Note to self: do not try to write a story while attending a 3 week 7am to 9pm sleepaway camp.

Note to self: write one story at a time

Note to self: why?


"Hey, hey!"

"Argo, what the fuck?"

"No, the correct question is whom the fuck!"

"Why the hell are you in my bed?"

"Wrong question!"

"Mm, Onii-chan?" Suguha asked sleepily, looking up. The thought of how realistic this game was crossed my mind briefly before I returned to the situation at hand. Slowly untangling myself from the pile of what should have been three bodies but was now four, I grabbed Argo and pulled her off the bed. Standing up and dragging the pouting girl with me, I shoved her into one of the chairs and sat down in the other one in order to better intimidate her, but the image was ruined by the distraction called Yuuki waking up.

"Who are you?" Yuuki asked, somehow in front of Argo now. "And how did you get in? Can you teleport? Did Onii-chan let you in?" she shot out, ignoring Sugu's cries of 'not your Onii-chan'.

"Well, young-un, my name's Argo, but you can call me Argo," Argo introduced herself. "I'm the only information broker in all of Aincrad!"

"It also means she's the worst at what she does," I added, causing Argo to cross her arms in a sign of displeasure.

"I'm also the best, by the logic," she rebutted.

"Best in a field of one isn't exactly incredible," I responded. "Plus, things have changed since the beta. Remember the quest for the Anneal Blade?" Argo nodded.

"Yeah, the one where you have to get the flower off of the Nepenthes. What about it?" she asked.

"The quest giver was different," I said, causing Argo's eyes to widen. "There's no way to tell if the information from the beta is reliable. Most of it is, but things are going to have changed."

"Does anyone mind sharing with the class?" Aiko asked, sitting up in bed. Suguha was doing the same, looking at the interaction in confusion. At some point Yuuki had wormed her way into my lap, something I hadn't noticed.

"Alright, introductions are in order," I said, everyone nodding. "Everyone, this is Argo, a close acquaintance during the beta test."

"Nice to meet y'all!" she said, waving her hand cheerfully.

"Argo, this is my sister Leafa," I continued, pointing to Suguha, "and our friends, Ran and Yuuki. They're twins."

"Okay, but why is she in the room? Kazuto, you didn't let her in, right?" Suguha asked me, and I glared at her for using my real name.

"Kazuto? That's your name?" Argo asked, causing me to change the direction of my glare.

"Not important," I stated, lowering the glare. "Now, Argo, why and how are you in our room?"

"I came in at the same time you did last night," she said, confusing everyone. "You just didn't notice because I didn't want you to."

"That makes absolutely no sense, how did we not notice you?" Suguha asked, but I came to my own conclusion.

"Argo, did you seriously spend all your skill points in hiding?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as she nodded.

"Hey, I gotta get that info somehow," she deflected, trying to make it sound like something a sane person would do. Lucky for her, I decided not to press the issue.

"Alright, what did you need to talk to me about?" I asked, causing her to straighten up in response to the serious tone.

"I was wondering when you'd start leveling and join the front lines, but I don't suppose that's happening soon," Argo replied, and I knew what she was talking about.

"Excuse me, but why is Kaz-Kirito," Aiko corrected once I looked at her. "So important? He's just one player, that can't amount to too much."

"Kirito here was the best beta tester, and a solo player at that," Argo said, shocking the three. Me, good at anything, much less the best at it, was likely a thought that had never crossed their minds. "He had the highest level, most monsters killed, most damage to boss mobs, and best gear out of all the thousand people. Even now, he's winning at three of those stats, especially at the highest level, even if it is four."

"They show you all that?" I asked, surprised. I had never seen anything like that in the beta.

"That'll be-" Argo was cut off by me flipping a 100 col coin towards her, the amount she was likely to request. "Yeah, it's in the cathedral, where all the players are listed. It's got ranks for things like that," Argo supplied, causing me to shake my head at how unnecessary it was.

"We're getting off topic. So what if he's the best player in the game, he doesn't have to be risking his life to help people," Suguha interjected, wrapping her arms around me from behind.

"Leafa-" I tried to say, but I was cut off.

"No! I'm not letting you go off and risk your life just because you have a chance at clearing the game. What happens if you die," Suguha asked, tearing up slightly. "What happens if something goes wrong, and you die. What happens to us? Did you think about that?" she asked, tightening her grip around me.

"If we go by that logic, we're never going to beat the game, or even go anywhere, because nobody is going to go fight," I said, resting my hand on hers. "Even if it is one person, there is the ability to change. And people look to leaders for inspiration and guidance. If people see someone fighting, they're more likely to join in. Plus, it wouldn't be right for me to just sit here while people risk their lives, as we wait for them to succeed. It's our duty as players to play the game, and it's our duty as people to help others. I have to do this, Sugu. I'm sorry, but I'm going to help."

"Didn't know you could give speeches like that," Argo said, breaking the silence. "If people hear stuff like that, maybe they might actually go help!"

"Yeah yeah," I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, I'm gonna be MIA for a few days. Let me teach these three how to play the game, and then I'll join the front liners. Any word on the boss room?"

"Nope, not yet," Argo replied, standing up. "Well, I'm off. See you all later, and good luck!" Her part said, Argo walked out of the room, leaving the Kirigayas and Konnos to contemplate the reality of the situation. I stood up, and gathered the few items I had laying around, walking to the door.

"Let's go. This is key to your survival, after all," I told them, watching as they stood up. The plan was set, but it still had a few rough patches. Aiko, Yuuki, and Suguha trailed me in a line, all of them reluctant but still willing to do it solely because I requested so.

The clearing I chose for training was close to Tolbana so that it would only be a short walk back, but just far enough that basically nobody was there. The only person I could see was a cloaked figure wielding a standard beginner's sword, repeatedly using the sword skill Linear in order to kill the wild boars. It worked, but it left the player defenseless. I noted that by the time they killed a boar, they had already taken some damage from either a nearby boar or from the boar charging into them.

Jumping forward, I used the skill Scythe in order to kill the second boar, one that was going to hit the player from behind while they were stuck in the ending lag from the sword skill they used. Using the technique I developed in the beta commonly called skill chaining, I ended the skill in the animation used for the skill Horizontal, in order to kill the boar. This left me in the ending lag for Horizontal, which was much lower than Scythe, given the lower range and damage output.

"You aren't going to survive like that," I told the hooded player, who looked away from me, now free from the ending lag.

"What's it to you?" the player asked me, and I recognized the voice as similar to Aiko's, meaning that the player was female.

"I don't want any deaths unless they're either unavoidable or intentional," I stated, proclaiming my stance on the issue. The girl flinched, and turned away. "Like I said, you're going to die if you continue doing that. Sit back, let your HP regen, and equip better armor: you should've gotten it with how many boars you killed."

"How do I equip it?" the girl asked, her voice substantially quieter than before.

"You know what, just join our party. I'm already explaining how to play to three people, a fourth can't be that much worse," I resigned myself to my fate of teaching people.

"How can you all party at a time like this? We're trapped in a death game, why would such an event occur?" she asked, and I facepalmed.

"Do you have any idea how this game works," I asked, and she opened her mouth to answer my question, but I didn't want to hear the result. "Never mind, don't answer that. Just-" I sighed. "Just come with me."

I made my way to where the three girls I was in a party with, bringing the new girl along with me. They were sitting on the hill and chatting about something, but given the worried expressions on their faces, it probably wasn't something good.

"Anyway, what's your name?" I asked the woman beside me, who just remembered that introductions were important.

"Asuna Yuuki," she replied, and I nearly facepalmed again.

"No, as in, your in-game name," I told her, and she looked even more confused.

"Asuna," and once more, I felt the need to facepalm. Sighing, I sent her the party request, causing her to jump when the pop-up appeared in front of her. Tentatively touching it, she found out that it was solid, and started playing with it like some sort of child.

"Click the green circle," I instructed, and she finally did just that, making the pop-up disappear as she looked around for where it went. "Good, now in the top left of your vision, you should see your health bar followed by four others," I told her, and she turned her head to look, spinning in a full circle before I stopped her.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked, and I felt the need to sigh again. I grabbed her face with my hands, causing her to flinch, but she didn't back away.

"Now, look left and upwards," I told her once more, and I hoped she did but it seemed like it worked because she gasped a little. "Got it?" she nodded. "Good. That's a party, it's the gaming term for a group of people who you travel with."

"Onii-chan!" Suguha called out from behind me, prompting me to turn to them. "The boars have respawned, what should we do?"

"We're going to fight," I told her, and she took an involuntary step back. Sure, she did Kendo, but fighting with her life on the line was never a part of it. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't die. As you saw, I can kill a boar in two hits, so don't worry about getting hurt. I'll step in if I need to."

"Okay, but what should we do?" Yuuki asked. "You still haven't shown us that sword skill thing that you and the lady in the brown cloak keep using."

"That's step two. Step one is equipping items," I told her, because for some reason not everyone understood how to open a fucking menu.

"Yeah, that'd be important," Aiko noted, before clapping her hands together like she had some sort of revolutionary thought. "Do you have to yell out 'equip item'?"

"No," I said, revolting at the thought of it. That would require yelling something out in the middle of a boss fight, and would mean that too many possible commands were possible. What happens if someone pronounces it wrong? What happened if someone had a lisp? What if they couldn't speak? There were too many problems with that idea.

"Everyone hold out your right hand like so," I instructed, pushing my hand out as everyone mirrored my position. "Now use one finger and swipe downwards." Demonstrating the motion, all four did as I asked. Five menus, identical in content, appeared as a list of three orbs. One was for player info, one was for the inventory, and one was for settings, such as the forbidden log out.

"Oh, it's that simple," Aiko dejectedly stated, sulking slightly. "Well, then I assume it's in the inventory?"

"How did you figure that out?" I asked her, causing her to sulk even more. "Just open your inventory and go to weapons."

Three had nothing in them but the beginner's sword, while Asuna's had a decent amount of drops, probably all gained today. They would fetch a decent price with NPC merchants, but what I was more interested in was the lack of spoils that could be used in smithing.

Blacksmithing, aka smithing, was a skill tree class that could be selected and leveled in order to use junk items to create equippable items such as armor or weapons. Given the virtually unlimited freedom, it would be possible to make things out of basically any material, but only a few were pragmatic.

From what I had gathered, there was a 33% chance that when killed, a wild boar would drop a piece of their hide, which could be repurposed as armor if there was enough of it. However, Asuna didn't have anything like that, only boar meat and boar tusks, which could be made into food and weapons respectively.

"First things first, do you see a drop down in the top right of your inventory?" I asked, wanting to do something. I had done it already, but it would be best if they all did it, in order to protect things like rare drops or item amounts. Four nods were given, one slightly slower than the others as Asuna had to shift her cloak to view it. "Good. Now select it, and change viewing permissions to party only."

Suguha, Yuuki, and Aiko had no trouble with it, but Asuna was clearly struggling to interact with it, pushing the button on the slider instead of swiping it. Impatiently, I grabbed her hand and swiped across, turning the setting to party only just in time for Asuna to rip her hand away from mine.

"It's a slider," I told her, gesturing to the button. "It slides. It moves side to side. You have to move it side to side."

"Asuna, you can't seriously struggle that much!" Yuuki said, causing Asuna to jolt in surprise as Yuuki said her name despite not giving it. "Is this your first time in VR?"

"It's your first time too, so don't be rude. We're not all quick learners like you are," I reprimanded her, but Asuna had a more pressing issue.

"How do you know my name?" she asked, holding up her sword. Quickly stepping between her and the other four, I laid my hand on the blade and pushed it down.

"She saw it on the party member list, right Yuuki?" I told Asuna, Yuuki nodded behind me. "Remember the health bars I showed you earlier? Look there, it should have our names."

"Oh," Asuna smartly replied, sheathing the sword in a scabbard at her hip. "Nice to meet you all."

"Good, now that that's figured out, we can start fighting, ok?" I told everyone, and they replied with a mixture of happy affirmatives and reluctant 'ok's.

Immediately, Yuuki ran off to start attacking the mobs and I sighed, getting the feeling that this was going to be a long day.


Two thousand.

That's how many people have died. Two thousand people have hit zero HP, pixelated, and had their brains fried by the system. Each and every name was visible on the walls of the cathedral, categorizing people by who was alive and who wasn't. It's been two months since this death game started, and despite only being on level one, around 33 people have died every day.

The concept of dying on level one seems so distant, so unreal. How could someone die on the first level? The only conceivable ways would be either suicide or being trapped in an area with enemies. Unless they were so horrendously bad at games that they had no clue what HP was, there was no conceivable way for such disastrous results to kill this many people.

Wait… now it sort of made sense. After all, Asuna was a clear example of people not knowing what they were doing.

However, there did seem to be some good news. I had recently heard of a meeting taking place in Tolbana, the town we stayed in for the past two months, regarding the boss of the first floor. Despite literally thousands of people searching, it still hadn't been located. But, my hopes were that whoever called this meeting actually had the location, so that we could finally progress through the game.

A blue haired man walked onto the stage, drawing everyone's attention. I was quite curious at where and why the dye was procured, hair color couldn't possibly be that important. It was one of the rarer materials in the game, so it was obviously going to be obtained from a harder dungeon or mob drop. Why had this person spent time getting it?

"Hello everyone, my name is Diavel, and I'm your friendly neighborhood knight," the blue haired man introduced, making people laugh. I chuckled slightly as well, the joke not being that funny, but it was still a decent icebreaker.

"What's so funny?" Suguha asked me from beside where I was. She was the only one to come with me here, the others having elected to explore the town. I let them go on one condition: no unnecessary spending. The only things they were allowed to buy were teleport and healing crystals.

"There's no job system in this game," I explained, as the crowd started to quiet down. "So by calling himself a knight, it lets us know that he knows how to play and that he's not all business, he can also make jokes and is overall more approachable."

"Me and my party found the boss room yesterday," Diavel stated once people had quieted down, bringing the side conversations to an end as people started to pay attention to what he was saying. "We didn't engage, as we were only six, but we saw the start up sequence for the boss, named Illfang the Kobold Lord."

"Hold up!" someone called from the top of the amphitheater, drawing our attention to where someone with orange hair resembling a cactus was standing. He ran down the steps to the stage, much to what looked like the irritation of Diavel. "My name's Kibaou, and I have something to say to all of you."

"Kibaou, please leave, this isn't time to rant about your political views," Diavel told the other person on stage, but Kibaou shook his head.

"Nah, I'm not leaving till some of you get on your knees and apologize. Then y'all better hand over all the gear you have!" Kibaou declared, as people were starting to get annoyed at the interruption.

"And pray tell, who might you be talking about?" Diavel asked, as I leaned back, anticipating the way the conversation was going. Sugu noticed this and shifted towards me, a goal of comforting me in mind.

"I'm talking about those filthy beta testers," Kibaou said, his face souring as he said the last part. "Leaving all of us to die, hoarding the best grinding spots. They should give us all the things they stole, leaving two thousand people to die!" I was going to stand up in order to dissect his argument, but it seemed like someone else had the same idea. A mountain of a man walked forward, procuring a familiar brown book I had seen Argo distributing a month or so ago.

"Can I say something?" this man asked, and the intimidated Kibaou nodded. "Good. My name's Agil, and I'm trapped in this game much like you are. Now, do you have this book?" he asked, brandishing the guidebook in question. Kibaou nodded, unsure of where this was going. "This book, filled with tips, tricks, strategies, and knowledge of the entire first floor was written, compiled, and published entirely by beta testers, who distributed this thing for free." I found myself stifling a laugh, I had contributed to the combat section of the book, writing almost the entire thing.

"Exactly," Diavel said, taking charge of the conversation once more. "This book also contains information on Illfang, the boss."

As Diavel and Agil took turns reading info about Illfang, I tuned the conversation out, knowing almost everything they said. Some of it would change, but most of it would likely be accurate. It was simply a matter of thinking about what Kayaba would think should differ.

"This concludes the meeting. We shall reconvene here," Diavel said, pointing to a point on the map. I marked it for myself, because I didn't trust myself to memorize it. "At 11:00 tomorrow. Thank you all for coming."

"Kazuto?" Sugu asked, getting my attention as we walked back to our inn room. I had just messaged Ran saying that we were done at the meeting, and that we should reconvene soon. I planned to share all the information I had, so that we were better prepared for the boss fight.

"What's happening?" I replied, looking up from my menu. The streets were bustling with people, NPCs and players alike rushing to destinations such as shops and restaurants.

"Are you sure that we're going to be able to fight the boss?" she asked, and I stopped, cursing myself for forgetting to tell her the plan.

"Don't worry, we won't be in any real danger," I reassured, grabbing her hand. "Come on, I'll explain when everyone's here."

"Okay," she said, following me through the crowds. We stopped to grab an item for an ongoing quest I had, but other than that, we made it to the room pretty quickly. Knocking on the door, as I had given Aiko the key, she responded in the way I had set it up for protection.

"How was your day?" she asked, and I could hear it from this side of the door. This game was too realistic at times.

"Good, though your sister gave me several headaches," I responded, and I knew that Yuuki was pouting on the other side before the door even opened. Aiko turned the knob and allowed me and Sugu to enter, viewing Asuna's giggles and Yuuki ready to punch me.

"How'd it go?" Asuna asked, leaning forward, interested in game matters for the first time in a while.

"Mostly good, though someone jumped in to rant about something midway through," Sugu told them, and the three nodded.

"Anyway, our part in the boss fight should be relatively simple," I informed everyone, gaining attention once more. "The boss spawns three Kobold sentinels after each health bar depletes, so four times total. It's our job to prevent these mobs from attacking the main squadron that takes on the boss. We're doing this with one more party, so it should be a pretty easy task. The sentinels aren't all that strong, so our job should be finished quickly."

"And what happens when we finish the sentinels? What do we do while we wait?" Yuuki asked, clearly not wanting to stay still. Out of the four girls, she was definitely the one who enjoyed fights most. She didn't go out of her way to seek one, but when they were farming mobs, she was the most aggressive.

"Then, we help get any injured players out of harm's way, and I will substitute in for them in order to keep the raid party working properly," I responded, Yuuki pouting as I did so.

"But why can't I join the fight against the boss?" she petulantly asked, swinging her legs as she rocked back and forth on one of the beds.

"The fact that you want to join the fight is worrisome alone," I began, leveling the young girl with a stare as I began to enter something they called 'lecture mode'. "But in addition to your near insatiable want to fight, you are also incredibly reckless when it comes to actually fighting. You play with no regard for your own safety, moving for attacks that leave you open for hits with minimal gain. I don't know enough about the boss AI and attack patterns, so I cannot prep you that much on it beforehand. So, no, I will not let you join the boss fight."

"So how are we gonna fight the, Kobold Sentinels, was it?" Asuna asked, and I smiled. It was what I liked about this girl, despite her incompetency, she was eager to learn.

"We're going to be splitting up into two groups, one with two and one with three," I explained, laying out my plan. "We're much higher levels than anyone else, by about three or four, so it's expected that we handle more than the other group."

"What are the groups?" Aiko nervously asked. It made sense, she was always reluctant to fight without a few people with her.

"Me and Yuuki will be in the duo, while you three make up the trio," I stated, looking at Asuna, Aiko, and Sugu as I said that. "Leafa, you're in charge." Asuna frowned while Aiko looked relieved, but the expression on my sister's face was worrying.

"Are you sure I can do it?" she asked, and I sighed. While Suguha was definitely capable, more so than most other people in the game(though she was slightly lagging behind within their party due to her sword focused mostly on Kendo rather than Sword Skills which did more damage), she still suffered from anxiety, doubting herself way too much. It was ok when she was in a group, but put her in a 1v1 or a leading position, bad things happened. It wasn't that safe to do during a boss raid, but we already had the easiest job, so might as well.

"Absolutely," I stated, leaving no room for doubt as I put on my most confident smile in the hopes it would reassure her. "We're some of the best players in this game, taking up five of the top ten spots. And even if we weren't, this is a low skill and low stress job. There's nothing to worry about. Finally, you have two people backing you up that will listen to you. Trust me, there is no better place to do this."

"If you say so," Sugu relented, some confidence seeping into her posture as she sat up straighter. "It's a regular mob, if a bit high leveled, so the regular stuff should work. Alright, let's do this!" she cheered, turning towards Aiko and Asuna, both of whom reciprocated with equal, if not greater enthusiasm. Seeing that that was taken care of, I turned to Yuuki, who was once more bouncing in her seat, something I learned a while back that meant she had something to say. Gesturing for her to proceed, she voiced the very question I didn't want to hear.

"Why am I with you?" she asked, and I sighed, thinking about the many, many reasons I shouldn't have to put up with this girl. But then I reminded myself of the many, not that many reasons I did put up with her and decided that it was worth it, repeating the process I had to do at least once a day.

"Because without me there, you'd rush to attack the boss and I don't want you to do that," I explained, keeping it nice and concise. "I don't want to take that risk, and so I'm keeping you close to mee. With Asuna's speed, she could reach you in time, but I'm the only one actually able to restrain you given how quickly you've learned the game." Yuuki preened at the compliment regarding her learning ability, not realizing it for the backhanded compliment it was.

"Well, let's go!" Yuuki exclaimed. "We've gone over how to beat it, so let's rush the boss and do it!" I sighed, covering my face with my hand as both Suguha and Asuna caught on the crazy train and got up to leave.

"Please stop," I begged. "The boss is tomorrow. Not today. Sit back down now."

"But can't we go now?" Yuuki asked.

"No."

"But-"

"No."

"What if-"

"Yuuki Konno," I began, breathing out heavily through my nose. "If I see you, or anyone else here, attempt to reach the boss room before the scheduled time, I will lock you in the inn room until floor three is cleared. Am I understood?" Three nods and a thumbs up returned everyone's consensus, allowing me to relax. "Good."

"Anyway, what else should we do today?" Suguha asked. "We've basically got twelve hours of nothing until we get back here, and then sleep until 8."

"I say we fight monsters," Yuuki proposed.

"Accepting suggestions from everyone not named 'Yuuki Konno'," I countered. Yuuki pouted while Aiko giggled, the mood in the room lightening up pretty quickly.

"What if we visit the Town of Beginnings?" Asuna wondered. "It's been a while, so it might be good to see what a majority of the population is doing."

"A majority of the population is either hiding in the inns or floating around in spectator mode," I commented.

"Killjoy, much?" Asuna muttered.

"Hey, that sounds like a good idea," Aiko added. "Visiting the Town of Beginnings, not floating around in spectator mode."

"Well, get ready for a field trip," I sighed. "This should be fun."

The boss raid party was ready to enter the room, if not for the fact that they had to climb stairs. From where I looked around, about half of the group was sitting down while the other half was panting on the floor.

"These are the people fighting the boss?" Asuna wondered. "Are they not level fifteen like us?" Yeah, no way. The only reason we were level fifteen is because during that two month period, we continuously challenged some of the hardest mobs on the first floor, giving us a tremendous advantage over everyone else. This also had the side effect of increased stamina, so we were in much better shape compared to everyone else. I had made it to sixteen yesterday by completing trades with NPCs, but don't tell Yuuki or she might get upset.

"No, most of them are level ten or so," I supplied. "It's floor one so it's hard to level up without knowing where to look. I'm sure many of them had the right idea, but they probably didn't try to level up as much as we did. Even then, there were a bunch of risks that we took which most people would've avoided. The only reason we did so was because we had an elite level party, something most people wouldn't have access to."

"All I needed was a yes or no," Asuna grumbled, looking away. "No need to write an essay about it."

"Anyway, I think that you've all rested up enough!" Diavel called from the front, raising his sword. "Today we attack the first boss, the first being on our way to the top. Today begins our fight for our liberation, for our freedom. Today, we win!" A resounding cheer echoed throughout the area, people shouting their affirmations and resolutions, their hopes and dreams of returning to their normal lives.

"We ready?" I asked, looking at the four members of my party. Four equally determined nods greeted me, a variety of facial expressions on their faces as they looked at their party leader. Aiko and Yuuki had smiles, the latter far more enthusiastic than the former. Suguha's face was set in a worried frown. Asuna's mouth was set into a thin line, confidence and superiority oozing from her being as if she had prepared for this fight all her life. Diavel pushed the doors open and walked forward, the rest of the crowd walking in after him.

Lights started up, illuminating the brilliant blue of the chamber they found themselves in, Elegant decorations ordained the walls, a multitude of contrasting colors serving to promote the image of royalty for this boss. A low pitched growling echoed through the room as a large thump was heard, a beast landing in the center of the area from where it jumped off its throne.

Three steel clad kobolds formed beside it, each of them letting out an unholy screech as they posed for attack, maces at the ready. They flanked the massive creature, a much more muscular and larger version of themselves, wielding a shield and a buckler without any armor.

Illfang the Kobold Lord roared at the intruders upon his domain, the humans responding in kind. The two forces ran towards each other, fighting for their lives as they sought a resolution to the conflict, both hoping to be the victor.

Among the clash of blades, lives would be lost and progress made. But it wasn't enough, it would never be enough until they reached the top of the Ruby Palace, until they beat the final boss. It would be for naught until they had their revenge on the madman that trapped them in this death game, the madman responsible for their suffering.

As I entered the fight, friends by my side, I reflected on the extremely short life I had lived. Would it end here, or would I keep fighting? Would I be cut down now or later?

A smile graced my face as I engaged the monster, clashing with the mace and overwhelming it, leaving it open to attack. Seeing the opportunity, Yuuki dashed forward, landing a multi-hit sword skill that depleted the HP of the Kobold Sentinel, sending it to the yellow. I smiled at the girl and she smiled back, before we turned our attention back to the fight.

In a world of swords, in a game of life and death, one thing became clear: fighting for my family was my role to play, my destiny, my fate. Fate cannot be broken, all paths preordained. But, as I fought, I knew that not even Fate would allow me to die here, not when there was fighting to be done, people to be saved. I would not allow myself to do so.

Many people would say Aincrad was a world created by a psycho to trap people, a floating prison, but I digress. Aincrad was a castle, and I its ruler.


I swear I thought I would be doing the boss fight but that'll probably be its own chapter.

Anyway, read, review, and follow if you liked! Always helps to hear what y'all think of my story, gives me motivation to write more.