November 3rd, 2022
10:22 A.M. U.S. Central Time
Mistralton, South Carolina

"Woooooooooooooooow..."

"You say that every time, you know."

"H-Hey, I can't help it if this place is super-cool looking!"

Fifteen-year-old Yuuki Konno couldn't help but gasp in awe at the vistas of the city of Mistralton, South Carolina, the Konno family's temporary home for the next two weeks. Standing right beside her was her twin sister Aiko (who was only older than her by a few seconds), and their parents were right behind them.

"It really is cool that we get to see all of these different places just because of your work, huh, mom?" Aiko stated.

"Our company has divisions all over the world," Mrs. Konno replied. "So it's only natural that we go to these different divisions occasionally for work."

"Isn't the U.S. division a relatively recent addition?" Yuuki asked. "You did mention that's why we're here, right?"

"Yeah, the boss here wanted our help specifically," Mr. Konno replied.

Yuuki looked back at the early-morning sky and how majestic it seemed to make the city in front of them look.

"I really wish Merida could have been here to see this," Yuuki stated.

Aiko immediately scooted over and put her arm around her sister, knowing it was still hard on them even a year after they'd lost their friend.

"Well, we're going to live twice as hard for her, right?" Aiko proclaimed. "That's what we promised her, after all."

Yuuki nodded, now smiling again. Aiko always knew just what to say to make her feel better. As Yuuki reached out towards the sun over the horizon, she had no idea of what was to come in just a few days' time...


(Don't just sit there and waste your precious time. When you want to do something, do it right away. Do it when you can. It's the only way to live a life without regrets.)

The Blue Time Ranger is proud to present...
Sword Art Online Progressive: Memories of a Distant Blade
Story Created: December 8th, 2021
Story Rated: T for Teen

Featuring:
Aoi Yuuki and Erica Mendez as Yuuki / Yuuki Konno
Megumi Han and Caitlin Glass as Ran / Aiko Konno
Kosuke Toriumi and Troy Baker as Nick Kelly

Story Summary: Yuuki Konno was undoubtedly the strongest player in the death game that was once known as Sword Art Online. But would you believe she wasn't always like that, especially when the death game began? Now, let us turn back the clock to the first month of the game, where Yuuki was simply trying to survive alongside her sister Aiko. Follow the Konno twins on their journey to adapt and overcome their new reality, their quest to defeat Akihiko Kayaba's great creation, and their promise to their new friend to survive to the very end of the death game known only as Sword Art Online. In order to discover the end, a journey must start at the beginning...

Author's Note: Why do these ideas always hit me like a speeding truck to the face? Recently, I was able to see Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night in theaters, and after the movie, I got a flash of inspiration, and I don't think I need to tell you how that works with me. This one's gonna be a prequel of sorts to Twin Memory, and, like the Progressive movie, this story will cover the beginning of SAO and around the first month or so, but this time, it'll be mostly from the perspective of Yuuki and Aiko as they learn how to play SAO and adapt to their new reality. Will I do any more of these in the future? ...we'll see.

Theme Song Notes: Since I can't post the opening and ending sequences anymore so I won't get my stuff axed, the opening theme is "Kiseki" by NIRGILIS (the opening theme to Birdy the Mighty Decode:02) and the ending theme is "A Thousand Words" by Kumi Koda (an insert song in Final Fantasy X-2).

And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: I, The Blue Time Ranger, do not own anything related to Sword Art Online or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Reki Kawahara, A-1 Pictures, and Aniplex USA. Anything I do not own, I am just borrowing for the story with every intent of returning them when I'm done. The only things I DO own are any characters and places created by yours truly for the story. And, I do not intend to infringe on any copyrights, only to entertain my readers. Besides, if I did own Sword Art Online, which I don't, why would I be writing fiction on a fan site?


November 4th, 2022
7:32 P.M. Asuka Empire Time
The Mysterious Woods

Yuuki made a silly-sounding samurai noise as she lunged forward to slash her katana across the side of the grotesque monster that had jumped both her and Aiko in the forest just outside the Village of Beginnings. Thankfully, she'd leveled up quite a bit since the last time they'd had to face this particular frog-like monster, so it was child's play to finish him off.

The frog monster gurgled in disbelief just as it exploded into a shower of glowing polygons, the standard enemy death animation for a lot of games that were played on the NerveGear.

"Boo-ya!" Yuuki exclaimed as her status window displayed the experience she'd acquired from the battle. "Suck on those frog legs, buddy!"

"You say that to every single one of those frogs, Yuu," Aiko chuckled as she cast a spell to heal the damage that Yuuki had taken during the battle.

"Well, I did hear Merida say that a lot, too," Yuuki admitted. "She never really liked frogs that much..."

"Is that why I always saw her going right for those frog monsters when she played with us?" Aiko quipped. "Man, talk about projecting hatred of a thing..."

Yuuki sighed again, remembering that long, long day they'd spent with Merida in Asuka Empire before she passed away.

"Hey, cheer up, Yuu," Aiko responded. "I know for a fact that she'd be proud of us. So don't be sad, 'kay? Remember what Merida always told us?"

"This boat runs on happy faces," Yuuki answered. "Thanks, Aiko."

"No prob, Yuu," Aiko replied. "Now let's keep hunting these guys, all right? We need at least four more Frog Legs to complete this quest."

"Oh, don't remind me!" Yuuki mock-groaned.

Once they'd finished their hunt and turned in the six Frog Legs required by this quest, Yuuki heard a double beep, indicating that her parents had most likely sent her a message.

Yuuki used her right finger to open her game menu and access the message tab, and it showed a message tab from her mother.

"Welp, guess we're done for tonight, huh?" Yuuki noted.

"Hey, we made a lot of progress today, didn't we?" Aiko replied. "I think we deserve a break. Let's head back."

Yuuki nodded to her sister as they both accepted their logout prompts together.

Once they were both back in the real world, Yuuki and Aiko raced downstairs together to see what their mother wanted. It wasn't time for dinner just yet, as it was only about five o'clock IRL (Asuka Empire's time zone was... interesting, for lack of a better term).

"What's up, mom?" Yuuki asked.

Mrs. Konno simply smiled and glanced towards something lying on the kitchen table. Yuuki and Aiko stepped closer to get a good look, and when they saw the two separate game boxes lying on the table...

Well, Yuuki was having a hard time forming a coherent sentence in her surprise.

"Holy crapbaskets, mom, you got us both Sword Art Online?!" Aiko gasped. "I thought that wasn't supposed to launch for another two days!"

"Well, some stores are selling the physical copies early, so those lucky players can beat the crowds and be there right when the game officially begins on Sunday," Mrs. Konno explained. "I did notice that you two were interested in trying it out, so..."

"YOU ROCK, MOM!" Yuuki shouted, bounding forward to hug her mother.

"We honestly didn't think you'd become such gamers," Mr. Konno teased.

"Well, we've got Merida to thank for that, since she's the reason we even have NerveGears in the first place," Aiko answered. "To be quite frank, the NerveGear's just really cool, considering the whole FullDive thing."

"And the early reviews are saying that Sword Art Online is set to blow all the other VRMMOs straight out of the water with how immersive it can truly be," Yuuki continued. "It hooked us pretty quickly."

As Yuuki and Aiko stared at each other, their minds racing with all the possibilities of what they could do in this new frontier, Mr. and Mrs. Konno just smiled, happy to see their daughters happy, and completely unaware of the madness to come...

The next two days passed by relatively quickly, with Yuuki and Aiko double and triple-checking the game manual to make sure they at least had the basics down pat before they jumped right in.

And, finally, the moment they'd been waiting for arrived.

November 6th, 2022, 1 P.M. on the dot.

Sword Art Online's official launch had begun.

"Well, mom, dad, we're off!" Yuuki exclaimed to her parents.

"You two have fun in there, okay?" Mrs. Konno replied.

"And make sure you tell us about all of your adventures, got it?" Mr. Konno answered.

"Will do, dad," Aiko responded as she and Yuuki rushed upstairs, ready to dive in for the first time.

The two sisters wasted no time in lying down on Yuuki's bed together, placing their NerveGears over their heads, and sliding in the Sword Art Online game card before activating the neural link.

"See you on the other side, Yuu," Aiko proclaimed.

"Same to you, sis," Yuuki responded.

Both sisters uttered the activation phrase together.

"LINK START!"

After a tunnel of multi-colored light flooded her vision, Yuuki swiftly found herself in a digital void of sorts, the large message "WELCOME TO SWORD ART ONLINE!" displayed just ahead of her.

Once Yuuki had inputted her username and password, a female announcer started talking before Yuuki could get her bearings.

"Welcome to Sword Art Online!" the announcer proclaimed. "Please create your avatar now. You can customize your appearance down to the last detail."

Yuuki looked through the options available, noting that there were a lot more options than Asuka Empire had. After fiddling with the customization for a bit until she felt like she had the avatar she wanted, Yuuki pressed the accept key and was taken through another tunnel of light.

"We hope you enjoy your time in Aincrad, the Floating Castle in the Sky."

When Yuuki could finally see again, she found herself in the Town of Beginnings, the starting city of Sword Art Online. Pillars of light were opening up all around her and depositing other people in the plaza, no doubt the other players just getting started in SAO as well.

Yuuki waved her hand around a few times to get used to the feel of the game, given that SAO was apparently far more advanced than other VRMMOs on the market (of which there were very few), allowing the player to control their entire avatar with just their own body instead of relying on pre-determined motions for most of the big stuff.

Yup, definitely blows Asuka Empire out of the water, Yuuki thought. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna stop playing Asuka Empire. I promised Merida, after all.

"Pretty slick, huh, sis?" Aiko quipped as she walked up to Yuuki. Here in the game, Aiko had longer, much brighter purple hair, though her eyes were the same. Yuuki had much longer hair as well, though hers was tied into a ponytail.

"There's so many more options for your character, huh?" Yuuki stated. "This is incredible, Aiko!"

"Good to see you're so excited, sis," Aiko replied. "Now, come on already or we're gonna fall behind."

"W-wait, fall behind what or who?" Yuuki gasped as Aiko started dragging her along.

"We've gotta start gaining experience so we don't fall behind the other players!" Aiko proclaimed. "This is a game, after all."

Yuuki nodded in agreement, ready to set out and make her mark on this virtual world.

First things first, the Konno twins headed out to the Field of Beginnings so they could start farming the monsters that roamed out here.

"Okay, so let's go over the basics again, just to make sure that we remember everything we've learned," Aiko proclaimed.

"Never hurts to be sure, right?" Yuuki quipped as she drew her starting weapon, a Steel Saber. "Hey, there's a boar... thingy!"

A wild Frenzy Boar had noticed the Konno twins and was galloping towards them with all the speed it was capable of.

Yuuki steadied herself, remembering her training in Asuka Empire and hoping it would serve her well here.

As the Frenzy Boar leaped towards her, Yuuki charged forward to meet it, slashing her Steel Saber across the boar's side as she passed it and draining its health bar by half.

"H-Hey, I actually did it!" Yuuki gasped. "That wasn't the system doing it for me, right? That was all me?"

Yuuki was so lost in her wonder that she didn't notice the Frenzy Boar lunging towards her from behind until it had knocked her down, draining about a fifth of her own health bar.

"That's why you pay attention, Yuu," Aiko chuckled as she ran in to finish the Frenzy Boar off with an overhead slash from her own Steel Saber, causing the Frenzy Boar to seize up before exploding into a shower of glowing polygons. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah," Yuuki quipped as Aiko helped her to her feet. "Guess I celebrated too early, huh?"

"Probably still too early to celebrate," Aiko proclaimed. "Another one's coming."

Indeed, another Frenzy Boar had approached the, this one a good bit larger than the previous one.

"This one's all mine, Aiko," Yuuki stated. "I gotta make up for getting jumped like a dope earlier."

Yuuki aimed her Steel Saber towards the Frenzy Boar to provoke it into charging at her, which it did with gusto. Yuuki then readjusted her sword until its blade started glowing a bright purple.

The system took over and guided Yuuki forward to unleash the Sword Skill Spiral Cut, causing Yuuki to dash in front of the Frenzy Boar and slash three times, twice in a spiraling motion around her left and right shoulders, then a third strike in an upwards arc.

This did the needed damage and destroyed the Frenzy Boar easily.

"And Sword Skill, check!" Yuuki exclaimed. "That was easy to do, really..."

"But remember, Yuuki, you'll actually do more damage if you can execute the move on your own without the system assist," Aiko explained. "So don't try to use the assist as a crutch for too long, got it?"

"Roger that," Yuuki answered.

And so, the day went on, with Yuuki and Aiko farming for as much experience as they could, eventually making it to level four by five o'clock.

"Ah, that was fun!" Yuuki proclaimed. "What a day that was!"

"No kidding," Aiko laughed. "But on that note, I think the fun's over for today. We did promise mo that we'd finish up by five-thirty or so."

"Ooh, yeah, mom's making our favorite meal tonight!" Yuuki giggled as she swiped her game menu open. "Let's hit it... huh?"

"What's wrong, Yuu?" Aiko asked.

"Um... there's supposed to be a 'log out' button, right?" Yuuki asked. "I don't know if it's different from Asuka Empire or not..."

"The log out button should be in your 'Game Settings' menu," Aiko replied despite her sudden sense of foreboding as she opened her own menu, only to find the same thing.

The tab that was supposed to display the logout prompt was completely blank.

"Do you think it's a glitch?" Yuuki asked.

"I dunno," Aiko responded. "That would be a pretty bad glitch that you'd think would have been ironed out before the launch..."

As if on cue, the large bell in the center of the Town of Beginnings began to chime, and every player in the area was forcibly teleported away from their current location and into the central square of the Town of Beginnings.

"What's going on here?" a female player gasped.

"Don't worry, babe, it's just part of the opening ceremony," a male player replied.

Aiko wasn't sure why, but she didn't believe that for a second.

"H-Hey, sis, look!" Yuuki gasped, tugging on Aiko's shirt sleeve and pointing to the sky, where a large red WARNING sign could be seen...

...before the sky was covered in those warning signs, tinting the area a deeply disturbing shade of red.

"I don't like this, Aiko," Yuuki stated.

"Stay close, Yuu," Aiko proclaimed, gently clutching Yuuki's shoulders.

Some of the warning signs in the air cleared away to allow a strange, pulsating red blob to float through. After a few seconds, the blob pulsed and expanded until it formed into a hooded figure covered by a large red cloak.

"Wait, is that the Game Master?" one player asked.

"What's he doing here?" another player wondered. "Is he here to get our journey started?"

"Attention, all players of Sword Art Online," the hooded figure proclaimed in a deep, bellowing voice. "I humbly welcome you... to my world."

"What does he mean 'his world'?" Yuuki quipped.

"As of this moment, everyone and everything within this world is under my control," the figure explained. "My name is Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of Sword Art Online and inventor of the NerveGear."

Aiko instinctively reached for the handle of her sword.

"I'm sure that by now, you have all noticed something very important is missing from your menu," Kayaba stated. "The log out button."

Yuuki glanced around as many of the players here opened their game menus to see that, indeed, their logout buttons were missing.

"...just like us," Yuuki gasped. "Aiko, I'm scared all of a sudden..."

"I wish to inform you that this is not a defect or a glitch in the system," Kayaba bellowed. "This is the way that Sword Art Online was meant to be played."

"Please tell me you're joking," a slightly older-looking samurai quipped.

"You can no longer log out of SAO, nor can your NerveGear be removed by outside entry," Kayaba stated quite clearly. "Should any of these methods be attempted, the microwave signal inside of the NerveGear will fry your brain and subsequently kill you."

Now the crowd was starting to get a little restless, many of them wondering if such a thing was even possible, and some even expressing disbelief that Kayaba was telling the truth.

"However, it seems that multiple families and friends have already attempted doing so," Kayaba continued. "Which means that two-hundred and thirteen players are no longer with us. They have been wiped from both Aincrad and the real world."

Multiple screens flashed to life around Kayaba's avatar, showing news reports of everything that had already transpired. "News and media have been covering this since its beginning, so I can safely assume that such an incident will not happen again, allowing the rest of you to focus on clearing the game."

Yuuki and Aiko glanced at each other, that feeling of dread still lingering.

"There are some things that you must know," Kayaba explained. "As of right now, it is no longer possible to revive someone in the game. If your HP ever drops to zero, your avatar will be permanently deleted from the system..."

Aiko's eyes narrowed.

"...and the NerveGear will destroy your brain."

Yuuki gasped in absolute shock at the bombshell that Kayaba had just dropped.

"There is only one way for you to leave Sword Art Online, and that is to clear the game," Kayaba stated. "Right now, you are on floor one. Advance through the labyrinth on each floor and defeat the floor boss within, and you will be allowed to advance to the next floor. If you can defeat the final boss that awaits on floor one hundred, you will clear the game, and everyone who remains will be allowed to log out. I give my word on this. Also, I have placed an item in your inventory that I believe will be useful to you."

Yuuki checked her inventory to find an item called a "Hand Mirror", and looked into it...

...only to see herself.

Herself as she looked in the real world.

Yuuki and Aiko looked around in shock as the other players were forcibly reverted to their real-life appearances.

"A-Aiko, what's going on?!" Yuuki gasped. "Why would the game's creator do something like this?!"

"I have a feeling we're about to find out," Aiko replied.

"By now, I am sure that many of you are asking yourselves a simple question: why?" Kayaba stated. "Why would Akihiko Kayaba, inventor of the NerveGear and developer of Sword Art Online, do something like this? Ultimately, I had a simple goal in mind. I created Sword Art Online so that I may control a world that I have designed. And now, I have achieved that goal."

Kayaba's avatar spread its arms out wide. "This concludes the tutorial phase, and officially marks the launch of Sword Art Online," Kayaba proclaimed. "Players, I wish you the best of luck."

And with everything he needed to say out there, Kayaba's avatar dissolved and left the players in complete silence.

That silence didn't last long, however, as the players began to panic and freak out, Kayaba's words having finally sunk in for them.

Aiko swiftly took Yuuki's hand and marched away from the plaza until they were a suitable distance away from the Town of Beginnings, at which point Yuuki finally couldn't hold it in any longer and started to cry. Aiko didn't waste a second in turning around and hugging Yuuki tightly.

"Aiko, what are we going to do?" Yuuki sobbed. "If death in the game means we die for real, then... then..."

"Relax, okay?" Aiko responded, rubbing Yuuki's back in hopes of calming her down. "I promise I'm not going anywhere, and you know that."

"But... what if..." Yuuki gasped. She'd clearly been shaken to the core by Kayaba's words. "What if something happens to me?! You'll be all alone!"

"If you do bite it, I'd kill myself, too," Aiko proclaimed. "I'd rather be with you in death than leave one of us here to rot in despair."

Despite her fears, Yuuki couldn't help but crack a smile. "Why do you always make the worst sayings sound so positive, sis?" Yuuki asked.

"Mom always said I have a knack for that," Aiko giggled. "Now come on, let's go find a good spot to train. We've gotta adapt if we're going to survive."

"...because this is our new reality now," Yuuki whispered. "Just like Kayaba said."

Aiko simply embraced Yuuki tighter, unaware of the Dire Wolf that was approaching them.

Taking advantage, the Dire Wolf roared loudly and lunged through the air to take a bite out of the Konno sisters.

Aiko pushed Yuuki back slightly so she could draw her sword, but then, someone else leaped towards the Dire Wolf and ravaged it with a Spiral Cut, dropping its health to about ten percent.

The Dire Wolf turned towards the new challenger and roared at him, a boy about their age with slightly messy brown hair and light brown eyes.

"Oh, what, you want some more, wolf boy?!" Nick challenged. The Dire Wolf rushed forward and leaped towards him, but despite Yuuki's panic, Nick was faster on the draw, ripping forward with one final slash that eliminated the Dire Wolf.

As the Dire Wolf exploded into glowing polygons, Nick sheathed his sword and turned back to Aiko and Yuuki. "Are you two all right?" Nick asked.

"We are now, thanks to you," Aiko quipped.

"I can imagine you were pretty shook up because of what Kayaba just told us," Nick stated.

"It was such a shock to the system, being told that this is basically our new reality," Yuuki replied. "I didn't know what to do at first, honestly."

"But I promised Yuu that we wouldn't let this world beat us," Aiko proclaimed. "Though she was pretty upset at the thought of something happening to one of us, which is why I was comforting her."

"And... well, I'm pretty sure this is obvious, but thank you so, so much for protecting us," Yuuki giggled.

"While I may be just as scared as pretty much everyone else in this game, I refuse to just lay down and submit to fate," Nick proclaimed. "That's not who I am."

Aiko, in response, just laughed at the bombastic way Nick had phrased it.

"Was it... really that cheesy?" Nick asked.

"A little," Yuuki replied.

"But it's nice that someone around here has that kind of conviction," Aiko quipped.

"Hey, why don't you come with me?" Nick offered. "I'm sure it'd be better to be in a bigger party, considering the circumstances."

"Much as I'd love to, I wanna start training Yuu here," Aiko admitted. "She's a natural at games, but since this is basically our reality now, we've gotta be extra-careful about how we go about this."

"But I hope we can meet again someday!" Yuuki proclaimed. "You stay alive until that day, got it?"

Nick raised his hand to fist bump with Yuuki, thus sealing that promise.

As Yuuki and Aiko headed out to find a suitable training spot, they couldn't help but watch as Nick ran off to do his own thing.

"Do you think we're ever going to see him again, Aiko?" Yuuki wondered.

"Honestly, I hope so," Aiko replied. "It's like I said, it's nice to see that there are players who have conviction, despite being probably scared out of their wits. It might be the only way we're going to survive all of this."

"I really wish we could talk to mom and dad right now," Yuuki admitted. "Lord only knows what they must be thinking about all of this..."

"That's the worst part, to be fair," Aiko replied. "But we don't have time to worry right now. Let's go find somewhere to train, okay?"

Yuuki just nodded as she followed Aiko through the Field of Beginnings, slashing at any number of Frenzy Boars that tried to get in her way.

This was their new reality now. And nothing would allow them to escape that.

November 16th, 2022
4:22 P.M. Aincrad Time
Strange Cavern

"Man, this place is super creepy," Yuuki quipped as she stuck close to Aiko while they both explored a dungeon here on the first floor. Yuuki didn't mix well with horror movies, and this place definitely had a horror movie feel to her, especially given the 'death game' circumstances.

"You get used to it, I'm sure," Aiko replied as she kept her hand on the handle of her rapier just in case. At this point, both Konno sisters were at level 6, and were checking out a nearby dungeon in hopes of keeping up with the other players.

By this point, a few weeks into the game, over a thousand players had already perished, and yet nobody had found a way to clear even the first floor. Many players had given up, believing that it was hopeless, but Yuuki and Aiko weren't quitters. They knew there had to be a way to advance, and they were going to find it no matter what, or at least be part of the ones who did.

Thankfully, most of the monsters in this dungeon were fragile skeletons that only took a few good hits to take down and yielded some pretty nice EXP for a beginning dungeon, allowing Yuuki and Aiko to do some leveling, considering they'd stockpiled quite a bounty of health potions just in case.

"There's another one," Aiko quipped as another Skeleton Warrior rounded the corner, opened its mouth to roar at them, and then charged with its spear extended.

"I've got this one," Yuuki responded as she leaped forward to attack, making sure to weave to the sides as she did so, since these skeletons preferred to use forward stab attacks that were easily dodged as long as you stayed to the side.

Yuuki dodged away from the spear before lunging forward and chopping at the Skeleton Warrior with a Sharp Nail, a Sword Skill consisting of an upward right-to-left diagonal slash, followed by a left-to-right horizontal slash, and finishing with a downward right-to-left diagonal slash.

Despite Yuuki being locked into the Post-Motion delay after using a Sword Skill, the Sharp Nail had done enough damage, causing the Skeleton Warrior to slump to its knees and explode into glowing polygons.

"Boom," Yuuki giggled.

"You're getting so much better at this, you know," Aiko proclaimed.

"You always said that I was a natural at games, by the way," Yuuki replied as she sheathed her sword for the moment. "Oh, hey, isn't that a treasure chest over there?"

Aiko took point, making sure that no more monsters were guarding the chest, and took a look, only to find it already opened.

"Aw, nuts, someone got to it before us?" Yuuki groaned.

"For now, at least," Aiko responded. "From what I read in the manual, dungeon treasure chests are on a six-hour respawn timer after being opened."

"Okay, so, either my eyes are deceiving me, or there's another chest nearby," Yuuki stated, pointing towards the chest in question. "Let's get that one before someone else swipes it!"

Yuuki hadn't even taken two steps forward before Aiko grabbed her shirt collar and yanked her backwards. "H-Hey, what was that for, sis?"

"Yuuki, did you notice that, out of all the chests in this dungeon we've seen so far, this one in particular hasn't been opened?" Aiko proclaimed.

"Maybe whoever was here before us just missed it," Yuuki wondered.

"I'm not so sure," Aiko answered. "Take a look at the design on the lock. Doesn't it look suspicious?"

Yuuki knelt down to take a good look at the lock design. "Oh, wow, you're right," Yuuki quipped.

"I've only got my experience from other, non-VR RPGs to go on, but..." Aiko sighed. "I'm willing to bet that this chest is a trap."

"Trap? Like, what kind of trap?" Yuuki asked, slowly backing away from the trap chest.

"It could be anything, really," Aiko stated. "It could spawn monsters, it could hit us with status effects, heck, for all we know, the chest could be a monster like those annoying Mimics from Kid Icarus Uprising. Point is, if we open that chest, we'd probably be screwed."

"Okay, that's good enough for me!" Yuuki gasped as she scooted closer to her sister's side. "I say we get out of here for now, then."

Before Aiko could decide what to do, both sisters heard a scream from close by.

"Sounds like someone's in trouble," Yuuki quipped. "We gotta go see what's wrong!"

Aiko nodded, but motioned for Yuuki to stay right behind her as they ran through the cave towards the source of the screams.

When they finally came across the entrance to a larger room, both Yuuki and Aiko stopped in their tracks, fear in their eyes at the mere sight of what was happening in this room.

Five rather frightened players were frantically fighting for their lives against dozens upon dozens of Lizard Knights, green-skinned lizard monsters with rudimentary armor and razor-sharp war axes clutched in their hands. Yuuki didn't even need to check one of the monsters' status bars to know that these things were way out of their league.

And they were all surrounding and swarming the five players.

One player with an axe of their own actually managed to swing his weapon and behead one of the Lizard Knights, but this only caused five more to jump on top of him and start hacking at him with their axes.

Yuuki couldn't stand the sight, seeing the player's health bar rapidly deplete with each strike until it emptied completely, and with one last despairing scream, the player's body exploded into glowing polygons.

Another player, this time a female player with an Anneal Blade, let out a pained cry as she rushed the Lizard Knights with all the intent of avenging her fallen friend, but this only earned her an axe blade to the chest. Three more Lizard Knights threw their axes, each one impaling themselves in the player's chest with loud, squishy thumping sounds until she vanished into a cloud of glowing glass shards as well.

Yuuki swiftly reached for the handle of her sword, only to be once again yanked backwards by Aiko and out of sight of the horde.

"A-Aiko, we have to help them!" Yuuki shouted.

"Yuuki, there's nothing we can do," Aiko responded. "Those things are higher level than all of us, and there's too many of them. You know what'll happen to us if we go charging in."

"B-But..." Yuuki gasped, the truth sinking in.

Aiko simply shook her head and held her close, hoping that the Lizard Knights hadn't seen them.

All they could do was listen as the remaining players were all butchered by the Lizard Knights, their screams of pain and anguish reverberating through the caverns.

Yuuki, unable to handle it any longer, threw herself into Aiko's arms and started crying, her heart shattering at being unable to save the players from their inevitable demise.

"I-It's not fair, Aiko," Yuuki sobbed.

"I know it's not," Aiko responded as she held her sister. "It never gets any easier seeing more and more players fall to this accursed game. But that's why we have to fight on, Yuuki. For the sake of everyone we've lost."

Despite her sadness, Yuuki knew that Aiko was spot-on. If they fell to despair now, that was practically game over.

"Come on, let's find another way around," Aiko stated. "We can't go this way."

Aiko led Yuuki backwards and down another tunnel, hoping they could find what they were looking for before the same fate befell them.

To the sisters' relief, the only monsters that got in their way during the rest of their trip were more Skeleton Warriors that were easily dispatched.

Eventually, Yuuki and Aiko came across another large, arena-like room with nothing inside it, but an extra room at the other end.

"Looks clear," Yuuki stated.

"Stay on guard," Aiko responded as she drew her rapier, a Wind Fleuret.

Slowly but surely, the Konno sisters made their way into the room, only for a large stone slab to slam shut over the doorway they had just entered from.

"...crapbaskets," Aiko groaned.

A loud, bestial hiss resounded in the room as a much larger Lizard Knight dropped from the ceiling, staring down the Konno sisters and brandishing its battle axe towards them. Its status window named it a Lizard Sentinel.

"EEP!" Yuuki exclaimed. "It's so much bigger than the others!"

"This must be the boss of the dungeon, then," Aiko stated. "And I have a feeling we're not getting out of here unless this thing dies. Do you remember the plan, Yuuki?"

"Of course," Yuuki responded, her mind going over the strategy they'd come up with in case they ran into a boss monster in a dungeon. "Cut and run, stay on the move at all times, and don't use a Sword Skill unless the boss is in a position where it can't counterattack."

"Good girl, Yuu," Aiko responded. "Don't worry, we will get out of this alive. Now, let's end this thing!"

The Lizard Sentinel roared in challenge and lumbered forward to strike with a jumping axe attack. Yuuki dodged to the left and Aiko dodged to the right, and while the Lizard Sentinel was stuck in the post-motion delay, Yuuki felt safe enough to strike the boss with a Spiral Cut, while Aiko used a Sharp Nail on it.

The post-motion delay ended just in time to allow Yuuki and Aiko to jump back before the Lizard Sentinel could slash at them with its battle axe. Upon closer inspection, the Lizard Sentinel only seemed to have one health bar, which was missing about a tenth thanks to Yuuki and Aiko's Sword Skills.

The Lizard Sentinel turned around and started barreling its way towards Aiko, who waited for the right moment and dive-rolled away from the overhead slash, giving Yuuki the opportunity to land a few resounding slashes against its right flank.

As the boss recovered and turned around once again, Yuuki noticed the axe blade glowing red, no doubt meaning that the Lizard Sentinel was preparing a Sword Skill of its own.

Both Konno sisters jumped backwards, but the Lizard Sentinel still managed to hit them with a powerful spinning attack that created a radial shockwave around it, throwing Yuuki and Aiko into the opposite wall of the arena minus about ten percent of their health.

Yuuki recovered faster and charged back into the fray to stab the Lizard Sentinel in the gullet with a Rage Spike, a basic but strong forward dash attack. Though Yuuki was caught in the post-motion delay, Aiko was back up on her feet and keeping the boss from getting to Yuuki by hitting it with a Linear, a simple high-speed stab.

"He's halfway down!" Aiko shouted. "Remember the strategy, Yuu!"

"Got it!" Yuuki exclaimed, circling around the Lizard Sentinel to keep it on the move.

The Lizard Sentinel slashed at Yuuki with a powerful overhead strike, but Yuuki managed to parry it with her sword just in time. The force of the attack still pushed Yuuki backwards, but thankfully did no damage.

"You're mine!" Aiko exclaimed as she took advantage of the moment she had thanks to Yuuki's parry to hit the Lizard Sentinel with another Linear, the cooldown having just refreshed as she started running.

It didn't take too much longer for Yuuki and Aiko to finally bring the Lizard Sentinel down to its limits, but it still had one last trick up its sleeves.

As Aiko slashed her Wind Fleuret across its side, finally dealing the decisive blow to the boss, the Lizard Sentinel lunged for Yuuki in its death throes, slashing at her three times.

Even though Yuuki was able to parry each attack successfully, it did a number on her Steel Saber, and it shattered into glowing polygons in her hands at the same time the boss died.

As the large CONGRAULATIONS banner appeared above the arena, and status windows opened in front of Yuuki and Aiko showing the EXP and col (Aincrad's currency) they'd earned from the battle, the stone slab blocking the entrance slid away, as did another slab blocking a much smaller cave with a treasure chest waiting behind it, no doubt the reward for defeating the boss.

Aiko sighed in relief as she sheathed her rapier for the moment. Yuuki was still staring at the spot in her hands where her sword had just been.

"My poor sword..." Yuuki quipped.

"Hey, we'll get you a new sword when we get back to town," Aiko stated. "My treat. For right now, let's just loot this chest and get the heck out of here."

Yuuki moved forward to open the treasure chest and claim its spoils. Along with some enhancement materials, a new sword, Divination, was added to her inventory.

After equipping it, Yuuki was happy to see that this new sword was a good deal stronger than the sword she'd lost in the boss fight.

"Sweeeeeeeet," Yuuki giggled as she swung Divination a few times to test it out.

"You can admire your new sword later," Aiko quipped. "Let's get out of here before anything else decides to jump us."

Yuuki nodded, sheathing Divination for the moment so she could follow Aiko back out of the dungeon, retracing their steps and making sure to avoid the cavern where those Lizard Knights had been seen.

When they finally managed to breach the cavern and get back to the fields outside, Yuuki let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding.

"Aiko... I'm sorry about earlier," Yuuki stated.

"It's okay, Yuu," Aiko replied, stepping over to hug Yuuki. "I know it's hard, knowing there's nothing you can do to save someone. I'm sure many other players have felt the same thing because of all of this."

"Every time I see another player die, I keep thinking of Merida," Yuuki admitted. "She passed away while she was still inside the game, and I'm scared that's gonna be our fate, too."

"Well, it won't be," Aiko responded with more conviction than Yuuki had ever heard from her sister before. "You and I are going to survive this game no matter what happens, and that's just undeniable fact."

"...thanks, sis," Yuuki giggled.

"Anytime, Yuuki," Aiko replied, kissing Yuuki on the forehead. "Now come on, let's get back to town so we can restock."

When Yuuki and Aiko returned to the Town of Beginnings, they noticed a bunch of different players near the fountain square talking about forming something called a 'guild'.

"Sounds like they've got big plans, huh?" Aiko stated.

"Could we form a guild, Aiko?" Yuuki wondered.

"I heard through the grapevine that guilds can only be formed after you complete a side-quest on the third floor," Aiko replied. "But yeah, that sounds like a good idea, once we get some other players to join us. And I already have the perfect name."

"What's that, sis?" Yuuki asked.

"The Sleeping Knights," Aiko proclaimed. "I figured, since our real bodies are technically asleep in the real world, but we're also fighting like valiant knights in order to return to reality, it fit like a glove."

"Merida would have loved to hear that," Yuuki laughed.

And as Yuuki and Aiko headed off to the item shop to restock on potions and other necessary items, they just missed a familiar boy walking down the crowded street.

December 2nd, 2022
1:07 P.M. Aincrad Time
Floor 1
Tolbana

"Okay, so why did we all get called here, sis?" Yuuki wondered as she and Aiko found a spot to sit down in the large amphitheater-style room close to the fountain at the center of Tolbana, so they could wait for whoever had called them all here to start with his spiel.

"From what I can gather, I think we've made some actual progress in the Labyrinth," Aiko responded. "Hopefully that means something."

A blue-eyed, blue-haired knight wearing bronze armor stepped forward, catching the attention of everyone who had gathered here.

"All right, everyone, let's get started!" the knight proclaimed to the entire crowd. "Thanks for coming, all of you. My name is Diavel, and I like to consider myself a Knight."

Despite the serious nature of the meeting, everyone present was stone-faced at Diavel's joke.

"Is this... really the time for jokes?" Aiko groaned.

"E-even though there's no job system in the game!" Diavel backpedaled. "It's just a joke, people. Now, on to why we're actually here."

Diavel composed himself before continuing. "Today, my party found the boss room at the top of the floor one labyrinth," Diavel stated, earning surprised gasps from many of the players. "We must, I repeat, we must defeat this boss and reach the second floor, so all of the players waiting for us back in the Town of Beginnings will see that it is indeed possible for us to defeat this wretched game and move us one step closer to returning home. Everyone here today will share that duty, understand? With that out of the way, let's begin planning."

Yuuki and Aiko listened as Diavel explained that everyone should form parties of up to six players so they would all stand a better chance.

"Well, this might be a problem," Aiko quipped.

"Why's that, sis?" Yuuki asked.

"We don't really know anybody here, do we?" Aiko answered. "You and I have been spending most of our time in the game trying to adapt and get better."

"...oof, you're right," Yuuki responded. "That's gonna be a pickle."

Yuuki scanned the entire crowd, hoping to find someone they could possibly party with...

...and then someone in particular caught her eye.

Yuuki moved in the direction of that player as if she'd recognized something familiar, and Aiko smiled as she followed her sister, knowing who it probably was.

And sure enough, it was Nick, the boy who'd saved them from become Dire Wolf chow after the 'opening ceremony' a month ago, though he looked lost in thought himself, probably going through the same dilemma as them.

"Wait a minute, I don't really know anybody here," Nick stated. "Crapbaskets, who am I gonna party with?"

Yuuki decided to spare him those troublesome thoughts and tap him on the shoulder to get his attention. Nick turned around to see who was addressing him, only to meet gazes with two familiar faces.

"Well, well, it seems like we meet again, mister mysterious savior," Aiko teased. "It's been a while, huh?"

"You kept your promise," Yuuki proclaimed.

"Hey, I never break a promise," Nick answered as if it were second nature to him.

"You know, we never actually got your name before we parted ways," Aiko stated.

"Oh, sorry, I guess it slipped my mind," Nick stated. "My name's Nick Kelly. My player name was gonna be Makoto, but I decided against it after launch day. I didn't really think it was going to fit."

"And we're the Konno sisters," Aiko proclaimed. "I'm Aiko and this is Yuuki. We never really had time to decide on player names, honestly."

"It definitely looks like you guys have gotten a lot stronger since that day," Nick quipped.

"Yep!" Yuuki giggled. "I'm at level 11!"

"I'm level 12," Aiko stated. "How about you, Nick?"

"Level 12, same as you two," Nick answered.

"So... um, I guess what we're asking is... you wanna team up with us?" Yuuki asked.

"You're really the only people around here I know, so why the heck not?" Nick teased.

"YAY!" Yuuki exclaimed.

"Hold on just a second here!" a lone figure proclaimed, catching everyone's attention. Aiko simply grimaced, as there was something about this guy she didn't seem to like.

"My name is Kibaou, and there's something I want to say before we tackle the boss," Kibaou stated. "There's some of you here that have to apologize to the two thousand players who've died!"

"Wait, Kibaou, do you mean the beta testers?" Diavel gasped.

"You bet your ass I am!" Kibaou growled, flailing his arms like a madman. "The day this damn game got started, those freakin' beta guys ditched the beginners and just disappeared on us. They took all of the good hunting spots and easy quests for themselves, just so they alone could get stronger while ignoring the rest of us!"

"Is this guy making any sense to you, Nick?" Aiko asked.

"Not a lick," Nick answered. "I wasn't in the beta myself, but I knew some people who were, and they were nice people. And of course people are gonna find easy spots to train. They'll need to if they want to survive."

"I could tell you some stories of the grinding Yuuki and I were doing," Aiko quipped. "But later."

"I'm sure some of you here were in the beta!" Kibaou continued. "Here's what they should do. Those bastards need to get on their knees and apologize, then give up all the items and money they've been hoarding like selfish jerks. Otherwise, we can't trust them to protect us, and neither should they!"

Nick quickly decided that he didn't like the murmurs in the crowd, as if they were actually contemplating a witch hunt of the beta testers.

"Um, Nick? Should we say something?" Yuuki asked.

However, someone actually beat Yuuki to the punch, standing up from his spot and speaking out. "Can I say something? My name is Agil," the man stated. "Tell me if I'm hearing you right, Kibaou. You're saying that so many beginner players died because the beta testers didn't take care of them. Thus, they should take responsibility, apologize, and provide compensation. Am I right?"

"Y-yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying!" Kibaou shouted. Agil responded by accessing his inventory and retrieving what appeared to be an information book.

"You got this guidebook, right? It was provided for free at the item shop," Agil explained.

"Of course I did," Kibaou retorted. "Why is that important?"

"Because," Aiko cut in. "It has a bunch of tips and tricks that are gonna be very useful if we want to survive this game. You know who wrote that guidebook for us? The beta testers."

Aiko knew this because she and Yuuki had studied the book nearly nonstop for a whole week after the launch, making sure they knew everything they could to survive Sword Art Online.

"Did any of you read the guidebook?" Agil asked.

"...not yet..."

"Why would I real what's essentially a manual?!"

"It's too long, and I have things to do!"

"Okay, so I'm not going to point fingers at anyone specifically, but just remember that every player had equal access to this information, and still, many of them died," Agil explained. "So don't scapegoat the beta testers simply because they knew more than us. That's why they made these guides."

Kibaou prepared to retort, but had to admit the point there, and so sat back down in his seat, conceding the argument.

With that problem officially settled, Diavel continued his explanations about the first floor boss, as stated in the beta testers' guidebook. According to the beta testers, the boss was known as Illfang the Kobold Lord, was guarded by its minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels, wielded an axe and a buckler, and would switch his weapon to a Talwar when on its last legs, even giving a description of what the weapon looked like for people who weren't into studying old weapons.

"Yeesh, this guy sounds nuts," Yuuki stated.

"Hey, as long as we stick together, we'll be fine," Aiko replied. "You and me, sis. And yes, Nick, that includes you now."

"I'll do my best to not disappoint," Nick teased.

"Well, do you guys wanna zip back to the Meadow for a bit and get some last-minute level-grinding in?" Yuuki asked. When she didn't get an immediate response from Nick, she bent down and glanced at Nick, who appeared to be lost in thought.

What must they be thinking right now? Nick thought. Are they worried about me?

"Um, hello? Aincrad to Nick?" Yuuki proclaimed, startling Nick when she decided to get right in his face.

"U-um, y-yeah, I'm... I'm fine," Nick responded.

"Your stuttering says otherwise," Aiko countered.

"...I'm just worried about my family," Nick answered. "I'm pretty damn sure I'm not the only one who's got family back in reality, just waiting and waiting, not even sure if their kids are going to make it out of this virtual deathtrap with their lives intact..."

"Hey, we're all like that, I'm sure," Aiko stated. "Yuuki was trying for hours to call mom when we first got trapped in here."

"It hurt, honestly, not being able to talk to them and let them know we're okay," Yuuki admitted. "But that's also when Aiko and I decided that we're not going to let Sword Art Online defeat us. We're gonna get out of here and see our families again, no matter how long it takes us to finish this game!"

And just like that, Nick felt much better. These two definitely had a way with words.

As Aiko and Yuuki talked about random things, Nick wondered if he could consider them friends just yet.

Two more days passed, and this meant that it was time for the final charge through the labyrinth, to fight the big boss of floor one.

"I'll admit, sis, I'm a little scared," Yuuki admitted as the raid party made their way towards the boss chamber. "This probably isn't going to be like any boss we've fought so far, I know it."

"That's why we're all in a big party, Yuuki," Aiko responded. "So we can work together to bring the bad boy down and move on to the second floor."

"Hey, Nick? I've noticed that you seem pretty calm about all of this," Yuuki quipped. "What have you been doing for the first month?"

"Oh, really just the same things I'm sure everyone else is doing to survive this thing that used to be a video game," Nick answered. "I'm willing to bet that it's not that exciting of a story to tell."

"Sometimes, I imagine what a raid like this would be if this was any normal game," Yuuki replied. "We'd probably be cracking jokes, some of the higher-leveled guys would be talking down to the 'noobs' in a playful I-don't-really-mean-that kind of way, and just generally having fun with ourselves. But now... we're fighting for our lives, our literal lives in a game that can actually kill us."

"It doesn't get any easier, I know," Nick answered. "And anyone who says it does probably shouldn't be trusted. But that's why we're all here, like Aiko said. To take this big bad boss down and show everyone who's still here that we can beat this thing."

"So let's put our swords together and carve a path to victory," Aiko proclaimed.

"Well, everyone, this is it!" Diavel proclaimed as the raid party stopped right in front of the closed doorway that led to the boss chamber. "It's time to show the people trapped in this game that we will never stop fighting! Remember the strategy we discussed, and we shall be victorious!"

"Time to go all out, huh?" Yuuki giggled.

"Yeah, you didn't get to do much fighting, did you, sis?" Aiko replied.

"I'm ready for these things," Yuuki responded, proudly spinning Divination in her hands. "Just let one of those sentinel boys get his greasy claws on me!"

"But... you do remember our own plan, right, Yuu?" Aiko asked.

"Of course," Yuuki answered. "If my health ever drops to half, I'll switch out for you, sis."

"And I'll watch your backs," Nick stated, brandishing his new Anneal Blade. "If any of the Sentinels want to try a sneak attack, they'll have to get by me first."

"Well said, buddy!" Yuuki exclaimed. "Let's beat this boss!"

When everyone in the raid party had agreed on a plan of attack, Diavel pushed the gateway to the boss room open. The boss chamber in question was a long hallway full of stained-glass windows with a fancy throne sitting at the other end, blocking the way to the second floor.

And sitting in that throne, waiting for its challengers to arrive, was a rather imposing monster, a two-meter tall creature with red fur, bloodthirsty copper-red eyes, and a large bone axe in one hand and a leather shield.

Illfang the Kobold Lord, the boss of Aincrad's first floor.

"Have at ye, monster! You don't belong in this world!" Yuuki proclaimed.

"...really, Yuu?" Aiko sighed.

"H-Hey, it seemed appropriate!" Yuuki sputtered.

"CHARGE!" Diavel shouted, and the raid party rushed into battle.

Illfang naturally galloped out to meet them, swinging its axe and attempting to scatter the raid party.

"Remember what we discussed!" Diavel exclaimed. "Groups C and D will handle the boss, and Group E will keep the Sentinels off of our backs! The tanks and supports know what to do!"

Illfang lunged forward with a swift stab attack, only for Aiko to swing her Wind Fleuret, to parry the attack as best she could. The axe seemingly overpowered Aiko's rapier and pushed her backwards, but she thankfully didn't suffer any damage.

"Always use what works," Aiko proclaimed.

While Illfang was recovering from its attack, Yuuki took point and charged in to attack, while Nick stayed close to her and deflected the attacks of any Sentinels that dodged Group E and attempted to strike them.

Yuuki wasted no time in attacking with her new Sword Skill, Savage Cross, in which she sliced downwards, then did another slash across the first slice, leaving a crude, cross-shaped line of damage on Illfang's body.

"Boo-ya!" Yuuki giggled, only to see Illfang's axe flying towards her. Nick reacted quickly, leaping towards Yuuki to shove them both to the ground, just in time for Illfang's axe to sail harmlessly over where they'd just been.

"Oof, thanks, Nick," Yuuki proclaimed once they'd picked themselves up. "I don't wanna know if they count a neck slash as a lethal hit in this game."

"Thank me later, Yuuki," Nick responded. "He's coming back!"

Many more members of Groups C and D planted themselves in front of Illfang as it charged, with a Tank player taking a wide slash from Illfang's axe in order to give the attackers time to strike, leaving many long gashes on Illfang's body.

Before long, Illfang's first health bar, of a total of four, emptied completely. In response, Illfang roared and summoned a fresh trio of Sentinels to replace the ones that had just been killed.

"So, I guess it's gonna spawn a fresh set every time we drain a bar?" Yuuki quipped.

"Looks that way," Nick responded. "Look sharp, you guys, it's coming back for another round!"

Aiko took point this time, even as Illfang got in the stance to use a powerful jumping slash. She'd seen this during the first phase, after all. Aiko smirked and gestured to Illfang, hoping it'd take the bait.

To her satisfaction, Illfang responded by jumping through the air and attempted to bisect Aiko with a jumping axe strike. Aiko, in response, rolled to the side before the axe came down, the bone weapon only cutting the air where she had just been.

With Illfang stuck, Aiko went to town, landing multiple stabs on Illfang's exposed flank, while Yuuki cut down another Sentinel as it tried to stab Aiko.

"I got ya, sis!" Yuuki proclaimed.

Two Sentinels leaped for a very vulnerable Yuuki, but Nick slashed his Anneal Blade across their backs to snap their attention to him.

Thankfully, the group's strategy seemed to be working, and it didn't take much longer to bring Illfang's health down to its final bar.

"We're almost there, everyone!" Diavel proclaimed. "We have it on the ropes, now let's win this!"

Illfang simply roared in response, reaching back to draw his Talwar, as the beta testers had explained.

However...

"H-Hey, Yuuki?" Aiko asked, a sudden feeling of dread washing over her.

"What's the matter, sis?" Yuuki wondered.

"Something doesn't feel right," Aiko stated. "That doesn't look like a Talwar. Remember that they actually described the weapon's appearance in the guidebook?"

"Yeah, that's odd," Yuuki quipped. "Maybe they changed his weapon from what he used in the beta test?"

"Oh, shit," Nick gasped as the realization hit him with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball. Nick glanced back towards the battle just in time to see Diavel rushing towards Illfang. "Diavel, get the hell back! That's not a Talwar!"

Diavel didn't seem to hear Nick as he and a few other players surrounded Illfang, hoping to finally put an end to the monster.

As the players stepped closer, Illfang crouched before leaping high into the air, turning its body mid-jump, then landing and unleashing a heavy horizontal spinning attack that sent Diavel and the others flying.

Though they were able to get up again, each player struck by Illfang's katana, a nodachi, had taken quite a lot of damage and was unable to move from their spot.

"Th-They've been stunned!" Aiko gasped.

Nick moved forward as fast as his legs could carry him, hoping he'd make it in time.

Illfang glanced down at Diavel in disgust before slashing upwards with its katana to send Diavel flying, then leaping after him to unleash a powerful combo consisting of an upward slash, then a downward slash, then a thrusting attack that sent Diavel flying across the room.

Nick skidded to a stop just in time for Diavel to crash to the ground in front of him, his health falling to zero and his health bar vanishing.

"Diavel, you idiot," Nick proclaimed. "Why didn't you listen to us?"

"I... I guess... maybe I just wanted the Last Attack Bonus," Diavel admitted. "I got greedy... and my greed cost me dearly..."

"Dude, hold on, I've got a spare potion you can use!" Yuuki gasped. "It's not too late!"

Even as Yuuki offered the potion, Diavel gently pushed her hand away. "It's... it's okay, miss. It's... it's up to you now. Show everyone... that this... game... can... be beaten..."

Despite Yuuki's frantic offerings, Diavel had spoken his last, his body glitching and wobbling slightly before exploding into a shower of glowing polygons resembling glass shards.

"Did... did Diavel just die?!" one of the players exclaimed.

Yuuki let out a loud battle cry and charged towards Illfang, even as Aiko and Nick joined her. The trio moved in to attack from multiple angles, intending to keep Illfang from doing anything that would catch them off guard.

As Yuuki raked her sword across Illfang's back, the monster crouched then leaped into the air. Nick, Yuuki, and Aiko wisely retreated as Illfang landed and unleashed another spinning attack with its nodachi.

With Illfang locked in the post-motion delay, Aiko struck first with a Folium, in which her Wind Fleuret curved upward from the left hip, making a sharp loop at its peak, before transitioning into a slash towards her lower right.

As Illfang's health reached its limit, Nick saw his opportunity to put an end to this fight, using the delay from Aiko attacking it to unleash his new Sword Skill, Spiral Driver, which was basically an upgraded version of his first Sword Skill, Spiral Cut.

Nick started by slashing three times, twice in a spiraling motion around his left and right shoulders, then a third strike in an upwards arc. Then, he leaped into the air and spun around with his Anneal Blade extended, dealing three more spinning slashes before finishing with a downwards spike and a heavy stab.

This did the needed damage, dropping Illfang's health to zero. Its body glitched and wobbled, Illfang's expression one of complete shock at its defeat, before it exploded into a shower of glowing polygons.

A large message window opened above the battlefield, simply stating "CONGRATULATIONS!", and smaller windows appeared before each player who'd participated, showing them the EXP and col they'd earned from the fight.

"We... we did it?" Yuuki gasped, only to let out a loud whoop of triumph and dash over to hug her sister. "We did it, Aiko, we actually did it!"

"Gotta say, Nick, that was a pretty stylish final attack," Aiko admitted. "Way to show the boss who the real boss is around here."

Nick said nothing, still staring at the spot where Diavel had died.

"Hey, everything okay?" Yuuki asked, taking a step closer to Nick.

"Hey, you!" Kibaou growled, pointing towards Aiko. "How did you know that the boss' weapon was different?!"

"Oh, don't you even start, jerk!" Yuuki challenged. "Neither of us were beta testers, if that's even what you're implying!"

"Did you remember that the guidebook actually described his weapon for us?" Aiko growled. "I thought you, of all people, could use your eyes."

"We should just be happy that we actually beat the boss at all!" Nick proclaimed. "Now we know it's possible to actually clear this deathtrap of a game!"

"But..." one of the tanks responded. "Diavel is... well, still dead..."

"But he wouldn't want us to just sit on our laurels and do nothing, would he?!" Yuuki proclaimed. "No way in heck! Diavel would want us to focus our energy on beating this game, now that we know it's possible!"

"Two thousand people are already dead," another player responded. "How many more of us will die just trying to clear the next floor?!"

Yuuki had finally had enough of the player's despair, marching right up to him and grabbing him by the shirt collar.

"All right, listen up, you sad sacks, stop thinking like that!" Yuuki bellowed, catching everyone's attention. "If that's all you think about, that means your death's only gonna come quicker! Instead, try thinking about what you want to do when we get out of here!"

"If we get out..." a third player sighed.

"When!" Yuuki countered. "Don't let the bad thoughts consume you! Focus on the happy thoughts, and focus on beating this game! Look at it this way: what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger. I'm sure that, given some time, we'll be clearing floor after floor at lightning speed, and we'll be back home before you know it!"

Gradually, the worry in the crowd of players dissolved, replaced by a steely determination thanks to Yuuki's words.

"Yeah, you're right!"

"Overthinking is only a problem!"

"Happy thoughts, man, happy freakin' thoughts!"

"Let's keep going and take this damn game down!"

"Wow, I'm a better motivational speaker than I thought," Yuuki giggled as she and Aiko ran to the edge of the arena in order to activate the teleport gate that would allow access to the second floor.

"Well, let's move on to floor two and see what else this game has in store for us," Aiko proclaimed. "You coming, Nick?"

Nick visibly hesitated, something Yuuki quickly caught on to.

"What's up, buddy?" Yuuki asked.

"Well..." Nick started. "Would it be okay... if the three of us stuck together for a while? I mean... I don't know if it's mutual, but... I honestly consider you two my friends. Is that weird for me to think that, despite that we haven't really known each other for a month?"

Yuuki looked at Aiko for a second, then doubled back to grab Nick by the arm and playfully drag him towards the teleport gate.

"Of course we're friends, silly!" Yuuki proclaimed. "It's like I always said to Aiko, 'there are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other', and surviving a game that's trying to kill us all is definitely one of those things!"

"After everything we've done together to make it this far, I really do think of you as a friend, too, Nick," Aiko answered. "I'm sure a lot of players are going to stick together if we're gonna survive this game."

Nick, despite his earlier fears, couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, you two," Nick replied. "That really means more than I can say."

"Anytime, buddy!" Yuuki giggled. "Now, seriously, come on and get in this teleport gate before the rest of the peeps leave you behind!"

His fears quashed, Nick enthusiastically followed Aiko and Yuuki into the teleport gate, coming out the other side in Urbus, the main settlement of Floor Two. Urbus had the appearance of a mountainous city that had been excavated from a flat-topped mountain and rested inside a crater.

Nick glanced at both Aiko and Yuuki, who were already chatting excitedly about the challenges ahead.

"Hey, Yuuki? Aiko?" Nick asked again. "I just wanted to thank you both again. I know it's been hard trying to get used to all of... well, this. It feels like it's been harder and harder to make friends, considering no one knows how long we're going to survive this game. And, well, I'm sorry if I'm rambling, because I tend to do that, but..."

Yuuki cut off Nick's rambling by stepping forward and giving him a hug.

"Well, let me put your fears to bed right now, okay, Nick?" Yuuki proclaimed. "You and I, we are definitely friends now. And the three of us are going to survive Sword Art Online together. That's a promise, right?"

Nick smiled again at Yuuki's words. "And I never break my promises," Nick replied.

"Good. Glad we got that settled," Yuuki chuckled. "Now let's go down to the town and see what this place is all about."

Nodding to himself, Nick followed Yuuki and Aiko down the winding pathway that led down the mountainside and into the city of Urbus, happy to know how easily he'd made friends with the Konno twins.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the beginning of a beautiful friendship that would carry myself, my sister, and our new friend through the many, many trials that lay ahead of us. Because trust me when I say this. Despite all the horrors we faced in this first month, the absolute worst that Sword Art Online could throw at us... was yet to come.

As Nick, Yuuki, and Aiko disappeared from sight, the girl who'd been watching from behind the doorway out of the labyrinth stepped out of the shadows, revealing herself to be a nimble-looking girl with brown eyes and curly golden-brown hair, wearing full-body cloth and leather armor and a hooded cloak, with what seemed to be cat whiskers painted on her face.

As she watched the trio reach Urbus, Argo couldn't help but grin in a cat-like way, fitting her image.

"Ooh, those three look like they have potential. I'd better keep an eye on them."

Sword Art Online Progressive: Memories of a Distant Blade
~The End~