Chapter 2- The First Day

It was supposed to have been a regular Christmas Eve for Kisara and her family. They had just recently moved to Tokyo thanks to their father getting a job at a certain electronics company and were out to enjoy the holiday cheer. It was snowing that day, the white snow embracing the world like a soft blanket. The air had a chill to it, but the whitette wasn't too bothered thanks to her winter coat. She was eight years old at the time.

Right now she was having a snowball fight with her brother in one of Tokyo's parks, their parents watching them from a nearby bench. She let out a cheerful giggle as she managed to smack Marth in the face.

"That's it!" he said in mock irritation. "You're dead, little sister!"

Kisara simply laughed as she began running around with Marth in hot pursuit. Her brother may terrify other people, including their parents at times, but he could never scare her. No matter where they go, everyone seemed to fear the siblings for reasons they couldn't quite understand. As such, she was never able to make any friends and was constantly bullied. It definitely affected her self-esteem and social skills as she became skittish around strangers, especially if Marth wasn't around. The bullies didn't bother her as much whenever she was with her brother as he was very protective of her. Any fool who dared to insult or harm her in his presence were pretty much courting with death itself. Naturally, this caused Marth to have a bad reputation at school, with him being labelled a problem child.

He was the only one who truly understood her. The only one to not fear her. Over the years, she has come to deeply rely on her elder brother, more so than her own parents. As long as she was with him, she could tolerate the cruelness of this world.

Suddenly she bumped into something, causing her to fall flat on her butt into the snow. She muttered an ow as her brother knelt beside her to see if she was okay. Kisara then looked up to see that she had collided with an adult. Despite appearing to be like any other person she had seen before, something about the stranger felt different. There was a menacing presence about them, something…inhuman, and it was much more intense than anything she or her brother could produce. Frankly, it scared the young girl as she nervously scooted away.

The man looked down at her with dangerous eyes, a wicked smirk gracing his pale face. "Careful, little girl," he said slowly. "Who knows what could happen under the veil of night."

Fear was beginning to overtake her as she desperately wanted to get away from this person. Her instincts were screaming at her to run, but she just sat there, petrified. She didn't even have the strength to speak.

"Get away from her!" Right on que, her elder brother appeared before her, using himself as a barrier between her and the strange man. She could practically feel the daggers Marth was throwing at the man with his eyes, even though his back was to her.

Weirdly enough, the man chuckled at seeing him. Was he amused that a little kid was trying to threaten him? The bad feeling in her stomach was getting worse. They had to get out of here. She didn't know why, but this just felt wrong.

Finally regaining the use of her voice, she muttered in a hoarse tone, "B-brother, let's go back to Mom and Dad."

"Why leave now?" the man questioned in a sly tone. "We were just getting acquainted." His gaze soon fell upon the two children. "We have waited so long for you to return, Zane and Lucia Umbris. You both may not remember you are, but that doesn't change the fact that your existence is a threat to our plans. It would best if we eliminate you two now while you're weak."

What was he talking about? Why did he address her and her brother by those names, ones that she has never heard before? What were these plans and why were they a threat to them? Kisara and Marth Kurusu were just kids. Sure, everyone in school treated them like freaks because they seemed inhuman, but the whitette couldn't see that as a reason to eliminate them. She may be a child, but even she could tell that "eliminate" did not mean anything good.

The man snapped the fingers of his right hand. Instantly more figures emerged from behind the nearby trees. They were a mix of men and women, all dressed in some strange attire that looked straight out of a fantasy world. However, they all had the same unnatural presence the first man had. In their eyes was a murderous glint.

Kisara rose to her feet and hid behind her brother as the strange adults circled around them, blocking any escape routes. She made a slight whimper while gripping his coat so tightly her knuckles turned white. She wanted to go home. She wanted her mother and father. Surely they would have noticed their absence by now and were looking for them, right? Sure, they feared the siblings, but they still cared about them.

As if the heavens heard her prayers, she heard the cries of familiar voices echoing in the air.

"Marth! Kisara!" It was their parents. Somehow, they managed to break through the strangers' formation and got into defensive positions around the siblings. It was times like this that Kisara was glad that she had parents like them.

"What the hell are you doing with our kids?!" their father exclaimed. "And what's with those strange outfits?"

"My, my," one of the women commented with a cold smirk. "Such confidence from such a weak being. Would you say that if you knew the truth about those 'kids' you seem so willing to protect?"

"What do you mean?" their mother retorted, her eyes narrowed like slits. "Explain yourself!"

"Why bother satisfying your curiosity when it would be much more entertaining to see you all die not knowing the answer?" the first man said arrogantly. "We were only going to kill Zane and Lucia, but if you humans wish so desperately to get in our way, then we'll kill you too. It matters not if you live or die, but the Umbris family must be exterminated before it can become a threat to us."

"Zane? Lucia? Umbris family?" Their father muttered those words like a spell, possibly hoping that he could make sense of their meaning. Unfortunately, the clues were too cryptic for even him to fully understand. The only one that made some semblance of sense was the name "Umbris". He had heard that name before, from an old story that his grandfather once told him, but what was it about?

Regardless of his own confusion on the matter, he still held his ground against the unknown assailants, as did his wife.

"Ah, the bonds of family," the man said so distantly, as if he was watching a play or something. "So beautiful…so exploitable."

In an instant, Kisara watched in horror as a long blade ran through her father's chest, shattering bones and organs with ease. Crimson blood poured from the wound and drizzled on the pale white snow. A scream of terror escaped her lips, her eyes locked onto one of the stranger's that was now standing in front of her father, having somehow closed the distance between them in a blink of an eye. The strangely garbed man pulled his sword out of his victim, letting the body collapse on the snow. Her father wasn't breathing. He was dead, killed in an instant.

"Bastard! You'll—" Her mother's words caught in her throat as a spear pierced her abdomen. Like before with her husband, one of the strangers had moved at unnatural speeds and landed a fatal blow, only her wound was more cruel. She quickly lost the strength to stand and fell to her knees. Gritting her teeth, she tossed a final look to her children, who watched in horror as her lifeblood watered the ground. "Run," she said weakly. The spearwoman behind her kicked her in the back, knocking her into the pool of her own blood. She had minutes at most before she bled out.

Kisara couldn't help but scream again. This couldn't be happening. In mere seconds, she had just witnessed the deaths of her own parents. Just minutes earlier, she was having a snowball fight with her brother. And now this snow-covered park reeked of death and blood. The Grim Reaper was coming for her and her brother.

The man Kisara assumed to be the leader cackled passionately, seemingly taking pleasure in the death of her parents. "This is all your fault, Zane and Lucia. If you two have never reincarnated, then those two humans would still be alive. Don't worry, though. You'll soon be reunited with them…in the afterlife."

A sword then materialized in his right hand. It had one edge and was decorated with unusual runes in the silver blade. He looked ready to charge and stab the siblings to kill them in one blow. He took one step…then stopped.

"What the…?"

Suddenly Kisara could feel a new presence, one far more powerful and dangerous than the others she felt earlier. Its point of origin…was her own brother, Marth Kurusu. A black aura surrounded him, joined by an invisible wind that ruffled his hair and clothes. His eyes were hidden, obscured by his long bangs. A menacing growl escaped him.

"Impossible!" one of the strangers cried out, fear caking her voice. "This power… It can't be!"

Kisara watched in shock as her beloved brother's raven black hair turned a pale silver. Whatever was happening to him, it was clear that these murderers were afraid of it given how much they were quivering in the snow.

"Raaah!" And then, black blood watered the pure white snow.

November 7, 2022

Kisara woke with a gasp as she hastily sat up, her breathing labored. She could feel her heart beating against her chest like a loud drum. It took her a good minute before she finally managed to calm herself.

She hadn't had that dream for a while now, about six months if she remembered right. That day was honestly the worst day in her entire life, and for obvious reasons. Somehow, she and her brother had managed to survive that terrible event, but even now, Kisara still didn't fully understand how that happened. The most she could remember besides what she saw in her dream was a dark aura and the spilling of black blood, everything else being a blur. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't clear up the images of that memory. Perhaps the trauma of that day had caused her to block out the rest of the memory.

Naturally, she had asked Marth about it, but he claimed that he didn't remember what happened either. Apparently, he blacked out after seeing their parents die and when he regained consciousness, all those strange people were lying in the snow, dead. The police couldn't figure out what happened there either. The best they could manage was that the murderers had fought against some kind of monster of a person given the blood spills and footprints, but they had no way of identifying the siblings' savior.

Regardless, with no other family left, the two siblings were sent to an orphanage. No one wanted to adopt them. Pretty much any adult who visited that looked at them immediately backed away out of fear, claiming that they were monsters, not children. This also caused the siblings to get bullied by their fellow orphans, with the bullying sometimes escalating to physical violence. It really did not help Kisara's mental health and made her become more dependent on her brother, as he was the only one in that wretched building that cared about her. Anyone who so much as plucked a strand of her lovely white hair would get a thrashing from Marth.

This behavior of his got him in trouble with the caretaker a lot. There were times where she threatened not to feed him for the day if he didn't obey, but he didn't really care. In his mind, Marth was protecting his only sister from harm, something he had promised to do the day they arrived at that orphanage.

"Now we're trapped in this world. But unlike back then, I know have the potential to protect my brother, just as he's always protected me. I won't let anything happen to him."

A sudden knock came from her door. Knowing who it was, Kisara ran her fingers through hair, hoping to reduce her bedhead. This world may be virtual, but Argus really put in the work to make Sword Art Online as realistic as possible within the limitations of the current hardware. That includes the curse that is bedheads. While as socially insecure as she is, even Kisara wanted to look presentable towards her few friends.

"Come in."

The wooden door swung open gently and two figures strolled into the inn room. As expected, it was indeed Marth and Kirito. They were already in their gear and had their weapons equipped, ready to tackle the challenges the day will bring.

"Morning Kisara," Kirito spoke with a light smile. "Did you sleep well?"

The memory of her nightmare sent a shiver down her spine, but she forced herself to smile. She didn't want them to worry about her. If what Kayaba and Shiraki said yesterday was true, Aincrad has been turned into a game of death. Survival needed to be their main priority, not her personal problems.

"Y-yeah. The bed is a bit softer than I thought. I slept like a rock."

Marth simply stared at her. Given their close relationship, it was highly likely that he knew she was lying. She hated to lie to him, her only remaining blood relative. But she felt that this was necessary. If he felt that she wasn't capable of fighting to clear the game, there was no doubt he'd take her back to the Town of Beginnings and force her to stay there for her own safety. She didn't want that. That fate would be much worse than fighting on the front lines. She would go mad worrying if her beloved brother was safe or not if she was forced to stay behind while he was out there fighting. She refused to let anything separate them.

Fortunately, if Marth did notice her lying, he didn't call it out, a welcome relief for the whitette. He maintained his passive mask before speaking. "We made good progress by reaching Horunka last night. As expected, we seem to be the only players here."

"For now," Kirito voiced. "I'm sure there are a few other beta testers in the area that had the same idea as us. However, there should be plenty of experience points to go around. There aren't any dangerous monsters with status effects nearby either. This will make a good grinding spot."

"True, unless something here has changed since the beta. Relying on our beta tester knowledge as our crutch is a risky move. There's no telling what all was changed in the final release of SAO."

Marth made a good point. It was quite common for games to have drastic changes between the beta and final release. A regular monster from the beta might suddenly have a poison attack, or a boss might have entirely different attack patterns. Kisara wasn't much of a gamer. Most of her gaming experience came from either watching her brother play games, or playing multiplayer games with him.

"I see," she spoke with a nod. "As usual, I'll take you at your word, Brother. By the way, how long do we have until this town is overrun with players?"

"Hmm." He was silent for a few moments. Kisara could even picture the numbers running through her brother's head as he stood there with his chin resting in his right hand. "Horunka is only a few hours from the Town of Beginnings. However, considering the mental state of the player base was yesterday after Kayaba and Shiraki revealed that SAO is a death game, most of them will be pretty wary to leave town. At best, I think we might have a day or two before other players will start showing up."

Kirito nodded in agreement. "Sounds about right. However, there's telling how many players will even leave the Town of Beginnings just for simple level grinding. The monsters there are pretty weak, but with the new rules, even they can kill you if you make the slightest mistake. The point of death in RPGs to learn from your mistakes and grow as a player. But that element has been taken out here. It's become a new reality."

"Yeah. Even if players did find the courage to leave the safety of town and fight the monsters in the nearby fields to level up, they'll eventually have no choice but to venture further to fight stronger monsters to keep leveling at a reasonable pace, not to mention having to compete with other players for XP and loot."

This was all flying over Kisara's head, but she could understand the basic gist of the situation. Eventually other players will show up for better chances at obtaining loot and XP as an MMO's resources are limited. Of course, like other MMOs, SAO monsters did respawn after a set amount of time and pretty much every quest was available to everyone, so nothing was truly permanent. However, it all comes down to how much time you pour into getting stronger. Are you willing to play it safe and stay by the Town of Beginnings, competing with a large amount of players over money and XP and taking forever to level up, or are you willing to venture into the unknown and fight monsters without the competition and leveling up much faster?

If she was alone, Kisara didn't know what she would do. Thankfully, she had Marth and Kirito with her. Not only could they show her optimal ways of grinding out levels, but they also knew all the dangerous areas to avoid. She was truly fortunate that they had been in the beta test of Sword Art Online.

"So what's the plan?" she asked curiously.

"We'll stay here for a day or so, grinding up experience points," Marth answered. "There's even a quest here we should do to get some good weapons. Fulfilling its requirements will take forever, but it's a decent way to level up."

That makes sense. Getting good equipment was essential in an MMO. Higher-level gear can increase your stats, making it easier to kill monsters and take hits. One can't rely on their starter equipment forever after all.

Marth and Kirito exited the room so Kisara could change into her gear. Once she was done, she rejoined them in the inn's dining hall where they had some breakfast. Sure, eating in this world wouldn't satisfy your hunger in the real world, but there were benefits to doing so. For one, feeling hungry could be a terrible distraction in a fight and reduce your morale. Secondly, some foods could even give buffs to improve one's combat skills. Naturally, those particular foods were hard to craft as they required rare materials from powerful monsters.

According to her brother, cooking was one of the Extra Skills that players could equip, but it was a hassle to level up as you had to cook over and over again, not to mention that you actually needed a kitchen to do so. Marth and Kirito had no intention of using one of their limited Extra Skill slots on such a grind-heavy skill that brought no immediate benefits to their combat skills, but Kisara thought differently. She didn't mind cooking, as she would often make dinner for her and her brother whenever Rinko was staying late at Argus. Sometimes she would even have Marth help her, but that always ended in disaster since he was a terrible cook. Seriously, he could burn water if he wanted to. Sure, leveling up the Cooking skill did sound like a hassle, but it might return some normalcy to her life (at least whatever normalcy she did have before she got trapped in this world).

Speaking of which, what was Shino doing right now? The brunette wasn't able to acquire one of the physical copies of SAO, so she wasn't stuck in Aincrad like them. Still, Kisara couldn't help but worry over her best friend. She just hoped that she was alright.

Shino Asada was sitting in a hospital room in the Kyoto Ward. She wasn't visiting a family member, but instead one of the 10,000 players that was trapped inside of the death game that was Sword Art Online. Behind her half-rimmed nonprescription glasses were her red eyes from crying all night, worrying over the fate of her dear friend. Her short brown hair was a mess, but she didn't care right now. Right now, she was more focused on being by her friend's side, as it brought her some sense of calmness. The white-haired beauty always seemed to have that effect on her, even after all these years.

"Kisara," she muttered to herself as she gently took her sleeping friend's hand. The whitette was hooked up to a life support machine with IV bags. She looked fine for now, but eventually her body will start to degrade from the lack of exercise and nutrition. "I'm so sorry. I should be trapped in that stupid game with you. I failed you because I can't be by your side when you need me."

How the two girls met was quite interesting. Like Kisara, Shino was and still is bullied by her fellow students. However, the key difference for the brunette's bullying is that it came from the knowledge of her killing someone when she was a little girl. Naturally, there was more to the story, but those jerks didn't care. In their eyes, she was a monster, someone to be looked down upon.

Her single mother, who was mentally weak after the loss of her husband, eventually couldn't take it anymore and sent her to live with her grandparents in Tokyo. Unfortunately, even that wasn't able to avoid her bloody past as the students at her current school quickly found out. Thankfully her grandparents were more than understanding and even offered to get her her own apartment once she turned sixteen. She was grateful for that, as it would allow her to have her own space to escape to.

As to how to this connected back to Kisara, their entire meeting was pure coincidence. It was about two years ago, right when she first moved to Tokyo at the age of eleven. Some of the students were bullying her after school, abusing her phobia of firearms by pointing finger guns at her. They were demanding that she atone for her sins or some nonsense, but the terrified Shino begged for someone to help her. And then, as if some deity took pity on her, she appeared. Ruri Koujiro, or as Shino would later know her as Kisara Kamado.

Despite being new, even Shino knew of the white-haired girl infamy. Her unnatural presence, that inhuman beauty, and of course the terrible knowledge of her parents being murdered in front of her. From what she understood, Ruri was a timidly girl, constantly hiding behind her brother when around strangers, and yet there she was, standing between Shino and her abusers.

"Leave her alone!" Ruri demanded, sounding scared but also firm. "Leave my friend alone!" Her proclamation took them all by surprise, especially Shino.

Naturally, though, the bullies had no intention of letting anyone interrupt their "fun". One of the boys even threw a punch at the white-haired girl's face, causing her to flinch, but held her ground nonetheless. Even Shino found herself closing her eyes and waited for the sound of the impact and of the girl hitting the concrete pavement, but it never came. When she would open her eyes, she saw that another student had blocked the punch with his bare hand. She knew who it was, and she would never forget those raging bloodred eyes. After all, if Ruri was here, then her big brother was always nearby, ready to pounce onto anyone who would do her harm.

Just his sheer presence was enough to get the bullies to stand down and run away in fear. Sure, they tormented him too, but they had learned the hard way not to mess with him when he was angry. After that incident, Shino found herself becoming friends with the mysterious siblings, as well as Kazuto. Those three made her life more tolerable. But now they were gone, beyond her reach.

Being around Marth kept the bullies in check, but now that he's essentially in a coma, they've become emboldened to harass her all over again. It was painful bearing their insults, but seeing her dear friend right now, it somehow gave her courage. Sure, Ruri was timid and meek due to her harsh life, but underneath that shell was bold young woman. She always seemed to endure everyone's insults and jeers. If Ruri could do it, then so could she.

Shino wiped the water from her eyes before giving the sleeping girl's hand a gentle squeeze. "Don't worry about me, Kisara. I'll be just fine. You just worry about surviving. I know you can do it. You're stronger than you look."

As she watched over her unconscious friend, an older woman with short black hair, a blue button-down shirt, blue jeans and black shoes peered into the room from the slightly open door. Though she too was worried about the whitette, she was relieved seeing that her dear friend was doing okay. She made a note to keep an eye on the young brunette whenever she has time. It was the least she could do for her dear daughter after all.

"Sei!" Marth grunted out as he slashed at one of the carnivorous plants with his short sword.

As expected, his sword cut through the monster like a hot knife through butter. Its HP hit zero in mere seconds, shattering into countless polygons. Marth glanced over at his teammates, who were fighting the same enemy types as him. Good, looks like they're handling themselves just fine. Such a thing was expected from Kirito, but Marth couldn't deny his concern for his younger sister. She showed a lot of potential with that rapier, and she could her own in battle. Still though, he couldn't deny that he felt that he shouldn't be letting her fight at all.

He knew how this world worked, even before it became a death game. He knew how to handle himself in a fight. But this is all new to his little sister. If her HP ever hit zero, then she'll be gone forever, his only family member. A world like that, he didn't want to even think about it.

However, he knew Kisara well enough that she would not want him to leave her behind. She would worry constantly over his safety, and he didn't want her to suffer through that fate, especially if he died while she survived. Such a thing would break her spirit. His only option was to keep her close where he could protect her. Sure, it was risky, but if they did die, at least they would be together. Plus, if the other players found out about their connection to Kayaba, there was no doubt in his mind that they would take their anger out on him and his sister. Of course, if those idiots dared to try such a thing, Marth would quickly put them in their place. He won't allow any harm to befall Kisara.

Anyway, the quest they were doing was a fetch quest. The quest giver was a woman with a sick daughter who needs a special medicine made from the ovule of the carnivorous plants in the forest west from Horunka. Admittedly, this was a rather tedious quest as the only carnivorous plants that dropped the item they needed was the flowering variety, and they were rather rare. To make matters worse, they needed three of them to complete the quest since they each accepted the quest individually as this one is designated as a solo-only quest.

"God, I hate this quest, but the reward is a sword that'll help in the long run," Marth pondered as he cut through more of the regular Little Nepenthes with his blade.

They had been out here for hours, just killing those pitcher-plant monsters. It was already nightfall and they only obtained one of the ovules needed to complete the quest. Ironically, it was Kisara who got it. The moment she saw plant with the flower, she immediately sprung into action and killed it with a Sword Skill, smiling in victory afterward. Neither Marth nor Kirito could be mad at her for that, instead they were just proud for her. Well on the bright side, there was a benefit in killing the regular Little Nepenthes, as that increased the spawn rate of the Flowering Little Nepenthes, the monster that drops the rare item needed to finish the quest. However this also increased the spawn rate of another rare breed of Little Nepenthes, one that possessed a fruit. If this particular monster is attacked, it explodes into a terrible smoke. This smoke wasn't poisonous or corrosive, instead it would draw distant Nepenthes near you, which can be a death sentence for low level players.

Thankfully, nights in Aincrad weren't pitch-black. The next floor did tower over them from high in the air, but there was also a skybox that gave the illusion of a starry night sky. It was beautiful to look at and it provided decent enough lighting that you could run without tripping. Although Kirito did comment how that doesn't erase the creep factor of the dark, that something could be lurking behind you, waiting to strike at the right moment.

Before they left Horunka, the trio had discussed what they should equip in their skill slots. Players only have two skill slots at level 1, and the first one is usually allocated to whichever weapon they're using. Marth, for example, had One-Handed Swords equipped to his, as did Kirito. For the next skill they would equip, they decided to go with Search. Admittedly, this wasn't a good skill to use with a party, but Kirito felt that it would come in handy in the long run.

The Search skill increases your detection range, allowing you to see cursors from farther away. Theoretically, you could use this to judge the enemy numbers and see if they're worth attacking. Supposedly it provided other benefits at higher levels, but none of them would be seeing those anytime soon.

Also, although they were still at level 1, the party already had their third skill planned out. The Hiding skill. Again, like with Search, this isn't one meant for a party, but the justification was that it could be used as a last resort in case they came across an enemy that was too strong for them. With SAO being a death game, they were leaving nothing to chance.

Marth snapped from his thoughts as he heard the rustling of a nearby bush. Readying his sword, he turned to his right and saw another Little Nepenthes emerge from the shadows. Despite having "little" in its name, it was far from small as it was nearly five feet tall. This type of monster was Level 3, so he had to be careful. However, despite this, Marth couldn't help but smirk. This monster has a flower on its head.

"Found you," he said slowly.

He watched his opponent with caution as he planned his attack. The Little Nepenthes didn't have eyes, so it couldn't see. However, that didn't mean that it was a pushover. Like with all creatures that are blind, this monster had other ways to see. Some relied on sound to track their prey, but the Little Nepenthes, it relied on smell.

The plant monster turned its body to the black-haired swordsman, its mouth watering with a strange liquid. Suddenly it swung its two vine-like arms at him, the leafy tips as sharp as daggers, but Marth knew it would do that. With great haste, he slid underneath the vines, evading the attack. Without missing a beat, he slashed the monster's root-like feet. It let out a pained screech and readied a counterattack, but Marth wouldn't let it carry through. With a quick motion, his blade flashed blue as he unleashed the one-hit Horizontal and struck true, striking the monster's stomach. It then groaned weakly before shattering into polygons. Immediately afterward, Marth got a notification on his winnings, including that he obtained the very quest item that he needed.

"Hey, guys!" he called out. "I got the Little Nepenthes Ovule!"

"Nice work, Brother!" Kisara cheered.

"Not bad," Kirito added. "Now we just need one more and then we can head back."

Feeling that they made good progress, the trio decided to take a break and give the monsters a chance to respawn. In fact, all that monster hunting has caused them to level up. They sat behind a rock and some bushes, hiding them from sight, as they rested and allocated their stat points accordingly. There wasn't a Safe Zone in this forest, so they had to keep an eye out for any enemies, whether they were monsters or other players. Luckily, since there were three of them, they could rotate shifts while the others got some rest.

"We're nearly there," Kirito spoke up, a light smile decorating his face. "If we keep up this momentum, we'll be finished with this quest today."

Kisara let out a yawn. "Really? But it's getting pretty late," she replied. "Shouldn't we call this a night and head back to town. The monsters will still be here tomorrow."

Marth did find himself agreeing with his sister. If it was just him and Kirito, he was fine with staying up late into the night, killing countless monsters to grind for XP and rare items. But now they had Kisara to look after. She wasn't used to pulling late-nighters in this world. However, they did need to finish this quest quickly before the other players showed up.

He checked the clock in his peripheral vision. It was around nine o'clock. Deciding to compromise, he said, "How about we keep going for another two hours? Once it reaches 11, we'll head back to town."

"Sounds good to me," Kirito agreed with a nod. "What about you, Kisara?"

"I'm fine with it, but I can hear my bed calling to me."

The boys couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Then I guess we should finish this up quickly then," the ebon-eyed teen replied with a faint smile.

Suddenly Marth tensed up and stood to attention while grabbing the hilt of his sword. Kirito also did the same as they got into defense positions in front of the whitette. They had heard the sound of two dry pops, meaning that they were no longer alone. How foolish. They got so distracted that they failed to check their surroundings. Talk about a newbie mistake.

Bracing for a fight, Marth and Kirito turned to the new arrival, expecting a monster. However, it wasn't a monster that had approached them, but a human, a real human. It was another player. It was a young man who was a bit taller than trio. He was dressed in the leather armor and buckler sold in Horunka, and had the starting Small Sword strapped to his back. Given how his hands were held together, it seems like that sound came from him clapping, likely to congratulate them for leveling up.

Marth let out a small breath before lowering his hand, in parallel with his partner. However, that didn't stop him from eyeing warily at the new arrival, just in case things turned sour. While this was a death game, there was no telling how that would affect every player that is still alive. Already he could feel Kisara pressing against his back, her typical reaction when meeting strangers.

The young man gave an awkward smile and bowed. "S-sorry for startling you guys. I should have said something first."

"No, it's our bad," Kirito spoke up, knowing that he would the better communicator among the group, especially since Marth was so distrusting of other people. "We overreacted. Sorry."

"Yeah," Marth said slowly, "Sorry."

The boy smiled in relief, but he still looked a little nervous, likely because of Marth's cold stare. He then brought his right hand to his nose before realizing the action and dropped his hand. Given the movement, it was likely that he wore glasses in the real world.

"C-congrats on leveling up. That was pretty quick," he said, to which Kirito just shrugged.

"I don't know about that. I'd say that you're pretty quick yourself. I would have thought it would take until tomorrow before anyone else arrived in this forest."

"Ha-ha-ha, I thought I was the first one here. The road's a bit tricky to remember."

It was then that Marth realized who this person was. He was another beta tester, like him and his partner. He knew the location of Horunka, the best location to hunt Nepenthes, and even not to buy the Bronze Sword from the town as it was not suited to be used on the plant monsters due to their corrosive elements. He glanced over at the ebon-eyed swordsman and saw that he had come to the same conclusion.

This was the first time they had met another beta tester since the full release of SAO. Neither Marth nor Kirito were particular close to any of them. Well, there was one former beta tester that they were on good terms with, but they had no idea where she was nor had the means to track her down. Although, given her particular craft, they might run into her sometime in the future.

"You guys are doing the Forest Elixir quest too, right? It's pretty much a mandatory quest for any one-handed sword users. That Anneal Blade you get as a reward will carry you to the third-floor labyrinth."

"Th-that's right," Kisara spoke up nervously. "We even managed to obtain two of them."

The young man's eyes widened in shock before smiling. "Wow! That's great. Just one more to go for you guys then. Hey, since we're here, why don't we work on the quest together? It'll be more effective."

That was true. Having an additional fighter to kill the monsters would speed up the process of spawning the flowering variety. It was a decent plan, but Marth found himself hesitating to accept it. Was it because they ditched Klein back in the Town of Beginnings or was it his distrustful nature? Probably both. Kirito and Kisara were hesitant too.

Noticing this, the boy added, "We don't have to form a party. You guys were here first, so you'll get the next key item. After that, you guys can tag along with me to get the second one."

Marth and Kirito locked eyes. Not saying a single word, they came to an agreement.

"Alright," Kirito replied. "We'll agree to those terms."

"Great. My name's Kopel by the way."

"I'm Kirito. This is my partner Marth and his sister, Kisara."

Marth was a bit reluctant to share their handles with this person. They didn't know if "Kopel" was their real name or just an alias. He cursed his luck that Kirito was bad coming up with clever names on the spot, so he instead just told this guy their real character names. And given Kopel's odd reaction, he knew something about them.

"Kirito… Marth…Wait, haven't I heard those…?"

"You're thinking of other people," Marth spoke up, immediately sensing danger. "Anyway, let's do some hunting."

"S-sure. By the way, how old's your sister? It's rare to meet a real gi—EEK!" Whatever Kopel was going to say died in his throat as he found a sword pointed towards his jugular.

"Care to finish that sentence?" the raven-haired swordsman asked coldly.

"N-never mind. Hey look! Some Nepenthes just spawned in. Let's go!" He then ran off towards the monsters.

Kirito simply chuckled. "You have one serious sister complex, Marth."

Marth just grunted in response. "Tsk. I don't know what you're talking about. Anyway, stay close to me, Kisara. I don't trust this guy."

"A-alright."

The trio then hurried after the other beta tester. They spent the next few hours killing monsters with Kopel, with them all reaching Level 3 in the process. However, there was still no sign of the flowering type spawning in. Not to mention that all their weapons were wearing out. Right when they were about to give up and call it a night, a new Nepenthes suddenly spawned in, a Nepenthes with a flower.

The group readied to pounce on their prey like a pack of wolves, only for Marth to hold them back. Something didn't feel right. With the Search skill increasing his perception range, he saw another Nepenthes behind the flowering one. If it was a regular one, they'd be fine. If it had a flower too, then they were in luck. However, Lady Luck was not on their side. The second Nepenthes had a fruit. Kirito and Kisara noticed it quickly thanks to their Search skill too while Kopel had to squint to see it.

"Damn it," Kirito cursed under his breath. "If that fruit explodes, we'll be surrounded by these things. We can't handle that with our current levels and equipment."

"Could we just wait for them to separate?" Kisara questioned, also keeping quiet.

"I don't know," Marth replied in a hushed tone. "I heard a rumor that the flowering Nepenthes turn into fruit ones if enough time passes. I have no idea if it's true though."

"Let's go," Kopel whispered. "I'll draw the fruit one's attention. Meanwhile you guys take out the flowering one ASAP." Without even waiting for a response, he strode off.

With no better options, the party of three made their way to their target while Kopel distracted the fruit variant. In no time at all, the trio killed the Flowering Nepenthes, its flower falling gracefully onto the grass. Kirito quickly picked it up and stored it into his pouch.

"We got it!" Marth called out. "Let's—"

The words caught in his throat. Even though Kopel was focusing on defending himself, he still managed to toss a glimpse at the trio. A strange, narrow stare. A bad feeling suddenly came from Marth's gut.

"Sorry, guys."

Kopel suddenly activated the overhead slice attack, Vertical. But why that Sword Skill? That attack wasn't effective against Little Nepenthes as their weak stalks were more affected by horizontal slashes. It took Marth a second to realize his intentions, quickly grabbing his sister's hand in the process.

Kopel's attack struck true, slashing downward upon the monster's pitcher, and more importantly, the bobbing fruit above it. The fruit suddenly exploded into putrid-smelling smoke.

This was bad. This happened before in the beta test. Marth, Kirito and two other beta testers teamed up for this quest and one of them accidently killed the fruit variant. They were quickly swarmed by Nepenthes and all died before they could escape.

As Kopel leapt away from the smoke, Marth heard Kisara mutter, "Wh…why?"

Marth didn't have the chance to answer her as he saw at least thirty Little Nepenthes begin to swarm the area. "Run," was all he could say.

The trio hastily began to flee, but both the ex-beta testers knew it was pointless. The Nepenthes's max speed was much higher than it appeared. Escape was impossible. Damn it all. What was Kopel thinking?

He glanced over his shoulder to see the traitor duck into the brush. Suddenly, Kopel's cursor then disappeared. At first Marth thought he used a teleport crystal to escape but they weren't available on the first floor. Instead, he was using the Hiding skill. That was how he snuck up on them. He was trying to use the skill to evade the monsters so that they would go after the party and kill them. A monster player kill.

Kirito had his ovule in his pouch instead of his inventory. If he died, then any items he had equipped or in his pouch would be dropped on the spot. Kopel was planning on having the monsters kill his partner and steal the item.

"I see. Decent move, Kopel. You recognized this game of death and decided to lie, cheat and steal to survive. I'm almost impressed. However, your inexperience will be your undoing."

It was clear that this was Kopel's first time picking Hiding. It's a useful skill, but not all-powerful. One of its key weaknesses was that monsters who don't rely on sight weren't affected, like the Little Nepenthes. This was why Kirito recommended that they choose Searching first.

Knowing that the monsters behind them will be distracted by Kopel, Marth drew his sword as he and his team continued to run.

"Kirito!"

"I know. Let's push through! This world won't beat us!"

The two beta testers, along with Kisara, steeled themselves as they prepared for the fight of their lives. Behind them, Kopel was screaming something, but Marth didn't pay attention to it. None of them did.

The party of three didn't stop until they reached Horunka. Somehow, someway, they managed to survive that trap. They slumped over by the town gate, desperately trying to catch their breath, their backs against each other.

"If I see…another plant…I'm going…to lose it," Kirito panted in exasperation.

"No…kidding…" Marth added.

"We're…alive…" Kisara said in relief.

It was clear that Kopel was dead, otherwise he would have returned by now. Strangely, Marth didn't feel anything over this realization. Sure, he was angry that Kopel tried to kill them, but he felt nothing over his death. No sadness, no anger, no satisfaction. Just…nothing.

A silence fell upon the group before Kirito broke it. "I still can't believe that Kopel did that."

"Never underestimate human greed. It brings out the worst in anyone."

He could feel Kisara hesitate about something. He waited for her to speak, only for her to stay silent. There was no telling what was racing through her mind right now. He'll need to talk to her in private later.

After spending a few minutes catching their breath, the group made their way back to the quest giver to deliver the rare items. As expected, the NPC happily gave the boys one Anneal Blade each and strangely an Anneal Flash (which was a rapier) for Kisara. Now that weapon was not in the beta test. How curious.

Needless to say, after spending so much time grinding out in the forest, the party was dead tired, so they decided to return to the inn to get some much needed sleep. Marth and Kirito shared a bedroom while Kisara got her own.

The ebon-eyed swordsman pretty much fell asleep the moment his head hit the bed, gear and all. Thankfully, he had enough sense to unequip his sword and pouch. As for Marth, he changed into his sleepwear, but rather than crawl into his bed, he exited the room and went over to his sister's room.

"Kisara," he said while knocking on the door, "are you still awake?"

"Yes," she said drearily. "Come in."

He did just that, gently closing the door behind him as he did so. Inside the darkened room was his lovely little sister dressed in a simple shirt and pants. She was sitting under the covers, her beautiful white hair covering her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Marth asked as he made his way over to the bed.

"No, I'm not," she replied. The moment he sat down on the bed, she buried her head in his chest and began to cry. "I-I was so scared back there! I thought we were gonna die! It was just like that Christmas Eve four years ago."

He gently wrapped his arms around his wailing little sister, trying his best to comfort her. "Kisara, did you have that nightmare again? The one about our parents?"

"Yes. I didn't say anything earlier because I was afraid you'd keep me in the Town of Beginnings because I was too weak. I don't want you to leave me alone. I-I can't lose you too."

"I won't lie, the thought has crossed my mind. However, I think you're better off staying by my side. I can better protect you if I keep you close. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

"I know," Kisara sobbed. "But we were so close to dying today and you took a lot of attacks to protect me. I'm holding you back, aren't I?"

It was true that Marth did take a lot of damage to protect his sister from that Nepenthes swarm. That was the closest he came to real death in a long time. However, he didn't regret it in the slightest.

"As long as you're alright, that's all that matters to me. I'll face any opponent to keep you safe. I never want to hear you say you're holding me back again. I fight my hardest when you're with me. Do you understand?"

"I-I do. Can I make a selfish request?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Can you sleep with me? I'm too scared to sleep by myself."

"Of course."

The siblings parted, with Kisara crawling under the covers. The moment her head touched the pillow, she fell into a peaceful sleep. This wasn't the first time they shared a bed. They actually did this quite a lot during the first two years after losing their birth parents, mainly because Kisara was often plagued by terrible nightmares. Marth sleeping with her was the only way to calm her down until Rinko adopted them.

"Sleep tight, little sister," he said softly as he gently stroked her cheek.

He then stared at his right palm. There was something he had to try. It's been a long time since he's done this. The last time he had done so was the night his parents were murdered. There was no telling if it would even work in this world, but he had to be sure. Marth reached into himself, focusing all his might into his right hand.

Sure enough, a dark aura radiated from that hand. This was no light effect from a Sword Skill or anything involving the systems of SAO. This is the power that Marth was born with. A forbidden power that destroyed anything it touched.

He knew that this power was dangerous, but there might come a time where he'll be forced to use it again to protect his sister. The question is, will he be able to control it?

To be continued

Sorry for the long break. Been having some issues with finding the motivation to write, but I think I found a way to deal with it. Anyway, geez are all my chapters in this story gonna be this freaking long?! I was half tempted to cut this into two parts but I didn't think there was enough material to stretch it out that long. Still though, I hope this long chapter makes up for my absence. I think the next to get updated will be Ashen Wolf, or it will be Connections? Eh we'll find out together. Anyway, it's late so I'm gonna just post this and turn in. See you guys next time!