I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters.
New Beginnings
Michael flew up and stopped beside Leafa and Kirito, the others flying past, all heading to the shining castle above them.
"Hey Kirito, wanna go clear floor one tonight?" Michael asked.
"I reset my stats," Kirito stated. "Wouldn't be fare if I stayed at level ninety eight."
"You'll be back to that strength soon," Michael grinned. "But in the mean time..."
He quickly hacked the system and changed it so that anyone who entered Aincrad had their combat stats back to the equivalent of level one. The entirety of ALfheim Online was on the way so it wluldn't take long to get it working. And the reset was a one time thing so it wouldn't effect players multiple times. Then, he flew forward, waving back at them as he left. A few minutes later, he was standing in an open field beside Eugene, who was giving him a dirty look since he could no longer use Gram. Michael rolled his eyes and removed the two-handed requirement for Gram and Eugene re-equipped the sword and grinned.
"Looks like you aren't strongest anymore," Michael grinned. "I designed new Aincrad myself. So the dificulty is exactly the same, at least up until floor sevety five. For the rest, I had Yui help me recreate Kayaba's original data, minus the death game part. So, about that guild."
"What do we call it?" Eugene asked.
"Knights of the blood oath," Michael stated. "Red and white themed armor that Lisbeth can make us, except me, and a tribute to Old Aincrad. Plus, it'll draw the old SAO players."
Eugene nodded, creating the guild and making Michael his second in command. Then, they left to start levelling up. Rather than trying to level in Aincrad, however, they left and headed to a dungeon they had been planning to clear. It had relatively weak monsters for ALfheim Online but for their new stats, it was quite challenging. After a few minutes, a very large group of newly reset players arrived, helping them fight and quickly clearing the dungeon, finding a sword at the end that Michael had slipped into the mot recen lt update for Kirito. An Elucidator. Michael grinned, taking it while Eugene added the players that were with them to their guild. Then, they headed back to Aincrad and Michael easily found Kirito, fighting wolves and boars. Michael was glad they were still able to fly. It made it very easy to catch Kirito.
"Hey Kirito, Leafa," Michael greeted. "I got a surprise for you Kirito."
Kirito raised an eyebrow and Michael pulled out the Elucidator, Kirito's jaw dropping as he saw the blade.
"You hacked the last update didn't you?" Kirito grinned.
"Maybe," Michael grinned. "If you don't want it though, maybe I'll keep it."
"You can," Kirito stated. "Lisbeth bought a shop. She's making me a new sword."
Kirito rolled his eyes and shrugged, equipping the Elucidator and dismantling his old sword using his own smithing skill and recieving a rare metal ore from it. He stared at the alert then grinned at Kirito.
"What?" Kirito asked.
"I'm going to see Lisbeth," Michael stated. "I think this Elucidator just became obsolete."
Kiriro looked at him in confusion but Michael had already flown away. He found Lisbeth's shop fairly easily and landed outside it, walking in and dropping the ore on her counter just as she finished Kirito's new sword, which looked a bit like his old Dark Repulcer. Lisbeth stared at the ore then at Michael and narrowed her eyes.
"I got it from dismantelling a sword, I swear," Michael said raising his hands. "I hacked for this though, well, hacked an update."
He turned so she could see his sword and she grinned.
"The materials in ALfheim Online make that sword inferior to other swords," Lisbeth stated. "However, that rare ore you got isn't enough to make a new weapon. It is enough to enhance that Elucidator though."
"Absolutely," Michael nodded, handing the sword over.
Lisbeth quickly upgraded the sword then handed him both weapons.
"Deliver this to Kirito for me will you?" Lisbeth asked. "Apparently I have armor to start making."
Michael nodded, laughing, and left, taking Kirito his sword. Then, he drew his own as a group of wolves came into view.
"I actually kind of missed Aincrad," Michael stated. "Not the death game, just the castle."
Kirito nodded his agreement and together they tore through the wolves. When they finished, Michael grinned at Kirito and Kirito gave him a knowing look.
"Really?" Kirito asked.
"Really," Michael nodded.
"Fine," Kirito sighed. "Let's go have some fun with Illfang the Kobold Lord."
Michael cheered and extended his wings, flying into the air, Kirito following. Asuna arrived beside them as they rose, Klein and Agil following.
"This is going to be fun," Michael grinned. "Everyone ready?"
"Hell yeah," Agil nodded looking over to Michael. "I thought you preferred shields."
"I guess I got used to using just a sword while playing ALfheim Online," Michael sheugged, equipping the shield. "I definitely am going to use it for this though."
They all flew to the dungeon, landing outside the door and pushing it open. Instantly, three man-sized green lizards leapt at them, all slashing. Michael blocked the blades with his shield and Agil, Kirito, and Klein each killed one. Michael grinned and they all began to form tag teams, leaving Michael alone. He didn't mind since he had a shield to cover his back. They made their way through the dungeon, fighting their way through hordes of lizard type monsters. Finally they reached the boss's door and they stopped to rest, Kirito checking the clock.
"I'll have to log out soon," Kirito reported and the others agreed. "So, Agil told me you were the one who created New Aincrad."
"Yeah I did," Michael nodded. "I created most of it from the original runtimes that I had Yui find for me so it should be almost the same thing as Old Aincrad. Naturally, that gives SAO survivors an edge, so I took the liberty of adding a few extras. Plus a few things that could have been fun before."
"Like what?" Kirito asked.
"Well, I had a hard time with the final hit bonuses so I got rid of the idea of getting a bonus item from finishing a boss," Michael stated. "Then I decided that that was a bit unfair so I added a new reward that goes along with there being magic now."
"What's that?" Asuna asked.
Just as she did, a swarm of lizard soldiers appeared, charging the tunnel from behind them. Everyone grabbed their weapons but Michael raised his hand, a screen appearing beside him and running code.
"Enter ID, Michael," Michael said. "System test. Codename: Gleameyes."
Everyone looked at him in confusion as a massive wall of light spread from his palm then formed into the Gleameyes, complete with it's massive sword. Kirito, Klein, and Asuna all drew their swords tensing and backing away slightly. Then, the Gleameyes sprinted forward, mowing down the lizards in massive numbers. Finally it finished and faded, roaring as it did. The screen of code faded and Michael turned back to the others.
"Monster summoning," Michael stated. "That's the new reward. You kill something and you gain the ability to summon it. The bosses obviously can only be killed once so one person only can summon them. You can trade monster summons between players if you want, and for the sake of fairness, any boss that is summoned is only summoned with a fraction of their original strength and health, that way you're not basically refighting a boss."
"And you can summon any?" Kirito asked.
"Only by hacking," Michael stated. "I needed to test out the ability to prove it would work so that it could be accepted by the people in charge of ALfheim Online. I also need someone to kill one."
"Summon Illfang," Kirito said drawing his new sword as Asuna drew her rapier.
Michael nodded, doing so and Illfang roared, already using the cleaver it used when near death. It leapt forward, slashing at Kirito. Kirito deflected the blade and Asuna leapt into the air, stabbing it. It staggered back and Kirito darted past, leaping past it, dragging his blade along it. It roared, swiping at him and missed, the blade instead only narrowly missing Asuna. She stepped forward, glowing rapier crashing into its stomach and blasting it back. Then, Kirito sprinted forward, slashing it again and killing it.
Michael grinned and nodded, sending the footage to the administrators and turned toward the door.
"That should make them happy," Michael said. "Shall we?"
"Yeah," Kirito nodded. "Let's do this."
"I'll handle the Kobold," Michael stated. "You guys take Illfang."
They nodded and they stepped into the room. The torches around the room blazed to life and Illfang roared, its three axe-wielding Kobold sprinting forward. Michael met their charge, shield crashing into an axe before Michael pushed the axe aside, slashing at the Kobold. It backed away, another sprinting forward and slashing at him. He spun, blocking it then blocked another with his sword. The third sprinted at him and he leapt into the air, the kobold passing under him. He landed behind it and spun, allowing the other two to go around him. As he did, he saw the others fighting Illfang much the same way Kirito and Asuna had the one Michael had summoned.
Michael spun, smashing an axe aside with his shield and slashed the Kobold, killing it. The second leapt at him and he blocked the blow, being forced to his knees. The second Kobold darted forward, axe blasting into Michael's side and launching him. He flipped, landing on his feet and stabbed his sword into the ground to stop himself. Just as he stopped, one of the two leapt at him again. He stepped around the blow, splitting the Kobold in half before darting forward, stabbing at the last one. It knocjed itnaside with its axe before swinging at him again. The axe crashed into his shield and Michael pivoted, passing the Kobold and slashing it across the back.
Then, he turned to the boss just as it switched to its cleaver, leaping around the room rapidly then at Asuna from the right. Michael stepped forward, blocking the cleaver but was launched across the room by the force. He landed hard and lay there a moment, regaining his senzes as he watched Kirito and Asuna return to tagteaming the boss. Both did it so well there was no chance of Illfang getting a strike through. Finally, he punched Asuna as she moved to strike him. Kirito sprinted forwarx with Klein and Agil, all three blasting Illfang with an ability. It staggered back a step then roared, slashing and launching both Klein and Agil aside. Both pushed themselves up as Kirito leapt over Illfang, sword splitting him open the entire way until it cleaved his head in two. Then, he landed behind Illfang and Illfang shattered.
"Wow, first day the level's cleared," Michael mused standing and walking over.
"That was...just like the old days," Kirito stated.
"You're not going to call yourself a cheater and abandon me this time are you?" Asuna joked.
"Maybe," Kirito shrugged as they reached the door to he next level and pushed it open.
Once on the new level, they flew to the nearest town and saved, logging out for the night.
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