AN: Remember when I said I planned to retcon Fugere Illusion Crossover elements in my reviews regarding said stories? Well, it's happening now. First, I'll link up three person from Gensokyo to Aincrad in order to give the trapped players a better chance of survival. And like I said as well, this will happen concurrently with the plan to rescue Puella Magis from the Incubators, though I lack the proper knowledge to write such story. So, I'm sticking with the original plan. The timeline of the story? HS 2015-2017. Then, without further ado. Link Start!

Disclaimers:
Touhou Project belongs to Team Shanghai Alice/ZUN
Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara

PROLOGUE
Fantasy in Aincrad Opening

Date: November 6th, 2015
Location: Misty Lake, Historia Gensokyo

"Alright, that's the last of them." A brown-haired woman (she's 21) said as she shot down the last of feral youkais that infested Misty Lake as result of Urban Legend Incident stacked with Lunarian Invasion last few months ago. "Didn't expect someone actually able to breach the Barrier, albeit temporarily. And Kanako told me that the fighter she houses is dealing with the same thing in Moriya Shrine. I'm pretty sure by now Yukari is desperate enough to-"

"Desperate, hmm... I'm afraid you're correct on that part. Lucy."

Alerted by the voice, Lucy turned around and managed to locate the source, namely a blonde woman with a parasol in her hand. "Damn it, Yukari... Don't surprise me like that! I'm just glad Vaati lives around here... Speaking about Vaati, where is she?"

"She's currently attending a meeting regarding our next action." Yukari closes her parasol and takes a fan from her house via one of her gaps. "The sole fact that the Lunarians managed to use that girl as proxy to set the stage for the invasion in the first place means we can no longer ignore what's going on outside. Currently, she's employed by one of UN Armed Forces' officers."

"Atonement for her hubris, I suppose." Lucy puts her shotgun on her back holster. "Then again, I heard that the invaders began using psionics seeing that their technology being reverse-engineered at astonishing pace. Anyway, you must be here for a reason."

"Indeed. The only thing missing is who will be sent to Aincrad. Vaati already chose who will be sent to Puella Magi, since she'll be the one who spearhead the operation. You should be able to guess what this is about."

Lucy is thinking for few seconds until she widens her eyes in shock. "Wait... Don't tell me...!"

Yukari smiles and then closes her fan. "Exactly. We're going to enlist help from other realms if we were to survive. This is one thing that both I and Kanako's boy agreed. Gensokyo is sealed after the fall of Tokugawa Shogunate, just like how Japan seals itself after Sengoku Jidai, and I won't allow history repeats itself. The Second Bakumatsu will start with our initiative."

"Yep, and I already volunteered myself to be sent to Aincrad." A black-haired man clad in gakuran (he's 26) joins the conversation. Lucy is surprised seeing him. "You're...!"

"Well, you know me as Nomare Shubu. But as of today, I'm not using that name any longer. Let me re-introduce myself. My true name is Yasei Sugaku." Yasei holsters his guns after he finished the introduction.

"... Then you must've heard about me as well. Just to reaffirm it, yes, I was Luke Thesda, before Eirin used me as her guinea rat to test her DNA serum. Now I'm Lucy Thesda."

"Okay, now that you acquainted with each other, the last volunteer should be here about..." Yukari looks at the sky. She smiles upon seeing a certain blue fairy. "Now."

"Hold on, you signed me in as well?!" The brunette looks at Yukari with shock.

Before anyone can move, said blue fairy has landed right in the group's vicinity.

"Hey, Vaati told me that I should go join the Aincrad group, and she also said that Yukari's the one who assembled them. I suppose you two are in?" Cirno looks at the group with curiosity.

Yasei shrugs and nod. "Yeah, I volunteered when I heard Gensokyo expanding its influence. Might as well use this moment to do the transition from Nomare to Yasei, since the former did told Sanae that she'll be reunited with the latter after Aincrad group returned." He then grins and motions to Lucy. "She's the unlucky one, though."

Lucy glares at Yasei for a moment before sighing and nod as well. "Dragged against my will... Oh well... I just hope my current physiology transfers to better starting stats. Yukari already signed me in, so might as well see it through until the end." She then looks at the sky. "I just hope that Earth will survive this ongoing global war..."

As soon as the trio done socializing, Yukari told the objective of Gensokyo's Aincrad group.

"Alright, our objective is to clear the Floating Castle Aincrad and save as many Elite Players as you can. How you do it is up to you, although I suggest you to create a group in order to facilitate it. As we are right now, we're at a disadvantage when it comes to battle power, and that's why this initiative is enacted in the first place."

She then motions the group to Vaati's apartment, and they then enters a room that will be used for the mission.

"Now, I suggest you all to maintain caution, because this mission won't facilitate Spell Card rules. I'd say you already know about a certain VRMMORPG. That's where we're going. And here are the NerveGears, complete with the calibration data for each of you."

Yukari gives Yasei, Lucy, and Cirno their respective usernames and passwords.

"Once you're logged in, there's no turning back until Aincrad is cleared. Any words before we depart?"

The group managed to find their respective NerveGears since there are logos defining each member. (Star for Yasei, Eagle for Lucy, and Snowflake for Cirno.) Yasei then addresses the group.

"Alright, before we start this, I need to know what you guys think about Yukari's suggestion. Personally, I think it's a sound idea, since it allows us to keep in touch with each other."

Lucy and Cirno look at each other before nodding and gave Yasei their consent. They then moves to the next topic, and it's Lucy's turn to present her point.

"Okay, this might sound silly, but I have extensive knowledge about MMOs. I just thought it might be useful to identify the Elite Players from other players in this Death Game."

A nod from Yasei. "Sounds good." Followed by Cirno. "That way we can finish this faster!" Finally, the ice fairy presents her point.

"As soon after both Vaati and I became immortal, she began teaching me anything related to medieval warfare. I'm sure this knowledge will come in handy."

Both Yasei and Lucy concede that Cirno has a valid argument. They don't have any skills with medieval weapons, and learning from a veteran will boost their survival chance significantly, especially in SAO. Plus, having other fighting skills aside from firearms won't hurt in the long run.

"It seems the plan has been set." Yukari nods in approval. "You can decide who's going to be the leader once you're inside. Your bodies will be preserved in suspended animation, so there won't be any risks of atrophy. The time flow difference between Aincrad and Gensokyo is 2 to 1, so you'll have more time to rescue them. And I already made sure that Cirno's account will have 'Immortal Object' privilege to make it consistent with her current status."

"Won't Akihiko notice the discrepancy?" Yasei asks, only to see Yukari grin in return. "You won't have to worry about that, I already took care of it. You'll see what I mean."

Lucy and Cirno raises their eyebrows in confusion while Yasei merely nods. "If you say so."

"Well, then. If there are no further question, I bid you good luck."

With that, Yukari finally leaves via one of her gaps. Yasei, Lucy, and Cirno then start one last check.

"Okay, let's use our calibration data as the base for our SAO Avatar. Forget about casual gaming, since we're going to be thrown into a war zone. We're not here to play, we're here to gather as many Elite Players as possible to increase the overall survival chances." Yasei states his recommendation to the group regarding the starting steps.

"Right. And I think we should buy some gears soon after we're linked in. Any time later and we'll have to wait until the initial log in wave recedes. We'll be starting fresh, so we want to make sure we're properly equipped. Then we do some grinding to get some levels." Lucy adds in some tips from her MMO knowledge.

Last, it's Cirno's turn. "Yeah. Speaking about forming a group, I think I might be able to help with that. I was in Vaati's group during the First Sengoku Gensokyo Tournament alongside Letty and the Three Light Fairies. But that can wait. For now, we need to confirm our user names."

Username confirmation
Yasei : Wilder
Lucy : Ursaline
Cirno : Celcius

The trio nods and don their respective NerveGears before then resting on provided beds and adjusting themselves to make sure that they stay comfortable. Yasei took a deep breath to calm himself and hums in anticipation. Lucy did the same and keep track of the time. Cirno, meanwhile, is overwhelmed by the interface, before then sporting an excited look.

When the clock hits 1:00 PM, they knew that it's the time to start the mission.

"Link start!"

AN: I have to admit, this story is inspired by both Cirno Online by Raine-chi (which has been discontinued) and Unyielding by Ikell (in which Kirito became a Guild Leader). And in the timeline I made for Historia Universe, this marks the Second Bakumatsu, in which Gensokyo seized the initiative to reach the other realms to help them and in return, receiving their assistance in Trans-Dimensional Warfare. I actually considered writing the war before, but decided to make it a Great Off-Screen War until I have enough material to write it properly.

And the trio here references both me and two writers that inspired me to start writing. Yasei and Lucy are flagship OCs of me (WildMath55) and Savato93 respectively, while Vaati Star the author made Cirno a Hourai Fairy by having Mokou feeding her own liver to the fairy. Cirno being present here is clearly a nod to Cirno Online.

With that in mind, I intent to see just how far I can carry on with this story. Big thanks to Ikell for prompting me to write this story after reading Unyielding.