DISLCAIMER:
This is a non-profit fan fiction. None of the events that take place in this story are canon to the SAO universe. Sword Art online is owned by studio Kadokawa, A- 1 Pictures and Reki Kawahara. Always remember to support the official release :)
Sword Art Online DLC
Written by Miakeru Higuson
Sword Art Online by Reki Kawahara
Chapter 1: The Real World and Jyenka
Thunder struck as rain poured down over the busy streets of Tokyo, Japan. It was the 5th of November 2028 11:58pm and anyone who had been keeping up with MMO today was waiting in anticipation for the return of a certain VRMMORPG. The one that started it all, the one that caused so many deaths, the one that survivors of it still fear to this day. At 12am on the 6th of November 2028, the games 6th year anniversary, Sword Art Online would restart it's servers.
The Return of SAO took the world by surprise, Akihiko Kayaba was long gone and so was Aincrad so why? Why was this game that brought so much pain and suffering to the entire world returning to the VRMMORPG market? Naturally outrage and riots were started by survivors of SAO saying that the game should be put down for good, but they were inevitably in vain. People ranted about it online warning people to not play the game but still, no matter what the world did, they couldn't stop SAO's inevitable return.
A 15 year old student sat in his gaming chair scrolling through forums about the games return. He was a relatively plain looking boy, with pale, grey, tired eyes and brown hair that was combed up in a wave with a single bang hanging out the front of it. To his left on the desk that he was sitting at was the NerveGear, the system used to run SAO and the death trap that 10'000 people put on roughly this time 6 years ago. The boy briefly skimmed through all the forum posts that he could see and the general message he was picking up was to not risk playing it. The clock struck midnight and the date ticked over to the 6th of November 2028, the boy went to turn off his computer and go to bed thinking it wise to wait and see what happens the next morning but just as he went to press the "shut down" button, he got three notifications
Math Homework, Chapter 15C, Overdue
English Homework, 300 word Essay, Overdue
Science Homework, Quiz on Elements, Overdue
"We had English homework?" the boy thought to himself "Crap, Grampa's gonna kill me" He went to power down his computer again but then he saw it, the NerveGear sitting there on his left. The boy paused for a second and then said to nobody in particular "to hell with this." He flopped on his bed, placed the NerveGear on his head and uttered the start-up phrase to power on the device
"Link Start"
A flash of light eclipsed his vision followed by a stream of long, thin rainbow cylinders then the messages letting him know that the NerveGear had engaged all his primary senses, touch, taste, etc. The main menu appeared before him and he tapped on the SAO icon, doing so brought up a prompt saying the device was going to run a scan of his body. The boy pressed the "OK" button and a brief loading screen appeared followed by another prompt that said "DONE!" From there the game went on to the character customization screen.
"let's see here" the boy thought allowed to himself, "nice long blonde hair, make me at least 6'2, I'll take only the best looking jawline and finally the face and charming smile of a hero." Now there was only one step left, the name. A smile crept across the boys face as he typed the name of his character. "And finally, the name of a badass hero" The boys fingers flew across the virtual keyboard as he input the name "Jyenka" once he pressed confirm the screen warped around him and he was sucked into what looked like a portal, then text appeared before him, words that he'd soon wish he never had to see.
"Welcome to Sword Art Online!"
A blue light flashed before Jyenka's eyes before disappearing to reveal where he was standing. He appeared to be standing in a large town square with a fountain in the middle of it, to his left he could see markets and to his right had a path with what looked to be more residential areas. A massive text in the sky appeared which read
"Floor 1: Town of Beginnings"
Jyenka looked at his hands and his feet then took a deep breath in and out, in Jyenka's eyes there was no greater feeling than escaping to the virtual world. Jyenka swiped down with 2 of his left fingers and a menu appeared, from there he navigated to the inventory menu to see what starting gear the game had given him. Not to his surprise it wasn't anything special, only basic armour and what looked to be the simplest version of each weapon class. The weapons of choice were swords, spears, rapiers, hammers, 2 handed axes, bows and what looked to be the new class added to the game with the DLC, the double-bladed sword. Jyenka tapped on the double-bladed sword and the weapon materialized in his right hand, it was larger than he expected as well as heavier but for some reason Jyenka knew this would be his weapon of choice. with a grin he placed his sword in its sheath which was tied around his back and began to walk towards the open field.
"Hah!" "Hup!" "Nyah!" Jyenka swung his doubled-ended blade at a Frenzy Boar, the weakest enemy in the game and missed every single time "Dammit! why can't I hit this guy?" He thought angrily. Jyenka wound back his weapon to take another swing at it when he heard someone yell "Stop!" Jyenka paused and then looked behind him to see a man looking back at him, he had black well-kept hair, sharp green eyes and a muscular figure
"Your doing it all wrong" the man commented.
"And I suppose you know how to do it right?" Retorted Jyenka.
"As a matter of fact I do, watch" he walked up within range of the nearest frenzy boar and readied his weapon of choice, a 1 handed sword. He looked the frenzy boar dead in the eye and took a fighting stance, from there his blade began to give off a green glow and he charged at the enemy "Haaaaaagh!" He shouted as he sliced straight through the boar killing it instantly. Jyenka couldn't help but be amazed at his skill. "I'm sorry, it was rude of me to interrupt."
"N-No, it's fine" stammered Jyenka "Do you think you could maybe, teach me how you did that?" The man gave Jyenka a big smile.
"Sure I can, by the way my names Taijou, and your Jyenka?" Taijou said reading Jyenka's stat bar that sat above his head for other players to read.
"Yeah, good to meetcha Taijou."
"Ok so here's what you wanna do, first pick an enemy to target, this can be done by glaring at it or raising your weapon at it." Jyenka raised one of the blades on his sword to point directly at a frenzy boar, when he did so a red marker appeared on it. "Perfect, now take a stance."
"What's a good stance for using a double-bladed sword?" asked Jyenka.
"That's a tough one, this weapon type is brand new to the game so I'm not entirely sure." Jyenka thought to himself for a few seconds while looking at the end of the blade he had pointed at the boar. He moved his right leg back and bent it at around a 90 degree angle and bent his left leg so that it was straight, then he moved his left arm down so that it was in line with his left leg and straitened his right arm out behind him with the 2 blades of his weapon at a horizontal angle. Jyenka took a breath in and out then suddenly the blade that he had previously pointed at the enemy began to glow blue. "Yeah! You got it!" Exclaimed Taijou excitedly "Now for the fun part, charge at the enemy and strike at it! The inbuilt support system should do the rest." Jyenka ran at the boar and swung his blade at it's head "Raaaaaaagh!" He shouted and sure enough the blade pierced right through the boar killing it.
"Yeah!" Jyenka shouted as he pumped a fist in the air.
"Way to go Jyenka!" Taijou said as he raised his hand for a high-five, but when Jyenka looked up to give him one, he noticed his HP had dropped.
"Wah-What happened to my HP?" Jyenka stammered.
"That's one of the downsides of the new weapon type, if you don't master it you'll take damage every successful strike. It is a double-bladed sword after all."
"Seriously? Didn't think the game would be THIS realistic" Jyenka complained.
"Ah don't worry about it, with practice you'll naturally get better at it. Think of this as your first step to mastering the double-bladed sword!"
"Right, thanks Taijou. Say, do you think we could maybe practice some more?"
"Totally! I've got nothing better to do, plus there wouldn't be more than 10 000 people in the server right now considering it's brand new so we may as well make the most of it!" Taijou said excitedly.
"Ok! I'm gonna master this weapon in no time!"
"That's the spirit!" The 2 new friends would end up practicing for the next 2 hours.
Jyenka fell to the ground tired from all the monster hunting they'd done. He opened his menu and saw that his affinity with double-bladed swords was now at level 10 and his player level was at 7. A smile went across Jyenka's face until he saw the real life time display in the menu reading 2:36am.
"Oh shit!" Jyenka yelled.
"What's up?" asked a startled Taijou.
"My alarms in less than 4 hours, I really gotta go. Thanks for all the help!"
"Wait! before you go..." Taijou began to fiddle around with his menu before a notification appeared before Jyenka, It was a friend request. "Just in case you ever feel like doing this again some time." Jyenka smiled and pressed accept.
"Ok, I should go. See ya around Taijou" said Jyenka waving his hand
"See ya" responded Taijou also giving Jyenka a wave. Jyenka opened up his menu and navigated his way to the log out button but then, Jyenka felt his stomach sink. A feeling came over him that could only be described with 2 words, shock and despair. Jyenka froze still, his outstretched hand shaking. "Jyenka? You good?" asked a concerned Taijou but Jyenka still stood there without moving. "Jyenka? Hellooo? Check your ping bro I think your lagging." Jyenka finally found the strength to speak, and speak he did. He uttered the words that would be the last thing anyone in this world would want to hear.
"The logout button... It's not there..." Jyenka said with every part of his body now shaking.
Taijou's eyes widened and a shaky smile grew across his face. "C'mon man, don't joke about stuff like that" Taijou said nervously. He opened up his menu and began to scroll. "See, the buttons right th-" Taijou also froze when he realised that Jyenka wasn't lying. Before the 2 friends could say anything else to each other they were both enveloped in the same blue light that Jyenka saw when he first appeared in the town of beginnings. Once the light disappeared him and every other player currently in the server was back at the original spawn point in the Town of Beginnings. Jyenka's eyes darted around, the scene was so much different from what he saw roughly 2 hours ago. what was once a place that gave off a happy and welcoming environment was now a place of despair and fear. People around him were dropping to there knees and sobbing uncontrollably while others stayed strong trying to convince themselves that this was all just some elaborate prank to celebrate the return of the game. Taijou tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention but suddenly the sky went bright red and countless tyles filled it like a dome around the Town of Beginnings, each tyle read the words "System Announcement." Once all the Tyles filled the sky, the colour went from a blood red to an emerald green and green goo began to ooze out in between the tyles. The goo gathered together until it took the shape of a large faceless figure wearing an emerald green cloak. people from the crowd shrieked and tried to run but the exits were blocked off by invisible walls, Jyenka and Taijou just stared in disbelief at what was happening.
"People of the new and improved Aincrad" The cloaked figure boomed as it raised both its hands. "As I'm sure you have noticed, your logout buttons have been removed. Know that this is no joke or form of celebration to welcome back SAO, this is what I had planned out from the beginning." the crowd began to stir as they wondered who the being was and what he meant.
"Who are you!?" shouted someone from the crowed of people. his armour was still the same basic one's that we had except his was coloured pitch black, he had black eyes, black hair and a sword. As for his name, it was Kirito.
"who I am is not important, but I can tell you who I'm not." The crowd quietened to listen further to his response. "I am nothing like that fool Akihiko Kayaba!" The being shouted. "Kayaba created one of the greatest opportunities in history, a world full of people who he could control, he created a world were he could rule as a God! But he wasted it! Hell! The last people didn't even beat all 100 floors! So with that out of the way know this, I am not like Akihiko Kayaba, I will take full advantage of this opportunity and rule as a God!" As he stated that final line lighting flashed from outside the dome created by the System announcement tyles, the lighting shook the earth and screams echoed out from the crowd. "Now now my subjects don't lose hope, I do present you with a win condition." The crowd went silent again. "Defeat the final boss on the 120th floor of new Aincrad and you will all earn your freedom, of course there's a catch..." murmurs and whimpers echoed throughout the crowd. "If your HP drops to 0 in this world, the NerveGear will send microwaves through your whole body and fry your brains, so to put it in a simple mans terms, you die here your dead for good!" screams echoed throughout the crowed again and Jyenka felt the same sinking feeling in his stomach as he felt when he first realised he was trapped in this world. The cloaked being raised it's hand again to speak "Also any forced removal of the NerveGear from the outside world will result in instant death, fortunately it seems you've learned from last time and only 53 deaths have been recorded because of this so far." Instead of screams the crowed just stood there in silence and disbelief, now that all suspicions of this being a joke have been diminished. "Finally I leave you all with a parting gift, open your inventories dear players." Jyenka opened his inventory and in it sat a mirror, when he materialised it into his hand a flash of blinding white light appeared around him.
"Jyenka!" Shouted Taijou but it was only a few moments later that he to was enveloped in the same white glow. Jyenka opened his eyes and looked in the mirror and what he saw shook him to his core, it was him, but not the handsome heroic avatar he created, it was him from the real world. With a panicked look in his eyes Jyenka scoured the crowd that was once filled with strong adventurers only now to be filled with what could be best described as every overworked salary man in Japan looking to see what everyone else looked like behind there avatars. The thing that by far surprised him the most though was who was standing next to him. He was a boy who looked about his age only scrawnier with messy red hair and a face full of freckles. He gave Jyenka a
surprised look
"Jyenka!?" He shouted.
"Taijou!?" Jyenka shouted back. The crowd seemed just as surprised as Jyenka and Taijou were.
"That is all from me my subjects, welcome back to SAO and good luck!" A soon as he finished the sentence the cloaked figure began oozing back into its goo-like form and, along with all the system announcement tiles, disappeared into thin air.
By this point there were 2 types of people, the ones who could handle the situation and the ones who couldn't. Taijou was shaking and looked more scared than ever especially now that his mighty avatar was gone, meanwhile Jyenka stood stunned, still staring at the place in the sky where the cloaked figure once was. He remembered his home life and clenched his fist, then his brief 2 hours of ignorant bliss he had in this world and gritted his teeth. Suddenly Jyenka grabbed the still quivering Taijou's arm and began to run.
"Jyenka! What are you-?"
"C'mon Taijou we have to move now!" Jyenka looks back at him cutting him off. Jyenka let go of Taijou's arm and he began to run behind him
"Wait up! We're are we goi-?" But this time Taijou was cut of by a frenzy boar charging at him. Taijou let out a scream and fell backwards but suddenly a flash of blue light pierced through the boar and then it exploded into dozens of blue polygons. There stood Jyenka with the level up notification appearing over his head. Jyenka checked his health bar, he'd taken 0 damage, he'd finally landed a perfect strike with the double-bladed sword. "In the real world, I'm just a loser who's given up on life. But here I'm Jyenka." He thought to himself. As Taijou got back up Jyenka turned around and shouted at the top of his lungs into the horizon "You hear that you mysterious gooey bastard! Jyenka is the name of the hero who will conquer this world!"