One Punch-Gamer: Chains of Fate

by SaintInfernalNeos

[Sequel of OPG] Time is running out. While the Fate of everything he holds dear is about to be destroyed, Kirito finds himself trapped in a strange and bizarre land. Can he, and his unlikely new allies, survive in a world where everyone but him has Superpowers? Or will the Chains of his Fate crush him before he can recover that crucial part of himself which he has lost...?

3. Chapter 1: A Stranger in Wonderland

Hello once again, everyone, and welcome to another chapter of one of the strangest SAO crossovers XD!

First of all, I would like to apologize, this chapter had no right to have taken this long to make, especially as you may notice that is a few thousand words smaller than the prologues were. I want to blame an exam I had for that, but the truth is that I spent like 2 weeks without writing because I was too eager to catch up with my copy of Persona 5 after being unable to play for like a month because of work, so I let myself go. I want to promise it won't happen again, but with it just getting better and with so many great games coming out…well, I can at least promise you that the story isn't getting abandoned :P

That said, I was surprised seeing that Prologue Two had a way smaller reception that the first one, both in views and reviews, when I figured it would be the opposite. Maybe it was because of the long time between chapters or something else, but now I fear this one may get a similar result as we're starting 'slow and calmly' like Canon Alicization XP

Oh yeah, and before I forget, the story's TvTropes' page has been re-ordered to accommodate this sequel too, so as always, anyone and everyone willing to help fill it out can do so (Link is on my profile on the prequel's part). After all, I still suck as a Troper myself OwO

And with all of that said, I will finally shup up and leave you all with the chapter. Have fun!

PS: I have a new Beta now! Everyone, give your thanks to pikatwins234 for Betaing this chapter :)!

Disclaimer: Neither SAO nor One Punch Man belong to me. I only use the plot of one and the idea of the other for my amusement and everyone's enjoyment!

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Arc I: The World Down the Rabbit Hole

"When I was a little boy, I wanted to be a Hero. Not a salaryman…but a Hero who could send rotten villains like you flying with One Punch!" – Saitama, the Average Guy.

---

Chapter 1: A Stranger in (Not) Wonderland

9th Month of the Human Empire Calendar, 378. Rulid's Village Area, Under the Gigas Cedar…

Soft. That's how the earth under him felt.

Hard. Was how he perceived the wooden thing against which his head was.

Warm. Such was the feeling that the sun shining down on his face gave.

The moment his mind became fully aware of those sensations, the boy's eyes weakly fluttered open, taking on the sight of the sun softly rising on the horizon and the massive black 'thing' against which he was resting. With a tired grumble, he closed his eyes and shifted to the side, trying to protect his face from the light.

Then, his brain finished rebooting and he shot to his feet, the gamer's eyes snapping open as he let out a scream of horror and grabbed the back of his hand, gasping for breath as if he had been drowning.

It took several seconds before the black-haired boy realized he, in fact, wasn't dying, and then a couple more of shocked ones looking around him before he finally spoke.

"What…the hell…? Where am I? What…what happened? I…"

Grunting, the gamer grabbed his head, concentrating in remembering what had led him to be…wherever he was.

He remembered Sugu and Asuna walking with him after the group's 'party' in the Dicey Café.

He remembered opening up to them, sharing his worries.

…he remembered Kanamoto Atsuchi. Johnny Black. His pathetic attempt to attack them. And then…

The thing. The monster. Xaxa.

He had tried to drive it off, buy the girls time to escape while the abomination followed him, and…and…

Blank. His memories suddenly cut off there, as if someone had let a dark curtain fall over them. Any attempts to recall anything beyond that point only gave him unconnected flashes and sounds, voices he couldn't recognize saying things he couldn't make sense of…

Once again, the boy's train of thought was stopped when he rested against 'the black thing' behind him, making him blink and fully turn around, as if finally acknowledging its presence.

"That's…one big ass tree." Kirito commented dryly, staring at the biggest tree had ever seen (He really didn't count ALO's Yggdrasil because that thing barely looked like a tree at all). Its color was that of a black darker than the night sky, from its massive roots to its far-away leaves. "Size of a building, thicker than a small car…yeah, pretty sure there is nothing like this in Japan. Not in the world for that matter, at least not with this color, which means…"

Letting out a sigh half of relief and half of resignation, the gamer took on the forest clearing around him with critical eyes.

Somehow, he had ended up inside a virtual world after falling unconscious, however that had happened. Not the most reassuring thought, but not the worst either, compared to having actually been kidnapped and taken to a forest somewhere he didn't know. Shaking his head at the dark thoughts and deciding he would get to the bottom of things after Logging Out, the boy raised his hand in the usual motion to bring forth his menu, universal in all current VRMMOs…

And nothing happened.

Startled, the gamer shook his head and tried again.

Once again, nothing happened.

A strange sense of dread starting to creep up his back, Kirito repeated the familiar motion several times, faster every time, with an almost desperate urgency. Still, no matter how many times he tried, no familiar window opened before his eyes.

Even worse, as he kept doing so, countless sensations that he never associated with the virtual world started to make themselves present: The slight pain of repeating the movement so many times and so fast, the worried/tired sweat covering his forehead from the sun bearing down on him, the soft and slightly dry morning breeze…

"…this…isn't a virtual world…?" muttered the shocked boy while putting a hand on his forehead, feeling the sweat on his skin, something he knew would have been impossible in any normal VR world…except…"Wait…that would certainly be the only 'logical' explanation, but…why would I be inside the Soul Translator? And how did I even get here?!"

Certainly, if he had been inside a world generated by the last generation FullDive machine he had helped testing, everything he was feeling would be more than possible, together with the extreme real-like quality the world around him seemed to have, but that only raised further questions.

If something had truly happened to him after running from Xaxa that made him lose consciousness, shouldn't he have been brought to a hospital? How the hell had he ended up within an STL, then? It made no sense, but then again, it made more sense than having somehow wound up in a different world like a Light Novel protagonist. After all, as far as he knew, there was no need of a menu within the worlds created through the Soul Translator, because he was in direct contact with Rath's staff at all ti…

"Wait…can anyone hear me?" proved Kirito while looking to the sky with a hopeful tone, feeling his worry rise when no one answered unlike back in his time as a tester. "Kikuoka?! Hello?! Is someone up there hearing me?!"

"Ah!"

Instincts that had forcefully grown by 'fighting' countless battles against terrible creatures that he could end with one punch, and also the odd 'fight' against someone actually strong/resilient enough to exchange normal blows with him, were triggered in that moment, making the black-haired boy spin around and raise his arms in a threatening stance.

…at least that's what he intended, but he only almost managed to trip over his own feet and fall down, just barely keeping his balance even as his eyes widened with shock at the realization of an important thing.

He wasn't wearing his trademark jumpsuit and cape, nor could he feel the absolute power his virtual body always carried. A part of his mind acknowledged that, even back then, during the testing of the STL, he hadn't appeared within the fake world with his One Punch-Gamer avatar either, but he had barely paid any mind to that, given that there was truly no way for it to have 'come along' with him to the servers of Rath in Roppongi, that weren't directly connected to the network for security reasons, and with a machine that had no connection to his ALO account.

Even so, to fully realize that he was truly within an unknown virtual world, trapped for all intents and purposes, without his 'virtual powers'…

"Who's there?!" demanded the boy while still trying to sound firm and push down the unnatural fear the last line of thought had caused on him, steeling himself as he reached for his 'Inner Saitama' and thankfully found he still had the ability to attain that 'utter detachedness' with only a bit of effort. "Come out already, I know you're behind those trees!"

"…ple-please, don't hurt me…" muttered the scared voice that the gamer now identified as female, not to mention quite young, even as a tea-haired girl with eyes of similar color, wearing something he could vaguely relate with a nun outfit, stepped out of the woods, hands raised and worry evident in her step. "I-I just…uhm…you shouldn't be here, stranger! Thi-this place is cursed, you know?!"

"Wha-what? Cursed…?" questioned Kirito while trying to shake off the surreal feeling the girl of clearly foreign features talking in perfect native Japanese caused him, wariness giving way to confusion as he lowered his arms. "You mean this place…? Where am I?"

"Uhm…yes? Su-surely you must know about the Gigas Cedar if you come from Zakkaria?" wondered the unknown girl while lowering her arms, her fear slowly turning into a mix of curiosity and confusion. "You…you DO come from there, right? I mean, the-there is no way you could have come from…anywhere further…"

"I…I don't know any place by the name of Zakkaria. I don't even know where am I or…how I got here." sincerely answered the black-haired boy while biting his lips, looking from the now clearly shocked girl to the so-called 'Gigas Cedar'.

Slowly, his eyes were attracted to a 'mark' on its side, what seemed like a long if not very deep scar in the sturdy-looking black wood of its base, whatever had caused the 'wound' that was almost 'healed' nowhere to be seen…

"Yo-you mean…you can't remember anything?" asked the now quite concerned girl as she walked towards him, looking p towards the gamer with a worried look, earlier fears forgotten. "At all?"

"No…I do remember things, only not how I got here…or where this place exactly is." confessed Kirito while wondering who exactly the girl was. "I could use your help with that, uhm…?"

"Oh! Sorry about that…I'm Selka Zuberg, and you're in the area near Rulid Village, stranger." politely explained the now identified Selka with an awkward smile.

Neither the place, nor the girl's name rang a bell at all, which only added to his confusion at her clearly native use of his language.

She was clearly no 'player', but an NPC shouldn't have the level of free interaction and 'realism' she seemed to have either. Even exceptions like the Gods from ALO didn't have quite the same 'human' vibe she seemed to possess…

"Hi there, Selka…you may call me Kirito." finally introduced himself the boy while extending a hand towards the girl, who looked at it in surprise before gingerly shaking it.

"Kirito, uh…?" mused Selka while tilting her head to the side, looking him up and down with a somewhat confused gaze. "Huh…weird…"

"Is it my clothes?" questioned the gamer while looking down at his plain getup, the 'weirdness' of not wearing his usual 'costume' in what he was still half-unsure to be a virtual world. "Because honestly, I have no idea how I ended up wearing these either…"

"N-no, i-it wasn't that!" quickly assured the now blushing girl while letting go of his hands to wave her own before her. "Ju-just that I thought your name sounded familiar for some rea…wait, you don't even remember how you ended up in those clothes?"

"I was wearing something completely different before fainting, last I remember." honestly continued the gamer while frowning internally.

The girl before him was 'human', there was no doubt about it in his mind now. Even Yui and Strea, for all he loved them and recognized them as people, had an 'aura' one could detect just by speaking to them for a few minutes that made it very clear they had been 'created' instead of 'born'.

Selka Zuberg, on the other hand, felt as normal as any 12 and something years old girl you would find in a park or out in the street with her parents.

Which only added to his confusion even more. She was clearly not a 'player' and found him to be the strange one…what did that mean?

"…ito-san? Kirito-san, are you okay?"

"A-ah, yea-yeah, sorry about that, I spaced out for a bit." apologized Kirito while quickly shaking his head. "What were you saying?"

"That you should come back with me to Rulid. If you're truly lost and can't remember how you ended up here, I'm sure you can stay in the church at least until you have figured things out, I'm an apprentice there and Sister Azariya won't mind." as she said those words, the girl that he was starting to deduce was some kind of nun shifted in place and sent a clearly nervous look to the massive tree, making him notice how her legs were trembling slightly. "S-so, would you want to follow me to…?"

The sudden feeling of a hand resting on her scalp froze the Sacred Arts Apprentice on the spot before the strangely tender and kind sensation of someone patting her head rushed through her.

"Sorry about that, I should have realized sooner you didn't want to be here." apologized Kirito while awkwardly head-patting the paralyzed young girl, wondering if he was doing the right thing, as he hadn't had to deal with trying to comfort a 'normal' little girl since he and Sugu were kids.

The closest examples he had experienced after that were Silica (And the self-proclaimed kunoichi was already more than capable and mature enough to not fall into a panic before a threat) and Yui (His AI-daughter was…self-explanatory).

Unlike them, though, Selka, a seemingly a very normal young girl, was terrified of whatever the place they were in meant or held for the people she lived with, which was why he was hoping his current actions were more than enough to calm her down. After all, thinking of other ways to do so on the spot while he was still trying to not freak out at his current situation would be quite hard…

"Ah…it's not a problem…" muttered the young apprentice with slightly wide eyes and a small blush on her cheeks, wondering why the sensation felt so strangely familiar to her, as if this wasn't the first time the complete stranger before her patted her head in such a tender way.

"It is if you say this place is cursed." replied Kirito while finally stopping his patting upon seeing how she was no longer scared, the girl quickly shaking her head after he did so, as if trying to dispel some strange thought from her mind. "Shall we get going, then?"

"Ye-yeah, let's go…" mumbled Selka while turning around and heading back into the forest, towards the North.

Just as he was about to exit the clearly defined and roughly circular clearing surrounding the so-called Gigas Cedar after the tea-haired girl, the black-haired boy sent a last glance towards the sinisterly empty and lonely 'cursed' area.

For an instant, the breeze seemed to whisper something distant into his ears, making him wonder why a sudden feeling of nostalgia was hitting his soul…

Then, the moment was over and he was just once again staring at the empty and desolate clearing of the black tree, the gamer quickly hurrying after the apprentice so as to not lose sight of her.

All the while, the shadow of the Gigas Cedar seemed to make the air grow colder…

---

Selka Zuberg was trying to do her best to not show her nervousness as she guided the mysterious boy towards Rulid around 10 minutes later, her mind going at a hundred Mels per hour.

An unknown person lying at the feet of the cursed tree, without any memory of how he got there, having come from who knows where. Most people would have been troubled or worried by such a thing and most girls her age would have been terrified at the prospect.

She, however, wasn't like most girls her age. In fact, she was pretty sure (And grateful to the Goddesses), that no young girl in all of the Human World would have to ever feel the burden she had carried since she had memory.

That's why the presence of the stranger, 'Kirito', behind her filled her with only one feeling: Wonder.

Was this truly the shape of the answer she had prayed for to the Goddess of Dreams? What would show her the purpose of her visions in the great plan of Life itse…?

"Is that Rulid village?"

"Eeep!" squeaked the Sacred Arts Apprentice at the unexpected question, quickly turning her gaze to where her strange companion was pointing, nodding with a relieved smile at the slightly distant view of Rulid's buildings beyond the crop fields, perfectly visible now that they had exited the forest. "Ye-yes, it is, we will be there in no time at all…s-so, Kirito-san?"

"Yes?"

"You said you couldn't remember how you got here, but…what can you remember exactly? Where are you from?" questioned Selka with an honestly curious tone. "Who are you?"

Closing his eyes, the black-haired boy seemed to ponder the question for a moment, as if it had a deeper weight to him than just mere spoken words. When his black orbs opened again, the young girl could have almost sworn she saw a flickering flame in them for a brief instant.

"I come from very far away and I am…just a gamer who plays as a Hero for fun."

"A ga…what?"

"…sorry, it doesn't really matter." sighed him with a suddenly tired look before quickly smiling brightly towards her, the gesture once again assaulting the apprentice's mind with a haunting sense of familiarity. "Well, let's get to this village of yours right away! I wouldn't want your parents worrying about whether something happened to you or not because of me!"

"O-okay…" softly replied Selka while hurrying her step, Kirito easily matching her pace.

As they got closer to the village itself, the young girl became aware of more than one farmer looking her way with confusion and a bit of wariness, their gazes obviously being aimed towards the impassive-looking boy clad in opposite colors at her side. Given that everyone there knew her almost since she had been a baby and had never seen the newcomer before, they couldn't be blamed for the reaction. Especially when more than one had seen her rushing towards the forest earlier all alone, in the direction of the Gigas Cedar.

Seeing the Village Chief's daughter (…at least the last one remaining) coming out of the forest with an unknown boy would without a doubt put more than one of them on edge.

Thankfully, no one seemed to try and get in their way or tell them to stop as they arrived at Rulid Village proper, Kirito's eyes wandering all around with a mix of curiosity and wonder in his gaze, as if everything he was watching was new for him, yet not entirely alien.

It was both amusing and cute, in her opinion.

She had just started to realize what she was thinking and how she was about to start giggling at the sight before the church's main doors came into view, making the Sacred Arts apprentice snap out of her distracted state as they entered the building's main area.

"Please, wait by the altar for a moment if you don't mind? I need to speak with sister Azariya." informed Selka before hurrying to the nearby side-door, leaving a blinking black-haired boy behind as she headed for her master/caretaker's office. "Wha-what's wrong with me? Why do I feel as if I…know him…? Is this related to my last vision? Is he truly the key to know what…?"

"Selka?" suddenly asked a familiar voice, making the young girl realize she had walked and entered to her master's room in auto-pilot, the nun looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "Are you okay? You look all red and bothered…"

"Ye-yes, I'm perfectly fine, Sister Azariya, never better!" quickly replied the girl with an unusually high-pitched voice, making the woman blink in confusion. "It's just…uhm…I-I found someone unconscious near the Gigas Cedar and the poor guy seems unable to recall where he came from or how he got here!"

"What?! Selka, what were you doing near the…?! Wait, can't remember anything?" suddenly stopping her scolding, Azariya looked very worried as she stood up. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah! I mean, he's able to remember his name and seems to still have an idea of his life and what he was doing before, but he truly seemed to have no idea how he got here at all." explained the apprentice while motioning back towards the church's chapel, her master starting to follow her. "He does seem to not have any serious problems, though, but given he was totally lost, I thought…"

"It was the right call, Selka, don't worry. Especially if you got him away from that accursed place." kindly praised Azariya with a soft smile, making Selka blush and feel slightly proud. "Now let's see what this mysterious boy of yours needs and hope he isn't too…"

Whatever the nun was going to say after that died in her throat as both she and the young girl under her care froze upon the sight before them.

Namely, that of Kirito nonchalantly sitting on the altar's table, just under the figures of the 3 Goddesses, holding an open book while reading through it with a puzzled look, none other than Rulid's formal copy of the Axiom's Church's Taboo Index itself.

The moment he noticed them, the black-haired boy blinked and happily waved their way, as if he was doing nothing strange or short of the ordinary.

"Hi there, Selka! And you must be…Sister Azariya, right? Sorry, I was just curious about this book, I have never read anything as convolutedly precise in my life…" trailed off the gamer while looking to the side, mumbling something else with narrowed eyes. "There is also the fact that is written in perfect Japanese except for a few titles in English…"

"…oh Goddesses, this poor boy is worse than I could have ever imagined!" half-shouted the village's nun before rushing towards the now blinking Kirito, who realized that he may have done something wrong upon seeing her horrified expression.

And while her teacher rushed off to scold the now awkward and apologetic-looking boy and tell him that he should be showing more respect towards the Index and the Goddesses, Selka Zuberg couldn't help but look at him with an intense look.

There was truly something 'unusual' about him.

Was it really the key to the 'Answer' she had been looking for, though?

Back in her room, on the church's second floor, the crystal ball lying under the cloth seemed to shine softly…

---

Looking out of the window of his newly assigned room, Kirito couldn't help but sigh as he watched the moon high in the sky…or Lunaria, if he recalled correctly, like the people here called it.

'The people here' was an odd thing to think about, that's for sure, but it was the only way in which he could apply it. Because as far as he knew, for the humans here, this 'Human World' was reality, and being honest, it was being VERY difficult for him to not think of it was 'the real world' too. It was only his firm knowledge of where he came from and his vague idea of an explanation for what surrounded him that stopped him from easily getting into the flow of the people there.

Because he had no doubt that's what they were: People. Humans. As much as he liked and respected NPCs and/or AIs, especially the likes of Yui and Strea, the inhabitants of that place weren't that. Not even Equinox, with all of her power, could have ever been like the ones currently sleeping at their home in that place called Rulid Village were, because of her origins.

Utterly, simply and humanly normal.

These were people that were born, grew old, formed families and then died. He had heard it, he had seen it in the women carrying babies, elderly people sitting to rest, or the children running through the village. None of them had been 'programmed' to follow a pattern but raised as any human would be in reality, only under a very different culture and understanding of the world.

This…was no mere virtual world created for 'testing' or for someone to dive in for a 'game', no. This was a true simulated reality, created to house its own civilization. And the people there…were, without a doubt, 'Fluctlights'.

Kirito knew how the Soul Translator worked, after all. And while only marginally, he understood the true depths and mind-blogging ramifications the tech could be used for. With all of that, and knowing how the machine could 'read', 'project' and 'accelerate' the soul, wasn't it not too crazy to think it could also…copy it, somehow?

Cloned Fluctlights. Authentic 'Virtual Human Souls', given a world, a culture and lives to live, all under Accelerated Time, where their civilization's development could be observed with little effort.

Why? Why had Kikuoka and his company done this? What was the purpose of these people's creation?

As much as he would have liked to not do so, for the sake of everyone he had seen in Rulid during the last hours, every single explanation his mind came up with wasn't nice or positive at all.

Why, then, had Kikuoka dumped him here, in the middle of what was clearly a 'secret experiment' of some sort that he wasn't supposed to know about?

Was it because his memories would be erased when he got out? Or had whatever happened to him in some way forced the man to…?

"Kirito?" came Selka's voice from beyond the door after gently knocking twice on it, making the black-haired boy snap out of his dark musings, quickly chastising himself for being so unaware of his surroundings, something he wasn't used to in 'dangerous' situations because…he usually had his…"Can I come in?"

"Ye-yeah, Selka, it's open." mumbled the black-haired boy while looking down at his clenched fist, once again painfully unaware of the lack of a white glove around it as the young girl entered the room carrying a book with her.

"Hey, I thought I could help you out wi…UAH!" freezing in her tracks once she caught sight of him, Selka quickly took a step back as her face blushed and she pointed at the gamer with surprise. "Wh-why aren't you wearing a shirt?!"

"Uh?" muttered Kirito while raising an eyebrow, looking down at his not really impressive, but effectively bare, torso, his mind drifting over how realistic the reproduction of his real body was (As one would expect from the Soul Translator). "Because it's hot tonight…?"

Certainly, the black-haired boy may not know exactly how the Seasons worked in that strange world, but there was no denying it was noticeably hotter than what he was used to at that time of the year, reason that had led him to take off his black shirt to fight the heat.

"Tha-that's not…it doesn't…do-don't you know it's improper to…?! Ju-just put on your shirt, please!" pleaded the young girl while looking away with a burning face, the gamer barely resisting the urge the chuckle at how innocently cute she looked doing so.

As he complied with her request, though, the black-haired boy wondered if perhaps he should try to keep a lower profile and get used to how things worked in that world. After all, he didn't know how long he would be there (Not too long, hopefully), but if what little he had seen in that 'Taboo Index' book was anything to go by, this place was one where religion was almost the same as absolute law, so accidentally doing something he shouldn't could bring more problems than he could deal with…especially without the power to simply punch said problems away…

"…done."

"Tha-thank you, uhm…are you okay?" questioned Selka with slight worry at once again noticing that strangely distant look on Kirito's gaze, who simply nodded and gave her a small smile as she sighed and walked to sit on the small chair the room had near the bed. "A-anyway, I came here because I thought it would be better for everyone to teach you some of the basics that you clearly seem to have forgotten. After all, we can't have you running around without knowing the names of the world's Gods or even where you are in the Human World…"

"Ah…not that I'm not grateful or anything, but are you sure you should be doing that? It's very late and I'm sure you would rather be sleeping than…"

"It's not a problem, Kirito." smiled the young girl while putting the book she brought on her lap. "As the church's only Sacred Arts Apprentice, it's my duty to help out anyone who needs it!"

"I see…" responded the black-haired boy with an uncertain smile, the idea of such a young girl carrying such a big responsibility surprising him, but not shocking him as much because of how more 'middle age' this world seemed…and also for the fact that he had seen and gone through crazier things in his life. "Thanks a lot, Selka…so, what do you have there?"

"A book about the Axiom Church's history! I figured it would be better to start from the beginning just in case, as we don't know when your memories may come back…ah, not that I'm saying you will never recover them or anything, of course!" quickly clarified the young girl while shaking her hands, looking at the gamer with alarm.

"It's okay, don't worry…and I don't really think I would 'remember' anything anytime soon…"

"What…?"

"It's nothing!" quickly interrupted Kirito before moving as close as he could to Selka's chair and looking towards the open book, mentally chastising himself for that comment. "So, church's history?"

"Ah, ye-yes…uhm, let's start by the 5 Gods, then…" muttered Selka while opening the book on its first chapter, the boy sitting beside her letting out an appreciative hum at the beautiful illustrations filling the left page. "Stacia of Creation, Terraria of the Earth, Solus of the Sun, Lunaria of the Moon and Vector of Darkness…heh, it's so nostalgic, I can still remember the first time my sister read these pages for me…"

"You have a sister?" asked the gamer with honest curiosity, as he had seen no one that fit that description in the whole day, though he quickly regretted his words at seeing the young girl stiffening as her eyes went wide in shock. "Oh…so-sorry, I didn't mean to intrude on…"

"M-my sister…Alice…she's…gone. I…I don't like talking about it…" whispered Selka with a small voice, though what was filling her in that moment was more shock than pain or sadness.

She NEVER talked about her sister, with anyone. Not with Sister Azariya, not with her father (Who at this point seemed to act as if Alice had never existed), nor with the villagers she knew had known the kind and talented blonde. Not only because she knew they would try and ignore or change the subject, but also because of how she simply couldn't handle the idea of talking about her lost sister with anyone. There wasn't a single person remaining that she could ever have a talk like that with, as the only one had also been…'lost' the same day as Alice, though in a much more permanent way.

And yet, right now, she had mentioned her so easily and casually to a complete stranger, as if it was no big deal. Without even realizing it. As if…as if she felt more than comfortable enough with him to do so.

Once again, the young apprentice found that strange nagging sensation on the back of her head. As if she should, somehow, know the boy sitting near her, despite having never seen him before in her whole life…

"Uhm, so, the Gods, right?! Man, they sure look amazing!" quickly spoke Kirito as he tried to change the subject away from what was clearly a very uncomfortable one for the young apprentice. "And these 3 created the world, uh? I seriously must be an idiot to forget about all of…"

"Who are you really, Kirito?" Selka asked Kirito, cutting him off with an unusually sharp tone, the black-haired boy's eyes widening upon seeing the sudden intensity in the girl's eyes. "Do you really not remember anything? Or are you just hiding something me and the people on the village shouldn't know about?"

Kirito felt his entire body tense, his mind running faster than ever since he arrived at that seemingly pacific if strange world, wondering if the girl before him had just been pretending the entire time and was actually something much more dangerous and challenging than the innocent nun-in-training he had seen until that moment.

Time 'slowed' to a crawl in his eyes, strangely easier and faster than he was used to, as he analyzed every single thing in the room, the distance between his bed and the door and the chances he had of surviving jumping out of the window. He allowed himself a moment of satisfaction upon realizing his 'Saitama-like Perception' still worked within that world before trying to appear confused as he recoiled before Selka's stare.

"Wha-what? Selka-chan, what are you talking about? I-I'm not really sure why…"

"Do-don't lie to me!" half-shouted/half pleaded the apprentice with slightly teary eyes, surprising the gamer once again. "Why else would you show up just after I had one of my visions and asked Lunaria-sama how to deal with yet another unwanted glimpse of the futu…?! …ah."

"…wait…what?" deadpanned Kirito with wide eyes, staring at the young girl before him as if he was looking at her for the first time. "Did you just say…you had a vision?"

Selka, for her part, didn't know if she should keep being frozen in horrified shock or start screaming in despair.

She had done it AGAIN, in the worst possible way. Once again, she had blurted out something that she absolutely would never tell anyone in all of Rulid to the very same 'stranger' she hadn't known for even a day, this time her greatest secret, the single thing no one could know about, as it would mean she would suffer the same Fate as her long-gone older sister.

That she had a 'power' that did not belong to normal humans, something that didn't belong to the world of mortals.

A 'Divine Blessing'…

"S-SO! The Gods! Here is a short poem we always use to teach the kids about them!" shouted the young apprentice with a slightly hysterical smile and a high-pitched voice, even as she turned the pages to point at a specific part. "Blessed Solus illuminates us all. Noble Lunaria watches over our dreams. Great Terraria keeps us all well-fed. Mother Stacia oversees our lives. And Prankster Vector hunts from the dark. Those are our Gods! Di-did you get it…?!"

"…uhm, sorry, I'm not really thinking about religion right now…can we get back to the part you said you could, you know…see the future?!" quickly interrupted Kirito while standing up, making the young girl squeak in fright as he towered over her.

"I…I…! You…no…ple-please…don't tell anyone…" sobbed Selka with a suddenly broken and resigned voice, catching the boy completely off guard as tears streamed down her face. "I-I know it's a law from the Church to report anyone that has a Blessing, but…but…I don't want to end…like my sister and…snif…"

"He-hey, calm down! Please, Selka, don't cry!" pleaded the gamer while instinctively holding the crying girl and hugging her against his chest, almost as if it was something he was used to. "I'm not going to tell anyone, believe me."

"You…you aren't…? But…the law…"

"Selka…let me be honest with you. The reason I don't 'remember' things everyone here knows isn't because I lost my memories…" for an instant, Kirito wondered why he wasn't hesitating more, why he was taking this dangerous gamble for someone he barely knew…but his instincts were telling him the young apprentice could be trusted, and in that moment, they were the only thing he had left to rely on. "It's because I'm not from this world."

A deep silence filled the small room of the church, even as the girl slowly stopped sobbing and raised her gaze to look towards the black-haired boy in shock.

"…what did you just say?"

"I…know it's a bit too difficult to believe, but it's the truth, I swear." sighing, the gamer let go of her, wondering why was he even trying to accomplish with his words…damn him and his weakness to seeing girls crying! "I'm not from the Human World, I come…from a world beyond this one, uhm…far above it, so to speak, and…"

"You come from beyond the stars?" asked Selka with nothing but wonder in her voice as she stared at him, making Kirito blink in surprise, as he was expecting disbelief and/or thoughts of him being insane, not…that. "I…I didn't dream it, then…that light I saw descending yesterday towards the Gigas Cedar was actually you!"

"Uhm…I guess?" cautiously confirmed the boy while scratching his head. "Wait, was that why you were near that Gigas-tree's place despite it being 'cursed'?"

"Yes! I saw a bright light coming there from the heavens last night after another vision made me pray to Lunaria for answers!" there was no hiding the excitement in the apprentice's eyes as she grasped his hands, almost jumping in place in a very childish display. "I can't believe it, I've met someone from a completely different world! How are things in your world? Do you have different Gods? Is that why you didn't know ours? O-or perhaps our Gods live in the world you're from?! O-oh, Goddesses, I hadn't thought of that, ma-maybe you're a Di-Divine Messenger of some so…?!"

"Selka, breathe, please!" stopped her Kirito with a worried tone as he shook her shoulder's, making the girl finally remember she needed to breathe to live. "I can assure you I'm no Divine anything, I'm just a…mostly 'normal' guy, who has no idea how he got here and that is still trying to understand his situation, nothing more."

"I-I see…that makes sense, yeah…" mumbled Selka while looking down and biting her lips, seemingly analyzing everything she had just been told. "…you said you couldn't remember how you got here, right? What's the last thing you actually remember?"

"I…was running away from someone…something…I had to get it away from Sugu and Asuna, and…"

Inhuman red eyes, snarling sounds, screams for his name, an unkempt man, a syringe filled with Death slamming into his fist…

"Ki-Kirito…?"

"…I was trying to protect my family. And…I think I may have died." finished the black-haired boy with a stunned look, the newly recovered memory of Kanamoto Atsuchi, Johnny Black, injecting him with the 'Death Gun' as he punched his face now seared like fire in his mind.

"Wha-what?! Died?! Then how are you…?!"

"I don't know." whispered the gamer while sitting back on the bed, looking at his hands as he closed them into (Powerless) fists, suddenly feeling extremely tired. "I'm not sure of…I don't know."

For some reason she couldn't understand, something deep within the young girl ached painfully at the sight. As if something inside of her couldn't stand, couldn't accept, the visage of that unknown boy being sad…

A distorted shadow smiled brightly at the giggling little girl, ruffling her hair under her sister's amused/disapproving gaze…

…despite having just met him earlier that day…right?

"…Kirito, please, come with me!" urged Selka while standing up and dragging the black-haired boy by the hand, his surprise at the unexpected action causing him to just go along as she hauled him through the church's dark and silent hallways.

"Uhm, where are we going?" questioned the boy while trying to get out of his earlier daze, idly looking around to make sure the incredibly cliché Survival Horror-setting around them didn't decide to send zombies or mutants their way.

"To my room!" simply declared Selka with determination, Kirito nodding in understanding before his mind screeched to a halt at fully processing her words.

"Wait, your ro…?!"

By the time the words had started coming out of his mouth, however, he was already inside the Sacred Arts Apprentice's room, looking around in bewilderment as she closed the door and rushed towards a small table near her bed.

Idly realizing this was the first time he was in a girl's room that wasn't Sugu's, the gamer almost missed how the young girl rushed past him and sat back on her back, a complicated look on her face as she cradled a bundle of cloth on her lap, partially unwrapping to reveal the upper part of the last thing he would have expected to see in that world.

"A crystal ball?"

"Huh? Is that what it's called? Well, that's one mystery you have solved for me already." half-heartedly chuckled Selka as she covered the spherical object with her hands. "I found this not long after…after I lost my sister…and her best friend, who was like an older brother to me, in the forest to the north. I was like…drawn, towards it. For some reason it makes having my visions much easier and controllable, so I quickly hid it and…"

Slowly, as if trying to unleash a weight she had been carrying for so long, Selka Zuberg started to tell a story, which the shocked Kirito heard with rapt attention.

About a little girl that started to catch glimpses of things that hadn't happened yet in every reflective surface. About her older sister, and her friend, worrying and drilling into her head to keep it a secret (For reasons she couldn't understand back then), always taking care of her to make sure it stayed that way. About how the visions suddenly started showing up in her dreams, more clearly than before, as if having to try denying them had just made her bizarre 'gift' evolve. About a world that changed bizarrely without anyone realizing it or, maybe, not really caring about it. About how happy she was with her sister and her friend despite all the strange troubles it brought…

And how it all changed. How it all ended. The two of them, doing something they shouldn't have, her sister breaking an unbreakable law, a Knight whose Authority was absolute coming for her. About how the boy that she saw as an older brother did the impossible and attacked the knight, trying to save her sister, how she had seen this in shock from her home's window as the dragon carrying them rose into the heavens…and how the boy died because of it.

By the end of the tale, tears were falling down the young girl's face as she stared at the crystal ball, her voice reduced to barely more than a whisper.

"It didn't take me long to realize the truth of why my 'power', my 'Divine Blessing' had to be kept a secret from everyone, even from my parents, after that. If anyone knew, I…I would be taken away like Alice, because it's the law…it's what the Church says…bu-but I don't want to go away. I don't want to be punished for having a power the Goddesses gave me without me asking for it! I don't want…I don't want to see the future…I barely understand what I see most of the time anyway…"

"Selka…" started Kirito while walking to her side, sitting beside the apprentice and holding her up against his chest, caressing her head in a tender way. "It's okay. You're completely right, no one has any right to take you anywhere because of your ability. It won't happen, I...I promise I won't let it happen, okay?"

Selka, for her part barely remembered to nod as she stained the boy's shirt with her tears. In that moment, she didn't care why the sensation felt so familiar, why she felt so safe in such a position, as if she had been in there before…

The little girl cried against the distorted shadow's chest, her leg bleeding from a cut while a boy of straw-colored hair rushed off calling for help, her sister at their side whispering soothing words as she summoned a Healing Sacred Art…

…all that she cared for was that it made her felt better than she had in a long time.

Kirito, for his part (Or at least the part that wasn't wondering why comforting the young girl felt so weirdly familiar), was trying to process everything he had been told, the seemingly 'simple' world he had found himself trapped in suddenly seeming not so simple nor innocent anymore, what with the division between 'Light' and 'Darkness' their lands seemed to have, and also…

People from both lands getting strange powers. Rumors about suspiciously familiar abilities that rang a bell on his mind. A girl with the power to see the future in a crystal ball…

No…it couldn't be, right? No one, especially not Kikuoka, could be THAT stupid, not after the War of Ragnarok (Which was a 'secret' screamed to the winds) showed just how dangerous such a thing could be. And especially not throwing them into a world at the brink of war full of innocent beings without any explanation whatsoever, letting them interpret at their own leisure…unless…unless the main point of this world, of this 'experiment', was something much darker than any simple investigation on 'virtual life' (Because there was no way for him to call Selka, Azariya or any of the random people from Rulid he had seen that day 'Artificial Intelligences' at all).

But, if that was the case, then everyone in that world…

"Thank you…Kirito." finally muttered the apprentice before slowly letting go of him, wiping her tears and suddenly sporting a determination-filled face. "But the thing is…now I can finally do something good with my powers! I'm going to look into the future for you!"

"Wha-what?! Why would you…?!"

"You're lost, right? However you ended here, it wasn't out of your own will, and you want to go back home." looking at the expression crossing through the boy's face for an instant before smiling back at him. "That's why. If I look into the future, I may be able to tell you how to get home earlier!"

"Bu-but…didn't you just say that you have always done your best to not look into the future?" as much as he wanted to go back home, especially with the uncertainty of what had happened with Asuna and Suguha weighed in his mind (Not to mention how the others would react), the gamer had no wish of forcing the not even 13-years-old to do anything potentially dangerous and upsetting. "What if…?"

"You just trusted me with a very big secret, so it's not a problem, really! This may even be the reason I found you today!" smiled Selka before grasping the edges of the cloth's bundle and revealing the simple, yet strangely unnatural, crystal ball to the world. "Also, consider it my way of thanking you for comforting me right now!"

Before Kirito could even start saying anything else against the idea, the young girl put her hands over the sphere's sides and stared.

For the outside world, nothing changed at all except that the black-haired boy saw her eyes lose all light, turning a distantly familiar white.

For the apprentice, however, the insides of the crystal ball had suddenly erupted with myriad colors, turning into an all-encompassing light that seemed to suck her in. And within it, she saw…

Saw…

Screaming down like siblings of death, a white axe and a blue sword cleaved through the humanoid beasts, more and more emerging from the earth, but unable to stop the rage from the undying warrior…

Running through the forests, the two fugitives fled from the light, trying to hide within the shadows they feared, but that Fate had made them a part of, their power too monstrous for the World to accept…

Standing atop a hill, the rider and her ride walked away from their defeated and vanishing enemies, the grateful looks on the innocents they had saved just giving her the strength to keep going…

Staring down into the seemingly endless abyss, the knight in golden armor clenched her empty hand into a fist while tightening her grip on her sword, before jumping into the darkness without hesitation…

Hate filling his gaze, a red-eyed abomination stalked atop the roofs of bizarre buildings, never taking his eyes off the desperate girl on the strange two-wheeled vehicle that kept riding through the streets, searching for someone…

A hooded shadow with an inhumanly long tongue loomed over a fallen form, a dagger raised on his hand as it descended to end the hero's life…

Chains.

THE CHAINS.

Holding the Universe together from beyond Infinity…and then breaking it apart without mercy…!

"SELKA! Selka, please, talk to me!" shouted Kirito while holding the shaking young girl in his arm, her body seemingly convulsing even after he had separated her from the crystal ball and covered it with the cloth bundle once again.

Just as he was about to throw caution to the window and call for Sister Azariya's help, the apprentice became deadly still, one of her hands shooting to grab his shirt in a surprisingly strong grip.

When his gaze moved back to her face, it was to see that her eyes were still blank…and to hear a hauntingly familiar phrase that sent chills down his back.

Just five words, one different from the original, but still equally foreboding…

"The Underworld…is in trouble…"

Those words said, the girls' eyes closed and she slumped in his arms, unconscious.

As he stared at the 'sleeping' face of the pre-teen that had just potentially predicted the destruction of her world (With potentially no one strong enough to stop it around), Kirito couldn't help but think that, for once, he was truly and totally out of his depth.

Somewhere, within the darkness, a massive form stirred, white eyes opening and zeroing in on the distant mountains as massive black wings unfolded…

---

The light of Solus had been already shining down for a few hours the next day as Selka carried several trays of food through the church's corridors, a slightly worried look on her face as she bit her lips, the morning bell having just announced it was time for the children to get some breakfast.

However, for once the Sacred Arts Apprentice wasn't worried about if they would eat all of their food instead of playing with it or something along those lines, as her mind was way too busy thinking about very different matters.

When she had woken up that morning, she had barely been able to suppress her scream of shock at seeing Kirito sleeping on a chair in front of her bed, his face awfully close to hers. Thankfully, the boy had woken up almost immediately and explained how worried he was after her 'reaction' before passing out so he had kept watch over her, which prompted her to apologize for the trouble before entering in deep/worried thought.

That had been the first time she willingly and purposefully used her power to see into the future.

Certainly, she had caught several accidental glimpses sometimes, especially when she was younger, but she had never had any 'full vision' outside her dreams because she took special care to not let it happen, fearful that her secret could be revealed.

The main difference though, was that her dreams were always nebulous things that she could only half-remember, and all of them of an event/events taking place at the same time.

Her vision from yesterday, though, she could recall with perfect clarity, each and every single one of the scenes (Which were clearly different, and distant from each other, events) she could still see as if she had been there to witness them herself in person. Even though she couldn't really do much with them, it was still a shock for the young girl how easily she could remember all the details on them.

It was as terrifying as it was confusing, both because she now knew and fully accepted she was seeing things that hadn't happened yet and because of how disconcerting was seeing people she didn't even know doing things she could barely understand (That one of the red-eyed creature following some girl with that strange 'vehicle' had been more than disconcerting, especially because wherever it was happening didn't look like anywhere she knew of).

Not to mention the frankly disturbing revelation that she had lost a tenth of her Life thanks to the ordeal, when she had worriedly checked her Stacia Window after hearing the otherworldly boy's explanation (Something that had apparently greatly surprised and intrigued him…didn't they have Windows in his world? How did they measure everything's Life then?). Nothing that wouldn't recover with sleep and healthy meals for a couple days, but this was still the first time her visions, as disconcerting as they were, had actually hurt her.

She hadn't been able to describe them to Kirito, both because he had quickly scrambled back to his room (Just the thought of what Sister Azariya would do if she caught the boy in her room made her shiver in fright) and because she had been…distracted, by a certain part of one of the visions.

That of the mysterious boy (Man?) covered in the shadows of a forest, fighting against strange subterranean humanoid creatures.

Because, while the person had their back to them and between that and the shadows she couldn't even properly see him, one of the weapons he carried had caught her attention.

For some reason, she felt as if she should know the feral-looking axe on his left hand from somewhere…

"…and then, Saitama punched forward…and Vaccine Man was blown into pieces with such force even the dark clouds above the city dispersed!"

"Woah!"

"No way!"

"Amazing!"

Blinking in surprise, the apprentice walked the last Mels separating her from the church's 'lunchroom', entering just in time to see the children looking more excited than she ever remembered them, crowded around a smiling and exaggeratedly gesturing Kirito, as he finished telling them some sort of tale.

"…after falling to his knees, be loudly cried: 'All it took was one punch again! Damn it!'" grinned the black-haired boy as the children erupted into laughter, though some of them looked at him with total disbelief.

"Really? Man, that's so…"

"Weird?"

"Yeah! I mean, who would complain about being so strong?!"

"You would be surprised, believe me." replied the boy while looking towards the ceiling with a wistful smile, confusing the children as his gaze seemed to become strangely distant. "Without something clear to use that strength for, being the strongest can become truly frustrating…"

"Ehem, good morning everyone!" quickly interrupted Selka whatever the children were about to say, their faces brightening and Kirito looking at her in surprise as she put the foot on the table. "Time for breakfast, kids!"

"Thanks a lot, Selka-neesan!"

After that cheerful greeting (And a prayer of thanks to the Goddesses that the Sacred Arts Apprentice had to remind them all to do), the group started to eat eagerly, the black-haired boy looking over the assembled children with a small smile as the young girl sat at his side and ate too, looking at him from time to time.

Not much later, both secret-sharers were sitting just outside the church, the children from before playing happily as they ran out towards the village's streets after being told to not get into troubles.

"…they're nice kids." idly commented Kirito with a neutral tone, looking sideways to the apprentice at his side. "Are they…?"

"Orphans. The church takes care of them until they're assigned their Sacred Tasks…most of them will have their task by next year." informed Selka with a bittersweet tone, even as the black-haired boy grimaced and looked back to where the half a dozen kids had gone. "It's not so bad, really. Between me and sister Azariya we make sure they're as happy as they can possibly, it's just…the world is turning more and more dangerous and…sometimes it seems no one really realizes or cares…"

"…so, Sacred Tasks, uh? That's a concept I'm not sure I could get used to." commented the gamer in a clear attempt to change the subject, which the young girl wasn't sure if to feel grateful or annoyed for.

"You don't have them in your world, you mean?" asked the young girl in honest shock. "How do you decide what everyone will do for their live, then?"

"We…don't. Everyone decides for themselves what they want to do…what they want to become…"

"That sounds…woah…" more shocked than she thought she would be after the 'Another World' reveal, Selka looked back at the ground, wondered what she would have chosen to do if she had ever possessed such a chance. "A-and…what about you? What do you do in your world?"

"I…still haven't decided…" whispered Kirito while looking down at his hands, clenching and unclenching them, as if he was trying to see something that wasn't there, something the apprentice had noticed him doing more than once. "Or…maybe a part of me has, but knows it's impossible…"

"…it seems your world is way more complicated than I thought…but it's still your home, right?" putting a hand over the boy's shoulders, the young girl trying to convey as much comfort with her smile as she remembered her sister's did for her when she was little. "Don't worry, I promise to do everything I can to help you go back to your family."

His family…everyone…

"…heh, thanks a lot, Selka. I needed that." sincerely answered the gamer while ruffling her hair, the apprentice pouting cutely at him at the action even as his gaze wandered beyond the village's limits, towards the only clear 'landmark' near it that wasn't the massive mountain range at the north. "Say…you told me the area around that tree was 'cursed', right? Why is that?"

"Ah…well, you see…the Gigas Cedar has been there since before the foundation of Rulid, over 300 years ago. No one knows how or why such a tree exists or where it came from, but it just keeps becoming impossibly big and strong by draining the Resources of the earth in the whole area, stopping us from expanding our crops towards the south, the only direction possible, so the founders requested a special axe that could cut through its bark and a Sacred Task to cut it down was created…"

"Wait, you mean to tell me people have been trying to cut that thing for 300 years?! And it's still standing?!" almost shouted Kirito while looking back towards the black tree with wide eyes.

What kind of tree was that?!

"Yes, even the axe made of dragon bone was barely able to put a dent on its massive Life. Several generations spent their lifetimes trying to cut it, and we apparently were already a third of the way…until a bit over 6 years ago. The axe was lost…together with the last holder of the Sacred Task, my sister's childhood friend…Eugeo."

"Oh…Selka, I'm sorry, I didn't know…" suddenly at a loss of words, the black-haired boy looked away from the sad-looking young girl. "You don't need to keep…"

"No, it's okay, I'm…I'm over it." assured Selka with a small smile before looking towards the Gigas Cedar. "After that, not only were there no funds to get another axe, but 'strange' things also started happening near it. People would say they felt as if they were being watched, strange cut-like marks would appear on its roots every day, strange sounds would come from the surrounding forest…it kept going for months until my father was forced to officially declare the area as 'off limits' for public safety…and also to cancel the Sacred Task."

"I…see." whispered Kirito while looking towards the black tree once again, wondering what it must have felt to lose 300 years of work just after what had been, as far as he had been told, the biggest tragedy on the village's history. "Sorry, I must have brought down the mood with that, why don't we get back inside and you tell me what can I help you with to not feel like a freeloader?"

"…what's a freeloader?" asked the now blinking young girl with confusion, making the black-haired boy sweatdrop.

"Uhm, well, it's someone that…"

It happened without warning.

Suddenly, every single cell in the gamer's body seemed to scream, a familiar and half-forgotten feeling of tension beyond anything else filling his very being.

He had only felt like this a handful of times and all of them only since he got trapped in SAO, during the last 4 years of his life.

Fighting Heathcliff. Confronting Death Gun. Stopping Equinox.

It was different though, for, this time, it felt like the last and most recent one, being face to face with whatever Xaxa had become, had felt.

The feeling of something unstoppable threatening his life, while he had no power to stop it.

Almost without realizing it, Kirito stood up, ignoring Selka's confused look as his gaze moved all around what he could see of the village, then beyond its walls, at the forests around, at the Gigas Cedar and, finally, towards the massive mountain range at the north.

Almost as in slow motion, the black-haired boy saw a black blur emerge from beyond it, soaring high over the mountaintops before starting to descend, its shape becoming more defined as it did…and its size increasing accordingly.

"Kirito, what's wro…? Wait…what…what is that thi…?"

The gamer's eyes were already able to distinguish the sight of wings when a soul-shaking screech reached Rulid, freezing the hearts of all its inhabitants for an instant.

"No…no way…it can't be…"

All-white eyes stared forward hungrily. A bird-like body bigger than the village's church cut through the frozen air like an arrow. Claws big enough to crush a car opened.

The screech of the black monster sounded again. Screams and cries filled the air.

"What in the Goddesses names…?!" started to scream Selka while staring towards the incoming abomination, before Kirito's emotionless words cut her off.

"Disaster-Level Demon…Giant Crow."

"Eh?"

When he turned towards her, his face and eyes seemed devoid of any emotion…but for the young apprentice with the power to 'see' what humans shouldn't there was no hiding the fear burning behind his gaze.

"EVERYONE, TAKE COVER!"

And within the Northern Cave, in one of its most hidden and inhospitable corners, cold green eyes snapped open as the second screech of the Mysterious Being shook the entire cavern.

"What…?! Something so big made it through?! But nothing…! No…no way, flight? Seriously? The world is truly falling more and more towards Chaos…"

As he mumbled those words, the figure in the dark started moving, steps becoming a light jog and then a speed even the best athletes would never be able to reach, his body arching forward as one of his hands reached towards his right side and the other behind his back.

"Wake up, you two…"

Within the darkness of the cave, the edges of two weapons gleamed as much as the young man's emerald-like eyes.

A wicked-looking axe of bone, which seemed to be growling.

A beautiful-looking blue-white sword, which seemed to be humming.

"…no one else is going to suffer on our watch."

At the edge of Reality, a piece moved over a board of fate at the words, the ice/bone-covered figure rushing into the battlefield, even as a worried Absolute voice answered.

"[Undead Knight to Black-White King…]"

---

…

…STARTING…

…OPENING REPORT LOG.

EMERGENCY REPORT #23!

Non-controlled Above-Tiger Threat has entered the Human World by bypassing the Northern Cave!

-Unidentified Fluctlight ('Curse' has damaged all human thinking beyond repair)

-Divine Curse: 'GIANT CROW'. Complete transformation into a massive, omnivorous and maddened version of the described bird. Size is approximately 24 meters/Mels from wingtip to wingtip and around ten from beak to tail. Possess razor-sharp teeth on the beak that allow to easily biting through mid-sized structures with minimal effort. Resistance and Life enhanced beyond any Normal Fluctlight. Capacity of flying through thousands of Mels before needing to rest.

-Threat Level to the Underworld: Demon (Medium High).

-Status: Out of control, ruled by its instincts, all ability for human communication lost…

Emergency! No Integrity Knights available to deal with the threat for the next 24 Hours! Possibility of total destruction of the Rulid Area: 99.9%! Possibility of the loss of every single Fluctlight in the area: 95%!

…possibility of the disaster expanding beyond the area before being dealt with: 43% Target will be busy feeding…01101110 01101111…and digesting its food to recover energy needed to cross the Mountain Range. By the time it can move again, forces more than enough to deal with it will be available.

…the losses are acceptable within the Project's goals. The threat to Administrator's main goal is minimum. Therefore, all losses are considered…01110111 01101000 01111001 00001101 00001010…acceptable.

END OF REPORT LOG.

SENDING TO ADMINISTRATOR…ADMINISTRATOR UNAVAILABLE.

SENDING TO CHIEF ELDER…

…

…

…s…a…v…e…t…h…e…m…

---

Next…

A world that is wrong, corrupted to its core…

Chaos reigned as people cried or fell to their knees, the shadow starting to cover the sky…

Kirito: RUN! Get in your homes, head for basements, don't stay…!

Selka: Kirito, the children!

Yet, no one seems able to see the Darkness…

Azariya: Goddesses, protect us…

Gasupht: Is this…a punishment…?

Kirito: Don't just stand there! Don't you see everyone is in danger?!

Can a powerless Hero change everything…?

Selka: What are you doing?!

The massive beast descended again, screeching towards the crying child. The black-haired boy ran forward, towards the gigantic claw.

Kirito: Being a Hero.

Or perhaps…Will the world send its own help?

?: You sure are an odd one…are you so eager to die?

Kirito: Who…who are you…?

Selka: N-no…no way…I saw you die…everyone saw…

?: …I got better.

Next time on 'One Punch Gamer: Chains of Fate':

Chapter 2: The Living Dead.

---

Author's Notes: …see, calm and slow, just like Canon Alicization :P

Jokes aside, though, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. As you can see, I'm making quite the focus into showing the differences with Canon, both in the setting and in Kirito's reactions to the Underworld, not to mention how much less Kikuoka told him compared to Canon, for more than obvious reasons.

Also, those with their OPM and Alicization knowledge may already be seeing the ton of foreshadowing and teasing that filled this chapter in several ways. The more we get in, the more we stray from Canon thanks to Kikuoka's brilliant idea of throwing superpowers that can easily wipe out big cities in a world where Imagination can shape Reality, and where nothing is what it really seems…

Oh, and hope you liked the new 'style' for the "Next Episode Preview", I decided to use a more dramatic one because I figured the OPM-styled one I used for the previous one wouldn't really fit Alicization's overall tone XP

And well, with that, it's all I had to say…so I now leave you with the first Omake of this story :D! Can you guess which series is about before it becomes too obvious? Enjoy!

---

Omake: Capes and Roses 1

It was a pretty normal and unassuming night in the peaceful-looking city, though anyone who had heard/witnessed the events taking place not far from that specific rooftop probably would have been able to tell you how fake such notions were.

Even so, the World's attention was centered on that particular roof because of what was about to take place.

All of a sudden, arcane symbols appeared on the building's surface, ancient power gathering while light coalesced into a single point, Reality being forcibly broken as mystical energies did their best to take shape into something that could poorly contain the power of the entity which was being summoned.

And finally, when the power reached its tipping point and exploded, what came forth was…a black-haired teenager in an unimpressive and silly jumpsuit and cape.

Blinking a couple times before an 'Oh, again, uh?'-look appeared on his face, Kirito sighed before looking down at his hands as he opened and closed his fist, trying to get a feel of his current body.

"Let's see…not a Servant, sadly, and not a Familiar either. Definitively not an Eidolon nor a Guardian Spirit, I don't appear to be a Wraith and thank Everything (Except those fucking Absolute Ones) I'm not a Stand. I could go without that ever happening again. Taking all of that into account and my apparent lack of Summoner of any kind…" giving a look around, the Hero grimaced slightly as the situation finally became clear to him. "Great…is one of those summonings, uh?"

Before he was able to ponder further into that, Kirito finally became aware of the sound of clashing weapons and shots being fired in the vicinity. Taking a moment to admire the broken moon in the sky (And that would have probably surprised him more if he hadn't been in worlds with two of them or some with six suns), the black-haired Heroic Spirit walked towards the rooftop's edge and looked down…

In time to see what seemed like a dark red-haired Gothic Lolita version of Little Red Riding Hood armed with a giant mechanical scythe (Which was also some kind of rifle), fighting an orange-haired man dressed like a more stylish version of Charles Chaplin, armed with a cane that was also a firearm and several generic-looking grunts that seemed to be identical siblings or something along those lines lay unconscious all around them.

Dispelling the vague feeling there was a joke there that he was missing, the Hero took a couple seconds to try and discern who was the 'good guy' in this situation (And anyone who thought he was stupid in doing so clearly hadn't been in worlds where powerful evil entities took the shape of lolis or where Jesus Christ was the bad guy) before nodding to himself and jumping down into the fray, his landing slightly cracking the street under his feet and making his cape flap behind him as both combatants froze and turned to look at him in surprise.

"Woah…"

"What the…?!"

"Room for one more?" asked Kirito with a nonchalant smile.

"Where do you annoying kids keep coming from?!" growled the orange-haired man before raising his cane towards the newcomer, the 'tip' opening to allow whatever projectile the weapon shot to be fired.

As he effortlessly evaded the attack, the caped hero couldn't help but think about the irony of the apparent thief calling him a 'kid'.

"Hey, watch out!" shouted the now panicked girl as she…'zoomed' through the air, for lack of a better term, somehow turning into a cloud of rose petals while doing so, tackling Kirito out of the way…or trying to, as all she managed was to make the surprised 'boy' take a step back as she solidified again against him, her vision spinning around as the following shot passed just over them. "Uaaah…wha-what are you made of?!"

"In my defense, you shouldn't go tackling people you just randomly met…also, that guy is getting away." calmly commented the hero before pointing towards the man of the bowler hat, who was already 3/4 of the way up a building's ladder.

Squeaking in surprise, the scythe-wielder disentangled herself from him and shot after the thief, Kirito taking a moment to send an apologetic look towards the owner of the shop that had apparently been wrecked during the ordeal before easily jumping all the way to the roof, landing besides the once again surprised girl just in time to see their runaway opponent aboard what seemed like a vertical/horizontal moving aircraft, that had somehow arrived without anyone apparently noticing despite how incredibly loud it was.

"Wha…? Did you just jump all the way up here?" asked the hooded girl with a bit of awe, moving her gaze away from the enemy on the flying vehicle in what was a surprisingly careless act from someone so skilled at fighting.

"Yeah, but don't get distracted!" shouted the caped hero before quickly moving before her, hand raised to intercept the latest shot coming from the Charles Chaplin-wannabe thief…

…and it turned out to be completely unnecessary, as a bespectacled blonde woman, armed with what seemed like a riding crop, showed up out of nowhere and created a magical shield to protect both of them.

What followed was quite a colorful exchange of magical attacks between the bespectacled woman and whoever had been waiting for the orange-haired thief within the aircraft, which the scythe-wielding girl apparently found impressive and that Kirito may have if he hadn't been summoned as a Familiar for actual mages twice in the past, both of which would have been able to put both women to shame magic-wise while being way younger than them.

In the end, the caped hero had to restrain himself from simply taking down the airship (Mainly because using his jokingly-named 'I cast Fist!'-Skill to take down flying vehicles had been 'banned' unanimously by his family after a particularly messy accident during one of his many summonings) and saw them fly away after getting particularly messy, though not before all but hauling his casual ally out of the way of their enemy's last explosive attack, unknowingly having been faster than the blonde woman's telekinesis, which was about to do the same.

Receiving a hasty 'Thanks' from her, their 'savior' had quickly stood before them, who the suddenly excited girl had asked for an autograph upon recognizing her as a 'Huntress'…

And that's how both of them had ended up in what looked suspiciously like an interrogation room, his new 'friend' looking devastated as they waited for the woman, who was apparently called Glynda Goodwitch (Talk about funny names), to come talk to them about their 'reckless actions'.

"I can't believe this is happening…" muttered the silver-eyed girl with comically big tears in her eyes.

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I think you did the right thing by confronting that guy." offered Kirito with a small smile.

"Re-really?"

"Yes…also, you got a nice cape."

"O-oh, thanks! Yours is, uhm, cool, too!"

And that was as far as their conversation went before Glynda entered the room, with a look in her eyes that made the girl shrink in fear/worry.

The caped hero…well, he had seen way more intimidating things even back when he was actually alive.

With interest, he silently witnessed how the bespectacled woman's scolding turning into the introduction of an enigmatic-looking man called Ozpin, and how he 'subtly' interrogated the scythe-wielding girl (Who he discovered was called Ruby Rose and had an inclination for devouring cookies as fast as she moved in battle), bringing forth her motives for learning to fight, her dream of helping people (Which he found noble in a very nostalgic way) and how much she wanted to get into 'Beacon Academy', where her older sister was starting that year, and that the man just-so-happened to be the Headmaster of.

Even before the conversation ended, Kirito had already deduced there was more than meets the eye to the whole thing, and Ruby was still having an excitement-breakdown upon being told she was going to go to Beacon two years earlier than everyone else when the bespectacled man turned to look at him.

Within those eyes, the caped hero noticed, was wisdom and power way beyond what he looked like, very differently from the girl at his side or the woman standing beside the headmaster.

Once again, he was not impressed because, well, he had seen worse and more of the same time, several times.

"And then, there is you, the mysterious hero. You show up out of nowhere and fight surprisingly well for someone weaponless and that we have no record of, mister…?"

"I go by Kirito, if you must know. And well, let's just say that I need no other weapon beyond my fists." nonchalantly answered the Heroic Spirit without a care in the world, much to the woman's apparent annoyance and the man's intrigue, even as Ruby 'Oh!'-ed upon realizing she had never asked his name. "Also, before you ask, no, I'm not interested in going to your school."

The look of shock all three sent his way (Ruby's especially, as she looked at him as if he had just rejected Santa Claus' offer of all the videogames in the world) was a bit unnerving, but there was no way Kirito was going through yet another of the 'supernatural/mystical/abnormal school' settings. It was frustrating enough already when the conditions of his summoning forced him to do so, he wasn't about to start doing it when it wasn't forcibly needed.

"…I see. That's disappointing to hear, young man. Also, I fear we will have to call your parents to inform them about…"

"Oh, don't worry, it won't be needed." dismissed the caped hero before standing up, ignoring Glynda's shout of indignation in favor of waving at the still-shocked Ruby. "It was a pleasure, Ruby; I wish you luck with your endeavors!"

And then, before they could even blink, he was gone, only a rush of wind and the slightly moving door of the room as testament he had vanished at all.

Ozpin and Glynda were especially shocked, as none of them had even felt the boy move, while Ruby…

"Holy cakes! How did he move so fast?!"

…was busy being awed/jealous.

Minutes later, the black-haired boy was standing atop the same roof where he had been appeared in that world, sighing as he stared towards the broken moon, having confirmed his earlier suspicions, especially when he concentrated on his link with his family back in the Throne and he could barely feel it, like just the general 'whisper' of their thoughts could reach him.

"It really IS one of those summonings, uh?" sighed the caped hero before looking down and putting a hand on the ground, a tired smile on his face. "I don't suppose you're going to give me a clue about what I have to do, right?"

The World of Remnant, his summoner, offered no answer.

Planetary Summonings were a pain, especially because of how precarious his anchor with Reality was and how very limited his mystical energy (Or Prana, as they called it in Shirou's world) his temporary body had access to before vanishing. All of those factors combined made it almost all but impossible to call forth any member of his family, unless he wanted to risk vanishing almost instantly (Not to mention that he didn't get any clue as to what he was supposed to do).

The 'problem' with the current situation, though, was that, as far as he knew, Planetary Summonings only happened when a world was at risk of such a devastating catastrophe it threatened its very balance in the worst possible way.

Last time he had one of those summonings, extra-dimensional kaiju-sized aliens with a love for giving the middle finger to the laws of physics, which could only be fought by emotionally-damaged teenagers in giant bio-mechas, were threatening to destroy the world (Getting rid of said aliens had actually been the simplest of his problems back then).

The time before that, 7 super-powerful cyborgs powered by soul-energy had tried to take over their world and all but enslaved people to worship them to death like 'Deities' if needed, while the 8th of them, which they had apparently betrayed and was powered by Rage itself, wreaked havoc trying to get his revenge and get his daughter back. He had been doing nothing but going around running damage control and trying to save lives from the absurd collateral damage for most of that summoning.

And so and so on.

But here in Remnant, unlike previous times, no clear disaster or catastrophic threat seemed evident at first sight. Not to mention that, unlike previous worlds, who still obeyed the Laws of Reality and were forced to reject his unnatural existence bit by bit despite having Summoned him, Remnant seemed to be doing its damned best to keep him there, as if it was desperate for not letting him go.

Shaking his head, Kirito considered his options as he decided his next course of action.

Lack of clear objective or not, one thing those summonings always had in common was that they usually dumped him as close as possible to someone who would be key in the events that would threaten the World. So, he either had to track down Charles Chaplin with eyeliner or…

"…dammit…where was that Beacon Academy again?"

As he sighed again and decided to look for the closest library (Or whatever they had for that purpose in that Universe), the caped hero took solace in that he at least didn't have to actually attend the aforementioned school to keep an eye on Ruby Rose's activities.

He was so busy thinking that and moving away from there that, by the time he had vanished from the roof at inhuman speeds, he never noticed the strange 'crack' in the air that had appeared in the same spot he had materialized from.

Finally, with an eerie not-sound, the wound in Reality was forced open, Something that Did Not Belong to that Plane emerging from Unreality, the formless entity spinning aimlessly for several seconds before shooting away, hungrily searching for someone, even as the damage was repaired and no trace of anything unnatural remained on the roof.

Unseen, Remnant's night grew darker…

---

Author's Notes 2: RWBY and its characters don't belong to me, they belong to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum (Never forget) :3

Well, here it begins, a crossover-Omake I have been looking forward to do, with one of the most famous web-series of recent times and my favorite without a doubt :P. For those who plan to watch RWBY or those that are watching it but aren't up to date with it, this Omakes will cover the plot from vols. 1 to 3, plus relevant background information revealed in 4 (Origins of specific things, characters backstories, etc). It shouldn't contain anything of the currently airing vol. 5, but if yet another piece of relevant character-background info is revealed I may add it on a specific part too, though most likely not. Also, if it wasn't obvious, Kirito had been through a lot more things since he was summoned by Shirou for the 5th Grail War, which may be randomly referenced here and there XP

And after all of that, it has been a pleasure being read by all of you again. Please leave a review if you have time, feedback helps out immensely with all the new content of this story XP!

Until next time, this is Saint, signing off!