This story is a reboot of SAO: Century Voyage. General premise is the same, but I'm not going to stick to the storyline. A few more years of writing practice (and a general template to work from) has given me a better idea of what makes a good story. Not that I can guarantee this will be good, but it should at least be better than my previous work.

As such, this story is also self contained. No need to go back to the original Century Voyage, lord knows I'm not. It does assume familiarity with SAO, but… that should be a given.

If this has any interest, I'll continue it.

A woman and a youth midway through puberty sit in a darkened room.

"Let's go over this one more time." Her fingers dance through the air, manipulating menus only she can see, organizing her work so she can better focus on the task at hand. "Keep in mind the only thing we know for sure is that you're the one who showed up at the gate holding a man hostage. Especially as you have The Mark."

The young man licks his lips nervously. "I, um, I definitely have a good reason for that."

"You'd better." She sighs, closes a few of the invisible UI windows and leans on the table. "Okay, how about you start telling me your story from the start? Looks like my superior isn't going to get here for at least a few hours, so just tell me whatever you think is relevant, okay?"

"...Okay." The boy takes a breath and lets it out slowly. "So, it's like this…"

Kazuto Kirigaya, known as Kirito to the world at large, lies down in an open field. The field is only about a kilometer across, yet is home to a wide variety of weak monsters that can be used as meat. That is why the young man was sent to the field by his parents, to gather food for the cafe, yet here he lies oblivious to the world around him as he stares at the base of the floor above him, clouds drifting along the underside.

"Hey, Kirito!"

The boy dressed in black opens his eyes and glances to the side to see his mentor approaching. Sitting up lazily, he waves. "Hey Klein."

"I can't believe you have the balls to sit out here in the field with all these monsters around." Klein rubs his head and looks around. "I always feel like something is sizing me up to be it's next meal."

"Nah… most of them leave you alone if you don't approach them first." Kirito yawns. "At least, not on this floor."

"I wish the monsters on the twelfth floor would leave us alone if we didn't go after them." Klein sighs. "We're being driven back even harder than usual recently."

"What, the great Klein, leader of the Furinkaazan, admitting things are tough?" Kirito draws himself up in mock horror. "Next you'll tell me that the KoB are actually better, and that you're going to disband!"

"Not going that far." Klein smirks. "But yeah, it's getting to be a struggle out there. Might have to open recruitment again."

Kirito smirks. "Hey, I'll be there before long, and I'll carve through the front line like it's not even there! Just wait until I get my update!"

Klein chuckles. "Isn't that today?"

"Yeah, in about…" Kirito's eyes unfocus as he checks the system clock from his menu. "Aw, crap! I told mom and dad I'd be back in time for my update. They're going to be so angry-"

"Whoa, wait up a second." Klein slaps a hand on Kirito's shoulder before he can bolt off. "They sent me out here to get you with a teleport crystal. We've got a bit of time."

"...Oh." Kirito sits back down. "Aren't those expensive?"

Klein waves his concern away. "One thing about being so busy is that I have funds to spare. I squirreled away a few spare crystals for today anyway."

"Oh?"

Klein can't keep a grin off his own face from seeing his disciple's look of excitement. "Hey now, I never said I'd be taking you anywhere."

Kirito's expression grows complicated, but he nods, only to have Klein reach out and ruffle his hair. "Just kidding. Look, let's get your update over and done with, and let's see if I can't convince your parents to let you accompany me to one of the smaller dungeons. Maybe one on floor 5?"

Kirito nods enthusiastically. "I've never been down there!"

"Well, I hate to get your hopes up, but this does depend if your parents are willing to allow you to accompany me."

"I'm turning fifteen and getting my update. Even if they want to stop me, they're not going to be able to." Kirito punches his hands together. "After all, I'm gonna be the best swordsman!"

"Careful there, kiddo. Gotta walk before you can run."

"...I know." Kirito sighs. "But I've been waiting for today for years!"

"Well, then, let's not keep you waiting any longer.' Klein stands up and brushes himself off. "Take this crystal, and let's get back to your place."

They both hold the blue crystals aloft, and shout "Rockfort!"

Seconds later, the blue energy that had surrounded them for the duration of the teleport fades revealing an idyllic little hamlet known as Rockfort. Rockfort is on floor eleven, nestled right before the front line.

Kirito's mother and father run an Inn and tavern here, a place for the brave men and women who head to the front lines to rest. The Clearers, as they had been labeled since at least thirty years ago, have the toughest job on Aincrad, to push forward and expand the inhabitable territory for humans. The inn run by by the Kirigaya's is one of the more popular places.

Klein stops at the door, looking up at the wooden sign hanging on the outside depicting a snake and a boar fighting. "'The Snake and Boar.' Ah, how I've missed you."

Kirito rolls his eyes. "You've got a home on this floor now, don't you?"

"Doesn't mean I don't want to hang out with everyone else at the bar sometimes! I've been so busy, the girl I was dating dumped me while I was on the front line fighting."

"...You have a girlfriend?!" Kirito opens the door, but stops halfway through in shock.

"Had. And, I'd rather not talk about it."

Kirito's lips purse, but he drops it for the moment.

"Kazuto!" a voice calls from inside the building. "Is that you?"

"Coming, mom!" Kirito yells back.

Klein steps inside, looking around the spacious interior of the tavern section of the inn and absorbing all the familiar sights as Kirito disappears into the back.

Midori Kirigaya watches her adoptive son run into the kitchen, fingers already working his menus to drop off his catch for the day. "Hey, Kazuto, hold on a moment-"

Too late.

A veritable mountain of meat appears on the table, and Midori has to stop for a moment to take it all in.

"...I thought I asked you to initiate a trade request, especially when it's this much." She eyes the pile again. "Is this all from today?"

"Yep!" Kirito smirks. "I've learned my way around a sword quite excellently, if I do say so myself."

"My son, slayer of boars." She shakes her head with a rueful grin. "Let me get this mess cleaned up, and then I'll bring out your update meal."

"I can help you clean up." Kirito looks at the mess he caused with some amount of regret.

"You shouldn't keep your guests waiting." Midori starts to shoo him back to the main hall. "You shouldn't keep her waiting."

"...'her'?"

Kirito lets himself be ejected from the kitchen to see Klein talking to Kirito's best friend in the whole world. "Hey Liz!"

Lizbeth starts and looks over to see Kirito walking towards her. "Happy update day, Kirito."

"Thanks. What're you two talking about?"

Lizbeth coughs into her left hand and starts to open her menu with her right. "W-well, since it's an important day for you, and you've been pretty insistent on becoming a swordsman…"

Her fingers hit a final key and a sword appears in mid-air, midway between Kirito and Lizbeth. They both instinctively reach out to catch it, the heavy blade settling on four hands.

"Whoa…" Kirito looks the pitch black blade up and down.

"This is something I decided to make for you." Lizbeth lets her hands drop away so Kirito can look over the blade. "I'm still learning blacksmithing, but that's one of the better jobs I've done."

"I'll say." Klein watches in amusement as Kirito swings the sword around, slowly building up speed. "You never make me anything half as nice."

"That's because you're a pervert." Lizbeth turns up her nose.

"Aw, come on. That was an accident!" Klein pleads. "If your sister wasn't into it-"

Suddenly Kirito stops to look at the blade's stats, and his face goes pale. "L-Liz, this blade is worth-!"

"Yes." She ignores Klein's pleas for clemency and walks over to the star-struck boy. "But I'm giving it to you. You're going to have to pay me back for it, okay?"

"...Okay." Kirito nods firmly after a few moments.

Lizbeth's cheeks color slightly, though the young man doesn't notice it.

"Make way!" Midori bursts out of the kitchen with her hands full of food, and her husband Aoi close on her heels similarly laden.

"Ah yes, time to get started." Klein licks his lips-

"Is this part really necessary?"

Kirito stops telling his story to the Army lieutenant, Yulier. "O-oh, sorry. Er… I guess I'll pick up with my update?"

"Your… update, right. Yes, they can be unsettling, but unless you're going for an insanity plea, I don't think saying that your update was traumatizing is going to do you any favors." She shakes her head. "Are you sure you want to talk about it?"

"It, uh, wasn't… My update wasn't normal." Kirito hunches his back, the small room starting to feel stifling. "So I think it's pretty relevant, yes."

Yulier sighs. "Fine. Let's go over that too then."

Updates are rare.

There's one when a child turns five, letting them do more than just walk around and eat. There's one when you turn twenty, one when you turn sixty, and, most importantly to young Kirito, one when you turn fifteen.

Leaving aside what happens during the fifteen year update, it's the first one where the person in question experiences the process of updating. It's deemed too disturbing for five-year-olds, so they are sent to sleep before their parents start the update for them.

So, when Kirito opens his eyes in the blue void for the first time, his thoughts are full of confusion.

Where am I?

What's going on?

There's nobody to answer his silent cries.

He tries to move, but with each movement metal tears into his flesh. His muscles feel sluggish, feeling like they are encased in jelly. Fingers scrabble at the many pipes jammed into his skin, but they aren't strong enough to pry the metal loose.

As if in reaction to his movements, a pulsing red light appears in the distance, barely visible in the gloom, and soon after more lights join in, shining through the thick, murky liquid and hitting his face, blinding him.

Who are you? His brain asks, but his mouth refuses to form words around the apparatus attached to his face.

The lights slowly start to fade away, at first seeming like they're leaving Kirito alone.

Soon though, he realizes that the world around him is more familiar than expected. It's his room in the Inn.

His hand curls into a fist, and he recognizes the strength has returned to his fingers.

"What the hell…" he mutters to himself.

"Ah!"

Kirito looks over to see Lizbeth, face tracks with the remnants of tears, sitting in the corner of the room in his desk chair. She looks like she's been there a while, but…

Well, updates only take a few moments, yes?

"Hey Liz." Kirito looks around the room. It's unusually dark for the time of day… "What's going on?"

She doesn't respond, instead getting out of the chair and reaching out to carefully touch his face. "Are… are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Kirito frowns. "Why?"

She once more ignores his question and instead sags to her knees, throwing her arms around his chest and grabbing him tightly.

"Er… Liz?" It's starting to dawn on Kirito just how worried she must be to be acting this way. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"You… you started your update, and then you didn't wake up for hours!" She looks up from where she had practically collapsed, hands releasing his torso just to grab his hands in turn. "I- we weren't sure if you'd wake up!"

"...Oh." Kirito looks away from her tear streaked face. "I'm sorry about that."

"B-but, you're okay, right?"

"I don't feel wrong." Kirito rolls his shoulders. "Let me check my stats real quick."

The fifteen year update unlocks combat skills, a set of patterns that aid the user in completing tasks in everyday life or combat. Skills are based on class and stats, meaning a fast person gets faster, a strong person gets stronger, blacksmiths get better at forging, and cooks can make better meals.

Stats grow naturally as a person grows, based on what the person has been doing. It's generally accepted that even a person who has been training to be a soldier from birth will still have some non-combat stats, leading to skills that are only useful in some limited circumstances. A skill to quickly skin all dead animals in an area, for example.

So when Kirito opens his menu and finds that every single one of his stats are set to zero, his heart leaps into his throat.

Zero in everything means he's weaker than a newborn.

"Kirito?"

Liz's strained voice brings Kirito back from his stupor. "It's… everything looks fine." He lies through his teeth. "Man, I can't believe I passed out from that! I must be the lamest guy in Aincrad."

Lizbeth wipes her eyes on her sleeve. "That's not true, Kirito. I'm just glad you're okay." She stands up. "Let me go get your parents."

Kirito nods, and waits for the door to click shut before turning his attention back to his skills chart.

…Hmm?

Why do each of the stat lines have a little "+" icon next to them?

He tentatively pokes at the symbol next to his strength stat, and the level suddenly increases. He presses it again, and the level goes up once more. The second time, he sees that there's a number that goes down when he presses the button.

"...Can I assign-" He mutters to himself, before the door to his room bursts open and his parents come in, Midori pressing on his face to make sure he's not fading away. His cousin-slash-sister also shows up, her face showing she'd been as stressed as any of the others.

Kirito has to spend the next few minutes calming his parents and sister down, thanking Lizbeth for looking after him, and reassuring them all that he really is fine before his room is vacant enough for him to try to manipulate the odd stat screen once more.

He quickly finds that higher levels cost more, so putting everything into one skill would eat up a lot of points for less benefit. Still…

This is his chance to become the ultimate swordsman he's always dreamed of. Instead of having several stats wasted in things like 'organization' or 'pet handling' he can put literally every point toward combat skills.

He selects a few more levels of strength-

"Oh please." Lt. Yulier rubs her temples. "If we could just assign stats, my life would be so much easier. As it is, whenever the Army does recruitment drives I just have to take what I can get."

"It's true!" Kirito's cuffed hands rise onto the table with a metallic clunk as the bracelets hit the shiny surface. "You can check if you want."

"You're giving me consent to look at your stats?" The Lieutenant raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Kirito nods.

"...If you're sure."

Lt Yulier sends the request to view his stats, and he quickly accedes to the request.

"See? Unless I've literally done nothing but fight my whole life-"

Stats so unbalanced she'd never seen anything like it. A swordsman's dream, every possible point had been crammed into skills such as speed or strength, while other skills like survival had been neglected. This kid would be a monster to fight, assuming he has any battle sense at all.

Lt Yulier frowns and strokes her chin. "It's certainly unusual, but not unheard of. We'll assume you're telling the truth for now, but that is highly unusual."

"Right."

"Okay, let's skip to-"

"Ah." Kirito holds up his hand to interrupt her. "I think the next thing I should talk about is earlier today. See, after the scare from last night-"

"Absolutely not!" Midori slams her hands down on the table. "I don't care if Klein will be there, I don't care if it's actually 'completely safe', until we figure out what happened to you!"

Kirito stares down at the tabletop in frustration.

Behind him, Klein is holding his hands up in defense, though Kirito's parents' anger had yet to be directed his way. He had just come to ask if he could take Kirito out to the fifth floor as he had promised. Yesterday, it had been an obvious yes, but after the events of last night…

"Son, we're just looking out for you." Aoi rubs his face with his hands. "You practically turned into one of the faded for a few hours."

Kirito bites his lip. "I'm not crazy."

"Nobody said you were." Midori takes a deep breath. "We just want to make sure you won't suddenly pass out again. If you fade out again, but in combat, who knows what will happen to you."

Kirito refuses to look at his parents' faces and instead stares down at the floor with a burning hatred.

"Er…" Klein dares to make a noise after the uncomfortable silence stretches on for a good dozen seconds or so. "...I'm sorry we can't do this today, kid, but I'll take you out as soon as we get this all cleared up, okay?"

"Okay." Kirito says begrudgingly. "I'm gonna hold you to that."

"Hey, that's no problem!" Klein has a thought and he glances over at Midori tentatively. "If it's alright, I can give you the presents I was going to save for the trip so you can read up on how to use them. It'll be safer in the long run, yeah?"

Aoi purses his lips. "I suppose it couldn't hurt. Better he gets familiar now than in the field, right?"

Midori looks at her husband. "I… sure, I guess it's fine."

Kirito loses some of his anger, but still refuses to acknowledge his parents as he stalks out of the room into the empty tavern.

Klein sits down at a random table and gestures for his disciple to join across from him.

Klein transfers over a host of support items. Small healing potions for emergencies, some rations that don't expire, portable whetstones, and most importantly, two teleport crystals.

Kirito protested, but Klien wouldn't back down.

"These are your last, best safety measures. If all else fails, you can be back into a safe zone in seconds. There's bandits, some powerful monsters lurking in lairs, and other dangers and I don't want to be the one with the knowledge I sent you out unprepared."

Kirito reluctantly agreed, accepting all the offered items, and reaffirming the promise Klein had made to him.

Once done, Kirito retreats back up to his room as Klein leaves.

He's there for maybe an hour, just staring at the ceiling before there's a knock on his door.

"Hey, Bro?"

"...What, Suguha?"

"Just wanted to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine."

"I, I know, but it's just…" She hesitates. "When Liz and Klein were carrying you up to your room last night, I could see right through you. I don't want you to become one of those Faded."

"I'm not going to become a Faded. That starts when you're a kid, right?"

"W-well… I heard that about ten years ago a few adults all started Fading around the same time. Nobody knows how it happens, right?"

"...Right." Kirito sighs. "Look, I'm obviously not crazy, right? And, it was just that once. I'm sure I'll be fine, it's just… frustrating."

"I get it." She slumps against the wall. "Make sure you tell us if it happens again, okay? I don't want you to end up like those… things."

"Thanks, Sugu." Kirito says almost too quietly to be heard. "I will."

"Ah, uh… great! Well, I'm gonna go to bed." Suguha pushes off of the wall. "See you tomorrow, Kazuto."

"Yeah."

Her footsteps fade away after, and Kirito is once more left alone with his thoughts.

It's not fair.

He's been aiming to be a swordsman his entire life, and yet… just because of a stupid coincidence, his parents are going to keep him from practicing, from carving his name into the annals of history that way he always expected himself to.

His mind wanders to his time during the update.

The murky blue liquid he had been suspended in, the lights in the distance…

Isn't that what those Faded people mumble about?

No.

I'm not Faded. I will not go crazy like those people, I will become the strongest swordsman!

He pounds his pillow in frustration.

I'll show them that I'm not crazy.

Quietly, he slips out of bed and starts organizing his inventory. He's going to need it to be as empty as possible, so he can carry back the spoils of war. Though, he takes along all the safety items Klein had handed to him. It's the wisdom of a real Clearer, no need to reject those lessons.

Once geared up, hood covering his face, Kirito locks his bedroom door before slipping out the window into the night.

His aim is floor five. Floor five is wild, unlike any of the other floors below the front lines of floor twelve, and still regularly has hunting parties there to subdue monsters. Nobody knows why killing the boss of floor five didn't end the monsters' presence on the floor like the rest of one through eleven.

Still, it provides a convenient place for new people to fight. Generally, a newly updated fifteen-year-old would join other new fighters plus a veteran or two and learn how to work with each other in combat, tactics and whatnot.

For Kirito, those things are useless. After all, he's going to be the greatest swordsman, all by himself.

All he needs to do is get to the town's teleporter, and he'll be able to start proving himself.

"Kirito?"

Kirito stops in his tracks, panic flooding his nervous system. Who…?

Lizbeth walks into his line of sight, and he almost collapses as his muscles simultaneously relax.

"Er, that is you, Kirito… right?" She pulls up her menu, checks the friends tab and assures herself that she's talking to her friend.

"Don't scare me like that, Liz." He flips the hood back to reveal his features. "...How did you know it was me?"

"Who else would be walking around in the middle of the night in a suspicious black cloak?" She grins. "Besides, I figure after last night you'd probably want to be out of the house for a bit."

"...Yeah, that's about right." He decides to keep his real reason a secret. "What are you doing up?"

"The work of a blacksmith is never done." She sits down on a nearby bench and pats the spot next to her. "The Army made another order to repair their gear, and it's enough to keep me busy for a month."

"Wow, looks like your business is really taking off." Kirito sits down next to his friend and looks up into the sky, stars twinkling seemingly infinitely far away. "Now your parents can't force you to go back, can they?"

"I'm still not exactly solvent, but I'm surviving." She provides a rueful grin. "Now if only a strapping young gentleman would just give up on his dumb swordsman idea and become my assistant, I'd be able to get ahead on my orders!"

"Ha ha. Maybe if I had a dedicated armorer that travels with me I'd be able to fight the fiercest of monsters on a moment's notice."

She laughs half-heartedly. "You know I'm a… little too scared to go out there and fight. I would love to go with you, but…"

Kirito sees her hand start to shake and he places his own hand on hers to steady it. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up. I'm just mad I'm stuck in the house while my parents panic over nothing. Maybe I should just run away like you did."

"I have a room for you in my house if you need it, but you'll have to help me with my work." She wiggles her eyebrows.

Kirito rolls his eyes, but pauses before speaking. "...I'll keep it in mind."

"Eh?" Lizbeth's surprise is written on her face. "I thought you were going to become the greatest swordsman!"

"I am. But, if my parents insist on restricting my movements, I'm going to have to get my own place. If I've learned anything from being your friend, it's that living on your own is hard."

Lizbeth looks away so he can't read her expression, as uncomposed as it is.

"Moving in with you would be a lot easier, and hopefully my income from pushing back the Waves will pay for my share."

"I-I see. W-well, why don't y-you move in with me while you practice to become a full Clearer?" Lizbeth is glad it's dark enough to hide her burning cheeks.

"..." Kirito doesn't respond immediately, and Liz starts to prepare a panicked apology and claim that it was a joke when he finally speaks up. "That would be great. Thank you, Liz."

"I-I-It's no big deal. Anything for my best friend!"

He fist clenches in his lap. "Yeah…"

The two fall into silence for a spell.

"I'm going down to the fifth floor." Kirito finally admits.

"Eh? Wait, right now?" Lizbeth does a double take. "It's almost midnight!"

"Yeah, but like I said my parents are worrying that I'm gonna become a Faded and are keeping me at home. This was the first chance I had to get myself away."

"But Kirito, it's dangerous!"

"Nah, Klein's been training me. I'm not going to do anything like try to take down a raid boss or anything, I just want to practice on some low level enemies so I'm not just wasting away my time in my room waiting for my parents to stop being worrywarts."

"Well, now I'm worried!" She stands up and faces him. "You don't even have a party, and I doubt there's going to be anyone waiting around at midnight to join you."

"That's fine." Kirito grins up at her. "After all, I'm pretty strong."

"Strong, for a guy who just got his update!" She sits back down, head in her hands. "Kirito, I've seen guys my age go down to the fifth floor before. The cocky ones don't come back."

Kirito bites his tongue. He'd heard that some of Liz's classmates had gone missing last year…

"I've known you for too long to think I could stop you." The words sound bitter on her lips. "But, if you would consider my words just this once, please wait until you have some help. Klein, some other people who just got their updates, or even just me! Just don't go alone!"

"You'll come with me?"

"...Oops." She covers her mouth. "N-no, I didn't mean I'd go with you, I just… I don't want us to wake up one day to find your name scratched off the Monolith."

Kirito nods. "I won't die. A-and…" His cheeks color, but Lizbeth is too preoccupied with writing her hands to notice. "I know you don't want to go down there, b-but, I can protect you!" He suddenly re-grabs her hands and looks her right in the eyes, black eyes meeting her ruby ones.

She licks her lips, trying to keep from blushing as he holds her hands so earnestly. "Kirito, I can't afford to waste my time adventuring."

"I'll help you with your shop for a few days. I don't think mom or dad would keep me from doing that, and you'll get more work done. I'll be able to sneak out at night and go down to the fifth floor to practice, with you watching my back! It's perfect!"

She bites her lip. It's… too perfect. It's almost exactly what she wants too, though she could do without having to go fight monsters, even if Kirito would be able to repel them without her help.

"Here." Kirito lets go of her hand and spawns a blue crystal, and Lizbeth's eyes go wide.

"Is that a-"

"A teleport crystal." He stuffs it into her hand. "Put it in your pocket. If anything goes wrong, just grab it and yell the name of a town."

"Aren't these insanely expensive?!"

"Yes, but if it makes you feel safer, I'd rather you had one of them." He spawns another and tucks it into his own pocket. "See? Now we can both return back in the blink of an eye. Nothing to worry about."

"..." She looks down at the large blue crystal. She'd never used one before, never needed to. "If I don't go with you, are you still going to go tonight? Even if I ask you not to?"

Kirito hesitates. He almost blurted out that he was going no matter what, but something about her words made his own stick in his throat. His desire to become the greatest swordsman clashes with his desire not to disappoint his best friend, and he doesn't quite keep that struggle off his face.

Before he can unstick his thoughts enough to answer, Liz closes her eyes and swallows nervously. "F-fine, I'll go with you."

"R-really?"

"Only this once!" She holds up her hand. "And, as soon as it becomes dangerous, you have to promise me to teleport back! I'll never forgive you if you end up dead! I'll figure out a way to reincarnate you as my anvil and whack you every day with my hammer!"

Kirito laughs, the tension bleeding out of his body. "Man, give me a break. That sounds like hell!"

"So you better take this seriously!" Liz's own gut twists into a knot, but she ignores it. "I-if we're going to do this, we should get going before it gets much darker."

"Of course." Kirito stands up. "Okay, follow me."

Kirito cuts himself off and furrows his brow at the lieutenant. "What's wrong?"

"I'm here to hear about how you ended up with The Mark!" she sighs deeply. "I don't care about your love life!"

"My wha-" Kirito's cheeks flush. "Liz and I aren't like that!"

"Coulda fooled me." She suddenly sits upright. "Okay, I've had it. If you don't cut to the chase, I'm going to advise my superior to throw you into the deepest, darkest dungeon we have and leave you there until The Mark fades."

"W-wait!" Kirito starts to panic. "I swear I was almost done! It was just after we were wrapping up-"

"...You really can fight." Lizbeth admits.

Kirito grins. "And we weren't in any danger, like I promised."

Liz thinks back to one particularly close incident with one of the spiderlings, but she had to admit that it hadn't been all that scary with her own personal knight. She'd even managed to acquire some ingredients for her work for the low price of a few hours of sleep. She hadn't even been considering that benefit before…

"Yes, I suppose you're right." She offers him a smile. "I'm sorry for doubting you."

"Like I said, I'm gonna be the greatest swordsman! If this was hard, I'd have no hope at all!"

She grabs his shoulder with her hand as they walk. "Well, maybe you'll be able to pull it off. I'll be rooting for you."

Kirito grins, but is quickly interrupted by a yawn. The sky is starting to brighten, though it'll still be an hour or so before dawn, and the two figured that they needed to head back sooner rather than later if Kirito wanted to have any chance of sneaking back in undetected.

"Hey Kirito?"

"Mm?"

"If you don't mind, do you think you could teach me to fight? Just a little?"

He scratches his chin. "I think so, but why? I know you really don't want to be down here with me, but-"

Both of them startle as a piercing scream cuts through the predawn night.

They look at each other for a moment before they both start talking at once.

"We need to get the Army!"

"We need to go save them!"

Lizbeth's hand clutches the teleport crystal in her pocket. "We're not equipped to handle whatever that is, Kirito!"

"But if we go get someone, it's going to be too late!" Kirito turns to look in the direction the scream had come from, eyes searching for the source. "It'll be at least a few minutes until they get back here."

"...Fine." The crystal digs into Lizbeth's hand as she grips it even tighter. "But if we can't do anything, we're going back immediately!"

Kirito nods and takes off, legs propelling him to high speeds almost instantly.

He comes across the scene in only a few seconds.

Several members of the Knights of Blood, usually shortened to KoB, are lying wounded on the ground. The cause?

Eight men clad head to toe in black, the only exception being a white crest that Kirito isn't familiar with emblazoned on the back of each coat. They're busy threatening the one remaining member of the KoB still standing, a girl with chestnut hair and determined eyes.

Behind her, a large monster that doesn't look like anything that Kirito had heard about, let alone seen, is rearing up to attack her.

In a split second, Kirito has his sword drawn once more and blinks past the girl to slash at the monster, blade digging into flesh and leaving a glowing damage mark in its wake.

"Who…?" The girl questions as Kirito slides to a halt, blade raised in front of him.

"You need to get your friends to safety." Kirito says. "I'm guessing those guys in black aren't your friends?"

"No… you're not one of them?"

Kirito looks down at himself. "...Ah, no. I'm just a passing knight."

Personally he rates that line pretty highly, though by the expression on her face she doesn't agree.

"Whatever. If you'll help me hold off these thugs, I'd be grateful."

"Of course." Kirito smirks. "But first-"

He leaps up, already activating his sword skill to stab the tall rabbit-dinosaur hybrid thing that had been attacking the group.

Blue flashes from the sword skill light up the area, and for a moment the rest of the group just watches in surprise. The Armored Rabbit isn't an easy thing to fight, even in a group, so anyone able to match its speed should be known…

One of the men in black clicks his tongue. No matter, the loss of the Armored Rabbit would be a shame, but if they don't take down their target here-

The girl readies her rapier, eyes flashing dangerously.

"K-Kirito!" Lizbeth stumbles onto the scene, having been left behind. Her eyes dart around, confusion at the scene before she realizes what's going on.

"Bandits." She squeaks out, feet frozen to the ground.

One of the people in black cloaks grins maliciously before licking her lips. "Look at what we have here. One more lamb to the slaughter."

"Save this one." Another grunts. "Haven't had anyone to play with in a while."

"No promises." The woman advances on Liz with a dagger drawn.

Suddenly, Liz's vision fills with chestnut colored hair.

The girl dressed entirely in red and white glances back at Lizbeth. "I'm so sorry for dragging you into this, but I need you to evacuate my team." She hastily stuffs a whole bunch of teleport crystals into Lizbeth's hands. "Just put them in their hands and teleport them to Stachion. Save one for yourself."

"B-but-"

"Hurry!"

The black clad men and woman start to move in and the girl readies her blade once more, the blade glowing with its readied skill.

Liz busies herself with scrambling over to the fallen and hurriedly stuffing crystals into their hands.

Meanwhile, Kirito is still dancing around the Armored Rabbit, sword cleaving large chunks off its health bar as it screeches and hops around, claws failing to find purchase against the nimble opponent.

He activates another skill, a helmsplitter technique meant to stop a fight with an admittedly telegraphed attack, but one that if it connects does a ton of damage.

Off to the side, the glow of a teleport crystal can be seen in the dark. That, or something- someone- breaking as their hit points hit zero.

Kirito puts those thoughts out of his mind as much as possible, instead doing his best to get the skill ready. If it goes off and the Rabbit isn't in the right place-

His eyes narrow as the Rabbit lands, its legs scraping the top layer of grass up and it tries to turn around.

It's now or never.

The skill is unleashed, and power flows through Kirito's limbs, Lizbeth's custom blade in his hands glowing green with energy as the skill engages and starts guiding his hands to the most optimal attack.

Lizbeth looks up from the third person she's managed to teleport out to see Kirito's blade carve right through the monstrous rabbit, the creature shattering into millions of glowing triangles that immediately start to pop and fade away as his sword cuts the skull in two.

…Maybe she didn't need to worry, after all.

She turns to find the next downed KoB member-

"Hello girlie!"

She shrieks as one of the black coats appears next to her, as if from thin air. He licks his lips and Liz is too scared to look away from the ghastly tattoo covering part of his face-

Wait, not a tattoo. That's The Mark.

He's a murderer.

His hands reach out to grab her and she squeezes her eyes shut.

Kirito appears out of nowhere, blade swinging. His blow fails to cut the man, but the impact sends him tumbling away as Kirito skids to a stop a few feet away from Lizbeth.

"Are you hurt?!" He demands, panting.

"N-No."

"Teleport away!" He demands. "It's too dangerous!"

She tightens her grasp of the crystals in her hands. "I have to rescue the others first."

Kirito looks back at her for a second, before grinning. "Well, I'll just have to protect you then!"

Lizbeth nods and turns to the next person she had seen on the ground, running to her side and stuffing the crystal in her hands before saying the name of the town and dropping the crystal so it doesn't take her instead.

Kirito and the chestnut-haired girl once more find themselves fighting side by side backing up as the now sufficiently angry mob stalks closer and closer, cruel-looking weapons drawn.

"Got a plan?" He whispers to the girl beside him.

"Teleport away as soon as everyone else is clear." She whispers back.

"I meant to take them out."

She shakes her head. "Just stick to fending them off. I don't want to lose anyone else."

Her eyes flick back over her shoulder, and Kirito's eyes narrow.

They're killers. That means he doesn't have to hold back.

Aincrad has an automatic crime detection system. Nobody's quite sure how it works, but generally, it punishes people for committing crimes. It applies a Mark that changes depending on the severity of the crime, going from almost unnoticeable as a small dark line under the eye to a full on set of twisted brambles that covers half of the face of a murderer.

Violence against another person generally gets the attacker a pretty severe mark. Killing someone automatically gets them the most severe mark, and it doesn't ever go away.

The only exception is attacking someone with The Mark. Once Marked, it's possible to attack the person with no consequence, up to and including their crime level. You can't murder a thief without punishment, but you can get away with stealing from a murderer if you dare.

What this means for Kirito is that as long as he doesn't kill anyone, he'll be free and clear to attack them and hopefully subdue or drive them off.

He raises his sword once more and activates a skill, his blade glowing green once more.

Lizbeth uses the seventh and final crystal that the girl had given her on the last of the fallen still clinging to life. She looks back at Kirito and the girl, both swinging their swords around far too quickly for her to see.

A large part of her wants to stay and watch, but another part of herjust wants to go back, get out of here before she's struck by the increasingly intense combat.

"Kirito! I'm teleporting out!"

"Good!" He calls back, eyes never leaving the glowing tips of his enemy's blades. "Meet you back at- WHOA!"

A large broadsword swings through the area his neck had been a moment earlier, its wielder attempting to take advantage of his momentary distraction to get in a lethal strike.

Kirito backs up a few steps, waiting for Lizbeth's body to shatter into shards as the teleport crystal activates. Only once she disappears from the floor does he relax even slightly, turning to the mysterious girl.

"Ready to go?"

She remains quiet, eyes still glaring harshly at the enemies. They'd managed to send one of them packing, teleporting away after his guard had slipped and the girl managed to sneak her Rapier into his side.

"...I don't have a teleport crystal left." She hisses out. "I gave them all to your friend."

"Oh." Kirito rummages around in his pocket and pulls out his crystal. "Use this then."

"Got it. We'll teleport on the count of three."

"...Er, I only have one." Kirito admits.

The girl closes her eyes, muttering something under her breath.

"Looks like they're about to run, boss!"

"Yes, it does." The biggest of the enemies steps forward. "Looks like I'm going to have to do this myself."

The girl offers the crystal back to Kirito, but before he can accept or reject it, the large man dashes forward, displaying speed he hadn't shown up until this point.

Kirito barely jumps out of the way in time, and the girl tucks the crystal into her pocket before once more taking a stance and charging up a skill.

Kirito sets up a whirlwind of slashes, ready to trigger on the first person that steps into his sword's reach.

The large man advances on him, taking slow, unhurried steps-

A hand grabs Kirito's ankle. "I got him, bo-!"

Kirito's sword unleashes its fury on the man crawling on the ground, glowing stripes appearing all over his back as the pitch black blade swings in the predefined pattern. Kirito is as helpless to stop it as his poor victim, both at the mercy of the premade skill.

When the combo finally ends, the man is left twitching on the ground and Kirito is able to back away out of his grasping range.

In a slight panic, Kirito looks at the man's status, and is relieved to see that he's still alive, health still in the orange range. It would take a few more strikes to kill him, so he's not in immediate danger.

Crisis averted, his eyes shift to find his fighting partner-

The girl flies past, having been hit by the large broadsword wielded by the boss of the gang. She slams back first into a rocky outcropping, sword dropping from her fingers in pain.

"Shouldn't have let down your guard." The boss clicks his tongue. "It can get you killed."

The girl checks her much diminished hit points, sees that she's almost dead, and grimaces.

Kirito meets her eyes, and she mouths a few words before stuffing her hand in the pocket of her uniform.

'I'm sorry.'

She teleports away, form dissolving into a million small triangles that rise and pop like bubbles before disappearing.

"...Ahhh." The boss rests his large blade on his shoulder. "Looks like we failed."

"We can still get the boy." One of the others says, brandishing his longsword.

"Leave him. He's more trouble than he's worth for now. We're not getting paid for him regardless" The boss snaps. "Let's get going before their reinforcements show up."

"W-wait!" The one Kirito had slashed up calls as the rest pull out teleport crystals. "I wasn't able to afford a crystal after my last job!"

"..." The boss stops for a moment before leaning down toward his subordinate. "Suck to be you, doesn't it? Teleport, Broodhollow."

And suddenly, there's only two in the clearing.

Kirito looks down at the man with so little health that only a few swings of his blade could end him-

Lt Yulier cuts Kirito off. "And this is the guy you brought in at swordpoint."

"...Yes." Kirito lowers his gaze.

"You readied an attack skill without proper targeting parameters, and managed to almost kill someone."

"Yes." He shrinks in on himself even more.

"Furthermore, you barged into a dispute that you had no way of knowing who was the initiator and who was the victim, and then proceeded to fight against one side without question."

"...I don't think the people with coffins depicted on their backs are good guys."

"That's not for a kid like you to decide! We have systems in place for that." She collapses back into her chair that she had gotten up out of as he recounted his story. "Why don't I ever get easy cases?" She mutters to herself before once more setting her attention on the boy dressed in all black. "Look, I'll be frank. We don't have any corroborating evidence for your story at the moment. We're going to have to contact the KoB once they're open for business-" She checks her clock. "-Ugh, as soon as I finish this interrogation, and I need to talk to this 'Lizbeth'. Is that her real name or is that a nickname?"

"I… I think her real name is Rika?" Kirito offers. "I could find her in my system-"

"You will not!" the lieutenant barks. "Any attempt to open a menu despite those cuffs and you'll be behind bars before you can draw a sword!"

"...Sorry."

Lt Yulier rubs her face. "...Sorry, it's been a long night. I should be able to find your friends if I get the story corroborated soon, but until then, you're still the suspect in a heinous crime. After all-" She pulls out a mirror. "-your Mark is pretty severe."

Kirito gazes somberly at his reflection, a large, dark tattoo covering a quarter of his face, from his cheekbone up into his hairline.

"Oh, my parents are gonna kill me…"