Sword Art Online

Fatal Bullet

The Golden Strider

Hey ladies and gent! SonicRebelHD here! Bringing you a new story that I've been thinking about for a while now. A little note before you start this story, My other one that I'm working on The Master Files is going to be on hold for a while sorry about that but I still planning on finishing it. Hopefully soon. And heres a big note for you so then this story makes a little more sense. The events that'll take place are a combination of both the games and the actual anime of SAO so characters like Sinon and Yuki will have been present during the SAO incident. I just wanted to clear that up before I get questions coming my way. Anyway I hope you enjoy this brand new story.

Chapter 1

VRMMO's Unluckiest Player

Corrin winced in pain, his arms wrapping around his stomach as his friend dealt the finishing blow to the evil researcher whose name he couldn't remember because of the nausea that enveloped his mind. Though he couldn't help but smile at his friends victory as he turned around, his demeanor as serious as it was when Corrin met him 2 years ago, but his eyes showed Corrin the fatigue that he must have been feeling after all this searching and heartache. The man's name was Kirito, or in the real-world Kazuto, his avatar had wild jet-black hair, and black eyes that could've told you a whole war story if you investigated them close enough. A huge sword hung on his back which fit his black and silver outfit very well, showing everyone how much of a hardcore gamer he truly was.

Kirito's face quickly went from serious to worry as he swiftly cut his girlfriend, Asuna, from her chains, and embraced her. Corrin looked away out of respect and embarrassment. "It's ok Asuna. It s over," Corrin heard Kirito say to her, his voice sounding on the verge of tears. "I know, I never doubted you for a second Kirito," she said as she glanced over at Corrin who tried for a smile but made more of a half-smile, half pain filled face. She silently mouthed the words thank you as she embraced Kirito again making Corrin smile warmly at them, things are finally looking up, Corrin thought as he took deep breaths trying to ease the pain in his body. As they finished embracing, Kirito quickly turned around and ran towards Corrin worry written all over his face making Corrin smile despite the pain he was in. "Corrin hang in there I'll get you out of here," he said as he shouted the main server activation code which instantly brought the master counsel in front of him. Corrin quickly grabbed Kirito's wrist to stop him as he looked at Asuna.

"Send Asuna home first, I can wait a couple more seconds," Corrin said, his voice raspy and deep making his throat ach.

Kirito and Asuna's eyes widened as Asuna quickly ran over to his side. "Don't say that!" Asuna almost yelled making Corrin wince slightly. "You've been stuck in the game for 10 years, you of all people need to escape and go home," he reasoned making Corrin shake his head.

"I need to make sure that you two get home first, I've already memorized the code to activate the master counsel, so you don't have to worry about me, I'll make sure I get home," Corrin said forcing himself to smile. They looked at each other seemed to come to a decision (Which no matter how hard he thought he couldn't figure out how they did that) before Kirito nodded.

"All right, I trust you, make it home and I'll see you on the other side," Kirito said as he smiled his goofy smile making Corrin laugh followed by a coughing fit which must not have put confidence into them. "Ok I'll see you there," Corrin answered genuinely smiling this time, which seemed to put them at ease.

"Ok Asuna, you first," Kirito encouraged as he swiped the menu over to her. She nodded as tears started to form in her eyes. "I'll see you home Kirito," she almost whispered as she pushed the logout icon and disappeared in a flash of glass like shards. The menu opened in front of Kirito again as he looked Corrin straight in the eyes again seeming to read his thoughts. Kirito was smart Corrin could give him that, he always seemed to notice whenever he felt down or in this case doubtful.

"What s up?" Kirito asked as he crossed his arms.

Corrin laughed, "Ha can't get anything past you, can I?" Corrin asked jokingly but frowned at the serious look that Kirito gave him. Corrin sighed slightly before he spoke, "Its almost unreal, being this close to getting out of the virtual world, but I've been this close before and it s been taken away from me twice now," Corrin explained as he settled onto his knees.

"What if it happens again?" Corrin finished as the pain in his body started to dissipate.

"Come on, no ones that unlucky," Kirito joked making Corrin smile.

"Besides, after everything you have done- saving all those people, getting to the hundredth floor and defeating Kayaba, and surviving in a harsh this harsh virtual world ever since you were eight. I think that you're due for your prize," Kirito reasoned as he scrolled through the menu and found the log out button again.

"Ok I got to go. Asuna's waiting for me," Kirito said as he looked at Corrin with his serious expression again. "When you get out, if you can, come to Agil's so we can celebrate you finally being free," he added as he told Corrin the address which Corrin instantaneously memorized.

"See you there," Corrin saluted as Kirito nodded and pushed the button and vanished.

Silence settled over the empty space that he was in as Corrin took shaky but firm breaths before he started to relay the master command.

"ID Akihiko Kayaba, 457789, main counsel," he said but nothing happened. Corrin tried again, but again nothing happened which made a pit form in Corrin's stomach. I could have sworn that I said it right, Corrin thought as he opened his mouth to speak but stopped as he saw him. Akihiko Kayaba stood not too far from where Corrin was sitting, 5 maybe 7 feet way from him, and he looked the same as he did when he locked Corrin in the game. Kayaba had short brown hair, with glasses that hide his eyes from Corrin's. He wore his lab coat, with a white shirt and black khaki pants, it was almost like he never left the lab at all.

Corrin swallowed the lump in his throat, he must have been hallucinating, there was no way that Kayaba was alive, he killed him to get out of SAO. But there he was standing there, seeming to taunt him at failing in his mission.

"Hello Corrin, it s been awhile," he spoke pulling Corrin from his thoughts.

"A little too soon I'd say," Corrin said as he kept his eyes on him, the gears in his mind starting to turn and work after so long.

"How are you even here?" Corrin asked as he headed back on his hands, staring at Kayaba with loathing.

"I think you already know that answer Corrin," he responded with a small yet confident smile.

"I'm speaking to your conscious," Corrin answered which after Kayaba's smile widened slightly, his eyes grew.

"Ahhh as perceptive as ever. No wonder you were dubbed the prodigy of the age ten years ago," he commented, making Corrin blush slightly despite his hate for him.

"Just tell me why you're here, I don't want to stay here anymore than I have to," Corrin said as the main counsel screen suddenly opened in front of him.

Kayaba frowned again as he sat down where he was. "Aren't you going to ask me how I managed to transmit my conscious here?" He asked as Corrin rolled his eyes.

"I could go into the theories for digitizing ones electrical signals that could allow someone to in theory upload one s mind onto the internet but I really at this moment in time don't care," Corrin said as he scrolled through the menu until he found the log out button.

"I've been in the virtual world for 10 years now, it s a miracle that I'm even alive right now. And not only did I have to start over my escape after the full game went public, I had to beat the new version of SAO and help get Asuna back. I'm done with anything that has to do with you," Corrin spat, anger flowing out with each word he spoke.

There was silence between them for what seemed like an hour before Kayaba cleared his throat. "I know that you must hate and resent me, but I've come to warn you and to hopefully encourage you about the future of VRMMORPG's," he explained as he stood up again.

Corrin looked at him with astonishment; how could Kayaba think that he still cared about VRMMORPG's after everything that he has been through to just go home again. But the scientist that was within him just couldn't leave without hearing him out. Plus, whatever Kayaba had to 'warn' him about might be useful information in the future, so after taking a deep breath Corrin answered, "Alright what do you have to say?"

Kayaba nodded as a small smile spread across his face. " Before he left, I had a little talk with Kirito and gave him what I'd like to call the seed," he explained. Corrin couldn't remember seeing Kayaba talk to Kirito but it probably was complicated to explained and he didn't want to stay through that whole explanation, so he kept his mouth shut as Kayaba continued.

"This seed is the basis of SAO, with it, many new worlds and places will be born from this and new adventures await for those who choose to take the challenge," he said.

"Why are you telling me this anyway," Corrin asked his patience running thin.

"Because I believe, as a scientist and now a hardcore gamer yourself, I thought you'd be interested," he explained making Corrin laugh.

"And who's fault was that?" Corrin asked which made even Kayaba chuckle.

"But now for my warning," he began making Corrin perk up.

"Because you are using a prototype to the nerve gear, being forcefully logged out might have a chance of killing you," Kayaba said.

Corrin's mouth went dry, he had completely forgotten that he was using the prototype or as they called it ten years ago the Full Body Nerve Gear or the FBNG for short. Corrin didn't remember exactly how it worked but he knew that it was very sensitive and that it made everything that he felt in the game feel like it actually would in the real world which was both a comfort and a curse.

"If you log out here, the FBNG might activate its kill function and fry the organs in your body as your coming out of the game," Kayaba informed making Corrin's stomach churn that the thought

"I'm willing to take the risks."

"You never used to take risks when you were working under me, why start now?" Kayaba inquired.

"I've been taking risks for the past 10 years: fighting each floor boss starting from 8-year-old to now 18, branching out and making new friends, and above all protecting the people I care about," Corrin stated as he stood up, which he noticed he was a little smaller than Kayaba now.

"That s one of the only things that I've learned from being stuck here, life doesn't always go your way even if you've planed for it all. Plans and strategies fail, but as long as you're determined to fight till the end you can conquer any wall," Corrin said, staring determinedly into Kayaba eyes.

He nodded as his form began to flicker, "You've changed," He said as his form began to grow dim.

"You have earned your escape, enjoy it," he finished as he disappeared into nothingness.

Corrin stood there for a moment, half expecting Kayaba to pop up again and say, Sorry I lied, you're stuck here forever, but he never did which made Corrin sigh in relief. Corrin glanced at the logout button with unbelieving eyes, this was it, he can finally go home. "Alright here goes nothing, Cheers to not dying!" He shouted as he pushed the button making everything around him go white.

As the white haze vanished from vision, Corrin instantly knew something was wrong. He had his eyes closed to protect himself from the blinding light so he couldn't see anything yet but everything that he heard and felt didn't feel right, he could feel weight on his legs which must have meant he was either standing or being squashed (Corrin went with the prior), and finally he smelt something metallic. The smell of metal was what threw off Corrin the most, it was like whatever was around him was in the industrial age which didn't boost Corrin confidence one bit.

But once he finally opened his eyes, Corrin's heart filled with dread. He was standing in a sort of plaza, metallic buildings towering over him like he was an ant. The floors were a grayish brown stone that seemed to go on for miles, but the final thing that he noticed was that where the sun should be was a huge building with a metal orb seeming to hover in the gap between a part of the building and the tipped roof.

Light poured out around the orb making the city or whatever Corrin was in, look as if it were mid-afternoon. But the only thought that coursed through Corrin's mind was, Where the heck am I? As Corrin's eyes adjusted, he saw a person wearing some type of camo outfit walking not too far from him. The outfit screamed to Corrin that it was a military type outfit which made Corrin pale in freight.

Quickly out of instinct he brought his left hand up and using his forefinger and middle finger swiped down. What happened next, clarified Corrin's suspicions but it made him feel even worse. His menu appeared in front of him showing him all the options that he could do in the menu: Showing him his equipment, showing his status, items, quests, and finally the options\settings menu.

He couldn't believe that it happened again, that all the effort he put in to get home, ten years of battling for his life and then the lives of 10,000 people were again all for naught. This realization made Corrin ground his teeth in rage. But a thought accrued to him, bring back a little bit of hope as he quickly went to settings and continued his search. But as he made it to the bottom of that menu, his hope was shattered yet again as he looked upon the options and noticed that the log out button wasn't there.

You have got to be kidding me! he mentally shouted, as he clenched his fists so tightly that he would've lost Hp if he wasn't a safe zone. He was stuck, again in a game that he knew nothing about with no hope in sight. Corrin sighed, trying to calm himself down. It wouldn't help him to be anger, if he was going to survive, he had to start collecting information on the new game he was in. He didn't want to die in here after all.

Corrin quickly dashed towards where the guy wearing the camo was headed and found him looking in the window at something that Corrin couldn't see. As Corrin walked up to him the guy looked over at him and frowned slightly. "You new here?" He asked suddenly making Corrin jump slightly.

"Ahh yeah, sorry for bothering you, but could you tell me what game I'm in?" Corrin wondered bringing the man's eyebrow to arch.

"You don't know what game you're in, Ha that s a riot!" He laughed making Corrin's face flush in embarrassment.

"Welcome to Gun Gale Online kid! The most competitive VRMMO game of the year," he exclaimed as he walked away laughing leaving Corrin with a stomach full of butterflies.

That's just great! Corrin thought in irritation, Not only am I in a game with frickin' gun's as weapons, but this game encourages PvP! That s just perfect! Corrin mentally shouted as he glanced into the window and almost jumped at his own reflection.

Corrin's avatar had its usual look or in other words it looked like him: wild, short golden blond hair, sapphire blue eyes, and a mature yet naive face. His attire was a little different than he was used to though, with a light blue battle jacket, with what looked like a white shirt covered with some type of armor. He wore whiteish khaki pants and some type of blue combat shoes.

It had been awhile since he looked at himself, Corrin could see that he was a little paler than was healthy for him and that his eyes were droopy like he hadn't slept for three days (which he hasn't). Corrin sighed as a determination settled in his heart, one that he had felt before in SAO and ALO. "I'm going to survive this," Corrin stated to himself as he began walking towards the entrance of the store. "It s time to show this world what a survivor is capable of!" Corrin said as he set off, his will to live guiding him.