Hm, well, i'm using the same picture as i used for the SAO FF that i deleted. This story won't be very active since SAO chapters tend to be long, but i hope it's interesting :)
this is my second try. Hope it works. I'm not good with Third person's point of view, so please forgive me for the grammer mistakes.
Disclaimer:Not owning anything at all. Tsumiki and Kyoya are names from the anime acchi kocchi.
3rd January, 2023
A lone figure walked out of the foggy forest of death. To many players, going into the forest of death is suicide. Even the clearers are afraid to go into the place. Those that did dare to go in there went in parties. No one dared to go in alone, not even the clearers. Thirty percent of the people who went in came out with mental issues, the horrifying experiences they had leading them to insanity. Fifty percent of the people who dared to go in never came back out, while the rest managed to come out with only a small bit of Hp. No one ever considered going in solo. If going in there in parties were already thought as suicide, who would dare go in alone? Not even clearers dared. No one dared.
Well, no one but the boy who was currently walking out of the foggy forest. His coat, the coat of midnight fluttered behind him as he trudged down the rocky road. His sword, the Anneal blade sheathed and hanging on his back. His slightly long hair was lifted slightly by the chilly breeze. It was none other than the infamous beater from the first boss, the first beater ever in the death game called "Sword Art Online". Hated by many, beaters often soloed, as they had no choice. No one would accept them, as they were believed to have left a great many people to die. Due to that, the initial number of the beaters had decreased, most of them dying as they had to solo.
But, this beater was the first, and the strongest of them all. To have gotten out of the Forest of Death alone was an impressive feat already. But with his hp still in the yellow zone would have made many stare at him in awe. No one had ever gotten out of there in a yellow zone. Everyone that had been in there and had gotten out were always in the red zone, and they never dared to go in again.
A reason why the Forest of Death was such a monstrous place was because with every single level cleared, the forest of death would have more and more dangerous monsters. Their levels were sometimes even higher than the boss, and that's why many stayed away from it. It was thought that the Forest of Death was for people to train to get stronger faster, but no one dared to risk their lives for such a thing.
Again, no one but him. And due to that fact, he was most probably one of the strongest in the game, maybe even the strongest of them all. He possesses the power to defeat bosses and help everyone in need, and yet, he couldn't.
It was the price he had to pay, to see so many die and yet he himself not being able to help. He was the most hated person in the whole game, the very first beater who had let the game's first leader -Diabel- die. He had made himself look like he really wanted Diabel to die, to get the award for the 'last hit', so that all the hate would be pulled away from other beta testers, and to himself.
He looked out at the landscape, and sighed as he saw the dead grass, leafless trees, rocky roads and dark sky. He really hated the place. He was used to being alone, but being alone didn't mean that he liked hanging around alone in a 'desolate world'. It was way too creepy.
"I should be heading back now." He muttered to himself, and walked onwards towards the nearest village, planning to get some well-earned rest after leveling up three times.
"Gaaah, this is troublesome." Tsumiki groaned as she readied her hunting knifes. They were currently on the fourth floor, fighting a mob of White foxes that had surrounded her. To her right, her partner and best friend, Kyoya, grunted in agreement as he held up his sword and shield. The White Foxes were low-leveled, only level five. Tsumiki and Kyoya were already at level seven. Well, there would actually be a fair amount of exp and cols to get if they fought three mobs of them, and they had already fought five. The problem was, they had just gotten back from some hardcore training with a few level seven two-headed cobra, and were extremely exhausted. The numerous mobs that kept attacking them while they traveled back to the city didn't improve their mood.
"Oh, fuck this shit. Follow closely behind me. We're breaking out." Kyoya cursed, his patience wearing thin. He was usually the patient one out of the two, and even he was getting irritated by the large amount of white foxes attacking them every half a kilometer.
"Shield bash!" Kyoya shouted and thrust his shield out as he ran through the mob of white foxes, making a temporary opening as the two white foxes he had bashed into burst into a million pixels. Tsumiki ran as fast as she could behind him.
"Hurry, Tsumiki!" Kyoya shouted as he ran out of the circle of white foxes. Tsumiki gritted her teeth and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Before the White foxes had time to react, she was already out of their circle, and was running like hell behind Kyoya towards the town, which was only a kilometer away. She could hear the White foxes running after them, growling as they chased. She sped on even faster, catching up with Kyoya.
As the town got closer, so did the growls. She prayed to whatever God that was out there that they could reach the town before the White foxes caught up with them.
"Fifty…forty…thirty…twenty…" She thought as she ran and ran. Kyoya, even with his heavier armor and weaponry, was running beside her. That was probably due to the fact that he had put more stat points into his strength than she did.
"Thank the heavens!" Tsumiki shouted as she stepped over the town's safety line, Kyoya just a meter behind her. She turned around and saw the white foxes turning around and fading into the green landscape. They were both panting hard, sweat pouring all over their faces. She looked around and noticed that there were quite a few people staring at them. She suddenly felt nervous at the amount of attention they were receiving.
"Um, hi…please don't bother about us. We're fine." She said with an awkward smile. The friendlier players smiled and waved before turning back to whatever they were doing while the others just treated it as though they were never there.
"You shouldn't have shouted…" Kyoya muttered as he finally recovered enough to speak. Tsumiki just snorted and walked towards the inn where they were staying. Kyoya sighed as he straightened up and followed behind her.
"Welcome back, masters. Would you like to order any room service?" The NPC at the inn's counter asked. Knowing that shaking their heads would not be understood by an NPC, Kyoya spoke up.
"We would like to have two drunk boar sets sent up to our room at around eight tonight. Thank you very much." Kyoya said, and they went to their room after the NPC smiled and nodded.
"I'm totally exhausted. Damn it, bloody retarded foxes. Hey, Kyoya, lets go back to the fields tomorrow. I want to give those foxes a big ass-whooping. We're gonna level up soon anyway." Tsumiki said as she opened her menu and pointed at her exp bar as she slumped down on a wooden chair at the side. Since they were only on floor four, their inn wasn't really that hi-tech. Kyoya opened his and checked, though it was probably unnecessary. He knew that their exp were more or less the same since they were in a party and did almost the same damage.
"Alright then. We'll try leveling twice tomorrow. It'll be hard though." He said. Tsumiki sighed.
"I know it'll be hard to level twice with those level mobs, but what can we do? We're not like those beta testers who knows all the good places to grind and gain the most amount of exp. We're not like the clearers, who have nothing much to fear when they are in parties. We can't even risk the fifth floor, and the lead group are already on the seventh." Tsumiki sighed again. She then stood up and went towards the bathroom.
"I'm gonna bathe." She simply stated before walking into the bathroom.
"There she goes," Kyoya thought as he rolled her eyes. "Always making herself first." He then took a newspaper he had bought early in the morning and read it. His eyes widened as he saw that the lead group had already reached the eighth floor and is currently searching for the door to the ninth floor.
"What makes us so damn different? Damn it…" Kyoya thought as he scowled at the newspaper. He had always wanted to help everyone else clear the game, but they had started slowly due to their lack of game experience. Well, maybe that was one of the reasons…still…
"Fuck this…" he grumbled and tossed the newspaper aside. He closed his eyes and slumped down on to the chair he was sitting on, listening to the droplets of water falling onto the ground inside the bathroom as Tsumiki bathed. He checked the time, and was surprised to see that it was already close to six.
"It's getting a little late. Better check my equipment's durability." Kyoya thought and sat up, opening up his storage. He frowned when he saw that most of his equipments' durability was already very low. He needed to get them repaired; especially his Goblin sword and Wolf's teeth armor plate. Both of them gave him extra stats in strength and vitality.
He heard the tap stop running, and closed his menu, patiently waiting for Tsumiki to come out so he could go in and bathe. Two minutes later, Tsumiki came out, drying her wet hair with a towel. She was wearing casual wear- blue shirt with white shorts. She looked extremely pretty too. Well, she looked pretty all the time, but when she wasn't in armor, she looked even prettier. Kyoya stared for two seconds before recovering and stood up quickly, trying to hold the blush that was coming to his face down.
"You're finally done. Go check your equipments' durability. Mine is already low. We'll need to go and repair them at a blacksmith shop later after we eat out dinner." Kyoya said before walking past Tsumiki and closing the door behind him. Tsumiki huffed. She didn't even get to say anything. He had seemed to be in a hurry for the toilet.
"Let's see…" She said as she opened her menu and lay down on her bed. Kyoya was right. All her equipment was about to break. She frowned when she saw the hunting knifes. They were a reminder that she had not gotten any weapon from item drops yet. The freaking hunting knifes were with her ever since the starting town.
"I hope I'll get a rare weapon tomorrow, I'm really getting sick of the weak hunting knifes." She thought in annoyance. She really needed a better weapon. At this floor, the only reason why she could do at least a decent amount of damage was because she had put lots of stat points into her agility, making her critical rate fairly high. However, she couldn't keep that kind of thing up for long. She sighed and closed her eyes, decided to take a nap first while waiting for Kyoya to finish showering.
"Hey, hey, Tsumiki. The food is here." Tsumiki heard a voice calling her, and groaned as she opened her eyes. Her body was still feeling sore, but she felt a little more refreshed now. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, and then looked at Kyoya. Her eyes widened when she saw the two sets of boar meal on the table.
"Why didn't you wake me earlier! I wasn't planning to sleep that long." She exclaimed as she took a seat opposite Kyoya.
"You looked so peaceful in your sleep. Didn't want to wake you up." Kyoya said with a smile. Tsumiki blushed a little, and hoped that Kyoya didn't see her blush. Luckily for her, he was staring hungrily at the boar meat in front of them. There was rice and some vegetables too. Tsumiki smiled slightly.
"Go on and dig in. I can see you're hungry." Tsumiki said, and chuckled when she heard Kyoya's stomach growl. Kyoya smiled at her, and started to eat, taking in large gulps of food in lightning speed. Tsumiki sighed and began to eat her food too.
An hour later, they were both done. Usually, the plates and bowls would have to be collected by an NPC, but down here, in the game, it would just be transported back to the inventory of the inn once the food was finished. They both sighed in content, their stomachs satisfied. In the game, they obviously couldn't die from hunger, but the feeling of hunger was still there, so…
"Lets go for a walk. We need to visit the blacksmith and restock some of our items." Kyoya said to Tsumiki, who nodded and sighed. Kyoya looked at Tsumiki quizzically.
"What's wrong?" he asked in a slightly worried tone that always made Tsumiki feel happy on the inside. She was glad he was worried for her.
"I wish I could get a rare weapon like yours. I don't care if its level three or four weapon, it's better than the hunting knifes." She said and sighed again. Kyoya smiled and stood up, ruffling her hair.
"We may have better luck tomorrow. Lets go and take a walk now." Kyoya said before walking to the door, leaving a pouting Tsumiki behind as she tidied her hair.
"The price of total repairs would be two hundred cols." The NPC said to Tsumiki with a smile. Tsumiki pressed the amount on her menu and paid for the repairs. She noted that she had around five thousand cols already. She heard the NPC tell Kyoya that he had to pay three hundred and fifty for his repairs, and smirked. He had more equipment, after all.
"Stop smirking like that. It's irritating. The only reason why I have to pay more is because I have more equipment for more armor. You'll still need to lend me money if I run out." Kyoya said with an evil grin at the last sentence, which made Tsumiki stick her tongue out at him.
"Um…hello…" They heard a voice call from behind, and were surprised when they saw a young girl standing behind them, looking down nervously and shifting from left to right. Judging by her equipment, they could tell that she was quite weak.
The girl had blue hair that she let down to her shoulders. Her eyes were green and wide.
"I…can…can I please join your party?" The girl suddenly asked, shocking the two. They stared at her for a few seconds, trying to process what had just happened.
"Um…wait, are you sure? I mean, we're not that strong at all." Tsumiki said to the girl. The girl glanced up and gave a watery smile, and tears were already forming in her eyes.
"Well…neither am I…I've been asking for the whole day…but…everyone rejects me because I'm…I'm…" She said, and started to sob like a kid. Well, she was a kid. Twelve years old…
Tsumiki quickly bent down and wrapped her arms around the girl. "There, don't cry, don't cry. Yes, you can join our party tomorrow." She said as she smiled down at the girl. The girl looked up, her green eyes staring at her in disbelief.
"R-really?" She asked, rubbing her eyes. Tsumiki smiled and nodded. The girl then threw herself at Tsumiki and buried her face in Tsumiki's chest, giving muffled sounds of 'thank you' as she sobbed softly. Tsumiki just held her close and stroked her hair, ignoring the stares she was receiving from the other players.
"What good is that stupid girl? Are you dumb? Bringing her along with you would only slow you down." A tall man with a thick black beard and messy hair said in disbelief, as though the girl was a useless thing and he couldn't believe that they were taking her in. The girl looked up fearfully at the man staring down at the two. Tsumiki scowled, and was about to spit curses at the man's face, but Kyoya was faster.
"Mind your own fucking business." Kyoya said as he stepped in between them. The man looked at Kyoya angrily.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? She'll just bring you death! This is no time to be compassionate! While we're in the front clearing bosses, you're here collecting weak and little girls!" He shouted. By now, everyone was staring at them, some starting to get nervous when it was revealed that the man was a clearer. Kyoya wasn't intimidated.
"She's just a girl! A young girl who's innocent and knows nothing about this world! How can you be such a cruel bastard! Your selfishness can rival a beater's!" Kyoya shouted into his face. The man's eyes flared with anger. Many people around were suddenly shifting nervously on their feet. Many of them had seen the girl, and many of them had also rejected her. Hearing Kyoya made some of them realize that what they had done was not much difference from what the beaters had done.
"Fuck you. You dare insult me? You dare compare me with those beaters? I'm from the lead group, part of one of the strongest guild, The vicious Eagles. I challenge you to a duel to the death!" The man shouted loudly as he took off his glove and showed it to Kyoya. It was a purple eagle holding snake in it's beak as it drew it's wings. Everyone was shifting nervously when they recognized the guild mark.
"Kyoya, Just drop it! If you try, you'll be killed!." Kyoya heard Tsumiki exclaim behind him, desperation and fear in her voice. Kyoya knew what she said was true, but his pride got in his way. He will never back down to such a bastard.
"Fine!" He spat on the man's face, who growled angrily and opened the menu, challenging Kyoya to a duel.
Challenge with no restrictions from player Ichiro. Accept? The question popped out in front of Kyoya. He could hear Tsumiki begging him not to accept. He could hear the people's whispering about how he was going to die. He could hear the girl sobbing loudly behind him. His finger went up to the circle, the accept button, and pressed down.
Thirty seconds to start of battle Ichiro grinned as everyone backed away. He took out a large Greatsword and grinned menacingly as he held it with both his arms. Kyoya walked forward, drawing his sword and shield, donning his armor.
They stood ten metres apart from each other, standing ready.
9,8,7,6,5 Kyoya closed his eyes and prayed to anything and everything that he would survive. 4,3,2,1,Start
Immediately, Ichiro rushed towards him, cleaving his sword downwards. Kyoya, surprised by his speed, barely managed to bring up his shield. Nevertheless, he was brought down to his knees, his shield arm shaking as he tried to hold the sword up. He could hear Tsumiki screaming from the background, but could not hear it as his vision blurred for a moment.
He felt the pressure lift and immediately rolled to the side as the sword cleaved down on where he had been a few moments ago. He stood up and quickly backed away, gasping and panting heavily as he circled around the man. Ichiro stood there, his body at ease, the smile on his face mocking Kyoya.
Kyoya suddenly sprang forward and slashed at Ichiro, who simply sidestepped. Kyoya quickly jumped out of the way again as the sword was brought down to where he was a moment ago. He heard Ichiro growl and ducked as the sword slashed above him. He quickly jumped back again.
"Stop running like a pussy and fight, coward." Ichiro hissed, annoyed. Kyoya, insulted by the remark, rushed in with a battle cry. Ichiro smirked and readied to dodge. When Kyoya slashed horizontally, he quickly ducked. What he didn't expect was for Kyoya to use Shield bash and bash him in the face with his shield. He stumbled back and clutched his nose.
"You bloody retard. That's it, you're going to die." Ichiro said. Kyoya just stood there, ready, waiting. Ichiro glared at him, and dashed forward. Kyoya bent his knees, eyes following Ichiro's sword. He quickly jumped back, as Ichiro cleaved the air in front if him.
His mistake was when he thought Ichiro had finished his attack.
Ichiro suddenly rushed forward and used his shoulder to ram into Kyoya, stunning Kyoya for a few seconds. Kyoya's eyes widened in shock as he stumbled back. His body was numb due to the stun. Luckily for Kyoya, Ichiro was slow due to the weight of the Greatsword, and had managed to bring up his shield just in time to meet with the man's slash.
He flew back ten feet before hitting a wall. His hp decreased immediately into the red zone, and he could see that only a small amount of hp was left. Another hit, and he was dead. His vision was blurry, and his body was numb. He couldn't move his hand now, and he saw Ichiro walking slowly towards him.
"No, no, no!" Tsumiki screamed as Ichiro swung his sword down. Kyoya closed his eyes, waiting for the hit, the death. He had been stupid to accept the challenge, now he would pay the price with his life.
A clang was heard; a grunt, and a number of gasps. He slowly opened his eyes, and saw a boy standing in front of him, his sword raised in the air as though he had deflected something. Kyoya slowly looked past him and saw that Ichiro was on the ground, struggling to get up. His Greatsword was stuck at a wall on the other far end.
"You…what the fuck are you doing here?" Ichiro shouted, his voice in panic. Mutterings and whispers could be heard all over the place.
"Ichiro, you should be better than this. Calling you a clearer is a disgrace to them. You tried to kill a mid-tiered level player, and heartlessly threw away a little girl because of your arrogance." The boy said, his voice steely calm and cold.
"Like you are any better, you fucking beater!" Ichiro shouted back, and everyone stared at the boy.
"So this is the infamous beater from the first floor. The black cloak proves everything. But…he saved me…is he really as bad as people say he is?" Kyoya thought as his body slowly recovered.
"Forfeit the match and leave at once, unless you want to deal with me." The boy said, now with a hint of menace in it. Kyoya saw Ichiro's eyes widen.
"Y-you'll pay for this. Remember this, Kyoya." Ichiro said as he opened the menu and closed forfeited the match before waling past the crowd, who stood away from his to make a path, as though he could slash and kill them at any moment.
The boy turned around and stretched out a hand to Kyoya, who took it hesitatingly. He looked at the boy, and was surprised at what he saw. He had warm, dark gray eyes. What surprised him even more was that they were probably at the same age. Hearing his voice just now, he menacing aura, he would have never imagined it to be coming from someone so young.
Suddenly, Kyoya felt something collide into him, and he looked down to see a sobbing Tsumiki, her face buried in his chest, her arms wrapped around him as she muttered and sobbed incoherently. The girl was standing beside her, crying too, but didn't hug him.
"Be more careful next time, Kyoya. You almost died. If I hadn't been there, you would be dead by now. How would you think your friend would feel if you had died?" The boy asked Kyoya, and pointed at Tsumiki. he suddenly felt a pang of guilt and berated himslef. What was he thinking? How could he ever risk leaving her alone?
"I'm sorry, Tsumiki…" He whispered to her. Her only response was to bury her face deeper into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug, comforting her.
"You're the beater, aren't you? The very first?" He asked, a little angrily, forgetting that the boy had just saved him. Everyone knew about him, how he had been so selfish to let Diabel die just to get the very cloak he was wearing then. It had already been a few weeks. The boy sheathed his blade to his back and sighed.
"Yes, I am. I'm sure you probably want to throw insults at me now for letting Diabel die and everything. I'm sorry," He said, and Kyoya was surprised to see the longing and pain in his eyes. "Goodbye." The boy said, and suddenly disappeared. Kyoya noticed that a large number of people were cursing and looking around for the boy. He sighed, and then felt guilty. The boy had saved him, and he had returned nothing but anger and resentment. He didn't even get the boy's name. He shook his head and focused on the current problem.
"Lets go back to the inn, Tsumiki." Kyoya whispered, She drew away from him, and nodded. Her eyes were red and puffy. He then noticed the girl, who had stopped crying, looking down sadly.
"Don't you have a home?" Kyoya asked her. She shook her head slowly.
"I…I've been with other parties…but I…I'm not strong at all, so they kicked me out. I have no money…so I usually sleep on the alleys…" She said, and both Tsumiki's and Kyoya's heart reached out to her. Kyoya smiled and placed a hand on the girl's head.
"Come on with us, then. You'll stay with us." Kyoya said with a smile. The girl looked up in shock, her eyes wide.
"R-really?" She asked in disbelief. Kyoya nodded, and Tsumiki smiled weakly but kindly at her. The girl's face slowly turned into a joyful expression, and she smiled widely and thanked them profusely as she cried tears of joy and hugged both of them tightly, bring them close to each other. Both of them blushed and quickly separated. Tsumiki then held onto the girl's hand.
"Come on, lets get going." She said with a smile, and they walked down happily towards the inn.