WARNING: This story contains mature elements such as manipulation, Non-Con, humiliation.

Chapter 16: Stories of Black

Sword Art Online

For many, their story begins with the death game, 'Sword Art Online', the very first VRMMORPG that has ever taken the world by storm. It is the beginning for the titular hero Kirito, and much so it is for her as well.

She starts her story with a different take on 'Sword Art Online', however. Rather than bringing forth the truth of Aincrad, a floating castle that becomes the stage of the infamous Vr game—with it, it would shed light on the fact that she was from another world, and that wasn't something she was still willing to speak off with the residents of Underworld—she spins a take into something different, yet appropriate.

For her, for all her friends, this story takes place in a remote location in the Human Realm, with a myriad of flora and fauna still, far from any forms of civilization that any of them might know of.

And rather than 10,000 people, she simply settled for a hundred men and women in total.

"How do we start… Well, I suppose I'll get straight to the point. We had been abducted by a man named Kayaba Akihiko. In doing so, he placed us somewhere, pitting us in a 'death game' of sorts, whereby we had to survive for two whole years," she began, hands—delicate, small and gentle, yet strong all the same—clasped together on her lap. "All hundred of us… Not a wonderful story."

Not that of fiction either, as she had lived through it, alongside nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine other people.

Funny, how it happened. A single desire to simply experience something normal, which could have never been possible for a girl of her upbringing.

Wealth. Her mother could be mistaken to be obsessed with money, but she had simply sought for a luxurious life only for the comfort that it brought. And with the numerous servants that they have, the great lifestyle and food that they have, she hadn't failed in that endeavour.

Fame. Almost anyone knew of the Yuuki family. Her father is the CEO of the RECT Inc. (well, he was, but left his station following the reveal of Sugou's crimes), and her mother was well-known in the business and marketing industries.

Popularity. It came too easily to her, even if she didn't want it. All her classmates, underclassmen and upperclassmen treated her like a princess, showering her with smiles and compliments.

Of course, she simply accepted all of them. She hadn't the heart to tell them off, knowing that they were probably genuine with what they said.

But 'Sword Art Online' was an opportunity; a gateway to an altogether different identity that would inevitably lead to one thing. Her being treated as a normal person.

She merely just wanted that one shot of normalcy.

And it turns into the worst nightmare that she could ever think of being her reality.

Trapped in another world, helpless to do anything as she is forced to fight every single day if she hopes to live out another day, afraid of how her life would turn out when she returns to the living—her mother's disappointment, her isolation from all her classmates…

And the same went for other people other than herself—hope was even more bleak, along with morale and trust. Some people had turned into murderers, some had resorted to suicide, and some were killed in the field of action (be it by the claws of monsters or the hands of their fellow man). To be stuck in a place where none of them knew…

"In all honesty, I probably would have died on, what? The fifteenth day? I can't even remember it anymore, what with how depressing it had been," she says, closing her eyes. Even so, her lips were drawn in a lithe smile. "But… at least one good thing came out of it."

So she continues the story. Speaks of a time when she had foolishly decided to venture out of her safe zone, intending to slay some monsters simply for the sake of it. And she had done so in the dead of night on her own, without anyone to back her or the intent of making it out alive—if she did survive the night, then she would simply blame it on chance, and nothing more.

The Lizardman that she faced off against were lizard-like humanoid creatures. Unlike normal reptiles, however, they possessed a modicum of intellect, capable of wearing armour and wielding swords.

Weak to piercing-type weapons, she had been lucky that she faced off against them with rapiers. However, that had still not excused her from her stupidity, going in without a shred of rationality as she attempts to kill as many of these beasts as she could.

Her rapier breaks.

A black sword cuts through.

"So Kirito saved you that moment?" Quinella asks, her curiosity shining bright.

The girl nods back, smiling wider now. "He did… When I lost myself that night, when I was certain that I was going to die, he came along. All for the sake of it. And… hahaha, sorry. It's just… well, he called me an idiot, you know?"

She will never forget that one single moment. When the boy had been done saving her, brought her to a safe area and all, that he started chastising her and calling her an idiot for risking herself like that.

She felt a lot of things at the time.

Angry that someone like himself had the guts to insult her.

Shocked that he had even thought about helping her.

And… grateful.

She hadn't known what to be grateful to him for, to be honest. For a lot of things—that he had been willing to save her, to simply take some time to reach out to her and help her, and to actually treat her like everyone else around him.

She could have attributed that to the fact that she really was just like any other gamer here, whose identity would have been secret to everyone else. But somehow, just having someone actually talk to her like a normal person was just refreshing.

She speaks of the two years in detail, or as much detail as she could squeeze into a few minutes' worth of time. She didn't touch on too much on things, simply weaved some details from truth into fiction, but enough to make sense.

That they were required to fight powerful monsters at least thrice every month, with a span of one week and a half (sometimes, it would be more) between each fight. The Underworld residents—Eugeo, Alice, Selka and Quinella—listened with rapt attention, and offered words of sympathy to the group.

Asuna smiles as she continues, talking about a myriad of things. How Kirito had continued to live so freely, how they had somehow managed to keep things relatively light despite it all, and how they hadn't given up on themselves or others.

On the final day, Kayaba Akihiko had donned a new name; Heathcliff. He had challenged Kirito to a final battle before the seventy-sixth monster had descended before them, promising that he would let everyone leave if he won against him in the fight.

"Knowing Kirito, he wouldn't have rejected his duel offer. He would have wanted to free all of us as quickly as he could," she whispered in the dead of night. Memories of the tail of his coat billowing in the non-existent wind, the blue and black swords in his hands gleaming and readying themselves. "So he accepted. He stood up, braced himself to fight, and he fought."

He had rushed forwards with a «Rage Spike», which Eugeo recognized to be a considerably weak «Secret Technique» in the 'Aincrad Style', though it had a pretty low post-motion delay.

Heathcliff blocked the attack with his massive kite shield, and from there, commenced a duel that would go down in the history books as one amazing fight. But in her eyes, it was the greatest thing she had ever seen, yet it scared her to no ends. Two swords against a massive blood sword.

It had been a difficult duel. Up against a madman who had granted himself the strength of countless men, it would have been an impossible match for anyone else who would have chosen to fight in Kirito's stead. Even Asuna herself doubted she could have ever defeated him.

And Kirito had taken a sword to the gut. At that moment, she hadn't known if it was her or someone else that screamed.

But even as the blade tore his insides apart, blood gushing out like a fountain, the boy had defied his own durability and «Life», and proceeded to riposte—striking back with Dark Repulser, burying the blue sword deep into the paladin's chest, right in the heart and killing the man immediately.

"That's…"

"Don't worry, Alice. He's fine now."

Even with her words of assurance, the blonde knight hardly felt convinced, her hands balled tightly.

Asuna could understand her. After all, she spoke for everyone here when she said that nothing but absolute despair was felt when they saw him close to death in that moment. There was only sheer panic when they attempted to rescue him.

That day, only a handful of people survived the madman's death game.

Herself included, along with everyone else.

"How many people survived?" Asked the boy, his expression that of concern.

The girls, that of whom were the ones that had taken part in this death game, looked amongst one another, trying to probe their minds for an answer.

"We can't be sure. Perhaps only fifty, or less," answered Vabel with a matter-of-factly tone, though with a soft sense of regret in her tone. "Out of the nine of us, the ones who had participated the death game were myself, Asuna, Lisbeth, Silica, Premiere and Tia."

"Mmhm. That's about right," nodded Lisbeth. "Although, there are some others. Just that they're still somewhere out there… somewhere."

She couldn't exactly say that their friends were out in the real world. That might just spawn some identity-questioning in these people, and she doubted that would help anyone.

"To think that you girls would go out of your way to find Kirito after already having survived such endeavours… He's really lucky to have such great friends," smiled Eugeo.

The collective group of girls merely laugh sheepishly in unison, though with soft blushes on their cheeks that certainly give off a different impression, yet no one decides to comment on that only because there was just no use of it.

Alice and Selka, though… they looked suspicious. And Quinella certainly looked less pleased than anything else.

"Anyways, what say we continue this story with the others who took part in the death game?" Suggested Tia.

"Other perspectives of the same story. Not a bad idea," hummed Quinella, looking to Silica and Lisbeth, causing them to silently jump. "If you would."

"S-Sure."

"Right…"

For most players back in 'Sword Art Online', there was always the fact that certain players end up with the spotlight on them, either for the right reasons or not.

Kirito was inevitably hated for his Beater status, an attest to the fact that he supposedly 'cheated' and 'withheld information' from the players. Of course, he simply donned the name without a shred of shame, and some players understood why.

He knew the sort of light that were cast upon the Beta Testers. Hated, despised—and he wanted to take the most fire.

Asuna had become popular because she had made herself a name as the strongest female fighter during the span of the two years, though it could be more accurate to say that she was a fencer than anything else. She became a pillar of sorts, inspiring many others to become better.

But of course, simply these two could not bring forth the freedom that they sought for. There was a cooperation between everyone, and Asuna could very well say that such was true, considering the people that she met.

"Well… I was a blacksmith, although I haven't done so for a while, so I'm quite rusty," chuckled the pink-haired girl as she rubbed her neck before beaming them a wide smile. "But I will say that I'm pretty damn good at it!"

"Wow. Talk about humble," snorted Sinon.

In response, the older girl shot her tongue out, and the archer rolls her eyes.

The Integrity Knight chuckled in amusement. "So, you can forge weapons?"

"Yeah, I can. In fact, I'm the one who made Kirito his Dark Repulser. I will say, that has got to be my proudest achievement to this day," and she does brag about that on some daily basis…es? Bases? She's not sure what the plural form of that is. "But man, it would have been nice if I could have made him another sword again… Oh well. The one you gave him is pretty nice, too, Lady Quinella."

Suddenly having her name called was enough to surprise her, but she responds in kind with a smile. "Ah, thank you for that. I do find it suitable for Kirito. It looks… fitting."

Well, fitting isn't exactly the right word that they would use, considering that all his trademark swords were both black and blue, so for him to go for a combination of black and white instead is… well, a little odd, but it isn't too unusual.

…Well, it is unusual, but still.

"Actually, talking about that, it's a pretty funny story. And one that still pisses me off. Sort of," huffing, she crossed her arms and put on a pouting look. "You know what he did when he first came to my shop? He walked in, asked me if I had any strong sword, then proceeded to break it just to test its strength!"

"Eh?"

"Wha—He did that?!"

"That… sounds something Kirito would definitely do."

Yeah, Eugeo was right with that last part, considering how true it was.

He looked at the other girls of the group, and could see how relaxed they look. No, it looked more like they had surrendered. Surrendered to what, though?

The answer comes pretty quickly.

"Well, it pisses me off! I said it once, and I said it again because it's true. I mean, he wanted a strong sword to go with his black sword Elucidator. So he literally struck my sword against his sword, and it broke! Afterwards, he asked me if there was any place where we could get any strong ores, so I had to follow him up a cold mountain and fight a dragon! He's lucky that neither of us died! But the ore is pretty strong, and I'm just glad we made a pretty strong sword."

"That's… I see."

That's a pretty hefty tirade that she went on. She must have been keeping that pent up inside of her, but considering the calm looks the other girls had, they had probably heard this story over and over again.

Another perspective to Kirito that Quinella had learned, and it almost has her giggling. He can be quite the child when he wants to, though it makes her happier than anything else.

"Well, that's the only thing I've really ever helped in contributing," she shrugged at the end, everyone sweat-dropping at how quickly she had calmed down after all that shouting. "Now then. Silica?"

"Eh? Oh, me? Umm… I-I'd say that I haven't exactly done much," being put in the spotlight was a little surprising, but she regained her calm quickly enough. "I've only been a nuisance, even when I first met Kirito-san…"

Her words draw a worried look from Selka. "Come now, Silica. Don't say that. Kirito would be sad if he heard you say that."

"Oh, but I… I-I'm sorry," mumbled the girl with a small flush before smiling back. "Anyways… Well, as I said, I hadn't exactly done much. I actually started out with a different group, with a leader named Rosalia. She was really mean, and she always took credit for any job that we take. So one day, I swore to her that I would fight on my own alongside Pina."

"Pina?" Asked Alice.

"Mmhm, Pina! She's my companion, and she's a dragon," she explains. "Just like you and… Amayori, right? But Pina is a lot smaller, really. Not as large as your dragons."

"Is that so? I see. That sounds lovely," smiled the girl, understanding the joys of having a dragon of her own. "Is she not with you now?"

"Oh. I'm actually not so sure on where she went," she puts on a thoughtful look, but some girls could tell that she was probably panicking on the inside, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse. "She's probably out there… somewhere."

"Well, maybe she's doing fine," hummed Eugeo. "So, Silica-chan. How did you meet Kirito?"

She doesn't say anything at first, a little quiet in the beginning but she soon tells the story of how she, a relatively normal person when compared to everyone else had somehow come into meeting the infamous Black Swordsman.

The forest, of course, was not meant to be explorable on your own. So of course, Silica had been hesitant to enter it at first. But with Pina by her side, she had allowed her own petty arrogance to cloud her thoughts, intending to prove Rosalia wrong.

There was no proving anyone anything, simple foolishness that would have ended with her and Pina's death had it not been for Kirito.

"So we had to rush things, but we were able to reach an area to find a flower capable of being made into a strong potion that could restore Pina," said the little girl with a small smile, warm memories of a field flowers, before she starts to frown. "But on our way back to town, Rosalia showed up… and it turns out that her and her group had been committing murders."

No one had commented, narrowed eyes displaying worry.

She went on to tell them how Kirito had singlehandedly fought all members of Rosalia's team, fighting them all on his own. Well, it could hardly be called a fight as it was more accurately a one-sided slaughter—well, he hadn't killed anyone, of course, simply endured their onslaught of attacks and apprehended them right after by means of intimidation.

Silica had seen the boy in countless fights, but that one… well, safe to say, it made her an immediate admirer.

Selka and Alice return from the kitchen after some time, now with a tray of some drinks. Everyone had quickly freshened themselves up before deciding to continue with the stories.

"How about the three of you? Vabel, Premiere and Tia. The three of you had taken part in the death game as well, so it would be nice to listen to your stories," pointed out Quinella, everyone else nodding.

Vabel looked around herself before reciprocating the gesture. "Very well. Then allow me to continue first."

For Persona Vabel, her situation was… unique. Being the very first 'Mental Health Counselling Program', respectively labelled as MHCP-000 (Yui was 001 whereas Strea was 002), she played a vital role in monitoring all players and acting accordingly in the case that players experience intense negative emotions. Worse than what Yui and Strea were meant to deal with, even.

In a way, if things came down to it, she would be forced to take drastic measures in order to prevent them from having mental shutdown, thus endangering themselves within the game.

And though she was bound by the laws of Aincrad and the command placed forth by Kayaba Akihiko, that they were simply to sit by the side and watch the other players without doing anything… That didn't happen. The story certainly did not go that way.

Yui had been the first to have been freed. She remembers the story well; how she had been inserted into one of the floors, where Kirito and Asuna were, and they found her by chance.

Strea, on the other hand, had supposedly showed up when the fiftieth floor boss had been defeated, though she hadn't been active, so to speak. It was only after Kirito and Asuna had managed to stop Yui's avatar from being absorbed by the system and 'save' her did Strea then chose to find them.

It was odd, how he managed to pull it off. But it was a miracle all on its own, and one that she was forever grateful to him for.

For Vabel… it was a different tale altogether.

"Perhaps it was a week or a week and a half before the final day, when Heathcliff would reveal himself. The thing is… I felt myself called, beckoned to search this boy named Kirito, and to fight by his side. I hadn't understood why I felt this back then… but I realized why. It was because it was fate," she whispers to the dead of night.

Perhaps that was a little too cheesy on her part, but she could hardly care.

The A.I. caressed her face, where her mask should have been. Simply not wearing it anymore was liberating, and she's able to wear her smile proudly now.

"I had been in the service of Kayaba Akihiko, but I realized that wasn't where I was meant to be. My heart yearned to reach out and help people, and simply joining his side allowed for such, as I could use my power to help instead," she tells them, chuckling softly. "And for that, I will forever be grateful to him."

And so many more would she forever be glad to have met him.

He had, after 'SAO' was completed, promised that he would integrate her and her sisters' data into 'ALfheimr Online' so that they could be together, like a family should. And the prospect of such made her happy, to make beautiful memories with her sisters and parents.

Granted, they weren't her true parents, but neither was Kayaba Akihiko. And she could say for certain that both Kirito and Asuna were better parents anyways.

The countless warm days spent together… She would never forget them. How alive she had felt, how breath-taking everything had been. She could only imagine why she hadn't attempted to join them a little earlier, if only because of how amazing everything turned out to be in the end.

She shakes her head of any thoughts, then looked to the twins. "I suppose that's it. Premiere and Tia, if you would."

These two, though, had particularly more interesting stories to tell. And certainly more than enough to at least make up for the lack of excitement that hers had.

"The two of you are sisters, right?" Alice's question was answered with a nod, which made her smile. "I see. That's nice."

"It is," agreed the black-haired girl with a gentle smile. "I can't ever think of a life without Tia. That would be awful."

"You can say that again. I dread to think what it would have been like had I chosen to fight against the both of you," her sister, on the other hand, chose to shudder. "Anyways, it's time for our stories."

Premiere and Tia were two curious entities. Similar to Yui, Strea and Vabel, the twins were also A.I.'s. However, they were a little unique in the sense that they were originally designed as Quest-giving NPC's. However, some… carelessness and lack of attention on Kayaba's part ended up with them not really having proper configuration and settings, thus causing them to be awkward, empty husks.

The older twin begins the story by telling them of how things had been when they were first born; instead of mentioning both of them being set into existence on Floor 50 of Aincrad, she simply mentions the fiftieth day, which kinda' has the same appeal. Nonetheless, their paths had diverged at that moment.

Premiere had met up with Kirito's group, whereas Tia had 'befriended' and learnt from a rude player calling himself Genesis, who firmly believed in the philosophy of 'the strong survive while the weak die'. That sort of attitude and teaching had seeped into her own brain, slowly, day by day, and she too firmly believed that strength alone was the best way to solve issues.

Genesis had, at one point, attempted a mass genocide. He had succeeded in killing a few players, and seeing the horrors of what he's done, she pleaded for help.

In that moment, however, a part of her heart feared. Feared that her pleas would not be answered, almost as if the world wanted to pay retribution for her foolishness in believing such idiocy. That she would be forced to watch as innocent people are simply slaughtered, all because of her own inability to do anything…

"And he comes. Out of nowhere, stealing the spotlight and being the hero that he is," Tia says this with as much amusement as she could put into her tone, brushing back a few stray locks of silver hair behind her ear. "To be fair, he wasn't alone, but it was kind of hard not to see him in that sort of way, considering how he fought Genesis on his own. He certainly likes to show off, even if not intentionally."

"Yeah, that's about right."

"Definitely."

Seeing both Asuna and Alice agree on that was certainly enough to evoke laughter in the group.

Yeah, he just has that sort of talent.

In his room, asleep and in the dark, Kirito let out a small sneeze, then continues to snore away in his slumber.

Honestly… when Genesis had suddenly turned into a red player and attempted to kill so many players, it was just terrifying. She was just glad that saviours had come to save the day.

And her hero came, clad in black armour.

ALfheimr Online

The conversations turned into other things to at least make themselves a little comfortable, moving away from the two years of 'Sword Art Online', substituted with a relatively simpler death game in a remote location for two years, with some events that didn't happen, some that did but got spun around to be a little different yet similar all the same, and of course talk of their experiences with the black-clad swordsman.

Given all the topics that they had covered, it should have been well over midnight, yet none of them felt any tired. Rather, they had all their attention focused solely on this conversation, finding it more fun than anything else that they had to talk about these past few weeks.

It was a welcome change from all the strategizing and planning. Those are vital, obviously, but in times of stress like now, having to simply relax is a nice thing too.

"So, what happened after those two years?" Asked Eugeo, setting down his glass.

"Well, we finally defeated Heathcliff. Vabel, here," Asuna gestured to her daughter. "Had discovered a strange barrier erected around the place that we had been forced to reside at, keeping us all in. With his death, the barrier had immediately shattered, thus allowing us to be free. And with that, only a small part of us chose to integrate ourselves into normal civilization, while the rest of us remained."

"That so? Well, that's interesting," hummed Quinella. "So you hadn't left? Why is that?"

"Well, how do we put this… Where else were we supposed to go? That had become our home, and by then, there was nowhere else that we had in mind, so we remained," sighed the girl before smiling again. "With that aside! Leafa-chan, your turn."

"Oh yeah, I suppose it's my turn," hummed the blonde, craning her neck to stare into the sky. It's dark, illuminated by the moon. Or Lunaria? She supposed that must be it. "Where do I start..? Okay, I got it! I'll start with how I became the best fighter of my group."

That sent a few sweat-drops in her group, while interested looks came forth from the Underworld residents.

Leafa the Speedster. She hadn't earned that moniker simply for some one-time achievement, but rather, she had truly gained the ability to fly at incredible speeds. She had become the best swordsman in the Sylphs, with her incredible ability with magic and flying making her well-known.

Of course, the girl behind that façade—Suguha Kirigaya—would have never thought that she'd become that good all on her own. She owed that to her brother who had, indirectly, spurred her to take her first steps, and discover for herself the reason why he loved video games so much, despite being put in such a deathly situation that he was in.

Nonetheless, the story isn't so hard. Kazuto shows up in the game as Kirito, having requested her at the Dicey Café that day to help him understand the mechanics of the game and the like. She agreed, of course, but hadn't thought that her brother had transferred his avatar over from 'Sword Art Online', and by God was he powerful!

"I've got to say, the coolest battle I've ever seen him is this one time where we fought against a group of enemies. I don't recall where it was, but there was a lake," she adds that last part as a backup of sorts, knowing that bridges might narrow the search a little too much and provide reason for suspicion. "Anyways, he—"

"Forgive me for interrupting," Quinella spoke, hand raised just to her shoulder level. "But there is something I don't understand. The «Seal of the Right Eye»… that is something many of us possess. How is it that you and everyone do not possess this?"

At that, the group froze up, all glancing at one another.

That was true. Throughout their entire story, they had made themselves out to be similar to them; people who were born in and grew up in Underworld. And yet, here they are, unbound by the rules set forth by the creators of Underworld.

It was bad enough that they hadn't explained that part, so how were they—

"Remember Kayaba Akihiko?" Suddenly spoke up Vabel with a serious tone, drawing all the attention unto herself.

"Umm… yes. He kidnapped one hundred people and forced them into a… death game, as you explained," nodded the sole boy of the group. "Why?"

"Well, in doing so, he had cast a powerful «Sacred Art» that was capable of overriding this seal, thus our ability to go against the laws placed forth by the «Taboo Index»," one-hundred percent made up, yet it more than did its work in shocking everyone there—she wasn't certain about Lady Quinella, but that was of little worry. "After all, he must have seen the possibility of murderers coming forth. And it was with that, that he strived to erase this seal in us, allowing us free will and choice to kill."

"T-That's awful…" Muttered Selka, Yuuki rubbing her on the back with a sad look. "I can't believe it…"

Vabel steeled herself and shook her head. "Indeed… But at the time, there was no other choice. We had to fight if we wanted to live, and there was nothing else that could be done."

That really was the only choice for the 'SAO' players back then. It was do or die, and most of them certainly preferred to live, though even that choice was often made difficult due to all the challenges that they had to face on a daily basis, be it from their own hand or the world around them.

Still, that was long past, and there was no use looking back.

"So… here's the twist for this story. Did you know that Asuna was supposed to be engaged to another guy?" Saying that certainly cut through the unease, replaced now with another layer of shock. "Yeah, I know. Calls himself Oberon, a king. Heh, the nerve of that guy. Other than that, however, he had actually kept a few survivors of the death game trapped, experimenting on their brains and stuff. I don't exactly know the details, so you'll have to ask Kirito another time."

"So Kirito and Leafa had to fight a deadline before the engagement became a thing, and in the end, the two emerged victorious," quickly summarizing that story earned her a pouting look from Leafa, who clearly wanted to continue with the story. In turn, Tia shrugged. "You were going to take too long."

"Pooh. You're no fun…"

"There, there, Leafa-san…"

Smiling once more, Yuuki finally made noise, her ebullience coming full-throttle. "Alright then! I guess it's my turn to tell the story!"

"You certainly have been quiet. Why? Having fun listening?" Tittered the pontifex.

In return, the girl flushed a little, poking her index fingers together. "W-Well… it was so much fun! Getting to hear everyone's awesome stories is really, really cool! A-And listening to stories about… a-anyways!"

No one here had the heart of saying that person's name out loud, if only to save her from further embarrassment.

"Ahem! See, my group actually came from all four empires, even from Centoria. We're a pretty diverse group, but we've got a situation. More specifically, we're all sick," raised eyebrows all over forces her to elucidate. "Umm, not sick like the 'that's awesome!'. I literally mean that we're sick, as in we have illnesses."

"Wait, what? Really?!" Selka was quick to panic, her irises overtaken with fear. "A-Are you alright, then?!"

No one needed to be a smartass like a certain someone (everyone immediately thought of Kirito because they can easily agree that he's the smartest out of all of them) to know that the two girls were incredibly close, almost like best friends—no, it would be right to assume that they are best friends.

It's due to several similarities, after all. Both girls have older sisters, and given their relatively opposite personalities, it helped blossom a beautiful relationship with one another.

"Hehe, don't worry about it! I think we've been doing pretty okay these past few days, so you don't have to worry too much," waving off the problem, Yuuki still appreciated her friend's sentiment, smiling in gratitude. "Really, I'm fine. It hasn't been too much of a hassle to deal with these past few years, so if I'm lucky, I'll probably get to outlive this disease. That would be the funniest thing to happen."

"T-That's… well, if you're sure," mumbled the orange-haired girl.

And with that, the younger Konno girl began her story, starting all the way from how the Sleeping Knights had formed. That they were all terminally sick, and probably didn't have much time left. Yet somehow, perhaps by God's own blessing or by the strength of their bonds, they had managed to live long enough.

Even Aiko, who should have died a few years ago, had somehow beaten the odds and continue to live, though with extensive treatment as both Yuuki and Merida require. But that would probably make it all worth it, as being together meant more than anything else.

They spoke of how they always went from region to region, an alternative story to how they always liked to jump from games to games; from 'Asuka Empire', then to all sorts of other games before going to 'ALfheimr Online'.

Of course, she doesn't mention magic or wings or fairies. That would undoubtedly be too much for anyone to believe unless they went there themselves, but for now, they would simply settle for a more human setting.

"And you know, I met him one day, and he duelled me to a fight. It was incredible! He was the most strongest player that I've ever had the opportunity to fight in my entire life!" Her cheer soon dies down into a small frown, rubbing the back of her left hand with her right. "But then… well, in our first duel, he discovered that I was sick. I don't know how he did it, just that he did. And I got scared, so I quickly beat him and left the place. That didn't age well."

"No kidding. You technically guilted him without even meaning to," chuckled Sinon, finding amusement in that. "He's just that sort of person."

"Right… So, he searched me day and night. I managed to avoid him a few times, and sometimes, he was close to finding me. I was pretty successful, until a week passed… and when he cornered me inside my house, you know what the first thing he did?" She slapped her forehead with a bewildered look, taking everyone aback. "He suddenly got on all fours, bowed on the floor and apologized! Imagine how shocked I must have been."

Everyone blinked for a minute, processing this (well, the girls knew of this, having heard the story straight from Siune's mouth), before Eugeo added his two cents. "Yeah, that kind of sounds like him."

"He said a lot of things too. How he didn't mean to make me uneasy, how he didn't mean anything by it, just… he said he was impressed? Like, what?" It turned into a soft chuckle, something warm blooming in her chest. "He said that he respected me. Because, even though I was sick, that I could still become an awesome swordswoman? That I could keep on being myself..?"

That she could keep smiling.

That she could keep fighting.

He respected her so much for being able to live despite her situation, and that made him happy. And seeing him happy… it overjoyed her.

But of course, she wasn't willing to spill that little thing just yet. "We became friends again afterwards, just to stop him from feeling so bad. But… all the things he did, I… kinda' hated him for doing that, because now I can't help but admit that I like him. Don't tell him that, please!"

Everyone laughed at her in that moment, while Yuuki chooses to fight back with a pout of her own, though her face burned bright red in a rare showing of embarrassment—clearly, that hardly did anything but make her cuter.

Quinella smiled. Heart so big, so kind and so understanding… how can one boy be so perfect?

Gun Gale Online

It might just become morning soon enough, but none of them were about to finish things off yet. Rather, there was so much more that they had to talk about, and one person still hadn't shared her story yet.

Sinon had, in truth, been quiet throughout most of the stories for two different reasons. One, because it was just so interesting to listen to their stories, even if they technically changed things around. And two, she was trying to think of what she was going to say…

Before silently chuckling to herself. She was going to have so much fun with this one.

"So, Sinonon," Asuna calls, not even bothering to correct herself. "You're the last one."

"Yeah, I hear you," sighed the blue-haired archer before smirking. "Before I do begin, have any of you tried to imagine how Kirito would look like as a girl?"

That single question sends everyone in for a loop.

Meanwhile, back in own room, Kirito grumbles in slight chagrin, wondering why he suddenly felt strangely annoyed.

The world of 'Gun Gale Online' was vastly different from everything else. This world, after all, meant to simulate the real world to a certain extent, though it did have its fair share of physics-defying dynamics, monsters and impossible technology. But all in all, just by its name, it was a world revolving around guns.

It had been her paradise. To escape from Shino Asada, a weak girl who was traumatized from an incident a few years ago. She wore the look of Sinon, a strong woman who was the proud wielder of the PGM Ultimate Ratio Hecate II—long name aside, it was by the far the strongest gun that she's ever had the opportunity of wielding, and she was proud of it.

Thinking that she had been the strongest person alive was the most egotistical thing that she could be feeling back then, and she admitted that she couldn't have done everything alone. Even so, she had a pretty good feeling that she was the best there was.

And then, came Kirito. Or should she say…

"Kiriko! Hahaha!" It was by far the most simplest name that Sinon had come up for him, just to tease him, but it certainly did its work at making Quinella laugh, everyone almost enthralled by the sight. "Oh, Goddess… I can't believe it. It's not a jest, is it?"

"N-No, it isn't. He got turned into a girl because of some strange magic… But his body really was that of a male. He just looked more feminine and had longer hair," nodded the bluenette, genuinely wondering why he hasn't changed it yet. Not like she's complaining. "But anyways, the nerve of that guy! All of us archers fighting against one another with «Sacred Arts» and bows, and he decides to bring a sword all the same. Well, it's not banned, but seriously…"

The boy in the group nodded his head. "Yeah, I can see that. He's just stubborn that way. But it must have been amazing, right?"

That does its job to bring a smile to the girl's face, agreeing wholeheartedly. "Yeah… The sight of him running towards his opponents, cutting down all the arrows that came his way… I'll never forget how amazing he looked that day."

He really was—is amazing.

Rushing forwards, unafraid and not hesitant, swinging his photon sword and easily cutting down all the bullets that came flying at him… To this day, she had never been able to replicate his feat, let alone anyone else. But it was a spectacle all on its own.

More so when she stood against him on the bridge that fateful day, staring her down and challenging her to a sword vs gun fight. It was almost laughable, stating how he would stand just a few yards away from her, letting her make the first shot.

It was… well, it was unlike anything that she thought would have happened, and she lost in the end.

One fast swing of his sword, the very same sword that now rests in her inventory as a keepsake, had easily cut down her one way of killing him, which should have been a certainty considering the distance that they were at.

But she supposed that, when things came to him, not everything was going to go the things should.

'And he kind of made those damned photon swords popular,' she thought with a small tick mark on her head. Legit, people were rushing into stores to buy photon swords after his debut in the Bullet of Bullets competition. 'Damn it, Kirito.'

Well, she could hardly blame him for that.

He did look cool with it.

The world was asleep, save for the numerous critters that continues their nocturnal journey—owls flapping their winds and hooting, some crickets playing music, and perhaps some wild foxes in the woods running around.

All glasses were completely emptied. Everyone were satisfied, quiet, somewhat tired, yet none of them wanted to leave just yet.

"So, what now?" Asked Eugeo, leaning back. A soft breeze blows by, and everyone relaxes almost immediately, unable to think of anything more but how quaint things were.

Stories of the black swordsman were told. That was enough to complete the night, and certainly, it was enough to tell a certain someone one thing.

That the boy known as Kirito… he wasn't anything like what she knows of him. Far more than that, he lived much more lives than she could ever possibly begin to fathom, and she had hoped for a place in his heart..?

Hers ached, but she understood very well why it did. There was simply no need for further explanation.

It was an eye opener, but a rather brutal one. Even so, it was a necessary one, or else she'll continue fooling herself into believing that she had even a chance… No, she never had one. She was just too blind by her own ideas of love and obsession that she hadn't been able to see it earlier.

Not anymore. She can change it all.

And… it made her realize one important thing.

With all the tales they've shared tonight, with all the feats he possesses under his belt… it's not wrong to assume that he isn't from Underworld, is it?

"Hey… How about tell us the story of that really huge monster?" Asked Yuuki to Asuna, who perked up. In response, the purplette gave a beaming smile. "You know what I'm talking about! You should definitely go for it. I wanna' listen to it too, you know."

"Huge monster..?"

"Ah, the one that attacked because of Yuna's father."

Not exactly because of him, as Lisbeth so brashly put it, but it does immediately set her bells ringing.

The girl smiles this time, clapping her hands together. "Ah, of course! I suppose there is one last story. But this'll be the last one, alright everyone?" Her question received excited nods from the group, and she chuckles. "Right. What is it again..? Ah, yes. Our battle with 'An Incarnation of the Radius', a powerful monster crafted by Kayaba Akihiko's own hands… In a way, our final battle."

The night stretches on, and the stories of the black swordsman don't end just yet.