Fulcrum Swordsman
Chapter One: Death?
Cold. So cold.
Dark. nothing but darkness.
Why is my body numb? How did this happen?
The boy thinks to himself as he lies on the floor within a pool of his blood that streamed from his throat, his eyes barely even open slowly closed as thoughts of his life rushed by in a blink of an eye, he was just sitting in his room finishing some homework when he sees the blood-red eyes of the Sharingan behind him in the mirror, he twisted around mid shout before a blade slashed across his throat.
"Oh, that's what happened," thinks the boy bleeding out; "How pathetic. Died before I can do anything. Killed without a fight, like an animal."
The boy lay there in silence before tears start to flood from his eyes and he lets out his dying welps and screams; "But I don't wanna die! I don't wanna! I don't want to die!"
However, the world faded away and the dark empty abyss swallow him whole, nothing happens until a bright burning light explodes into existence as the boy wakes up lying down, he jolts into a sitting position grasping at his throat finding his wound gone leaving him to jolt out; "W-what?"
His eyes scan and search through the entire white void before noticing a figure sitting down crossed legged not so far away looking in the boy's direction. He was a tall and pale-skinned man, who had deep wrinkles and a strong jawline in his elderly age. He had spiky, shoulder-length, pale brown hair, with a chin-length, braided lock hanging in front of his left ear. He also sported a goatee.
So you're finally awake. Good," says the man; "Come over here, young boy."
The boy saw no-reason in denying him since in this void there is nothing else to do, he got up and walked over to the man sitting in front of him.
"You are a very interesting person," begins the man; "I have never found someone rejecting death so much so that your life force and soul remains in the living world."
"W-what? Are you god or something?" asks the boy.
"Something like that but it won't matter, afterwards you'll forget this encounter."
"Err, okay."
"I'm going to send you to another world if you are so reluctant to die, you'll retain most of your abilities but you still have to fit into that reality."
"O-okay, I understand, I think."
"Good cause I'll need to set you on your way, young Yashiro."
"How did you know my na-" says Yashiro before he is suddenly cut off.
Quickly, Yashiro throws his head back with his eyes snapping open and a sudden gasp for air, Yashiro's hand slaps against his face dragging it downwards; "What was that about?"
Yashiro spots the window in front of him in between his fingers, his black bangs with dark blue ends fall over his fingers, he spots his reflection in the window, his scruffy hair and his dark blue eyes, he can't help but think back to his dream of a different place.
Yashiro moves around his room cleaning a few things before the door explodes open and two figures lung at Yashiro forcing all of them into the floor, one was Suguha the younger sister while the other was Kirika the older sister, leaving Yashiro in-between the two.
"Can you get off?" says Yashiro squirming underneath the two.
"No!" shouts the two in unison.
"Come on girls, let him free," says Midori from the hallway.
Finally, Yashiro is free, leaving him to huff as he gets up, the two girls, however, they didn't leave just stand there waiting for him; "What do you want?"
Kirika smiles present the board game candy land will a bright smile, Yashiro yawns; "Sorry but I'm-"
Quickly, Suguha presents a cup of green tea, leaving Yashiro to smile; "Looks like I'm not busy anymore."
The three sit down on the floor playing the game with an extreme amount of excitement, Yashiro like always takes the game seriously, planning out each move until he finishes and takes a successful glug of green tea.
"No fair!" says Kirika with a pout and a shrug of her long black hair.
"Yeah! Yashiro always wins," says Suguha also with a pout.
"Don't blame me," says Yashiro drinking his tea; "You just have to focus on the game."
The pouting sisters only stared and pouted, Yashiro smirked; "Wanna play again?" only to receive unpleasant stares from the other two.
However, the mood is quickly gotten rid of as Midori bursts into the room with a plate of food in hand; "Who's hungry?"
The sour mood is quickly thrown out the window as everyone attacks the food like hungry sharks smelling blood in the water, Yashiro could help but smile and forget his weird dream.
Ten years later, Yashiro walks through the house with a glass of green tea in tow when Suguha shouts; "Okay, I'm heading out!"
"Have fun!" shouts Yashiro as the front door closes.
Walking down the hall, Yashiro spots Kirika scanning through news articles about the new game they just got, Sword Art Online, Kirka spots Yashiro in the monitor's reflection. Kirika quickly turns around letting her hair pick up in the wind and float downwards; "Shouldn't you be getting ready, the game is starting soon."
"Don't worry about it," says Yashiro sipping his tea before speaking once more; "it's not like we have to rush, we are two of fifty thousand people owning the game and the full-dive headset."
Suddenly, a plastic water bottle slams against his face; "Just go do it. I won't wait for you."
"Fine, fine," Yashiro finishes his tea when he walks into his room, he turns on his pc and gets the full-dive headset ready placing it on his head before saying; "Link start."
Suddenly, a blinding light explodes into reality with a rush of colour flying towards Yashiro before he knows it, he is in the bright and beautiful virtual reality of Sword Art Online, his avatar is tall and well-built with long black spiky hair reaches just below his heck with a single strand over his face, he wore the typical beginner outfit expect his was a bright red.
He took a second to glance around not noticing Kirika's avatar from the beta or her username, he sighs before starting to walk around the town that is bustling with people talking and already teaming up with some even buying stuff already, Yashiro walks through the town watching the thousands of people running around but not his step and he bumps into a girl on the way making her fall over; "Oh that hurt."
"Err, no it didn't," replies Yashiro looking down on the most likely randomized avatar.
"I know! But it could have hurt!" shouts the girl jumping up from the floor.
"Calm down," says Yashiro only for the girl to get angrier.
"Listen here, I'm calm but you haven't even apologized for running into me," says the girl looking like she's about to strangle Yashiro.
Yashiro prompted for a quick escape after saying; "Not happening," Yashiro broke into a sprint and ran through multiple alleyways until he left the town and entered the bright green fields and hills, he spots multiple enemies and monsters spawning in the distance when a smirk travels across his face; "Maybe this time, you'll be more of a challenge."
Yashiro unsheathed his sword and slowly walked within hanging from his hand, the monsters slowly noticed him, Yashiro looks at his quest list, he already got one of an NPC asking for him to collect boar hide around fifteen; "I'll still kill more of them. Maybe I'll stop after level five just to give me a good start."
Suddenly, the boar charged forward leaving Yashiro to sidestep letting the boar proceed forward and in a single motion he slams the blade downwards slicing at the boar taking away twenty-five percent of its health.
"That was one of my basic skill attacks but I can't keep using it over and over. Time for a combo," says Yanshiro waiting for the boar to attack, it tries to charge once more.
However, Yashiro uses his blade as a shield and as the boar attacks he sends the boar upwards, Yashiro spins around and slices once across its stomach, then using the motion Yashiro kicks the boar before slicing it downwards sending the boar onto its side before thrusting the sword through the boar finishing it off.
A message appears in front of him, Yashiro's eyes instantly go to the experience points he earned from the one monster; "Not enough, only fifteen exp. Oh well, either way, I have to do it."
Yashiro spends his time earning exp and completing the quest when he finally hits level five in mid-celebration he is teleported to the center of town, Yashiro turns around on a swirl glancing around confused; "Is this an event? No, it can't be there was no notification or message."
Suddenly, a massive cloaked figure begins to form in the sky with a dome of warning errors trap them there, Yashiro's gut begins to not as it rises inside of him, the cloaked figure begins to talk about the real purpose of Sword Art Online, to entrap everyone in a world created by Akihiko Kayaba and slowly the horror and terror grows and claws at Yashiro with the threat of death ever-present. The only way to get out is to fight against death and the odds.
"I have left a gift in your inventory, I recommended that you look at it now," says Akihiko, Yashiro get out the item called mirror and as particles and effects swarm around him, he too is engrossed in it.
Yashiro spots that the people around him have changed avatars, wait he also did but not just to any avatar but his real life-self; "It can't be, what the hell?"
Kayaba quickly leaves as people stand silent or some scream and cry. However, Yashiro's eyes sharpen not letting the need to scream and shout take over, he spots his sister running off dragging some guy along, Yashiro runs to pursue them knowing that even if he dies, his sister can not.
However, by the time Yashiro finds his sister she is running off over the hills and plains, Yashiro follows the dirt trail killing everything in sight his level crawls to the next level. Yashiro finally, caught up with his sister after she realized his shouts, the two stood alone in the mass of green fields.
"What level you on?" asks Yashiro.
"Seven, why?" replies Kirika, looking at her brother with curious eyes.
"I'll race you to level ten," says Yashiro with a smirk.
"What happens if ya win?"
"The loser gives all their col to the winner."
"Deal!" shouts Kirika instantly running off into the field.
"Hey! That's cheating!" shouts Yashiro running to join his sister.
Six months later, the two stands in the center of town waiting for the boss raid meeting with the sun pouring down on them, Yashiro checks his sword which had numerous upgrades since the start of this death game. Yashiro sighs; "How long is this gonna take?"
"Be patient," responds Kirika.
"If they don't hurry up, I'll go solo the boss raid," says Yashiro sheathing his sword on his hip with a scrap of the metal.
His eyes instantly look towards the crowd that is beginning to grow, his boredom seems to disappear as the two approach the crowd; "Finally, took 'em long enough."
"Stop complaining, you're like a child," hisses Kirika quickly moving in front of him and entering the meeting spot.
Everyone took their seat of the stone, while one blue-haired man stands in the middle, his name was Diavel the man would organize the meeting and with a smile, he starts; "let's get started, people! Thank you for coming today. My name is Diavel. I like to consider my job as 'Knight'."
Yashiro like some other people had to let out a small laugh but Yashiro got a glare from his sister telling him to be nice.
Diavel's voice echos yet again; "You should take this seriously! Today, our party found the boss room at the top of the tower."
Instantly, Yashiro's smirk left his face and he leaned forward more than a little interested in the meeting with Kirika shock at his one-eighty response.
"We need to defeat the boss, reach the second floor, and tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to beat this game," speaks Diavel getting serious as his glares at everyone; "Everyone present here shares this duty! Do you all agree? All right, then let us begin our planning."
"First, divide into parties of six, Of course, we'll be in the same party. An ordinary party has no chance against a floor boss. I'll be the leader." says Diavel with a bright smile.
Just then, Kirika pokes at Yashiro's arm gaining his attention; "What is it?"
"Someone is sitting alone, I don't think they're in a party," says Kirika concerning covering his face like her own skin.
"Leave him alone, someone will pick them up," starts Yashiro glancing at the groups; "He would only slow us down."
"It's a girl."
Suddenly, Yashiro disappeared from Kirika's sight, she looks around for him puzzled until finding him next to the girl who was alone.
"Hey, if you're not in a party, you could join u-" states Yashiro before Kirika slams her foot into the back of his head making him tumble down the stairs and crash into another group of players who quickly react poorly to his interruption.
Kirika sits next to the hooded girl with a smile; "Sorry for my brother, if he was too pushy."
"He only started speaking," says the hooded girl in response.
"Huh, maybe I shouldn't have kicked him. Anyway, that's not important, you seem alone and this boss can't be handle by a single person, my brother maybe air-head to everything but when it comes to games, he a genius born and breed. So if you join us, you'll never be in danger."
"Hm, he doesn't look strong. What does he use?"
"Single-handed sword."
"Shield"
"Nope."
"Isn't that a sure way of getting killed," says the hooded girl getting up and ready to leave.
"Don't worry he knows how to fight, me and him both use a single-handed sword away."
Suddenly, a spiky-haired ginger bursts onto the scene in front of everyone; "Just a second! My name's Kibaou."
The hooded girl stopped herself from leaving to watch the scene play out, "I wanna say something before we take on the boss," says Kibaou "Some of you here need to apologize to the two thousand who have died so far!"
"Kibaou, are you referring to the beta testers?" asks Diavel before Kibaou explodes.
"Of course I am!" shouts Kibaou: On the day this stupid game started, the beta guys ditched us beginners, and they all disappeared. They took all the good hunting spots and easy quests for themselves, so only they could get stronger. And then, they just ignored the rest of us."
"That idiot," hisses Kirika gaining the hooded girl's attention; "He had to go piss my brother off."
"And then, they just ignored the rest of u-" says Kibaou until Yashiro walks up to him and grabs him by the shirt; "Got a problem?"
"Yeah, I do," responds Yashiro glaring at Kibaou.
Kibaou stares back at Yashiro like staring down the barrel of a gun, Yashiro pushes him back which to he trips and falls; "My name is Yashiro Kirigaya and I am a beta tester."
Suddenly, the crowd gasped with Kibaou glaring back at him; "So you look throwing me around will prove your innocence to all of their deaths."
"Don't kind yourself," says Yashiro gaining everyone's attention; "They all dead 'cause they made a mistake or even overestimating their self thinking they can easily beat their opponents. It's a tough truth but the truth. I and the other beta tester didn't go out our way to murder the others."
"But you're responsible! By taking all the resources and easy exp," says Kibaou getting into Yashiro's face.
"So your solution is to strip them down to nothing. That is a death sentence and then you'd be responsible for ending those lives. It creates an endless cycle of death, now tell me wants the point in that? We're here to beat the game right? Well in this one, you die if you're not strong enough no point in complaining so stuck it up," says Yashiro pushing Kibaou back before turning to Diavel; "I'll be there, I'd rather try and kill the boss then wait for death."
Diavel nods, Yashiro turns to leave, Kirika sighs; "Well, if you want to join you better hurry," Kirika joins her brother leaving the hooded figure to watch them go to contemplate before ultimately rushing off to join them.
The three walks down the town's street, by nightfall the three fully prepared for the boss raid and they finally decide it's time to eat, the three find a restaurant and hotel deep into the town, Yashiro sat next to Kirika across from the hooded girl how turns out to be called Asuna.
The two girls eagerly chatted while Yashiro patiently drank his sixth cup of green tea which didn't go unnoticed by his sister; "Listen bro, if you don't stop drinking all the green tea we'll go bankrupt.
Yashiro took a second to stare at her before turning to the waitress to order another cup of green tea, much to his sister's annoyance.
The group begin to slowly eat away at their meals with Yashiro enjoying his meal even though it's not real; "Jeez this is good, for a load of data."
"I can agree to that," says Kirika happily chomping at her own meal.
"What do you think of all this?" says Asuna taking a glance from under her hood.
"The food is some of the best so far," says Kirika with a smile looking over her meal.
"No, I mean this game," says Asuna which makes everyone go silent with Yashiro staring at Asuna, interested in her opinion; "I feel like if I do nothing I'd become someone, not myself."
"Then do something," says Yashiro as if it was the easiest thing to do; "Then keep fighting, fight until there is nothing to fight for and then fight some more. Fight through this trapped hell hole but one thing you should know."
Asuna looked intensely at Yashiro; "You can't expect to go through hell and remain the same person."
The room went quiet, Yashiro finishes his green tea before heading off to bed leaving the others to sit there. In the morning Yashiro slowly worked through this inventory attaching everything he can to a hotkey he can quickly use health potions and stat boosts he worked through his equipment to see which worked best with his sword. Then there was a knock on the door.
"You ready in there?" asks Kirika muffled on the other side of the door.
"Let's go kill us a boss," says Yashiro with a large smirk forming in his face as he slips his sword into his sheath.
End of Chapter one
Written by Sparkey & Kagami red eyes black dragon