Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all.
Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story.
Between the two unfamiliar players was a flat beige surface full of misfired arrows and marks where spells failed to meet their target. The fight seemed to have no end despite the amount of damage that was being dealt out. Luckily, those in the holding cells were safe. Plentiful dodging. Lots of projectiles. Clear pains on each combatant.
Eventually, it ended. With a pained scream from the mage. One that matched an evanescent glow. The mage disappeared, leaving the archer as confused as a man with no directive. Powerful emotions surged through his brain at the same time, almost shattering the instabilities of his mind. He was warped back into the cage he was once in.
They all expected another fight to occur. Instead of this, the imposing King returned to converse with his virtual yet literal subjects.
"Hello once again, players," King greeted. Some were terrified, some refused to look at him, others glared at the golden armoured 'player' with a steely determination. "I know you're all afraid. Deep down inside of you, even in the most confident of people, lies fear. I must be awakening that within you. After all, this is a life or death situation. For you guys anyway."
"What do you want this time? We're playing your sick game like you asked us to! What more could you want?" a seemingly confident blue haired female avatar questioned.
"I don't want much else. I'm only here to fill you in on something. No, not more fear. Well, maybe for a certain selection of you…"
Nobody dared to mumble. King pointed directly at the cage containing Kyohan, Senya, Jonetsu and Naohiro - the Masayoshi Hanta members. Everyone's eyes followed.
"I hate you people. All four of you," King bellowed.
The members frowned. "Why's that?" the leader, Kyohan, asked.
"Because you did an injustice to me. You refused to be nice. Those who are bad should receive punishment. That's how the law works, right?" King rhetorically responded.
"What do you mean?" the silver-haired archer, Naohiro, demanded to know.
King could be heard chuckling somewhat. "Of course you wouldn't recognise me under this heavy armour. That was the purpose behind it, you know. How about I tell you my real name? Perhaps that will jog your horrendous memories?"
"Oh man, I'm dyin' to know!" the red-haired mage, Jonetsu, sarcastically replied.
"Don't be like that with me. Have you forgotten who brought you into this situation in the first place? I'd suggest to never take that sort of tone ever again. At least not to me. Either way, my name is Yokunai Juusan. Remember me now...Kyohan, my dear?"
Upon hearing that name, Kyohan's eyes widened in a terror she had not experienced for many a while. She collapsed to the floor, only kept up by her knees. The girl was sweating all over. Her body felt like it had been run through a sea of germs. Kyohan could not be brought back to her feet. Her comrades could not assist. To them, they were terrified, but not to this extent. Senya was spared from these emotions.
"Who is this?" the black-haired glass cannon, Senya, wondered.
"That's the same person who...did the thing to Kyohan. Our ex-member," Naohiro whispered, ensuring to not let anyone else hear.
"You mean…" Senya started to realise. Even his face changed slightly to match the surprise. He turned back to face King, who was still pointing at their cage. "...This is Yoku?"
Jonetsu was on the ground, trying to tend to her best friend. "That's him," Naohiro confirmed.
"I see." Senya kept his blank expression, but one could clearly see anger in his eyes. "Yokunai Juusan. Indeed, you are a despicable person."
"Thank you! I have waited to hear such a wonderful comment!" King hypocritically replied. "To return the favour, I hate you especially! No really. I hate you so much."
"Is that because I replaced you?" assumed Senya.
"Yes. I was the one person in that guild that the others could depend on, as a good friend...Kyohan was within my grasp. But then she ruined everything by telling her friends. I kept trying to get that position back, but you were the one that sealed my chances. You started to become the dependable one, leading everyone in battles. That was what I was doing! And you don't even do a good job of it!"
"How do you know this?" Senya continued to ask, unfazed.
"Logs. Big Dreamers keeps logs of everything ever spoken or typed within the game. Even if you think you're safe, the developers have access to what you're saying. They also have logs for certain actions, such as opening doors or the destruction of an entire guild. I was able to use these to learn exactly what you've been doing up until now. And I must say...you're quite the dumb one, Senya."
Senya kept silent.
"Your strategies are obvious to those that pay attention. Any educated monkey could come up with them. You haven't shown anything noteworthy. Charging into the Grey Knights, sneaking into their base beforehand, using potions to help with that last one and more recently, telling everyone to defeat the Gigantic Dragon in essentially the same way they were doing before. You're not really inventive. Or any good."
"I have not been presented with a challenge that requires an overly complex solution," defended Senya.
"Not until today, huh?" the avatar of Yokunai Juusan returned, grinning within his armour. "Despite that, you're seen as a good person that will do nothing bad. Somebody that everyone can trust. The same way I was seen before everyone started hating on me for being a PKer. And Kyohan...no, I will not talk badly about her. I can forgive sudden bursts of rage if it's in someway justified. Finding out the truth can be very shocking. You know, because I hate you so much, I'll do this."
It seemed as if he did nothing. However, Senya found himself on the arena, where two one-handed sword users quickly appeared in the same fashion.
"If anybody defeats Senya, the tactician of the Masayoshi Hanta, then they'll be given permanent immunity from the fight selection! One person of their choice will also be brought back from the Purgatory. Now, fight!" King waved his arm downwards, signalling the start of the match. He soon disappeared from the virtual reality world.
Hesitant, the pair of sword-wielders (they did not know each other) charged ahead recklessly, weapons drawn with the intent to succeed. Senya easily dodged this two pronged attack and equipped his own steel sword and steel shield, waiting for the other victims to make their next move.
They merely repeated their previous action. Senya took advantage of this by stepping to the side and slashing the male on his left, knocking him down in the process. The female turned around, saw what happened and tried a jump slash, but Senya was able to block with his shield. He pushed, causing his feminine opponent to be sent flying backwards, though she was able to land on her two feet. Senya fired a Beam Outburst, combining the technique with Quick Cutter to have the former move strike his foe with a speed she could not react to.
She was knocked down as well, but the pair of them did not have their respective health bars. They shared one glance, communicating the same defeated thought to one another through eye contact. As the fight had the same properties as a duel, they were able to press the 'Surrender' button on their menus. That is what they did next.
Masayoshi Hanta's tactician watched as his opponents gave up. He wasn't able to find out why, but he had some ideas.
"Did they do that because they are aware of my battle prowess? We did become somewhat popular after our Grey Knights attack, so that is a possibility. Or perhaps, they were lazy? No matter the answer, I am somewhat appalled by their actions. I suppose they may have wanted a quick escape, but they chose not to fight for potential escape...King is erasing the hopes of the players. Everyone else may follow suit. That must not happen," Senya thought as he waited for whatever else this infernal system would throw at him.
What came next had erased most of Senya's hope. An orange-haired, one handed sword user...by the username of Hitakaru.
March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online
7:55 AM - In-game Time
Before the fight had happened, Jonetsu directed Kyohan to the far corner of the cage. The sides of the holding cells were made of an unbreakable glass, meaning Kyohan could easily lean against it and the back sandstone wall. She wept to herself, with Jonetsu nearby to keep her company. She was also there to inform the green-haired girl of what was happening on the arena.
At one point, when Jonetsu was paying attention to the fight, something interrupted Kyohan's sadness. Her tears had stopped a minute earlier, but her sadness was ever present. She was conscious enough to notice that her menu opened by itself, displaying the notification of an important private message from an unknown sender.
"Who…" Kyohan thought as she opened up the message. The sender's name was not displayed at the top, like it should. Instead, there was only the contents. "Hello. My name is Konpyu, the creator of LPO." She read to herself.
"I'm here to help you out. I can't be here for long, else I will be spotted. Please respond."
A second line of text appeared underneath the previous one moments after she finished reading.
"This is a live feed. I disguised it as an important PM so it would get your attention. Please respond."
Kyohan kept staring at the coming messages.
"I need you to help me save us and all of you."
Author Notes: Sorry for not posting anything in March. A lot of schoolwork has been coming in and I've barely had any time to myself. Any time that I have had to myself was spent gaming, a bigger hobby of mine, as you can likely tell. I am on a break right now though, so hopefully I can bung more out. See you next time.