A/N: Heyo, sorry for disappearing for so long! Some health issues came up and the fic kinda fell into the background for almost three months. I'll try to update the fanfic as frequently as I can from now on. By the way, I'm looking for a beta reader at the moment, so feel free to drop by PMs if you want. Once again, don't hesitate to review and point out what I need to improve or change in my writing!
November 6th, 2022 12:40
Now I'm good to go. The server will launch at 13:00. These 20 minutes will be the longest in my life for sure, Inaba Hiroto thought to himself as he made final preparations before diving into SAO for the very first time.
Ever since waking up on this important day, the fact of finally being able to play this game after the long wait was the only thing on his mind. He couldn't even sleep properly at night and had to wake up unbelievably early to be one of the first in line at the nearest game store. Still, the boy's exhaustion was nothing compared to all the excitement he felt.
Heh, something tells me that I will enjoy my time there. What weapon should I choose, though? the fourteen-year old teen furrowed his brows in contemplation while tuning in to the first random MMO stream he found on his PC.
Whatever, I'll decide later. Gotta grab something to drink first, he shook his worries off before exiting the room.
Meanwhile, elsewhere…
"So this plug thingy goes here and then I connect it to the disk reader…" a lone young female voice said.
The room the owner of the voice sat in was completely dark. The only thing that reminded of the outside world was a small stream of light seeping through the curtains onto the floor, slightly revealing the mysterious girl's raven hair.
"Where did I leave the instruction manual?" she asked and a frantic rustling sound followed.
After a few seconds of searching, the girl sighed in relief
"There it is. It seems I did everything right. Alright Miyako, you can do this, everything will be fine! Maybe I can even find people who will explain how to play. Still, I hope I won't run into people from school there. But now all I have to do is wait…"
12:55
ARGUS presents
The black screen changed to a view of white clouds.
In 2022, mankind finally…
The camera started to zoom through a forest shrouded in fog.
…brought a true virtual world into existence.
Then, everything went white and a gigantic castle floating in the sky above boundless cliffs and trees came into view.
"And now we begin! Welcome to this week's MMO Stream! For starters, we had you watch the trailer from last week," the stream's cheery host chirped before the screen showed footages of long lines of people in front of stores.
"What were all these people in line for? You guessed it right! it's to buy the famous Sword Art Online! Some guys in the front even said they started waiting three days before the release. Unbelievable! But I should say it's natural for true gamers. By the way, none of the games before SAO managed to make effective use of the machine's FullDive technology. They all sucked, really…"
The host's rambling on the other side of the screen was completely ignored, as a certain black-haired boy flipped through a magazine titled "NerveGear", completely absorbed in reading. However, a bleeding paper cut distracted him from his activity.
"Onii-chan, I'm off to club practice," the voice belonging to the teen's younger sister yelled from downstairs and the sound of a door shutting followed.
The boy took off the headphones and stood up from his desk to silently watch his sister disappear in the distance. His attention quickly shifted to an alarm clock which now showed 12:56, prompting him to switch off the annoying stream and get his NerveGear ready.
At the same time, thousands of other people put on their helmets that were about to change their fates forever, including the two other heroes. All this anticipation and excitement everyone felt was nothing compared to the events that were to follow.
With only mere seconds separating him from the virtual castle in the sky, the black-haired boy smiled confidently. Meanwhile, the second boy could barely contain his excitement. The girl, on the other hand, had a somewhat anxious expression on her face.
However, all of those emotions were left behind, and only a single phrase was said.
"Link start!"
13:00
Colors flooded Hiroto's vision and rushed past him as the console went through system checks and the character creation screen appeared. Of course, the teen created an avatar that looked way different from his actual appearance. The new virtual "self" was remarkably taller than the boy, had blue eyes and silver hair. Choosing a nickname wasn't a problem, he just went with the gut feeling and typed "Axel" in the name graph for the avatar. After the customization finished, the teen was greeted by a message which read "WELCOME TO SWORD ART ONLINE!" before being enveloped in blue light and transported into the game.
Hiroto, or rather Axel now, opened his eyes and had to close them immediately because of the sun. Once his vision became accustomed to the light, he realized he was standing in the Town of Beginnings, the starting location, with other players popping up every second. He took a quick look around and swiped the air with his hand to bring up the game menu to check his equipment. As expected, he had [Plain Claymore], [Green Shirt], [Simple Breastplate], [Plain Trousers] and [Plain Boots] equipped. Nothing special, just usual newbie stuff with no stat bonus. Just as he was about to go explore the town and the area around it, some guy near him yelled something about being back, but he paid no attention to the emotional speech.
The further the boy went into the Town of Beginnings' depths, the more endless it seemed. Every street was full of players talking to each other or buying items from NPC merchants. All this pointless exploration soon turned out to be boring and Hiroto decided to go out into the field to level up and probably get some Cor to buy better equipment… if not for the creepy feeling of someone poking his back. He turned around and saw a girl of medium height with light blue hair, dressed in beginner equipment and with a spear behind her back. The sudden appearance caused the boy to shudder slightly, but the girl paid no attention, staring into the floor and blushing.
"U-uh e-excuse me, you look like you know a lot, s-so I thought w-what if I ask you about how this game works," the enigmatic player asked with undisguised shyness, finally finding the courage to speak.
"Ah…sorry, can't really help you. I'm new too, so I was going to figure everything out myself," he answered
Damn, I feel bad for turning her down, Axel thought in regret.
Yes, that answer definitely shook the poor girl to the core. Tears started to flow uncontrollably from her eyes, despite her attempts to hold them back.
A frown appeared on Axel's face. Now I feel even worse.
"Uh-oh, please don't cry. Look, we can go find some skilled player who can teach a thing or two. I'll protect you for now if anything comes up. I'm Axel by the way," he said in a friendly tone.
The girl wiped her tears while still whimpering. "L-Lyn…" she mumbled while trying to calm down.
Logging into SAO posed no problem for Kazuto. After all, he was a beta-tester and was allowed to use his account and avatar settings from the closed beta. Once the flash of blue teleported him to the familiar plaza, he was no longer Kirigaya Kazuto, he was now Kirito, even his appearance was the complete opposite of his actual self. The seemingly antisocial teen was so overjoyed by his return to Aincrad that he was trying to do his best not to yell.
"Finally… I'm back to this world!" he exclaimed, but seemingly no one paid attention, which made him feel somewhat relieved.
Excitement aside, his first course of action was to get out of town into the field as quickly as possible. Treading through loads of people definitely posed a problem. Newbies or not, everyone was eager to buy some items or to explore the town, completely blocking the way for NPCs and other players. This nightmare finally ended after Kirito found the street he used as a shortcut to the town exit during the beta. With a sigh he continued to dash.
"Heeeeey, you, wait!" someone yelled from behind. Kirito looked back and noticed a man with long red hair and a red bandana running up to him. When he finally reached the boy, he stopped, gasping for breath, allowing Kirito to examine him closer. His new "acquaintance's" slightly bearded face made him look like a character straight out of some samurai anime, but the hairdo ruined the image and started to look comical at this point.
"From your confident looks I'm guessing you were a beta-tester?" The pink-haired guy asked with a hopeful look.
"Y-yeah," Kirito answered, still shaken.
"You see, I just started this game. Do you mind showing me the basics?" The man continued to bombard Kirito with questions.
Kirito was at a loss of words, so he had no idea what to say. He opened his mouth to say something, but the man was faster.
"I'm begging you!" He begged with closed eyes. After a short silence the pushy player dropped his act and introduced himself. "The name's Klein. Nice to meetcha!"
"And I'm Kirito," the teen replied. Helping the guy out wasn't on his to-do list for the day, but that didn't matter, as long as his intentions of being a solo player weren't interfered with.
As Axel and Lyn finally exited the Town of Beginnings, they were greeted by green fields, hills and cliffs of the 1st Floor's West Field, stretching as far as the eye could see. The smell of countless flowers and grass made this feel even more realistic. But the beautiful sight was spoiled by loads of Frenzy Boars loitering around. There were also two players in the field, with the red-haired man trying to attack the mob without any success, while the black-haired teen was watching.
"I see some guys fighting mobs. Let's go ask them for advice," Axel said and hurried towards the two, with Lyn shyly dragging behind.
The Frenzy Boar rushed towards the red-haired guy and hit him between his legs. The poor guy started to roll on the ground in pain, holding the damaged place.
"Whoa, that must've been really painful…" Lyn said, closing her eyes at the sight, with Axel doing the same.
The black-haired boy frowned a little. "You're making it look way worse than it actually is. You can't really feel any pain."
"Oh, yeah. Guess I did that on reflex," the older player said with surprise in his voice.
"Hey, you two," Axel shouted out to the two from behind. "Can you explain me and my companion here how the battle system works?"
The "companion" part made Lyn feel slightly surprised, since they knew each other for half an hour or even less.
The four kept staring at each other intently for a minute without breaking the awkward silence.
"Oh well, I'm Kirito. This guy here is Klein," the tall black-haired teen said in order to start a conversation, though with a slightly annoyed look on his face. "I was actually right in the middle of teaching Klein how to fight in this game. You can watch too."
Kirito approached the idle Frenzy Boar only to see its HP bar being halfway depleted after its skirmish with Klein. "As I said before, your first action is the key."
"I know, but this thing won't stay put!" Klein said with a hint of despair in his voice.
Kirito picked up a pebble from the ground and aimed it at the Frenzy Boar. "If you get your first action right and use a Sword Skill…" The pebble started to glow red and the teen threw it at the enemy. With a loud swishing sound, it hit the boar in the back. "…the system will correct your aim and your attack will be guaranteed to hit.
"How should I put it?" the teen said while parrying the mob's attack. "You just pause for a second, and after the skill is activated you let it rip."
"Let it rip?" Klein thought for a second and raised his dagger atop his shoulder. The weapon glowed orange and the man charged at the boar, unleashing a [Reaver] attack and cutting through the enemy.
The Frenzy Boar exploded into countless blue shards, as the [Results] screen appeared to congratulate Klein on his victory.
"Hell yeaaaaah!" The red-haired man yelled and he and Kirito high-fived each other.
"Congrats. Sorry to say but…" Kirito said in a calm voice while sheathing his sword. "…those boars are just typical low-level mobs like slimes in most games."
"No way, I thought it was some mini-boss!" Klein replied in disbelief.
"Nah, of course not," Kirito replied while watching a bunch of other Frenzy Boars spawning in the distance before looking at Axel and Lyn. "You two should try this too," he said and threw a pebble at a newly spawned mob.
The Frenzy Boar got angry and started running towards the two.
"Oh man, it's charging at us…" Axel deadpanned in disbelief. "A-and it looks stronger than the one from before too.." Lyn agreed, her voice shaking.
As the enemy got closer, the two players had no time to stand and watch, so they drew their weapons and got into a stance to activate their Sword Skills. Lyn's spear started to glow green, while Axel's claymore glowed red.
The boar was ready to attack them head-on, but the two dodged and released their attacks. Lyn thrusted at the boar with a [Fatal Thrust], while Axel slashed through with a [Blast] attack.
Like the one before it, the Frenzy Boar also exploded into blue shards, with the EXP going to both players.
"Whew, now I see why people wanted this game so bad. Fighting for real feels really different from controlling a character," Axel said while catching his breath after the battle.
"I know right," Kirito grinned. "Though I'm a beta-tester, so I had the chance to preorder the game."
"U-um, K-Kirito-san, was it? Do you know if there are any skills other than Sword Skills in this game?" Lyn asked the black-haired teen in her typical shy manner.
"Well…from what I know there is a supposedly unlimited number of them. Typical skills like blacksmithing, cooking and fishing exist, but there are many others that you don't see in an average game. Maybe they wanted to compensate for the lack of a magic system or something like that," Kirito answered the girl's question.
"An RPG without magic skills, huh? They are usually a given in games like these," Klein butted in while practicing with his weapon.
"H-heh, I have no experience in playing games in general, but this felt really fun!" Lyn smiled a little.
"Yeah, isn't it exciting to fight enemies yourself for a change?" Kirito asked.
"You bet!" the other three replied cheerfully.
"Okay, let's go explore the other area. We can fight stronger enemies if you want," Kirito said.
"Sounds good enough. I don't mind," Axel agreed with Klein pumping his fist excitedly and Lyn nodding in agreement.
17:10
The rest of the first day was spent fighting Dire Wolves. Axel, Lyn and Klein were already Level 2 by evening and the group decided to take a rest on a hill and watch the sunset, as dragons flew to their nests in the distance.
"Man, this game never ceases to amaze me. Talk about realism! The guy who made it is a genius. I'm glad to be born in this time," Klein said while sitting on the ground.
"You are overdramatizing," Kirito replied without looking at the others.
"I-I think Klein-san is right. It's our first dive and everything feels so new," Lyn added.
"Then is it your first playing a NerveGear game?" Kirito asked with a puzzled expression.
"A-ah, I said this before, SAO is my very first game. I don't know about Axel-san though…" the blue-haired girl replied.
"I'm a hardcore gamer, so of course I played tons of games before! Buying SAO was a must for me. I had a NerveGear before, but my application for the closed beta got turned down and so I had to stand in a line at a shop," Axel said with a hint of disappointment in his voice.
"We were pretty lucky to be among the first 10000 players, that's what counts!" Klein exclaimed excitedly. Truly, it was hard for Lyn and Axel to disagree.
"By the way, how far did you go in the beta?" Klein asked Kirito.
"Only the 10th floor, and that's in two months. Now I should be able to get there in half the time,"Kirito smiled confidently.
"Wow, and I thought I was absorbed in games…" Axel wondered out loud.
"Actually, when the beta was still around, SAO was the only thing I thought about," Kirito confessed. "This world might be virtual, but I feel more alive here than in reality."
The emotional speech was hard to disagree with yet again.
"So, how about we get back to hunting?" Kirito asked.
"Count me in! Or that's what I'd like to say, but I'm starving. Gotta log out for a bit, I have pizza ordered for 17:30 after all!" Klein said cheerfully.
"Looks like you have everything planned out," Axel interrupted the red-haired man's rush of excitement.
"Yup! I'll log back after I'm done," Klein notified the group.
"A-actually, I have to go too. My parents are probably worried," Lyn suddenly exclaimed after a lengthy pause.
"Yep, I'll probably log off too. I have homework to do," Axel agreed.
"Well, I'll be meeting with my friends from another game. Wanna join?" Klein offered the other three.
Once again, an uncomfortable silence followed.
Alright, Gaming 101: Avoid offline contact, no matter what, Axel thought to himself. It seems Lyn-san and Kirito-san also don't like this idea.
"Uhh, of course it's up to you! There will be plenty of chances to meet new people anyway. I'm in your debt, so I'll repay you someday. Virtually, " the red-haired man tried to put a stop to the silence.
"Yeah, sorry. Thank you," Kirito said, presumably thinking about something.
"Eh, it's us who should thank you. You helped us a lot," Axel replied.
"Just what I was going to say, dude!" Klein exclaimed.
"Thank you, Kirito-san!" Lyn joined in, blushing a little.
Kirito couldn't help but smile. "If anything comes, you guys can message me anytime."
As the three opened their game menus to log out, a distressed look appeared on Lyn's face.
"W-why is there no logout button?" she tilted her head in confusion.
Kirito turned around to see the three in deep thought.
"Huh, there is no button, that's for real," Axel looked at his own game menu to see the logout button also missing.
"Maybe you should check it again?" Kirito approached the three and swiped the air with his hand.
"You can't find it?" Klein asked.
"Yeah…" the teen replied.
"M-maybe it's some glitch? I hope it will be fixed…" the blue-haired girl said hopefully.
"That's gonna hit the devs right where it hurts the most, if that's the case. And it's 17:25 too…" Axel checked the game clock.
At the silver-haired teen's mention of what time it was, Klein clutched his head in panic, as if ready to run around and scream, making the other three "Noooooo, my teriyaki-mayo pizza and ginger ale!"
"You better hurry and call the GMs," Kirito suggested.
"I tried! Nothing happened. Isn't there a different way to log out?" Klein blurted out nervously.
"Nope, the only way is to use the logout button. The NerveGear intercepts brain signals, so we can't move our bodies in the real world and remove the helmet ourselves. If someone removes it, then a forced logout will happen. There was no info about emergency logouts in the information ma-" Axel attempted to explain, only to be ignored and interrupted by Klein.
"Return! Escape! Logout!" the red-haired player shouted while doing silly poses. "Wait, what did you say about removing the helmet? I live alone. And you guys?"
"Uh, I live my mother and sister," Kirito started, but was also interrupted by Klein, who rushed to him.
"Oh, oh, how old is your sister?" he started to annoy the teen.
"She plays sports and hates games. She wouldn't fit in with people like us," Kirito answered.
"That doesn't mat-" Klein couldn't finish what he wanted to say as he was kicked by Kirito between his legs.
"Anyway, isn't this situation strange? There has to be some reason behind this. Like Axel said before, ARGUS might have problems because of that. Such a glitch can be easily fixed by doing a server reboot, which will disconnect everyone, but there were no notifications about the reboot," Kirito started his train of thought.
"Yeah, something is off," Axel agreed and turned over to Lyn, who was trembling in fear.
Ding-dong, ding-dong
An eerie sound of a huge bell enveloped the area. The group looked towards the hill where the Town of Beginnings was located, and then everything went white.
The scenery suddenly changed and the four found themselves in the town plaza with other players. Some were confused, some were angry for being teleported away right in the middle of a battle.
"Forced teleportation?" Kirito asked himself, though the others had the same question.
"L-look up, there is something strange in the sky," Lyn pointed upwards and the others followed her advice.
Up in the evening sky there was a red hexagonal screen which had [WARNING] written on it. Suddenly, countless other screens spread out from it and flooded the sky, painting it completely red. Scarlet liquid that looked like blood (which caused a chill to run down everyone's spines) seeped from between the hexagons and formed a hooded man, who floated above the plaza.
"Dear players, welcome to MY world," the man in the hood welcomed the players in a menacing voice. "My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of now, I am the one and only person in control of this world."
The other players started whispering whether the hooded person was really him.
That's totally not the place and time I'd want to meet this guy in, Axel thought nervously.
"I'm sure that you've already noticed that there is no logout button in the main menu. However, this is by no means a glitch or a mistake. I repeat, that this not a mistake, but a feature of the true Sword Art Online," Kayaba continued.
"A-a feature?" Lyn said, shaking as if being between falling unconscious and breaking down.
"You are all unable to log out, and nobody in the real world can remove the NerveGear or halt its operation. In such case, a powerful microwave from the helmet's transmitter will burn your brain, ending your life."
Not many believed what the man was saying. Some players even attempted to leave, but an invisible barrier blocked the way.
"I don't really understand what he is saying," Klein said to Kirito.
"The signals emitted by the helmet are the same as microwaves," Kirito explained.
"But the NerveGear has safety configs that make it impossible! Maybe cutting off the power will work," Axel exclaimed, trying to calm down Lyn.
"That's out of the question, the NerveGear has an internal battery," Kirito replied without taking his eyes off Kayaba.
"This is so ridiculous!" Klein almost yelled, almost losing his temper.
"Unfortunately, it seems that family members or friends of some players ignored the warning and forcibly removed the NerveGear. Now, 213 players passed away."
"No way…" Kirito, Klein and Axel said in unison
Various internet news articles started to flow around Kayaba. "As you can see, my warning and the news about the victims are being spread worldwide. Thus, it is safe to say that the risk of removing the helmet has become minimal. I hope this will relieve your concerns and you will focus on completing the game. Let me warn you, revival is impossible in this game and once your HP hits zero…" the man paused. "…you will perish in reality too, as the NerveGear will destroy your brain."
Yet another chill went down Kirito's spine, as he imagined his avatar exploding into blue shards.
"There is only one condition that you must fulfill to escape: clear this game. You are currently on the very first floor of Aincrad. If you complete the floor's dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may go up. Once you defeat the final boss on the 100st floor, the game will be cleared."
"How is this even possible…? Even beta-tester couldn't get that far," Axel said in disbelief.
"Your locations were made public and I shall allow a two-hour disconnection in order to get your bodies transferred to hospitals. Lastly, I have prepared a small gift for everyone and put it into your inventory. Please do take a look."
Everyone, including Lyn, opened their menus to discover a single item named [Hand Mirror]. As people took out their mirrors and looked at them, the plaza was engulfed in blue light. Lots of confused screaming followed.
Axel stared at the mirror in shock. There was no longer Axel in the reflection, but the brown-haired, hazelnut-eyed Inaba Hiroto. More importantly, Klein no longer had his long red hair. They were darker and styled upward. To Hiroto's even bigger shock, the tall Kirito turned out to be Kirigaya Kazuto, his silent and antisocial classmate, who was now pointing at Klein in shock, who in turned pointed at Kazuto.
"Kyaaaa, I-Inaba-san!? W-what are you doing here?" Lyn exclaimed, or rather the raven-haired Mizuki Miyako, another one of Hiroto's classmates, and of the smartest students in their class at that. She stood up and took a few steps away.
Kazuto noticed the two and pointed at them, with shock visible in his eyes. "A-and what are you two doing here!?"
"Wait, Kirito, the scan, remember?" Klein tried to stop the panic.
"Oh, yeah, we had to touch our bodies for calibration when we first put on the NerveGear. The console was probably collecting data at that time. The transmitter covers the entire head, so it must have registered our faces…" Kirito distracted himself from his two classmates.
"W-why is all this happening? T-this is just wrong…" Miyako fell on her knees.
"He'll answer that soon enough," Kazuto pointed at Kayaba.
"You are probably wondering why would I, Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of the NerveGear and this game, do such a thing?" Kayaba said. "I have already achieved my goal. Sword Art Online was created solely for my enjoyment. And now the stage is set. This concludes the tutorial for the official launch of Sword Art Online. I wish you all the best of luck."
Having said that, the hooded man dissolved into clouds of red smoke. The red hexagons disappeared from the sky.
Complete silence fell on the Town of Beginnings' plaza. All players kept looking at the sky, still shaken from the announcement.
Suddenly, some girl with twintails dropped her mirror and fell on her back while yelling in despair. Then realization came to everyone and angry yells filled the plaza, but some players just sat on the floor in disbelief.
"Hey, you three come with me," Kirito requested his companions.
The group followed the boy to some secluded street.
"Listen up, I'll be heading to the next town as soon as possible. You should come too. If Kayaba was honest with us, then we must get stronger," Kirito opened the floor map. "Resources in MMOs such as money and EXP are limited. The fields around the town will soon be wiped clean. Quickly moving to the other town is the best course of action. I know the way there and what hazards should be avoided. Even if we are underleveled, we can make it there safely."
"You know, I am not going to leave my friends in danger. They are somewhere in the plaza. I can't keep making you look out for me like this, so don't worry about me and go on," Klein turned down the offer.
Kirito looked at Axel and Lyn.
"I have to think all of this over, so I'll stick to you…" Lyn said with small tears running down her cheeks.
"And I'll go too, Miyako is in no condition to fight, the more people keep an eye on her, the better," Axel accepted the offer.
"Well then, Klein, if anything comes up, send me a message," Kirito said and was about to leave along with his two classmates.
"You guys!"
Kirito and the other two turned around. "You all look way better than your avatars did!" Klein exclaimed. The group smiled.
"And your unkempt face suits you ten times better too!" Kirito replied with a smile.
The trio finally departed for the other town. Kirito looked back only to see no one.
"Kirigaya, this is no longer a game. This is a battle of life and death," Axel said to Kirito.
"Yeah, you are right…And you two, call me Kirito for now," the boy replied, to which his companions replied with a nod.
Yes, from this day onward, their will to live was going to be tested…