[A/N: Alright before we begin let me give you the quick run down of this story. First off this isn't your typical "Magus Shirou using his Irl op sword abilities to save the day" nope, this Shirou isn't UBW shirou, it's not Heaven's feel shirou, it's not Fate route Shirou, and it's definitely not Oath under snow Shirou either! While this Shirou follows the Fate/Kaleid route, he is the Shirou who was never taught magecraft at all. In fact this story takes place a couple years before Illya meets Ruby.
Now not a lot is known about Kaleid Shirou other than he was adopted by both Iris and Kiritsugu instead of just the latter, I'll be writing with the assumption that Shirou was a victim of the fouth grail war like normal but because the currupted greater grail never fully manifested due to Irisviel betraying the Einzberns for Kiritsugu. The fire had less casualties than other timelines.
On to the story!!!]
Sword art online, a revolutionary VRMMORPG that redefined VR gaming in its entirety. At least that's what it should have been. Instead of a world full of adventure where players could log in, fight monsters get better gear and have an overall good time... what they got instead was Fear and Death.
Fear of every shadow that lurked outside of every safe zone, and the Deaths of 2000 players by the passing of the first month hung over the heads of those who still lived within the walls of the floating castle of Aincrad.
Among these players is a teen, dark haired and equally dark eyes. A sword rested in a scabbard on his back, which was pressed against wall as he waited.
A message appeared before the teen's eyes which narrowed as he read them.
《Message from-- Argo: Yo Kii-boy. The bossroom has been found. The other players are gathering at the amphitheater ruins sometime this week. You joining?》
He rolled his eyes at the nickname given by his fellow beta tester. His actual name was Kirito, or rather that's his username for this world.
《Message to-- Argo: Yeah I'll go. What about you?》 Was his reply.
He was sure she wouldn't come, gathering like this were never her thing. It wasn't either of their thing, but Kirito was a frontline fighter while Argo was an informant, so Kirito truly had no real choice but to go to meetings meant for boss raids.
As he expected her reply was:
《Message from-- Argo: And get harrassed for being a known beta tester? No thanks. I think I'll sit this one out. Besides I got to work on Volume 2 of the player guidebooks for the next floor. So... have fun! Byyyyyye》
Kirito sighed but understood her reasons. Argo was never much of a fighter. She was more talented at sneaking around and finding things others couldn't, it's what made her such a good informant.
《Message to-- Argo: Yeah sure...》
Kirito pushed himself off the wall and began to follow the other players who were heading in the general direction of the Amphitheater ruins... which Kirito know was a couple hours away from where he currently was. He would have to hurry through the forest to make it in time for the Raid gathering.
An arrow flashed through the air and struck true to its target, impaling it through the eye.
《Critical!!》
The target, a Weeping Bell looking plant monster, shattered into blue polygons before vanishing.
Amber eyes narrowed from underneath his red hood, as more Plants came from the surrounding forest, prompting him to draw another arrow from the quiver that rested at his lower back; closer to his waist, and notch it into his bow.
"Shyeaaark-(*shatter*)!" one of the Plants cried only to shatter into polygons as the red hooded Archer leased the other arrow into its eye.
《Critical!!》
The archer rolled his eyes at the pop up, already preparing another arrow. This time the plants wouldn't simply let him.
The group rushed him and leapt with raised tendril-like roots to kill him, only to meet empty air as the archer jumped into the air above them, arrow notched and leased in a fraction of a second.
The arrow pierced through the heads of two Plants before stopping in the ground below.
《Critical x2!!!》
One of the plant soon found its head smashed into the ground as the Archer returned to the ground below, his armored boots crushing its skull made of plant matter into the digital soil, turning it into polygons once more.
Quick as lightning, the archer pulled out another arrow and stabbed it into another plant's face. It didn't shatter this time but the Archer's boot soon fixed that.
The Archer took note of how many plants were left. Three in total. He took stock of how many arrows he currently had left... none.
"Just my luck..." he muttered.
Acting quickly he opened his menu and placed his bow into his inventory and replaced it with a one-handed shortsword that was strapped to the empty quiver.
He quickly dodged a swift strike from one of the plants and countered with an equally swift slice to its neck, shattering it.
The Archer turned Swordsman rushed the remaining two plants, intending to finish them in an instant.
His sword glowed with a blue light as he approached, before he executed one of the many sword skills that Sword art online was known for, Horizontal. Like the name says its a horizontal slash that features great strength with a decent amount of speed.
The skill connected with the bodies of both Kobold killing and shattering them in that same instant.
The Archer let out a sigh of relief as he surveyed the area but found no more Kobolds lurking in the trees.
"That's the last of them..." he muttered.
He took his time with picking up his arrows that he'd used previously, before turning to leave the current area, but before he got very far the sounds of combat reached his ears.
"Mmt? There's other players nearby?" He wondered, deciding to check up on them. This area was home to the recently discovered floor boss' dungeon after all. He would know he was the one to find it... even if it was by accident.
"Tch! Can't believe I fell for Shinji's trick..." the archer clicked his tongue as he remembered what his former friend, who had been the one to convince him into playing this game in the first place, had done. How the bastard had left him for dead for a supposedly rare skill in Sword Art Online's first floor.
"..." He fell silent as he remembered how Shinji had given him the idea of playing the game with his sick little sister, who fortunately was not in the game, having had an appointment with the doctors on the launch day. And it was Shinji's bright idea to log in before her to get a feel for it.
He didn't feel bad at all for what had happened to Shinji as a result of his abandonment. The first victim to the Kobold Lord.
He shook his head to clear the memories, now was not the place to reminisce.
The Archer returned his shortsword to the scabbard that was on the Quiver, and retrieved his Longbow from his inventory. He held his bow in his left hand and made his way towards the sounds of fighting.
He didn't have to look very far as he soon crested a hill to see...
"So fast..." he breathed in awe as he witnessed the long haired girl move so fast it was almost like she was flying.
Her rapier flashed and practically vanished as her repeated thrusts tore through monster after monster at the fire rate of an automatic rifle.
As he watched he saw that, despite her skill with the blade, she was still being pushed back by the sheer numbers they had.
The Archer, knowing he was in the most opportune position for one of his skill, readied his bow and notched an arrow. His mind becoming focused solely on its target.
The arrow glowed with a red light but before he could lease the arrow he noticed someone approaching in the distance, a dark haired teen somewhere around his own age.
The Archer noted the teen's intentions were to help the girl if the drawn sword and slight worry in his eyes were any indication.
"Good... then after this I can leave... they should be fine without me. I have to get to the town before the gathering." the Archer thought before he released his glowing red arrow... and a red rain followed with it.
Asuna Yuuki was not having a good day, or a good month for that matter. First she tried the VR game that her dad's company helped sponsor on a whim, and then found she couldn't leave! She have her friend Mito at one point... but she'd just abandoned her to die! And now she was alone fighting with what seemed like hundreds of Plant monsters!
Her rapier was nearing it durability limits too! Just a few more attacks and it would- (*shatter*) ... break.
Shit.
Asuna knew this was her end and knew she was about to die, but before she could close her eyes and accept her fate, the sky above darkened slightly.
"Kyeeak?" One of the plants looked up in simulated confusion, only for a red arrow to pierce its mouth, followed by another... and another!
Soon it was raining red arrows above them, the only hit the plants and not a single one even grazed Asuna.
"Was that... a skill?" Asuna wondered as the arrows struck down plant after plant to a more manageable level, before the skill ended, leaving Asuna alone with only a dozen or so plants left.
She didn't plan on letting this chance slip, she pulled out an older Rapier that she'd previously used and fought will all her might to survive!
Unfortunately for her another monster decided to make itself known. A Giant Anthrosaur, a creature that seemed to her like a cross between a fourty foot gorilla and a Yuutyranus!
Asuna glnaced at her health and felt despair, there was only a sliver left of it. There was no way she could hold out against that thing!
It got gloser and closer to her and each time she stepped back. Until her foot caught on a rock and she fell backwards. She tried to stand but the shadow of the anthrosaur looming above her prevented that.
The monster grinned wickedly at her and she screamed. The beast opened it's large jaws to devour her, all the while she lay helpless.
The sound of a Jet engine rang out from somewhere nearby, and a sudden slash cut the monster's wicked red eye.
It screeched in agony and reared itself upwards and staggered back.
Asuna's eyes opened just in time to gaze upon the sight of a boy who looked around her age, perhaps younger? He wore some basic medium protective gear, in a blue and black motif, but the weapon in his hand was a high level longsword, well high for the first floor at least.
He landed gracefully in front of her, protectively, she managed to glimpse a set of steel gray eyes and black hair, boefore the boy took off towards the monster at great speeds. His sword glowing purple as he did so. And then he struck.
(*bang!*)
A shockwave made her hair shake slightly as she watched him perform attack after attack on the monster, each sounded like they were fired from a high caliber rifle!
The monster screeched in pain once more and swiped atbthe boy, who disappeared.
She gasped and looked up to see him appear on the monstrosity's neck, silent and graceful in his movements to the point she might have seen a sort of beauty to it.
Then his blade gleamed an emerald green and hummed like a jet engine once more.
"Hraaaaaaah!" the boy roared as he spun his blade rapidly, before slamming it down onto the beast with a mighty slash.
She stared at him in awe, while he panted lightly from the fight.
He looked her way, in a manner that seemed almost nervous?
"Are you all-right? How much HP do you have left?"
It took her a second to realize he was talking to her, but she couldn't even speak from what she'd just been through.
He stared at her for a second before he sighed and held a hand out to her.
"I'll... take you back to town."
She just looked at his awkward attempt at being friendly incredulously, which made him lower his hand pitiously, before it found a new job in opening his menu and displaying his stash of potions to her.
"Would this be enough?" he asked, taking her silence as a refusal of his offer to guide her. "There's also map data to the nearest town, that should help you get back to the nearest town on your own."
He held out a copy of his map data to her and she found her hand taking it.
He began to walk away from her, and attempted to put his sword back into the sheath on his back.
Attempted being the keyword here, because he ended up making a fool out of himself because his sword refused to line up with the sheath.
Giving up on that, he glanced at her and spoke again.
"All right I'll be taking off now."
With that he walked away from her, leaving her to stare at his back.
She slowly looked to where the arrows had come from and spotted an armored figure with a red hood covering their head slowly disappearing down the side of the hill they had once stood on.
Looking down at the field, she saw a single arrow lodged into the earth.
Four days later
Kirito sat on the bleachers of the Amphitheater listening to the other gathered players complain and joke around as they collectively waited for the meeting to start.
It was good that they could still joke around like that, it kept morale up. And that was a scarce thing in this game right now.
Kirito's attention was drawn when a blue haired man dressed like an armored knight stepped into the ring of the Amphitheater, this prompted all of the jokes to cease and silence to reign.
"Ahem... Hello everyone. My name is Diabel, and I am of the Knight class." The man joked as a way to break the ice.
"Heyyyy! There's no class system in this game!" one of the players joked back, which made everyone relax and laugh with him.
Kirito let a smile grace his lips at the display of comradery, a sideways glance towards the cloaked girl that he'd saved earlier that day in a dungeon was nearby and had him notice that she had no reaction to the joke, instead she was staring at another nearby male player.
Kirito examined the other player. He was about Kirito's height, but not much else could be discerned from him. His head and most of his face was covered by a faded red hood. The chest armor he wore wasn't the kind Kirito would typically pay attention to. It was reminiscent of a knight's breastplate. His legs were covered by a typical pair of light-armor pants, and on his feet were iron plated leather boots. (imagine Emiya Assassin from F/GO for the outfits but without the cape.)
Kirito was also drawn to his weapon, a basic Longbow, a weapon that wasn't in the Beta testing for SAO, it was a recent addition. A quiver positioned on his lower back, at the waist, had a sheathe attached to it. Another new feature that wasn't in the Beta, the Side-Arm skill.
The Side-arm skill allows players to equip a secondary weapon as a back up or offhand weapon, it can allow the equipped weapon to be used in combat with a main hand weapon, but only 1 handed curved or short swords, daggers, throwing knives and hatchets were applicable for the Side-arm skill. No longswords, greatswords or spears. Any two handed weapon users couldn't use the side-arm skill, except for the bow it seemed. It also required being both a high enough player level and have a decently high level in the weapon types used as a side-arm.
The red hooded Archer seemed to notice Kirito's stare and turned his hooded face towards him. Kirito could just barely make out tanned skin and amber orbs staring back into his own dark ones.
Kirito, knowing he was caught staring, gave a lighthearted wave, which he was pleasantly surprised to find returned with an equally friendly wave from the Archer.
His attention returned to Diabel as he began to explain what was known about the boss, such information being provided by a certain info broker Kirito knew, and surprisingly from a first hand account from the one who found the boss room.
"Now that we've covered all the bases for this raid. I'd like to thank the one who discovered the boss room, who is actually here with us today." Diabel said before pointing up towards the stands.
Kirito and everyone else looked to where he was pointing only to see... the red hooded teen.
The players muttered amongst themselves as they took in the mysterious player.
The player shook his head and spoke in a polite tone.
"I'm sorry but I can't accept. I was only there helping... a friend find a supposedly rare item in the dungeon. Turned out to be a trick and he got killed by the boss." the archer said to deny any credit.
"That may be true but it's because of your discovery and your friend's sacrifice that we have a chance at clearing this floor and moving up in this place! With this we'll be one step closer to getting free. So please... the least we can do it thank you for all the help you've given us." Diabel said.
The archer rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment but before he could respond another voice falled out.
"Bullshit! Help? What help?! All he did was randomly enter a dungeon and get his friend killed! Hell he probably ran away and left him to die to the boss! As far as I'm concerned he's just as bad as the Beta testers! And don't get me started on them! Where are they? Why aren't they here with us? I'll tell you why, they've abandoned us! As soon as this death game started they left us to fend for ourselves! They took all the best hunting spots and secret quests while leaving us with only the scraps!" The voice belonged to a man Diabel knew as Kibao.
During his speak, Kibao had made his way to stand next to Diabel in the Amphitheater center, all the while his words caused a stir amongst the players.
Kirito glared at the asshole who had intercepted the conversation. Among the 2000 players who had died the Majority of the beta testers were killed trying to level up so they could free the rest of the inexperienced players. But as their numbers dwindled to a handful, the remaining beta testers went to Argo to give her any data they had for a guidebook to give to the other players.
He considered speaking up, but before he'd fully decided the Archer stood and walked down the bleachers towards Kibao.
"W-what? You gonna try something!? I'll kick your ass you pathetic Archer! Who uses bows in a sword game anyways! Cowards who're to afraid of getting their hands dirty that's who!" Kibao tried to seem unintimidated by the teen in the dark armor and red hood.
"I understand that your scared..." the archer said in a calm tone. "But that's no excuse to insult the dead... in case you didn't know... the majority of the Beta testers... they're among those who died. They put their lives on the line to give us the information that was collected for this floor, and it got them killed." The Archer informed.
That gave Kibao pause for thought.
"U-um how do you know that?" Diabel asked unsure, the beta tester tended not to reveal themselves and he was one such tester.
"... a friend of mine is a Beta tester. Not the friend who died... but she's helped me a lot. Without her I probably would have died a while ago due to lack of information." The Archer said.
The few testers who were hidden among the audience understood just who he meant.
Kirito narrowed his eyes as the Archer, he of course knew he was refering to Argo and wondered how Argo and the Archer knew each other. Argo wasn't really one for company after all.
Kibao seemed to find his voice and started to try and pick a fight with the Archer but was unsuccessful as the Archer was very calm and polite.
Kirito decided to take this chance to message Argo about the hooded archer.
《Message to-- Argo: Hey Argo got a guy here who says he's a friend of yours? Red hood, uses a bow?》
He didn't have to wait very long for a reply.
《Message from-- Argo: Hm? Oh you've met Shirou? Yeah he's a friend. I met him on the first day, taught him how to play. How is he? Haven't seen him for about a week.》
Kirito blinked at the message, and looked to where the hooded man was still talking politely with the annoying man who kept trying to unsuccessfully argue and insult the Archer. Diabel kept playing the mediator with an exasperated face.
《Message to-- Argo: He's alright. He's the one who found the boss room, apparently a friend he was with died though.》 Kirito informed.
The next reply was nearly instant.
《Message from-- Argo: Good riddance! That Shinji guy was a pretentious prick. How Shirou could stand being friends with him is beyond me! That asshole kept asking Shirou to do all of the work before swooping in to get the last kill! Ugh! Makes me wish I'd been there to see it. Although I do wonder about Shinji's sister in the starter city... I hope she's alright.》
Kirito winced at that. How bad was that Shinji person that it made Argo wish to have seen them die.
Before he could reply he got another message from Argo.
《Message from-- Argo: Sorry, I can't chat anymore. Got a job. Keep an eye on Shirou for me will you?》
Kirito stared at the message before sending a quick "Roger" as a reply.
Returning his attention to Diabel, Kibao and Shirou, he saw that the argument had ended with Kibao realizing that the archer was just too nice of a guy to continue being an ass to. And at some point during the argument a dark skinned man named Agil stepped up and presented the Player's Guidebook that was made by Argo and other Beta testers.
Kibao and Shirou eventually returned to sit on the bleachers. Shirou returning to his original seat near Kirito and the cloaked girl, and Kibao took a seat next to Agil.
Diabel then asked them to form parties for the raid the next day.
"Uh oh..." Kirito thought with a weary sigh. Interacting with new people wasn't his strong suit. As he thought this he noticed that everyone had already gotten into a party... all except himself, the hooded girl and a certain Archer.
Kirito awkwardly inched closer to the two.
"So uh... looks like the others are all taken." He said to them.
Shirou looked around to see the other had begun to leave for the night and nodded.
"Yeah looks that way..." he replied.
The cloaked girl just continued to stare at them for several seconds.
"Maybe we should form a party? Just for the raid tomorrow I mean." Kirito asked a little nervous at possible refusal.
"Yeah sure, it'll be nice to have someone watching my back. Plus.. as you can see I am primarily a ranged attacker, I have a sword but that's only for when I have no other options." Shirou agreed.
Kirito nodded with a smile before glancing at the cloaked girl.
"... I don't really see a point but.." she turned to Shirou, "I owe you for saving my life, so I'll join you two. For now." she finished holding out a familiar arrow out to Shirou.
"... You saw me?" He asked with no small amount of surprise.
The hill he'd been on had been far enough away that it should have been impossible to discern any individual features.
"I only caught a glimpse of your hood but that and your bow confirmed my suspicions." She said.
Shirou let out a sigh as he knew he had been caught.
"Yes that was me..." He said.
"Why did you help me?" she asked him, most people wouldn't do that, hell even Kirito only helped for her Map data. (read: he did it cause he's a big old softy)
From under his hood Shirou blinked at her in surprise.
"Do I need a reason to help someone?" He asked confused.
Asuna stared in surprise at him before she found herself giggling.
"You're surprisingly Naive." She said.
"Eh?" he tilted his head in confusion.
"Nothing nothing." she waved him off with a smile.
"Well anyways, thank you for bringing my Arrow back, they're really expensive. I have to spend pretty much all my Col from hunting on Arrows everytime I lose one or their durability runs out." Shirou said with exasperation clear in his tone. He took the arrow and placed it back into his quiver.
Kirito winced at that and decided to give him a little tip as a Beta tester.
"There's an NPC on the 4th floor that teaches the Blacksmith skill. I recommend getting it. Then you can just make your own gear and arrows instead of wasting Col on them. Then you can just use Col for things like potions, crystals, and even housing." Kirito informed.
Shirou and the cloaked girl stared at him, and he knew why.
Kiruto gave a sigh and said, "I was a Beta tester... I don't announce it, for obvious reasons. But since we're gonna be watching each other's back in the boss I might as well trust you enough to tell you."
Shirou nodded in understanding, while the girl was just silent but still nodded.
Shirou then pondered his words, he had some experience with forging in the real world. His school had recently added vocational extracurricular activities within the last year, and Shirou had taken smithing on a whim. He found he had a talent for it, just like his skill with a Bow. He might as well try to get the skill when they beat this floor and made it to the 8th.
He knew he's gonna have to wait for Argo before he advanced to the next floor however. She'd roped him into helping her around the more dangerous area for gathering information.
"Thanks for the information. I'll be sure to try and get the skill when we get to that floor." Shirou thanked the beta tester.
"No problem." Kirito said before he had an idea. "Hey what do you say we get something to eat?"
Shirou pondered the idea.
Food on the first floor was rather plain, it mostly consisted of bread, but the creamy butter item made all the difference.
"Yeah sure. And maybe a bath to-" Shirou was cut off by a rapier held at both him and Kirito.
"Bath?! Where?!" Asuna demanded of them.
"Alright! Alright! Let's set some food first!" Kirito said in a placating manner that belied his nervousness.
"Note to self... don't piss her off." Shirou thought as the blade was lowered.
Kirito and Shirou went to get some food, while Asuna vanished into a nearby alleyway where they were making their way to join her. What they'd gotten made Shirou frown. As a cook he was disappointed in how lackluster the bread really was, sure the cream more than made up for it but it still annoyed him to no end.
"Hey Kirito." He began.
"Yeah what is it?" Kirito said with a mouth full of cream bread.
"Is there a cooking skill in this game?" He asked his question.
Kirito had to think about it for a second.
"Mmm... you know what... I think there is. I think it's also on the 4th floor. That floor has a lot of non-combat skills that players can get." Kirito said after swallowing his bread.
Shirou nodded.
"Good to know. Definitely adding Cooking to my list of skills to obtain." He mused.
Kirito rose a brow at him.
"I take it you like to cook?"
Shirou looked up and nodded.
"Yeah. It's something I picked up when I was younger. My adopted parents can't cook to save their lives, but Iri's sisters can... even if one is too lazy. I find it relaxing after a long day." Shirou explained.
"Adopted huh..." Kirito muttered, thinking back to his own family, he wasn't technically adopted, he lived with his aunt and cousin. He was raised alongside her as a brother. He'd only found out about his parents abandonment of him when he secretly took a DNA test and found that his mother was actually his aunt.
"Hm? Yeah I'm adopted. I was in a big fire when I was younger. I was apparently the only survivor besides my family, so they took me in." Shirou said with a shrug.
Kirito's thoughts derailed at how his party member had become an orphan.
"Damn... that's horrible." Kirito said in a sympathetic tone
Shirou just shrugged.
"I don't really remember my old family, we did do a DNA test a couple of years ago for any living relatives I could meet, but..." Shirou hesitated to finish the sentence.
"Hm? What happened?" Kirito asked. He was curious now.
"Well the test said that, while I have no living relatives, I am apparently descended from Senji Muramasa." Shirou said with trepidation.
Kirito's eyes widened at that.
"Dude that's sick!" Kirito said with excitement.
Shirou blinked at the other teen before a rare smile graced his lips.
Shirou thanked him.
"Dude, now you have to get the blacksmithing skill, it's like... the only connection to any blood family you had! You could seriously open a shop! I have a friend who plans to create a guild of samurai based players. You could be their personal blacksmith! I'll introduce you!" Kirito promised.
Shirou blinked at that but couldn't deny that it was a good idea, and it would be good for Skill Exp.
"I'll... look forward to it. Just wait till I actually have the skill first okay?" Shirou said with a wry smile.
Kirito nodded at that, before returning to his bread.
Shirou let his thoughts drift to what Kirito had said. About the blacksmithing's connection to his biological family. He had thought the same thing at one point. It was one of the reasons why he never quit blacksmithing in the real world like he had with Archery.
He had a talent for both of the skills Irl, but for Archery he found that no matter what, who would never miss, and that meant there was no more room for improvement.
But Blacksmithing was different, something about it set his blood ablaze with excitement. With Blacksmithing there was always room for improvement, no matter how perfect a forged piece may seem, it could always be better. Shirou knew this fact not just from experience, but also through instinct, every fiber of his being told him "It could always be better. Try again!"
"Ahem..." a certain cloaked girl coughed to get their attention.
"mmt?" Kirito hummed as he paused in his eating to look at her.
"Oh there you are." Shirou greeted
"Here you go." Kirito said as he chucked a loaf of bread to the girl, who caught it easily.
She thanked him and bit into the thing making a slight sound of disgust at the bland taste.
"Bland I know... try some cream. It's not much but it helps get some flavor into it." Kirito said, handing her the vial of cream he had used earlier.
She did as advised, before she took another bite and paused. Then she took another, and another and another, until the bread was soon gone entirely.
She look at her now empty hands despairingly, wishing she had more.
Kirito couldn't help but laugh at her, especially because she had a bit of cream on her nose. That prompted a glare from the hooded girl, who's face the two males of the group still hadn't seen more than half of.
Kirito apologized lightheartedly and pointed at his nose to signal her current situation with the cream.
She flushed and hastily wiped off her nose.
"Thanks for the cream." She muttered, rather cutely in Kirito's professional opinion.
"You're welcome." He began with a grin. "It's the reward for a quest called 'The Heifer Strikes Back' from one village behind this one." He informed them, "If you want to do it, I can tell you what the trick to it is." He offered.
Shirou was about to accept but was prevented when Asuna spoke up.
"I didn't come to this town to eat good food."
Shirou and Kirito exchanged curious glances before the latter asked his question.
"Then why did you?"
"I don't want to lock myself in an Inn and just wait to rot away..." She muttered.
Shirou and Kirito listened intently to her words.
"I'd rather stay my until my last moments. Even if I'm defeated by a monster. I don't want to lose to this game... to this world. No matter what." Asuna finished.
Kirito stood and walked to stand before them both.
"I wouldn't want a party member dying on me. So at the very least don't die tomorrow." he said to her specifically.
Shirou nodded in agreement.
"I'll make sure none of you die. You can count on me for that much." Shirou said with conviction.
Kirito nodded and spoke up to them again.
"We need to discuss our battle plans for tomorrow's boss raid. Do you guys have a minute for that?"
"Sure." Shirou agreed.
"Where would we do that?" She asked.
"A nearby bar or an inn maybe?" He thought aloud with a hand holding his chin.
"I don't want people to see us and get the wrong idea!" She said dubiously.
Kirito got an idea at that.
"There are other places for renting! Like the place I rent is the second floor of an NPC farmhouse! It's got two rooms and all the milk you can drink." He said with a grin, eues closed as he spoke.
Shirou and Asuna blinked at him comically.
"The bed's huge and the view is awesome! And to top it off... there a bath!" Kirito finished his rant with his hands up in the air in front of him, only to find Asuna's grasp on his collar.
"That's where the bath is?! Take me there... please... I need... a bath." Asuna said, strongly at first before it faded into a meek mutter.
"Uh... sure?" Kirito agreed.
Silence reigned for a few seconds before...
"Pfft-" Shirou couldn't suppress his laughter anymore.
"What's so funny?!" Both Kirito and Asuna shouted at him.
"Nothing nothing." Shirou said wistfully.
Practically as soon as they arrived at Kirito's place, Asuna had been led by Kirito to where the bathing room was. And judging by her gasp of amazement... it was a good one.
Shirou and Kirito agreed to share one room. Kirito had offered the bed but Shirou declined in favor of a bedroll from his inventory.
They had also informed him that they would be going to the nearby NPC blacksmith to upgrade some things. Shirou was offered to join but all of his gear was at the enhancement limit so he decided to stay and hold down the fort.
So currently while the other two were busy Shirou set up his sleeping quarters and began to remove his armor and hood, which he replaced with nore casual equipment.
A simple pair of black pants with a white shirt that had blue sleeves on it. An exact replica of his normal shirts from the real world. Was Shirou thankful for Argo for recommending him to that tailor NPC? Yes, yes he was.
"Alright then I better take a bath too while they're out." Shirou said before he left the room for the bathroom.
Upon entering her found himself face to face with his reflection. He couldn't help but take in the mess red hair that seemed to have gotten longer in the last for weeks. He couldn't help be think it suited him more than the short way that his adopted family's made had always cut it down to.
He then turned his attention to his eyes. Golden pools that held ignored trauma known only to himself. Those eyes forever served as a reminder of the horrible fire he had lived through less than 6 years ago.
Shaking himself from the memories that flashed through his brain, he stripped himself of his clothing and proceeded to take a much deserved bath.
Several minutes later he emerged from the bathroom, using a towel to dry his hair, and made his way back to his shared room.
Upon opening the door he was greeted by the sight of Kirito and Asuna, still clad in her hooded cloak, having a conversation about the coming boss raid.
They both turned to see him when he entered and both blinked when they saw his full appearance. It wasn't what they expected.
"Yo," He greeted them casually with a raised hand, "how's everything going. We have everything planned out?" He asked them as he sat down on a nearby wooden chair, facing them.
Kirito and Asuna shook off their shock at his appearance and began to inform him about the plan.
Shirou nodded and spoke.
"Alright let me see if I have this right," He started, " you two will be the main attack force when it comes to facing monsters up close, while my role is to engage them at a distance using my bow. I'm to keep any enemies from getting behind you two. Sound about right?" He surmised.
Asuna nodded while Kirito gave him a thumbs up.
"Sounds simple enough. Plus if you two need an extra attacker with you, I can always join you with my sword." Shirou said with a nod.
"I was thinking the same thing. We'll have you on stand by in case things go south and we need the extra attack power." Kirito agreed.
Shirou nodded in acknowledgment.
Asuna was about to speak up but found herself expelling a yawn instead of the words she wanted to say.
Kirito chuckled.
"Let's try to get some sleep, we have to be up in a few hours for the raid." He told them.
They both gave sounds of agreement.
Sleep sounded good to Asuna, she hadn't bothered to sleep in nearly 5 days not since Mito had...
She paused her line of thought and shook it out of her mind.
"Please excuse me. I will be going now. See you both in the morning." Asuna quietly excused herself and left the room.
The pair blinked at that and looked at each other.
"Did she seem... a bit off just now?" Shirou asked.
Kirito just shrugged, he didn't know either.
"Hmm... Let's just got to sleep then?" Shirou suggested, he was sure it could wait until after the raid tomorrow.
"Right." Kirito agreed with a nod.
That said Shirou settled into his bedroll and soon found himself drifting off, Kirito followed soon after.
Real world.
Kiritsugu Emiya was a man of focus, a man of will, a man of great skill. But more than that he was a father of two. When he'd heard from Sella and Liz that his eldest child, Shirou had logged into the infamous death game known as Sword Art Online upon its launch, he didn't hesitate to end the mission he was on as fast as possible and return to Japan.
That had been a month ago and Shirou was still in that game. He'd tried to use his limited knowledge of Magecraft to see what he could do, but nothing ever came of it. His precious Iri had tried to use her more extensive powers to try anything they could think of. But it was of no use.
Eventually Kiritsugu decided to call in a favor of one of his contacts in the clocktower, he called on the Wizard Marshall, Kischurr Zelretch Schweinorg.
As he waited outside of the room, that the Emiya family had rearranged into medical facility for their unconscious son, he found himself pacing in worry for his adopted son.
Had his enemies seen him like this they'd have been shocked at the sight of their most hated villain worrying about like the concerned father he actually was.
Irisviel watched on with her own concern, not just for the boy she called her son, but for hwr husband. She'd never seen him distressed like this before. It had been an entire month and with no sign of Shirou's awakening his normally cold facade had cracked and he now displayed more human emotion than she'd seen in a long time.
Then there was their daughter Illya... the girl had been hit by her big brother's death game induced coma the hardest, being only six years of age.
Her illness had been cured on the same day as the launch and the pair were going to play together but then the game became a living hell. Irisviel was thankful that her little Illya wasn't in there with him. Shirou was a strong boy, he could take care of himself. It wasn't the first death game he'd survived after all, even if the first one had been him as collateral damage.
Irisviel watched on as her husband continued his pacing, how she yearned to speak up and sooth him... but she had no words to say.
Soon enough the door opened and Kiritsugu stopped his pacing as Zelretch stepped out.
"How is he?" He asked the older man.
Zelretch let out a sigh and spoke.
"There's nothing that I can do. This is... beyond even me I'm afraid."
Kiritsugu felt anger at the man's words.
"So what? We just leave him in there to die!?" He shouted at the man, his hand lashed out and ceased his collar.
Zelretch remained calm and spoke again.
"There is no real need to worry Kiritsugu." He said.
"No need to worry?! My son is trapped in a death game?!" The mage killer growled at the vampire.
Zelretch sighed in annoyance before, quicker than his elderly appearance should allow, he grabbed the Assassin's head.
"Why don't you take a look at what kind of person your son is, or rather... could be." He hissed at the man.
Kiritsugu's brain was assaulted by images of his son, no not his son but of another version of himself's son. The various versions of the 5th grail war. The unique magecraft that Shirou created, one that could recreate Noble Phantasms!
He saw the man his son had the potential to become. And soon found himself staring at the redclad back of the Archer class servant, and counter guardian, EMIYA.
"Shirou..." Kiritsugu's voice was off when he said the boy's name, it was echoed and distant.
The redclad man turned his white haired head to glance over his shoulder.
And just as Kiritsugu found himself returning to his own mind he saw a single tired Steel colored eye peering into his own black orbs.
Kiritsugu gasped as he was released by Zelretch.
"What... did you just do?" Kiritsugu asked.
"Oh nothing special just showed you the potential your son could have." Zelretch said nonchalantly.
"... I... he... Will he be able to survive?" Kiritsugu asked defeated.
Zelretch nodded.
"I can say he definitely will. Buuut... if you want to give him a winning edge I might have an idea that could help him." Zelretch said with a sly grin.
Kiritsugu did know if he should be worried or not.
The next morning came and the trio of solo players found themselves walking behind the larger group of players, all of whom were laughing and chatting over what they would do once they cleared the boss room.
The trio however went over their strategy one more time. Kirito's "deflect and switch" tactics would be the forefront of their plans with Shirou guarding their rear with his arrows, switching to his sword only when necessary.
Upon their arrival to the Boss room, Diabel gave a quick speech that Shirou wasn't really paying attention to. He was more focused on his status screen.
He didn't know why but he couldn't access his skill settings, whenever he tried to access it he saw that it would only display a loading icon.
Kirito noticed his troubled look and asked him a question.
"Is it still not working?"
Shirou closed his menu with a sigh and shook his head.
"No. It just keeps loading. Are you guys not having the same issue?" Shirou asked them.
Both checked their menus and saw everything was in working order.
"No mine's working fine." Asuna informed.
"Same here." Kirito added.
"Maybe it's just me..." Shirou wondered aloud.
"Kirito do you have any idea on what could cause this to happen?" He asked the other boy.
Kirito gave it some thought.
"Mmm well I've heard in the beta that some players randomly got unique skillsets that are custom generated by the system for their playstyle. But that was rate and from what I heard it only happened when certain conditions were met." Kirito explained.
"Conditions?" Asuna asked, intrigued.
"Yeah. The conditions were something along the lines of mastering your weapon's skills or finding a specific item that could later become a unique skill." He told them.
Shirou gave it some thought.
"Mastering my weapon's skills..." Shirou muttered.
"Hm? Did you think of something?" Kirito asked.
"Uh w-well you see the thing is... in the real world I was pretty good at Archery... I was even in a few national tournaments..." Shirou told them with some hesitation.
That got their attention quickly, both of them just now realizing just who they were teaming up with!
"No way! Your that famous kyuudo guy?! The one who quit after winning his 6th tournament in two years?!" Surprisingly it was Asuna who said this.
Shirou scratched his head sheepishly and laughed in a nervous manner.
"Yeah I uh... just didn't have anything left to learn so I quit." Shirou said awkwardly.
Kirito understood his meaning.
"Well that might explain it if you're developing a unique skill for the bow. There's no one in this game who could compete with someone like you when it comes to using a bow, everyone pretty much uses sword or other bladed weapons, myself included." Kirito deduced.
"I see... what do you think I should do if it is a unique skill?" Shirou asked them.
"Well... if it does turned out to be a unique skill I for one would definitely be jealous. And if i were to get jealous... then you know the others will too. I'd keep it hidden for as long as possible if I were you." Kirito recommends.
Shirou nodded in agreement, as did Asuna who didn't look like she understood the conversation entirely.
Once their conversation was over and the raid group had finished their preparations, Diabel called for everyone to ready themselves at the gate to the bossroom.
Without a word they opened the room and everyone rushed in, Shirou making sure to fall behind for a better scope of the field.
The room was dark, but soon enough the room became lit in a spectacular rang of pearlescent colors, it was almost beautiful to the raid members. But they weren't here for the scenery.
Their target, the Kobold lord, sat on its throne and watched them with malicious glee.
It rose from the throne and leapt to the ground, an axe and shield in its grasp and a wrapped object slung on its lower back.
The players gulped at the sight of it but steeled their resolve. Just in time for several blue orbs to appear and spawn into armored kobold sentinels, the lord's personal guard.
Diabel knew that now was the time.
"All teams... Commence the Attack!" he shouted as he pointed his raised sword at the monster that kept them jailed to the first floor.
They all gave a warcry of determination and charged at them, leaving Kirito, Asuna, Shirou and one other party that featured a certain scythe wielding girl, to deal with the surrounding Kobolds.
Kirito launched himself into action, Asuna close behind, his sword struck against a Kobold's and it found its arm deflected upwards.
"Switch!" Kirito called out, and found Asuna practically flying past him, her sword glowing purple as it pierced the chest of the monster. Her sword skill blew a hole clean through its torso, before it shattered into polygons.
"Switch!" Asuna shouted back to Kirito, whobwas already on the move towards the next enemy. They repeated their strategy several times before the kobolds got smarter and attempted to sneak behind Kirito after he had switched with Asuna.
Kirito turned just in time to see the approaching sword of the Kobold, only to see an arrow impact the blade, knocking it to the side, before another Arrow removed the Kobold's head in its entirety.
The black haired swordsman shot a thankful look to his teammate, and received the briefest of nods in return before the Archer sent another volley of Arrows at some nearby Kobolds.
"Switch!"
There was no time to stand around gawking, he had a job to do.
Kirito sped back into the fray, carving his sword through one foolish kobold that didn't even have time to raise its sword to defend itself.
While Asuna and Kirito tore through the Kobolds, Shirou took the time to scan over the battle field, more specifically the boss battle taking place mere meters away from them.
Diabel and his many raid parties had surrounded the beast and were slowly whittling it down to it last health bar.
As he watched, Shirou's eyes never left the wrapped weapon on the Kobold Lord's waist. Something about it was... wrong to Shirou's eyes. Argo's information in the guidebook said the object was a Talwar, a saber originating from India, but for some reason Shirou's instincts screamed at him. Telling him that whatever that thing had, it wasn't a Talwar.
He was proven correct as Diabel ordered his team to fall back slightly so he could take on the boss alone and get the final hit bonus. The Kobold lord released a roar that made even it's minions pause to watch it. It then threw it's hatchet and buckler to the side, where they impaled themselves on a nearby pillar.
Time slowed for both Kirito and Shirou as they witnessed the Kobold lord removed the wrapped weapon from his back, revealing a familiar style of weapon. Their eyes widen in horror, for two different reasons.
"Diabel stop! That's not a Talwar! It's an Odachi!" Shirou shouted at the man, but his voice was overwhelmed by Kirito's own shout .
"Everyone run away from it! Or you'll be hit by an AOE!!!" Kirito's warning came to late however as the beast launched itself up with a maniacal roar and slammed the blade of its Odachi into the floor. A shockwave rippled outwards, encompassing Diabel and his raid party, all of which found themselves with the paralysis debuff.
The kobold lord slowly stalked towards Diabel, who is had deduced, in a horrifying amount of intelligence for a program, that the blue haired man was the Leader. If he fell... then so would the others.
Kirito, Asuna, Shirou and Mito were the only raid members who weren't frozen in place but the two females of the group had their hands full dealing with Kobolds. Kirito's position was too far away to do anything worthwhile, and Shirou had just ran out of his last arrow, they all lay scattered around the battle field. So they could only watch on at the beast raised it's Odachi, which began to burn with a crimson flame like aura.
The beast swung its blade down at diabel and it cut right through his torso, not killing him instantly but it took off massive chunk of his HP.
It was then time froze once more for Shirou, his system menu appeared of it's own volition. The words 《System Update Complete: Unique Skillset Unlocked: Blade Arrow. Activate? (O) (X)》 displayed themselves in front of his eyes.
"Blade... Arrow?" he muttered as he clicked on it. His eyes widen a fraction before they harden. This could save Diabel if he was fast enough.
Quick as Lightning he equiped the Skillset and reached behind him. Not for a nonexistent arrow, but for the shortsword at his back.
Taking a kneeling stance, he then knotched the sword into his bow and pulled back the string. A pale blue glow spiraled away from the sword used as an arrow, forming a drill.
A screeching sound filled the room, forcing the Kirito's attention to shift to him and his eyes went wide.
"No way..." he muttered, just as Shirou released his "arrow".
It shot forwards with a blast of wind, sending smaller Kobolds flying into pillars and shattering. The "arrow" continued it's flight towards the unaware Kobold Lord, who had attacked a total of twice more on Diabel's avatar body, before it found half of it's Odachi broken in half by the blue beam that was the Sword turned Arrow. The broken piece of blade flew a distance away, clattering to the ground.
It released a growl and swatted the blue hair knight away and turned to face the one who shot the arrow.
There he knelt in his armor, bow facing the kobold lord, his hood had been blasted off, revealing messy locks of red hair and a pair of hard amber eyes that held traces of a steel edge to their gaze.
The Kobold growled at him and made to charge him for breaking its favored sword. Only for Kirito, who had rushed to check on Diabel but it had been too late for him, to stand before it, the cloaked one with the rapier joining him.
It growled at them menacingly, leveling it's slightly shorter Odachi at them in the process.
Kirito barely registered the action, his free hand clenched and his grip on his sword tightened as he recalled the final words of Diabel.
"Please... save... them."
Even on his deathbed, Diabel was more focused on getting them out alive...
Kirito tensed his body in preparation to move.
...He would grant their leader's final wish. Even if it meant revealing his nature as a Beta tester.
Kirito exploded into movement, closing the distance between himself and the boss' blade in an instant.
The kobold lord reflexively slashed with his weapon, only for Kirito to bring his blade up and deflect the weapon.
He didn't even need to speak his usual switch command, as Asuna flashed past him with her linear skill and took a chunk out of its leg as she slid to a spinning halt behind the monster. Her weapon prepared for another strike.
It was then that Kirito noticed that Asuna had removed her cloak to reveal long chestnut colored hair with her bangs tied back in a braid.
"You're-!" Kirito recognized her now. She was the girl he had saved from being eaten by the Giant Anthrosaur!
His shock caused him to get distracted and nearly found a broken blade at his neck.
Yet just before it could cut him clean through, a short curved blade wrapped in bandages was used to deflect the weapon.
Kirito looked to the one who held the blade and saw it was Shirou, having picked up the broken off piece of Odachi and closed the distance to save Kirito's skin.
"Thanks..." Kirito muttered to his... friend?
"No problem." Shirou said curtly, his attention focused on something on the beast's body.
Kirito looked and saw it was the sword Shirou had used as an arrow. It had somehow lodged itself into the collarbone of the Kobold lord.
Shirou dismissed the broken blade to his inventory, leaving him with only his Bow.
"I need to get to my sword... can you help with that?" Shirou asked.
Kirito didn't know what Shirou was planning but he nodded nonetheless.
"Alright. Then let's go. Same strategy, deflect and switch. While you and Asuna do that I'll grab my sword." Shirou told them.
Asuna blinked at the usage of her name, which she never gave the pair, but agreed with a nod.
"Right then... Go!" Kirito shouted as he and Shirou rushed the Boss.
The Kobold lord growled at them and swiped woth it's blade, but a quick sword skill from Kirito caused the weapon to grind against glowing blue steel. Meanwhile Shirou flew past the blade lock between them and kept running to get behind the monster, just ask Kirito shouted.
"Switch!"
Asuna soared at the bosses exposed rear knee and a quick series of thrusts forced the monster to one knee, giving Shirou the opportunity he needed.
He leapt onto the Lord's back and wrenched his blade free, a quick check of its durability show him that his newly acquired unique skill had reduced the once full durability by exactly half. It wouldn't survive a second shot.
Shirou didn't care about that however. He could always get another sword, what was important was getting those who remained out of this place alive!
In a surprising display of agility, Shirou back flipped off the boss' shoulders and knocked the blade into the bow one final time. It glowed with the same pale blue spiral and upon release it drilled into the back of the monster Taking off it's left arm, which did not hold the Odachi unfortunately.
The sword arrow shattered into polygons, its job finished.
Shirou landed on the ground and practically collapsed from the strain the new skills put on him. Just as the beast stood up and slashed
Kirito and Asuna, joined by Mito for reasons Shirou had no knowledge of, were already on the move.
Kirito deflected the blade and fell behind slightly, Asuna thrust her Rapier at the offending limb, which staggered the beast enough for Mito to swipe her Scythe at the Kobold Lord's legs.
"Now Blackie!" Mito shouted at Kirito who gave a savage grin, his back mounted sword glowed emerald green, and he exploded into movement.
As the future black swordsman appeared before the monster, he buried the green glowing blade in the beast's body and kept running, an almost animalistic roar of his own escaped his lips, his eyes seemed to change to an acidic golden shape. The blade left a green streak as it tore through the digital body of the Kobold Lord.
It could only left out a pitiful roar of pain as it was completely bisected by the beta tester and shattered into polygons, along with the remaining Kobolds that had been engaged by the other players, much to their confusion.
That confusion last about two seconds in total. Then their systems produced a box that told them that they had indivually leveled up.
"We... We did it!!!" One man shouted in pure joy, before the rest joined him in cries of celebration.
The boss room's lit state diminished into darkness, leaving Asuna to stare at the happy group of players with amazed eyes.
She found it amazing that they could laugh and be happy despite everything this world had done to them.
"Good work." Kirito said to her as he and Shirou approached. Mito stood a good distance away from them.
"I agree," Agil, the brown skinned player from the meeting said as he approached them, "You all put up a splendid fight, Congratulations." He praised, in English at the last word.
"That was a sight to see."
Shirou scratched the back of his head, with a smile on his face, while Kirito and Asuna exchanged relieved glances.
Mito tried to push through the growing crowd so she could speak with Asuna but the instant after she called for her, she was interrupted by a shout.
"Why?!"
Everyone stopped and turned to facr the source of the shout.
It was Kibao and his party. They were in tears.
"Why... Why did you let Diabel die?" He accused.
Kirito gasped quietly at the accusation.
"Let him die?" he was confused by that.
"Of course you did! You knew what technique the boss would use! If you'd given us that information up front, then Diabel wouldn't have died!" Kibao shouted at them.
Kirito couldn't reply fast enough and soon enough conspiratorial whispers resound through the crowd, all egreeing with Kibao's words.
Then soon enough one louder voice cried out.
"That's it! He must be a Beta Tester! That's how he knew all about the bosses attack patterns. That woman must be one too! And that red haired Archer who used that weird bow skill too ! They knew all the good quests and hunting grounds, but they've been keeping them from us and duping us!"
A scraggly pale haired man with small patches of facial hair practically screamed at them while pointing. The other's watched on some tensing at the accusations in preparation for a fight to break out, Kibao and Agil specifically.
No one tried to interrupt the man as he continued.
"That Guidebook too! That information broker Argo, just sold us a pick of lies! She's a beta tester too! So there's no way she's tell us the truth for free!" He practically bitched at them.
Asuna glanced to her left and saw a scared looking Mito backing away from the crowd.
"There's gotta be more here right!? Come out Beta Testers! Show yourselves!"
Mito tensed in fear that that, praying to not be discovered as she glanced at Asuna who was looking back, before she looked away. Mito felt her guilt over her action creep up again and she looked down in shame.
Kirito, after gazing at the sceptic faces of the players around the room, knew what he needed to do. So he took a small breath and began to laugh.
This drew everyone's attention to him.
His hair hun over his face, obscuring his eyes, a sardonic smirk adorned his lips as he spoke.
"A beta tester, did you say?"
Everyone let out sounds of confusion as they listened to him speak.
"I wish you wouldn't lump me in with those newbies." He said as he began to walk forward.
"Don't get the wrong idea," He began as he passed Asuna and Shirou, "Those two there were following my orders. The girl's an Amateur and the Archer just happened to be so familiar with his weapon in the real world that he was granted a Unique skill by the system. Truth be told it was all luck on their part." He finished as he passed between the split group of stunned players.
"Most of the thousand people who won the beta test slots were newbies who didn't even know how to level up."
The players all got a look at the cold smile on his face as he passed.
"Even you guys are better than them." He said dropping a bit of knowledge on them.
"W-what did you say?" Kibao asked in shock at his words.
Kirito came to a stop at the question.
"But I'm not like those guys. During the beta test, I made it to higher levels than anyone else was able to reach. The reason I knew the skill the boss used was because I've fought tons of monster that used those skill on floor far above this one." Kirito before he lowered his head a bit to allow his eyes to be seen.
The look in them was cocky, arrogant. It was all an act though.
"I know plenty of other things too. Info brokers have nothing on me!" He boasted as he bore into Kibao with his eyes.
"W-what's that about?" You're- You're way worse than a beta tester!" Kibao began, before pointing a finger at the younger boy.
"That's cheating! You're a cheater, that's what you are!" Kibao shouted at him.
He was joined by others in his accusations of being not only a beta tester but also as a cheater. Soon enough the titles became one, Beater.
The others soon spat curses at Kirito using the title of Beater as a slur against him.
Asuna seemed to realized what Kirito's plan was and made to move, but Shirou put an armored hand on her shoulder to stop her.
She looked at him pleadingly and he shook his head, he was biting his lip however.
Their attention was brought back when Kirito responded to the curses.
"A beater? That's a good name." He said with confidence as he turned around and motioned for his menu.
"That's right. I'm a beater. From now on don't confuse me with those lame ex-testers." As he finished his words a black trenchcoat appeared on his body, silencing them all.
He looked around for a second before he spoke again, moving back towards his party's position.
"I'm going to activate the Teleport gate to floor 2 for you. To get to the main square from the exit above, you'll have to cross the field some, so if you follow me, be ready to be killed by a mob you've never seen before."
He strode past Agil and Mito confidently, soon he came to where Asuna and Shirou waited. As he passed them his cold mask broke for an instant and he shot an apologetic glance at the pair.
Shirou returned it with his own, while Asuna came to a realization over what it was she wanted.
The pair watched him leave, while the other players made their way back out the entrance. Asuna's hand drifted to the Wind Ferret Rapier that Mito had given her during the battle.
"Asuna..." Mito said as she approached the girl.
"Mito?" Asuna asked.
"Um..." Mito couldn't continue as her gaze fell.
Asuna smiled at her and just shook her head.
"I'm going after him." She said softly.
"Huh?" Mito looked up surprised.
"I've found it. How I'm going to live in this world. It's wherever he goes. So I'm going to move forward." Asuna said as she watched Kirito's back.
Mito couldn't help the smile that came to her face.
No words were spoken for several seconds before Asuna's broke the silence.
"I'll see you guys later." Asuna said before she ran after Kirito, leaving Shirou an Mito behind.
"Goodbye, Asuna." Mito said with clenched fists.
"This won't be the last time you two meet you know." Shirou said as he turned to her.
"I know... But will I be able to show my face around her again after everything I've done?" She asked, more to herself than anything.
"Of course you can. I don't know what happened between you two but... I'm sure that everything will work out how it should be. You're friends after all. And sometimes things happen between friends that can strain a relationship... but in the end, if you're truly friends then will all work out." Shirou said.
Mito looked at him with wide eyes before,
"Pff- You're surprisingly naive." She stifled a laugh at him.
Shirou gave her a smile.
"Asuna said the same thing." He told her.
That made her pause and look at him. Before her own smile crept onto her face, as she then looked at the fading back of her best friend Asuna.
Maybe there was some truth to the Archer's words afterall.
"Right... I better get going too." Mito said before she turned away and left the room.
Shirou found himself standing alone in the dark room, well that's not entirely true.
"You're here too aren't you Agro?" Shirou said to seemingly nothing in the room.
"Nyahaha! Looks like you saw me eh Shi-boy?" A catty voice called from behind a pillar.
The owner stepped out into the open, revealing itself to be a short brown haired girl with painted red whiskers on her cheeks, and brown a hooded cloak.
"Why're you here Agro? I thought you didn't plan to join us." Shirou asked, curious.
"Ah, well I figured I might stop by and watch the battle. I must say that new skillset of yours is pretty cool Shi-boy. Who would think of using a sword as an arrow. You were like a Super Sentai character! Nyaha! Makes me laugh just thinking about it." Argo teased him
Shirou didn't have a reply, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed by her words. This girl always knew the best ways to tease him without even trying.
He let out an exasperated sigh.
"Why do you always feel the need to tease me..." he asked in a mournful tone.
"You make it so easy! Nyahahaha!" Agro cackled a bit as she watched him sag in place.
"Anyways down to business." Agro said. That made Shirou stiffen slightly.
"What's up? Did something happen?" Shirou asked her with concern.
"No nothing serious. But I looked into those players you said you had a run in with. The PKers. Looks like they're forming a guild, or something similar to one. Guilds aren't unlocked until floor 10 or so. So they're basically a pseudo guild for the time being. That scraggly guy who accused Kii-boy of being a beta tester was one of the members." Argo told him.
Shirou nodded grimly at the news that players were killing each other.
"What now then?" he asked her.
"Mmm for now I would rather you go with Ki-boy and Achan, I plan to head around floor two and start up the next guidebook. After seeing how this boss had changed... I suspect that other floors will have changed as well." Argo said with some annoyance at the end there. She was an Info Broker and the fact she just gave out inaccurate inform left a bad taste in her mouth.
Shirou looked ready to protest her idea of going out on her own.
"Now don't look at me like that. You know I can handle myself. Besides if you stick with them you'll be able to get those skill you were all talking about the other day. I don't plan to stick around on the 4th floor for long. Everything there isn't really that dangerous. It's a floor that primarily funtioned as a second tutorial floor for crafting skills. The real danger is in the Labyrinth." She explained.
Shirou, with a look of defeat, nodded.
"You better get going then. Oh and once you get to the teleporter, head back to the town of beginnings. I'm sure Sa-chan is worried sick about you." Agro said with a teasing tone at the end.
Shirou tensed at the reminded of his deceased friend's sister that was in the beginning town on floor one.
The pair went up the steps after the other two players, towards the second floor.
Upon arrival they saw Kirito and Asuna deep in conversation as they looked over the new landscape before them.
Agro decided to stay hidden for the time being, while Shirou was practically kicked out of the doorway by the aforementioned girl. He stumbled slightly before he caught himself and shot the girl an exasperated glare, before walking up to the pair.
"Mind if I tag along with you for a while?" He asked as he got closer.
The pair looked up at his words and found themselves smiling at him.
"Sure!" Asuna said with a smile.
"I don't mind. I did say I'd show you where to get those skill I mentioned on the 4th floor. Can you hang out till then?" Kirito asked.
"Sounds fine with me." Shirou said with a smile.
"Oh that reminds me!" Kirito said before he swiped his hand down to open the menu and opened his inventory.
Shirou and Asuna tilted their heads as he searched, curious over what he was looking for.
"Aha! There it is!" Kirito said, pressing an Icon.
A familiar broken blade appeared in his grasp, much shorter than it had been when the boss had been wielding it.
"Here you go." Kirito said, holding it out to the Archer.
"For me?" He asked surprised.
"Yeah! You lost your sword in that battle because of that crazy OP skill of yours. You should have this one. You have the other piece to go with it anyways, it wouldn't be right to separate them more than they are already." Kirito said.
Shirou hesitated for a second before he gingerly took the broken blade from him and tapped it with a finger.
The item's information popped up and he read it.
《Illfang's Broken Odachi II: This Blade, once one is now two. Only when wielded together does their true strength reveal itself. Ingrained Sword Skills: Rampage Counter, Rampage Counter II (usable only with the matching broken blade/side-arm skill.) SS Mastery: Lvl 0/15. (master these skills to own them permanently.)》
Shirou's eyes widen at the information before he opened his own menu and pulled out the matching blade and read its information, it was the same, however there was clear difference between them.
《Illfang's Broken Odachi I: This Blade, once one is now two. Only when wielded together does their true strength reveal itself. Ingrained Sword Skills: Rampage Counter, Bandage Spike, Rampage Counter II (usable only with the matching broken blade/side-arm skill.) SS Mastery: Lvl 0/15. (master these skills to own them permanently.)》
"This is..." Shirou couldn't believe what he was reading, he looked between the two descriptions.
It was now Kirito's turn to be curious, and like Kirito does, he looked over Shirou's shoulder at the pair of descriptions.
"Dude... can I trade you my own sword for those...?" Kirito asked, mostly joking.
Kirito flinched at Shirou gave him the most heartwrenching pair of puppy eyes that he had ever seen from a boy his own age.
Even Asuna was effected it seemed.
"Alright Alright! I was kidding! But uh... Could I borrow them once you've mastered the skills?" He asked.
Shirou had no qualms about that and nodded.
"Sweet!" Kirito pumped his fist in excitement.
"Ahem..." Asuna interrupted his cheer with a cough to get their attention.
"Mmt?" Kirito let out a sound as he looked at her, Shirou also faced her.
"Don't you think we should get going? The sun is setting after all." Asuna said.
Kirito nodded in agreement at her mention of the sun's position. The stronger monsters came out at night, and they weren't equipped to deal with those at the moment.
"Alright then. Off we go." Shirou said as he and the other two set off on their way.
Meanwhile in the doorway, Argo watched with a smile as they left.
"So those three are the top player right now... who'd have thought that kid with a bow I ran into on the first day would get a unique skill right off the bat?" Argo said with a nostalgic smile. That said she set out on her own journey gather information on the various monsters, quests and hunting grounds of the second floor.
Real world
The Emiya family sat in their livingroom, watching footage of the world of Aincrad, courtesy of Zelretch's surprising technological skills.
They had witnessed the boss battle for the first floor, and more importantly, witnessed the gift that Zelretch had given their son/brother. Illya was ecstatic at her big brother's new skills. She had been cheering for him the whole time.
She'd only gone silent when Agro had appeared. Kiritsugu had sweatdropped at her cute but hard stare at the girl next to Shirou.
Why was his daughter such a bro-con? That he didn't understand at all.
Liz and Sella had mixed reactions to everything they'd witnessed. Liz pouted but was happy in her own way. While Sella just looked away in her typical tsundere manner.
And as for Irisviel...
"Woooo! Go Shirou! Get me them grandbabies!" Said woman was currently doing a cheerleader's routine with pompoms she got from... somewhere. Kiritsugu knew better than to question Iri's chaos.
"Iri... He's only 14." Kiritsugu said with a sigh.
"Oh right! Well... aww..." Iri pouted.
Kiritsugu would have conforted her right then, if not for the door to Shirou's room opening once more and out came Zelretch.
"Phew it's complete." Zelretch said to the adults in the room.
"Did it work?" Kiritsugu asked as he approached the old vampire.
Zelretch nodded.
"The transplants went well, and Shirou's circuits have activated in response to the objects being placed in him." Zelretch said, quietly so Illya wouldn't hear them.
Kiritsugu nodded at that.
"We'll have to bring him into the know once he wakes up... How long do you think that will be?" Kiritsugu asked.
Zelretch scratched his chin and thought about it for a second.
"Hmm the original timeline without Shirou took about 2 years to complete. I can't say wheor not Shirou's presence would effect that or not. So for now I would assume it would stay the same. Two years tops." Zelretch informed.
Kiritsugu nodded in acceptance of his words.
"Then that... gives us time to prepare. In the meantime I will have to go out on more jobs." Kiritsugu sighed.
Zelretch nodded at that.
"Good luck with that. Now if you would excuse me... I must be off." The true magician of the kaleidoscope said as he moved towards the front door.
"Bye Grampa Zel!" Illya called out wirh a wave.
Zelretch paused midstep at that and couldn't help the smile on his face.
"Goodbye little Illya. May we meet again." He said before he stepped out of the house amd closed the door behind him.
Standing outside of the home, Zelretch glanced towards Shirou's bedroom window.
"To think... that someone tried to create a portal to the root inside a video game... What are you planning Kayaba? No matter... I hope you like my gifts young Shirou... you're going to need them. Hehehe." He chuckled before he vanished in a shimmer of kaleidoscopic prana.
Aincrad
Deep in the bowels of Aincrad's system, a certain man watched over the citizens of his false world. Oh how he yearned to create his masterpiece in the real one. If only he possessed a reality marble... then he could do it.
But he was unwilling to give up his humanity for such a thing, being a Dead apostle was not an option for him.
Kayaba Akihiko watched the screens of his world before his eyes settled on one with a certain trio of players.
Or more specifically the red haired archer.
He knew who the boy was, and who his father was. It wasn't hard to noticed that the son of the most infamous Mage Assassin in the world had entered his game. Of course he was tempted to force the boy to log out, to save himself the wrath of the Magus Killer. But something kept him from doing so.
Instead he allowed the boy to stay, and he had to say he was impressed with his growth. When he felt an outside influence tamper with the boy's avatar he was curious. Then he saw what the system was doing. It was generating a unique skill for the boy. He decided it was best to allow the tampering to occur. Was it favoritism? No of course not. He just wasn't interested in dying before his goal was completed!
Of course the boy wasn't his favorite, no that honor belonged to the black haired boy of the group. The boy had been the strongest player in his beta test, and was by far the strongest in the game now.
He had already chosen that boy to be the one to recieve the Dual Wielding skill, an advanced version of the Side-arm skill, one that was meant for the hero who would lead the players to freedom.
Yes that sounded like a grand idea. He liked the sound of it.
"Now... what to do with you?" Kayaba asked as he examined a blank card in his grasp, on its back was a depiction of the holy grail.
"Oh... I know." Kayaba said as he grinned wickedly.
"Rejoice... for my wish will soon be granted." Kayaba said grandiosely. The card shimmered for a second before it split into 7 more cards and vanished to a certain Floor.
Phew! Finally done! Well what did you all think? Interesting little concept I got going? I sure hope so.
Now to answer some questions that you all will no doubt have.
Yes, Zelretch did hack the system to allow the Archer card to be downloaded into Shirou's system as a Unique skill.
Yes, there will be a Card based Grail war like in oath under snow.
And yes, I'm planning to read the lightnovel for intricate knowledge of events. I used a lot of the first SAO progressive movie for this chapter because I frankly thought the reasons for Asuna getting into gaming made much more sense than her just randomly playing it like the progressive manga depicted That Mito was the one to get Asuna into gaming because of their friendship, was a concept I found much more appeasing. As such I will use some of the SAO Progessive Movie materials, when it is relevant for the story. Such as the floor 5 boss scene in the second movie. I will also use SAO progressive manga material when relevant. But Primarily I will use the Light novel's material as reference to the story.
Somethings will definitely be effected by Shirou's presence count on that.
Anyways that's all I have to say for the time being. GN all. Happy reading.