Sword Art Online: The Dark Swordsman Remake

What was Marth's life like when he lived under the name Shun Koujiro, before he found himself in the era of the Accelerated World? This is a tale of when he was known as the Dark Swordsman, the most feared player in all of Aincrad. Prequel to Accel World: The Ashen Wolf.

Guess I have a thing for rewrites. Yes, this is indeed a rewrite of my Dark Swordsman stories. I will be combining them into a single story for some easier convenience. Just to let you know, I will not cover anything that happens in Progressive (except for the Floor 1 boss fight) and will stick with what's in the main light novels (and maybe some of the anime). When it comes to the Aincrad arc, I will be doing a lot of floor skipping since covering them all would take forever and I would like to get this story done in a reasonable amount of time. This doesn't mean that there won't be original chapters that aren't from the source material but I don't know how many of them there will be.

Also, the arcs I will be covering are Aincrad, Alfheim, Gun Gale Online, Calibur and Mother's Rosario. I might include the Temporal Island arc with some rework to focus more on the SAO characters (at least to show their point of view more in certain scenes). As for the Demon War arc, I may or may not skip it as I don't know if I can accurately tell it in full-blown chapters (especially since I kinda increased the scale of it when it was mentioned in Ashen Wolf). I'll make my decision on it eventually (preferably near the end of this story).

Anyway, that was all I needed to say. Let's begin!

Chapter 1- The Floating Castle

November 6, 2022

Shun Koujiro was sitting by his desk, watching a news livestream on his computer. Normally he was not one to watch the news as he didn't care about what happened in Japan, but this was the exception. Today was the highly anticipated day that the first VRMMO, Sword Art Online, was to be released. The game was developed by a company called Argus, with the lead designer being a man named Akihiko Kayaba.

The relationship between Shun and Kayaba was rather complex. The game designer was bit a of a surrogate father to the teen as he was dating Shun's adopted mother, Rinko Koujiro. At first, Kayaba wasn't too sure about being a father, even through adoption, but he eventually conceded when it was clear his girlfriend wouldn't change her mind. Now in terms of him being a father figure, in all honesty, he wasn't that great since he always felt kind of distant between Shun and his younger sister. However, he occasionally show some compassion for the siblings as he gave them some games as presents and even let them play beta builds of the games he made for Argus. That last part actually made Shun's best friend jealous since Kayaba wasn't willing to pull those same strings for him.

At the beginning of August of this year, there was a beta test for Sword Art Online. The limit was one thousand people and it was totally random on who would get selected. With the creator essentially being his father, Shun actually managed to bypass that lottery and was guaranteed a spot in the beta test. Like Kayaba, he was bit of a loner and didn't interact much with people his age. Aside from his sister, he only had two people he would call friends.

This wasn't because Shun was insecure or shy. No, it was because most of his peers looked down and despised him. Both he and his sister, Ruri, seem to have this menacing presence around them that frightened people. It was part of why it was so hard for them to get adopted as most adults simply couldn't brush past their fear. They just came off as unnatural, not human. Even their own birth parents were scared of them, but they did still care about them if that incident was any indication.

Rinko was the first person to look past their dark auras and see them for the children that they were. Shun will always be grateful for that, even if he doesn't show it all that much. All the bullying and resentment has made it hard for him to show his emotions. The only people he felt at ease with to lower his walls is his best friend and Ruri.

Shun ran his fingers through his raven-black hair. It was long, falling to his shoulders as he refused to get it trimmed any further. He had a charming face, which probably would win over most girls. As if to add to his devilish charm, he had deep bloodred eyes and slightly pale skin. He also had an average build for a fourteen year old boy. He was wearing a gray and black flannel, a black t-shirt, blue jeans and white socks.

Suddenly there was a knock on his door.

"It's open," Shun said automatically.

The wooden bedroom door gently swung open, revealing a beautiful teenage girl with pale white hair that fell to her waist and skin as white as snow. She also had bloodred eyes, only hers looked more lovely than Shun's. She was a year younger than him, with her only being around thirteen. She was dressed simply in a t-shirt and jeans. Her hair was a little damp, meaning she must have just taken a shower.

"Good morning, Marth," Ruri greeted with a kind smile. "I see you're already up."

Shun simply smiled back, a rare sight (at least in public when they were around strangers). "Morning Kisara. Did you sleep well?"

"Not really. Today's the day Sword Art Online launches. I didn't participate in the beta test because I got sick during August so Mother wouldn't let me play. This time though, I'm perfectly healthy so I can experience the world you saw three months ago."

When Rinko adopted them, she had the siblings change their names to avoid any connection to the incident that killed their birth parents. However, when they were alone together, or among their two friends, they went by their original names, which were "Marth" and "Kisara". Aside from Rinko and Kayaba, only their friends knew those names.

Well, at least until today as those would be the names of their avatars for SAO. Given that it was an MMO, the use of their legal names would be outright stupid, but given that it was like an alternate world, more immersive than any preceding MMO, they felt like it would be fine to use their old names while in that world.

"That's good," Shun replied. "Kazuto and I will show you the ropes. The combat can get kinda complicated if you're not used to it."

"No kidding. Instead of pressing buttons on a keyboard or computer screen, I'm moving a virtual body with my brain. Sounds difficult but also a fun challenge."

The two siblings went downstairs to the kitchen to have breakfast. Rinko had already left for her job at Argus to ensure a smooth launch for the first VRMMO ever. Currently only ten thousand copies of the game were released, with the first thousand going to the beta testers. While one may think this was a terrible idea for the release of a new MMO, this was done to not overwhelm the SAO servers with a huge influx of players. As the game goes on, naturally more copies will be distributed, and more servers will be created to host more players.

Needless to say though, those other nine thousand copies sold out in an instant. Everyone wanted to try the first virtual reality MMO. Even the hardware needed to run the game, the NerveGear, was sold out. All in all, things looked like it could go nowhere but up for Sword Art Online.

"A real shame that Shino can't join us," Ruri said sadly as she made some eggs for herself and her brother. Out of the two siblings, she was the better cook. Despite her best efforts, kitchens really seem to hate her beloved brother as anything he makes turns out terrible. The only thing he could make was tea, and he was actually pretty good at it. "She wasn't able to preorder the game and Kayaba wasn't able to pull any strings to give her a copy."

"Yeah, but Mother did promise that she'll help her get a copy once they become available again. Of course she'll have a lot of catching up in levels to do when she does."

"True, but we'll know all the best grinding spots by then so Shino will be able to reach our levels fairly quickly."

The whitette moved the cooked scrambled eggs onto two plates while her brother set the forks and two cups of orange juice. They then sat at the table, gave thanks for the food, and began to eat.

"When does SAO go live again?" Ruri questioned in between bites.

"One o'clock," Shun replied instantly. "We'll be spawned into the Town of Beginnings on Floor 1. Once we meet up with Kazuto, we'll be off to kill some monsters."

"Okay!"

The ravenette couldn't help but smile at his sister's excitement. When they were younger, she would always cling to him since everyone looked at her like a freak. Whenever she had a problem, she would run to him instead of even her birth parents as he was the only one to fully accept her.

Naturally, Kazuto and Shino accepted her as well, but she always preferred the protection of her older brother. And Shun was always willing to shield her from the ugliness of the world. He had sworn to protect her from all harm, and he had no intention of taking that oath back.

Who knows, maybe in Aincrad, the world of Sword Art Online, she might be the one protecting him for a change? For the first time in a while, Shun felt excited for the future.

Once the appointed time was near, the two siblings headed for their rooms. When he entered the room, he saw that a reporter was interviewing Kayaba's partner, Satoshi Shiraki about the game. Since he had a few minutes to spare before the server went live, he decided to give it a watch.

Unlike Kayaba, Satoshi was actually rather kind to Shun and Ruri, acting as an uncle of sorts. He didn't look Japanese, given his blonde hair and cobalt blue eyes, but he was a native of the island nation. As usual, he was wearing his traditional gray lab coat with a button-down green shirt and khakis underneath. He shared in the reporter's enthusiasm and assured the viewers that they were already planning to open more servers in the coming weeks, as well as distributing more hard copies of Sword Art Online.

Satisfied with what he saw, Shun turned off his computer monitor and hooked up his NerveGear, which was a bulky dark blue helmet with a black visor over the eyes, to his computer and inserted SAO game into the slot on the device. He then went over to his bed and but the helmet on before lying down. With a smirk, he closed his eyes and said the magic words to take him to a new world.

"Link Start!"

Kisara opened her eyes and found herself in a strange place. She was in the middle of a large circular plaza with a stone pillar in the center. The architecture didn't look like Tokyo. It looked more like something you'd see in a fantasy world. Right above her was a clear blue sky with puffy white clouds floating along. In the peripheral of her left field of vision, she saw a clear box with her name and a green bar that represented her health bar. Her level was 1, the usual starting level.

Tons of blue lights were flooding the plaza, each revealing a person dressed in strange attire, again, not something you would see in modern day Japan unless you were cosplaying. She herself was dressed in such attire as she had a basic purple tunic with long red sleeves, brown pants and shoes, as well as purple fingerless gloves. Strapped to her waist was a basic rapier. For her avatar, she had chosen to go with long silver hair that was braided behind her back and dazzling amethyst eyes.

Already she could feel her excitement growing. She was finally here! She was in Aincrad, the floating castle of Sword Art Online. This was the world that her brother and his best friend experienced three months ago in the beta test. Now it was her turn to experience this new world.

Okay, first things first. She had to meet up with her brother and Kirito. Most of the players were already starting to clear out, eager to explore, so it shouldn't be too hard to find them. Wait, how was she supposed to find them again? Marth only told her that they'd meet in the Town of Beginnings. She didn't recall him saying what his and Kirito's avatars looked like.

She at least knew how to open the system menu, which you do by making a certain gesture with your right hand, but that was pointless since she didn't have anyone on her friend list, so she couldn't even find them through that. Not helping her was that player names weren't shown unless you were in a party with them (in which their HP bar will be layered under yours).

"Stupid, stupid," she cursed to herself. "Why didn't I ask Brother what his avatar looked like? At this point, I'll have to ask for every single player their handle just to find him."

"Is that you, Kisara?"

She tensed up for a second. It was a reflex. Despite choosing her old name for her avatar handle, she still felt uncomfortable with someone who wasn't her family or friends to say that name. She turned over her heel to see that she wasn't alone. Standing behind her was a young man with shoulder length black hair and eyes. He was wearing a long-sleeved blue tunic with brown leather padding over his upper chest, black pants and boots, as well as brown gloves. Strapped to his back was a small shortsword.

His voice sounded familiar and he looked to be a decent guy, but Kisara still wanted to play it safe. Slowly, she replied with, "Um, who are you?"

Surprisingly he laughed. "Of course you don't recognize me in this world. It's me, Kazuto, but I go by Kirito here."

That immediately relieved any tension she was feeling. Somehow, she could tell that he wasn't lying to her. There was a voice-filtering function in SAO, but there's no way a stranger could be able to mimic Kazuto's voice and mannerisms so well. Sure, you could play as a different gender, but you only have one character per account, plus Rinko said that it was dangerous to play the opposite gender for long term in a VRMMO since it could negatively affect your physique.

"Oh, it's you, Kirito," she said in relief. "Thank God. I was about to have a panic attack since I didn't know how to find you and my brother."

"Don't worry about it," he said in understanding. "I know that you feel insecure whenever you're separated from Marth, but I guess that helped me find you quickly." He then turned in a random direction and shouted, "Hey, partner. She's over here!"

Soon another player sprinted over to the duo. He had short messy silver hair and blue eyes. His outfit looked identical to Kirito's, only his tunic was gray instead of blue. He also had a basic shortsword strapped to his back. He looked a bit out of breath, like he had been running a marathon, but she could recognize those eyes anywhere, even if they weren't the right color.

"Brother!" she cried out in joy as she tackled him and nearly knocked the boy over. Luckily, he was able to catch himself and returned the hug.

"I'm sorry, Kisara," Marth said in regret. "I should have told you what my avatar looks like so you could find me easily. Are you okay?"

"I am now. Let's add each other to our friend list so we can find each other more easily."

Both boys agreed and they all added each other to their lists. Kirito then invited the two siblings to join his party, which they naturally accepted. Kisara then found out that all players were given a special manual which were made by the ex-beta testers themselves. Inside it contained tons of details, like how to navigate the menus, how to progress your skills, even details on the monsters from Floor 1 to Floor 8 (the highest the beta testers had gotten before the beta test ended).

Marth and Kirito had even helped make the manual, though they claimed most of the work went to a girl named Argo. They all made it so that newer players would have easy understanding of the mechanics of Sword Art Online. Again, it was the first VRMMO so anyone would find themselves a little confused on how to do anything.

While her brother didn't really care for anyone outside his friend group, he claimed he only helped out of obligation since Kayaba was his surrogate father. But Kisara knew better. Despite how cold her brother may act towards others, she knew that deep down he was a good person. He was the kind to always have your back, even if the whole world stood against you. She should know. It was because of him that she was still alive right now.

"No matter what happens, I'll always stay by your side, Brother," she thought to herself. "If the world becomes your enemy, then I'll fight it alongside you. I won't let anything separate us."

"You alright, Kisara?" Marth suddenly spoke up, snapping her out of her reverie.

"Y-yeah. Anyway, what should we do now?"

"Well now that we're all partied up, we should head out to go kill some mobs," Kirito explained. "You'll need to know how to fight in this world if you're gonna do well here. Luckily the monsters here are super weak, so we don't have to worry about dying."

"Okay! Lead the way!"

The two boys shared a smile before they all headed off towards the village outskirts, ducking through different shopping streets as they did so. They were all eager to explore the vast world of Aincrad, but they were suddenly stopped when a certain voice called out to them.

"Hey! You three! Wait up!"

The trio came to a stop in an alleyway before turning around to see that they were being followed. Almost instinctively, Kisara hid behind her brother and he shielded her with one arm. Kirito also looked on guard, but remained still, wanting to silently determine the figure's intentions. Apparently towns like this were labeled as "Safe Zones", meaning that a player's HP can't hit zero outside of a duel. Still, even though this was a virtual world, old habits still clung on.

The figure was a slightly older man with long red hair held up by a red bandana. He was also dressed in the basic starting equipment, but he had a curved sword strapped to his waist instead of a shortsword. He looked friendly enough but anyone can put up a façade like that online.

"Is there something you need?" Kirito asked slowly.

"Yeah, with the way you three seem to know your way around, are you guys beta testers by chance?"

Kisara wasn't really surprised that the older player made such an assumption. With the way Marth and Kirito carried themselves, they were bound to draw some attention among the new player base. She could already see where this was going.

"The two of us were beta testers," Kirito replied, pointing to himself and his partner. "Why?"

The red-head's eyes lit up in excitement. "Cool! Then can you two give me some tips on the lower floors?" he asked eagerly. "Maybe even some combat practice?"

"You should have a guidebook in your inventory to help with that," Marth answered, his tone as cold as ice.

"I know, but I'm more of a visual learner, plus this is my first Full Dive," he pressed on, seemingly undeterred by her brother's attitude. He must be really desperate if that was the case.

"Um, Brother," she spoke up in a weak voice. "I'm cool with him tagging along if you are."

Marth looked over his shoulder in concern. "Are you sure, Kisara?" She only nodded in response. He then turned his gaze to his partner, who simply shrugged. Finally, he sighed in defeat and said, "Alright. We'll help you out. What's your name?"

The unknown player's eyes lit up and formed a big grin on his face. "Thanks a million, man. My name's Klein. Who are you three?"

"I'm Kirito. This is my best friend, Marth, and his younger sister Kisara."

Klein suddenly froze up when he saw the silver-haired girl. It happened so quickly that she thought his connection was lagging. "A g-g-girl. Uh, hi I'm 22. Single and looking for—" He didn't get to finish as Marth promptly shut him up by punching him hard in the stomach and collapsing on the pavement flat on his back.

The red-head's HP gauge, which was visible under a green cursor over his head, didn't go down. Again, this was because they were in a Safe Zone. Players can't damage each other in them unless it was a duel. Weirdly enough, Klein was rolling about, clutching his stomach. It was like he was actually hurt.

"Uh, you do know we don't feel any pain in this world, right?" Kirito asked slowly.

Klein's eyes widened and immediately relaxed before pulling himself back up. "Oh, right." Although he looked ready to wet himself because of the venomous glare Marth was giving him. "Uh, I'm sorry. I was just taken aback by your sister's beauty. I can understand why you're so protective of her."

That took Kisara by surprise. Only Rinko and Shino have ever called her beautiful. Most people just kept insulting her and calling her a freak. To hear someone that she didn't know describe her in a positive manner, well it took her breath away.

"I already regret this," her brother replied. "Just keep control of your pants. I won't be so forgiving next time."

"Y-yes sir," Klein yelped nervously, which Kisara found to be a little amusing as she giggled a little.

"Ngh…arg…hyaa!"

Those strained cries were paired with desperate sword swipes, the blade slashing nothing but empty air. The blue boar charged its attacker in response, nimbly evading the reckless slashes despite its bulk. Kirito simply watched as the beast collided its snout into him, sending him flying skyward before he rolled helplessly on the field. It was so funny he couldn't help but laugh at the sight. He could even see Marth cracking a slight smile as he was coaching Kisara into fighting another boar.

"Ha-ha-ha. Yeah, not like that. The important part is your very first motion, Klein."

"Tch…Hairy bastard." The redhead rose to his feet, continuing his swearing before shooting back with, "Easy for you to say, Kirito. This guy can really move!"

The ravenette simply shook his head. That fall clearly left Klein feeling dizzy given how his legs were unsteady. Deciding to continue with his coach, Kirito picked up a rock from the ground and held it above his shoulder. The system recognized the motion as the initiation of a sword skill so the stone began glowing a faint green.

The rest happening in an instant as his left hand flashed, the roll flying in an arc before striking the boar right between the eyes. Naturally, the swine squealed in outrage and readied another charge, this time with its eyes set on Kirito.

"Well of course it's gonna move," the raven-haired swordsman said nonchalantly. "It's not a training dummy. As long as you initiate the motion and get the sword skill off properly, the system will ensure you hit your target."

"Motion…motion…"

Klein kept muttering the word like he was casting a spell, waving his cutlass in his right hand. The beast, which known as a Frenzied Boar, was merely a level-1 mob, the same level as them. However, because of all his failed attacks and the constant counterattacks, Klein's HP bar was halfway depleted. Dying wasn't a big deal as he'll simply respawn at the Town of Beginnings, but he'd have to walk all the way back here again.

Kirito quickly deflected the boar's charge with the flat of his sword. "Okay, how do I explain this? You don't just hold it up, swing it, and cut the enemy like one, two, three. You have to pause just enough in your first motion to feel the skill cue up, then kapow! Then you strike."

"Kapow?"

He took glance at his side to see that Kisara was already making great progress with her battle. She was moving nimble enough that the swine couldn't touch her before finally finishing it off with the simple thrusting rapier skill, Linear. It's like she was born to fight with a sword. It looks like there won't be any need to worry about her anymore.

Meanwhile, Klein held his curved sword at mid-level as his face crumbled into a grimace. He took a breath and let it out before lowering his waist and raised his sword up to his right shoulder. This time, the system recognized the proper motion and his blade started shimmering with an orange light.

He bellowed out a roar, and in a much smoother motion than before, rushed forward on his left foot. It was Reaver, one of the basic single-handed scimitar skills, and it struck the boar squarely on the head, finally taking out the last of its HP.

The beast let out a weak squeal before it shattered into blue polygons, almost like glass. Purple experience numbers soon followed.

"I did it!" Klein shouted with a big smile before striking a victory poise. "Hell yeah!" He raised his hand high, which Kirito returned before cracking a smile as well.

"Not bad. You managed to kill your first monster. But just so you know, that boar was pretty much like the slimes you see in other games. Really weak."

"Seriously?! With how much trouble I was having, I had thought it was a mid-level boss."

Kirito simply chuckled in amusement before returning his own sword to its sheath. "Yeah. As if."

Despite all his teasing, he was glad that Klein did manage to kill a monster. Given his and Marth's battle experience from the beta, they had been carrying the party in their battles with the early game mobs for the past few hours. Though to give credit, Kisara was a much faster learner than the red head, as she had actually managed to kill a few boars of her own. Still though, Klein really deserved to celebrate his victory of killing a beast with his own sword. Heck, he was currently repeating the skill over and over, likely trying to memorize that lesson, all with that same goofy grin on his face.

"Well, well. He finally did it."

Kirito turned to see Marth and Kisara approach. The elder sibling looked relatively passive but he could tell from years of experience that he was (somewhat) glad that Klein had managed to complete his first kill. Of course it took him, like, four hours to do so.

"Cut him some slack, Marth," he said. "Besides, we didn't have a great start ourselves back in the beta test. Remember that time where we got stampeded by Frenzied Boars?"

His partner grimaced at the memory and looked away in shame. "I thought we agreed not to bring that up."

Kisara simply giggled at that. "Oh, now I really wish I had been part of the beta test. I would have loved to have seen that."

The sunlight was beginning to turn red, bathing the field in its warm touch. Far to the north was a forest, while a lake sparkled in the south. Meanwhile the walls of a town could be seen in the east if Kirito looked hard enough, and the west had nothing but endless sky and golden clouds.

"Wow," Klein said in awe as he returned to the party. "I still can't believe we're in a game. There are like, ten thousand players right now but this field is so vast I can't see any of them. This is incredible."

"Well to be more accurate, this game world hasn't absorbed our souls or anything. The game is just bypassing our eyes and ears by sending information to our brains through the NerveGear," Marth spoke up.

"But you and Kirito are used to this, Marth!" Klein argued. "This is my first full dive into the game and it's incredible. Don't you agree, Kisara?"

The silver-haired fencer hesitated for a bit. This wasn't a surprise to Kirito. Kisara rarely interacted with people because of her history. It pained him to see her like this. He silently hoped that this virtual world can help break her out of her shell.

Finally, she cracked a light smile. "Yeah. It's incredible that we're experiencing this in our own lifetimes. I still can't believe that the NerveGear is capable of accessing all of our senses and simulate us being in another world. It's…almost like a dream."

Kirito couldn't help but smile as well. "You can say that again. It's hard to believe that the NerveGear itself was only released last May." A thought soon came to his mind. "Hey, Klein, is this your first time using a NerveGear?"

"Yup." The way Klein held himself reminded the ravenette of those old-school samurai. In this world, it was easy to play up a character and no one would know unless they knew you in real life. "Well to be more accurate, I got SAO first, then got the hardware I needed to play it. I'm so glad I managed to score one of the ten thousand hard copies. But you two are even luckier with being able to beta test it."

The red head's cheerfulness seemed to rub off on Marth as the silver-haired swordsman scratched his cheek sheepishly. He's normally so much more reserved around strangers. Klein just seemed to have a way of slipping past your defenses. It was a welcome sight to see this side of his best friend.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that," Marth replied, even though he knew it wasn't luck that he managed to score a spot in the beta test.

"Anyway," Kirito added. "Do you guys want to keep going?"

Both Marth and Kisara were good to stay but Klein said he had to leave to eat dinner. That was the one annoyance about the virtual world. Eating the food here only satisfies your hunger in this world. The moment you return to the real world, you'll be just as hungry as before. Most impressively, Klein had thought ahead and ordered a pizza for five thirty.

"Oh, by the way," Klein continued. "I'm planning to meet some friends of mine I know from another game back in the Town of Beginnings. I know we're on each other's friends lists, but I'd love to introduce you all to them?"

To no surprise, all three teens instinctively grimaced at the thought. While they seemed to hit it off fine with Klein (although Marth might need some work, but he at least tolerated the guy), there was no guarantee that it would be the same for his friends. Thankfully, the red head caught on and shook his head in understanding.

"Never mind. Don't worry about it. I can always introduce you guys to them another time. I'm guessing you guys have had bad experiences with people?"

"You could say that," Kisara confirmed. "I'm sorry."

Again, Klein simply shook his head, no anger or resentment in his eyes. "Like I said, don't worry about it. I'm on all of your friends lists, so just message me if you change your minds. Anyway, thanks a lot for your help. I'll make sure to pay you three back, virtually of course."

Everyone laughed at that before Klein said his farewell and began to open his menu to log out. However, this was the moment when this world stopped being a game.

"Uh, Kirito, Marth," he said nervously. "Where's the log-out button?"

"What did you say?!" Marth cried out in disbelief.

All three teens then opened their menus. It couldn't be true, could it? It had to be a bug. However, Klein's words rang true as at the bottom of the white menu was a button that should have said "Log Out", but there was no text on it and touching it did nothing.

"No way," Kirito said in shock. "This can't be real."

Kisara started to look more nervous with the way she was clutching to her brother's arm, and it was perfectly understandable why. "Is there any other way to log out?" she questioned.

It was Marth that answered this time, his voice containing a grave tone. "No. The only way for players to log out is by going through the system menu. The only other way is for someone to remove the NerveGear from your head, but we can't do it since the device intercepts all signals from our brains and sends them to the game."

"Well that sucks," Klein replied, sounding relatively calm despite the situation. "But it is launch day, so there's bound to be some bugs. Do you guys think that tech support is freaking out right now?"

Kirito could only groan in response. "That's what you have to say about it? Anyway, didn't you say something about a pizza delivery at five thirty?"

Comedically, the red head's eyes widened in realization about and began wailing over the loss of his anchovy pizza and ginger ale. Meanwhile, Kirito was simply discarding all his junk items to save on inventory space.

"Maybe try opening a support ticket with the GMs. They might be able to log you out from their side."

"I already tried that but there's no response."

One look at his two friends told him that they weren't having any luck on that front either, and they should have had priority access to customer support given their connections. There's no way Rinko or Satoshi would leave the two siblings trapped here with no way to return to the real world. Just what was going on here?

Klein tried to log out via voice commands, but SAO didn't have that function, so he was merely shouting hot air. It didn't help that there was no mention of an emergency log out in the game manual either.

"Well this sucks," the red head said in defeat. "I live alone, so there's no chance someone will come by to remove my NerveGear. What about you three?"

"Well Marth and Kisara have their mom, while I live with my mother and sister…"

"How old's your sister?" Klein said eagerly, only for Kirito to flick him on the forehead.

"Way to take your mind of the situation. She's in a sports club at school and hates video games. Anyway, doesn't this come off as weird to you all?"

"No kidding," Marth spoke up, his right arm resting on his waist. "Not being able to log out is a big issue that can hurt the game's future. But I'd say that the strangest part is that the programmers could just shut down the servers and log everyone out that way, yet they haven't made an announcement about this."

Something about this was making Kirito feel uneasy. Just what was going on in Argus? Aincrad's time and climate (supposedly) was synced with the real world, so it should be evening in the real world right now. Suddenly the loud ringing sounds of a bell echoed in the air. Before anyone could process what was happening, the group was engulfed in pillars of blue light and the scenery in their eyes began to change.

When the light faded and the environment returned to normal, Kirito and his friends found themselves back in the central square at the Town of Beginnings. They weren't the only ones there though as he saw hundreds, no thousands, of players spawn in from that same blue light.

"Someone forced a teleport!" he realized in his mind, remembering that sensation from the beta test. Thankfully he had spawned in close to his party, but the sounds of confusion and anger from the other players soon filled the air.

The quartet then looked up, just as everyone else did to see something unusual. It wasn't the bottom of the second floor hanging far above them, but the strange red checkerboard-like pattern that decorated the sky. If he squinted his eyes, Kirito could make out the words "Warning" and "System Announcement".

At first, he wanted to relax as it seemed like the developers were finally going to give the players an explanation on what was happening, but the bad feeling in his core refused to subside. Soon, to everyone's horror, the center of the pattern began to sag like two bags of blood. What then emerged were two figures, each about sixty feet, with one garbed in a crimson robe and hood while the other wore a similar garb, only theirs were a bright white. The weirdest part about them though, is that they had no face.

"Marth," Kirito muttered quietly. "That's…"

"I know. Those are the outfits for Argus's GMs from the beta test, but they shouldn't look like that."

The other players were murmuring their own confusion, only to be silenced when the red figure spread his arms out. A man's voice soon rang from it, one that the trio recognized in an instant.

"Welcome, dear players, to my world," the red figure declared. "My name is Akihiko Kayaba and the person beside me is my partner, Satoshi Shiraki. As of this moment, I am the only one in control of this world."

As much as Kirito wanted to be relieved at seeing his best friend's surrogate father and uncle, that bad feeling just refused to go away. Kayaba always preferred to stay out of the spotlight, so why was he playing as a GM? This didn't make any sense.

"I am sure most of you have noticed that the log-out button is missing from your main menus," the black figure spoke up, his voice indeed confirming that he was indeed Satoshi Shiraki. "However, this is not a defect in the system. This is a key feature of Sword Art Online."

"F-feature?" Klein murmured in shock, his eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"From this point forward," Kayaba took over, "you cannot log-out of the game of your free will. Additionally, the NerveGear cannot be removed for shut down from the real world. If anyone attempts this, then the NerveGear a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life."

The red-head let out a dry laugh. "That's a load of crap. The NerveGear's just a game device. It can't fry our brains, right?" He turned to the two beta testers looking to see if they agree, but both of them simply stood there petrified.

"Sorry, Klein, but it can do that," Kirito confirmed in a grave tone. "The transmitter signals the NerveGear uses to intercept our brain signals work just like microwaves. If the safety's disabled, it can fry your brain."

"Yeah but if it's unplugged, it won't have enough power to do that," Marth added. "Unless it's using massive…batteries…"

Both male players knew exactly why he stopped talking, but it was Klein who put those thoughts into words. "Oh crap. It does have the batteries to do that. About a third of its weight are the battery cells. Still though, this crazy! What happens if there's a blackout?"

As if hearing his question, Kayaba continued with his speech.

"To be more specific, the brain-frying sequence will commence upon any of the following circumstances: ten minutes of no external power; two hours of network disconnection; removal, dismantling or destruction of the NerveGear. The authorities and local media have already been informed of this and are spreading awareness to the general public."

"Regrettably," Satoshi took over, "the friends and family of several players have already ignored these warnings and have attempted to remove the NerveGears. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players have already been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world, forever."

Some of the players understandably screamed in terror while the majority were just frozen in shock. Kirito's knees were buckling, trying desperately to keep himself upright. Klein had fallen onto his rear, his face overcome with shock. Meanwhile Kisara buried her head into her brother's chest, who could only wrap his arms around her as if to shield her from the harsh truth of this world, all while sending a death glare towards the two GMs.

Two hundred and thirteen deaths. Was that the truth? Did this world, which was supposed to be a fun game, really take the lives of two hundred and thirteen players? Some of them might have even been beta testers like him and Marth. And now, they were gone.

"This can't be true," Kisara sobbed from her brother's chest. "Please, Brother, please tell me that this is all a bad joke. Mother wouldn't allow Kayaba to do this, right?"

"That's if Rinko even knew what her boyfriend's intentions were with this game," Kirito thought to himself. "I want to believe that this is all a publicity stunt, but this feels too real to be one."

As if to confirm his statement, Kayaba continued with his dry and unnerving announcement. "There is no need for you all to worry about your physical bodies in the real world. The news about the game and the deaths have already been spread across television, radio and the Internet. The danger of someone taking off your NerveGears is minimal at best. Not to mention that the two-hour offline leeway period should be enough for your physical bodies to be transported to hospitals and other long-term care facilities. This will allow you all to focus on conquering the game."

"Are you crazy?!" Kirito finally shouted. "Conquer the game? Are we supposed to just sit back and enjoy the game when we can't even log out? This isn't even a game anymore!"

"That is correct," Satoshi confirmed slowly. "Sword Art Online is no longer a game to you all. It is now another reality. There are no longer any resurrection functions within the game. When your HP hits zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system and the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain."

Marth's face was becoming more noticeably irritated by the second, and Kirito shared in that frustration. If their HP hits zero, then the NerveGear will fry their brains and kill them. This may be a game, but it has become a game of death. During the beta test, you would be resurrected in the Blackiron Palace north of the square, able to return to the battlefield with little to no consequences.

That's how RPGs are supposed to work. You die and learn from the experience, constantly trying to hone your skills. But now that was no longer an option for any of them. If they die once, then they were dead forever.

"This is ridiculous," he muttered in frustration.

"Tell me about it," Marth said in agreement. "Most people will just stay confined to the towns under these conditions. Who would want to venture out and risk their actual lives just for a game?"

Once again, Kayaba seemed able to hear them and responded with his next challenge.

"There is only one way to escape this world. Simply reach the hundredth floor at the pinnacle of Aincrad and defeated the final boss there. Only then will all the surviving players be able to log out once again."

"Clear all one hundred floors?" Klein spoke up in disbelief as he stood back up. "That's freaking impossible. Even the beta testers never made it that high."

It was true. The farthest the beta testers had gotten was Floor 8, not even a tenth of the way through the floating castle of Aincrad. And yet Kayaba was saying that the only escape option was for them to reach the top floor and beat the final boss there. Was such a thing even possible?

"Lastly, to prove that this world is now your only reality, I have prepared a gift in your item storage," Kayaba continued. "Please, have a look."

Without even thinking, Kirito did the motion to open the menu and check his inventory. Marth, Kisara, Klein and many of the other players did the same. At the top of the item list, there was a new item, labelled a hand mirror. Curious about, the raven-haired teen tapped the name and selected the materialize option. With a sparkling sound effect, the small square mirror appeared in his hand.

Reluctantly, he looked into it, only to see the appearance of his virtual avatar. Was something supposed to happen? Kirito turned over to Marth and the others, who were staring at their own mirrors with the same confusion. And then it happened.

A bright white light engulfed Klein and the other players before doing the same with Kirito himself. His vision briefly went blank before finally returning to normal…except things were now different.

Klein's appearance had changed. He was still in his mismatched armor and red bandana, but his spikey hair was much shorter and redder. His face had changed as well and even had scraggly facial hair. If his former avatar could be called a samurai, then his new appearance was that of a ronin. Marth and Kisara's appearances have changed as well, with them now resembling their real world selves but their gear remained the same.

"What just happened?" Kisara questioned slowly.

In that moment, Kirito had understood what Kayaba's "gift" was. He looked back into his mirror and sure enough, his appearance had changed as well. Black hair in an inoffensive style. Gentle black eyes hiding behind long bangs. A soft rounded face that caused him to get confused for a girl at times. This was the face that he had been trying to escape. His real face.

"No way," Klein said in shock as he stared at his own mirror. "It's…me. That means…"

"Yep," Marth finished. "Looks like Kayaba overwrote our avatars' appearances with our real world ones."

Kisara couldn't help but tremble a little. "That's so creepy. But how can the NerveGear recreate our faces like this?"

"The NerveGear has a lot of transmitters all over the underside of the helmet," her brother answered. "It can see what our faces look like."

"Okay. But how does it know my height and body type?"

"I know," Klein spoke up. "When you first put the NerveGear on, it has you touch your body all over for some kind of calibration. That must be how it got our physical data."

"Klein's right," Kirito agreed. "That's exactly how it happened. Kayaba and Satoshi have forced our avatars to be our real bodies and lives. All so we'd be forced to realize the truth."

"But still," Klein grumbled as he scratched his head. "Why would they do this?"

Marth simply pointed to the sky, right at the GMs. "I think they're about to tell us."

Sure enough, Satoshi continued with his and his partner's speech. "Right now, you all must be asking yourselves, why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba and Satoshi Shiraki, the creators of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do this? Is it for ransom? An act of terrorism?"

"The answer is none of them," Kayaba took over. "What I wanted to achieve has already happened, to use the NerveGear and SAO to create a world of my design and observe it. Thanks to Satoshi, I have achieved my goal." He paused for a moment and for a split second, Kirito felt that his gaze went straight to Marth and Kisara. "This concludes the tutorial phase of Sword Art Online. Players, Satoshi and I wish you the best of luck."

And with that, the two GMs ascended to the sky and melted into the system warnings before it all disappeared like nothing had ever happened. Silence soon followed before most of the player base had the proper reaction of learning the new rules of SAO. Most shouted in outrage, cursing the men out, or some begging, no pleading, to be let out. But their outburst did not change the situation. If anything, it helped Kirito confirm that everything Akihiko Kayaba and Satoshi Shiraki said was true.

Those two were geniuses. Only they could craft a world of this design. If he died in this world, then he would die in real life. He would never be able to see his mother or sister again.

He locked eyes with Marth and they shared a wordless conversation. They knew what they had to do.

"Klein, let's go."

"C'mon Kisara."

The raven-haired teens dragged their shell-shocked party members out of the plaza, away from the hysterical mob. They didn't stop until they were in an alleyway far from the chaos.

"Listen, Klein," Kirito continued, trying to sound as calm as possible. "The three of us are heading for the next village. Come with us."

"If what Kayaba and Satoshi said is true, then we have to grow stronger to survive in this world," Marth added, all while trying to comfort his dazed sister. "MMORPGs are pretty much a battle over system resources. There's only so much gold, loot and experience to go around. The more you win, the stronger you get. Everyone's going to have the same idea soon, so the fields around the Town of Beginnings will be hunted clean."

"Yeah. Our best bet is to head to the next town now so we'll have less competition over cash and points." Kirito then turned his gaze to Kisara, who still has not seemed to have recovered from learning the harsh truth of this world. Wanting to help comfort the girl, he stroked her back gently. "Don't worry though. Marth and I know which spots are dangerous. Even at level 1, we can get there easily."

Finally Klein seemed to have regained his ability to speak. His face was contorted in a grimace. "I'd love to come," he said slowly. "But remember those friends I mentioned? We stayed in line a whole night to buy this game. They must be back in the square, and I can't leave them behind.

Kirito bit his lip. He could tell that Klein wasn't the type to bail on his friends to save himself. With their shared knowledge from the beta, he was confident that he and Marth could protect Klein and Kisara from the dangerous monsters on the way to the next town, even at level 1. But any more than that was too risky. He knew that, and Marth knew that.

Klein seemed to pick up on their hesitation as he shook his head slowly. "Nah, don't worry about it. I can't ask more of your help than you've already given. Plus, you both have Kisara to look after. Don't worry about me. Last game I played, I ran a guild, plus with what you guys taught me, I'm more than prepared. Get your asses to the next village."

Even Marth looked hesitant to leave the wannabe samurai, but the red head was right. Kisara was his main responsibility. He had to look after her. He couldn't risk her safety trying to help some people he didn't know. Not as his current level.

"Alright," Marth said solemnly. "We'll part with you here then. If anything comes up, message us."

"See you…Klein," the trio turned to part and took five steps forward.

"Kirito! Marth! Kisara!" They came to a halt. "You three look better like this. Way cooler than your avatars."

Kirito forced himself to smile and glanced back at the red head. "And that scruffy face suits you ten times better!" He turned and prepared to leave, only to glance one more time behind him, only to see that Klein was already gone, having headed back towards his friends in the square.

"Did we really have to leave him?" Kisara said finally, having been silent for this long. She was still clutching her brother's arm, as if afraid that he would disappear if he let go.

Slowly, Marth pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back soothingly. "I'm sorry, Sister, but it's too risky. I swore that I would always protect you and I can't do that effectively if I have to watch over so many new players. He may be a goofball, but Klein's got a good head on his shoulders. I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Yeah," Kirito said in agreement, though he still felt guilty that they were essentially abandoning the first friend they made in the virtual world. "I'm sure we'll meet him again."

That seemed to calm the girl down somewhat as she let her brother go. They then hurried out of the town, weapons at the ready.

No matter what happens, no matter what this world throws at them, they will survive.

To be continued

Okay, this turned out way longer than I expected but I wanted to cover the beginning of Aincrad in one chapter. As mentioned before, this is a rewrite of my Dark Swordsman series. If this first chapter is anything to go off of, there will be key differences between this story and the original Dark Swordsman, one big one being that Kisara is an SAO Survivor as well. Just to clear it up right away, Yuuki is still an SAO Survivor in this story as well, but I will try to expand on her backstory a little more in this version. Anyway, that's all I have to say. See you guys next time!