Breaking News!

It has just been discovered that the highly anticipated VRMMO Sword Art Online has turned into a death game. Akihiko Kayaba released a pre-recorded statement that the hardware required to play the game, the Nerve Gear, will kill the wearer upon dying within the game. The statement also claims that the same will occur upon attempt to remove the device by force. Several occurrences have already proven this claim to be true. The whereabouts of Akihiko Kayaba are currently unknown, and police are scouring the country for him. Friends and relatives of people wearing Nerve Gears are advised to remain calm, and contact the nearest hospital. Preparations are already underway to move everyone comatose due to SAO to hospital wards. If you know of someone living alone who is believed to be wearing a Nerve Gear, please contact your local authorities.

- Special News Bulletin: SAO Incident

- December 7th, 2022 -

Elisse walked through the streets of the Town of Beginnings as the setting sun began to dye Aincrad's sky with an orange hue. She had just finished restocking her potion inventory and having her spear repaired at the blacksmith shop in town after another long day of farming out in the field. She had gotten somewhat used to the routine and often hummed to herself as she skipped down the stone-paved roads as if she were on her way home from school.

Roughly a month had passed since the launch day of Sword Art Online. One month since one of the greatest revolutions to the video game industry had become a nightmare for ten thousand people and trapped them in this death game. A majority of the players had tried simply waiting for help to come from the outside at first, but by now most had been forced to face the truth that their only way out was to clear the game. Elisse herself had taken her first steps outside of the town's gate a week after the launch.

Sadly, there were still people trapped hopelessly in despair populating the starting town's streets. People who were too afraid to leave the safety of the town out of fear of dying to the mobs that lurked out in the fields. Elisse saw them every day. She tried her best to ignore them, but their depressed faces tended to leave a mark on people from even the slightest glance. After a while though, the large population of players tended to blend into the background almost. As if they were no different than NPCs.

Today however, there was one player that did catch her eye.

The dark gray cloak the player was wearing stood out from the hordes of players that were wearing basic starting gear. But the part of their outfit that piqued Elisse's interest even further upon closer inspection was the mask the player was wearing. Elisse and the masked player walked past each other, but Elisse found herself turning around and jogging over to the player.

"Hey you! Hold up a sec!"

The masked player turned their head as Elisse came up to them. Between the cloak and mask, Elisse couldn't identify the player's gender. But that wasn't what Elisse cared about at the moment. She was too focussed on the outfit itself.

"Where'd you get that mask?" When the player made no response, Elisse tried to wave off any concern the player might have. "Oh don't worry, I'm not accusing you of something. I was just hoping to get one myself. It looks really stylish, don't you think? Oh what am I saying, of course you think that. You wouldn't be wearing it if you didn't think it was stylish after all. Gives off that aloof and mysterious vibe. I really love those types of characters in manga and anime. What about you?" It was then that Elisse realized she had gone a bit off track. "Sorry, I tend to ramble when I get excited about something. Let's start with introductions. My name's Elisse. And you are?"

"..."

The continued silence of the player caused Elisse to narrow her eyes. "Um… hello? You can speak Japanese, can't you?"

Still, the masked player did not respond. Instead, they turned around and began to try running away.

"Hey, wait! Where are you-" Elisse reached out to grab the player by their cloak, resulting in the hood coming off and revealing long black hair.

Almost immediately, the player covered their head with the hood of the cloak once again. Finally, they decided to speak, if only in a slight whisper that no one other than Elisse could hear. "What were you thinking?!"

If the long flowing hair hadn't confirmed it, the player's voice certainly told Elisse the player behind the mask was almost definitely female. "I-I'm sorry. I just-"

An exasperated sigh escaped the player. "Come with me." she said, motioning for Elisse to follow her. She led her over to a nearby alleyway. After checking that none of the players nearby had cared enough to follow them, she ducked back under the cover of the shadows with Elisse. "What is the matter with you?!"

Elisse flinched back slightly. "Don't you think you're overreacting just a bit? All I did was grab your cloak."

"That's not… I… ugh!" She took the mask off and revealed her face. Based on what she could tell, Elisse estimated the girl to be roughly the same age as herself. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to hide the fact that I'm a girl in this game?"

Elisse blinked in surprise. "Wait… that's what you're mad about? You don't want players knowing you're a girl?"

"I don't know what it's been like for you, but partying up here when almost everyone else in this world is a guy is a pain in the ass for me." she told her. "Parties either don't trust you to be able to pull your weight, or hit on you the entire time. And when they find out you're not interested, they dump you. You wanted to know why I wear this mask? That's why!"

Elisse rubbed the back of her head. She had been with her party since the second week of launch. And she had quickly cast aside any doubts in her party member's minds that she couldn't handle herself in combat. But for someone acting as a pickup member for any parties looking for extra manpower, she could see how being a girl could be a little challenging.

"Yeah, boys can be total idiots. I'll give you that." Elisse admitted. "But hey, if you're looking for a party to join, why not team up with mine?"

The black-haired girl gave Elisse a bewildered look. "You want me in your party?"

"Sure, why not?" Elisse shrugged. "I mean, I gotta run it by Gale first - he's our leader by the way - but I don't see why he'd refuse. It's just me, Gale, and two other guys, but none of them are gonna judge you or hit on you just cause you're a girl." She showed a slight smirk. "And if they do, you can just let me know and I'll give 'em a good whack with the blunt end of my spear."

A small giggle escaped the girl. "Alright then. You said your name was Elisse, correct?"

"You got it. Elisse, slayer of monsters and breaker of hearts, at your service!" she answered with a grin as she held out her hand. "What's your name, by the way? You never said."

The girl accepted Elisse's hand and shook it. "Violet. Glad to be working with you, Elisse."

- June 15th, 2023 -

"Alright, here's to us for beating our toughest dungeon yet, and kicking that boss's ass!" Elisse called out as she held up her drink. "To Sparrow Wing, the most badass guild on the middle floors! Cheers everybody!"

"Cheers!" the rest of the group said in unison as their glasses chimed with a clink.

After taking a sip of his drink, Gale narrowed his eyes at the girl who had made the toast. "You know Elisse, you could at least let the guild's leader be the one to make the congratulatory toast."

"Oh don't be such a baby." Elisee grinned, earning a laugh from the rest of the guild.

A little over half a year had passed since the start of SAO. In that time, the top players of the game - commonly referred to as the 'assault team' - had reached Floor 29, and were supposed to tackle the Floor boss to reach Floor 30 any day now. Thousands of lives had already been claimed by the horrific death game. Perhaps it was due to sticking to the middle floors of the game, but Sparrow Wing had not lost a single member of their guild to this day.

The levels of Sparrow Wing's members averaged around 35. Not bad, but still a good 10 or so levels below the average assault team member. That didn't bother them too much however. At this point, the front lines were probably out of their reach. So they let the assault team work on clearing the game while they simply made the most of their time in the world of Aincrad.

After recruiting Violet back in the early days of SAO, Sparrow Wing had simply been a party of five, officially becoming a guild after clearing the guild creation quest on Floor 3. But a couple months into the game, they had added another member to their ranks after a chance meeting in the fields.

That same member of the guild, a young black-haired boy named Nero, let out a sigh as he finished a sip of his drink. "I thought I was a goner after I aggroed too much and the boss started to come after me. I was so scared, my legs couldn't stop shaking."

"Yeah, things got a little dicey." Elisse agreed. She then patted the back of her only female guildmate. "But our resident badass Violet here put that boss in its place."

"It wasn't anything special." Violet responded modestly. Her naturally black hair was now a lavender color, a change she had made last month at Elisse's suggestion with the help of a dye cosmetic item. "I just aggroed the boss a little to get it to leave Nero alone."

"Nothing special? You kicked all the ass out there!" Elisse told her. "You were all like 'Waaaa' and 'Haiyah' and 'Hachacha'!"

Another member of the guild chuckled. "Are you trying to imitate Violet, or some cheesy kung fu movie character?"

"Shut up, Tanba!"

Gale let out a laugh. "Well, in any case, we've been doing rather well lately. Maybe we should try going up to Floor 26 starting tomorrow."

"Floor 26?! That's way too high!" Nero exclaimed nervously. "The monsters on Floor 23 are already scary enough!"

The last member of Sparrow Wing, a male teen named Freit, cracked a grin. "Don't be such a wuss, Nero. We're more than strong enough to handle mobs a few Floors higher."

"A higher Floors means better drops and more exp." Elisse chimed in.

Nero clearly still wasn't convinced, but he went back to silently sipping his drink. It was clear the rest of the guild wasn't as nervous about the stronger mobs as he was. And seeing as Gale was the one who brought up the suggestion in the first place, he doubted their leader would give in from just one player objecting.

The celebration went on for another hour or so before Violet got up from her seat. "I think I'm gonna call it a night. I want to be fully rested if we're going to a higher Floor tomorrow."

"I think I'll hit the hay too." Elisse agreed as she got up as well.

Freit cracked a smirk. "Gonna have some late night girl talk? No fair, leaving us guys out of it."

Rather than dismissing her guildmate's claim, Elisse doubled down on the joke. "Nothing so pedestrian, Freit. I was thinking perhaps of visiting Violet's room late into the night. She'd open the door, I'd confess my undying love for her, and we'd spend the rest of the night cradled in each other's embrace." She did a twirl before hugging her arms around Violet's neck and hanging from it. "Violet, take me now. My body is yours."

"Nope." Violet said plainly, not having any of Elisse's antics. She removed the girl's arms from her and Elisse fell onto the floor.

The rest of Sparrow Wing shared a chuckle as Elisse hit the floor. Even Nero had managed to forget about his fears and let out a small laugh. Elisse held out her hand towards Violet in a dramatic fashion as the girl walked away. "Oh, my heart! Love truly is a fickle beast indeed! How shall I ever recover?!"

The laughter from Elisse's antics had spread from Sparrow Wing to many of the other players at the tavern. Elisse got up, took a bow to finish her performance, and took off after Violet. She caught up to her about halfway up the stairs.

"Hey there, lover~" Elisse whispered into her friend's ear.

Violet rolled her eyes. "Elisse, knock it off. Your audience isn't around anymore."

Elisse gave in. "Fine, fine, I'll stop." she said. "Though I bet Freit's gonna have that mental image of us making out in his head all night."

"Gee, it's almost like someone put it in his head for him." Violet retorted, though she couldn't help cracking a small grin of her own.

As the two girls continued walking to their separate rooms. "You really did do a good job today. You were the fastest to respond when the boss started targeting Nero."

Violet shrugged. "He's my guildmate. Of course I'm not about to let him get trampled. Especially when he's the lowest leveled of us."

"I'm not sure that's how he sees it."

Violet raised a brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Come on. Don't tell me you haven't noticed." Elisse said. When Violet gave her a curious look, Elisse widened her eyes. "Oh wow, you haven't noticed, have you?"

"Noticed what?"

"Nero likes you, dummy!"

Violet let out a sigh. "Elisee, I'm too tired for jokes."

"I'm not joking! You seriously didn't know?!" Elisse asked. "He's constantly looking at you."

"He is not."

"Then you are in desperate need of an antidote crystal. Cause you're clearly suffering from a blindness status right now."

Violet eyed her friend. "You're serious about this?"

"Have I ever lied to you?" Elisse asked. "So? What do you think of him?"

Violet frowned. "I don't know. I never really thought about him that way. I mean, Nero's always felt kind of like a little brother, you know?"

"Ouch. Well whatever you do, make sure never to tell him that." Elisse said. "The little brother response is even worse than being friendzoned to a guy."

Violet groaned. "Why did you have to tell me?! Now I'm gonna feel like a jerk if I break his heart!"

"It thought you knew! It was kinda obvious!"

The girls soon came to Violet's room. "I need to sleep on this. This is way too sudden, and I'm already tired after today."

Elisse cracked a small smirk. "I could always join you, you know? Have some late night pillow talk like Freit suggested?"

"Not unless you want me to throw you out the window."

"Pfft, it's not like I'll take any fall damage in a safe zone."

"Good night, Elisse." Violet said, ending the conversation there and shutting the door before her friend could crack another joke.

- April 20th, 2024 -

For a virtual fantasy castle floating in the sky, Aincrad surprisingly kept its weather settings relatively similar to the real world.

It obviously couldn't mimic the exact weather in the real world day by day of course, but as the seasons changed it was hard not to notice the weather of Aincrad adapting with them. Summer had slightly hotter temperatures, and an abundance of sunny days for most Floors. As it turned to fall and winter, the temperature began to go down a bit, and for Floors where snow was present, the blizzards got even worse than usual.

And at the start of springtime, you couldn't go a full week without it raining.

Nighttime was approaching as the Sparrow Wing guild walked back to town through the fields of Floor 49. The Floor itself had a number of forest-like dungeons scattered around it, and the guild had just spent a full day farming through one of them. They would be able to return to town instantly through the use of teleport crystals, but those tended to be rather expensive and as such were best saved for emergency situations. Plus, walking back allowed you to earn a little more money and experience from any mobs that decided to pop up along your path.

Freit let out a sigh as they walked while the drizzling rain came down on them. "Would it have killed Kayaba to program in umbrellas into this damn game?"

"On the list of things I wish Kayaba had changed about SAO, umbrellas are kinda low." Gale commented.

"Well yeah, but I'm just saying."

"I'm just glad humidity doesn't have the same effect in SAO as it does in the real world." Elisse said. "My hair would be so frizzy right now if that weren't the case."

Tanba rolled his eyes. "Of course your hair is what you're most worried about. I'll never get girls."

"Well excuse us girls for understanding the delicate nature of beauty." Elisse quipped back.

Looking up at the time on her HUD, Violet saw the clock hit 8 pm. As if by magic, the orange sky of Aincrad made the slow gradual change to the black of night. The clouds hovering in the artificial sky blended in, with only the light outside the Floor peering in providing any illumination.

Freit let out a groan. "I'm starving. Any suggestions on where we should go for dinner?"

"U-Um… I think I saw a place in town." Nero said. "They had a specialty in chicken… or something like that I think."

"Works for me. I could eat a whole damn bird at this point."

The group shared a laugh and continued chatting about dinner and other small gossip. As they did, Violet's ears suddenly twitched as she came to a stop. The rest of the guild paused and turned to their guildmate.

"What's wrong, Violet?" Gale asked.

"I'm not sure…" Violet replied. "I thought I heard something. Maybe it was just my imagination."

Elisse cracked a small devious grin. "You know, I heard back in town that this Floor is haunted. Maybe it's a ghoooooooost~"

"Eek!" Nero exclaimed with a tiny shriek. "E-Elisse, come on! That's not funny!"

"Yes… They appear on night's much like this one, according to legend." Elisse continued. "They find unsuspecting players in the forest. They creep up very slowly. And then… they eat ya!"

Most of the guild rolled their eyes at Elisse's childish behavior. Nero however trembled as he inched closer to Violet.

Gale sighed. "Elisse, knock it off. Keep it up and Nero's not gonna be able to sleep tonight."

"Party poopers." Elisse pouted. "I bet Tanba enjoyed it. Didn't you, Tanba?" A few seconds of silence passed with no response. "Tanba?"

An echoing thud from behind startled the entire group as they turned around collectively. Tanba had been bringing up the rear, being the guild's offhand tank. But now he was face down on the ground. And hovering next to his HP bar was a paralysis icon. It wasn't hard to guess the cause, given that there was a knife lodged into his back.

At that moment, with no warning, rustling leaves came from multiple directions. A total of six cloaked players emerged from the trees, each dressed with a cloak that concealed their face. The stereotypical attire of a PKer group. But when Gale looked at the glove of one of the members, his entire body tensed up. Woven on the glove was an emblem. A black coffin with an eerily smiling face on top of it. It was an insignia practically every player in Aincrad knew of. The one used by the most dangerous and infamous PKer group in all of SAO.

Laughing Coffin

Violet was the first to act, drawing her thin longsword from her waist and rushing to Tanba's side. She only got halfway there however before one of the PKers intercepted her and blocked her path. Violet attempted to slash her way through, but a vertical swing of the cloaked player's shortsword parried her attack.

Gale noticed two others sprinting towards the paralyzed Tanba. Shaking off his shock at this ambush, he hurried over to his guildmate, reaching for an antidote crystal as he did. He skidded to a halt right next to Tanba and called out "Heal!". In that instant, the crystal shattered and the paralysis icon over Tanba vanished.

"Form up! Don't let them separate us!" Gale quickly shouted.

The members of Laughing Coffin closed in from several directions. Violet managed to push away the player she was facing and hurry towards Gale and Tanba. The other four members of the guild did the same. They all stood back to back as the PKer group surrounded them. There was no time for them to escape via teleportation crystal. The second they reached for one, their assailants would use the window of opportunity to attack. And against players like these, even the tiniest moment of distraction could prove fatal.

"Well this is a nice little catch, wouldn't you say boys?" one of the group said, earning a chuckle from his companions. "Six little piggies ripe for the chopping block."

"Stick together guys." Gale told his guild. "We can take them."

The grins of one of the PKers widened. "You think so, do you? Let's test that theory."

Without warning, the Laughing Coffin members swooped in like vultures coming down on their prey. It was clear at a glance from their smooth movements and teamwork that they had done this hundreds of times before. They took turns, switching out with almost no time in between attacks. Not even the slightest of openings was present in their formation. All Sparrow Wing could do was defend. But in this battle of attrition, it was clear which side would give in first if things continued as they did.

"Screw this." Tanba muttered. Kicking off the ground, he leapt forward with his sword.

"Tanba, wait!" Gale shouted, but it was already too late.

The Laughing Coffin player nearest to Tanba prepared to counter with an attack of his own. Their sword skills clashed against each other, the metallic ring echoing through the air. Tanba followed up however by swinging his shield arm forward and sending the player tumbling back.

The brief opening Tanba had created with his reckless stunt proved to be just what the guild needed. The smooth coordinated attacks paused, allowing them to push forward and widen the tight ring that had been choking them together.

Elisse skillfully twirled her spear, forcing the two players near her to distance themselves. She pressed the attack and activated a sword skill, the tip of her spear glowing with an emerald light as she unleashed three thrusts in quick succession. The player she had attacked had been unable to guard in time and fell over. Before she could follow up, the other player attacked Elisse, forcing her to back off as a cut left a small red gash on her avatar and caused her HP to fall by a small amount.

It was still a dangerous situation, but they were no longer boxed in. They had broken through the PKers' formation. Elisse told herself they could live through this. They could win.

But it only took a few seconds before she was proven horribly wrong.

A cry came from behind her. Elisse turned around to see Nero fighting against one of the Laughing coffin players. A slash from the player's sword had severed Nero's right arm clean off. The virtual limb flopped to the ground before shattering a second later. The lost limb had caused Nero's HP to drop even further, going from yellow to red.

"Nero!" Elisse exclaimed. She attempted to go assist her guildmate, but the duo she was facing came at her again and she was forced to focus on protecting herself.

With his arm holding his weapon gone, Nero found himself disarmed in more ways than one. He tried to scramble for his weapon, but the player near him kicked him in the gut and sent Nero tumbling along the grass. The player stood over him, sword raised up.

"H-Help!" Nero cried. "I don't want to die!"

Elisse pooled every ounce of strength she possessed and forced her enemies away from her. She turned heel and began to run towards Nero in a desperate attempt to save him.

But before Elisse could even take a step, she watched Nero's avatar shatter into blue polygons.

Everything froze. Even the rain seemed to be moving in slow motion. Every member of Sparrow Wing all stared in disbelief at the spot Nero had just been in. How the virtual polygons floated in the air for a few seconds before dissolving into dust. Nero had been with them for so long. He was their guildmate and friend. And now he was gone. Just like that.

The laughter of the player who had killed Nero broke the silence. His voice echoed throughout the air. "Hohohohoho, that's one little piggie down! Did you see how he was bawling at the end there?! That look was priceless!"

Eliss'e grip on her spear tightened to the point that she was almost afraid the shaft would snap. This person - no, this monster - had just killed their friend. And he was laughing as if it was the funniest thing in the world. "You… You…"

"BASTARD!" The shout hadn't come from Elisse, but instead, Violet, who dashed towards the player as fast as her AGI stat would allow her. Rage like none of them had ever seen was etched onto her face. "YOU'RE DEAD!"

Another Laughing Coffin member attempted to flank Violet and cut her down while she was focused on his companion. Violet didn't bat an eye however as she turned to face him and dodged his slash. With one clean motion, she moved past the player, her sword slicing through his neck like butter. The player stood still for a second before he kneeled over and his head rolled off his body. His avatar glowed a slight blue hue before shattering, and Violet's green cursor above her head changed to a bloody red.

Not even taking note of her changed cursor, Violet slowly turned her head to the player that had killed Nero. Her voice was calm, but had an icy tone to it that chilled the entire area. "You're next."

Deciding to cut their losses there, each of the PKers backed away. They took out small spherical capsules and threw them down at the ground. Smoke burst out from the items upon contact and it quickly spread out and covered the area.

"Get back here!" Elisse couldn't see Violet, or any other player for that matter, but her voice rang loud and clear. "Get back here, dammit! I'm not done with you!"

It only took about ten seconds for the smoke to clear. But when it did, the Laughing Coffin members were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps they had retreated into the woods, or perhaps they had teleported away using crystals. But regardless, they were gone.

As her adrenaline subsided, Elisse gradually felt the rain's wet touch on her skin once again. Nobody spoke. None of them could even find the words to say after what had just happened. They all wanted to believe this was just one horrible nightmare. That when they woke up, all six of them would still be here and they would go farming in the fields just like any other day.

But this was reality. And the reality was one of them had just died.

After performing the quest to change Violet's cursor back to green, Sparrow Wing teleported back to town. It was unlikely they would be ambushed again so soon after what had just happened, but none of them wanted to take the risk. Most of them had gone to bed, not having any appetite to eat dinner. Elisse herself had just grabbed a roll of bread from one of the stalls and ate it as she walked with the rain pouring down on her. The bread had no taste to her, but not because of its flavor. Her mind was too busy trying to convince itself that this wasn't real to bother on something as trivial as the taste of food.

During her aimless walk through town, Elisse suddenly found herself in the town plaza. It was late at night and most players were asleep, save the hardcore ones doing late night grinding. Her eyes drifted towards the fountain in the center of the plaza. Her guild leader was standing there, simply staring at the gushing water.

Elisse slowly walked up to her guild leader. "Gale…"

"I froze."

"... What?"

"When Nero died. I couldn't move." Gale clarified. "I just… stood there. There wasn't any status ailment, no debuff. My body just didn't move. Even after Violet charged at the enemy, all I did was stand there like a useless idiot."

"Gale, what happened back there wasn't your fault." Elisse told him.

"I'm the guild leader, dammit!" Gale shouted. "Everyone relies on me! I'm supposed to be the one who takes charge during the tough times! But I was weak!"

"Gale…"

"If only I had been stronger…" Gale said, his voice shaking with rage. "If I had just been stronger, this wouldn't have happened. I could have protected everyone. I could have saved Nero."

"Gale, that's not-"

"Let the others know, Elisse. The guild's taking a break for a week."

Elisse blinked in surprise. "A break? For what?"

"I'm going to grind for a few days." Gale asked. "Up on the front lines."

A/N: Well this chapter was just a bunch of flashbacks for Sparrow Wing, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. Next chapter will go back to Tae and Elisse in CNO. The chapter should be shorter than this one was, so hopefully it shouldn't take as long. See you all then.