Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online or anything related to it whatsoever as they're all owned by Studio A-1 Pictures. I also do not own Marvel's What If...? Series nor anything related to Marvel Studios whatsoever. This story is rated M for mature story. Other than that, enjoy!

Sword Art Online: What If…Kirito Dies In SAO and Asuna Becomes a Villain to Destroy Worlds in the Multiverse? – Prologue

Full Summary: As the saying goes: 'You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain'.

We all know the story of Sword Art Online, of how 10,000 online players became trapped in the death game where if you die in-game then you die in real life, and how they'd been trapped within SAO for two years until Kirito defeated and killed the creator of Sword Art Online, Akihiko Kayaba, who disguised himself as the player character Heathcliff, clearing the game and freeing all of the SAO Players, including Kirito and Asuna who miraculously made it out alive, and together with their friends and family, lived happily ever after.

But what if things ended differently, and for the worse? What if the death of Kirito led Asuna to the path of villainy before eventually becoming a multiversal threat to the multiverse? Read and find out.

Loosely based on Episode 8 of Marvel's What If...?

[Free to Adopt]

What happens next in the story is up to you.

Introduction: Time. Space. Reality. It's more than a linear path. It's a prism of endless possibility, where a single choice can branch out into infinite realities, creating alternate worlds from the ones you know. I am the Watcher. And I am your guide through these vast new realities. Follow me, and ponder the question..."What If...?"

The story begins on the 75th floor of Aincrad in Sword Art Online, where the player known as Heathcliff reveals himself to be Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of Sword Art Online who trapped 10,000 players in the death game, as well as the final boss of the hundredth floor before paralyzing every floor clearer assault team, including Asuna; all but one player, Kirito.

In one universe, during the battle between Kirito and Heathcliff, Asuna succeeds in breaking free of the paralysis and protects Kirito from the finishing blow by Kayaba meant for him and Kirito manages to kill Kayaba and free all of the SAO players from the death game that is Sword Art Online, including himself and Asuna. But in this universe, Asuna fails to break free of her paralysis and watches helplessly as Kirito is struck down and killed by Heathcliff's finishing blow.

As the battle between Heathcliff and Kirito ended, a single tear fell from Asuna's face as she watched her beloved Kirito fall and then disappear digitally. Then, in her grief, anger, rage, and despair at Kirito's death, Asuna broke free of her paralysis and delivered the finishing blow to Heathcliff, killing Akihiko Kayaba herself. With the death of Akihiko Kayaba, Aincrad started to disintegrate into data as Asuna watched the castle in which they spent two years crumble away around her and the other SAO players, all of whom were logged out.

Meanwhile, in the real world, a girl named Asuna Yuuki sits on the bench with tears in her eyes as the NerveGear she was wearing deactivates itself after being disconnected from the SAO server and she is finally released from the death game that she has been trapped in for two years. As the SAO Survivors try to adjust to life once more as they are happy to be free from the death game, Asuna feels hollow and empty inside. She had lost someone very close to her and it was a loss that she knew that she could never truly recover from.

She had lost Kirito, her beloved partner and her best friend who always looked out for her, her protector, her love, her other half, and her soulmate. They were two halves of the same whole and she couldn't bear to live without him. When her parents came to pick her up from the hospital, her father could tell that their daughter was hurting badly on the inside while her mother, who was always strict with her daughter, could not care what had happened inside the wretched game and was relieved that her daughter was back.

As time passes, many young SAO Survivors go to the SAO Survivor School to cope with their experiences from their ordeal. But Asuna has become withdrawn, quiet, and cold towards everyone. She even acted cold and distant towards her friends and family who tried to help her move on from her loss in SAO, with her mother trying to have her meet new suitors for marriage, only to be turned down each time by her daughter, and her father trying to talk to her only to get the silent treatment.

And worst of all, when mentioning Kazuto Kirigaya, A.K.A. Kirito, her beloved who died in SAO, Asuna would get very angry and emotional, even violent towards people who dared to mention his name. As time passed, Asuna's mentality slowly began deteriorating to the point of insanity until it finally snapped, and, as the saying goes: 'you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain'. And she became a villain by murdering her family and the people who were close to her family.

Nobuyuki Sugou was the first to fall by Asuna's hand, but he'd be far from the last. After Asuna had finished with her father's former business partner and his family, and eventually her father, she went home, only to find her mother standing there waiting for her. When her mother asked her where her father was, Asuna merely responded that he was dead before she slit her own mother's throat.

Then, with the riches that she inherited after murdering her family, she used them to advance technology to bring the power of the virtual world, including the lost data of Sword Art Online, ALfheim Online, and Gun Gale Online, all to life into the real world. And, with the power of the virtual world in the palm of her hand, Asuna Yuuki, now known as Dark Asuna, began to lay waste to the world, starting with Tokyo, Japan.

She destroyed everything in her path, leaving nothing but destruction and carnage in her wake. She murdered countless innocent people, destroyed entire cities, and left a path of devastation behind her. As the world descended into chaos and destruction, Dark Asuna continued her rampage of destruction and death. With the power of the virtual world at her command, there was nothing and no one who could stop her, not even the SAO Survivors who knew and cared for her.

Klein, Agil, Silica, Argo, and many SAO Survivors whom she once knew in SAO as Asuna lay motionlessly on the ground as blood seeped from their bodies as they bled to death. All of them died at Dark Asuna's hands, with only Lisbeth left as the last one standing to stop her. Lisbeth was holding onto her injured shoulder as she looked upon the evil dark woman who was once her dear best friend with tearful pleading eyes.

"A-Asuna, please!" Lisbeth pleaded, "Please, stop! Please, don't do this! This isn't you, Asuna!"

"I'm sorry, Liz." said Dark Asuna coldly as she walked closer to her, her dark rapier in her hand, "But I'm afraid this is who I am now. I'm no longer the same person that I once was. Kirito's death changed me."

"I know you're hurting." said Lisbeth as she took a step back, "But this isn't the way to deal with your pain! Please, you have to fight it! You have to fight the darkness inside of you, Asuna!"

"Liz, there's something that you should know." said Dark Asuna, her expression turning sad, "I loved him, Liz. I loved him so much and he loved me too. And then...he was taken from me and now, he's gone. Now, he's just data and I can't get him back. So, in the end, what is the point of living when the one you love the most is gone forever?"

"Asuna..." whispered Lisbeth, her heart aching at her friend's words.

"Don't you understand?" said Dark Asuna with a cold smile, "The world took everything from me, and now, I'm going to take the world."

"No, don't do this!" Lis pleaded tearfully, "Please, Asuna, this isn't what Kirito would've wanted you to do!"

"Don't you dare say his name!" shouted Dark Asuna angrily, tears coming to her eyes as her voice quivered. "Don't you ever say his name again! You have no right!"

"Asuna, please, I know you're in there." said Lisbeth desperately, "I know you're still in there somewhere. The Asuna that I knew would never do something like this! The Asuna that I knew was always so kind, so compassionate, so loving, and so sweet. I...I want you to come back! I can still help! I can still save you! And I know Kirito would've wanted you to move on, so please!"

"I'm sorry, Liz." said Dark Asuna quietly, "But there is nothing left of the Asuna you knew. There's only me."

"Asuna, no, don't-!" But Lisbeth didn't have the chance to finish as Dark Asuna lunged at her and plunged her rapier into her stomach. Lisbeth let out a cry of pain and agony as she looked down at the blade that was embedded into her stomach, before looking up to Dark Asuna.

Lisbeth, with whatever strength she could muster, reached out her hands to Dark Asuna as she held one hand onto her shoulder and the other hand onto her face, before Lisbeth pleaded weakly to Dark Asuna to reach out to her dear friend one last time, "A-A-A-Asuna...p-p-please...i-i-i-it's...not...t-too late...y-y-you can...y-you can...still...c-c-c-come b-b-back...p-please, A-A-Asuna...c-c-come...c-come back...t-to us...p-please...!"

Dark Asuna coldly and emotionlessly stared at Lisbeth's pleading face that was filled with tears of pain and agony, but also a pleading look in her eyes that was asking her best friend to come back to her and be the same Asuna that she knew. Unfortunately, Lisbeth's words fell on death's ear as Dark Asuna said to her darkly and coldly, ready to pull her rapier off of Lisbeth's stomach, "I'm sorry, Liz. But I'm already far too gone to go back. And now, this is where we say goodbye."

"N-No, A-A-Asuna, p-p-please, d-d-don't-!" Lisbeth managed to gasp out before Dark Asuna pulled her rapier out of her stomach, causing Lisbeth to cough out blood as she fell to her knees and looked up weakly and tearfully at her best friend, whom she once knew as Asuna, her body trembling, before she fell forward onto the ground leaving only a trail of blood beneath her as her life slowly faded away as she then whispered in her final breath in a barely audible voice, "I-I-I...I-I...I-I'm...s-so...s-s-sorry...A-A-A...su...na..."

Lisbeth died on her ground with her eyes still open as Dark Asuna looked down on the dead body of who was once her friend before she moved down and closed her friend's eyes and said to her with whatever semblance of her old self she had, "It's okay, you have nothing to be sorry about, Liz. But I'm sorry because it's just...not me. Not anymore." She then got up and looked around the dead bodies of the SAO Survivors that she had killed in Japan, leaving her the sole survivor of the SAO Survivors, before she took a deep breath and said darkly as her hair turned white, "I'm no longer Asuna Yuuki, and I am no longer Asuna of SAO. I am no longer a hero, nor am I a survivor. From this moment on, I shall be known as...Dark Asuna, the Dark Queen, and the Fallen Goddess of Darkness."

Then, she began to laugh maniacally, sounding insane, as the world burned around her, the sun rising in the morning sky above, casting a crimson glow across the burning ruins. She had done it. She had brought the virtual world to life in the real world and now, the real world would pay the price. She would destroy everything in the real world. From that day forth, the world was in peril and chaos as Dark Asuna laid waste to the Earth, destroying everything in her path. No one could stop her, not even the armies, as the might of the virtual world, the NerveGear, the Amusphere, and the FullDive system were beyond their abilities to combat. Dark Asuna was unstoppable, and the world was crumbling under her heels. Even AIs fell under her dark command, including the ones in Project Alicization, such as Eugeo, Alice, Cardinal, and many more, except for Quinella.

As time passed, Dark Asuna's power and influence grew. Soon, she had gained control over every single nation and country, all the world's resources were hers, and the entire planet was under her rule. The human race had almost fallen by her hand, and she was now the undisputed ruler of the world. And the world would never be the same again. With the might of the virtual world and the power of the Amusphere and the NerveGear, nothing could stand against her. Thus, the world fell under the darkness that was Dark Asuna, who ruled over the Earth with an iron fist. Her empire, which was known as the Dark Castle Empire, was a dictatorship where she ruled with an iron fist, using fear, pain, and suffering to control those that she had conquered. People lived in constant fear and despair, knowing that if they were caught disobeying her, they would be killed. Many tried to rebel against her, but they were always defeated.

However, it would not be long until the multiverse would be discovered by Dark Asuna as she created and opened a portal that led her to various different universes, most of which were just like her world, but more peaceful and livelier, and there were many worlds and universes that were very different from her own.

As Dark Asuna stood and watched the images the portal was showing her of many different universes, including the ones where her beloved Kirito was still alive, Dark Asuna looked in awe at what she was seeing right before her very eyes before she smiled as she slowly began laughing out loudly, "Aha...ahahaha...ahahahahahaha...Ahahahahahahahahahaha...AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH...AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH!" She laughed out loudly like an insane woman that she had become before sighed as she said in amazement, "Amazing! So many universes, so many worlds, so many different versions of my world, and so many different versions of me. It's like I'm looking into a mirror, a window, or a looking glass of a thousand different universes, all showing me myself, my history, and everything about me! Hahahaha, this is just...fantastic!" She then turned to the images of her beloved Kirito of many different universes and said, "But most of all, so many Kiritos, so many versions of my beloved. And all of them are alive! This is wonderful! How wonderful! This is truly amazing! Truly beautiful!" She then clenched her fists and said with an insane wicked smile, "I must have them! I must have them all! The universes, the worlds, and all the versions of my beloved Kirito! I'll have them all, and then soon, the multiverse will all be mine! The whole multiverse will belong to me!"

Dark Asuna let out a dark evil laughter of the madwoman that she had become as she couldn't wait to take what she wanted from the multiverse, and soon, the whole multiverse would belong to her, Dark Asuna the Dark Queen, and the Fallen Goddess of Darkness.

She will go out and conquer all the worlds in the multiverse, and then she will find and gather all the Kiritos from all the different universes. And then, the Dark Queen will finally have her beloved, her one true love, and her soulmate in her arms, forever.

Dark Asuna will have everything in the multiverse, and there will be nothing and no one who can stop her from taking everything in the multiverse, and the whole multiverse will soon fall under her dark rule.

Dark Asuna would become a multiversal threat to the multiverse, and she would be the greatest villain that the multiverse would ever face.

Dark Asuna laughed evilly and bellowed, "THAT'S RIGHT! WHO CAN STOP ME?! WHOOOOO?! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

So, what do you guys think? Please, be sure to leave a review for me on what you guys think of the story! I hoped you all enjoyed it. Don't be shy and don't just read the story, REVIEW it and tell me what are your thoughts on the story! And please, no flames!

Also, whatever happens next in this story, I will let you guys decide! So, go ahead and take this What If...? Story! It's free to adopt! Write down the story and tell me what and how you think the story will end! And, this work is shared at Archive of Our Own, so you can work on the story there, too! Good Luck!