Prologue

The sword's cold steel bit deep into my shoulder.

My chest tightened as the green bar in the top left corner of my vision dropped more than I would've liked.

That bar was my lifeline- a visualization of my remaining vitality. With that one stroke from an enemy's blade, it had dropped by more than 25% and brought me ever closer to my dreaded end. A more positive perspective might've noted that I still had over 70% of my health remaining.

I backstepped quickly to make some room between my assailant and I before it tried to swing once more.

"Grr…"

I had to fight through my frustration in order to relax my body. I took a calming breath and placed my hands back onto the saya and tsuka of my katana, baring just a hint of the blade's steel. In this virtual world, my body didn't exactly need to breathe. It seemed old habits died kicking and screaming. If this were the real world, a cold sweat would be running down my face as I was fueled by the fear and adrenaline of a life-or-death battle.

That was the natural reaction, after all.

The environment I found myself trapped in was one of virtual polygons. My life hung in the balance all the same, even though I hadn't lost blood but just an abstract number of Hit Points.

I couldn't allow myself to be complacent.

The enemy in front of my was an awkward amalgamation of human and reptile, covered in thick green scales. It seemed to circle me- acting in caution- when what was really happening was the monster's Combat AI was taking in all information about me that it could. My combat style, my Sword Skills, my habits. It fine-tuned its reactions moment by moment. As the battle went on, victory would be increasingly difficult to achieve. My only solace was the fact that all the knowledge this specific instance acquired wouldn't be shared by all the other Lizardmen I may run into.

In a sense, the creature was just as alive as I was. A unique individual.

"Okay, then…"

My opponent was a level-82 monster known as a "Lizardman Lord". Its body was covered in thick, green scales and its mouth was full of sharp fangs. Given the digital nature of the creature, it shouldn't have been able to hear my muttered words, but it let out hissing laughter anyway.

It was real. The world felt real.

The Lizardman readied itself as if it meant to attack, its small buckler fastened to its left arm as it held a wicked looking scimitar behind it with an outstretched right arm. As for myself, I dropped into a low stance, set my right side towards my opponent, and left my hands on my weapon.

The two of us paused as the atmosphere grew dense and heavy with expectation. Torches shown along the length of the labyrinth corridor, their flames waving and flickering in the chill breeze.

"Ssssshkhah!"

With that grating roar, the Lizardman Lord shot forward towards me. The scimitar glowed with an orange light as it trailed behind its wielder and was drawn up for a diagonal slash. This was the 1-Handed Curved Sword Skill [Fell Crescent]; a high-level heavy attack that caused its user to charge across 4 yards in only 0.4 seconds.

But I'd long since been taught how to predict enemy attacks.

"Oh, be quiet!"

With speed few others in this word seemed able to match, I ducked below the blade that aimed for decapitation. It passed by a scant few inches above my head and sheared off a small length of my already short, brown-black hair. The little I'd bared of my own blade began to glow an iridescent lilac as I performed a Sword Skill of my own. [Scissortail Score] was a Katana Sword Skill that consisted of 2 crossing slashes in quick succession. The first was a shallow diagonal- almost horizontal- slash performed as the blade was drawn. The final slash crossed over the first in another diagonal line that brought the blade back to my hip in order to resheath it. All-in-all, the slashes were performed in less than half a second.

This was the strength and utility of Sword Skills.

My attack left red gashes across the Lizardman's torso that leaked floating red pixels to simulate bloodloss. No sooner had the creature regained mobility than its body began to shine a brilliant white-blue before bursting into kaleidoscopic polygons that faded as they floated to the ground.

An off-white screen with dark gray borders appeared in the center of my vision, reading;

Congratulations!
EXP Gained: 1,247
Items Dropped: Reptilian Scimitar, 1,000 Cor

Immediately, I straightened and slide away the system menu. The scimitar was a rare drop, but the weapon wasn't of a class I utilized. I'd find a buyer later.

It was already past 3pm, according to the clock in the lower right portion of my vision. I risked taking the journey back to town during the night if I stayed much longer.

"Guess I should head back, huh?" My words, meant only for myself, echoed through the barren labyrinth.

The results didn't amount to much, but it was still progress. I'd successfully avoided Death another day. After a night's rest, however, the process would start anew. Wake up, have breakfast, venture out to grind for EXP and money, battle endlessly to clear the Floor. In this endless cycle, your luck was bound to turn sour at some point.

Despite that, I couldn't let this game beat me.

Survival was one's highest priority, yet I still left the safety of the game's towns and villages. I risked my life on the Front Lines again and again, however I wasn't any sort of hardcore gamer.

That meant I was deluded enough to believe my sword arm could free this world.

I shook my head with a bittersweet grin, as I finally exited Floor 74's labyrinth, before my expression and mood darkened. Unbidden, my mind wandered back to my final days in the real world. I noted that the date read November 6th, 2047.

It was two years ago when the end came...

{A/N}

Hiya! I hope you enjoyed the Prologue to The Legion Exemplar!
I based this 'chapter' on the 1st chapter of the original SAO Light Novel. It might be a bit cliche, but I honestly really liked that chapter and thought it fit.

Now, unlike a lot of stories, TLE will follow a Progressive-style structure. While the bulk of the early story will be OC-Focused, I WILL BE rewriting chapters/storylines from the show, light novels, Progressive light novels, and Progressive movie to highlight changes from the source material.

As is noted in the Story Details, the main pairings are OC x Lisbeth and Kirito x Sachi.
I know I'm kind of basic for liking KiriSachi, but it's ny story so shush!
Also, no; I will not be spoiling the fate of the Moonlit Black Cats.