A/N: There will be the use of a foreign language other than English in this chapter. This will apply to future chapters going forward as well. There will be inaccuracies, however, the true meaning of what's being said will be posted at the endnotes of the chapter when there is usage of one.
For languages not written in the Latin alphabet, what's being spoken will be provided romanized for greater understanding, but when written language is actually used, the true script will be used.
28 July 2024
?
Bellevue Hospital, New York, United States
"So, you guys probably have a lot of questions. Including why I'm here and where you are at. So, I will answer your questions, but you will answer my questions. My name is Haizi and I'm a journalist for Supernatural-and-Tech, a newspaper covering the supernatural, science, and technology. Now, the first question, what happened before crashing into Central Park?"
Neither of the other comrades didn't let a sound from their lips out. A superstition all five had to keep what they're doing mostly a secret from press members.
Haizi saw it to be the case, speaking again, "Drahoslav over there said about a guy named Uugu and fighting them in London, does the face corroborate?"
"It is true. The other four were present and could say that it was true for us," Zelislav replied, slightly nodding.
Dvinaslav watched the room for anything to ask a question for. Until something came to her hear with her short and spiky yellow hair went spiky for a moment, "What time is it?"
He tilts his head to a digital watch, "Eleven twenty-two P.M. How old are you guys?"
"Seventeen," Drahoslav replied.
"Sixteen," Stanislav said.
"Fifteen," Dvinaslav followed.
"Sixteen," Zelislav replied.
"Seventeen," Jaraslav concluded.
"Interesting…" Haizi mumbled, writing their ages down. "Your accents interest me, if you are comfortable revealing where they are…"
All five of them stared at him like a foe that needed defeat.
"Nevermind then! Russians are cold sometimes, ay?" Haizi moved some of his eyes away from his eyes and scratched the back of his neck.
Dvinaslav raised her dominant voice, "What we can tell, we aren't Russian. But Stanislav and Jaraslav are the closest to being Russian in the room."
Haizi took note, writing the word "Slavic" before getting hit with another answer. This time by Stanislav, "Do you not understand the war Uugu was fighting?"
He gave the kid a confused stare, with an "I'm not aware of a war going on in Europe. It's at peace, maybe besides Britain exiting the European Union a few years ago. Or President Trump's call with Zelensky a few years ago-"
"Zelensky..." Stanislav looks at Haizi when he began to growl.
"There's not another Zelensky that became the President of Ukraine?"
Drahoslav suddenly interrupts upon detecting a loss in translation, "To clear things up, from where we're from, there was a local human commander of Uugu's army that was called Zelensky. Kyrio Zelensky was the name."
"Oh, it's Volodymyr Zelensky, then." Haizi nods with a standard emotion void tone.
Stanislav stopped speaking. He knew what the name was talking about.
Jaraslav bolted to initiate a statement, smiling, "If you're right about the Trump-Zelensky phone call happening a few years ago, I can assume we're somewhere in the twenty-twenties!"
Haizi pulled his phone out and said the year, "It's twenty-twenty-four."
Out of nowhere, Drahoslav's eye lit up. The brown fading to light of a sense of ecstasy. Smiling beyond what he originally thought. Despite his comrades giving an assumption of him hoisting delusions.
"Can you confirm it's the case?!" he asked enthusiastically.
"See for yourself," Haizi walked to Drahoslav's bed, showing the black and purple head the date on his phone.
"Can I ask a question, pretty please?"
"Go ahead, Drahoslav." said the journalist.
"Sword Art Online, is it a game?" he asked, tensing his stomach for the answer.
Haizi smiled brightly, snapping his finger, "It is a game!"
"Nemôžemtomuuveriť!" Drahoslav said across the room and incomprehensibly.
Haizi, along Drahoslav's comrades, stared him like a kid who caused trouble. Men and women from outside pooling the ICU to see if everything was going well. Instruments said so. Although, more socially disruptive than a medical emergency. The Slovak still breathed heavily as he looked at Haizi as if he was a saint brought back to life.
"Skutočné VR?" he said again, his accent fully shown.
Zelislav slanted his head over a tray of medical stuff, "Not many know how to speak Slovak outside of Slovakia, you know that."
Coming to his senses, Drahoslav nods, "I get excited, I start speaking in my native tongue."
"So you're from Slovakia? Neat." Haizi wrote the revealed fact next to Drahoslav's age in the journal.
During Drahoslav's outburst, Dvinaslav slammed her hands onto her face, "What are you gonna do with these questions."
"Well, I was gonna write an article with the information, relating to the incident and how it might be connected with tech. But, you bunch are interesting. Like, interesting. Understanding world history and knowing what SAO is, despite not being Japanese-"
"Anyone who isn't Japanese can still understand a VRMMORPG." Drahoslav interrupted, "Even a small kid in Moldova if they're smart enough will know what SAO is through the Internet of the news. And SAO to me, is a manga and anime franchise about a boy and his bitch, I mean girlfriend doing adventures in FullDive VR. While along the way meeting other bitches and assholes in VR." Interrupted Drahoslav.
Haizi turns away from the comrades, smirking devilishly at an idea in his head. Proceeding to pop his fingers at the fact. Before facing them again to finish what he was gonna say, "I'm gonna do something. Although I don't know any of you personally, you guys are interesting. And I'm assuming Japan's your final destination."
Drahoslav gives a nod to Haizi's statement.
He sat on the visitor's sofa, level with their heads when compared to a hospital bed. "Until you guys can go to Japan, or at the very least, survive in the cutthroat of New York City. I, as a grate-giving human being, will support you. I have a friend who's Japanese who can help, if it's needed."
A wave of reassurance crosses the minds of the entire group. Including the hardiest in Dvinaslav, a sign of approval.
"Well then, once you guys are free to be discharged, I'll help you around and maybe a tour of what you can do to help yourself in New York." said Haizi as he puts his journal away, inside a bag he brought with him.
29 July 2024
?
?
A light, baking shine turns closed eyelids a hue of red when looked at. Fresh grass around a figure staring at a refreshing sky that couldn't get better. If only the eyes opened. Tweets cluttered around and leaves swaying when disturbed. Relaxed closed eyes uninterrupted nature.
The eyes awoke the person. The sky the first thing seen with a fresh earth scent without pesky industry getting in its way following.
"Where it leads, I don't know. But my labor, if sent the right way, begins," they said, a light masculine voice when they awoke.
Part of the shredded sleeve trench coat degraded past the forearm. Part of the elbow revealed. His pineapple-shaped hair, progressing from the top leaves to the beginning semicylinder of the fruit. Bubblegum blue with pink in comparison to the sky above. Alongside dual ringed green eyes with the same pastel color primarily bulling on his head. However, transitioned to a Leaning Tower of Pisa for hair.
"Where the hell am I? Although," he asked himself, watching for any kind of clues.
Luckily, stumbling to find a two-lane street with Kanji and Hiragana characters. Cracking his smirk more, "Japan… I'm a lucky man. Japan…"
Before getting to see the path a Shinkansen takes to major cities. Following for the train station at a nearby village. Giving the apparency he knew what Japanese infrastructure can do, and that will be his advantage.
29 July 2024
2:30 P.M Japan Standard Time (JST)
Outside a Skyscraper, Tokyo, Japan
Two doors opened following a pitched screech. Allowing for a guy to enter, being met with a receptionists desk with a large RECT in black bold above the wall on the desk.
The receptionist noticed the change and abnormality of the guy's arrival, looking up with the face of a young man, "Yoyaku wa arimasu?"
He'd use his phone, switching to a Japanese input method and typing flightily, "フルダイブ部門はどこですか？"
"Yoyaku?" the receptionist asked once again?
"I have no time to batter in Japanese. Where is RCT Progress headquartered at?" he said with demanding force.
The guy pointed up, a completely vertical or close to full vertical orientation. Afterward, a light purple outline lifts him from his seat. Screams came as a microgravitational force settled the receptionist, a feeling of weightlessness causing a dress shoe's footprint smearing the desk. All detachable objects coming with it. Ceramics smashed, computer cords screwed, pictures stained by tea. No effort to mitigate the damages occurred.
"Struggle, fear, helplessness. Everything contributing to the downfall of Argus personified in one man. Although in RECT's headquarters," he cracked as he progressed into a hallway.
2:50 P.M JST
RECT Headquarters, Tokyo, Japan
He still held the receptionist in the air using what is assumed to be a form of telekinesis. Walking like a king in the hall to the elevator, "Do you play music? Because I'm bored and need a distraction while I find the elevator."
The receptionist shook his head.
"What's your name, receptionist?"
"Kaiya…" he said, a heavy Japanese accent as he'd attempt to speak.
"You need better English either way, Kaiya." he said like mockery, "But now I have to make music."
As he said it, his finger plunged right. Hitting Kaiya and his bishonen build on one side of the wall. Then the other a second time after a few seconds of dragging. Third, in a circle, banging the ceiling in addition to the horizontal lines holding it up and the floor the guy chuckled from his satisfying diversion. Repeating the same motion but in different intervals and randomness until he walked into the elevator.
Kaiya's choices became zero. Forced to what the man he saw was planning to do.
The guy looked and asked, "Point fingers, what floor is RCT Control working in?"
Kaiya gives the number twelve via his fingers. Proceeding to lead to him to press the button. Opening into a sizeable front room. Twenty four salarymen at cubicle office spaces minding their own business. Workers moving through when needed for their job. White dress shirts with ties of various coloration and fabric trends separable from the eye. Feet resting on ceramic tiles.
"Colour, neat. Now everyone in this room, Tachiagaru!"
Although he spoke it in broken Japanese, the office people rose out of their seats as the guy continues to explain, "You will listen to what my order is, the SAO servers, this company maintains SAO when the Cardinal System is unable to regulate the game itself. Where's the server room?!"
No replies besides useless banter to him. Flinging his other hand not holding Kaiya to send a woman right next to him under influence.
"You will show me where it is, or a skull is cracked. And you vote for who? This bishonen on the left with slightly spiky black hair? Or the girl on the right? Decide carefully. Who shall die? Who shall not? Who shall see if it works? One is spared, it's straight below this floor from your gestures?" he asked playfully, before asking for confirmation.
However, he stopped, coughed, throwing Kaiya out of the area as the outline he was covered in appears on himself. Happening suddenly out of the confirmation by the other workers, "If any of you calls the police, you suffer. Or, much more. Lights out with a dance."
Upon the words he uttered, he imitated ticking on his tongue as he rose each of those men out as he began to sing and dance himself;
"Tappi Tappa tappa ta, tapa ta!" His first motion invokes him sliding to the left and leg crossing the right.
"Tappi Tappa tappa ta, tapa ta!" He did the same again, but with the right side.
"Take it as you wish, intruder? Bruter?" he starts hopping in a full three hundred and sixty circle.
"But is it a matter? Not a concern." He stops for a solo with his telekinesis, allowing them to do a solo before continuing the song.
"Because it's lights out!" He said with a non-singing tone, as he crashed them on the ground and subsequently breaking their cubicles with force. In addition to cracking tiles.
Following his grip, he'd pull Kaiya into his grasp from the neck. However, the purple outline expands for a moment before loosening from Kaiya.
"N-Nandesuka?" Kaiya flipped his hands left and right constantly.
"You'll understand later. Now go home or something. Call the cops if you have the balls to." he said before letting him go a few meters from his standing.
The man stomps the ground a few times. Flicking the edges of his coat preceding a fall through an entire floor. Landing in the server room, where the Cardinal System and the external access to the system was located. Widened eyes and a malicious grin while finding a console with a USB port.
"Fools, fools, fools. Whether you're aware or not, Kirito. I'm here, and it's time to die…" he said with a slowly darkening mood.
He slid the palm of his right into his pocket. Pulling a USB drive which had a small script "BotGen" inscribed in it. Before slamming the storage device into a slot. Walking to watch its progress with intrigue.
Sword Art Online
16:58 In-Game Time
Aincrad
Like a desert, the heat didn't dissipate and rain rarely dropped. The difference being moist sod and white crystals dominating the landscape. The subject to crushing into crystals with the same form as sodium chloride, table salt. Combat boots with the same thickness as leather passed across the plains. The boy having his black and gray trench coat tied to his waist, shaking an entire jug of water into his body. Shaking as his hair, greased and unkept overshadowed his black eyes. Sweat trickling across part of the scabbard to a black sword on the hilt.
All of a sudden, several mechanical beings, uncharacteristic of the floor surrounded the boy into a circle. Making him, by instinct, look around his senses as he swiftly brought his right hand to the hilt of the blade.
"Mechanical beings?" he said to himself as he spread his legs to widen his stance. Something was coming, and robots with mechanical blades was one sign.
One of them, shaped with a pyramidal head, the majority of the north pointing face room for optics and lasers. Items required to make robots operate competently in a realistic setting.
All the other robots were similar in their shapes, sphere or pyramids as their heads, frail black bones generated in VR for limbs except the arm on each holding a sword, having a thicker arm with heavier muscle. Wide feet despite the salts harming the internals and heat baking the components.
"Bokutachi matte imashita, Kirigaya Kazuto. Matawa pureiyā Kirito." the lead robot spoke in it's mechanical and French-like voice, it's optics flaring lens as it did.
Kirito closes his left eye as the lead suddenly flashed, before turning to face the robot, speaking with a neutral, yet advancing tone, "Nandeshou."
"Anata no shi," replied the robot.
In response he readied to unsheathe his sword Elucidator. However, he looked for the HP bar in-game. Close enough to detect it without a sufficient skill, however, it didn't show for him, "Hakkā NPC…"
Without further warning, the robots readied their blades in various stances. Kirito responds similarly, unsheathing Elucidator and taking his stance. The tip angled to give him a wide array of coverage for who comes at him first.
The flank advanced with a simple thrusting motion behind his back. However, the skilled player ducked. And without using any system assistance, motioned Elucidator within his right upward. Easily destroying the robot as it just vanished, leaving no experience or currency behind.
Shocked by the matter, Kirito's momentum overstretched, slicing another robot's arm off. Knocking it out of the battle in the process. Taking the break of advances to readjust his standing. Heavy exhales coming off his breath as the thickening heat descended.
"I can't fight too long while in the sixty-fourth floor's heat and salt." Kirito turned around him, speaking his mind in his mind, as he continues to look around them. "They're hacks, but aren't steely."
Kirito entered the offensive with a thrust at full force on another bot, setting his position for the system to initiate the "Horizontal" Sword Skill for him. Sweeping Elucidator from left to right in one swift slash. Taking eight robots out of the twenty with him, half of the forces in two actions. It seemed all too easy for someone of his level. Parrying two downward sword attacks, ending in their destruction as a result of the superiority of Elucidator as a weapon. Countering equally as hard. Eight remained.
"Kono hakkā wa dono yō ni shite sābā ni shin'nyū shita no..." he mumbled as the battle continued to progress.
"Guchi yamete!" one of the bots shouted before almost landing a hit on Kirito.
But he dodged, arranging a meeting for his fist to the robot's face. Defeating it equally as quickly as his sword would have had he made the choice to cut instead of punch. Seven remained. Three attempted to attack him from three angles, Kirito rolled out of the way and all three hit themselves. Four remained.
Elucidator on his side and behind, another flanking attack gets intercepted and number four is down. But he pressed on, his advance turning unstoppable when he swung it three times in rapid succession. Top left to bottom right for the first bot. The second bot got to witness him sweep with a jumping dash slash the next. Leaping into the air and activating the "Vertical" Sword Skill. Finishing the last bot without much further effort besides using the skill.
Landing back on his feet, Kirito continued on his way. Elucidator returns to the scabbard on Kirito's back. The next civilization of igloos and towers composed of salty materials and bricks. And by assumption, salty food. Passing across more aggressively formed clusters. Turning to crystals on the contact of his boot. Taking his large canteen to his mouth again to fill its need for thirst. A relief after breaking a tiny sweat fighting a group of twenty bots hacked into the game with the sole reason to kill him while traversing an area dominated by shining salt with the climatic conditions of a wasteland.
Everything looked well, the hacker failed to stop him, no plans besides the town. He sighs, relieved as he pulled his coat into the open for detecting wrinkles. Nearly an instinct for someone who did the thing he did with jackets and/or coats tied to the waist. But, by benefit of VR, it didn't crease. Making it safe to tie back into a knot on his waist.
However, his peacefulness didn't come to last, robots appeared behind him. A few using single-handed and other two-handed styles of wielding swords. One used a spear and two used pikes, signaled by their black spherical heads with white stripes for pikemen, pyramidal heads with blue accent stripes for the spearman. And for the sword wielders, one full arm for single, two full arms for double-handed wielders.
Without saying a word, in three-man waves, one bot had two-handed sword and the other, one-handed sword-wielding. Kirito unsheathed Elucidator once more, swaying the black blade at one of the swords and eliminating one bot out of the equation. Before taking the other two with a single slash by the trail Elucidator left behind.
"Kantan sugiru," Kirito said, staring at the remaining bots, but to his surprise, only sixteen after the first three eliminated, as opposed to seventeen in the first wave.
His stance changed. They weren't harder than the last storm according to first impressions. Although he retained his defensive stature in the event he was wrong. Left-arm forward, dominant hand resting, vice versa for his feet.
Six arrived at him, working in duos of two. However, he sighed before a single circular slash took care of the next charge.
"Hmph, Kirito… Boku kore ga koru koto o shitte iru hazudesu... Sore de, sūchi o agete mi ma."
The other two waves didn't charge at Kirito. Breaking from each other as eighteen, seventeen, sixteen, fifteen, fourteen more robots combined joining up, like a miniature army. Joining in tandem to waddle around Kirito's single point. Distant to avoid a poke by his blade and be within attacking range. One-handed swords, two-handed swords, pikes, spears, rapiers, shields, curved blades. Who was controlling them knew what they were doing, and seemingly knew what he might be capable of. Although, he didn't know yet.
His eye circles around, a few, the leaders of each wave, laugh like an echo. Chanting about what they'll do when he's dead, what his attempts will be, but one word, striking Kirito out and got his definite attention darting his eyes.
"Sore o tokihanachi, nitōryū…"
"They know about Dual Blades…" Kirito thought to himself as he closed his eyes for a moment. "Ninety, ninety robots… Elucidator can't take all ninety on its own. They have numbers, the hacker might be aware of the downside of using Sword Skills. I have no choice..."
He opened his menu, not moving a budge, swiftly getting to something in his inventory, "Dark Repulser" and brought into his second weapon slot. Appearing on his back in an instant then sheathing Elucidator.
Kirito stares at the meshed robot force specifically designed for killing one sixteen-year-old boy. Giving it a "give me everything you got" stare as he took his coat off his hips. Fitting it on his person. Readying his arms on the handles of his swords.
Translations:
Slovakian:
Nemôžemtomuuveriť (Actually Nemôžem tomu uveriť!): I can't believe it!
Skutočné VR?: Real VR?
Japanese:
Yoyaku wa arimasu?: Do you have an appointment?
フルダイブ部門はどこですか?: Where is the FullDive division?
Yoyaku?: Appointment?
Tachiagaru!: Stand up!
Bokutachi matte imashita, Kirigaya Kazuto. Matawa pureiyā Kirito: We've been waiting, Kirigaya Kazuto. Or, player Kirito.
Nandeshou: What do you want.
Anata no shi: Your death
Kono hakkā wa dono yō ni shite sābā ni shin'nyū shita no: How did this hacker get into the server...
Guchi yamete: Stop complaining!
Boku kore ga koru koto o shitte iru hazudesu... Sore de, sūchi o agete mi ma: I know this was going to happen... So let's increase the number.
Kantan sugiru: Too easy