PROJECT: BLADEWORLD

/Chapter 3: Resting and Going Offline...

November 4th, 2022

The sky glowed golden orange with the artificial sun slowly setting across the horizon, hues of purple and points of light that are the stars in the game slowly appeared in the night sky as the party of Kirito, Klein, and Arashi carrying a sleeping Ayatsuki on his back made it to a grassy knoll that has a tree with the marking of a "Safe Area". It had a great view of the large starter city "Hinansho" to the south and the Sakurayuki mountains to the north and beyond them you could see the Crystal Spire, a bright white beacon in the far-off distance in the horizon.

Klein dropped his sword, sighing exhaustedly as he unceremoniously plopped himself down on the ground

"Oi, is that how a samurai treats his own weapon? Maybe you should commit seppuku for mistreating your weapon and not following bushido." Arashi quipped dryly as he carefully let Ayatsuki down from her perch and sat down leaning against the tree. She joined him, laying her head down on his lap and closing her eyes. A serene smile graced her lips murmuring something about strawberry parfaits and started to drool as he plays absentmindedly with her hair.

"I'm too tired, my bushido code is flexible enough." Klein slowly picked up his sword and lazily resheathed it. They fell into a period of meditative silence, watching the beautiful landscape around them and a few dragonlings weaving in the air above them, the cool breeze and ambient BGM harmonizing together, creating a relaxed atmosphere.

After a few moments of peace and quiet Klein broke the silence, "This is the life. Hard to believe that we are actually inside a game no matter how many times I look at it; feels like I'm in another world like those fantasy isekai stories, it's nothing like old VR. I'm glad that I was lucky enough to be born in this time and era."

"This must be your first time playing a game with the NerveGear then? You sound like an old man saying that, making such a big deal out of it." Kirito chuckled softly

"Hey! Its my first full dive, give me a break" Klein retorted back

"I understand how you feel, Klein" Arashi looked up at the sky raising a hand and clenching a fist to around a twilight star. "It's like a dream come true for me; to go to another world and be fully immersed in it, well at least, the closest thing to it that is. Here you can rise up to be the stars of your own stories and adventures by your own blade without the world telling me it is impossible and to be surrounded by some like minded people like myself."

Kirito stood up drawing his sword and raised to his eye level; He spoke with a confident smirk. "In this world a single weapon, your skills, and well you play the game are the only deciding factor on how far you can get to aim for the highest peaks to be the best that we can be without fear, that's why I enjoy these kinds of games" He looked up at the skies as well, "During the beta, RSO was all I could think about day and night, How to experiment with different skills and schools, pushing the limitations of the System in combat and fighting Bosses made me feel more alive here than being in the real world, even though it's a virtual world... At least that's what I think" Kirito sheathed his sword and started to rub the back of his neck awkwardly as he sat down and Klein started laughing full of mirth.

"That was really cool, you guys are really into this game, aren't you, I envy you two, you got to play and test the game early and experience it firsthand. While me and my friends had to wait in line to get a special collector's edition physical copy. We got lucky and all of us got special editions for being one of the first eight to get my hands on a copy with my friends and we bought all the equipment required, each one's a whole month worth of salary gone."

"But it was worth it, wasn't it?" Arashi whistled cracking a wry grin.

Klein sat up straight up with a wide grin. "Definitely!"

Arashi chuckled softly and slowly shook Ayatsuki to wake her, "Five more minutes… I must protect Aki-nii by defeating the evil Red Chili Samurai first..." She grumbled snuggling into her brother. He sighs "Come on wake up, the Red Chili Samurai already has been defeated by Aki-nii and there's a strawberry parfait waiting for you." She got up mumbling, "Fiiiiine..." and wiped the drool from her face while yawning and stretching her arms out in front of her like a cat.

He gave a small smile patting her head as he got up to stretch his arms while Kirito continued talking to Klein "So as of now we've taught you everything we know of the basic game mechanics and how to fight, even managing to fight an rare Elite Monster at a low level which is not bad in itself. Do you want to keep going or call it a day?"

"Yeah lets keep going!" Klein stood up when a growling noise split through the air, not from the monsters outside the safe zone, but from Klein's stomach. "Er...but I guess not." He laughs embarrassed, "Now that I'm feeling pretty hungry after seeing all those boars, I want some meat"

The three of them stared at Klein as Arashi held back his laughter and Ayatsuki did a cute giggle while Kirito also smiled, letting a small laugh escape "Eating food here only makes you think you are not hungry anymore, not that the system can't replicate the taste of good food but it doesn't beat the real deal."

"Yeah, that's why I ordered some take-out delivery pizza and ginger ale for me and my friends who are diving together at 5:30. I'll be back by then" Klein smirked

"Sounds delicious, you came prepared already haven't you." Arashi grinned back "We might also log off after a bit to get ready for dinner too, so I suppose it's time we parted ways for now."

"Alright then." Klein turns to log off before turning back around "Hey actually, if you guys are free after dinner I'm going to meet up with my friends who are diving with me. I know them from an old guild I used to run in another MMORPG and they aren't bad people, I know them pretty well. I was wondering if you wanted to meet up with them later?"

Kirito looked hesitant as he turned away slightly; Arashi folded one arm while resting the other on it and placing a hand on his chin rubbing it as he wondered to himself if he even had time for that while Ayatsuki hid further behind her brother with an uncomfortable look.

"Ah don't worry, it's fine if you guys don't want to." He back-pedaled trying to reassure them.

Arashi snapped out of thoughts, shaking his head "Oh no, it's not that… It's because me and Ayatsuki have plans as well to meet up with some of our other friends in the game"

"You have friends here too?"

"Yeah, We have been somewhat longtime friends and we have played other games together in a group of his, Ayatsuki is at least somewhat familiar with them so it might be easier for her to interact with them. But right now they are in a different Region called the Hong-Leng Region, so I might move to that region for a while at least."

Klein looked thrilled "I see, that's pretty awesome. Well then maybe someday we can have a chance to introduce our groups to each other sometime." He then opened his menu and sent a friend requests to Arashi, Ayatsuki, and Kirito

Arashi shrugged. "Well that's up to them to decide, but knowing him, he probably wouldn't mind it too much, can't speak for the rest though."

He pressed 'Accept' and the name "Klein" appeared in his friend list; Ayatsuki accepted it out of courtesy for her own brother and they both shook hands afterwards. Klein looked at Kirito who still looked hesitant before he declined it

"Sorry Klein, I can't… I…" He tried to explain himself when Klein interrupted him "Relax Kirito, don't worry about it, you don't have to if you feel uncomfortable about it." He smiled although he looked slightly hurt but he hid it well. He was an understanding guy after all and he guessed that maybe Kirito was just an awkward loner.

"Yeah, sorry… Thanks."

Kirito looked down and Klein reassured him "Hey man, that should be my line. Relax, maybe some other time then." He reached out and patted both Kirito and Arashi on the shoulders "Thank you, you three. I promise I'll repay you both for this sometime..." he then knelt slightly to Ayatsuki's eye level who was peering over her brother's upper arm and smiled warmly at "Aya-chan, I promise to treat you and your brother to some cake sometime in the future." making her blush lightly and hide slightly deeper behind her brother back before she peered back out an annoyed look "Fine I want at least some strawberries on it."

Klein chuckled "Yeah there will be lots of strawberries in it, Alright?" He reached out to try patting her hair when she smacked his hand away looking annoyed

"Ouch! Aya-chan is mean..."

Arashi shook his head rolling his eyes with a sigh, "You asked for it, don't blame me if she bares her claws at you for trying to touch her inappropriately."

"I wasn't!"

"Yeah right…" Arashi stared at him with a disbelieving look as Klein laughed

"Well then I should be off now, good luck guys I hope that we cross paths again someday. Thank you guys again, I'll definitely put your training to good use."

"It's no problem just shoot me or Kirito a message if there's something you aren't sure about."

"Hai! Shishou!"

"Don't call me that" Arashi laughs half-serious "call me Arashi-sama instead"

"Roger that" Klein replied jokingly, he waved to them and summoned his menu to log out. Arashi knelt down to pick Ayatsuki up and give her a piggyback ride at her request as Kirito started to walk back to town.

As he was about to follow Kirito he heard Klein mutter, "What the…" and turned around and saw Klein staring at his menu screen and scratching his head as Kirito also stopped to see what was going on

"Klein, is something wrong?"

"There's no button to Log Out..." Klein looked up at Arashi with a surprised look on his face

"What ?" Kirito asked as he turned around and walked back towards them

"Apparently Klein is unable to find the Log Out button." Arashi shrugged. "Did you try turning it off and on again?" Ayatsuki sarcastically joked from her perch on his back.

"Guys, I'm being serious, it's not there at all." Klein looked at them slightly worried.

"What do you mean you can't find it?" Kirito opened his menu, "Look closer it should be at the bottom of the main…" His mouth stopped as well as his eyes widened. "that's odd..."

Arashi groaned and opened his menu as well. "Oh no, not you too. Look, there should be a tab in the settings icon with a gear that says Log O…" The words died on his lips when he saw where the Log Out tab should have been was just a blank tab.

"Wait, What?!" He jerked back in momentary shock causing his sister to cry out in surprise wobbling on his back as she gripped on tighter onto him.

"See, I told you I wasn't lying. It's not there at all. But then again it's the first day out of launch there are bound to be bugs like this and the strange monster spawning happening." Klein shrugged

Kirito looked down deep in thought, "Only if you think of this game like the ones you play on a normal computer. there weren't any bugs like this during the Beta even when they did a full load test. But I suppose anything's possible, have you tried contacting the GM's yet."

Arashi spoke up, "Actually I just did, no response." as he showed the screen [Support ticket unable to reach GM Support, please contact later.]

Klein shrugged, "I guess the server guys and devs probably are too busy trying to fix this issue right now, I bet they are freaking out."

Kirito glanced at his clock "Well let's hope they fix it soon or you'll be panicking in a second too. It's now 5:25"

Klein eyes widened like saucers and cried out, "NOOOOO! My pizza and ginger ale!" He quickly grabs his head and starts a pulling motion in an effort to try and remove the NerveGear, "How do I get this thing off? Or isn't there any other way to logout like a special manual or command that we can do? Like LOG OUT! RETURN! ESCAPE! CTRL-ALT-DELETE!" he yelled out in the air while jumping and doing random poses

Arashi grabbed Klein's arm, stopping him from continuing further, "Stop, it's pointless, there is no other way for us to Log Out that we know of. Not even during the beta did we know of any emergency measure to logout. Besides we can't move our real bodies or call for help because the NerveGear intercepts any signals being sent from our brain that tell our bodies to move, like being in a very deep coma-like sleep.

"No way…" Klein muttered, stumbling back a little as Arashi let his arm go, "So our only options right now is to wait for them to fix the bug?"

Kirito added in, "Or for someone to remove the NerveGear from our heads, but I can't be certain what that might do to us as I haven't experienced it before."

Arashi chimed in, "I have… It's not pleasant to say the least." with Ayatsuki looking away as a chilling breeze blew across them, rustling the grass and trees as the setting sun started to dip under the horizon darkening the area. The feeling of unease washed over him again, telling his gut that something was wrong from the start.

"Seriously?" Klein breaking Arashi's train of thought, "I live alone! Crap, all of my friends are currently full diving at my house. I was supposed to message the others for the pizza but if this bug is server wide, then there is no-one awake except for the pizza delivery guy. What about you guys?"

"We live with our adoptive grandfather and kendo teacher, who is probably getting dinner ready for us at the moment and probably has noticed we are gone by now." He felt a tug on his back and he looked behind him to see Ayatsuki looking at him, her eyes full of worry.

"A-nii you have that look" she whispered softly to him when Akira realised how much he was frowning and making Klein and Kirito look uneasy, "Ah sorry Aya, I promise A-nii will figure this out, focus on breathing, okay?" He closed his eyes and took in a breath, slowly exhaling in a rhythm and pushing his mind into a state of calm as he remembered what she taught him. "Our school of martial arts isn't just about swinging your weapon or fists around. It's about how you can control your own body and mind as one to be calm within the fight, like being in the eye of the storm. We are taught how to breathe a certain way to improve our stamina and put our minds in a state of calm and focus so that our bodies can fight to their fullest extent while making calm and rational decisions."

Arashi opened his eyes when Klein said, "Yeah Ayatsuki-chan, don't worry we will try to figure this out, right Kirito?" He still looked uneasy but tried to put up a brave front and turned to Kirito.

"Oh… Yeah… we will" Kirito tried to smile reassuringly

She buried her face in his back and neck nodding "Okay..." as she took a deep breath and slowly exhaled copying her brother and feeling her nerves calm down.

Klein sighed and turned again to Kirito "What about you Kirito?"

"I have a mom and a sister so they'll notice by dinnertime-woah!" Kirito responded when Klein suddenly grabbed both his shoulders weirdly excited.

"How old is your little sister; is she cute? Does she play games?"

"Huh? No, she doesn't really like video games and probably doesn't want to have anything to do with people like us..."

That doesn't-OOF!" He fell forward as Arashi and Ayatsuki kicked him in the thighs painfully, "Come on man, That wasn't funny at all! Get a read on the mood right now, you idiotic pervert!" Arashi yelled.

"Hey relax, just trying to ease the tension in the air. Like I said it's probably a bug and by the time they fix it and we manage to Log Out my pizza is gone by now so I'll probably call them to get a refund." Klein stood up shakily trying to placate the two.

"But don't you find it a little strange?" Kirito spoke drawing their attention. Klein looked up, "Well yeah, it is just a bug right?"

"I don't think it's just a simple bug, If a game breaking error like this existed it could pose a serious problem for the games future. By now they should've been an emergency announcement by Admin Support by now, but even Support is down. Or they could, at the very last resort; shut down every server base and log everyone out. But that will take time and there has been nothing so far."

"Come to think of it, it is weird." Klein furrowed his brows as they looked in silence. Then as if on cue, the loud sound of bells going off in the distance made them jump and they felt the sensation of being teleported away from their position, their surroundings faded away and changed to find themselves standing in the central plaza area of Hinansho that faced the Japanese castle along with the 10,000+ players that were in the Akatsuki Region at the time.

Murmurs spread throughout the plaza as the multitude of players looked around for explanations of the forced teleport.

"What's going on?"

"Must be a special event."

"At the start of the game? No way!"

"Or it's an announcement about the Log Out bug that's been going around."

Arashi looked around as he felt Ayatsuki cling on to him "Alright, This is definitely not normal.." Klein looked worried as Kirito accidently bumped into a girl causing her to jump a little and he apologised.

"What's going on? Do you think it has something to do with the Log Out bug?" Klein asked, "I'm not sure, but I'm guessing most likely, it's not exactly normal for a forced teleport of this scale. Even in other games." Kirito responded as the girl moved away from him into the crowd.

A loud alert sounded in the air as the symbols and words of [WARNING: SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT!] appeared across the skies, darkening and filling it with blood red causing everyone to feel uneasy.

"What the…"

Lighting sparked around in the sky as a red smoke started to appear and it started to coalesce into a giant red flickering cloud. The cloud soon started taking a shape, forming a giant floating human-like being that was covered in a red hooded robe but where it's face should've been was only an empty black void. It put its hands forward and spoke in a distorted disembodied voice.

"Welcome Players; to Remnant Sword Online, to my world."

"My world?" Kirito wondered out loud

"I am Kayaba Akihiko, the Main Director for the development team of Remnant Sword Online and the NerveGear. As many of you have found out the Log Out is not there anymore. Let me assure you. This is not a defect or bug of the game. I repeat this is not a defect. It is part of Remnant Sword Online."

"Wait WHAT?!" Klein cried out, Kirito looked in shock, while Arashi stared up to the Hooded Avatar frowning and waiting. the plaza began reverberate with murmurs and clamours of shock and disbelief from the players.

"That's bullshit! It's a prank right? It's got to be a prank."

"I bet you the devs are laughing at our expense with this"

"This is a stupid elabarote joke of a quest. I hope we get something good out of this"

"Why the hell would they set up something like this. F*** this game, I'm review bombing it! In fact screw this, we are out of here!" two players shouted and tried to walk out of the plaza when they were stopped by a transparent barrier, "What the Fu-Hey, Let us out!"

The Avatar above ignored the cries and commotion beneath it, like it was beneath them and they were nothing but toys to be played with. It raised a hand making the commotion die down.

"There are no other means of escape or logging out of this game by yourselves, You only have one way to get out of the game; Clear the game!"

"Clear… the game?"

It brought up a map of the entire world of Ainground where the five land masses all corresponding each different region are all connected to a single landmass with the Crystal Spire stood in the centre.

"Where are now standing is your starting city" he points to the southeastern landmass that looks similar in shape to Japan but all as one and points to where the city of Kyoto would've been and marks it as Hinansho. It then marks three points on the map. "You will begin your journey here to clear the three Barriers and their Fortress Bosses. After you have cleared each barrier, you will make your way to the Crystal Spire at the centre of the world to ascend it and defeat the Final Boss. Only then will you be able to escape."

Klein wondered to himself, "Clear the Crystal Spire? Is it really that simple?" and Arashi answered him, "No, I have a feeling it won't, the lore in the Beta implied that the full game will have further expansions and stages, at least two or three I think." Klein stared back at the implication, "Are you serious, clearing the game might not mean even leaving the game?!"

"I don't know either Klein, you are definitely asking the wrong person..."

The Avatar interrupted them as it continued, uncaring of the lives altered below it, "There will no longer be any means of respawns and resurrections. What this means if your HP reaches to zero your game avatar will be deleted permanently and the NerveGear will emit a powerful EM pulse in your brain and scramble all functions ending your life in both the virtual and real world."

A sense of chilling dread fell on all the players, but some still had hope of maybe the outside world was planning to get them out of the game until the next words squashed it like a bug

"Furthermore, Your NerveGear cannot be removed or shut down remotely. Any form of outside tampering or removal will result in the NerveGear emitting a powerful EM pulse and the added penalty of the internal battery self destructing. Unfortunately some player's friends and families have ignored this warning and certain organisations have ignored this warning; attempted to remove the NerveGear and suffered the consequences."

It began displaying screens of the news coverage of the events that have transpired and that the speech the Avatar is giving is being streamed live as well. The screens showed the reactions of the events that have transpired: News outlets reporting on the deaths; friends, families, and loved ones all in tears and mourning; and the internet in an uproar as multiple people had different opinions.

"Global media outlets and official governing bodies have been informed of this so you can rest assured that the risk of your NerveGear being removed forcibly and death from an outside source are slim to none so you can focus on clearing the game." It spoke as everyone fell silent out of shock and fear. Klein trembling in fear turned to Kirito and Arashi who were also in shock "Guys, that can't be possible right?"

"No it is possible, because the NerveGear neural interfaces use special electromagnetic emitters to transmit signals to our brains, so it is probable that if the safety is disabled it can transmit signals to overload and basically scramble our brains." Kirito said to Klein looking tense.

"What the hell… I don't believe it, it's like something out of a nightmare science fiction. Why would someone do something like this?!"

"I don't know but I have a feeling he's going to tell us" Arashi answered the best he could as he watched the Avatar closed the screens with a wave of it's hand after sensing the players slowly began accepting that this wasn't a joke and it continued further.

"Now you are wondering why would I do something like this, one of the main Developers of Remnant Sword Online and the NerveGear. I tell you this, my goal has already been achieved. I envisioned Remnant Sword Online for one reason only. To create this world and intervene in it."

Arashi clenched his fists over his hilt of his blade, glaring at the Avatar "What the hell do you mean by that, Kayaba what made you do this?"

"One final thing… " He added and waved its hand again and a small hand mirror appeared in every player's hands. "What?" was all Arashi wondered before suddenly a bright light blinded him and engulfed the entire plaza causing everyone to cry out in shock.

"Hey! Are you guys alright?" He could hear Klein''s voice "Yeah I think so" he blinked as he looked around, and where Klein stood was now replaced with an unkempt man in his early 20's with a scruffy beard.

"Wait Klein is that you?"

He looked down in the mirror and saw a instead of a sharp faced version of himself he saw that his appearance looked alot more like his RL appearance, He now had a rounded out face with very slight sharp features and keen bluish-black eyes with a sharp edge to them and looking more mature than his actual age, his hair looked slightly more spikier but retaining the same style.

"Arashi? Is that you?" the now-Klein asked which Arashi nodded

"Klein, Arashi?" a young teenage boy around Arashi's age with an effeminate face and short black hair approached them. "Wait you are Kirito?!"

"You are Klein?!" Kirito pointed at Klein in shock as the rest of the plaza was filled with shouts of surprise when they discovered that their in-game appearances changed to match their RL appearances

"What happened? how did it know our RL appearances" Klein started demanding. To which Kirito quickly responded "The NerveGear cover your head with a high density signaling device and uses special facial scanning to see our 'faces' and the how it knows our genders and body builds is that it probably because of the calibration thing we had to do where we have to touch our own bodies and it most likely pulled information off the internet from our RL accounts registry."

the Avatar who floated above seemingly looking pleased as it spoke. "This ends the introduction to Remnant Sword Online, Good Luck Players, no...Gamers" It started to flicker and fade as smoke poured out of it and it dissolved and disappeared flickering away from existence as the skies snapped back to their evening glow, like nothing ever happened.

Silence filled the air, everyone was too shocked to say anything the sudden chain of events felt like a horrible nightmare that became reality, it was just slowly sinking in. Arashi felt Ayatsuki try her best not to cry as she started to fully hide in his back. He quickly moved to hold her to his front cover her in his arms trying to shush her

She whispered trembling, her eyes on the brink of tears. "I'm scared, what's going to happen, how are we going to go home." He had no idea how to answer her like back then.

He was holding a younger Ayase like this as she cried "I'm scared, where's Papa and Mama?!" and all he could do was hold her and cry as well

"No, not this time" He thought to himself as he shook the encroaching memories away and he breathed out, "A-nii will figure a way out here Ok? I'll keep you safe" he whispered softly as he felt her nod slowly He looked around as the shock began to wear off from the crowd and it looked like it was about to turn into a riot.

Suddenly the sound of glass shattering and a scream of "NO!" set them off, like a pebble tossed into a pond; chaos ensued and anger and panic erupted throughout the whole crowd.

"Let us out!"

"ARE YOU F***ING WITH US?!"

"I can't stay here I have an important meeting to get to!"

'It's all the Beta Testers fault!"

"Somebody save us!"

Some players were slumped on the ground their eyes unfocused and full of despair. They couldn't comprehend what was happening to them. Others just sat there and cried for somebody to save them. Some others had wildly different reactions laughing with glee and danced around. And even worse was that a good amount began to draw their weapons and fight each other with whatever they had with, fists or weapons.

Arashi didn't want to stick around. Pulling Ayatsuki behind him while looking at her with a determined and direct expression and keeping a calm outlook. and whispering "Stay close to me and don't let go!"

Her eyes widened slightly and being comforted by his expression, she rubbed her eyes of her tears and nodded trying to match her brother's expression "Okay."

He gave a small smile in the midst of the chaos when he felt someone tap his shoulder. He whirled around hand on his weapon. Seeing that it was just Kirito raising his hand in surrender before he gestured to one of the exits to a gate. That's when he realised.

"The barrier around the plaza is down!"

He nodded at Ayatsuki and began slowly making their way to the exit hoping they wouldn't be seen by the now rioting crowd and seeing Klein and Kirito follow them. With luck and the crowd too distracted to notice They successfully made it out of the chaos.

As they neared one of the gates with a path leading to the Northwestern Plains towards the Sakurayuki Mountains. Kirito stopped and turned around to face the group "Arashi, Klein, Ayatsuki listen to me carefully: The only way to get stronger in this world is how well you play the game. Because of that I'm heading to a village up in the Sakurayuki Mountains called Fujikoshi because the hunting grounds around the city will be picked clean. So in order to level up and gain better equipment more efficiently we need to be in the village by a day or so. I know all the paths and dangerous areas so we can definitely be there by the next day..."

Klein looks away back at where they came from. "Kirito, I'm sorry. I spent days and and weeks with my friends from my old guild together talking about buying this game together with them. They are probably back there… I can't just leave them behind."

Kirito looks down pondering whether he can handle more people or not. But Klein noticing his hesitation breaks his train of thought saying with a sigh and a grin. "Ah well I had a feeling we are going to part ways soon enough anyway. I'll put what experiences I had with running my old guild and what you taught me to get by in the game. But what about you Arashi? Are you going with Kirito? Doesn't that mean you are going to leave your friends behind?"

"They can handle themselves. I know the guild leader as one of my best friends and he is pretty strong and can take control in a lot of situations; he's pretty strategic in most things and like I said he and his guild get along really well and he can work well with them, To be frankly honest I feel like a useless parasite when I'm around them and I probably will just slow them down and get in the way." He laughed but it felt a little bitter, "I'm more of a wandering mercenary and honestly I'm not good in a large group. But me and Ayatsuki are going to travel with you, Kirito. After all, it's better to have someone to watch your back right?" He glances at Kirito with a smirk making him sigh.

"Sorry Klein" Arashi looks at Klein regretfully even Ayatsuki looks a little sad. "Ah come on guys, don't make such sad faces for me. Arashi-dono, take care of Aya-chan for me will you" He bows to Arashi making him grin ever so slightly, "What in the world are you talking about? Of course I will, after all she is my sister" and she even smiled a little, "And I told you don't call me that, Baka Red Chili Samurai!" she called sticking her tongue out to him. Klein laughs flashing a confident smirk, "That's what I wanna see."

Arashi smiled at his antics "I think you are going to get far, Klein. Before we go I need to give you this." He opened his inventory and dropped something in his hands before he handed it over to Klein. It was a Steel-class Tachi: [Meteoric Kogetsu].

"Here, it was dropped by the Tyrant Boar. Hopefully this will help you on your journey to be a legendary samurai, right? Use it well."

Klein's eyes shone and he wiped his eyes crying, "You bet I will, from one samurai to another: Thank you so much Arashi-sama I will never forget this!"

He laughed as he glanced back at Kirito then back to Klein, "Well It's time we parted ways I suppose then. Farewell and Good luck to you. Message us if you need anything alright? "

"Of course!" Klein flashed a thumbs up.

Kirito smiled as Arashi approached and the three of them turned to the exit. But they stopped and turned around as Klein called out to them "GUYS! Wait a sec!"

Kirito looked at Klein, "What is it, Klein?"

He yelled, "Before you go, I need to say something; that you guys are pretty damn cool, and super strong too, I bet all the girls will go for you guys."

Arashi's eyebrows quirked up, "Really now?"

"Yeah!"

"Ha! Well I guess with your renegade-like face that suits you 20 times better and your wannabe samurai antics, I bet all the ladies will go for you!" Kirito half-heartedly jokes back and quickly opened his menu sending a Friend Request to Klein before running towards the gate, Arashi and Ayatsuki following close behind.

Arashi glanced back to look for a second but Klein wasn't there anymore, "He must've run back to find his friends…" He stopped running, "What on earth am I doing?" He felt a tug on his arm and he focused to see Ayatsuki looking up to him her teary eyes hardened with resolve. She tugged again as if saying, "Let's go."

He nodded to her, turning and facing forward. He steeled his heart, "That's right, there's only one thing I should do now." he glanced at Kirito who nodded back with newfound resolve as the reality had sunk in the three of them, that now they had to get stronger in the game and survive. They ran out of the gate and unto the path that would begin their new life in this new "death" game.

As they ran along the dirt road leading toward the Sakurayuki mountains, Arashi spotted three [Feral Wolves] spawn charging at them snarling loudly. Narrowing his eyes, he breathed in and like the air that flowed into his virtual lungs his mind let his memories flow through him.

He saw Ayase practicing next to him with their Sensei training them and their parents watching from a distance although the memory of them was fuzzy.

He remembered laying on the bloody pavement as the flames of a car wreckage burnt around him.

He remembered sitting in the hospital bed blank-minded as teared flowed from his eyes and his bawling sister as they broke the news to them

He remembered holding his sister in his arms as he played video games with her, locking themselves away from the arguments of his uncle and aunt

He remembered the monstrous face of his uncle as he tried to defend his sister and being nearly beaten up before he saw his Sensei burst in with a rage in her eyes and wooden sword in hand as she fought with his uncle.

He remembered sitting at the porch of her father's dojo with Ayase as his Sensei hugged the both of them with a sorrowful look and she vowed to protect them and never let them go.

He remembered training with her as he asked how she was so strong and she told him that she always looked forwards, always held on to her blade with heart and that she always had something to protect.

He snapped back into the present. Gripping Chidori and forging the memories and words into a blade in his heart and mind, he sprinted leaping with a forward thrust of a charging 1-hit Blade Art, piercing the wolf in the front of the pack with a green flash and it exploded into fragments around him as he ran past.

"Nee-chan; I'm sorry, I promise you we will return back safely to you, and I will keep Ayase safe in this world and help her grow stronger and return safe and sound."

Ayatsuki drew kodachi in a pink blur as she burst forwards almost leaving an afterimage and slashing the wolf killing it

"I promise you, I will find strength here and with it I will protect myself with the blade in my hands"

Kirito planted his foot hard on the ground as it and his sword glowed a bright blue with a Blade Art. He charged, accelerating forwards, and leaving a blue line behind him, he bisected the wolf in one go as he rushed past them. He screamed out into the air as he did, tears leaking out. To someone on the outside this may have felt pointless, to some it would've felt meaningless. To some it might have been a waste of energy.

But to Arashi he knew what he meant and why. He knew what they had to do now because there is nothing else they could do but one thing.

"I promise you, I WILL live and survive to clear this death game."

He shouted into the roaring wind as a storm raged over the distance with lightning and thunder as the sun set over the horizon of Ainground, their new home and reality.

"I WILL SURVIVE!"

And that concludes the prologue arc I hope you enjoyed and there will be much more to come many different things will happen and yes some characters are kinda OOC but that's to be expected in a alternate universe. But yes I really hoped you enjoyed the starting chapters and I hope you stick around and help me improve this piece of writing so please leave a review and favorite. and for those wondering Yuuki and Ko will make an appearance soon maybe in the story maybe not? Who knows? I have some plans for the whole cast of SAO and even non-canon or alternate canon ones. Stay tuned

Anyway any feedback would be welcome, and thank you for reading!