Death game

The light faded and I was in the main plaza surrounded by thousands of other players. Each of them just as confused and some screaming about not being able to log out. I confirmed their claims by seeing that I too couldn't log out, but couldn't look into it any further as A voice coming from a giant cloaked figure began talking.

I was lost in my thoughts as he continued talking, a smile growing wider on my face as I heard more.

'Stuck here?"

'Death game?'

'Clear 100 floors to leave?'

'But… What if I don't want to leave?'

"Now if you'll look in your item box I left you all a gift." Kayaba spoke out from above and I watched all the players diligently check their inventories as if they hadn't just been screaming at him. They all pulled out a small mirror and I was just about to click equip on my own when the first flash went off.

Screams of surprise echoed through the plaza as everyone with a mirror was engulfed in a bright light, i shielded myself from the flash and then noticed that the people around me had changed. The other players began to realize what happened and all of them began shouting anew.

Accusations against people playing a different a gender and the like, only I did notice one thing. A character I had remembered seeing from the beta known as Mito had been standing nearby only now I was surprised for a reason beyond just him, or her, being a girl.

'Is that Amane's sister? Damn it what do I do now?'

Ever since I had been listening to Kayaba speak I had been slowly making my way to the edge of the crowd prepared to make my way to Horunka to finish the Anneal blade mission as fast as possible. But I promised Amane I would befriend her little sister, she had explained how outside of school she was loner because of her gaming obsession.

Can I just leave her?

'Damn it!'

And it looks like she has another girl with her. Screw it, this is a death game now after all I can't protect everyone. Perhaps I could protect her and even her companion..

Gah! It would even make advancing faster if I taught them my strategies and we would be able to take on larger mobs of monsters.

"Damn it! They better not slow me down!" I cursed under my breath as I dashed to the purple haired scythe user and the chestnut brown haired sword user.

"Mito, I didn't realize you were a girl all this time." I said as I approached the 2 of them in hushed tone. I reached for their wrists and gave an apologetic smile.

"Sorry for the inappropriateness of this but we really need to get out of here."

Mito looked at me in surprise but then she recognized me.

"Kabi? You actually have red hair and purple eyes?" She asked slightly stunned.

"No time for talking." I snapped with a little more venom then I really meant to. I still wasn't used having to talk to other people this much.

"Sorry. It's just you know as well as I do that this is about to devolve into panic. As well that we need to get as big of a head start as possible on the next village."

She stared stunned before looking over at the other girl who was staring around with tears budded in her eyes.

"Don't worry I'll help protect her too. She's your friend I'm guessing?" I say as I begin pulling them both towards the exit. Mito responds with a nod before taking her wrist out of my grasp and moving to be beside the other girl.

She cupped the girl's face in her open hands, stopping us from continuing forward. I wanted to say something, but maybe this would be faster than basically dragging dead weight.

"Asuna, I know this is scary but me and Kabi will protect you! He was the top beta tester and I wasn't far behind him."

I mentally snorted as while Mito was more skilled than the average tester she wasn't close to me. The only one close was Kirito as he hadn't needed parties to advance while Mito he always traveled with a group of around 5 people.

"We know this game, at least until floor 8. You'll get strong enough to not be afraid. Besides he's the best swordsman I've seen, he can teach you your sword skills a lot better than I ever could."

They conversed in hushed tones for another minute and I didn't miss a few recognizable beta testers sneaking out the front gate before us. I stepped forward and patted Mito on the shoulder.

"We need to hurry. I've already seen 10 other beta testers leave out towards Horunka." She turned and gave a solemn nod and then immediately wrapped a comforting arm around Asuna's shoulder and I sighed in exasperation.

Why do I feel like the protagonist of some trash isekai. My friendly nurse's sister just happens to be a beauty with a friend that's either equal or perhaps even surpasses her beauty. While technically in another world where if we die here we die in real life.

"I really hope I don't regret this." I muttered under my breath just as Mito finally convinced Asuna to move. I took lead and Mito followed close behind with Asuna's hand locked in her own. We rushed to the gate, dodging still hysterical players.

It wouldn't have been that bad but I saw kids no older than 8 or 9 being comforted by some older people who seemed to be in their 40s or 50s. I hadn't thought about it, but I'm obviously not the only one who might be trying to escape the limitations of my real body. Now there are people trapped in this death game who were just looking to escape or have a little fun after school.

Now they'll be here until it's cleared…

But, I don't want this to end. Even just these few hours here have been better than anything I've ever been able to experience in the real world. If it took us a month to reach floor 8 then if we, no matter how unlikely, kept that pace we would be out of here in almost 13 months.

That's not very likely though as dying his more permanent consequences. If the braver beta testers start dying and if the boss clearers suffer a major loss who knows how long we'll be stuck here. I smiled at that thought, but quickly shook it off as I saw another crying child.

Though it wasn't just children breaking down, it was teenagers, young adults, middle age and even a few elderly. While I may want to be here, they certainly don't. Could I really be happy knowing so many people are taken by despair being trapped in this world?

I suppose I could as it's not my fault their trapped here, but I can at least help clear the game for them. I'll be able to have my fun, and with the consequences there's no way we come close to beating this game in a year.

Shaking the thoughts from my head I look over my shoulder at my spur of the moment companions. Purple hair and brown hair flew behind them as they tried to keep pace with me. I had after all already leveled up quite a few times, while they are probably still level 1 or 2. I slowed down to just a little ahead of them to talk.

"Just follow my lead, I have a route that will help you 2 level up enough that we'll be able to breeze through the forest for the Anneal blade. I see that neither of you are short sword users and neither am I but it will be a good source col for us when we find our ideal weapons."

"What do you have in mind? Shouldn't we just get there as soon as possible?" Mito asked with a serious expression.

"We will be, but for the first 8 floors I have an easy farming route from city to city dungeon to dungeon. They're safer than the normal paths but offer up more xp if done right." I calmly explained still looking ahead, but I could feel her questioning look.

"Don't worry. You'll see, Mito." I noticed her nod out of the corner my eye and turned back to look at the mute of our group. She had a grim expression on her face filled with worry. We would have to get her confident enough in fighting that we she doesn't freak out when the going gets tough.

"Ahh, we're at our first checkpoint." I suddenly spoke out and slowed to a stop, the 2 girls stopping beside me with confused looks.

"Now Mito. How much experience does your friend here have?" She looked back at me with an apologetic smile as she gripped Asuna's hand.

"Well, I've been workin-" I cut her off.

"So none. Any VR experience?" They both stiffened when I said that, but I was actually glad.

"Good, that means she won't be restricted by what she thinks is the limits of VR. She'll learn how to fight a lot quicker than it will take to teach you." I continued and Mito's face contorted in annoyance.

"I know how to fight perfectly well thank you! I made it to the 8th floor in the beta too you know." She raved with a finger pointing at my chest, poking it to emphasize her point. I didn't let it faze me and just drew my sword.

"Okay then prove it. If you can land a single strike on me I'll let you continue to fight the way you do. If you can't in 5 minutes; you along with dear Asuna here are going to go through Kabi's exclusive training camp." She frowned at my words.

"You're underestimating, you'll regret that." She said while taking her beginner's scythe off her back.

"On the contrary, I know you're a decently skilled fighter. That's why I only gave you 5 minutes. You would eventually sneak some insignificant scratch in, but that's not going to cut it now."

I took a few steps back and motioned for Asuna to move off to the side, and she complied with a nervous expression.

"You got this Misumi." She said quietly and Mito smiled back at her.

"Just sit back and watch Asuna. I'll make pretty boy here regret looking down on me for being a girl."I just sighed again, as my basis had nothing to do with the fact she was a girl. She, just like every other beta tester I've seen, fight with such robotic and stiff movements that it doesn't even look right.

"Asuna, if you would call the start of the match however you like." I said with my sword drawn, point towards the ground and my left hand on my hip. Mito, gripped her scythe in both hands and held it blade above her head out in front of her. Asuna found a rock on the ground and spoke the loudest i had heard so far.

"When this rock touches the ground, begin." She looked between us and after getting nods from us both she tossed the rock up in an underhand motion.

I didn't track the rock with my eyes though, rather I closed them and focused on the sound. As soon as I heard the thump, the battle began.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~chapter end~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I changed it up a little. I had originally planned to have Kabi rescue Asuna and Mito when they were getting overwhelmed by the Nepenthes. However I decided to do it this way. And no Kabi is not going to be having Mito and Asuna as love interests. Asuna and Kirito will still be together.

I haven't fully committed to Mito being Kabi's love interest as truthfully I always liked Sinon more, but what can I say? Purple hair is nice lol.

I still don't really want to go through progressive, but as I've been writing I've been considering it. I think I'll do one more chapter and then the one after that will be the boss fight.

Next chapter should be a slight training montage/grind session with a little rescue sprinkled in.

Anyways. Until next time