CHAPTER 1

I blinked my eyes as I realized something weird, a few minutes ago I had closed my eyes and was prepared to sleep, but then, there was this weird explosion-like sound outside my home, and when I tried to see what was going on, the world in front of me suddenly changed completely.

In front of me, I could see a vast expansion of green, a few trees, and villages, I didn't want to believe at first but it was true, I was a f*cking anime protagonist that was transmigrated to another world! Oh dear God, I love you so much, thanks for this opportunity!

Now... All I have to do is find out why there is a giant tower on the horizon... Seriously, what the hell is going on here? Just, what sort of world did I got transmigrated into...

As I looked into the Horizon, I caught something in the corner of my eye and turned to look at it, a guy with purple hair was fighting some sort of blue boar using his sword and wood shield.

The boar tried to hit the man using his nose, he raised the shield and defended himself before counterattacking with a sword slash, and it was at that moment I realized how unlucky I was, the sword cutting through the boar's flesh scattered bright red light instead of blood.

"Please, tell me this is a mere misunderstanding..."

I extended my left hand and pushed it down, the action somehow activated a light-blue interface with various options, seeing this I could only gulp, how foolish of me to believe that I was some sort of protagonist...

I was actually transmigrated to Sword Art Online world... Shaking my head, I brought my eyes to the configuration tab and opened it, I looked for a moment only to realize that it was already too late, the logout button had already disappeared, it was only a matter of time until Kayba Akihiko transported everyone to that city.

I felt my legs getting weaker and couldn't help but fall on my butt. I was about to complain about how unfair this situation was when suddenly a wave of headache hit me so hard I almost cried.

"No! No! Please don't let this be someone trying to remove the Nerve Gear I'm using! If I'm destined to die, at least let me met my fate in battle!"

I would have shouted a few more things in case I didn't start seeing those flash of memories, in a few seconds I discovered my background... Instead of Aiden Windrise, I was now Takagi Satoshi, I live with my mother, Takagi Sawako, and I'm still 14 years old... basically 3 years younger than before transmigrating, and about to enter senior high school.

And surprisingly this new version of myself is actually extremely similar to my original body! With the only difference being the Japanese characteristics, and if that wasn't enough coincidence, the original owner of this body chose his nickname exactly like Kirito, so here, my nickname is (Takashi).

When the headache disappeared I stood up and was about to call that person I saw fighting but something hit me so hard on the back that I instinctively shouted in pain despite not feeling anything. When I turned back to see who was the bastard I gasped.

The blue boar stood there looking at me with his red lifeless eyes, with a snort I unsheathed the one-handed sword that hung on my waist and prepared to face the evil beast.

As the boar ran towards me, I suddenly felt weird, my body started moving almost like I didn't have control over it, my blood simply started boiling, and a chain of actions just ran through my mind as if I was a swordsman with decades of experience.

So I jumped over the boar and before he could turn his head to face me, I slashed with my sword thrice, from the left, up and them downwards, it almost looked like a skill from the game, but it wasn't, everything I did was a real set of movements, that was pure swordsmanship that could be used in real life!

While I was shocked by this discovery, the boar squealed in fury! *Ggiik!* And once again tried to hit me with his head, but somehow I got out of my stupor and instantly entered in a weird stance, I positioned my sword horizontally with its end pointing at the boar, my left foot went forward a few centimeters while the other foot went backward a few centimeters, my torso lightly inclined forward and my left hand extended towards the boar.

Suddenly the smell of burnt iron entered my nose as the sword shined with bright yellow light and I somehow crossed what looked like three meters while leaving a trail of light behind me.

The boar stopped midair and suddenly disappeared in an explosion of light as the sound of shattered glass entered my ears.

It was real. I, a lazy guy who not even once fought against someone, suddenly learned how to use a sword like those wuxia characters from romances like Journey to the west and even use the game skills like a professional!

I opened my interface and searched for my skills tab, only to discover that the Skill I used without even knowing about its existence was called, <<Sword - Dash>> it was a one-hit quick skill used to attack an opponent and position yourself behind him. One of the many <<Sword Skills>> available in the game.

How amazing, who would have thought that I suddenly got superpowers... I felt like Batman or Deathstroke, the actual feeling was difficult to describe because it felt way too natural as if it was always supposed to be part of me.

Although neither I nor the original owner of the body ever trained martial arts or whatever that was.

I looked forward and noticed the floating screen with the amount of experience I got from that fight, I nodded at it and closed the screen, but at that moment, I felt a cold air entering my body and refreshing me with a pleasant feeling.

"Does everyone experience that after killing a monster in this game?"

As if to answer my question, on the bottom left corner of my field of view, a counter appeared with the number one hundred, I felt it was familiar but couldn't remember where I have seen it before, it should be from a game, but which one?

Besides, why is that thing there anyway? Could this be an alternate version of the world of Sword Art Online?

Sighing as I wouldn't get to know the answers to my question so soon, I stared at the setting sun that slowly made the sky become orange as if it was burning, I didn't know much about this world, so I couldn't even tell where I was, the only thing that could help was the map option on my menu, but since I didn't buy a map, it only showed the places my character went before, so at least I knew how to go back to the <<Starting City>>.

Since I didn't have anything better to do, for now, I decided to keep fighting against those blue boars called <<Frenzy Boar>>. However, I couldn't help but think about this game in general.

Back in my original world the closest they had to something like this was the Oculus Rift and a few other ones that were basically copies of it, it is amazing what they managed to do here, seriously, had no one explained how the Nerve Gear worked, I would truly believe that my soul was sucked to another dimension.

....

Half an hour later, just after I had killed one more boar.

*Ding, ding* The sudden noise of a bell sounded on my ears scaring the shit out of me.

"What the hell! Why is this so fucking scary! I wasn't expecting it..."

I was so immersed in the game, that I end up forgetting about that thing Kayaba did in the anime. Well, now there is that question... should I look for that guy? Is it worthy?

Kirito could help me a lot during the game, if a followed him my future for at least the first 10 floors would be guaranteed, meaning I wouldn't have to worry that much about leveling up and searching for useful quests and monsters to farm...

Before I could finish deciding my next actions, a blue pillar of light engulfed me and my vision blurred slightly, this was the famous <<Teleport>>, although it was one initiated using GM privileges.

When the blue light faded I could finally see my surroundings again, this time I was in the middle of a crowd that looked like a sea of people, that was really surprising, mainly because I couldn't believe computers could perfectly render so many players at the same time, f*ck, if it was my computer it would have exploded, this game is way too optimized, Bethesda and Ubisoft could learn a thing or two from <<Argus>>, the developers of Sword Art Online.

As I looked around I almost chocked, how lucky of me. Kirito and Klein were literally a few steps away from me. Seeing the protagonist using that avatar that looked like a handsome anime character I didn't know what I should do, besides, Klein with his character that looked like someone from the Sengoku period was still there, would he help me if I were to suddenly ask like that?

Sucking a large mouthful of air, I decided my next course of actions, whether or not it would be good, I needed his help for at least some time, only a stupid person would deny the help of a real protagonist, seriously, this guy is already destined to succeed, there is no need to be shy and try to do things on my own.

"You... I know you!" I pointed at Kirito, and both of them turned to look at me.

"This... is he your friend?" Klein asked unsurely.

Kirito looked at me and shook his head, denying that I was his friend.

"Who are you?"

"I was a beta tester, but unlike the others, I didn't manage to go up the floors and explore that much the game... But I know you! I heard about your actions during the beta, you are one of the fifteen players that arrived on the tenth floor!"

Even Klein was surprised hearing that, after all, he was literally at the side of some sort of a legend, this guys cleared 10% of the game during the beta test, how dedicated one would have to be in other to achieve this?

Kirito was about to answer, but someone besides us suddenly pointed upwards and shouted.

"Ah! Look up!"

The three of us almost automatically turned our eyes upward. There, a strange sight greeted us.

The bottom of the second floor, one hundred meters above us, was checkered in red. When I looked closely, I could see that the pattern was made up of two phrases crisscrossing each other: the words [ Warning ] and [ System Announcement ] written in red.

I gulped and prepared my heart for what was about to come.

From the middle of the pattern, a liquid that looked like blood started oozing down slowly. It came down at a rate that almost emphasized how slimy it was, but it didn't fall all the way down, instead, it started congealing into a shape.

What appeared was a twenty-meter tall figure with a hooded robe draped around it.

No, that wasn't exactly right. From where we were looking, we could easily see into the hood—there was no face. It was absolutely empty. We could clearly see the inner cloth and the green embroidery inside the hood. It was the same inside the robe, all we could see inside the edges were shadows.

This was the same robes that GM's used during the beta, but they had their face back then.

The players around probably thought he was a GM as well.

"Is that a GM?"

"Why it doesn't have a face?"

Then the right sleeve of the huge robe moved as if to silence them.

A pure white glove appeared from the folds of the long sleeve. But this sleeve, like the rest of the robe, didn't cover any sort of body.

The left sleeve slowly lifted upwards, too. Then, with its two empty gloves spread out in front of ten thousand players, the faceless person opened his mouth—no, it felt like it did. A low, calm, male voice resonated from high in the air.

[Players, I welcome you all to my world.]

I couldn't help but snort at his words, "My world?", how arrogant, I wonder when this guy acquired a god complex to the point of doing such things, he deserved a beating.

[My name is Kayaba Akihiko. Right now, I'm the only person who can control this world.]

"What...?" Kirito suddenly exclaimed, I could see he was getting tenser with each word that left Kayaba's mouth.

[I think that most of you have discovered the fact that the Log Out button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug; it is all part of <<Sword Art Online>>'s system.]

"Part of... the system?" Klein muttered brokenly.

[Until you get to the top of this castle, you cannot log out of your own free will... also, the disruption or dismantling of the Nerve Gear from the outside is strictly forbidden. If these things are attempted... the signal sensors in your NerveGear will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain and stopping all of your basic functions.]

I lowered my head and prayed my new mother wouldn't do anything stupid, whether or not I would survive would depend on her actions right now, she should be home right now, and perhaps Kayba had already announced that on the media.

The people around started muttering and discussing the matter, but there was no shout or panicking yet, so they probably didn't understand the situation yet, or refused to believe it.

Klein raised his right hand slowly and tried to grasp the headgear that would be situated there in the real world. As he did, he let out a dry laugh and started talking.

"Haha... what's he saying? That man, has he gone nuts? He's not making any sense. The NerveGear... It's just a game. Destroy our brain... How is he going to do that? Right, Kirito?"

His voice broke at the last shout. Klein stared at Kirito, but he couldn't answer.

"He is telling the truth." Klein turned to look at me, his face was pale. "The Nerve Gear, I don't remember exactly the explanation, but the information available on the instructions that came with it had things that could allow such things to happen."

[To be a little more specific, disconnection from an outside source of electricity for ten minutes, being cut off from the system for more than two hours, or any attempt to: unlock, dismantle, or destroy the NerveGear. If any of these conditions are met, the brain destruction sequence will start. These conditions have been made known to the government and the public through mass media in the outside world.]

[On that note, there have been several cases where the relatives or friends have ignored the warnings and tried to forcefully remove the NerveGear. The result...]

The metallic voice took a short breath here.

[...regretfully 213 players have already exited this game, and the real world, forever.]

A long, thin scream was heard. But most players couldn't or refused to believe his words and just stood there slack-jawed or with a wry smile on their faces.

[Players, don't worry, my warning is being repeated by the media countless times and those 200 hundred deaths were already reported so the chances of someone removing your Nerve Gear has already disappeared, and with the two hours I provided you will surely be safely transported to a hospital and be given the best treatment. So you can relax... and focus on beating the game.]

"What?!"

"What are you saying!? Beat the game!? You want us to play around in a situation like this!?"

"This isn't a game anymore!"

Then Kayaba started announcing quietly with his monotonous voice.

[But I ask all of you to understand that <<Sword Art Online>> is no longer a simple game. It is a second reality... From now on, any form of revival in the game will no longer work. The moment your HP reaches 0, your avatar will be gone forever. And at the same time... your brain will be destroyed by the NerveGear.]

Watching it in the anime was one thing, but witnessing in real life was terrifying, it truly felt like someone was giving me the death sentence... This number on the top left corner of my FOV, 400/400, inside that blue rectangle was now my real life.

I'm not a data set in a virtual world, I'm a real person inside a new world that is fighting both against the world and the clock at the same time. Success and failure are all dependent on two things, keeping my HP above 0 points and killing Kayaba either on the same floor of the anime or on the hundredth floor.

[In order to prove that this is no longer a game, I have a gift for all of you on your inventory, please confirm it.]

As soon as I heard that I opened the menu and entered my inventory tab, after a quick search I found it, <<Hand Mirror>>.

Everyone must be wondering why he is showing that huh... Our real appearances. I looked upwards towards Kayaba and wondered if there was some sort of symbolism in his actions, using a faceless avatar and them showing us our true faces.

Somehow, this made remember of that quote, "If thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.", you gaze into the mirror and it gazes back at you.

I looked at the mirror for some time, and a few seconds later, white light engulfed me, it took 3 seconds for it to disappear, and sure enough, here I was, a boy with an average sharp face, brown eyes, and short brown hair, 1.70 meters tall.

Klein who once had a face similar to that of a samurai now resembles more a bandit than anything else, and Kirito, well he almost looked like a twelve-year-old boy or a fourteen-year-old girl! Amazing, in real life things surely look different from the anime.

"Who... are you?" Klein looked at us and asked with his hand trembling.

Seeing how shocked both of them were, I clenched my hand and threw the mirror in the ground, that made a shattering sound before exploding in blue light and disappearing.

It didn't matter if I was transmigrated or not, Kayaba ended up breaking one of the most taboo things to any MMORPG player, it was like he removed all our clothes and forced us to walk naked in public, as an otaku and an addict to games like world of warcraft, black desert and others, I could feel my blood boiling more than any other time in my life.

"Kayaba!" I pointed at him as I shouted, attracting the attention of the nearby players. "This humiliation... I will return it a hundred folds back at you! I'll make sure you'll pay for this!"

I wasn't someone that liked to pick a fight with others, but this guy was simply slapping at them and playing with their feelings. How could he do something like that!? He was definitely crazy!

It was only after shouting that I noticed, not only our appearances changed, even our voices were our real ones.

"How did he do that!? How does the game know our real appearance!?"

"... Ah, right!" Kirito shouted!

"There are high-density signal sensors in the NerveGear covering our whole head. So it can tell not only how our brains look, but our faces too..."

"B-but, how can it tell how tall we are?"

The average height of the players, who were now looking at their own and others' faces with various expressions on their faces, had been noticeably reduced after the change.

"This is probably because of the calibration... I remember having to touch my body in a few parts, maybe it was like that."

Klein and Kirito nodded. Calibration was where the NerveGear measured how much you had to move your hand to reach your body. This was done to reproduce the sense of movement accurately within the game. So to say, it was almost as if the NerveGear had data about our exact body shapes saved inside itself.

It was possible, making all the avatars of the players an almost perfect polygon replica of themselves. The purpose of this was also almost too clear now.

"See, it is like he said, this isn't a game anymore, we are not playing a role, we are living the real deal."

"But... why? Why would he do something like that!?" Klein shouted as his eyes shone brightly and his expression sunk.

"Why else? It just because he is a fucking bastard with a god complex! There is no other reason to do this!"

Hearing this Kirito and Klein clenched their fist, they knew I was right, and there was no way to argue about that, Kayaba was f*cking crazy and basically kidnapped 10 thousand people and already killed more than 200, even if his actions had a deeper meaning this was just way too stupid.

After some time, Kayaba's solemn voice sounded once again.

[You will all most probably be wondering, "Why." Why am I —the creator of both the NerveGear and SAO, Kayaba Akihiko— doing something like this? Is this a sort of terrorist attack? Is he doing this to ransom us?]

He paused for a moment before continuing.

[These are not the reasons why I am doing this. Not only that but for me, there is no longer a reason or a purpose in doing this. It's because... this situation itself was my purpose in doing this. To create and watch this world is the only reason I have created the NerveGear and SAO. And now, everything has been realized.]

The players slowly seemed to finally understand and accept everything, despair could be read on their faces as everything became clear.

[...Now, I have finished the official tutorial for <<Sword Art Online>>. Players—I wish you luck.]

This last sentence trailed off with a faint echo.

The huge robe rose soundlessly and started sinking, hood first, into the system message that covered the sky as if melting.

Its shoulders, then its chest, then its two arms and legs merged into the red surface, and then a final red stain spread briefly. Right afterward, the system message that had covered the sky disappeared as suddenly as it appeared.

The sound of the wind blowing above the plaza and the BGM that the NPC orchestra was playing came softly to our ears.

The game had returned to its normal state, apart from the fact that a couple of rules had been changed.

And the crowd finally reacted to the situation.

"No way! No way! This has to be a dream please I want to wake up!"

"Mother, father..."

"Stop this joke right now! I want to leave this place!"

Everything became chaotic in a couple of minutes, some crouched while clutching their head, and others started running, swearing and cursing loudly to anyone that was willing to listen.

They weren't players anymore, they were prisoners and there was no exit.

I knew what was about to happen, and for some reason, I didn't seem to mind the pressure that much, maybe it was exactly like that time I first fought against the boars, something seemed to be influencing me, keeping my head cool.

"You two, come over here for a sec."

Kirito grabbed our arms and dragged us out of the crowd quite quickly because we were near the edge. We entered one of the many streets that led out of the plaza and stopped behind an unmoving carriage.

He looked at us for a moment, as if he was organizing his thoughts.

"Listen to me. I'm going to get out of this city and head over to the next village. Come with me."

Klein opened his eyes wide under the bandana.

I was more or less calm with the situation since I already knew what was about to happen, and the reason I looked for him was exactly because of this anyway.

"If what he said was true, in order to survive in this world we have to strengthen ourselves. You know that MMORPGs are a battle for resources between the players. Only the people who can acquire the most money and experience can get stronger... The people who've realized this are going to hunt all the monsters around the <<Starting City>>. You'll have to wait forever for the monsters to respawn. Going to the next village right now would be better. I know the way and all the dangerous spots, so I can get there, even if I'm only level one."

Silent took over the place, I already had my answer but seeing how Klein seemed to be struggling with his next actions, I decided to wait for his answer.

"But...But you know. I said before that I stood in line for ages with my friends to buy this game. They would have logged in and most likely they'd be in the plaza even now. I can't... go without them."

I could only sigh hearing his words, that was Klein, he is loyal and always took care of his friends, there is no way he would have left like that, even Kirito seemed to notice that as well.

"I'll go with you." Both of them looked at me. "I don't have any friends waiting for me, nor do I know enough of this game to take care of myself with ease. Don't get me wrong, it is not like I want to use you or anything, but... Our lives are on the line now, one wrong step and everything will come to an end. I would be stupid if I refused to follow you, besides, who wouldn't want to follow one of the fifteen most powerful beta testers?"

Kirito nodded but remained silent. The atmosphere was a bit weird between us, so I opened the menu and sent a friend request to both of them.

"Klein... isn't it? Well, good luck, if you ever need my assistance don't hesitate to call."

He smiled slightly and with a nod replied.

"Thanks... Takashi." He looked to Kirito and with a sigh, he continued. "Thanks, Kirito, if both of you ever need my help just send a message and I'll do my best to help."

With a wave of his hand, he set off to look for his friends.

Kirito had already accepted my friend request by that time, we both watched Klein as he disappeared in the next street.

"Let's go." With only those words, we started running towards the northwest, to the village Kirito was talking about, we left through one of the gates of the <<Starting City>> and not even once turned back to look.

This is where the game of survival started.