Author's Note: I make no excuses, I've just been reading the Sword Art Online Progressive volumes that I obtained recently and got heavily inspired to write a story about it. Sword Art Online is a complicated subject for me, Yui from the Aincard Arc helped me discover Fate/Extra in a strange twist of fate, which lead me to discover our adorable Hakuno. For a long time, I've received countless requests for an SAO Digital Human story, but besides Aincard and Gun Gale Arcs, I disliked SAO, though Oridinal Scale wasn't half-bad. However, I came upon SAO Progressive two months back, and fell in love with it. It's just so much better storytelling than the original SAO series and what I was really looking for in a concept like Sword Art Online.

Anyhow, enough of the rambling, you're probably curious as to what this story is about?

Simply put, it's quite a different take I must say. Hakuno Kishinami is sent into the world of Sword Art Online during the initial weeks of SAO's launch, but instead of being just another player, she's trapped virtually 'outside'. But, our Digital Human isn't some ordinary character, let's see how she helps the trapped players and changes the course of canon like always!

Many wishes flow through the deep ocean, filled with despair or hope, none should have been answered so intensely. However, a different ocean of a different time sends into a world of swords a single soul forged through the flames of war. Now, what will the Digital Human do to save thousands?


Digital/Progressive

Chapter 1: Game Master

It had been the end, the cruel death-tournament between Masters and their Servants, to kill one another that led to the deletion of their very lives within the virtual sea of the Moon Cell Automaton, had ended with a single victor. From an outside perspective, this may have been a ridiculous statement, to actually die from their supposed avatar in the data world being deleted would have been talked off as lunacy.

But this was the truth and in a manner more horrific in nature.

This conflict was known as the Moon Holy Grail War.

Where nine-hundred and ninety-nine souls, Spirit Hackers, remnants of individuals capable of performing mystical mysteries on a planet now nearly devoid of magical energy, entered into its preliminary round for a lone chance of fulfilling their most desired wish.

For this war took place within the Moon Cell Automaton, an alien observatory supercomputer created from photonic crystals that looked over and recorded all that occurred on the Earth from its position as the moon. Whose processing power stood so far above humanity that it could make miracles into reality, in its primary directive to continue the observation of the Earth, it took apart and re-created a Holy Grail War for its own purposes to understand the human soul, but also for another unknown reason.

In this battle, Spirit Hackers would become Masters, and occupying those Masters were Servants, known as Heroic Spirits. The replication of humanity's heroes, villains, legends, and historical figures now made into familiars for the Masters to fight amongst each other.

Yet, only one-hundred and twenty-eight individuals would survive past the preliminary round.

And of those one-hundred and twenty-eight, one person was an Artificial Intelligence that gained self-awareness, yet was too amnesiac to understand her own nature.

She was a digital copy of a human.

She was the victor of the Holy Grail War.

Hakuno Kishinami.

A young sixteen-year-old girl with brown irises and wavy long brown hair, dressed in a female school uniform matching the same colors. Whose memories only consisted of fake high school experiences, the trials of joy and sorrow from the war, and the lone original memory of her real counterpart whose body remained cryogenically frozen on Earth.

Now, Hakuno Kishinami, met her impending demise, drifting within the very core of the Moon Cell Automaton, where the sheer data of timeline after timeline threatened her own sense of self. For as a Digital Human, a fluke in a reality-bending system, to enter the core would be to deem herself an error and be erased.

But at this moment, she was also labeled the victor. As such, she had the authority and right to make her own wish.

Throughout the Holy Grail War, the girl's only wish had been to survive and press forward, crushing the dreams and lives of other participants for her own well-being.

In spite of this, in spite of the fact that it caused so much death, there were many fond memories.

And also, a single new desire.

End the Moon Holy Grail Wars for good.

With that thought, it was so.

There would no longer be anymore Holy Grail Wars inside the Moon Cell.

However…

In that instance, something changed.

A moment quite unlike others.

After making that wish, something shifted within the deepening ocean of the Moon Cell's Core.

Hakuno Kishinami heard a single line that could only ever come from a cold, logical computer like the Moon Cell.

SERAPH Holy Grail War Completed. Additional Observation Required. Searching for an alternative solution.

Alternative Solution Found, Additional Factor required in Timeline 772012.

Marking Inheritor…

Assigning Designated Inheritor...

Sending...

In that moment, Hakuno Kishinami vanished from the Moon Cell Core.


A display of block-like blue data particles lit up the untextured black room, dropping into the previously empty area a single human figure who collapsed onto the ground with a soft thud. It may have looked quite out of place for a young sixteen-year-old girl to appear, but there were no witnesses to the event to make an opinion. So, Hakuno Kishinami, Victor of the Holy Grail War, lay unconscious in the midst of darkness.

But, her eyes opened shortly thereafter.

Hakuno pushed herself up to her feet, glancing around for a light source but finding none. It wasn't there wasn't any light, the black room was actually quite lit despite the lack of a source, which could only be possible with a digital environment.

Of course, Hakuno was aware of that, her entire life had been inside the cyberworld of the Moon Cell.

"Sa… Ar…Ca…" Hakuno visibly flinched with each broken word muttered from her own mouth, her hand pressed against her forehead, mind racing to remember the class name of her Servant, the Heroic Spirit that had been by her side for the past seven weeks.

It's not that she didn't remember them, but rather, the memories contradicted themselves into three possible scenarios where she either had a Saber, an Archer, or a Caster Servant.

Deciding it would be best to first figure out her current situation, Hakuno forwent her earlier attempt to call her Servant. Besides, Hakuno now noticed the dim, grayed out Command Seals on her left hand.

The Command Seals, containing three Command Spells of miraculous power, marked her as a Master in contract with a Heroic Spirit.

However, that was no longer the case.

Her Servant had sacrificed themselves to buy more time in the Moon Cell Core, to grant solace to the loneliness and fear she had felt while inside it.

After the headache subsided a bit, Hakuno decided to find information as to her whereabouts.

The black room that the Digital Human found herself in had no windows, no doors, and no furniture. In fact, the walls, floor, and ceiling were like untextured meshes coated with black color. It was too vastly different from the Moon Cell, which strived in its perfection to perfectly recreate details in its recreation of the school environment that war took place in, as well as the vast Arena floors the Masters practiced or fought in.

She was still in a cyber world, however, and as a Spirit Hacker, she had options.

Her magic circuits, the pseudo-nervous system that channels her od, inner magical energy, surged to life inside her body with the brief activational memory of a city lit flames, the core memory of Hakuno Kishinami.

"Code Cost: View Status," Hakuno aimed her hand at the odd walls.

She wasn't a trained Spirit Hacker, she barely even qualified as one, the Moon Cell had provided only two Code Casts to her name to 'even the odds' against other participants. Outside of those two, Hakuno was restricted to Code Casts provided only through Formal Wear, or Mystic Codes, magical equipment. These Code Casts were the spells of the digital realm, the replication of mysteries through the network.

Hakuno blinked.

The View Status Code Cast was a basic spell, it only provided a basic summary of its target or surroundings, and the information provided to it confused her.

"Unused MHCP Room," Hakuno spoke to herself aloud, breaking the absolute silence.

That didn't give any context, she didn't have other options but to approach from a more risky angle, "Code Cast: Hack."

Immediately, Hakuno Kishinami was bombarded by information and data entirely different from that of the Moon Cell Automaton. There was simply no comparison, Hakuno had hacked into the systems of the Moon Cell before and would've perished if not for her unique origin as a Digital Human from her brain frying. But here, this system was too… human. Not human like her, but rather a creation of a human, so many processes flying through a limitation of zeros and ones computer language, and the security was simple to bypass.

After all, as a Digital Human, an artificial recreation of a living human being made by the Moon Cell Automation, her 'data' exceeded the understanding of this man-made system to counter against easily.

But, where was she?

Hakuno delved deeper into the system, obtaining terminology and key points of information that painted a vastly different picture than what she was used to. But, in all that she found, a simple title finally put the information together to make sense.

Sword Art Online.

That was the name of the virtual reality massive multiplayer online game (VRMMO) that Hakuno Kishinami now found herself inside. A video game, of all things, to be mysteriously transferred over to. Still, Hakuno continued her Code Cast, shifting through information as much as she could to obtain more crucial key knowledge. But, it wouldn't last, Hakuno abruptly ended her hacking as soon as a management system, not dissimilar to SERAPH, took notice of her prying.

Sure, this Cardinal System was an ant compared to SERAPH, but Hakuno Kishinami experienced enough grief from SERAPH's actions to risk confronting a similar element.

She had obtained a plethora of information that needed to be organized.

First, MHCP stood for Mental Health Counseling Program, the room that she was in was an unused storage area for Zero-Zero-Three, which was scrapped for system resources.

Second, there were currently 9,064 players online, Sword Art Online had been online for about fourteen days.

Thirdly, she had managed to access the Player Menu Functionality systems, which contained all the data for the players and the systems tied to them.

Lastly, the log-out function has been disabled, which meant the players could be trapped within the game. Hakuno Kishinami could have changed that, but the Cardinal System had taken notice when she found out that tidbit. Besides, without context as to why it was disabled, it would not have been a wise decision to alter it.

She sighed.

Hakuno Kishinami made a motion with her right hand, a simple swipe downward with two fingers that should open the player menu according to the data. But nothing came up, she lacked the designation to access the player systems, or any system really, no longer have the luxury of a Portable Terminal, a device given to Masters in the Moon Holy Grail War to help manage things.

If she wanted to be able to interact with Sword Art Online's systems, she needed a designation with some level of authority; even if it were on the level of the players, it would help at least message someone. But to do this, Hakuno would need to hack into the system again to both implement herself as a recognized entity and assign herself to one of the variables that would grant her access to SAO's functions.

Of course, with the Cardinal System having taken notice of her prior access, it likely would be on guard right now.

The girl was trapped in here otherwise with no other option.

"Code Cast: Hack," Hakuno hacked using the digital magecraft once again.

Immediately, new system security attempted to refute her access to all systems, particular ones more than others. Hakuno Kishinami didn't have the skill or know-how to circumvent it, instead, brute-forcing her way through it with a combination of magical energy and sheer presence of her advanced nature. Intellectual, Hakuno Kishinami knew this method would not last for long, with each attempt it would grow more difficult, already the Cardinal System was prodding and attempting to push back at her attempts. It was truly a massive system, a pinnacle of computer software engineering that Hakuno found immensely impressive for a man-made accomplishment.

However, it wasn't bearing down on her with its full capability, and that allowed Hakuno Kishinami to hack with only minor resistance.

What Cardinal was doing, however, was rather quick-thinking.

Seeing how it couldn't exactly stop Hakuno's hacking attempts, it instead moved systems away from her at a speed that she couldn't catch with her human mind's limitations. So while Hakuno could change things, she couldn't access the areas without giving 'chase'. She was too inexperienced in hacking systems to compensate for the change of tactics on Cardinal's side.

Still, it couldn't carelessly move all the data away from her, certain variables and code held priority over others.

As such, Hakuno Kishinami successfully added an ID with her first name to the list of online entities and quickly tied a random level of authority to it before Cardinal could pull it away from her reach.

Hakuno quickly ended the Code Cast after that. The digital magecraft was in a different realm of cyber warfare the Cardinal couldn't analyze, it would be like trying to translate a foreign language without any point of reference. Because of that, it wouldn't be able to track the girl's whereabouts.

Ironically, Hakuno was like a ghost in the system.

A classification that reminded her of a certain child enemy Master.

She shook her head, then attempted to open the menu once again by swiping down with her right hand.

There was an audible sound like little bells as the menu appeared. The girl took a moment to analyze it, checking through the menu. In spite of her newly achieved access, she still lacked the visual representation of a user interface that was supposedly in a player's field of vision.

Well, it seems only external systems can apply.

Regardless, Hakuno Kishinami smiled at her success, now let's see about communicating with some of the player IDs that were in that list.


A simplistic health bar above a boar's head filled with color dipped into emptiness, causing the creature to glow brightly before shattering into luminescent shards. The chime of a victory screen echoed through its killer's hearing, a plain white panel floating in front of the person's reach that indicated a number of values tied to key variables. But this virtual monster's hunter took no joy in earning a win, rather the figure's gaze set on a basic rapier in her hand.

Such a young beautiful woman stood alone on grassy plains just outside the Town of Beginnings, wearing only the starting gear that looks like basic medieval-life clothing and a selected beginner's weapon. Her long orange-brownish chestnut hair waved slightly in the generated wind by the system, hazel eyes stared almost blankly at the hand gripped to the rapier.

It had been fourteen days since the fifteen-year-old Asuna Yuuki, alongside nine-thousand nine-hundred and ninety-nine other players were trapped in the VRMMORPG Sword Art Online by it's, and the NerveGear's developer, Akihiko Kayaba, with the condition of freedom tied to the game's clearing.

Fourteen days since Asuna made the worst decision in her life to curiously interact with her brother's NerveGear, log into SAO, and be imprisoned in a game where death enacted the same to the living body. In those dreadfully long two weeks, Asuna secluded herself in a rented room within the Town of Beginnings, the starting area for all SAO players, using the initial Cor, the in-game currency, that was provided after character creation to hole in the safety awaiting possible rescue or the game's clearing.

None of which happened or were happening anytime soon.

Asuna convinced herself the prior night that there would be no point in living her life in fear, and resolved to fight to clear the game, even if it meant dying. That she'd rather die attempting to free herself than continue on in despair.

With nothing but the starting equipment chosen at her character's creation, the player ID registered as Asuna headed out into the West Fields the following morning and began killing monsters one after another.

She barely had any experience in video games, in fact, most of Asuna's knowledge about this type of game could be traced back to mobile apps. She was woefully unprepared for understanding Sword Art Online's functions and relied heavily on what little the game's tutorial had taught her and the helpful information in the freely-purchased Argo's Guidebook that a passing player mentioned to her.

The maiden cleared away the screen prompt that indicated received rewards for defeating the Frenzy Boar, the experience points and Cor received were incredibly miniscule; but as the weakest monster, it was the safest option to fight until she leveled up to 2.

Asuna swiped with her right hand, the Player Menu opening in response to its default character sheet that contained her stats and equipped items. She wanted to check the durability of her weapon and began to move her finger to the weapon slot, but took notice of something.

An icon was flashing blue.

It was the communications category, Asuna had become increasingly familiar with ignoring it whenever it normally flashed, as many players would attempt to communicate with her or befriend her, no part in thanks to the skewed male to female ratio of players. But never had the icon flashed a particular color before.

It took a small moment to decide, but eventually, a small sense of curiosity finally took hold and Asuna opened the communication portion of the Player Menu.

Unlike usual player messages, the instant Asuna opened into the communication tab the chat screen immediately opened the received message.

[You've received an administrative message from Game Master (Minor): Hakuno]

Huh?

Is this some sort of twisted joke?

She may lack the knowledge other players have, but that didn't mean she didn't know what the term Game Master meant, and that the only one of SAO was the madman Akihiko Kayaba. Did he seek to antagonize her? Mock her?

Asuna read the message.

It was confusing, it wasn't anything akin to some threat or mockery, if anything, the message seemed lacking. Almost bare bones, more similar to an inquiry or survey than her preconception of its contents. This didn't fit Asuna's perception of a Game Master. In fact, it appeared more like a fluke than an actual 'administrative message' that it wouldn't be surprising to simply delete it as a scam.

Still… Should she attempt to reply?

Her hands wavered over a hovering keyboard.

[Asuna: "Admin?"] She questioned the unknown Game Master through the chat menu, wondering if perhaps, how little a chance, she can persuade the person.

[{GM} Hakuno: "Hacker."] The reply came; though there is a symbol of a Game Master beside the ID of the person.

A hacker from outside of Sword Art Online? Perhaps a hired professional by the Japanese Government?

Asuna felt a tinge of hope blossom, her fingers rushed through the keyboard with haste. [Asuna: "Did the government hire you? Can you log us out? Or at least stop the NerveGear from killing on death?"]

It felt like minutes passed before Asuna got a reply, even if it was only a few seconds.

[{GM} Hakuno: "No. The Cardinal System is tricky. Please explain the situation?"] The hacker inquired.

What does Hakuno mean by 'explain'? Does this hacker need information about what is occurring in-game perhaps? Is the real world completely blind as to the occurrences within Sword Art Online?

The sound of a respawning monster caught her attention and she quickly closed the Player Menu entirely and held the Iron Rapier in her hand, eyes' sight directed at the restored Frenzy Boar. She sighed, remembering the fact that the boars were neutral and would not attack her without Asuna attacking first. She had grown incredibly tense since the reveal of Hakuno.

She took a deep breath and tried to relax her nerves, however fake this game made sensations felt, her mind's stress is still real and should be taken seriously.

A familiar chime of her menu opened up as Asuna navigated back to the communications segment. Asuna Yuuki wondered where to begin, then decided that perhaps the more information Hakuno knew, the more perhaps the hacker will learn how to help her and other players.

So, Asuna's fingers tapped away at the keyboard as she started at the beginning…


As Hakuno Kishinami read through the messages provided by the player Asuna, she learned the truth behind Sword Art Online. Yet another circumstance where people were forced into a deadly situation, but unlike the Moon Holy Grail War, the players in this event were victims by circumstance. Approximately 10,000 souls had been trapped and after fourteen days, only 9,064 of them were still alive. That was 936 people already dead by the time Hakuno Kishinami appeared inside this unused space.

And earlier she had that fleeting moment to save the remaining souls from tragedy, that first directed hack gave Hakuno the unprecedented chance and she had let it slip.

It gnawed at her consciousness, but logically, Hakuno remained fully aware that it wasn't her fault.

Fortunately, the level of authority that Hakuno Kishinami managed to obtain would be considered a position in SAO's administration. However, it was clear that this wasn't so much higher than a normal player, likely an unused role for Game Masters to respond to tickets. She was aware of some terminology behind video games, the cyberworld of the Moon Cell had seen fit to shove the information into her head as part of the course when becoming a Master.

This authority level, Game Master (Minor), did not have access to make changes to the Cardinal System or forcefully log-out the players. Hakuno Kishinami would still have to risk using Code Casts in order to potentially change things to her, and likely to the player's advantage.

On a side note, she had a few screens exclusive to GMs, such as the aforementioned ticket response.. In which had a plethora of unanswered threats, pleas, and other emotionally-filled letters likely directed at the architect of this criminal act: Akihiko Kayaba.

Hakuno dared not attempt to use the GM screens yet, as Akihiko no doubt also had access to the GM screens which were likely more publicly shared between GMs than the more private settings of players.

The brown-haired magus sent a friend request to the player Asuna, a feminine name, but considering the fact that the players had custom avatars before Kayaba forcefully changed them to match their real appearance according to her story, judgment on which gender any could be was out of the question.

[{GM} Hakuno: "I'll help."]

Asuna was currently the only player to respond to Hakuno's initial message, but considering the circumstances, Hakuno didn't blame the other dozen other players she managed to send it out to for possibly deleting it. There was also the fact that in some of them, Hakuno wrote out the message in English instead of Japanese, as she didn't know whether the players would understand considering all their IDs used the Latin alphabet but much of the game text used kanji.

While waiting for Asuna's reply, Hakuno quickly started to examine the GM options available to her. It hadn't taken long for Hakuno Kishinami to adapt to the Player Menu, such skill in information gathering was honed thoroughly through past events. There were a few options, many lacked context or explanations, but there was potential to be able to help the players… Hakuno only needed more information about what the game mechanics were like from the player's side.

Otherwise, it didn't matter if she could say, add a skill to Asuna, if Asuna didn't meet the requirements to use it. There was also the fact that the Cardinal System might detect any abrupt changes to players if Hakuno acted too carelessly.

[Asuna: "Can you make me stronger?"]

Not an unsurprising response, Hakuno replied. [{GM} Hakuno: "The more we learn, yes."]

There was a small ping, Hakuno Kishinami noted that Asuna was now included in her Friends List. There was an icon that looked to be a camera next to Asuna's ID name, Hakuno curiously pressed it.

A large screen popped up in front of Hakuno Kishinami that showed a rather beautiful girl in a vast grass field, interacting with her own menu. The top of the screen indicated a set of variables keyed to 'Player Observation' and Asuna's ID.

Well, Hakuno can finally see through Asuna's shoulder so to speak.

[Asuna: "Can you contact some people in the real world for me?"] A message from the girl came through.

Theoretically, Hakuno Kishinami could, it wouldn't take too much to access the network with a Code Cast… But…

[{GM} Hakuno: "Not now. Cardinal is alert."]

Hakuno looked to the screen to see Asuna making a particular face, the girl typed away again on her own menu.

[Asuna: "Are you also trapped?"]

Hakuno Kishinami didn't know how to reply to that.