Sword Art Online.

The death game that trapped over 10,000 players.

New World Online.

The VRMMORPG that came some years after the incident.

Kazuto Kirigaya.

The fabled Black Swordsman and hero of Aincrad: Kirito

Kaede Honjo

The innocent yet overly strong shield user: Maple

These two have made there VR debuts in a variety of ways, and have thus proven to be highly powerful players.

Kirito, the one that has faced many challenges, and had made a bright future for the VR world.

Maple, the one that only focused on vitality, but yet somehow achieved a vast variety of skills.

When these two cross paths, what kind of story will be paved?

What struggles will they need to overcome?

What scarifies will be made?

…

The answer...

Lies in the most unlikely of the two...

"Maple! Do it!"

"Right! [Hyrda]!"

Sweeping through a massive wave of enemy mobs, Maples' skill shone in dark purple energy as each of the three heads took no prisoners. With sharp bites, poison breath, and constriction, this powerful skill seemed to have belonged to a highly powerful player.

Yet, however... does being a small, cute girl fit into this equation?

"Hey, remind me again how you obtained this skill..."

Looking to her best friend, Sally in-game, Maple gave her the best smile she could muster. "Ah, yes! I ate the boss! Why you ask?"

Almost throwing up at hearing that, Sally looked off to the side. "Maple... you really are a monster, aren't you?"

"But... I'm just playing normally... right?" The innocent girl asked with a tilt of her head.

Like hell this is anything normal! Though, I shouldn't be one to judge since most of our guild members are pretty powerful. "Anyway, you think we should stop here?"

"Aw come on!" The girl pouted while shaking her head. "I wanna grind some more and get my defense up too! Defense, defense, defense! Vitality, vitality, vitality!"

"Don't get me wrong, I'd love to stick around and grind some more... but..."

"But what, Sally?"

"...don't we still have school?"

Blinking for only a moment, Maples' faced grew a huge shade of red in realization. "Oh no! We're gonna be late! Log out, log out, log out!"

With her friends body disappearing, Sally could only give tired sigh before logging out herself.

"Aww, I can't believe we had to stay for overtime!"

Much to their dismay, both of the girls had been tardy, so to make up for it they had to catch up for one of the classes they missed in a after-school session. It also took even longer considering that the real Maple, Kaede Honjou, wasn't the sharpest when it came to studies, so Sally, Rise Shiramine, had to help with most of the slack in one of the hardest subjects.

English.

How Kaede hated this subject with a scorning passion!

"If only we weren't so late we probably could've gone out sooner." Rise sighed before looking at the now night sky, truly showing how late it really was. "I-It's so dark out..."

Taking a look back to her friend, Kaede blinked in surprise. "A-Are you doing okay? You're not scared of the dark, are you?"

"N-No!" The girl spat out in a nervous fashion. "I'm fine! Just hungry is all..."

With a small grumble both the girls' stomachs, Kaede couldn't help but agree with a nod. "Yeah, I don't want to be late for dinner too... ah I got it!"

"Huh? You got what?" Rise asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Wanna come over and have dinner with my family?" The small girl innocently asked with a bright smile.

The other girl could only blink in confusion to her kind offer. "W-Wait, are you serious? I mean, I appreciate the offer but-"

"Don't worry!" Kaede encouraged while spreading her arms out. "I'm sure Mom won't mind! It'll be like old times!"

"Hmm..." Taking a small bit of thought into it, Rise sighed. "You'd beg even if I said no, so sure... let's do it!"

"Yay, yay, yay!" Kaede happily exclaimed before taking off in a sprint. "Come on Rise! The food will get cold if we wait any longer!"

"Ah, wait a sec-!"

"Gah!"

The girl gasped when she heard a loud crash just around the corner. "Oh no!" Rushing to help her friend, Rise turned the corner to find out what happened.

"Maple!"

"Kirito!"

Not a second after that did she and the other girl across from her blinked before looking to find both of their friends rubbing their heads before deciding to look up.

"Ah, I'm so sorry sir!"

"No, no! I should be for running into you!"

Both the boy and small girl got back up while the other two decided to apologize as well.

"W-We're sorry that we ran into you! Me and my friend were kind of in a rush, so..."

"It's fine, really! Me and my boyfriend were just walking each other back to our homes."

"You two are dating?!" Maple asked with a bright smile having just forgot about the crash from a few seconds ago. "That's so sweet!"

The older couple could only laugh at he girl's innocence before the woman decided to introduce themselves. "Thanks. Nice to meet you, my name is Asuna, and this is my boyfriend, Kazuto."

"Yeah," the boy replied with a firm nod. "And you are?"

"Ah, right!" Maple realized before smiling once more. "I'm Kaede, and this is my best friend Rise!"

"Yo!" The tom girl greeted with a mock salute before blinking. "Wait, didn't you mention someone named Kirito?"

Asuna blinked before also coming to the same thing. "I did, but didn't you also mention someone by the name of Maple?"

Both the girls took a minute before Kaede raised a finger. "Oh, that's my online name! Does that mean Kirito is your online name Mr. Kazuto?"

The aforementioned Kirito shuddered for a moment before sighing. "Yeah, it is... but don't go around telling anybody that, okay?"

"You got it!" Kaede gave a thumbs up before deciding to ask more questions. "Hey, by chance do you play VRMMOs?"

"We do... actually, right Kirito?" Asuna asked while he gave a firm nod. "Are you familiar with ALfhiem Online?"

"Wait, you mean that fairy RPG game on the AmuSphere?" Rise asked in surprise.

"That's the one!"

"I'm so jealous!"

"Huh?" Asuna blinked once more when she saw the girl scratching her head in distress. Why was she jealous? "Wait, do you not own a AmuSphere?"

"How can you even afford it?!" Rise asked in disbelief while pointing a finer at them. "Me and Kaede can only afford the basic VR brand, yet you have the luxury of the best tech around?"

"Is it really that expensive?" Kaede asked with a tilt of her head.

"For the real immersive experience that the AmuSphere gives, I do believe the price has been more than any other form of VR tech," The boy summed up with a hand to his chin. "For anything else, the second one down would have to be the one you mentioned."

"Is that so?" The young girl concluded with a nod before smiling. "In that case, have you heard of New World Online?"

"I think... Kirito, didn't you mention that there was a VR company that was fairly new when they released their own launch title?" Asuna asked before the boy nodded.

"Yeah, I did. I've heard it's had a lot of reception as of late, and is even starting to become as popular as ALfheim."

"Really?!" Both she and Rise exclaimed in shock. Was the game they played really comparable to a higher up VRMMORPG like ALfheim?

"Well, it's only because there have been rumors of a popular player that's made a name for themselves over in that world... wait..." Kirito looked over back to the smiling girl before pointing his finger in her direction. "In-game, you're name is... Maple right?"

"Umm, yes?" Kaede blinked before suddenly realizing what he meant. "Wait, am I the popular player?!"

Both of the Alfheim players turned before whispering to each other.

"Kirito, is this really the girl who put all her skill points into vitality?"

"I don't want to believe it, but if what she says is true then yes."

"I-I see... so what do you think we should do?"

"Stay cool, Asuna, I think I got an idea." Turning back to the younger girls, Kirito coughed into his hand. "So, you guys play New World Online right?"

"Yes!" Kaede answered with another bright smile. "I'm a great shield user, and Sally here is in the swashbuckler class!"

"Yup!" Sally nodded with a prideful grin. "They never see me coming from a mile away!"

"Interesting," Asuna muttered before raising her eyebrow. "But, Maple, doesn't using a shield contempt with your overall speed?"

"I'd have to agree with Asuna on this one," Kirito agreed with a nod of his own. "You wouldn't have a lot of offensive options when your faced with more agility type players, but if your role is solely for defense then I can relate to... someone..."

"Kirito... you don't mean..." Asuna was about mention her commander before she heard someone call over in the distance.

"Hey, can you guys tell me how to get to the station from here?" The random passerby asked.

Being the kind girl that she was, Kaede was happy enough to answer. "Of course! It's going to be-"

"Get back."

Having abruptly been pushed back by the boy, the girl blinked in surprise before being pulled back by her own friend.

"Rise, what's-?!"

"Shh!" Putting a finger to her mouth, Rise looked back to the black-haired boy. Guess I'm not the only one looking out for shady people.

"Kirito?" Asuna blinked before she saw the look he had in his eyes. They were serious and protective. From her times in Aincrad, this was something that made her feel worried.

"You were snooping around the Dicey Cafe, right?" Kirito firmly asked, not once looking away for even a second.

The man could only sighed in defeat. "So much for the element of surprise."

"Who are you?"

"Hey, hey! Don't be so rude, Kirito!" The man lightly laughed before his smile grew. "Ah, I had mask on in the time we were inside, didn't I?"

Both Kaede and Rise started to become confused before they saw eyes widened on Kirito face as the man continued his speech. Whoever this man was, it didn't seem like they were on good terms.

"Sally..." Kaede could only whisper in worry before her friend gave her a nod.

"We need to get out of here."

"E-Eh... but-!"

"After all, I'm the only remaining member left of Laughing Coffin!"

Both girls gasped at the mention of the murder guild from the SAO incident, as they were no strangers to what happened back then. They were way younger at the time, but they had read about it at the local library recently. They decided to stop reading when it came to the part about the player murders, but to see one right in front of them was something truly unexpected.

"Now we really need to get out of here!" Rise couldn't stand to stay any longer as the murderer kept laughing while spouting something about there being no swords around.

Being strongly pulled into the other direction, Kaede blinked and even almost tripped. "Wait a second, Rise!"

"Ah, Kaede?" Asuna said with a turn seeing the young girls about to leave before she saw Kirito wield an umbrella like a sword.

"So what if I don't have my sword, I'm not seeing you with your poison weapon of choice..."

"Oh, I have it...!"The man laughed even more before bringing out a fancy looking syringe of sorts before sprinting towards the boy. "I have my poison weapon right here!"

Pushing Asuna back Kirito turned with a panicked look. "Asuna , you two, run!" Turning back, Kirito readied himself and his umbrella, prepared to-!"

"[Cover Move]!"

Kirito blinked in shock before he saw the small girl named Maple stepped in front of him, before she raised her arm as if it were a shield. "No don't, get back!"

"Cover-!" Maples' shout was interrupted the moment she started to feel light headed, before she felt her heart suddenly stop. The last thing she did before she blacked out was give a warm smile to her friend, and the two gamers she just met.

"MAPLE!"

I'm sorry, everyone.

It was peaceful.

The young girl was having a nice dream about sweets. Candies, chocolates, cakes, you name it. They were all delicious as far as she was concerned. Without any worry about getting fat, she could eat all she wanted!

However, she wished that she could let her friends enjoy it too.

Mai and Yui, the cute twins would love these sweets as much as she did.

Chrome and Iz, the blacksmith would love to spoil him, feeding him spoonful by spoonful.

Kanade, she'd stock up on all the sweets she could grab into her inventory.

Kasumi, being refined as she was, simply nibbling on some cookies while enjoying some tea.

And most of all...

Sally.

…

Who knows what she would do with all these sweets...

Just thinking about her friends made her feel warm inside, to the point where some of her sweets started to become engulfed in light. It was surprising, but it must've meant that the dream was about to end. The girl simply smiled as she let the light continue to spread throughout her vision, until it was completely white.

And wherever she woke up, it would feel just as nice as her dream of sweets.

Alicization: Rising Shield

Part 1: Beginning

Prologue

END