I do not own Sword Art Online nor Summer Wars. Reki Kawahara and Mamoru Hosada do.
November 6th 2022
He floated in the white nothingness, bright colorful rods rushing past him.
There were some circles… Touch, sight, hearing, taste, smell. All the sensory link-ups reported their status as okay.
The interface language was set as Japanese.
With the basics of the VR interface set-up, Kazuma began to go through the motions of creating his account. Rather easy really, much easier than OZ's account creation. Just an email address, name, address, and so forth.
Best of all? The game was free to play! No need to strain his allowance or tap into his limited savings.
He quickly inputted his account info and his password, and proceeded with the character creation process as the relevant pages appeared before him:
Gender: Male.
'Like I'm gonna like one of those NEETs that play as girls. Why do they do that? To touch themselves while-' Kazuma abruptly stopped that train of thought before it could lead him to places he was not yet comfortable with, and instead moved onto the next step of the character creation set up.
Hair: Blonde.
Eyes: Red.
Name:_
'A name…' Kazuma pondered. Should he put in King Kazma, the name he used back in OZ? The name that identified him as king of the ring?
No, this was a fresh start. A clean slate. No need to associate himself with his OZ Avatar.
'But the name is soooo cooool!' He griped to himself. Sighing, Kazuma began to think. What could serve as a good name?
Lord Kaz? No, too Orc-ish. He hated orcs, no thanks to wandering to that one hentai site and that obsession Western OZ Avatars had with some orcs from some old tabletop game who bastardized the English language and loved guns.
Makza? No, that was too girlish. He'd already had some people IRL mistake him for a girl from a distance or because they had poor eyesight. Besides, he wasn't gonna make a female Avatar anyway.
Think think think…
King Kazma… Ou is King…OuKazma…Kazmao…KazmaO?
'Got it!'
Name: KazmaO.
He clicked on the character creation completion icon, and he was greeted in black bold letters
Welcome to Sword Art Online!
As the words faded away he found himself diving into the virtual world, blues of all shades streaming past him.
Moments later he found himself standing in the center of a town square underneath a high, distant ceiling decorated to look like the sky. He looked down at his hand, not quite believing what he was seeing.
He willed it to move. And it moved.
He kicked out his leg as if shaking off some dirt. It made a similar motion. He blinked, getting used to this new environment.
Looking down, he grasped his very pale hands into fists. Looking up, he spread out his arms.
"THIS IS AWESOME!", the pale-white skinned, blonde haired, red eyed KazmaO cheered. The former King Kazma however wasn't the only one to materialize in the stone-paved square as other players of all genders joined him in rapid blue flashes.
KazmaO turned his head, scanning the world all around him. It was as if he was transplanted from his smaller IRL self to his character! He literally had become his character! With brown trousers, a red long-sleeved shirt, and a black vest of sorts, KazmaO was ready to climb this Castle Aincrad and become its king!
Face splitting into a grin, he charged off running. Could he run out of breath in the virtual world? How far could he run? Could he get cramps from running? He had so many questions about this virtual world!
All of his troubles in the real world: his parents, his family. All seemed to have been washed away in an instant.
If they wanna take him out of this place, they might as well take away the NerveGear around his head and dump it in the garbage.
Over his dead body, that is.
'Thank you Kayaba Akihiko!' he thought to himself as KazmaO ran into the streets, taking in every sight and sound around him. He could feel his feet slamming against the pavement, the sound of other players running around in joy and glee as they took off to see the vendors and buildings and the even more numerous NPCs that made this 'Starting City' their home.
KazmaO stopped by a fountain, sitting on the edge of the piece of architecture and catching his breath.
"Turns out you can…be a bit winded in the virtual world…" he said aloud, panting as he wiped his arm across his brow. He looked around, seeing other players interact and have fun in this new game. He saw a male with black hair and a grey outfit walking with a female character dressed in a yellow and red gear set. They were talking excitedly, their eyes wide and bright.
And then, all at once, the woman pulled her companion into a deep kiss. The man looked surprised, but quickly embraced it.
'Must be a married couple,' KazmaO thought, smiling. He had encountered some married couples in the OZ FC from time to time.
Looking left, he saw another couple: the male in green and the female in pink. Both were more reserved than the couple from before, but it wasn't difficult to see the excitement hidden underneath, at least in the female's case. High school classmates perhaps?
Something caught his eye and he turned to find a player in blue-and-brown gear and black hair sitting down on the same fountain as himself. The look on his face was neutral, almost apathetic.
'What's got him so down, I wonder? Especially in such a wonderful game like this?' KazmaO thought to himself briefly before shrugging.
'Whatever! It's his own business. Let's see about exploring more about this world... Hmm... Probably best to start with learning how to manage my equipment...' With that decision made, he stood up, grinning ear to ear as he inspected his starting equipment.
"How to use the Main Menu again…" KazmaO thought aloud. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the gloomy looking player sitting on the fountain move his hand downwards.
'When in Rome as they always say,' mused KazmaO as he proceeded to copy the gloomy player's action.
Mimicking what he had observed KazmaO took his right hand, extended his right index and middle fingers and swung them downward, and was greeted with the pinging sound of his Main Menu being brought up in front of him!
"Ah, goodie." He said aloud as he inspected its contents. The Main Menu was structured with a summary diagram on the left, circular category buttons in the middle, and the detail dialogue on the right. There are five category options: inventory/equipment, friends/guild, messaging/chat, maps/quest and the settings/main-menu.
KazmaO tapped his finger on the Inventory icon, and it revealed two screens. One on the left showing the image of a body, whilst the right screen showed three sub-menus: Weapons, Equipped, and Accessory.
The blonde haired bishounen pondered as he clicked on several of the icons on the body-screen, and suddenly he felt a lot chillier.
Looking down he noticed he was without pants for the blemish of a second. Yelping out in surprise, he clicked back on the icons, and his pants came back.
He took a deep sigh, hopefully no one saw that, right? He heard a trio walk by and snicker in whispered tongues. KazmaO picked up the words "Noob", "Greenhorn", and other similar words. He rolled his eyes.
"Least I'm learning. Better get acquainted with this more…" He said as he moved his finger, accidentally clicking another icon, this time taking off his shirt.
"Gaaaah!" He rushed to cover himself, and in the process stumbled and fell into the fountain. KazmaO sat back up, and clicked on the icon again, his shirt coming back. He saw the status effect for "Wet" next to his HUD. As he looked, he noticed his name and a health bar in the top left corner of his vision.
As his attention returned to his surroundings, KazmaO saw other people looking at him and sighed.
"Noob here. Mind your own business" he said aloud, waving off the other players. They walked off, smiling and chuckling at his misfortune. He was a newcomer to this game, so he could make some mistakes, right? The OZ veteran shook his head, and he realized something as he got out of the fountain.
He felt…legitimately wet. As if he had been pushed into a pool, his clothes felt heavy and waterlogged. Even his skin seemed a touch colder too. KazmaO held his hand up, seeing the droplets of water fall to the ground and forming into tiny puddles. He wrapped his arms around himself, feeling colder and was amazed even more. A game like that could stimulate the human senses.
"Is this…really a game?" he asked aloud, amazed by the detail and the fact that despite this world being a virtual reality…this felt so real.
What if the mistakes he made could hurt him? If he got hurt in this world, would he feel real pain?
'Yeah, I'd best avoid mistakes while out killing monsters,' he mused. 'Better to commit goof ups in the safety of the starting town square.'
He did not notice that black-haired player run past, nor did he pay attention to a red haired player in a bandanna running after him.
-X-
Several hours later, KazmaO was out in the fields on Floor 1 in some place called the 'South Field', sword raised, and a scowl of frustration on his face.
Before him stood an angry blue-furred boar, complete with glowing red eyes and sharp tusks.
"How do I damage this thing!?" he snapped, effortlessly sidestepping another predictable charge. He swiped at the beast as it passed, but did little damage. He had lost count of the damned boars after thirteen, but he was still grinding out his fights with them. Once or twice he had even been forced to run away.
In-between his frustrating attempts at combat, he had spent the time admiring the amazing scenery of Aincrad; the texture of the grass beneath his feet, the coolness of the wind in the air, and most unfortunately, running into that same trio of players who joked at his Main Menu gaffe earlier in the Starting City. KazmaO had asked them for tips and pointers, but the ring leader, some Kibaou or Kihaou or whatever his name was, blew him off and just said "Learn it the hard way noob!" and walked off laughing.
MMOs sure had some dicks in their community! Sure the FC had some clowns and trolls but at least the majority of them showed courtesy and respect!
KazmaO swung his sword at the boar mob again, but it passed through the beast, and the mob retaliated with a swing of its tusks thim. The blonde back stepped, took a slash at the boar, and smiled. He had only taken a tiny scratch here and there, his HP was still around half full despite being out in the field for several hours.
He had tried to find other players, particularly those that were having an easier time of grinding, in the hopes of figuring out what he was doing wrong but on the occasions that he had found some they were too far away when they fought a mob or dealt with them far too quickly for him to gleam anything useful from the combat. He had tried asking, but had no luck, like the whatshisname they did not want to give out the 'trade secret' to a newbie, more likely wanting to make sure KazmaO went through the same ordeals of hardship they went through when they were newbies.
KazmaO could relate in some respect to that. He too had made sure newcomers to the OZ FC learned the ropes the hard way: trial and error. Or in the OZ FC's case: Get your ass kicked and learn how to kick the ass who kicked your ass or kick the ass before he or she kicks your ass.
It had taught him well.
KazmaO dodged another charge by the Boar mob, having come to understand their attack patterns completely. How could he fight against monsters, swing his sword at them, and not do any real damage!? It made no sense!
As he quit attacking, the Boar mob seemed to lose interest and went back to minding its own business. Irked, KazmaO saw a pebble on the ground and lifted it up.
"Screw you Kayaba!" he yelled, prepared to throw the pebble in frustration, but just as he was to follow through his body begin to move on its own, at a speed he had never known before! He heard a whirring sound, and he founding himself throwing the rock like it was a proper weapon! And the rock was colored red too!
The rock hit the boar's head, making it squeal in pain and turn its attention back onto him. KazmaO was stunned and elated in equal measure. He finally did some real damage with an attack! Albeit it was unintentional, but still! He was finally making progress!
"Alright I hit the pig! Wait that's not something to be proud of," he thought aloud. He side stepped again, avoiding another charge by the now thoroughly-enraged boar.
'Now I just have to figure out how I did that,' KazmaO thought as he readied himself.
"I wasn't even moving my own body," he said aloud. "It was as if…" The boar stopped, stamping its hoof as it readied to charge. "Did the game engine…move my body for me?"
The boar charged. KazmaO sidestepped, not wanting to risk a parry. His mind raced, as if he were back in the black arena of OZ FC. What had he done to make the game engine move his body like that? He had picked up a rock, moved his arm up as if to throw it, and the game had done the rest.
What about his sword? KazmaO glanced down at his sword; a simple, double-bladed short sword of a broadly European style. Had he been using it wrong? Had he just been holding it the wrong way? Was there some hidden secret?
KazmaO stepped back, and readied his sword arm, thinking of positions he could go into to allow the game engine to take over. The boar charged, and nothing came up. Side-step.
Sword out to the side? Nothing. Dodge.
Sword in both hands and aiming at the boar? Nothing. Dodge.
Sword out in front with one hand aimed directly at the creature?
Just as he was preparing to dodge, he felt it. The game engine took over, his sword glowing blue and he leapt forward, darting towards the charging monster. His sword struck true, a red gash appearing on the side of the boar as he struck the creature with a lunging thrust.
The boar was stunned, and fell over, disappearing in a small flash of polygons and a screen popped up in front of him displaying his earnings from the victorious 'battle'.
Result:
Exp=24
Col=30
Items=1
KazmaO's face lit up, splitting into a wide grin as he pumped his fist into the air.
"Alright!" he cheered. "That was great! Man! I was an idiot for swiping away at those mobs stupidly for all those hours! It's like they were elite monsters or something!" He asked aloud.
Off to the side, several more boars minding their own business appeared in flashes of blue light. KazmaO's face fell a bit, but he was still smiling. He shook his head, still grinning
"Well then," he looked at his blade. "Guess I'm getting the hang of things." He said softly, looking off to the distance. He sat down on the grassy hill, seeing the expanse of the world before him. The hills, the grassy plains, those oddly-shaped plateaus, the flying dragon-like mobs, and the sunset. Oh the sunset…
"And this is all a game," said KazmaO to himself. He lied down on the ground, looking up at the ceiling, smiling as he embraced this tough-but-fair game.
A beautiful, enchanting tough-but-fair game.
"I wonder…what are the floors above like?" He asked aloud, sitting up and looking into the sunset before suddenly breaking out into a yawn.
"Man, this game makes you feel tired too? Got to give Kayaba props, he makes this thing as real as…well…the real world!" He said, placing his hands on his hips. "This FullDive stuff…it's the best!"
"Oh yeah that's right," KazmaO commented, placing a hand on his stomach. "I guess it's nearly dinner time, and mom and her will be back too." His tone turned from as happy as a child walking out of a candy store to one walking into a morgue. He had to leave this wonderful world and go back to one where he had to live with that parasite and his mother.
But…it wouldn't do him good to waste away. He needed to eat dinner after all. He swiped his right hand down, his Main Menu appearing. Time to log out and eat some-
"What?"
Where was the log out icon? KazmaO's eyes scanned his menu. He hadn't checked whether the log out icon was part of his Main Menu back in the Starting City, having figured it would definitely be in the '"Settings" sub-menu.
"That's odd. Why isn't it here?" he pondered, hand on his chin. He saw the 'Help' icon and considered pressing it.
"Nah," he shrugged. It was probably a bug. OZ always had some bugs in its system. This was the first day of Sword Art Online. Surely other players had already contacted the GMs or Admins about it.
"Might as well wait here," Putting thought to action, he sat down on the hill side, menu still in front of him as the orange sky was still in (its) current hue. He had one eye on the in-game clock: 17:25, or 5:25.
Was there any other way to log out? What if his NerveGear was removed from his head? Surely that would log him out, right?
"Tch," KazmaO scoffed. Opening his eyes and seeing a scowling Ikezawa Kiyomi with that imp shrieking like a siren in the background wouldn't be any fun. Oh well, hopefully the people at Argus would take care of it soon.
The sky began to darken, and the seconds turned to minutes. KazmaO began to feel…concerned. Wasn't there some emergency log-out action-command? He put his hands near his head and mimicked the RL action of taking off his NerveGear…
"Oh yeah, NerveGear shuts down your motor functions so you don't move while you play," he said slapping his head. He remembered the countless forum and message board posts answering such questions about that. KazmaO leaned back against a small rock pillar, arms crossed and face hard.
"What is taking them?" He asked out loud, seeing the orbs of light on the plateaus turn into crescent moons. Was it night time in-game? It was sure looking like it, given the darkening sky.
KazmaO bit his lip and began to pace. What was taking them so long!?
His head perked up at the sound of bells. They were loud and ominous. KazmaO looked around, trying to find the source. Was this just for him, or for the entire area?
"No…the whole floor?" He said aloud as the toll of the bells continued to ring. And then he was suddenly blinded by a flash of blue light that engulfed his body.
"Wha-!" he gasped, as the light faded and he found that he was no longer standing on grass, but on cobblestone pavement.
"The square!?" He looked around and seeing that other players, easily in the thousands, were packed into the central square of Starting City. They looked as confused as he was, talking in a babbling cacophony as they tried to figure out what was going on. More and more blue flashes appeared, depositing yet more players in the square.
"Someone forced a teleport," said a dark-haired male to KazmaO's right to his red-haired male companion.
'Is that what happened? Who would do that and why?' KazmaO thought to himself as he continued to scan the square. In the distance, he could barely make out the two couples he noticed earlier in the day and that doom-and-gloom player who had been sitting at the fountain.
The bells stopped, and KazmaO looked up and saw a blinking red hexagon.
"Hey look!" he yelled out, pointing to the sky, and everyone in the square did just that. There was a word on the red shape but he couldn't tell what it was from this distance.
"Now what?" said the dark-haired player next to the redhead. In the blink of an eye, the orange sky was suddenly covered in red hexagons, casting the square in a red hue.
KazmaO's eyes widened as a blood-like substance leaked out of the sky, gathering together in mid-air before twisting and turning into some kind of shape.
'I've got a bad feeling about this,' KazmaO thought to himself. He could only remember having felt such a sensation like this once; that time when he and his family had worked together to trap Love Machine inside the Castle System in OZ. The rogue AI had escaped, and used its stolen Avatars to create a giant black devil, towering over everything.
A devil that had then proceeded to crush him as if he was some gnat.
It has to be some in-game special event…right?
Lightning crackled around the substance, and the redhead voiced the thoughts of many of the players. "What the hell is that?"
Above the square the liquid had formed into a giant figure. It was dressed in red robes with golden trimming and white gloves, a black fog leaking from where its face should have been.
"He has no face…" KazmaO said aloud as the players around him talked and murmured to themselves. The giant spread his arms wide.
"Attention players. I welcome you to my world."
"What does he mean by that?" whispered the dark-haired player next to KazmaO nervously.
"I am Kayaba Akihiko, and as of this moment I am in control of this world."
KazmaO gasped. He was the game's creator!? Why was he here? Theatrics for an in-game event? Murmuring broke out in the crowd.
"I'm sure most of you have noticed an icon missing from the Main Menu: the Log Out button." The robed phantom opened up his own menu, and continued to speak. "Let me assure you, this is not a defect of the game."
KazmaO felt his heart stop.
"Eh?"
"I repeat. This is not a defect."
"Not a…defect?" KazmaO repeated.
"This was how Sword Art Online was meant to be."
"This is a joke right?" Asked the redhead desperately, hoping that he was right. KazmaO wished he was too.
"You cannot log yourselves out of SAO. And no one from the outside world can shut down or remove the NerveGear around your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter placed inside the NerveGear will release a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life."
The crowd's murmurings increasing in volume; some concerned, some sceptical.
"This is fake." KazmaO said aloud, arm shaking and looking down. "This whole thing has to be some joke. I mean, after the Love Machine Crisis, OZ would do something about this right!"
"No good," said the black-haired player in blue, face serious and stoic. "Argus never relied on OZ, for the game or for the NerveGear." His tone filled with dread. "The terms said OZ accounts aren't needed for this game…"
KazmaO's mouth dropped. OZ…can't help? He felt ice forming in his stomach, colder than anything he had ever felt.
He heard the dark-haired player and the redhead continue talking. "It's got to be a joke right? He's talking some real bull if you ask me, right Kirito?" commented the redhead.
"He's telling the truth," said the dark-haired player KazmaO now knew to be Kirito. "The transmitter signals in the NerveGear work just like microwaves. If the safety is disabled, it will fry your brain."
"Can't the power be cut?" asked KazmaO towards Kirito.
"No good either," Kirito shook his head. "The NerveGear has an internal battery."
KazmaO gasped. This…this can't be happening right?
The redhead shook his head in disbelief. "This is crazy! Totally insane!"
"Despite my warning," Kayaba's voice boomed over the square. "Families and friends of some of your fellow players attempted to remove the NerveGear. An unfortunate decision to say the least."
"No…" KazmaO said aloud. "No no no…" He shook his head, hoping this was some nightmare he would soon wake up from.
"As a result, 213 players are no longer in Aincrad, and no longer alive in the real world." KazmaO's eyes widened in fear, his blood running cold.
"Two hundred…" Kirito said aloud in shock.
"Thirteen?" finished the redhead. "It can't be! I don't believe it!"
Several pop-up screens appeared before the cloaked giant, showing news articles and bulletins from a variety of outlets.
"As you can see, international media outlets have begun around-the-clock coverage of everything, including the deaths," Kayaba droned.
KazmaO saw the headlines.
Online Game Crisis Claims Numerous Victims.
Teenage Boy Found Dead by Online Game.
But one article caught him by surprise. It featured his house! There were police cars outside his home! And a familiar face too.
"Cousin Shota!" he gasped. He recognized the blonde haired policeman sitting on the sidewalk outside of his house, his face distraught and hands in his hair; his eyes red with tears.
The camera panned over and KazmaO felt his knees grow weak. He saw his mother Kiyomi, who had ignored him since Chiyo was born, kneeling on the ground, wailing in grief at having lost her son to the game. Chiyo was in her arms, wailing with her mother.
This is no longer a game anymore. This is a Death Game.
His mother…loved him after all!? But the shouting, the ignored birthday, the favoritism towards his little sister...
She was shouting his name, he knows it. He can read her lips.
"I'm sorry Kazu-kun! Give me back my baby! Kazu-kun! I'm sorry! Give him back to me! Nooooo!"
"Mother…" KazmaO whispered under his breath, tears forming in his eyes. In more normal circumstances he would have been amazed at the thought of crying in a virtual world. But there and then he was too shell-shocked to care.
"At this point, the likelihood of a NerveGear being removed is minimal at best, so you need not worry," Kayaba continued. "I hope this brings you comfort as you try to clear the game. As you do so though, it is important to remember the following; there is no longer any way to revive someone in the game. If your HP hits zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system…forever."
KazmaO reached out a hand as Kayaba closed the news screens. "No! Mother!" He yelled out.
"And the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain," Kayaba continued.
KazmaO fell to his knees. Beside him, Kirito clenched his fists.
"There is only one way for a player to escape now," Kayaba added. "You must clear the game." He clicked on his Main Menu, revealing the map of Castle Aincrad.
"You are currently on the lowest level of Aincrad: Floor 1. Defeat the Floor Boss in the dungeon and you will be able to advance to the next floor. Get to Floor 100," the map went from Floor 1 all the way to the top, where a castle was shown. "Defeat the Boss there, and you will have cleared Sword Art Online!"
"One hundred floors…" KazmaO continued to look at the ground, his breaths shallow.
And then it hit him.
Being stuck in this Death Game... It was all his fault! His mother, the mother he'd been running from, loved him after all! He was such a fool!
She…she just needed some help and love in caring for Chiyo. He thought of Chiyo as a nuisance but…but…
They forgot his birthday, but with Chiyo's tantrums and his father hammered down by work and far from home, could he blame them? Was he so selfish to think of himself over his own family?
He had! What's more in his selfishness he had escaped into this world, and fell in love with it... Now he was trapped like a rat.
More yelling erupted around him, directed at Kayaba and reasonably so. At this point, he didn't care, as the mantra repeated itself inside his head.
"It's all my fault," he whispered. "It's all my fault. It's all my fault. It's all my fault…"
"Last but not least. Check your item storage. By all means, have a look."
KazmaO heard a ping and without any prompting from him his Menu opened up, showing a new item in his inventory.
"A…mirror?" He pressed the icon, and it was conjured into his hand. He stared down at him, seeing the red-eyed face of a hero who was supposed to be King of this castle. As he looked at his avatar's reflection, it suddenly began to glow with a strange blue light. He cried out as he felt the light engulf him, and others did likewise as the light spread across the square.
The light faded, and KazmaO gasped at what he saw in the mirror. Gone was the pale white skin, replaced with the olive-tan of his real world body.
"What?" he asked, a question echoed by many other players around him. He heard Kirito and his redhead friend talk behind him, as they sorted out their identities in the face of the sudden transformation of their avatars.
The voices of the players in the square changed. All of a sudden a lot more male voices than female could be heard. KazmaO would have laughed at the thought, Kayaba pulling a joke on all the male players with female avatars. A trick made all the more hilarious by a scene of two players in particular calling each other out.
"You're not a girl!" yelled a fat player at the edge of the square.
"You're not seventeen!" retorted his slim companion.
But it didn't register inside his head nor did it tickle any funny bones in his body as he looked back at his reflection.
Out in the square, several young girls stared in horror at the red giant. The married couple was no longer shown as a typical male and female avatar, but as a tall and stout man along with a voluptuous short haired woman. The other couple was no longer a boy and girl...but a pair of high-school girls! The shorter had strawberry-blonde hair whilst her taller companion wore her long black hair in a hime-cut. Mr. Doom-and-gloom was even shorter than his already vertically-challenged avatar, with a messy mop of black hair. All of them, like thousands of other player in the midst of where they stood, looked at Kayaba's avatar with a sense of profound shock.
But caught up in the shock of his own transformation, none of this registered with KazmaO.
He was preoccupied with his old tan skin and chocolate eyes, his incredibly feminine complexion and figure, his black hair covering his right eye. Looking at his changed avatar, it was as if Ikezawa Kazuma was looking back at him.
"Why…how did…what?" KazmaO spluttered, dropping the mirror as if it had transformed into a venomous spider. He heard Kirito mention some scan or calibration. He didn't care nor bothered to remember such a detail.
KazmaO looked up, eyes red with tears and anger. "Why would you do this!? Why!?"
"Right now," answered the phantom giant. "You're probably wondering why? Why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do this? Well, my reason is a simple one. My reason for creating Sword Art Online is to create a new world: one no longer bound by the laws and consequences of the real world. The real world has grown and matured too much. People rely too much on safety at the call of a button or prefer to handle their battles with words, the pen, or the gun. No longer relying on their wits, their skill, or their sword. Long have I been intrigued by the middle ages, and the fantasy stories inspired by them. So I created a world of my design, where I can control the fate of those who dwell in it, and partake in this new reality."
KazmaO felt his shoulders slump. He heard that Kirito player again, mentioning Kayaba's name and growling. KazmaO was still on his knees.
"As you can see, my goal has been accomplished," the robed phantom's hood contorted, as if making a smirk of some kind in victory.
"And that marks the end of the tutorial, and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck," and with that said, the red robes and white gloves began to fall apart, the phantom disappearing before them. As he vanished, the red heavens became the dusk once again.
There was silence everywhere, everyone too shocked to speak. The silence was so profound that a falling pin would have resounded like thunder.
And in the center two people stood next to each other, having little knowledge of the other. One stood with his hands tightened into fists and muscles tensed; the other was on his knees in complete surrendered. Both were thinking the same thing.
'If I die in the game…I die in real life!'
There was a female scream close by, and the floodgates burst. Bedlam descended as players ran from the square, screaming up at the heavens, demanding or begging that Kayaba let them go. KazmaO was still on his knees in the square, looking down at his shivering hands as the one called Kirito took the red-haired player off to the side and out of sight.
"I'm the only one to blame…" he whispered to himself. "It's all my fault."
If he hadn't been so selfish, he would have given his parents love. They were at fault but so was he. He had never brought up his feelings to them.
If Chiyo hadn't been born, he would have never gotten into this death trap. If Love Machine hadn't run OZ into the ground, Sakae wouldn't have died, diverting the family's attention even more away from his birthday. But ultimately they were excuses!
In the end, the only reason he was stuck in this mess was because he was weak. He didn't have the fortitude to help his mother. He didn't have the resilience to withstand Chiyo's toddlerhood. He didn't have the courage to come out to his family about his birthday. He didn't have the maturity to go along with what the grownups did.
He was weak. He'd bought into the hype of Sword Art Online, and now he was paying for it.
It was all his fault.
He stared at the ground below him, and at the tears endlessly pouring onto his trousers.
It was all his fault. Because he was weak.
KazmaO felt his shoulder be nudged several times and he looked up, vision too blurry to make out who was talking to him.
"Hey kid," the accent was deep and non-Japanese. "Are you al-"
KazmaO batted his hand away and turned and ran. He heard the man call out, but he ignored him. Why look after someone as weak as him? Why even bother?
He was at half HP during his time in the field. What if it had hit zero!?…He would have died! He would have fucked up and died!
"I don't wanna die!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Mommy! Daddy! Sensei!" KazmaO hollered as he ran through the streets. He ran through the bazaar, bumped into someone, but in his grief and shame he kept on running. He wanted to hide away in a dark place and never return to the light.
The thought of a weeping sister and grieving mother. The vision of a mother in despair and a family wrought with sadness.
KazmaO cried out in utter despair.
Not so far away, Kirito gritted his teeth as he faced a wolf. He could not be afraid, he dared not despair. He could only fight, and dare all, lest he die in this place.
The king fell to his knees onto the pavement as the night fell.
The pauper cut through the wolf with his sword, destroying it.
The King let out a howl of despair, surrendering to this world as the result of his mistake and greed.
The pauper let out a roar akin to a lion, one who would endure no matter what comes his way.
Sword Art Online has begun.
-X-
By the beginning of November 25…over two thousand players have died.
And the Floor 1 has yet to be cleared…
Wowzers that was fast. Big thanks to Nameless2210, Juubi-K and Vandenbz for that.
So, thoughts on this so far? Note that KazmaO and Kirito will be my protags. Also, stop asking for pairings. I already planned on who to pair Kazuma with.
As for how KazmaO will fight, well, you will see in time. As well as the Jinnouchi Clan as well.