Chapter 1: link start
The main ship is kirito x rain, if you don't know rain is a character from the sao video games. I know this is peculiar, but I like doing unheard ships. I'm not best at writing, but I hope with every chapter I get a little better, but for now don't expect much. apparently rain was called the "Grey-haired flash" in sao & was apart of the knight of the blood oath. I'm just saying her hair doesn't look grey, but every time I mention her hair color I'm going to call it grey. Anyways I hope you enjoy.
Kazuto Kirigaya or Kirito to some, was currently siting at his desk reading a video game magazine. Or more or less just glancing at it, to pass the time. During this he was listening to a live stream for a variety of things, the main of it being sword art online.
A minute had passed as he heard his younger sister say something. "I'm going to practice! See you later, ok?" She said. Kazuto didn't respond he continued to glance over the magazine. Suddenly he paused feeling a slight stinging feeling in his thumb.
He looked at his right thumb, to see some blood trickling from it. Mostly likely caused by the magazine, he stared at the paper cut for a second then reverted his attention back to the magazine.
"Sword art online or sao is the most enticpated game of the year! The people who got it first said they had to wait 3 days for it! But that's what a gamers gotta do!" The overly excited women of the live stream stated. "But in other news, a new idol takes the stage! Nijika Karatachi is set to debut piece next month! Hope you fans are ready!"
"If this is her debut piece then how... I guess there just dazzled by looks, and some promos of her voice, wonder what she looks like" Kazuto said to himself. The wonder must've not been that important as he continues to glance through the magazine.
Kazuto looks out the window and then shows a small smile. "Let's get started" he says as he grabs the nerve gear from his nightstand and equips it. He lays down on the bed and closes his eyes. "Link start!" He says as his body fades in unconsciousness.
Kirito opens his eyes to see the work he had logged into. "Sword art online... I'm back, world" he states with a small smile. He quickly begins to run around the town of beginnings. Until he was stopped by a red haired man.
"Look man, I don't got money on me, the game just beg-" Kirito was cut. "I'm not a hobo!" The red haired man said. "Yeah, yeah, ok... what's with the hippie hair cut?" He asked.
"Uh, oh come on! That's the point! I want to ask a favor" he said. "I don't know you" Kirito said blankly as he began to walk away. "Oh come! Please, you see to know your way around this game, you were a beta tester, right? Just teach me the ropes, so I can get the hang of it" the red haired man pestered on as he tried to keep up with kirito's walking.
"Sigh fine" Kirito said somewhat agitated. "Really? Thanks, the names Klein" he said as he got infront of Kirito while offering a handshake. "Kirito" Kirito said as he shook Klein's hand.
6 hours later...
"Klein, you gotta time your attack better" Kirito stated as he watched Klein battle a boar. He had fought a few, all with challenges, Kirito sighed as they were weak as slimes in other games. "I'm trying, but I'm only level one! I'm not ready for a mid-level boss!" Klein argued.
"Seriously? It's as weak as a slime..." Kirito paused for a second. He felt as he was being watched, he looked around nonchalantly so he wouldn't attract attention.
"It's probably nothing" he mumbled. "Hey! Why did you pause?" Klein asked worriedly. "Sorry, I lost my thought... just keep going" Kirito said still suspicious, but passed it off as excitement.
10 minutes had passed from the occurrence. "Damn I'm beat..." Klein said exhaustedly. "6 hours and only... 5 boats defeated, good job" Kirito said sarcastically. "Oh screw you! It's not my fault I can't beat mid-level boss-" Klein was cut-off. "Klein your in denial... it's only as strong as a slime" Kirito said blankly.
"Here's a trick, if you do your initial motion right, and time your sword skill at the right moment, the system practically guarantees you'll always hit your target" Kirito says as throws a rock a boar. Klein had a confused look on his face, causing Kirito to sigh.
"Don't think about to much, maybe rely on instincts" Kirito paused for a second. "Is this your first time using nerve gear?" Kirito asked. "Uh huh, as soon as I had the money I rushed out to get all the hardware to play sao, even stood in line for hours to get one of the 10,000 hard copies" Klein stated.
"I guess you could say I was pretty lucky, although you sir are 10x more lucky! Getting to beta test, must've been awesome" He said to Kirito with a smile. "I guess, but I only made it floor 8 in two months... but now, I think I can make that in 1 month" Kirito stated with a smile.
"Anyways want to go hunting?" Kirito asked. "You know it! But..." Klein paused as his stomach growled. "I'm really hungry, I gotta log out" Klein states as he clenched his stomach. "To bad the food you eat here only satisfy virtually hunger" Kirito sighed.
"Well, good thing I ordered a pizza for 5:30!" Klein states with pride. "Wow, your so prepared" Kirito said with slight sarcasm. "You know it! And besides the game can wait till I get my grub on" Klein says with a smile.
The two look at eachother for a second, Kirito was a little disappointed. "Yeah... I guess" Kirito says as he looks down. "Hey, I was going to meet up with some people I know from another game..." Kirito stops him. "Yeah, sorry... thanks anyway" Kirito looks down.
"No way, I should be doing the thanking, I promise you one day I'll make it!" Klein states. "Eh, you don't need to but I appreciate the statement" Kirito states. Klein stuck his hand out once more for a handshake, "if need anything don't feel afraid to message me" Kirito said as he shook his hand.
Kirito walked away as Klein swiped his hand to get the menu bar. "Hey Kirito! Where's the log out button?" Klein asked. "I don't know, maybe you have to fight a "mid-level" boss to get it" Kirito said sarcastically.
"Yeah, yeah mr. funny guy, but I'm serious" Klein stated. Kirito looked him in the eyes and knew it wasn't a joke. The black haired teen then pulled out the menu bar himself to see it wasn't there. "That's weird, but your right it's there... it's blank" Kirito states
"I mean it's a new game, there has to be bugs, the server people are probably freaking out" Klein said with a awkward smile. "You will too, it's 5:25" Kirito states. "What! Oh come on, there's has to be another way out!" Klein tells desperately.
He then yells and makes obscured movements in hopes to escape. "It's no use, the only way out is through the log out button, no emergency exits... nothing" Kirito states. "Why not contact the game master?" Kirito asks. "I'm trying but he isn't answering" Klein states still sounding desperate to leave for his pizza.
"Well I'll just pull this thing off my head" Klein says as tries to pull something off his head, as if he were a mime. "Your completely unconscious once your hooked in, you'll have to wait for someone irl to take it off" Kirito states.
The two go quiet for a second all could be heard was the sound. "So we have to wait for A. The server people to come around and fix the bug or B. Wait for someone to come and take it off... I live alone, you?" Klein asked.
"I have a mother & a sis-" Kirito was cut-off as Klein put both his hands on kirito's shoulders. "Wait! Y-you have a sister? How old is she! What's she like?!" Klein asked loudly.
"Uh, she's into sports and hates games, she's totally not your type, she wouldn't date a gamer if they were-" slightly angering Kirito, Klein interrupted again. "Who car-" this time Klein was interrupted as Kirito kneed him in to balls
The sudden hit forced Klein on his butt as he held his body in pain. "Ow, that really... oh wait getting knees in the balls don't hurt"Klein realized.
"Get serious, if we or anyone else can't log out this could cause serious problems for the game" Kirito states seriously. "Yeah, I guess your right" Klein responds.
"I wonder if the developers even knows what's happening, if they did they could just shut down the servers and log everyone out" Kirito states calmly. "But they haven't even made an announcement"
"Jeez, I don't get how you can be so-" once more Klein was interrupted. But this time it was by the sound of a bell ringing. The two of them looked into the direction the noise was coming from. As Kirito was about to say something, the two were suddenly transported.
Kirito's POV
My eyes suddenly opened, was I just teleported? I asked myself. I looked around, I was in a familiar place, "the grand plaza of the first floor". I then saw multiply other people get teleported in.
Most if not all gasped in shock, I looked at Klein for a second then paid my attention back to my surroundings. "This is werid, someone forced a teleport" I muttered, soon everyone was talking amongst each other. Clearly in shock and were confused, I didn't blame them.
"Look up there" a random said, I turned my head up to see a red hexagonal shape blinking with the words "warning" in the center of it. Soon enough the hexagonal shape multiples to create a dome shape around the plaza.
The original hexagon now displayed a new word "system announcement". Then a red liquid like substance come out of the lines of the hexagonal shapes. They all came together, it seems like electricity discharged from it.
"What the hell!" Klein stated in confusion. As the liquid-like substance came together it began to take shape of... a man! The man was dressed in a large red robe with gold accents. His face was covered by shadows, so I couldn't tell who it was.
I heard people display there own ideas and thoughts to one another, like "Is this the game master?" "Why doesn't he have a face?" "Is this an event?" "But most prevalent thought was "I'm scared".
"Attention players, I welcome you... to my world" the supposed game master stated. "What's he mean by that?" I asked myself. "My name is akihiko kayaba and as of this moment I am in control... I am in control of this world" I begin to flashbacks of pictures and articles I read about akihiko.
"I'm sure most of you have noticed an item missing from your main menus... the log out button" akihiko then did the hand motion to bring out menu bar himself. "Let me assure you this is not a defect in the game, I repeat this is not a defect" akihiko says with his calm voice.
I grit my teeth worriedly, "if it's not defect then why? Why isn't it there" I thought to myself.
"This is how sword art online was designed to be... you cannot log yourself out of sao & no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the nerve gear from your head... if anyone attempts to do so a transmitter inside the nerve gear will discharge a microwave signal in your skull... killing you" he said.
My mind quickly goes there many scenarios and question. "Why... this is on purpose?" I say out loud, but it was a quiet whisper to everyone voices. "Are you listing to this crap? This is complete bullshit, right Kirito?" Klein states with confidence.
I didn't want to destroy his confidence but I knew very well, kayaba was telling the truth. "I'm sorry Klein, but he's not, the transmitter signal works just like a microwave... and if the safety's disabled it can fry your brain" I state begrudgingly. Klein tries to say something, but I butt in knowing what he'll say.
"It won't matter if the powers cut, the gear as an internal battery" I state, Klein looks at me with shock that then turns into a anger as he grits his teeth.
"This is crazy! Totally crazy!" Klein yells in denial. I don't blame Klein for not believing this, but unfortunately everything I said was true.
"Despite my warning, the families & friends of some of the players have attempted to remove the nerve gear... an unfortunate describes to say the least, as a result the game has 213 less players then when it began. They've been deleted from both aincrad & the real world"
I wondered how kayaba could say this so calmly, as if he had no regret... "213?" I state in a shocked state. "No way! I don't believe this!" I heard Klein state frustratedly.
A few things popped out of nowhere around akihiko, similar to random pop-up ads. "As you can see, hundreds of international media outlets have around the clock coverage of everything, including the deaths... it's safe to assume the taking off of nerve gear will be minimal" I heard kayaba state in is horrifyingly calm voice.
"I do hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game.. it's important you remember the following; there is no longer anyway to revive someone inside the game, if your hp drops to zero your avatar will be deleted from the system.., forever and the nerve gear with simultaneously destroy your brain... killing you"
The thought of a simply boar attacking me and getting my hop to zero crossed my mind. The millions of shards blue shards my body would turn into as I... died, the shards would fall to the ground quickly disappearing.
I clenched my fist, as akihiko finished "there's only one way for a play to escape the game now... you must clear the game" he paused a blue holographic version of aincrad appeared infron of him.
"Currently you are on the lowest level of aincrad, when you beat the boss you will advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor 100 and you will clear the game" I heard the many complaints of the players of this crux of sorts.
"One last thing, I have left a gift in every storage of every player, please have a look" quickly enough I get the menu and go to my storage. To see "a mirror" I say in slight confusion.
A mirror was wasn't the strangest thing to happen today, but it was extremely odd. I press on the button that allows me to equip, causing a mirror to materialize in my hand.
"Uh, ohhh!" I quickly follow the voice to see Klein being enveloped in light, followed by the light enveloping everyone and then to me. I gasp in shock as it envelops me, what was happening I asked myself.
Soon enough the entire plaza was enveloped in this light. I here steps coming towards me "you ok Kirito?" I here Klein asked. As I turned around to see Klein? But he was different his hair was much shorter and his face was shaped a little differently.
I questioned myself if that was actually the real Klein. "Yeah, wait, who are you?" I asked "Klein". "Im me, but who are you?" He asked in return.
I grasp the mirrior in both my hands, to see something that truly shocked me. It wasn't my avatars face I saw in the reflection, but my real face.
I hear the crowd asking the same question... "who are you?". I then looked at Klein and we simultaneously asked the same question. "Is the you, Kirito/Klein".
"But how?" He asked in confusion, I then exclaimed to him the high density signal device, and how it could see your entire face. "but how does it know, my height and body type" I asked to myself and Klein.
"When you first put it on, it asked you this calibration thing, it asked to touch your body all over like this" he says this as demonstrates the motion. "That does make sense" I muttered under my breath.
"Uh, wow would anyone do this to us?" He asked, I then pointed to kayaba, "I'm pretty sure, he going to answer your question, Klein" I responded.
"Now I expect some of not most of you to be asking, "why?" Why would Akihiko Kayaba , developer of sword art online and nerve gear do this?... ultimately my goal was a simple one; the reason I created sword art online was to the fate of a world of my design"
"Kayaba" I say with a somewhat wicked tone filled with anger.
"As you can see, I have achieved my goal... this marks the end of the tutorial & the official launch of sword art online, players I wish you the best of luck" those were the finally words I heard as his "avatar" I guess you would put it. Began to glitch out & then completely disappear, as if it never existed.
I clenched my fist, I wish that were true, I wish it was just a glitch, I wish I was just having a bad dream. But this wasn't a dream... this was real. The crowd was in silence, who would blame them? I certainly didn't.
My bangs had covered my eyes as I was looking down to the floor. I looked down to my hand, blood had dropped from my paper cut. But that was just an illusion created by my hand... of all things, this wasn't a game, this was real, life or death.
Akihiro Kayaba created this world; sword art online. He created the nerve gear rig and for what? Was his sole goal just this? To lock 10,000 more or less in a cage that was disguised as a prison?
I'll admit I've been a fan of him for a long time, I mean he was a and still is a genius. So I know everything he just said was the absolute horrendous truth. I clenched my fist and grit my teeth once more.
"If I die in the game... I'll day in real life" I thought. Suddenly heard the sound of a mirror break, and the yell of a feminine voice yell. Chaos automatically ensued, but even in the chaos I heard the most peculiar words diverted the crowds attention.
"Wait, isn't that * *!?!" I was unable to hear the random say the finally part of there sentence. As the crowd instantly started yelling "excitedly" about the thing the random pointed out. But from what I could here, it sounded as if they were pointing out a person?
"That's weird the mood shift so fast, just because of a person? It's like if there was a famous idol here or something" I said to myself. "You have any idea, what there freaking out about Klein?" I asked.
"What the fuck! No way!" Klein than ran to where the crowd was mainly focused at , seemingly to get a better view of the person. "Sigh Well that was rude" I stated, I was going to pull Klein away from the crowd and talk to him. But that seemed to be off the table now, thanks to some famous person or whatever.
"I wonder who would attract that big of a crowd... that doesn't matter, atleast now anyways" I looked around to see practically everyone making a huge crowds around something or rather someone. I couldn't be bothered to stay around and see this person like everyone else.
"Well thanks to that person, I should have time to gather resources" I thought as I ran off to the desolate city around the plaza. I reached my location in a matter of minutes, an alley that lead to the outside the safe zone. I did the hand motion to show the menu bar and gone onto my map.
"If I take this route, I should reach the next village in-" I suddenly stopped as I felt the feeling I was being watched. I slowly looked behind, I played it off as stress and my imagination. But in my mind I knew someone was there, it was similar to feeling of being watched when I was training Klein. Actually it was the same exact feeling.
I walked out of the alley to see fields, and a sky almost at nightfall. I began to run through the feel adamant to reach the next village. As I ran through the trail, a saw fire wolf running at me.
Multiple memories flooded my head, of my sister, mother, house, just real life in general. "I got this, I can do this! This world can't beat me!" I yelled, as I charged a sword and stabbed the wolf, killing it. I stopped running and looked back, "I will escape" I stated, as I then began to run once more to the village.
1 months later...
In the span of a month since the death game began. 2,000 had already died, and we haven't even beat or found the first floor boss. I used to be a beta tester, but even I haven't found.
I sat inside an amphitheater, multiple other people sat on different seats. Just waiting for the guy who started the meeting to show up. I noticed most if not all the players sat near the right side of the amphitheater. While I sat near the left side. Though they were still spaced out from one another.
"This is awkward, I'm like the only one sitting here, is it because of me?" I mumbled, I disregarded the question as I noticed a blue haired man step up to the stage of the amphitheater. I presumed that he was the one who called this meeting.
The man had clapped his hands before talking, "ok people! Now that's everyone here, let's get this meeting started... so anyway I want to thank everyone for coming, good to see you" the blue haired man said.
"My name is diabel, and in this game the job I role is knight" the remark caused many people to snicker. As there was no job system in the game.
Though diabel stopped the chatter, and talked in a serious tone. "Do you guys want to hear it or not? Right, so here's the deal, our party found the boss room at the top of the tower today" diabel statement caused the group to gasped.
Diabel continued, "first we need to defeat the boss & make it to floor two, the next step is; we need to tell everyone in the town of beginnings that is is possible to beat this game, fact is it's are duty as the most capable players here! Do you agree, or not?" The crowd began to talk amongst them.
The entire group began to clap and some even whistled in excitement. As I put my elbow on my leg and hand on my chin. I have to admit, I got a little excited myself, this guy was truly inspiring.
"K, I'm glad your all with me on this, now let's figure out how to beat the boss. First off, we'll break up into parties of 6" my calm exterior broke, as I gasped. I was a solo player after all, I never really talked to anyone & I knew no one here. As I looked around I saw everyone congregating around a single person.
A grayish haired girl with brown eyes, and seemed to be around my age.
"it's just like the thing that happened at the plaza... sigh at this rate, I won't even find a single party member" I stated. I looked at the girl once more, she seemed to look back at me for a split second. Though I couldn't tell if she had actually looked back.
I sighed once more as I now left the amphitheater, "It's not like they need me, might as well leave a level up more" I said. Even if I wanted to go back, parties must've been made by now.
"Still though, why was everyone around that girl... she's pretty, but that can't be the only reason... can it?" I asked myself out loud. I only got a few more steps before I felt it once more.
The feeling of being watched, similar to the occurrence on the first day. I played as paranoia, caused off by the death game starting. But right now, right here... I knew I was being stalked. I stopped walking, to think about my next course of action.
I hadn't really felt like I was being watched after the first day. I guessed either they weren't there to begin with or they had just gave up. But there was a final theory, caused mainly by the paranoia... they had just increased there hiding skill, so I couldn't detect them,
But just in case the third theory was correct, I had my detection skill level upped. With the newly level upped skill I could detect where my stalker was. "There behind a tree next to a bush on my right" I thought.
"Hey, you behind the tree, I know your there... so just come out" I stated. Slowly the same girl I witnessed get crowded by players came out behind the trees and on to the walkway I was standing on, only a couple inches away from me. Are eyes met, I could much clearly see her features.
She was extremely pretty, she was just a tad shorter than me. But it was clear we were around the same age. Her grayish hair reached to her hips, she had bangs that were neatly cut just above her brown eyes.
The girl was dressed in the female beginner outfit with a sword at her belt, this made feel a bit calm. As most people had already got better gear, so if she was threat I could probably take her down.
I stared at her with a stern expression, clearly looking the answer to her question. "Haha... Kirito, don't look at me like that, your too handsome to have that expression" the girls remark caused me to blush a quite a bit. Her voice was soft, gentle and sweet.
"Why she acting so friendly with me? Like we've known each other for a while?" I asked myself. But I guess technically she had known me for a while, but it wasn't the same vice versa. "Just answer the question" I demanded with my blushed face.
"Kirito, don't freak out, yeah? Turn that frown upside down!" She stated with a beautiful smile. Making me blush even more, "j-just answer the question!" I stated franticly, covering my face with my hands to hide the blush.
"I guess I owe you that much Kirito... to tell the truth this my first using nerve gear, and I don't have many friends. So I was kinda hoping to find some strong players and that maybe I could get to know them. So when I saw you in the town of beginnings and how well you seemed to know to game, I got excited so I decided to follow you, I'm sorry" she answered.
"There are plenty of parties in town, why not join them? And it seems for whatever reason, everyone wants to party with you" I stated, uncovering my face though I could feel I still had a tint of red on me.
"Town, huh? Not going to happen, I mean I spent awhile tailing you, it would kinda be all for not, right?" She said. "Yeah I guess you right..." I thought about it for a second. I did want to contribute to beating the first floor, and I do need a teammate... she doesn't seems like a bad person.
I opened the menu you bar and sent her a party request. "...really?" She asked with a shocked expression in her face.
"You apologized, and you seem nice enough. Besides I don't have any real reason to say no, do I?" I said calmly. As soon as I said this the girl pressed the button to accept the invite.
"Thank you, Kirito!" she exclaimed. "You haven't told me your name yet. We can't party until I know what to call you." I stated.
"I'm rain" rain said calmly, "rain, got it. Looking forward to playing with you! But first let's get back to the meeting" I said, rain nodding in agreement as she took my hand and ushered me toward the amphitheater.
My blush had gone away but from this straightforward action, I felt it cover my face once more. Once we had sat down right next to each other, I felt multiple people stare daggers at me from the other side.
Luckily for us parties had just been formed when we had gotten back, so we didn't miss anything. "Good thing we came back when we did" I stated quietly. "Yep!" Rain simply responded.
"It's seems like everyone's done forming there parties, now th-" Diabel was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice. "Hold up a sec!" I looked to where I believed the voice originated, to see a orange spiky haired man, who seemed mad.
The man then jumped down the amphitheater seats until he stood aside diabel on the stage. "My names kibaou, got that? Before we fight the boss, I need to get something off my chest" kibaou stated with angered voice.
I quietly gasped in confusion, not understanding why he would interrupt a meeting just to get "something off his chest". "We all know about the 2,000 people who died! Well some of you need to apologize!" Kibaou continued.
The people attending gasped in confusion not understanding what he meant. Unfortunately, I had a pretty good idea of who these "some" were.
"I guessing your referring to the beta-testers?" Diabel stated.
"Hell yeah, I'm talking about those jerks! They left us beginners, while they snagged all the resources and good hunting spots! Plus the easy quests! They were the only ones getting stronger in here, this entire time they've ignored us as if we were trash! Hrgh, I bet there's some right here! Come on out beta-testers! We should make them give up all there loot and apologize! They can't expect the party to trust them, when they don't trust us! Why should we?!" Kibaou demanded.
I began to shake a bit as I looked down and close my eyes. He wasn't wrong, i mean that's basically what I did, I just ran to the next village to get resources. Not even bothering to help the beginners.
Rain seemed to notice my distraught as she placed her hand on my thigh. "You ok? Kirito" she asked, I slowly opened my eyes and looked at her for a bit. "Yeah I'm fine..." I lied.
I wondered why she was so nice to me, I mean sure she probably got a good idea of my personality after stalking me for a month. But who knows, maybe she was just a nice person in general.
"Can I say something" the voice was a heavily deep and manly one. I looked to the origin of the voice to see a large black man stand up from his seat. He slowly walked over to kibaou, definitely making an impression as he was towering over him.
This causing kibaou to step back a bit, "hey, my names agil, Kibaou right? I wanna make sure we're on the same page... your saying the ex-beta testers are the ones to blame for the rookies death, so they should give up they winnings and apologize, am I missing anything?" Agil asked.
"No, you didn't" kibaou keeper trying to sound tough, but the fact he was sweating bullets gave it away. Agil then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small brown book. I recognized the book, it was comprised of all sorts of tips and tricks to help out beginners.
"The item store hands these out for free, it's a guide book. You got one, didn't you?" Agil asked. "Sure I did, so what about" kibaou remarked.
"You know who was handing these out? The ex-beta testers" Agil stated calmly. The statement caused the people in the stands to gasp, I guess when your handed something for free you don't really ask the person that's giving to you, who they are.
"Listen up! Everyone had equal access to this, even with that people still died... I didn't come here to point fingers out, I came here because I wanted to learn from the players deaths. I'm here because I wanna find out, how we're gonna beat the boss" Agil stated.
Agil turned around back to face kibaou, probably knowing he wouldn't get anywhere kiabaou just went to the stands and sat down. Agil followed actually sitting right next to him.
"Okay, can we get back to the meeting now?" Diabel asked, with no arguments he continued on. "For info on the boss... it's all in this guide book you just heard about" the crowd once more gasped in shock.
"Geez, do these people even read?" I asked myself. "According to the book, the bosses name is; illfang the kobold lord. Surrounded by him will be his army; The ruin kobold sentinels. Illfang carries an axe and a buckler, he's got four health bars, and when the last one turns red, he switches to a curved sword-type weapon known as a talwar." Diabel read from the book.
The people talked amongst themselves, "that's it for the briefing... as for the distribution of the items; money will be divided equally amongst everyone, the party that beats the boss gets the EXP & if you get an item, you keep that item, any objections?" He asked.
The crowd talked amongst eachother, but there were no objections to the division of loot. Diabel then dismissed all of us, telling us we would regroup in 10 in the morning. Some got up, while others decided to stay and talk to there party.
I got up myself as I felt rain pull my sleeve. "Let's go somewhere to eat" rain suggested, I nodded in agreement.
Hours later...
It was now dark out, me and rain had sat down on a bench. Rain was eating a piece of bread, as was I. "These are pretty good" I stated, "you, really think they taste good?" She asked, purhaps not being that big of a fan of them.
The place we were in was secluded, as when we tried to eat with the others. I felt death glares by many of them, "Yeah, I probably eat one every day... and there pretty cheap so, it's not that big of a hassle" I stated.
"Though, I do have a trick to make them taste better" I pulled out a jar from my inventory and put it between us. Rain preceded to tap the jar with her pointer finger, making it grow in the process. She looked at it for a second then smeared the light on her bread.
In a second cream appears onto the bread, she stared at it for second. Probably considering whether or not she should eat it. Rain took a small bite out of the bread, a second later the bread had vanished into thin air.
"I got from the; heifer strikes back, thats the quest in the village before you get to this one, wanna know how I did it, or were you stalking me there to?" I asked. "Hehe... of course not, what makes you say that? I stopped after a week"
I didn't believe this statement, for one she was just awkward expression with her eyes wide open and a weird smile. Another, she avoided eye contact and sweated a bit.
"I was kidding, but based off your face expression, I'd say your lying" I stated blankly.
"Hehehe... your powers of deduction are really quite impressive, Kirito-kun... yeah I saw you do it, but after this I have nothing to hide... hehe" Rain stated, of course I didn't believe it, but I decided not pressure on.
"So I'm guessing you didn't stalk me everyday, right rain?" I asked calmly. "Of course not Kirito-kun, I had to get equipment and level" rain stated. I then heard the sound of a stomach growl, I looked to my left where it seem to originate.
It came from rain who looked away, seemingly embarrassed. I don't blame her, one piece of bread wouldn't satisfy anyone. I reached out my hand and offered her the piece of bread. "You should savor it more this time" I said.
"Really?" She asked, I nodded signifying a yes to the grey haired girl. "Thank you, Kirito-kun" rain said as she gently took it from my hand. I stared at her, she did the same thing as before with the last piece of bread, but had taken my advice and ate slower.
I had a nice time talking to her for the rest of the night, I think she did as well. Though I forgot to ask... why did everyone want to party with? I mean, they were sending me death glares for it! I guess I can be pretty arrogant sometimes, but I didn't even know them, more or less talk to them!
The next day around 10 in the morning...
3rd person POV
The group of people were walking in the woods, heading towards the boss room. Kirito and rain walked at the very back, they were talking to each other.
"Let's go over it, one more time... we're the back, so are target is gonna be the targets minions; the ruin kobolt sentinels" Kirito stated as they continued walking. "Yeah I got it" rain replied.
"I'll use a sword skill to knock there weapons up and out of the way, when I do switch & jump in" Kirito said, "You know what a switch is, right rain?" He had asked in succession.
"Mm hmm, I heard you tell Klein about, it's when the first player backs off from the target and the second player switches in to do an attack" rain answered. "Yeah that's correct" Kirito said as he noticed they were getting behind.
Outside the boss room
The stairs were a hassle, but the group had made it to the top the tower. Just right outside the boss room, Diabel had plunged his sword into the ground right in-front of the stairs. Seemingly preparing to make a speech of sorts.
"Listen up, everyone. I only got one thing to say to you; let's win!" Diabel said with a smile on his face. He then turned around to face the door, and slowly pushed the door open.
The room was completely covered in shadows, there was nothing in sight. The group carefully made there was deeper into the room with Diabel still leading them.
They hade made it a quarter into the room , when suddenly the lights came on. The first thing they saw wasn't a pleasant one, illfang had jumped into the air and landed in the ground and let out a powerful roar as his name registered.
Three of his minions appeared by his side with there weapons. They then charged straight at the group, "commence, attack!" Diabel yelled as he pointed his sword at there enemy. His troops going in for the attack as soon as he heard the command.
Soon enough, multiple more minions appeared preoccupying some of the parties. "Squad A & Z switch in!" Diabel commanded.
The sounds of metal clashing filled the room, but the parties were still able to hear it and do as they were told. Illfang prepared a attack, but Diabel command squad B to block. Causing to attack to be null.
"squad C keep guarding me prepare to switch, everyone else when you fall back regroup and flank them! Squads D, E, and F keeps those minions off us" Diabel yelled.
"Yeah, you got it!" Kirito replied as he went in to attack an minion, disarming them in the process. "Switch!" Kirito said to rain as he backed up. "Ok, Kirito-kun!" Rai. Replied. Rain pulled out her long sword from her belt and slashed the enemy in half.
"Maybe by stalking me, she learned a couple things" Kirito thought. As he was in impressed by rains moves, "good job" he muttered. A minion jumped out of nowhere and attacked Kirito, but before it could make constant Kirito knocked it back and chased after it.
Illfang roared as his health bar dropped to red, signifying he was about to change weapons. The boss growled a bit, before throwing its weapons in the air as they gutted the ground kibaou commented on this.
"Looks like the guide book was right" he muttered. "Stand back, I got it!" Diabel stated as he ran towards illfang. The players that heard it was slightly shocked at the remark.
"I thought the plan was for everyone in the group to surround it..." Kirito thought as he starred at Diabel. Diabel started back at Kirito with a smile, shocking the black haired teen.
Diabel went to front lines and charged up a sword skill, most likely planning to beat it in one strike. Illfang in return reached in his back and pulled and pulled out a sword. The blade itself shocked Kirito as he recognized the blade, and it wasn't a talwar.
"That's not a talwar! It's an ōdachi! This isn't like the beta-test!" Kirito thought frantically, he knew he had to warn Diabel. "Wait, stop! it's no good! Get out of there!" Kirito yelled, but it was too late, Diabel was already rushing in.
Illfang jumped from puller to puller, surprising agile for something so "round". As Diabel tried to read the movements, he was to late illfang came swooping in and slash Diabel's chest dealing, but that was only the beginning.
Diabel was pushed back as illfang kept slashing and slashing as propelling Diabel even further. "Diabel!" Kibaou yelled. Illfang jumped infront of the group with the most people. The landing also cause people, to fall on there asses. The boss then began to growl ferociously, causing some to run.
"Diabel!" Kirito said as he ran towards the man, he quickly pulled out a health potion in an attempt to heal him. Kirito held Diabel by his neck, "what the hell were you thinking?" Kirito asked as he tried to hand the health potion to Diabel. Keep word "tried" Diabel pushed Kirito hand away.
The action confused Kirito, if Diabel didn't drink it he would die... so why was he denying it!? "You k-know, you were a beta-tester too, weren't you?" Diabel asked. Kirito gained an even more shocked expression. "You were after the last attack bonus, the rare item... your just like me, a beta-tester" Kirito stated, quietly.
The statement caused Diabel to smile, it was a weak smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Please, you have to lead them... you have to defeat the boss... for everyone..." Diabel pleaded weakly, as a second later his body shattered in hundreds of shards.
Kirito's eyes were wide open, a man just died in his arms. "Even when I knew how high the stakes were, for everyone, not just me... I only thought about how I was going to survive... but you, Diabel? You were different... no you were the exact opposite, you cared about everyone and wanted us to beat this game, you did something I could never dream of doing..." Kirito thought to himself.
Kirito slowly got up, thinking of his next action. "Screw, it" he mumbled as he began to charge at illfang. "Huh?! Kirito, wait!" Rain yelled from across the room. But it was too late, Kirito was already only a few feet away from illfang. If he had backed-off now, it would have been too risky.
Illfang could get the jump on Kirito if he did so. So Kirito pushed on, illfang's blade illuminated, signaling to Kirito it was prepare a sword skill. But in stead of parrying the strike with his own sword skill, he pushed onward. As Kirito was now only a few feet away, illfang swinged its blade in kirito's vicinity.
"Damn, it! I don't have time to dodge... I'm such a dumbass" Kirito thought as the blade neared him. The black haired teen thought over his options. As the blade was now only about 5 inches from him, he made the only play he could.
Kirito quickly moved his left arm to block the strike. Luckily for him, the blade only got an inch into his arm, but every second Kirito wasted another the blade got a little bit deeper. Kirito adjusted his body, pulling his sword back a bit, with its tip facing the monster.
"Ahh! I'll end this! Sword skill; vorpal strike!" Kirito stated as his one-handed sword illuminated. Illfangs blade got an inch closer as Kirito charged up the skill. "Just one more second!" Kirito thought as the blade was almost through his arm. Kirito began to grit his teeth as he saw his health bar slowly deteriorating, even reaching yellow.
"Arghhh!" Kirito final cry as he thrusted his sword in illfangs torso. It already did a lot of damage, but Kirito was done yet. Instead of pulling his sword out, Kirito did a more damaging way to get his sword back.
"Sword skill; horizontal!" Kirito thought as he slashed right through illfangs body. Illfangs dropped his ōdachi to the floor, setting Kirito arms free. The timing of kirito's attack was perfect, as his arm was only a second away from being cut completely.
Kirito just watched as illfang simpily stood there, lifeless. "Kirit-" rain was interrupted by Kirito, "give it a second" he said plainly. On cue, the top half of illfangs body slid off its bottom. Causing it to just lay there on the floor, with its mouth open, and tongue sticking out. The bosses body began to illuminate, as it then exploded into hundreds of blue shards.
Kirito knelt down exhausted from the boss fight. He looked in front of him to see a notification had popped up, telling him that he got the final attack bonus. "I'm never doing that... nevermind" Kirito said, knowing he'll probably do it again.
"That was super cool, Kirito! But it was unnecessarily reckless, of you" said a familiar female voice from behind. Kirito looked behind him to see rain and Agil walking up to him.
"Hehe... sorry rain" Kirito said with an awkward smile. "That was some mighty find swordsmanship, congrats. This victory belongs to you" Agil stated.
"No..."Kirito stated as he looked down. But those words were drowned out by the cheers of everyone in the group. All congratulation Kirito, for his victory. Kirito just oddly stared at them, as if he didn't know why they were clapping for him.
"Stop cheering!" Kibaou yelled, clearly frustrated about something. But as instructed everyone had stopped cheering, to here what he had to say. "Why? Why did you let, Diabel die!?!" Kibaou demanded, with his finger pointing at Kirito.
"Huh? What are you talking about? Let, die?" Kirito asked back, confused at his accusations. "You knew the technique the boss was going to use, but you kept it to yourself!... if you had just told Diabel, he could've... he wouldn't have needed to died!" Kibaou statement, everyone in the group began to stare and Kirito suspiciously, as they talked amongst themselves.
"I know why he knew! He's use to be a beta tester! Think about, no way he could've known the bosses attack pattern likes that! He knew but he kept it from us!... I bet he's not the only one, come on! Show yourselves!" A yellow random proclaimed.
The proclamation caused the tension in the group to from 0 to 100. As everyone looked at one another trying distinguish a beta-tester, to no avail. "This is bad... if this keeps going, everting will be to ruin" Kirito stared looking at his arm, that was almost torn off him.
He bit his lip, thinking on what he should do. He then stopped, "I guess, there no other option" he stated underneath his breath. "Huh?" Rain asked, confused at kirito's words as she accidentally overheard him.
It's seems Kirito didn't hear her words or he just ignored her. "Hey, calm down" Agil and rain had walked over to kibaou, to talk to him. Though no one could get a word in as an eerie laughter had filled the room.
"Ahahahahahaha!" Everyone looked towards the back on the room where they heard the laugh originate, to see Kirito still on his knee laughing. "Hahahahaha, you you guys think I used to be a beta-tester, right? I wish you wouldn't lump me in with those imbeciles" Kirito had gotten up with his arm fully healed.
"W-what, you-" Kirito interrupted kibaou, "are you as deaf as your hair is dumb? Those idiot didn't even know how to level up! Hell, even you guys are a little better then those fuck-ups..." Kirito walked past the people as he said this.
"But me? You may ask? I'm nothing like them..." Kirito had paused as stood about a feet away from kibaou. "I made it to floors, higher then anyone of the testers, that's a fact... I knew about the boss, because I fought bosses with tons of more sword skills on higher floors" Kiroto stated with a wicked smile, scaring the people in-front of him.
"I know so much more, more than you could possibly imagine... those info brokers, could go broke because of me" Kirito eyes were covered by the shadow of his hair, making him look scarier then he was.
"W-what the hell? If that's true, your worse than a beta-tester! Y-your a cheater! A goddam cheater!" Kibaou stated. The crowds sang another tune from before and began to gang-up on the black-haired teen, cursing & blaming him.
"He's a beta tester and a cheater... h-he's a beater!" The random from before commented. Kirito turned around to face the bigger crowd & rain.
"A beater, huh? Not the most original name, but yeah you can call me a beater" the crowd was in shock as he took up the name that was supposed to be an insult. Kirito then opened his menu, he began to scroll around for a second looking for a specific item.
"Just make sure, you don't confuse me with those microcephalic addle-pate's" Kirito stated as he pressed the button on his menu bar.
A long black trench-coat then suddenly appears on Kirito. The tail of the coat falling to his feet just an inch below his boots, so it didn't touch the ground.
Kirito smiles wickedly before walking towards the exit, passing all the shocked faces of the group. All but one, rain did stalk Kirito for a month. Unlike everyone, she actually knew what he was like. Maybe stalking was a bit much, but she atleast saw how he acted.
Rain tried to go over to Kirito and talk to him. But she as as soon as tried, the people had crowded around her. Obscuring her vision of the teen, she tried to wiggle out of the situation. But the people were adamant on talking with her.
"Your, Nijika Karatachi, Right? I'm such a big fan" a random stated.
"Uh, y-yeah-" Rain was interrupted.
"Oh my god! I knew it, please can I have your autograph?!" Another asked.
"I-I'm sorry, but-" again rain was interrupted.
"You were partying with that beater, right? You don't need him, party with me instead!" A random proclaimed.
"Sorry but I need to go-" and again, they didn't let rain finish.
"I can't believe I'm meeting an idol! Please go out with me!" A random pathetically begged.
"What?! No! She's mine!" A random stated with hatred in his voice.
Rain stoped trying to talking, knowing there'll not let her get a word in. She focused her attention on trying to ditch them, and reconvene with Kirito on the 2nd floor. Though it was to no avail as they were determined to talk with the idol.
"Cmon, just ignore these loser! I have a nice place in the town of beginnings, how about we go there?" A random asked in a rather demanding and forcibly voice.
"Now this is just pathetic" a familiar monotone voice stated. The statement made the crowd go silent, as they all dreaded the voice by now. They all seemed to look back to the exit and see the reason of there dread. Kirito stood there right next to the door, with an unpleasant look on his face.
The sight was horrendous to most, but to rain it was very opposite. "Haha, You losers really can't keep it in your pants" Kirito laughed. The black-haired teen slowly walked down the stairs as he made his way towards the group.
"I left for 2nd floor like 2 minutes ago... and this how you guys act? I thought the beta-testers were pathetic" Kirito proclaimed.
Kirito made his way through the crowd & straight to rain. Kirito thengently took her hand, as he led her to the exits Though as it seems most of the player did not seem to agree with this act, as they stood in the way of the swordsman.
"Listen here, you filthy beater! You can't just waltz bac-"Kirito wouldn't let the random player finish, as he quickly unsheathed his sword and pointed the tip of his blade an inch from the randoms neck.
"No, you listen; Rain is my party member, so I can't really just leave her, can I? So you guys can either get out of the way, or else" Kirito stated with a menacing voice.
Scaring them, they all got out of the swordsman way, silently cursing him in the process. As Kirito walked rain up the stairs to the next floor, she could only smile in delight. Though he might token it a bit far with the whole sword thing, it's the reason why he did it made her happy.
After all he did all that just to help her.
Floor 2 geography was different from the floor prior; it consisted of mostly table-top mountains looming over plains, with caves dotted around.
Kirito looked back at Rain, to see her simply smiling at him with her eyes closed. "Stop looking at me like that!" He pleaded, this only fueled the fire. As she leaned in closer to Kirito with there faces only inches away from each other. The action caused Kirito to blush profusely, and lean back from the girl.
Rain opened her eyes to see the swordsman in his frantic state. "Your so cool, Kirito! Making yourself a martyr, just to protect the beta-testers" Rain stated inching closer Kirito, causing him to blush even harder.
"You saw right through my act, huh?" Kirito asked still with the blush present. "Mm hmm, I did follow you for a month, so I'm pretty sure I would have a good idea of who you are" Rain replied. Kirito regained his composure and stared at the girl, she stared back slightly confused.
"Kirito? Why are you staring at me like that?" She asked. "Oh, sorry... I was just wondering why everyone wanted to party with you" He answered. Rain giggled a bit at he answer, confusing him.
"Haha, I guess you'll never know!" Rain remarked, Kirito sighed in disappointment. As he began to walk away, rain followed in pursuit. "Where you going, Kirito?" Rain asked. "I only came back to help you, so I'm going off on my own now" He stated, as he pulled up his menu and dissolved the party.
"It's not because you didn't answer me... I'm a solo player, and that's it... see you later, rain" Kirito he began to walk away, until he was no longer visible. Rain simply stood there, respecting his decision, did not follow him. She put her hand over chest, with a look of disappointment on her face.
She wanted to follow him.
The end
Authors note: chapters aren't usually gonna be this long & don't expect consistent updates. I just wanted to start off on a high note, well I hoped you enjoyed.