of my work day wasn't any better than the first, due to lack of customers. Boredom had sunken in, temporarily taking my mind off the letter at home. Without any hesitation, I clocked out at the station near the front of the store, grabbed my black rain jacket, and started walking back to the apartment. It was beginning to rain. The dark clouds had almost completely covered the sky and it was so dark that the tall traffic lamps on the sidewalks had turned on. It took only ten minutes to walk back to the apartment, but during that time, my pants, shoes, and head got soaked. The rain had picked up considerably by the time I reached the apartment, into a full torrent. Ugh… I sighed. I rushed to the stairs to the second floor, under the canopy to get out of the deluge. Shaking my head of loose rain drops, I used my key and opened the door to my shanty abode.

It was dark inside. Asuna hadn't gotten home yet. She had said that she needed to pick something up on the way back, so I wasn't concerned. However, I thought I'd check up on her, just to be safe. After all, the weather was getting bad outside and I didn't want her taking any risks walking home in this torrent. I opened my cell phone and scrolled to her number in the contacts. I clicked send. The phone call connected, and I waited.

Asuna didn't answer her phone. I left a message. "Hey, Asuna, it's me. It's raining pretty hard out there today. Call me if you want me to pick you up on my bike… in fact, just call me when you can anyway…"

After finishing, I closed the phone. I pulled off my work shirt and pants and changed into more comfortable clothing. I collapsed on the bed, face-first into a pillow, and started thinking about all sorts of things. I kept my cell phone next to my ear, in case Asuna happened to call back. Either way, she should be home in a few hours. I stopped thinking about it, and, at some point, I drifted off to sleep, exhausted from work.

When I woke up, I immediately scrambled for my phone, next to my ear. Shit! My phone told me that it was 10:09pm. I had taken a very long nap indeed. I looked at the missed calls list, but nothing showed up. I hadn't received a phone call from anyone, let alone Asuna. I rolled over on the bed, holding the phone above me. I sighed, and let my arms fall to the bed to either side of me. "Come on, Asuna." I said, exasperated. I sat up, got out of bed, and did a quick check of the apartment to make sure she wasn't already home.

She wasn't.

I tried to call her cell phone again. Once again, I was greeted with her voice mail message. I left another message, frantically asking her to call me back as soon as she could, and telling her that I was getting worried. I repeated these calls every five minutes or so. She'd probably be pissed at me for using up so much of her mailbox, but I'd rather have to explain it later than sicken myself with worry in the meantime.

It was getting very late – almost midnight. I was exhausted, and I needed to sleep. Maybe Asuna had been out at a club, got caught up with friends, or her phone turned off. I did my best to push these worries of mine to the back of my head, and replace them with logical explanations. After finally reassuring myself that she can take care of herself and I was being overly-worrisome, I changed for bed, crawled in, alone, and vainly tried to drift off to sleep.

I didn't sleep very well that night. The room was always lit by the light of my phone, which I compulsively checked every twenty minutes or so. Every time I began to drift off, I fell into a state of half-dreaming, where nightmares of Alfheim and Aincrad flooded my mind and violently jerked me back to reality. At some point during the night, fears began to come back to me like a whirlwind. This was entirely unlike Asuna.

I must have cried myself to sleep. When I woke in the morning, dried tears coated my eyelids and cheeks. There was no bright sun to greet me through the windowpanes. There was no delicious smell of Asuna's cooking or the feeling of her head resting on my chest. Reluctantly, I opened my eyes. However, what I saw, standing above me, was not what I had expected.

The girl staring at me had short-cropped black hair, silver-blue eyes, and a soft, pale face. Her cheeks were painted a gentle tint of pink, and she had a gentle smile upon her lips. It was a face I knew all too well.

"Suguha…?" I mumbled. "What are you doing here…?"

My cousin, Suguha Kirigaya, was standing above me. She was wearing a simple blouse and short jeans that clung to her hips. On her feet were a pair of pink flip-flops. Her eyes glistened gently when she heard me speak.

"Don't you remember, brother?" She chimed. "You said you and I were going to hang out today."

"Erh…um…yeah! I remembered, sis. It's just…well… why are you here this early?"

"Huh?!" She exclaimed, confused. She looked at the clock, then back at me. She put her hand over her mouth and giggled, "But its already two o'clock, brother! Did you just wake up?"

My eyes widened. I had slept in really late.

"Hey, Sugu…" I started, pulling myself up into a sitting position. "Have you seen Asuna today?"

"I haven't… why? I thought you and her were inseparable…" Her eyes shifted away from me. "You two… you didn't have a fight, did you?"

"Eh, no, no!" I said. "I just haven't seen her today and I wanted to know if maybe you ran in to her when you came here today." I lied. I didn't want to worry Suguha, and, besides, it wasn't her problem. In fact, it was probably just my imagination anyway.

"Brother…" Sugu slowly reached a hand to my cheek, examining the tear stains on my face with sibling concern. "Have you been crying?"

I didn't know what to say. I had to explain it somehow. "No, its just that my eyes sometimes tear up at night. Nothing you need to worry about, sis. Now, give me a minute to shower and change, and we'll go get some lunch."

Sugu's cheeks became slightly pinker at my enthusiasm. I loved my dear cousin. After all, she and her mother had raised me ever since my parents died when I was young. She was practically my sister, so I treated her as such. Though we had had some confusion in the past about our status as siblings and friends, we had gotten past all of that. Though, I had a feeling that the roots of her feelings for me were still there deep inside her. Thankfully, in the past year, she had done a good job of masking them. Putting all that aside, my sister was a wonderful person, and seeing her here cheered me up a little.

I spent longer in the bathroom than I had intended. As I stood there underneath the hot water, I allowed myself to get lost in thoughts of Asuna, who still hadn't returned to the apartment. My overly-critical mind was now calculating ways to deal with this situation. Should I go look for her? Where do I start? Maybe start at her work? Maybe she had college business to attend to last night and got held up…

I let the steaming hot water flow over me as I thought about it. When the warm water finally started to lose its temperature, I decided to finish up and get dressed. I had to do something about this whole situation, but ditching Suguha wouldn't be fair. We hadn't had much time to see each other lately, and it was rare that both of us had time to hang out, so today was special. I could just tell her about it, but the kindred part of me told me that she would be equally upset about the whole situation, and I didn't want to sadden her as well.

In the end, I decided that telling her about it was still the best decision, but not right away. I'd tell her after lunch, so at least we could have a little time together without dealing with catastrophe…

Catastrophe… I thought. The logical side of my mind told me that this would all blow over by the end of the day and that there was no reason to fear anything sinister. However, I couldn't shake this feeling of dread.

After I was finished buttoning my black collared shirt, I wiped the mist from the bathroom mirror. I brushed my unkempt locks out of my face and stared into the mirror. The tear streaks that had mired my reflection earlier had been washed away. I had let my hair grow out in the past year, and now it almost reached my shoulders. There was a linear scar on my left cheek: the remnants of my final battle with Sugou a year ago. The scar was very light, and hardly noticeable, but I was a constant reminder of the danger I had been in that night, not to mention the danger that Asuna had been in as well.

I finished getting dressed and opened the bathroom door. Suguha was lying on the bed, arms and legs spread like she was making a snow angel.

"Took you long enough!" She said, jumping up into a sitting position.

"Yeah, sorry," I forced a chuckle. "I've just had a lot on my mind recently,"

"Well," she said, standing up now, "You can tell me about it over some lunch, then. Where do you want to go?"

I knew exactly where I wanted to go. "There's a place with great Takoyaki over by where Asuna works, in the city. Sound good?"

Suguha nodded and smiled, eyes closed.

We took my bike into the city, my sister sitting on the passenger rack behind me, arms wrapped around my waist. The air was chilled from the wind and lack of sunlight. Grey clouds were hovering over the city, signaling that rain was on its way yet again. As we winded through the streets on the bike trail leading to the restaurant, I thought about how to approach Suguha about my worries.

It was true that this restaurant had good Takoyaki, and it was true that I wanted to spend time with my sister…

But, more importantly, I needed to get some answers, and her workplace, I had decided, was the best place to start. It was cheap of me to drag Suguha along with me on this escapade, but, I couldn't stand not knowing any more.

I had to figure out what was going on.