Sword Art Online - A Tale Untold

March 31, 2026

A white muffler fluttered in the fresh spring breeze, which carried the soft smell of cherry blossoms. Resting on the slender neck of the young high-school girl, the muffler gave a pleasant contrast to the piano black school uniform. As Sinon walked towards the school gate she sighed. Normally, her Fridays were spend with a short trip to the convenience store, a light dinner, and a trip to either the fantasy world of ALO, or the post-apocalyptic wastelands of GGO. However, two days ago she received an e-mail from Kikuoka-san, a civil servant involved in the "Death Gun" incident, which invited her to the usual cafe he frequented.

Yet another sigh escaped Sinon′s soft lips. It was not that she disliked Kikuoka-san. In fact, she was grateful for him and his involvement in the "Death Gun" incident, yet there was something about his demeanor which she could not get used to.

"Come to think of it, Kirito was invited too.", Sinon thought to herself, unintentionally showing a smile.

"I guess if Kirito is coming as well it wouldn′t be that bad after al-", her train of thought abruptly stopped after remembering what happened the last time they were invited by Kikuoka-san.

A faint blush adorned her cheeks as she quickened her pace. There′s no way. There′s no way that Kirito would be bold enough to do "that" again. But thinking about it, because it was him it was all the more likely that he would do "that".

Sinon′s movements came to a halt, as she noticed a large group of female students gathered behind the school gates, giggling, whispering, and occasionally pointing at a certain individual that leaned against his motorbike. He was dressed in a navy school uniform, almost black, and gazed at the clouds in a dazed manner.

"He actually parked right in front of the school gate...again.", Sinon whispered to herself, astonished that she was still surprised by that young man′s unpredictable behavior.

As she subconsciously scanned her surroundings, she noticed that a petite girl, probably the same grade as her, held a soft pink colored letter in both her hands. Coincidentally, the color of that letter was identical to her innocent blush.

"This is bad.", Sinon exclaimed, as she hurried towards the navy black figure, trying her best to avoid the curious glances of her fellow classmates. One would think that they would lose interest after Kirito′s repeated appearances.

Sinon took a deep breath to calm her beating heart and raised her right hand, "Yo Kirito. Didn′t I tell you not to park so close to the school gate?"

Kirito snapped out of his daze, focused his attention to Sinon and replied, "Ah, good afternoon Sinon. But shouldn't it be all right? After all it is more convenient this way."

Sighing at that innocent reply, Sinon could not help but forgive his bold behavior. The piercing glares that pierced her back were a different story however.

"I...in any case, lets get out of here..."

"You are right, after all we don′t want to repeat what happened that one time when the discipline teacher showed up."

Sinon did not reply, but simply grabbed the light green spare helmet that was hanging on the bike′s left handle and fitted it on her head. That experience was traumatic. Especially after she had to explain her relationship with the attractive young man, standing just opposite of her, to the teachers, and eventually half of the student body that was attracted by the commotion. Sinon shuddered at the thought of going through that again.

Guessing her thoughts, Kirito gave her a mischievous grin and reached his arm over to hook her helmet up. Honestly, Sinon had already learned how to hook the helmet up herself, yet for some reason she kept that fact hidden from Kirito and let him do it for her. Despite how embarrassing it was to be seen like that, she continued to indulge in her guilty pleasure.

As both of them mounted the bike together, Sinon reached for Kirito′s body, wrapped her arms around his lean frame, and pressed her body against his. The few times he fetched her from school, despite her complaints, were the few times in which she could experience the same warmth which she had felt back in a certain cave during the 3rd Battle of Bullets. It felt like it had only been yesterday ever since her body was enveloped by this intoxicating feeling of comfort. His clear scent, his body′s steady movement due to his rhythmical breath, and his excited heartbeat that gave away his embarrassment, were all absorbed by Sinon′s consciousness.

"Just for now. If it is just when I am on this motorcycle ... it is ok...", Sinon inaudibly mumbled, dreading the moment they would arrive at the cafe.

"I...I will have the rare cheesecake with cranberry sauce together with an earl gray..."

"I want a baked apple pudding and a mont blanc. I′ll have an espresso as well."

As they both concluded their orders, Sinon faced the man sitting in front of her. Wearing a casual suit, and emitting a mysterious aura masked by a friendly smile, Kikuoka took out a tablet PC from his office bag and tapped the screen with his fingers. Even though she got relatively used to him, Sinon didn′t think that she could ever fully get accustomed to his presence.

"Well then, now that we have finished ordering, I would like to discuss the matters at hand. Simply put, I want to offer a part-time job to the both of you.", he explained with his ever present smile.

"Since this offer came directly form Kikuoka-san, the authorities behind this part-time job must be either shady or dangerous I am guessing. ", Kirito remarked with a complicated expression. However, his gaze sharpened, and the glint in his eyes revealed that Kikuoka was successful in capturing his attention. The same could be said for Sinon as well.

"Hahaha, nothing of that sort Kirito-kun, you must be misunderstanding.", the innocent civil worker reasoned, as he corrected his relaxed posture and adjusted his glasses. The contrast in aura was striking, causing the pair to tense up.

"The organization behind this offer is called RATH, and their current aim is to develop the next generation of Full dive equipment. Due to security reasons and regulations I cannot reveal too many details in a place like this, but there is an extremely large budget involved in this project. Knowing you, Kirito-kun, I reasoned that you would be interested. Fortunately, they have a need for experienced testers and veteran VRMMORPG players. I personally recommended Kirito-kun as a former beta tester and survivor of the SAO incident. As a second tester, I recommended Asada-san, as a veteran GGO player and co-winner of the 3rd Battle of Bullets. Additionally, after I heard about your contribution to the recovery of the Holy Sword Excaliber, I reasoned that you two were perfect for the job. But first and foremost, let us talk about the pay you will receive. It will be an hourly wage of..."

Not having eaten lunch due to a counseling meeting at school, Sinon unwillingly lost her focus. Instead of Kikuoka, her gaze was now set on Kirito′s untouched mont blanc. Before she knew it, her salivary glands cried in protest, and much to Sinon′s embarrassment, her stomach replied with a cry of its own.

Inevitably, Kirito shifted his attention to the girl on his right, who′s cheeks have reddened to the extent that he considered wether or not she had been hit by one of the Salamander′s trademark fire spells.

Responding to her irresistibly cute behavior, Kirito delicately pushed her targeted object into the radius of her attack range. The reaction was immediate. The sniper equipped herself with the one-handed equipment "fork", and mercilessly reduced her target to 70% of its former size. Sinon′s happiness parameter increased exponentially as she devoured her prey. However, the assault was not over yet. She swiftly reached towards Kirito′s espresso, and savored it′s contents. The symphony of flavor that spread throughout her mouth as a result of following the exquisite taste of the mont blanc, with the rich flavor of the espresso, momentarily overwhelmed her senses.

As she opened her eyes she was greeted by Kirito′s complicated expression.

"I didn′t say anything about the espresso though."

"Quit whining. Here, you can have a piece of mine."

The same fork that had just tasted Sinon′s soft lips was used to offer a piece of cheesecake to the opposite party. Her left hand hovered below the fork, and her body slightly leaned towards Kirito.

Her provocative response caught Kirito off guard, whose plan to tease Sinon backfired. He simply stared into her obsidian eyes, dumbfounded.

"H...Hurry up. This is getting embarrassing...", Sinon whispered, noticing the curious glances of the other customers in the cafe.

"Got it..."

Kirito leaned forward and accepted the cheesecake. Much like his baked apple pudding it was delicious. The flavor was perfectly balanced and the smooth texture was a product of the chef′s countless years of experience. But there was something else. A taste much sweeter than that of the cranberry sauce that accompanied the cheesecake. Could that sweet taste possibly be-

"I am sorry to interrupt you lovebirds, but wouldn't Asuna-san get jealous if she saw you like that?", Kikuoka interrupted while clearing his throat.

The pair was pulled back to reality, having totally forgotten the existence of the devilish man at the opposite side of the table.

Kirito was the first one to get flustered, as he exclaimed, "Of course its not like that! Don′t imagine weird things Kikuoka-san.".

As Kikuoka and Kirito started a comedic argument, Sinon unnoticeably lowered her head.

"That′s right. Me and Kirito aren′t ... like that. He already has Asuna, whom he has been together with for more than 2 years. I already know. I knew from the moment he introduced me to her. She is beautiful, kind, and smart, and he loves her with all his heart. He would never choose someone like me over her. I know all that, but still I-"

Sinon′s train of though was abruptly interrupted by the civil servants devilish remark, "Hahaha, of course I could never imagine a perfect couple like you and Asuna-san to break up. But still..."

He paused for a tenth of a second and shifted his attention to Sinon.

"It is quite a shame, Kirito-kun"

"Eh?!"

"Wha?!"

Having startled the both of them, Kikuoka was seemingly satisfied and continued, "Hahaha, just kidding. In any case I will have to be on my way now. I will send you the details by e-mail later this evening. Wether or not you want to accept it is up to you, but be sure to tell me before the beginning of next week. I look forward to working with you again. Kirito-kun, Asada-san"

He nodded at the pair as he stood up and left the cafe.

"Really, sometimes I just don′t understand what this guy is thinking. Also, he really did say something weird this time.", Kirito sighed.

"Of course. What a weird thing to say...", Sinon replied with a wry smile.

By the time they left, the sky had already been dyed in a deep red. Kirito dropped her off at her apartment, and as she waved at the disappearing figure of the man she had fallen in love with, she muttered to herself.

"Yes ... this is the way it is supposed to be."

April 2, 2026

"... and that is why the fluctlights produce an ultra-high quality environment once you dive. While it may be identical to the real world, remember that it is just a re-creation of the information stored in your fluctlights. Additionally, in order to prevent any discomfort during the dive, the system will automatically create a self-image of yourself in which you feel the most comfortable. Any questions?", the scientist asked as he explained the basics of the STL machine, which Kirito and Sinon were already connected to.

The duo shook their heads in a synchronized manner.

The scientist nodded, and signaled to the other researchers that the dive will commence in a few seconds. Immediately after, Sinon felt a floating sensation, and was seemingly lifted into another world.

"Fast!"

The single word that flashed through her mind perfectly described the sensation that she experienced with her five senses. Normally, when fulldiving with her AmuSphere, it would take several minutes to connect her senses one by one, until the fulldive was finally complete. However, the amount of time it took for Sinon to become aware of all her five senses in the virtual world was at most 3 seconds.

"So this is the difference in processing speed between the AmuSphere and this next gen fulldive equipment.", Sinon evaluated while shifting her focus to her surroundings. She stood in an empty space at the size of a narrow room, and noticed Kirito not too far from her position, who was clothed in an unfamiliar black longcoat and observed his immediate environment just as Sinon did.

"Judging from what they said, that must be Kirito′s self-image. Then what would be mine?", Sinon wondered as she lowered her gaze and observed her own body.

"This is-"

Sinon was abruptly interrupted by the piercing sound of millions of shattering glasses, and blown away by a force equal to a direct hit of her beloved PGM Hecate II. The space that harbored her and Kirito just moments ago mercilessly crumbled into nothingness at a frightening speed, while the virtual dimension shook with tremors equal to a small sized earthquake. In a desperate attempt to regain her balance, Sinon spread her legs and lowered her center of gravity. It was futile. The ground underneath her very feet disappeared, and a familiarly heavy weight on her back pulled her into the darkness.

"KIRITO!", Sinon screamed at the black swordsman that fell headfirst into nothingness just a few meters to her right.

"SINON, GRAB MY HAND!", he shouted out at as loud as he could.

He stretched out his hand to the outmost of his ability, and Sinon mimicked that behavior, desperately reaching for his black gloved palms. Their fingertips inched closer little by little, while the intensity of the earsplitting noise rose by the second. Yet, at the very moment that her fingertips brushed against his, a final tremor blasted Sinon and Kirito apart. The dimension started to distort, and Sinon′s consciousness faded into black.

"SINOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo...", Kirito roared once again, but along with the distortion of the dimension, his voice diminished into nothingness as well.

His plea remained unanswered.

_______________________________________________________________

April 2, 2026

"What just-"

"...malfunctions have occurred during the..."

"...the Quantum Operation Circuit shows an exceptionally high processing rate, despite that fact that..."

"Quickly! Analyze the conditions of the subjects!"

"...rate of acceleration rapidly increased!"

"...would need at least one hour to..."

Higa Takeru, who had just been called to the scene, observed the mindless chaos. White lab coats danced in the sky as the hard soles hurried around the room like a startled flock of birds. Higa himself, who was responsible behind the production of the STL, could have never predicted this outcome. No, that was wrong. It would be different if the problem were a reasonable issue that could be identified by rational means, but now... The problem at hand was neither rational nor reasonable. In fact, none of the many distinguished scientists in this room were able to form as much as a hypothesis, an idea, or even a guess as to why the STL reacted as it did. The Quantum Operation Circuit operated perfectly until something seemingly ... interacted with it. The very thought was haunting. At this point in time, the only Quantum Operation Circuit of this level existed in this very room, yet the data displayed on the dozens of monitor screens stated differently.

"It couldn't be...", Higa muttered in shock.

A rare expression overtook his face, as his eyes widened and his mouth went dry. The world around him became quiet, and solely his thoughts echoed in the silence.

"If I am right, then what is interfering with the Quantum Operation Circuit is nothing other than... No... It couldn't be... In that case, that would mean that right now, at this very moment, we are connected to-"

"Takeru-san!"

Higa was forced back into reality, as a young scientist ran towards him carrying a messy notepad.

"Takeru-san, the analysis on the subjects′ condition just finished. While they are not in critical condition, their fluctlights are now directly connected to the STL. This means that a forceful ejection could potentially harm their neural activity, no, their very soul themselves. But..."

"What is it?"

"... Before we were aware of this fact, we attempted to forcefully eject one of the subjects before the rate of acceleration could increase even further... but ... while the subject did not receive major damage, we observed damage to the subject′s long-term memory. Upon further investigation it was apparent that his long-term memory was only slightly affected, but we are unable to reverse this problem as of now."

"Who was the subject?"

"Subject #1..."

The young scientist hesitated for a second, as he stared Higa straight into the eye and stated in a serious tone.

"Kirigaya Kazuto"

3rd Month of the Human World Calendar, 379

The sunlight was unusually bright.

As Kirito′s consciousness sluggishly awoke from it′s sleep, the warmth of the soothing sunlight was the first thing it registered. One by one his other senses became aware of his surroundings as well. The ticklish feeling of grass brushing against his right cheek. The sweet scent of nearby flowers filling his lungs. The taste of fresh air resting on his tongue. The continuous chirping of numerous birds reaching his mind, and finally, as Kirito pushed his tired eyelids open, the brilliant rays of sunlight.

"Where...", Kirito whispered as he turned his head to the left in a lethargic manner.

"A forrest clearing?"

Bewildered be the strange environment which was laid out in front of his eyes, Kirito dispelled his momentary wish to continue sleeping, as he attempted to raise his body into a sitting position. However, he did not manage to do so, as an unfamiliar weight pulled him towards the ground. No. If anything, then that weight would be best described as ... nostalgic?

"No way?!", Kirito exclaimed as he instantly jumped to his feet.

As he looked down on his body, he could see a black longcoat partially covering his black leather pants and similar colored shirt. Adding to that, the nostalgic weight on his back did not vanish. In fact, it was as if the two entities on his back were crying out for him, screaming for him to wield them as he once did.

Kirito hesitated for a tenth of a second, before his gloved hands reached towards his back, only to be greeted by the sturdy handles of his beloved swords.

Kirito′s hesitation was blown away in an instant. The cold feeling of the swords seeped from his steady grip through his arms, and from there filled every inch of his body. Yet, that feeling was in no way uncomfortable. It was as if Kirito had reunited with a long lost companion, as if the one piece that was missing inside of him finally rejoined the very being that was called Kirito. The black swordsman exerted force into his grip as he fluidly pulled the two blades out of their sheaths, and harshly swung them towards the ground.

A white-black radiance illuminated the clearing. As if playfully arguing with each other, "Black Repulser" allowed the sunlight to dance around it′s razor sharp edges, and reflected it into all directions, while "Elucidator" greedily sucked in all light that dared to approach it. It felt as if, along with Kirito, the swords themselves awoke from a deep slumber, and were now shivering in excitement.

Kirito himself could not believe it. The swords he believed to have left behind in that floating castle so long ago have now returned to his very palms. But that was impossible. After all, they were virtual pieces of data. How could they be replicated this accurately in the real world?

"No, this isn't the real world.", Kirito remembered, as he desperately tried to recollect his memories.

"I am ... my name is Kirigaya Kazuto. I am seventeen years old and live in Kawagoe, Saitama prefecture with my mother and a little sister ... no, my cousin. I am single and ... I don't have a ... "

Kirito trailed off, as his heart was attacked by a sudden feeling of emptiness. It was as if something extremely important was missing. Something he forgot. Something he absolutely had to remember.

Trying to dispel the major discomfort that resided in his heart, he casually glanced at the two swords that rested in his hands.

"That′s right. The scientists said that my virtual appearance would be modeled after my self image. But is this really the virtual world? The graphics are too real. Plus, how is the machine able to read my memories and create an appropriate self image anyway?", Kirito wondered, confused by the newfound world he was thrown into.

"Wait... Did they not explain why? Those... what did they call them again... fluctlights? Is their research on the human soul really advanced enough to generate this kind of environment?"

Kirito let his thoughts wonder for several minutes, until his attention was ultimately pulled back to his swords.

"If it is possible to recreate 'Dark Repulser' and 'Elucidator', then is it possible to recreate 'those' as well?"

Without waiting for an answer, Kirito widened his stance and let 'Elucidator' rest on his right shoulder. The sword was instantly colored in a raging light blue flame, and dashed forward with a velocity that would normally be physically impossible. As the blade came to a stop around 10 centimeters above the ground, a light blue line was traced in midair at a 45° angle, and a strong gust of wind reached the trees on the opposite side.

"1-hit, one-handed sword skill 'Vertical'. It seems that even 'Sword Skills' are replicated in this world.", Kirito exclaimed in surprise, as he sheathed both of his swords on his back.

While we would have enjoyed to find out more about this world, and play around with his old companions a little longer, there were more urgent matters at hand.

After all, the last thing he could remember, was the virtual environment breaking down during the test dive, and being separated from Sinon. Kirito could clearly remember the distressed state he was in as he reached out for Sinon. Her fear stricken face was unbearable for Kirito to imagine, which is why he shook his head, and approached the edge of the clearing.

"Come to think of it, we have been spending more time with each other lately. I wonder if I should surprise her the next time by waiting at the school gate again.", Kirito murmured to himself as he came up with several new methods to tease Sinon with.

He could not remember when it started, but he had fallen in love with her for some time now ... Or did he?

A stinging pain assaulted his head once again, and Kirito wavered as he pressed his left hand against his temple.

"I am in ... love? But I do not have a girlfriend... do I? ...name... Her name is A...Asu-"

The pain increased, and Kirito was forced to his knees. Why was it that this pain occurred whenever he thought of the past. What was it′s cause?

However, suddenly a single person flashed in his mind. The pain melted away, and was replaced by a comforting warmth. The girl had a delicate figure, and wore a familiar black school uniform. Her red tie was covered by a white muffler, and framing her bespectacled eyes were strands of black hair that were tied together by small ribbons.

"... Asada. I love Sinon?"

Kirito inaudibly whispered that phrase and was assaulted by a controversial feeling. On one hand, something in his mind, something forgotten, saddened him to an extent that he would immediately discard such an unreasonable thought, but on the other hand ... his heartbeat fastened, and all of his senses were flooded by a feeling of comfort and longing.

Kirito stood up. There was no doubt about it now. His feelings for Sinon were true, they have always been. For that reason he could no longer waste time in this forrest clearing. He had to find her. There was no way he would leave this world without her, nor would he leave her alone in this unfamiliar world any second longer. He had to find her, and he had to do so now.

However, at that very moment, the sound of rustling leaves and footsteps filled the clearing.

"Damn it!"

Kirito had been so focused on his thoughts, that he did not notice the noise that was clearly noticeable now. But above all, Kirito cursed himself for not noticing the bloodlust that was emitted by the surrounding trees, or to be exact, whatever was lurking in the shadow of those trees.

Kirito quickly jumped back to the center of the clearing, lowered his center of gravity, and grasped the handle of 'Elucidator'. He remained in that position until the owners of the sickening bloodlust showed themselves. Kirito could not believe what he saw.

The beings that carelessly wandered into the clearing were goblins. Obviously, Kirito was familiar with the beings called goblins. Generally, they were weak, low-leveled monsters commonly found it RPGs that only possessed a simple AI, but what surprised Kirito was not the fact that those monsters existed in this world. Kirito had already decided not to be surprised by the appearance of such things in this unfamiliar world after holding 'Elucidator' and 'Black Repulser' in his hands. However, what shocked Kirito was the goblin′s demeanor, their attitude, their body posture, and above all, their eyes filled with life.

"Is it possible, that they have souls of their own?", Kirito thought to himself.

"But that is impossible. How could an AI ever imitate a human soul?! Wait. Could it be, that they have fluctlights of their own?!"

Kirito′s suspicion was validated as one of the 40 goblins that have already gathered in the clearing, started to speak.

"Kekeke, would you look at that. A weak looking Ium brat wielding two swords. Do you want to play hero, brat?"

"I was not mistaking. The mocking tone in there voice, and their speech is too advanced and original for an AI. Is that the power of the STL?!", Kirito though to himself in surprise.

He could not believe that the analysis of the human soul has gotten so far. If what he thought was true, then the STL was truly a device that trespassed into God′s territory.

"Despite how weak he looks, his equipment looks pretty decent. We might get a high price for that coat if we were to sell it."

"But Ium boys don't fetch a high price nowadays. Well, good for us. I was just getting hungry. Kekeke."

Their casual conversations continued, which gave Kirito time to analyze the situation. He was alone, and his enemy consisted of around 40 poorly equipped goblins. However, despite their rusted swords and torn leather armor, these goblins were not simple AIs but thinking individuals. That meant that if he would fight them as he normally would, they would eventually be able to adapt to his movements and corner him. Despite his experience and superior equipment, Kirito was not sure if he could survive this situation unscathed. Subconsciously, Kirito checked the upper left corner of his vision. As expected, he did not have an HP bar, nor any other HUD element in his vision.

Kirito corrected his stance and pulled out both swords. He was not willing to find out what would happen if his life dropped to zero, nor was he willing to find out wether or not this world had a pain limiter. Though Kirito could already guess the answer.

The goblins noticed the change in the black swordsman and readied their weapons themselves.

"Seems like he wants to play hero after all. Go get him!"

At the goblin′s command everyone charged in at once, not giving Kirito the benefit of the doubt, despite their previous mockery.

However, Kirito did not panic. He dispelled his previous fear and sharpened his senses. Time seemingly slowed down as his consciousness stepped up a gear.

"That′s right. There is one other thing that I can rely on.", Kirito calmly whispered in the silence.

He lowered his body even further, and placed his right sword parallel to his leg. His sword was covered by a pale blue light effect, and Kirito closed the distance of 10 meters between him and the closest goblin almost instantly.

Kirito dashed forward due to the one-handed charge type skill "Rage Spike".

Surprised by the sudden acceleration of the young boy, the goblin abruptly stopped, and raised his left arm in defense. However it was too late. The sword jumped up at an unreasonable speed and severed the goblins hand from his body. Kirito was momentarily surprised at the high definition details, as he gazed at the severed tendons and muscles, along with the cleanly cut bone at the center of the arm.

The goblins face was torn in agony, which validated one of Kirito′s earlier suspicions. There was no pain limiter.

Directing his focus to his feet, Kirito used the momentum of the swing to spin almost 180°. He put strength in his left arm, and buried the dazzling blade deep into the unprotected abdomen of the goblin.

Kirito raised his right sword to block the incoming attacks of two goblins, that were aiming for his back just 2 seconds ago. It seemed that they were planning to take Kirito by surprise.

However, the goblins were shocked once again. It was not due to the young boy′s insanely fast movement and reaction speed, nor was it due to the fact that he had already killed one of their members in a matter of 4 seconds. What shocked the goblins was the unreasonable weight of the sword that the black swordsman single handedly wielded with ease.

"How is it possible?! How do you wield such a sword like a twig?!", one of the goblins exclaimed in shock.

Kirito did not answer them. Instead, he repelled their sword with a swift movement of his right hand, which exposed their leather armored chests. He slid his left sword out of the previous goblin′s abdomen and positioned it to his left. A soft blue light effect covered the blood stained blade, and instantly slashed the two goblins. The 1-hit, one-handed sword skill "Horizontal" inflicted fatal wounds on it′s opposing enemies, who lifelessly fell backwards.

However, this was not enough. The raging beasts that were restrained by Kirito′s palms shivered in excitement. Their edges were sharpened even further by their wielders pressure, which slowed down the enemies′ advance.

As his jet black sword was covered in a blue-green glow, Kirito charged into the ranks of his enemies, and covered himself in their blood. Soon, it was no longer possible to differentiate the beast from the prey.

"I need to finish this quickly. If there are this many goblins gathered here, there must be other units in the area. If Sinon is in the area, she might have gotten into contact with those groups already!", Kirito concluded, as he rolled to his left to avoid a thrown knife.

Yet, despite his disadvantage, it became surprisingly easy to read the enemies movements, Kirito thought as he dodged an incoming strike at the last moment. Positioning his left sword at his right waist, Kirito activated the 2-hit, one-handed sword skill "Snake Bite" at zero distance and severed the goblin′s head.

Twisting his body to the extreme by sliding his right leg around his left in a pivotal motion, Kirito managed to avoid two other sword strikes. His right sword, that was already positioned at his waist, was covered in a crimson flame and parried the incoming third strike with a horizontal swing to the left. The three goblins were now lined up right next to each other, and each of them were wide open. Yet, the skill did not stop there. The crimson colored sword jumped upwards by 45° to the right and severed the left goblin′s torso. The goblin in the middle received the slash with his right arm and his head, losing both in the process. The goblin on the right followed the blade with a terrified expression, as it came to a halt just above his head. However, the crimson light effect still did not vanish. The red flame sparked for the last time, as "Elucidator" performed the final vertical slash of the skill, splitting the goblin into two.

As if surprised by the swiftness of the 3-hit, one-handed sword skill "Savage Fulcrum", the goblin′s body only excreted blood an instant after it was split.

Kirito ducked under a horizontal slash from behind, and blocked a vertical slash from his left by positioning "Dark Repulser" at a vertical angle. The smooth surface guided the rusted blade towards the ground. Kirito jumped to his right in order to secure his footing. The other goblins chased after him, but halted as Kirito′s right sword was covered in a sky blue light effect. 4-hit, one-handed sword skill, "Horizontal Square".

However, just as the fourth hit inflicted a deep cut on another goblin′s thigh, two throwing knives approached Kirito′s right leg and neck at terrifying velocity.

"So they ARE able of learning!?", Kirito thought in panic, as he jumped to the left at full strength, and parried an incoming sword strike of a goblin who predicted his movement.

However, since his center of balance was off and his posture still in mid jump, Kirito′s chest was grazed by the blade, which tore through his black shirt from his left collar bone all the way down to his waist. In all honesty, he was lucky to have survived that attack with a wound only half a centimeter deep.

Suddenly, a sharp pain attacked his nervous system, and Kirito was forced forfeit his counter attack for the sake of taking a deep breath.

"Hehe...How cruel of you Higa-san. This level of pain should be illegal.", Kirito thought to himself, as he tried to ignore the paralyzing pain.

"It seems that they were able to reorganize themselves faster than I expected. If I don't break through their defenses soon, the will be able to corner me from all sides. There is no other way. If I focus my strength on a single point and use 'that', I might be able to create a gap large enough to escape."

Kirito exhaled and tried to ignore the throbbing cut on his chest. He could not risk fighting those goblins any longer. While they were surprisingly weak when challenged individually, their fighting potential as a whole was not to be underestimated. Additionally, what set them apart from regular RPG mobs, was their ability to adapt, and to respond to the specific situation they were placed in. In other words, Kirito's wound was by no means a lucky hit. It was a perfectly executed plan.

A cold shiver extended throughout Kirito's body.

"This feels just like fighting members of the 'Laughing Coffin'.", he concluded in shock.

Yet, Kirito shook his head to dispel any remaining shred of doubt, as the next wave of goblins headed towards him. He merely stood still, waiting for their exposed skin to enter his reach. There were at least five goblins that fearlessly charged at him, and yet another ten that formed a second line of attack. Kirito could not underestimate those creatures any longer. He had to go all out.

With that in mind, Kirito activated the highest level dual-blades skill, "The Eclipse".

Both of his swords flickered, as if ignited by a snow-white flame, and eradicated the remaining goblins at breathtaking speed. Or at least that was the way he imagined it in his head. Instead, the dual blades in Kirito′s possession merely flickered once, like a weak ember during a stormy night, and extinguished.

Kirito was in a state of utter shock. He had timed this skill perfectly with the incoming attacks of the other goblins, meaning that he was now exposed and defenseless to several sword strikes from his front and his left.

"...Shit!"

Kirito immediately pulled both of his sword upward to receive the heavy blows, ignoring the numbing pain that seeped into his chest. He was careless. While he was pinned down by the goblins in front of him, another, who was hiding behind the frames of the attacking horde, jumped out from the blind spot created by his peers and threw a small knife into Kirito′s direction.

He had no way of dodging. The blade, around 20 centimeters in length, edged itself straight through Kirito′s left upper arm. The pain was indescribable. Howling in agony, his left arm wavered for a short interval, which gave the attackers enough time to break through his guard and cut into his left lower arm.

Kirito was unable to handle the pain any longer, and dropped to his knees while continuing to howl like a wounded beast. His left hand let go of "Dark Repulser" as the blood gushed out and slowly dyed his black sleeve into a dark-crimson.

"Kekeke, look at our hero-sama. It seems that he was full of surprises, but in the end is nothing but a little Ium brat."

Kirito faintly noticed the mockery of the goblins, but he was too focused to enduring the mind numbing pain. As he observed his surroundings with his dimmed vision, Kirito thought to himself.

"There is no way I can turn this situation around anymore. My left arm is injured, and there are way too many for me to fight by myself... Even if I try to fight back right now, I will merely stall my death. They have already more or less figured out how I fight, and for some reason I cannot use my dual-blades skills..."

Gritting his teeth, Kirito hardened his grip on "Elucidator".

"But that doesn't give me the right to give up no-"

Predicting what he was about to do, the goblin in front of him kneed Kirito in the face.

"Kekeke, don′t even try to fight back now Ium brat. At first I was planning to play around with you a little bit, but you really put me in a bad mood now. Just quietly sit there and accept your death!.", the goblin arrogantly stated as he raised his sword.

Kirito chuckled as he whispered to himself.

"Hehe... So is this it? Is this my punishment for judging the goblins to be inferior to me?."

Kirito raised his head and stared his executioner dead in the eye with an unwavering gaze. Of course the goblins were hideous creates, whose individual battle potential was extremely low, yet despite those circumstances, they were able to achieve strength nonetheless. It was wrong of Kirito to discriminate against them simply due to his past experiences, which is why he would be ashamed to be cut down with at least doing this much. While stile harboring contempt for the savage beasts called goblins, Kirito attempted to convey his respect towards them as well.

The goblin showed a complicated expression for a short instant, yet smirked as he swung his blade downwards.

"It was foolish of me to suddenly try out my dual blades skills without testing it out first. Not that it matters right now anyway ... I never would have thought that I would die here, in an unfamiliar world by an unfamiliar sword. If I had known, then I should have told Sinon about how I feel. I should have told her as I picked her up from school, or as I dropped her off at her apartment. If ... If it were just one more time ... I would have wanted to see her, just one more time ... and tell her..."

The blade moved closer and closer with each passing thought. Soon, it was only two centimeters away from his head. Kirito closed his eyes.

"Sorry Sinon ... I never said goodbye."

The rusted blade rapidly cut through the flesh, and edged itself deeper into the skull. An earsplitting sound echoed as the skull cracked into half and the blade finally came to a stop.

Kirito did not feel any pain, as the whole world stood still and everything drowned in silence.

___________________________________________________________________

3rd Month of the Human World Calendar, 379

The swaying of the grass, the pleasant melody sung by the nearby birds, the occasional breeze that carried the chill of a nearby river, and even the dancing shadows of the countless lush leaves that basked in the sun's embrace came to a standstill for a single moment.

Complete and utter silence spread throughout the small forest clearing.

In that infinite silence a single sound echoed.

The sound of a skull being split by a rusted blade.

"Sorry Sinon ... I never said goodbye."

A final thought remained in the consciousness of the black swordsman, who remained kneeling on the ground.

His senses were numbed and he could only perceive darkness and silence, the only thing filling this void being the final words he muttered, and the cruel sound of his own head being divided in half.

Yet despite all that, Kirito did not feel any pain. While he already knew that a blow from such distance would grant him a swift death, he still expected a short flash of torment before the blade could reach his brain and put an end to him for good. Though as it seemed, the shock rendered him immune to even that.

Then...

"I must already be dead.", Kirito concluded.

"Then is this it? The life after death?"

He smirked. A great number of beliefs and religions have sought to predict or imagine the phenomena which Kirito experienced at this very moment; the life after death. Most religions preached the life after death to be joyous, filled with happiness, and comfort. Some believed in rebirth, while others were certain about the existence of a realm which accepted all souls equally, disregarding their achievements and deeds from when they were still alive.

However, Kirito was unable to perceive any of such promises. He was surrounded by a soundless void that stretched far and wide, awaiting what would come next.

In spite of that, nothing happened.

It took him a few moments to dispel the shock and surprise that still lingered in his body, and realize that his eyes were shut tightly. Come to think of it, he could feel the moist fabric of his shirt on his skin, the reassuring weight of his black leather coat on his shoulders, and the comfortable weight of the hard leather grip in his right hand.

But why? Had he not clearly registered the earsplitting sound of cracking bones? While he did not feel any pain, Kirito merely figured that his nervous system was unable to keep up with the rate at which the blade edged into his skull.

Confused at the sensory details that fed his consciousness, Kirito dared to open his eyes and lifted his gaze upwards.

"Wha-?!", he could not help but gasp in surprise.

Judging from what Kirito had believed to be true, the goblin's sword should have been edged into his brain, meaning that the hilt of the sword should still be just barely visible in the upper portion of his vision. A small yet surprisingly muscular hand should have grasped the hilt, and be connected to the main body by the upper and lower arm.

Yet, the optical information that was processed by Kirito's mind slightly deviated from his expectations. Of course, the goblin in front of him filled his entire view, but there were two major differences.

First was his expression. His initial confident, blood-thirsty grin was majorly distorted by disbelief and pain which only served to make him appear to be even more hideous.

Second, and more importantly, was the absence of one of his limbs; his right arm. What remained was less than a fourth of its original length. The skin was torn up all the way up to the shoulder, though it was difficult to see the details as the whole wound was covered in thick dark blood. A shattered bone extended out of the stump, with little pieces of flesh dangling on its sharp edges. That was all that remained.

At this point, Kirito heard a low thud hit the ground to his right.

Still in a state of shock, Kirito slowly turned his gaze to the direction of the sound only to be taken aback again.

The rusted blade, which should have been buried in his head, had cleanly split the skull of a goblin standing farther to the right, and who had now dropped to his knees. The missing arm was still holding onto the hilt of the sword, resembling a scene straight out of a horror movie.

"...how is...?"

As if to answer Kirito's question, a deafening sound exploded to his left. He faintly registered a blurry movement in his peripheral vision. The projectile collided with the goblin towering over Kirito. With no resistance whatsoever, the bullet passed through the small head and slammed into the ground several meters further away, creating a small crater upon impact and covering its immediate surroundings in a thick dust cloud.

It was then that Kirito realized what had happened.

Shortly before the blade was able to make contact with Kirito, an unknown ally managed to shoot off the goblin's arm with pinpoint accuracy, effectively averting the rusted blade and causing it to execute an ally instead purely out of coincidence.

It must have been Kirito's distressed mental state at the point of his nearly averted death that caused him to subconsciously shut out any outside sensations. Even if it was the overly familiar explosive sound of an overly familiar projectile weapon, operated by an overly familiar companion.

Kirito tightened his grip on Elucidator and stabbed it into the ground. Supporting his weight with his beloved sword, he gradually rose to his feet. His breathing was ragged, his clothes were torn, and the pain that paralyzed his body before had yet to subside. Blood covered a large portion of his upper body, most of it his own, yet he could not give up just yet.

Taking a deep breath, Kirito pulled out the sword and pointed it at the closest goblin. Even though they were already startled by the unexplainable series of events, Kirito's unexpectedly daring action managed to confuse them even further.

He smiled.

Kirito's right arm folded towards his shoulder while his left moved slightly forward, causing the entirety of Elucidator to be covered in a crimson red flame.

He exhaled.

An earsplitting jet engine like noise reverberated through the forest clearing as his arm dashed forward at unseen speed. The shockwave created by the sheer force of the sword managed to stagger the army of goblins and once more engrave a primal fear into their hearts. The primal instinct of a prey in the presence of it's predator.

All but two were affected by the murderous presence which the wounded swordsman radiated.

One was a goblin, dropping to the ground due to gaping hole at the base of his throat.

The other was a concealed presence, positioned on a small hill to the left of Kirito, who had just finished reloading a second bullet with feline grace.

The sniper's adolescent face stood in sharp contrast to her icy glare. Her frighteningly beautiful expression betrayed no emotion as her slender index finger pulled the trigger.

"Three down...", Sinon murmured as she confirmed the elimination of her target.

Noticing two approaching goblins trying to take advantage of Kirito's injured left side, Sinon swiftly reached forward with her right hand an grasped the bolt handle. As her right moved forward, her left hand applied pressure to the main body of the rifle, and shifted the position of the muzzle slightly. Confirming the targets through the crosshairs in her scope in a split second, Sinon pulled the bolt handle in a fluid movement. An empty shell danced through the air while the bolt handle reverted back to it's original position, yet Sinon's hand didn't stop moving as it was placed next to trigger in a continuous motion.

No excess movement.

No excess force.

The perfectly executed procedure was completed within less than a second. The middle of her crosshair which was intentionally placed a small distance ahead of the moving goblins was now in perfect alignment to their bodies.

"Five down...", Sinon whispered once again as she pulled the trigger.

The fighting had already lasted for several minutes. Thanks to Sinon, Kirito was able to remain unscathed for the second half of the battle and prevent any further injuries.

Since they had only ever fought together as allies in ALO, Kirito was oblivious to the overwhelming advantages of having a friendly sniper for support, and reminded himself to ease up on the teasing whenever he visited her in the apocalyptic wastelands of GGO.

"Only ... one left ..."

Despite having dominated the battlefield, Kirito himself was in a bad condition. His breathing was still heavy, and although the throbbing of his wounds had lessened, he remained unable to resist the occasional jolts of pain.

Even so, the enemy party seemed to be in similar shape. Although never directly engaging Kirito in combat, this goblin was particularly agile and used many opportunities to attempt to injure Kirito while he was locked in combat. In fact, he was the goblin who was responsible for Kirito's gaping wound. Nevertheless, even his stamina seemed to finally approach it's limit.

"Heh... you fight well Ium- no ... human. Before one of us dies, please ... tell me your name", the goblin huffed between his heavy breaths.

Kirito was surprised by the sudden display of a swordsman's pride, but decided to honor the warrior by answering, "... my name ... is Kirito. Kirito, the black swordsman...", and even giving him his exclusive alias.

The goblin's eyes widened at the familiar name, but smiled as he stated, "My name is Abachi! It is an honor to fight a wielder of the oriental sword ... and die by his blade ..."

Abachi's smile vanished, and was replaced by a determined expression that betrayed no emotion.

Kirito responded by adjusting his stance, and preparing himself for a high speed dash. The silence was unbearable. Both parties endured the oppressive atmosphere until, finally, Kirito launched himself forward.

In a similar fashion, Abachi readied his curved dagger and started sprinting towards the black swordsman.

Considering the reach and weapon priority alone, Kirito possessed an obvious advantage. However, Kirito had already lost a considerable amount of blood, while Abachi was merely fatigued. Additionally, Kirito's sword skills, which were able to take the goblins by surprise at first, had already been seen and analyzed by his current foe, rendering them relatively ineffective.

Having said that, this could also be used to Kirito's advantage.

As soon as Abachi entered his sword's reach, Kirito raised his right arm and rested Elucidator on his shoulder. The seemingly casual motion activated the low ranking 1-hit, one-handed sword skill "Slant", which engulfed the pitch black sword in a light blue radiance. A split second later Elucidator darted forward at unreasonable speed and traced a sharp 45° angle in midair.

"You lose Kirito!", screamed Abachi as he raised his dagger to deliver the killing blow.

Having already seen Kirito use this skill to fight his companions, Abachi was able to grasp it's reach and speed, allowing him to predict the trajectory with frightening precision. The instant Kirito activated his skill, Abachi jumped backwards with all his might and managed to avoid the otherwise fatal blow. That alone showed incredibly talent and insight as a swordsman on his part, which was sure to blossom if he had lived only a little longer.

Expecting his obvious attack to be dodged, Kirito entered the second stage of his attack.

While Elucidator was still covered by the bright blue light of the system assist, Kirito forcefully interrupted the sword skill by manually changing the trajectory of the blade. A forceful interruption of a sword skill usually caused the user to become rigid for longer than usual due to the negative feedback, however Kirito took advantage of the residual motion left in his sword and placed it next to his left hip. It was immediately set ablaze by light blue flames once again, and darted upwards at a speed that completely disregarded the sword's innate inertia.

Kirito overwrote the skill interruption penalty by activating another skill shortly before his body was struck by the penalty. This ability of his was an OSS (Outside System Skill) which he created in ALO, called "Skill Connect".

Abachi, horrified by the consecutive activation of the same skill, was able to recover from his surprise at alarming rate and twisted his body to the left to the utmost of his ability. In spite of his efforts, Abachi's fate was inevitable.

Elucidator effortlessly ripped through the leather armor covering his body and dug itself into his flesh. Starting from the center of his chest, Elucidator broke several ribs as it moved upwards towards his left shoulder. The sheer weight of the sword created enough force to rip through the left lung by simply grazing it, and finally excited the body by shattering the shoulder blade and severing the left arm.

Compared to the stinging pain that Kirito was barely able to tolerate, his opponent was put in a state of agony that was several times above the limit of a seasoned warrior.

In a hopeless effort to eliminate his target, Abachi lifelessly staggered forward and aligned the tip of his dagger with Kirito. Yet, Kirito easily sidestepped the predictable motion, causing Abachi to fall over.

A low thud spread echoed through the clearing.

Unbeknownst to Kirito, an irritating feeling of remorse welled up in his chest as he regarded the slain warrior at his feet. He should have been merely a goblin, merely a collection of polygons given life by a simple AI generated by the system. Yet, as Kirito stared into Abachi's lifeless eyes he felt as though he had killed a human. No, more than that. A living being; a soul.

Kirito shook off that unpleasant sensation by sheathing his sword and walking over to Dark Repulser which still lay amongst the countless corpses. Eventually he would have to come to terms with the nature of this world, but he decided to postpone thinking about such matters for now.

As he picked up Dark Repulser from the ground he shouted in a calm voice, "Sinon! It is safe to come out now."

Sheathing his blade in a relaxed motion, he walked towards the small hill from which the explosive gunshots originated. It was only thanks to Sinon that Kirito was able to regain his composure and survive the onslaught unscathed. In fact, if not for her, then Kirito might not even be alive at all.

"Then again, we are inside the STL. Wouldn't we just wake up after dying in game?", Kirito wondered as he reached the outer edge of the forest clearing.

Despite all the mysteries surrounding that supernatural machine, Kikuoka-san wouldn't needlessly risk Kirito's life on a whim. Even during the Death Gun incident, it was Kikuoka-san who arranged for constant supervision of Kirito's heart rate for the whole duration of the dive in order to minimize risks. In other words, while Kirito was unsure of Kikuoka's true intentions, he did trust him to a certain degree. Which means-

"-that death in this world does not mean death in the real world."

Despite the reasonable conclusion, Kirito was unable to suppress an ominous feeling that was all too familiar. It was a sickening premonition of death which he had last felt almost two years ago ... in the death game called Sword Art Online.

Due to his reignited sense of alertness, Kirito broke out of his daze and looked deep into the shadows of the forest. Even if she was hiding far away, Sinon should have already met up with Kirito by now. However let alone meeting up with her, Kirito could not even find a single trace of her cat-like presence in the dimly lit shadows.

Cold sweat ran down his spine as he reluctantly thought back to his duel with Abachi. Disregarding the opening created by their first clash, Abachi was left wide open during their short conversation prior to their brief struggle. For Sinon who was able to accurately snipe a fast moving vehicle at a distance of 1km, the difficulty of eliminating a single immobile target at close proximity should be equal to tossing a scrunched up piece of paper in the waste basket.

"So why didn't you shoot...?", Kirito muttered in disbelief.

There were only two possibilities.

Either Sinon had depleted, or was about to deplete, her limited ammo supply. While this would have been a viable explanation to her reserved behavior, Sinon was not the type to needlessly risk her teammates' safety at the cost of her last bullet. Additionally, this reasoning would fail to explain why she had not yet met up with Kirito.

Accepting the remaining possibility as the truth, Kirito suppressed his fatigue and sprinted into the lurking shadows of the forest.

It was careless of him not to realize this before. Amongst the 40 goblins he had just fought, none of them displayed the necessary characteristics of a leader. The resulting unorganized and randomized method of attack granted Kirito a huge advantage by letting him exploit the openings in their formation, yet precisely due of this favorable convenience his mind was oblivious to the obvious truth. The leader was not amongst them.

Dragging his ragged body further into the shadows, he wished for nothing more than Sinon's safety.

She was a fool.

Whilst supporting Kirito with her beloved Hecate, a whirlwind of emotions raged behind her ice-cold facade.

The loud thumping of her heart was but an expression of the irrational happiness Sinon felt as she found Kirito alive amongst the countless savage creatures. Yet not a second had passed until it was not happiness, but terror that fueled her briskly beating heart. A terror caused by nothing other but a rusted sword whose mad descent likened that of a famished vulture.

Her usual calculated moments were not recognizable in the rough actions displayed by her trembling hands, while her irregular heartbeat grew louder and more intense with every passing second. By the time she spotted the goblin towering above Kirito through the scope, the blade was only centimeters away from his face.

Gravity. Direction of the wind. Moisture. Prediction of the target's movement.

Despite the fact that Sinon usually processed these variables subconsciously without effort, her mind deemed this process irrelevant in the presence of Kirito's eventual death. In fact, the very thought of adjusting the trajectory of her shot simply did not occur to her. To shoot just one second faster, for Kirito to remain in this world just a little longer, to kill his executioner just an instant earlier.

With these thoughts occupying her conscious mind in a maelstrom of emotions, Sinon pulled her trigger.

Passing judgement on the beast who dared to oppose her, Hecate, the goddess of the underworld, silenced the world with a single shot.

As if intimidated by the goddess' wrath, time itself came to a halt, heralding a timeless and soundless hell.

Even though her bullet missed the head, severing the arm instead, there was no trace of displeasure on her face. In fact, it only seemed fit that the beast who dared to oppose her should be punished for its insolence, and offering its right hand for such cause was only natural.

With steady movements, Hecate took aim once again.

As if the entirety of Sinon's emotions were contained in that first bullet, she was now left with nothing but an objective; to eliminate all those who meant to inflict harm onto Kirito.

She was not sure at which point in time she painfully realized that Kirito' s presence was accompanied by a faint flicker of her heartbeat, nor was she certain whether or not it was explicitly love which so easily tempered with her current state of mind. However, she was assured of one fact.

If not for Kirito, Sinon would have forever remained encaged in the trauma constructed by her own foolishness. Not only did he entrust her with the darkness he carried within the depths of his soul, but he also took it upon himself to shoulder her burden as well. He did more than simply rescue her from the depths of her own sorrow and guilt. He gave her the strength to let go of the trauma that haunted her for as long as she could remember, and gave her the chance to start her life anew. Rather than discarding her weak persona from the past, she accepted it whole heartedly.

Yet, as impressive as it might sound, the one who enabled her to take the first step was none other but Kirito.

Therefore, neither love nor affection currently resided in her heart. Sinon refused to taint such purity with the filth of wrath and contempt.

Instead, the source which fueled her merciless expression was not emotion, but logic. If the irrational and explosive fluctuations in her earlier behavior were the result of allowing her emotions free reign, her current sharpened equanimity stemmed from objective logical thought processing.

Having forcefully suppressed her emotions, Sinon truly became one with her sniper once more.

"Ice ..."

Whether this ominous chant was said out loud or simply existed in the mental confines of her mind was indiscernible.

"I am a machine made of cold ice."

And as such, her objective was simple.

To protect Kirito and eliminate all who meant to harm him.

However, as stated before, she was a fool.

While immersed in the relentless elimination of harm, Sinon failed to sense the concealed presences that lurked in the darkness of the forest.

Kirito's physical prowess had always been merely average. Even though he built up some stamina and muscle during the times he still practiced kendo with Suguha, he had abandoned most forms of physical exercise after his interest in computers and online games overshadowed his interest in said sport, and likewise his obligation to his grandfather.

His physical condition only worsened during his confinement in the floating castle of Aincrad. Though he followed a rigid rehabilitation program ever since, his body never fully recovered. This was evident in the numerous occasions in which Kirito was helplessly overpowered by his younger sister's shinai during their frequent kendo matches.

However, this was only true when solely restricted to the physical world. As soon as Kirito entered the virtual realm, his speed and agility were nearly unparalleled. That insane speed of his was partially achieved due to his natural talent and innate reaction speed, but was mostly a product of the processing power of his brain. While the rate at which the brain received, processed, and responded to the Amusphere's signals was also affected by the user's own talent and reflexes, it was majorly a result of experience and familiarity with the system. Kirito, who approached three years of total play time in the VRMMORPG genre, was therefore nearly unrivaled in terms of speed alone. While it was said that the "Absolute Sword" surpassed even Kirito in not only speed but combat prowess as well, such speculations remain debatable.

Nevertheless, even Kirito's agility would be affected after receiving injuries that nearly incapacitated him due to excessive stimulation of his pain receptors, and being weighed down by physical and mental fatigue.

Precisely because of his lowered mobility, he had trouble navigating through the lush forrest. While considerably meek when compared to the fantastical wild lands of ALO, the presence of hidden roots, moist earth patches, and thorn bushes effectively slowed down Kirito's approach. By the time he picked up on a trail of footsteps leading away from the clearing, ten minutes had already past, and it took him yet another twenty until he was finally able to catch up.

"They stopped?"

While not overly proficient at it, Kirito had learned to read trails during his years in SAO. Even if it wasn't an official skill included in the system, it was something he started paying attention to after being advised to do so by a certain mischievous information dealer. Naturally it was not overly crucial in day to day combat, though thus far, Kirito was forced to accept its usefulness on multiple occasions, which certainly helped in forgetting the unreasonable amount of Col he spend to coax the lessons out of that particularly sly rat.

This situation was one of them.

Judging by the quantity and density of the footsteps laid bare before him, Kirito estimated that the group he was tailing consisted of at least 60 - 80 people, yet the size and depth of the footsteps were clearly not human. In other words, the group ahead of him was an enemy battalion of goblins, similar to the one he had faced before.

However, that sheer number was off the charts. Even in SAO, let alone ALO, mobs of this size were restricted to trap rooms or high leveled dungeons, though even then they would be classified as rare. Needless to say, it was impossible for Kirito to face them alone.

While he was able to miraculously survive the onslaught of 40 goblins before, he suffered heavy causalities and was only survive due to Sinon's unexpected intervention. Taking on such numbers by himself was a suicidal act that would only lead to complete and utter annihilation. Even if he were still in top form, Kirito would be reluctant to accept such a quest.

However, Kirito had already made up his mind.

Leaning against a tree to allow himself a short break and regulate his breathing, Kirito's right hand unconsciously reached for his neck ... and grasped the white fabric that was wrapped around it. The slightly worn down, yet surprisingly smooth texture of the muffler made itself evident upon contact with Kirito's fingertips. It was not particularly thick, but Kirito was unable to deny the presence of a reinvigorating warmth that was not only restricted to his shoulders, but slowly spread throughout the entirety of his body. If his previous sluggish state was akin to heavy damp snow, then the revitalizing warmth he currently felt was nothing other but the fresh spring breeze infused with the fragrance of cherry blossoms.

The original owner of this muffler was plainly obvious. He had found it close to the beginning of the trail and regretfully confirmed the realization of the worst case scenario.

Sinon was captured.

Owing to her low proficiency in close quarter combat, it was likely that Sinon was apprehended almost immediately after being discovered, which increased the possibility of her being taken hostage, instead of being killed. In other words, it was plausible to assume that she was still alive.

Yet, such optimistic thoughts were restricted to the powerful.

In his current state, Kirito would never be able to match the combined might of 60 - 80 goblins ... and even that was merely considering the foot soldiers. Taking into account the effort Kirito had to go through in order to defeat goblins of foot soldier class, he dared not to consider the skills of the leader class goblin in control of this massive unit.

However, not once did the possibility of defeat cross his mind.

It was not a question of whether or not Kirito could defeat the enemy force ahead of him.

He had to save Sinon.

That was all there was to it.

Questions nor doubts were not permitted.

With newfound strength, Kirito approached the intimidating presence looming ahead of him.

"..."

The numerous goblins were spread out throughout the camping site, checking their equipment and reorganizing their belongings.

"... ..."

After confirming the annihilation of one of their three battalions by two mere Iums, they had decided to capture one of the enemy units, and deemed it a needles risk to attempt to capture the second.

"... ... ..."

After moving to a more secluded spot to avoid detection, the goblins decided to retreat to the Dark Territory. While the scouting party suffered great loss, they had gathered a sufficient amount of geographical information and even captured what seemed to be an elite fighting force of the enemy. At the very least, the unique fighting style that the female Ium displayed was valuable intel that would even please "Him". After offering her to "Him", "He" would definitely forgive their losses. A high reward was very likely.

"... ... ... ..."

However, the joyous atmosphere was not shared with everyone.

"... ... ... ... !"

... Especially not Sinon.

Her wrists and ankles were firmly held in place by coarse leather straps, and a rough patch of cloth covered her mouth, effectively muffling the many screams of protest.

While the cloth piece was originally considered unnecessary, this premature judgement was immediately retracted after Sinon showered them in relentless verbal assault. Sinon was completely aware of the unfeminine nature in her behavior, yet decided that this was neither the right time nor place to worry about such trivial matters.

Casting a quick glance at her immediate surroundings, Sinon slowly ceased her violent protest.

After being captured, Sinon quickly realized that her captors were all brawn and no brain. In other words, while possessing superior strength despite their short build, their intellect was rather low. In that case, Sinon might be able to turn their large numbers against them.

When moving in a large group, a lulling sense of security was inevitable. Sinon could not blame the goblins for giving into such temptation and becoming increasingly more careless, since she experienced this feeling numerous times herself when she first started GGO. It was only natural.

Therefore, it was only a matter of time until the goblins expressed their mental fatigue and shifted their attention away from their recently acquired hostage. Of course the goblins were not wholly uninterested in their human specimen, but they simply had more important things to worry about. Joy of returning home, unease of losing an entire battalion to two mere Ium, excitement of pleasing "Him" in front of their peers. The goblins gave into the traitorous sense of security and allowed their minds to wander. The blazing summer sun only intensified the lingering absent minded atmosphere.

Realizing that this may be her only chance to escape, Sinon decided to act.

Since any form of modern weaponry was a mystery to this world, Sinon was labeled a sacred arts user of incredible talent after being witnessed shooting her Hecate. Her her sniper was thought to be a sacred tool of unimaginable high priority as well. Assumably her Hecate had the ability to simultaneously create thermal and metallic elements in highly condensed states and discharge them at high speeds. The exact mechanics remained a mystery. Due to this very mystery, the goblins began to fear the unfathomable power that lay dormant in Sinon's sniper, and were therefore easily overwhelmed by a weapon of similar origin.

"Gah!"

The high pitched squeal was followed by a low thud.

Even though Sinon was bound by the thick leather straps, her feet and hands were bound separately, allowing her a certain degree of freedom. After a few tries, she managed to pull out her MP7 side arm and use it to stall her guards. Lost in the abyssal depth of her gun's muzzle, the paralyzed goblins dared not to move a single muscle and were therefore swiftly rendered unconscious after falling victim to Sinon's precise blow to their temples. Freeing herself from the crude leather using a dagger carried by one of her adversaries, Sinon first recovered her beloved Hecate and then set out to break out of her confinement.

Making use of the deep shadows cast by the numerous carts, equipment, and weapon stands along the way, Sinon carefully prowled towards the edge of the camp.

Her pace quickened...

... and got even faster still.

A lot had happened in a span of a few mere hours, exhausting Sinon in more ways than one.

Her body betrayed signs of sluggishness.

Her mind drowned in the soothing mist of fatigue.

Her emotional capacity was dried up from her earlier aggravation.

Freedom was so close. Too close.

Like a kitten comforted by the presence of it's mother, Sinon failed to notice the hounds' presence in the dark.

"!?"

Before she could even start taking evasive measures, freedom slipped out of her palm's grasp once more.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Ten steps away from the forrest's edge, Kirito clearly heard the high pitched cry of his feline-like companion.

"Sinon?!"

The flicker of relief was washed away by the thunderous waves of distress. While this is was undoubtedly Sinon's voice, proving that she was still alive, it was negative in every way. Her scream mostly emanated shock and irritation, though it was also tinged with traces of fear.

The leaves resting quietly on the damp, springy turf whirled upwards after a black whirlwind dashed forwards, crossing the entire length in a mere three steps.

As Kirito was already prepared for a one-sided fight on his part, which was evident by the lack of hesitation in his movements, he did not twitch an eye when gazing upon the figures of three bulky goblins towering before him. Their physique and equipment were leaps ahead of the worn armor and rusted weapons that Kirito clashed with earlier today.

"Leader class goblins?"

The thought flashed through his mind, and was immediately confirmed by the short amount of time it took the foes to regain their composure after witnessing a black shadow jump out from the forrest, and skid to a halt by ramming his sword deep into the ground.

While Kirito was aware of this opening that he could easily take advantage of, he refrained from doing so for a specific reason.

"Let her go now!", Kirito growled between his grit teeth; the sheer enmity that radiated from his tense expression was almost visible.

Out of the three goblin generals, the one positioned in the middle restrained Sinon in a grotesque embrace. With her arms wrapped around her sniper rifle, two thick arms covered her hip and her mouth, ironically resembling a heartfelt hug. While it could be considered fortunate that Sinon's back was turned towards him, Kirito believed this to be all the more cruel due to the shameless display of her desperate expression.

In a situation like this, Kirito had no choice but to momentarily his actions and miss out on the opportunity to attack. The at first confused goblins now looked down upon Kirito with bemused grins. It was then countless other goblins revealed themselves from behind the boxes and carts, and continued to slowly form a circle around them.

"Tch!", Kirito involuntarily frowned after realizing that he so easily walked right into the enemies' trap.

Nevertheless...

"I said let her go!", his voice did not waver in the slightest.

Bathed in Kirito's fury, the crowds' snickering was silenced.

"You don't honestly believe that you can can beat us in that state, do you?", mocked the general to the left of the one holding Sinon with a conceited smile.

"Kukukuku, he sure is stupid for a dog! I will enjoy ripping him apart.", followed the general to the right.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. It was my battalion that this Ium wiped out. Scum like this will be taken care of by me."

"Geh?! Just because your incapable squad couldn't even exterminate a single pest, doesn't mean that you can take all the glory for yourself! You are just a coward who is scared of reporting to his majesty after having all of his men slaughtered!"

"Hmph, I can expect nothing more from a best like you, who can do nothing but-"

"ENOUGH!", the mighty roar echoed through the clearing.

The one who put an end to the dispute between the two generals, was the leader class goblin in the middle. In shame, the disputers lowered their gazes. In spite of that, none of this was taken in by the goblin as he paid them no heed and locked his eyes onto Kirito's.

A few seconds passed as the goblin observed him with an evaluating gaze.

"Answer me Ium. Are you the black swordsman?"

Confusion briefly delayed Kirito's response, yet he still retorted back with a loud voice, "So what if I am!"

"I can't remember letting any of the goblins from before escape though...", this trivial thought remained unspoken in his mind.

However, as if reading his expression, the general answered Kirito's doubts, with his deep baritone voice, "Don't worry, you showed excellent skill in eradicating our scouting patrol. None of them escaped."

"Then how did he-"

"But that name is known to us for over a year now."

"...", doubt showed itself on Kirito's face once more.

"Nearly one year ago, our scouting patrol was repelled in the northern cave by a Ium who called himself 'The Black Swordsman'. Not only was he able to best 'Lizard Killer Ugachi' in battle, but the surviving goblins also reported that he ruthlessly slaughtered his underlings with ease as well. Naturally the story of the 'Black Swordsman' was discarded as a myth and the goblins involved in the incident were punished for their cowardice but ..."

Concluding the long winded tale, the general once again stared straight into Kirito's eyes.

"... it seemed they were right after all."

"I don't know what the hell you are talking about! I don't know about that frozen cave or whatever happened a year ago, and I don't care! I am not going to repeat myself. Give me back my companion!", Kirito's restlessness was a result of his confusion.

While it was certainly strange that the goblin knew of his alias, that alone would not have been enough to shake Kirito's concentration. No. What really shook him was the familiarity he had with the tale even though it was his first time hearing it.

Taking advantage of Kirito's silence, the goblin uttered one more sentence.

"Frozen cave ... I don't remember mentioning anything about the ice", he smoothly delivered this deathblow with a confident smile.

Sweat formed on Kirito's temple and gently ran down the side of his face. His open mouth was midway between refuting the words thrown at him, and declaring his will to fight, yet not a single sound was to be heard.

"What is he saying? Of course I don't know anything about a frozen cave. But ... Could it be... Could it be true? But how? This doesn't make sense. How-"

Lost in thought, Kirito's right hand left the hilt of Elucidator, and shakily approached his left shoulder.

His fingers, cold and trembling, inched closer at speed so slow that it seemed as if they were barely moving. With a final push, Kirito's distressed state connected his right hand to his left shoulder which immediately resulted in stinging pain running through his body.

"No. This is only natural. I was wounded before, so it is only natural that it hurts ... but ...", trying to convince himself, he uttered senseless thoughts in his mind.

Not that he had a choice. After all, with every fiber in his body, Kirito tried to deny the other sensation that manifested in his shoulder. A pain from a wound he had received long ago. Pain he should never be allowed to feel, from a wound he never received. Despite the summer sun glaring down at him, Kirito's body was frozen to the core.

"That's right ... this cold is exactly like back th-"

Before could make sense of the thoughts swirling in his head, a muffled sound pulled him back into reality.

"ARG-! ...ET GO... IECE OF SHI...HMPFFF-!"

It wasn't just Kirito who directed his attention to the goblin holding Sinon. Nearly all goblins, including the generals that were positioned at the flank, turned their heads towards the mysterious sound.

The goblin general who was now the center of attention, reluctantly diverted his gaze from Kirito and looked towards the prey in his arms. During the time he was occupied with toying with Kirito's mental state, he subconsciously loosened his grip on his arms. The difference was barely noticeable, yet it gave Sinon the necessary space to slightly shift the position of her arms without alerting her captor. Fitting her finger onto the trigger of her sniper, Sinon lifted her feet and tensed her the muscles in abdomen and her legs.

Her captor directed a question towards her, "What did you sa-?"

However, Sinon did not allow him to finish.

Swinging down her legs with all her might, Sinon rammed her heel into the goblin's groin. Following the motion of her legs, she arched her back and pushed against the base of her sniper with her abdomen. Even if only slightly, the unexpected strike caused her captor to moderately tilt forward, aligning him with the muzzle of Sinon's Hecate that inclined backwards as a result of being applied force to by it's wielders' arched abdomen. Awaiting the alignment, her index finger pulled back the trigger.

At point black range, the bullet completely ignored the existence of the goblin's skull and proceeded onwards without regard for any physical barriers. Meeting the goddesses' judgement head on, the goblin general's head vanished without a trace, the only proof of its former existence being the pink mist that surrounded the point of impact. Along with the head, the outrageous force cracked most of the upper ribs, and seared whatever flesh remained.

Fully absorbing the recoil with her body, Sinon was propelled out of the goblin's lifeless arms with no way of bracing herself for the fall.

This time it was the goblins' turn to be paralyzed by stupor. Kirito, now recovered, took a quick step forward and caught his companion with both arms.

"Huff!", Kirito suppressed his gasp for air at the unexpected weight that assaulted his body. While this was not the first time that Kirito carried Sinon in this manner (the other times were a product of more embarrassing situations, but these stories should be told another time), this was the first time he carried her together with the weight of her sniper, resulting in the complicated expression that was currently displayed on his face.

Regardless of that, he managed to successfully catch Sinon without losing his balance; and they were reunited at last.

This optimistic thought might be judged to be relatively over-exaggerated and rushed, considering that they were merely parted a few hours ago, however Sinon and Kirito were both subject to a successive series of unfortunate events that gave them little time to catch their breath. Subsequently their sense of time was elongated.

Nonetheless, right now Sinon was held in Kirito's arms. As expected, the goblins took a moment longer to regain their wits than the duo in their midst, which gave them the opportunity to remain in a world of their own.

With the extensive emotional turmoil the both of them had been subjected to, not to mention the physical hardships they had suffered, they were finally granted a moment of peace. Their obsidian and azure eyes joined together in a lustrous display of color. As Sinon gracefully raised her arms towards Kirito's neck, her sniper already placed on the ground, nothing prevented her from capturing the fazed young man in a loving embrace.

"Kirito ...", a soothing whisper escaped Sinon's lips.

Due to the close proximity, Kirito could feel her faint breath tickle his earlobe while the soft fabric of her muffler caressed his neck. Untying the ribbon that held the muffler together, Sinon's delicate arms inadvertently made contact with Kirito's body, returning him to the frozen state he was in just a minute ago. This time however, it was not the cold paralysis but a blazing warmth that assailed his body; especially his cheeks.

Yet, before his dumbfounded mind could produce a single word, the muffler was forcefully pulled from his neck and was followed by a fierce head-butt.

His assailant: Sinon.

"Uwaaa?!", letting out a bewildered gasp, the backwards stumbling swordsman stared into the eyes of a ferocious wildcat.

"What took you so long?!"

"... eh?", was the only thing Kirito could manage to say in the completely unexpected turn of events.

However, that only seemed to upset the fuming feline sniper more. Returning her muffler to it's original position, Sinon ranted.

"Don't 'eh' me! Do you have any idea what I've been through?! Do you have any idea how painful it was to watch as you were about to be killed?! How annoying it was to see you give up because of some stupid story about a stupid cave?! Do you even ...", Sinon continued to shout, using Kirito as a vent for the frustration that had been building up inside of her.

She knew that Kirito was not at fault in the least, yet she was unable to reign in the storm of words that poured out of her; and with it so did her irritation. After a while, her sentences became incoherent and non-relevant and her thunderous screams began to be laced with tearful sobs. However she still continued.

All the frustration that resided within her heart even before this incident, including but not limited to her unrequited love, was violently thrown at the black unwavering figure in front of her.

Nevertheless, neither surprise, shock, nor discontent was visible on the young man's face. Well, at first his face could do nothing but silently recover from it's bafflement, but as time went on his expression changed to a compassionate smile. Without replying, he merely stood there in silence and smiled at the flushed face of the teary eyed sniper. Whether her tears were a result of her anger or other emotions was unknown.

No matter how strong Sinon made herself to be, she could not get rid of the frailty born from her gentle nature. Even the most heavily fortified structure would budge under sufficient pressure, so the only thing Kirito could do right now was to lighten the load on her shoulders.

However, it was that very weakness that Sinon tried to hide, especially from Kirito. Regaining her wits, she slowly came to a close. While her earlier agitation and teary expression were gone now, a pink blush remained unnoticed on her cheeks.

Opening her mouth in a bashful manner, she was about to say something, when suddenly-

"You done?", the tranquility was shattered by the coarse voices of the remaining goblin generals.

"What a shame, it turns out that we can't let that Ium girl live after all. Bringing her back alive after killing a general would be a disgrace on our part."

"Which means we can slaughter them now! Kehehe, after bringing back their heads we are sure to get a reward."

"You are right. Even with how things turned out, the legend of the black swordsman should be enough to-"

Whether it was intentional mockery or simply coincidence was not clear, but for second time on this day, the brutish exchange between the remaining generals was cut off by the same word.

"Enough", Sinon muttered while glancing back, murderous intent now residing within her eyes.

A chilly atmosphere descended upon the campsite.

While this change of pace seemed a little extreme and sudden, it was Sinon's first time experiencing a new sensation as well.

Never before in her life had she despised someone; the feeling of hate was unknown to her. Although she had every reason to loathe the robber from her past, her "best friend" who tried to murder her, or the bullies that repeatedly extracted money from her, she could never bring herself to do so. Needless to say, she did not view them in an overly positive light either.

In any case, she was never given the reason nor opportunity to utterly despise someone from the bottom of her heart.

Until now.

With eyes that seemed to pierce through your body if you showed even the slightest opening, and the tense yet expressionless face of a cold hearted machine, Sinon simply glared at the source of her hate.

Even though the goblins were not the only entities that attempted to kill Kirito, Kyouji being a prime example, they were the only ones so far to commit these actions solely for profit and self-actualization. Once again, seeing as Kyouji's mentality defied the norm, it was hard to compare these two occurrences due to the circumstances surrounding them. In the first place, in a situation like this it was irrelevant whether or not the logic was justifiable or not. The hostility that currently made itself known to Sinon was simply the accumulated result of the earlier events.

Similarly, Kirito too showed none of his usual kindness. For him, the mere fact that they were callous enemies sufficed to face them with an unreserved attitude. Additionally, he would not let them off easy after witnessing their rough treatment of Sinon.

Kirito walked towards his sword that was still edged in the ground and placed Sinon behind his back while doing so. As he was not sure whether or not her mind was ready for battle, he believed it to be the best course of action to handle this himself.

"Leave this time me", he thus stated openly.

He was neither playing the part of the hero of justice, nor mocking the strength of his adversaries, yet this was not clear to everyone present.

"Hmph!"

"Ke."

The frowns of displeasure resounded in unison. Acting out of arrogance, the generals pulled out their weapons and signaled the surrounding goblins to stay back. This was their fight and their prey. No one was allowed to interfere.

The goblin to Kirito's left armed himself with a sword in his right, and an especially flat shield on his left. Looking closely, one could spot the well maintained sharpened edge of the circular disk.

On the other hand, the goblin on Kirito's right donned a crudely forget mace that emphasized impact damage.

Kirito himself simply walked towards his own sword that stood perpendicular to the ground and connected his palm to it's grip.

That action sufficed as a signal.

Almost simultaneously, the goblin bearing the mace charged forward, while the other unexpectedly threw his shield straight at Kirito.

As expected, the "shield" served another purpose, or rather it would be correct to say that it was never intended to be used as a defensive tool in the first place. Tightly gripping Elucidator, Kirito's consciousness stepped up a gear.

In his mind he considered the following:

The distance between the two goblins and Kirito was equal for both, meaning that they could have attacked him simultaneously from different angles if they charged in together. Instead, they opted for a totally different strategy. By throwing the cutting disk at the same time as the goblin on the right started his charge, Kirito would have to first defend against the disc (that naturally covered the distance faster than the goblin), creating an opening that the goblin bearing the mace could exploit. While the mace did not seem overly powerful, Kirito would still suffer fatal injuries if he were hit directly.

On the other hand, dodging was out of the question as well. If Kirito were to dodge left, he would undoubtedly be forced to meet the charge of the goblin on the left, exposing Sinon to the simultaneous attacks of the disk and the mace wielding goblin.

Similarly, dodging either above, below, or under the disk would create needless openings, while being in the mace's attack range, and expose Sinon to the disc's trajectory once again.

Naturally, his mind automatically terminated any courses of action that posed a threat to Sinon's well being and opted for meeting the disk head on.

By utilizing the 2-hit, one-handed sword skill "Vertical Arc", Kirito could string together the act of defending and attacking in one fluid motion. He would strike down the shield with a swift downward strike, and meet the mace's force with the chained in upward strike. Even though he would be subjected to a brief delay, the goblin would have his momentum stopped as well.

However, despite all the thought he put into it, this plan was still very risky, as it was largely dependent on the actions of the left goblin. If he were to remain as he was, victory belonged to Kirito, yet if he were to follow up with an attack, Kirito would be completely exposed to an attack on his weakened left while being locked in place by the right goblin.

With access to Dark Repulser restricted, this was the worst case scenario. Despite all that, the immobile black sword responded to the swordsman's will, alluding to his decision to wait out and observe the actions of the other goblin. Ripping through the earth, Kirito did not bother with pulling his sword out first and sprinted towards the disc.

Around 2 meters before he would made contact with the disk, he combined the act of pulling the moving sword out of the ground with the activation of "Vertical Arc".

CLANG!

A high pitched ring followed the union of metal and steel. The cutting disc was crushed helplessly under the enormous weight of Elucidator and discarded lifelessly on the ground. Ending the nearly vertical strike, Kirito's motion stopped briefly in a lowered stance, giving him the chance to observe the forceful overhead strike of his fellow combatant with calm eyes. The speed was neither great nor sloppy, and Kirito was confident that he could neutralize it as long as he hit it with a sword skill. That was still within expected calculations.

Flicking his eyes to the left, Kirito clicked his tongue in displeasure. Charging in at considerable speed was the other general.

Kirito did not panic, since he was well aware of this possibility when he made this choice. That did not mean that he was not anxious however. Nevertheless, the best he could do now is to neutralize the mace's strike and do his best to minimize any injuries. As long as he could overcome the freezing penalty fast enough, he would be able to retaliate.

Shifting the position of his wrist, the black swordsman used his entire body to guide the bluely lit sword upwards. Both weapons now a blur, their impact was heralded with a mighty blast.

In fact, that explosive noise that assaulted Kirito's right ear was mightier than any he had ever witnessed in a sword battle.

In fact, that explosive noise was very unlike the sound of two weapons clashing.

In fact, that explosive noise did not originate from the clash at all.

"Wha-?!", Kirito gasped due to the strange impact he felt in his right arm.

In his mind, he likened that tearing sensation to punching a moving train. However, before this thought even formed in his mind, the sword in his right was blown downwards and buried even deeper into the ground than it was before. Only the hand-guard and handle remained above ground. Kirito, with his arm attached to it, was subsequently forced to his knees, while the two generals opposite of him similarly fell to the ground; droplets of red glistering midair.

Kirito already lost count of how many times he was overtaken by surprise so far, but this moment was definitely added to the ever-growing list.

Taking a moment to recover from the intense vibration that were transmitted through the sword as a result of being hit by an "unknown force", Kirito turned around to look at the female sniper.

"... Sinon ...?", with a fake smile and twitching eyebrow, Kirito left the words 'what the hell was that?!' unspoken.

Yet Sinon met his concealed(?) temper with an impeccable smile that radiated cheerfulness. Likewise this expression was 100% fake as well.

Ignoring the clear implication in Kirito's tone, Sinon provocatively replied, "Congratulations on masterfully splitting that bullet Kirito-kun. As it seems you even managed to hit those two with your feat."

Her clear, ringing voice was laced with sarcasm.

Willingly taking the bait, it was now Kirito's turn to throw a tantrum.

"This isn't the photon blade in GGO but an actual sword forget of metal, you know?! What if you hit my hand, or more importantly, what if you broke Elucidator!? ... No never mind, but why would you even do that? I told you that I could take them on on my own!"

"Is that so? Then tell me how you would have handled that attack coming in from your left.", Sinon replied, now donning a serious expression.

"Ugh", Kirito visibly flinched.

"Plus, in the first place, we are not only friends but companions. Telling me to stand back while you get injured as a result is an insult to our relationship!".

The determination in her voice conveyed her true feelings. While Sinon was aware of the implications of using the word "relationship" she did not care.

"... I give up.", Kirito sighed with a defeatist vibe.

Sinon's honesty blew away any of his false displeasure, thus ending the short comical dispute (He would save lecturing her about his swords' well being another time). Looking at her face, he could not help but return her determination with a bemused smile.

"What are you laughing about!", Sinon's clichéd response, commonly seen in the popular anime's that aired in the beginning of the 21st century when the term "tsundere" was still popular, only further broadened Kirito's grin.

"Whatever. In any case, we need to take care of those guys first."

Just as Sinon implied, the goblins were far from being defeated. After all, not only was the sniper bullet split into two, but most of it's destructive force was absorbed by Elucidator half-way through; it was a miracle that it was neither chipped nor bent.

Despite that, the generals were not unharmed either. Even though considerable weakened, the bullet was left with enough force to pierce through the armor and cause minor damage. Yet, that level of damage was not enough to decrease combat ability. In fact, instead of weakening the two goblins it amplified their rage and bloodlust.

Ominously getting up and entering their combat stances, the goblins faced the human pair who were ... completely unfazed.

Sinon's cheeks were still faintly reddened, and Kirito still showed traces of a smile from their previous exchange. It was not that their earlier fatigue and tension suddenly disappeared, it simply seemed irrelevant. Finding comfort in the presence of the other, the emotional turmoil the pair had been subjected to, finally came to an end.

They felt no need to be afraid anymore, to be enraged, sorrowful, or anxious.

Simply by having each other, simply by being there for each other, they were able to accept that they were in an unfamiliar world; since they were not alone anymore.

At this moment they were truly reunited, even after the many challenges that were thrown at them.

Pulling out Dark Repulser with his right, Kirito walked forward and placed Sinon behind his back. This time however, it was not to protect her, but to entrust his back to her.

Being short-range and long-range specialists in their respective fields, they were able to perfectly cover each other's weaknesses and function like a single entity.

Kirito dashed in unison to Sinon loading another bullet into the chamber.

By the time the discarded shell danced on the ground, the outcome of the battle was already decided.

___________________________________________________________________-

3rd Month of the Human World Calendar, 379

The Human World.

With a radius of exactly 755 KiloMel, the known human world formed a perfect circle. It's circumference was marked by a gigantic mountain range, also called "The Mountain Range at the Edge", which protected the human realm from the monsters dwelling in the "Land of Darkness". The exact size, appearance, and even inhabitants of said realm was ambiguous, as no human had ever witnessed it with their own eyes. All but the divine Integrity Knights, messengers of the Holy Axiom Church.

Positioned in the center of the known world, the Holy Axiom Church was surrounded by the Capital City Centoria. Worthy of it's name, Centoria had a diameter of ten KiloMel, making it the largest known city in existence. Due to this, and the fact that it was the point furthest removed from the Mountain Range at the Edge, it's denizens were ignorant to the forces of darkness that dwelled beyond the mountain range, despite being the most adept at swordsmanship out of all the humans of the four Empires.

The exception, of course, were the Integrity Knights, who battled the armies of the land of darkness daily and kept them at bay.

However, there was another exception. This exception took the form of two adolescent boys, walking through the streets of Centoria in a casual manner. One was a boy with flaxen-colored hair, carrying a blue crystalline sword that was adorned with a glamorous rose at the hilt. Both, the sword and it's swordsman, expressed an elegant atmosphere which would not feel out of place in nobility. In complete contrast to him, the other boy had black unkempt hair, and a similarly wild appearance. Carrying not a sword, but a single branch wrapped in cloth, one would naturally assume he were a poor farmer, if it were not for his stainless clothes and full money pouch. Simply by waking through the crowded streets, the unusual pair attracted a lot of attention.

Yet what really distinguished them from the rest was not their physical appearance, but the power that was hidden underneath.

In this world, power was decided by four factors: Object Control Authority, System Control Authority, Personal Skills, and Imagination.

"Object Control Authority" was an ambiguous term that referred to physical strength, ability to equip stronger weapons, ability to tame wild beasts, and other things. In short, it was a calculated value of one's authority over physical "things".

"System Control Authority" referred to ones proficiency in magic, or as it was called in this world, "Sacred Art". The higher the rank of the spell one wished to use, the higher had to be the caster's "System Control Authority".

In short, Object and System Control Authority were precice values that represented a combatant's prowess in physical and magical attacks, which could be viewed at any time by summoning one's own "Stacia Window"

On the other hand, Personal Skills and Imagination were concepts that could not be directly viewed. Needless to say, Personal Skills referred to one's sword style, reflexes, prediction of enemy movements, etc., while Imagination alluded to a complicated procedure that pitted selected fluctlight signals against each other. In order to truly understand the power of Imagination, one first had to grasp the structure of this world.

This world, also referred to as "Underworld" by it's creators, was undoubtedly a virtual world. This was repeatedly proven by the existence of system commands, status windows, and sword skills. Having said that, it was not "just" a virtual world either, which could be seen by the unique intelligence of it's inhabitants to the point that they even possessed distinct personalities and motivations, and the sense of reality perceived by the five senses that was equal to the real world.

In other words, "Underworld" was a perfect virtual world that was inhabited by perfect Artificial Intelligences. It was a miracle made possible by the STL. While similar in concept, the STL operated differently than the NervGear, AmuSpere, and Medi-Cuboid. Instead of creating a virtual world consisting of polygons and immersing the payer in that world, the STL wrote mnemonic data straight into the user's fluctlight; his soul.

Inversely, if a user would interact with the world, he would send data from his own fluctlight to interact with the data stored in the "Light Cube Cluster", a device that housed the entirety of the world's information, and alter the stored information. For example, if the user were to pick up a branch in Underworld, the data in the "Light Cube Cluster" would be changed from "Lying on the ground" to "Being picked up" upon interacting with the signal sent from the user.

In conclusion, the imagination of a user held the potential to alter the information of the world as long as the interference strength of his signals were greater than the interference strength of the world's data, or that of another user.

Taking this theory to the extreme, it would be possible for a skilled swordsman to cut through diamond with just a wooden sword. Naturally, this remained unproven at this point in time, and was unlikely to ever happen at all.

That being said, having just entered the fifth district of the Capital City Centoria, the two conspicuous swordsmen weren't solely astounding in terms of power, but what they had been through to obtain said power.

"... Kirito?"

As mentioned before, the two youngsters drew a lot of attention merely by openly walking through the streets. While the dark clothed individual seemed to be completely unfazed by the inquisitive glances directed at him, his flaxen-haired friend seemed to be more conscious of them. Buckling under the pressure, he called out to his partner.

"Hmmm?", answered Kirito in a dazed manner.

"I wonder how he does that ...", Eugeo thought wryly in response, after realizing that Kirito was relaxed enough to daydream even in a situation like this.

"Even with your easy going attitude, this is a bit too much!", Eugeo complained in his mind.

However, since the initial objective of this conversation was to distract himself from the surrounding stares and not to lecture Kirito on his lax attitude (again), he did not vocalize this thought.

Instead, Eugeo replied in a meek voice.

"What were you thinking about just now?"

Being together with Kirito for almost a year now, Eugeo was already accustomed to his partner's habit of losing himself in thought. However, that didn't mean that he was uninterested in the workings of his partner's unpredictable mind.

"Ah, you noticed? Well I was just remembering that time with Selka. You know, back in the northern cave?", Kirito calmly muttered.

"You mean when we had to fight those goblins?! It was a miracle that we made it out of there alive... In the first place, why would you think of something like that right now?"

"I don't know, it just sorta popped into my head.", Kirito stated with a broad grin.

"Ah, what to do with you... In any case, if you have time thinking about random things like that, you should take your studies more seriously."

"But memorizing all those long spells is so boring. In the first place, reciting those in the middle of combat is going to be really difficult isn't it? In that case, I would prefer to just charge in and attack the enemy directly."

"I understand, but wouldn't you be at a disadvantage if your user managed to recite his Sacred Art before you got close enough to attack him?"

The conversation naturally shifted to battle strategies and sword techniques, which was a frequent topic the both of them were devoted to. Now at ease, Eugeo's previous discomfort seemed like a dream. Partially because of this and the excitement of finally attending the Imperial Master Sword Academy, he did not notice the faint shadow that clouded Kirito's eyes when he mentioned the incident of one year ago.

While Kirito did not have a bad memory by far, a lot had happened during the past year which lead to him forgetting trivial details of his first fight against the goblins. However, as the memory randomly popped into his head, he could vividly picture that scene with astounding accuracy.

Also, even if it was just for a mere instant, he believed that it was not Eugeo, but Sinon who was with him back then.

Blaming it on his fatigue from walking too much, Kirito shrugged it of without a second thought and continued his conversation with his travel companion.

+_____________________________________________________________________

3rd Month of the Human World Calendar, 379

The long winded fight finally found an expected conclusion.

After striking down their leaders, at least half of the remaining goblins sought vengeance for their slain commanders, while the other half saw this as their chance to escape. Even though both of them were surrounded by this horde of enemies, the pair managed to survive the onslaught without sustaining any additional injuries. That being said, it wasn't like they managed to pull off this feat without any sacrifice at all.

Due to Sinon's proficiency in long-ranged combat, she was responsible for creating a perimeter and eliminating those who entered it, while Kirito's mastery in melee combat allowed him to cover Sinon's blind spots and reload periods. By assuming this formation, they were able to overcome such a disadvantageous situation, though only at the cost of Sinon's bullets.

Naturally, there was no way to replenish bullets in this world, which meant that the ammo present in her pouches was the only ammo she would ever get her hands on. Forced to use her side-arm in the previous battle, Sinon was left with a mere two bullets for her Hecate.

Deciding that it would be best to avoid combat from now on, the two survivors relieved their opponents of their money pouches (whether this was survival instinct or a gamer's habit remained a mystery) and set off to find food and shelter.

Traveling south-west, they eventually found an abandoned cottage built on an elevated surface at the edge of the forest. With the blue sky turning into an amiable orange, the pair was subjected to a breathtaking view.

In the west they could make out the glistering surface of twin ponds, connected to an inexhaustible river that joined one side of the horizon with the other. A lush and vibrant orchard filled the eastern view, while the sight of a peaceful village adorned the landscape beyond the river.

Finding comfort in the tranquil atmosphere, Kirito and Sinon decided to stay the night.

"How do I look?", Sinon asked as she emerged from the house.

Already done with the preparations for the miniature sized campfire, Kirito honestly answered, "It suits you really well."

"...", Sinon was unable to reply in face of that straight-forward answer.

With her faint blush melting into the magenta sunset, she merely averted her gaze and sat beside Kirito.

Seeing as their battle attire had been soiled by dirt, blood, and sweat, they had borrowed a fresh change of clothes from one of the cabin's wardrobes and washed themselves and their original garments in a nearby well. However, since they could only find men's clothing, Sinon was forced to wear an oversized, woolly sweater that barely extended to her knees; all the pants she tried on would slide off her slender hips. Since this was only a temporary alternative, she did not mind briefly wearing this type of clothing.

The sweater itself was soft to the touch and was big enough to cover the majority of Sinon's bare body. Nonetheless, starting from a halfway point between her knees and her pelvis, graceful, peach colored legs peeked out from underneath the cloth. Also, due to the size of the hole, Sinon's exposed shoulder bashfully announced it's presence while bathed in the dim light of the serene campfire.

Faced with the combined might of innocence and allure, Kirito's earlier compliment was an understatement of epic proportions. While he himself was aware of that fact, he considered it a miracle that he was able to mutter any reply at all. In the presence of a side of Sinon he had never witnessed before, he became increasingly aware of her female qualities.

Donning dark leather pants and a black, long-sleeved tunic himself, Kirito broke the emerging silence.

"So, Sinon?"

Turning her head towards Kirito, she replied with an interested glance.

"How much do you remember from the time when the simulation broke down? As for me, after we were separated, the next thing I remember was waking up in that clearing."

"Same. After we fell into that darkness, I woke up next to that river over there. It was fortunate that I decided to look for you in the forest", Sinon stated with a relieved smile.

"Yeah... Thanks for that. I have no idea how I will ever repay you for that.", said Kirito with a serious expression.

"Ah... No thats... You don' really have to do anything..."

Sinon thoughtlessly hugged her knees close to her body while replying, once again displaying bashful behavior. Possibly due to the fact that they had eluded the enemies' grasp and finally found a sanctuary for themselves, Sinon's real world counterpart, Asada Shino, gradually took over.

Continuing the conversation, Sinon inquired, "Then how are we going to return to the real world? So far, I was unable to summon a menu or anything that could resemble one. Also, I don't think intentionally killing ourselves would be a smart move either."

"Hmmm... Well, it's not like this world came out of nowhere either, right? Maybe this is still a part of the simulation from before, and that 'error' that we experienced back then was simply a test of some sorts? Though I don't think that even Kikuoka-san would approve of something like this."

"Well, but even if there had been a mistake, they should still be able to monitor us from the real world. Judging by how they haven't ejected us yet, they probably want us to finish the simulation, despite the error that occurred that time. Either that, or they are unable to eject us at all, meaning that we have to find a system console in this world to log out ourselves ... But still, even for a next gen console, this is way too realistic. At first, I couldn't even tell that we are still in a virtual world."

"They did say something about using mnemonic data instead of polygons, but I agree, this is no different from the real world... even the pain...", Kirito paused for a moment while caressing his bandaged left arm.

"In any case, we should just try our best to finish this simulation. I am not too keen on finding out whether or not death could forcefully eject us from here by experiencing it ourselves either, so I'll be relying on your support once again Sinon!"

At the sudden change in atmosphere, Sinon tensed up.

"Ah- I-I'll do my best! ...I'll be in your care..."

By now, the sniper Sinon had almost completely vanished already, making the one responsible for the startled reply Asada Shino's meek personality.

Completely thrown off by Sinon's surprisingly cute behavior, Kirito could only rely on the darkness to hide his reddened cheeks.

"... likewise", he whispered with a smile.

The sun had already set by now, meaning that Sinon was no longer bathed in it's magenta colors. However, much to Kirito's dismay, her current appearance was ten times more destructive.

With the sun gone, the brilliance of the moon now bathed the human world in a clear light. As if attracting the moon's blessing, Sinon's arctic blue hair seemingly trickled down her cheeks like molten spring water. In contrast to her light blue hair, the flickering warmth of the fire danced upon her smooth, flawless skin, casting secretive shadows that emphasized her feminine curves.

Attempting to avert his gaze, Kirito found himself unable to move as he took in her breathtaking appearance.

Similarly, Sinon was at a loss of how to respond to his enthralled stare. Being aware of her own appearance only amplified her timid behavior.

"W-we should head to bed soon..."

"Ah, you'r-re right ..."

Hurriedly getting to their feet, Kirito and Sinon extinguished the campfire and returned to the cabin, only to find out that-

"...there is only..."

"...one bed?"

Just as one would guess, the east wall of the cabin was fitted with merely a single bed.

Failing to notice this sooner, Kirito suggested, "In that case, I will sleep on the ground."

"But your injuries still hurt, don't they? We managed to stop the bleeding earlier, but that doesn't guarantee that the wound won't reopen, especially if you sleep on the hard floor! It's alright, you can have the bed.", Sinon lectured in a caring tone.

"Ehhh, but I can't make a girl sleep on the floor either!"

"The let's share the bed."

Before Sinon could hold back that impulsive thought, it had already left her mouth. The matter-of-fact way she said it, made it seem like a perfectly logical course of action, yet merely considering the possibility of sharing a bed with Kirito caused a furious blush to assault her face, extending even to the tips of her ears.

"..."

Kirito was dumbstruck by Sinon's assertive proclamation. To be fair, it wasn't like he didn't consider this favorable option either, but it was simply that unexpected for Sinon to naturally suggest it herself.

"Well ... but if Sinon is ok with it, then I am going to be the weird one for going against it ...", reasoned Kirito with broken logic.

Answering an instant before Sinon was able to open her mouth to retract her earlier statement, Kirito answered, "Hahaha, you are right ... it's not like this is a big deal right ...?"

And so the situation spiraled even further into chaos.

Sinon, now unable to deny her own suggestion, was left with no other choice but to state in a dry laugh, "... you are right ... not a big deal ..."

And so their fate was decided.

Resulting in what could be easily the worst/best possible outcome, Kirito and Sinon ended up sharing the bed. Due to it's small size, the helpless pair was separated by only a few centimeters. Occupying the left half of the bed, Kirito faced inwards, granting him an unobstructed view of Sinon's back.

Having spent the last two hours in this predicament, the sleepless Sinon finally felt the irregular breathing behind her calm down. Not that this would improve her current situation at all, since the damp breath continued to rhythmically stimulate her neck.

"...is he asleep? How can he be sleeping during a situation like this?! Nhhh, why does he have to breath this close to my neck? I don't care anymore, I am going to tell him to turn around...", Sinon rambled in her mind.

Pushing against the downy mattress, she quietly turned around as to not disturb the silence of the night. As she would wake Kirito anyway, her emphasis on stealth was pointless, yet Sinon's mind was already devoid of logic; partly due to lack of sleep and an unfamiliar heat that gathered in her abdomen.

Accomplishing her revolution without much noise, the young maiden belatedly realized that she had gravely miscalculated her distance. At a loss of what to do, she ceased all movement and prayed to all the gods she could recall, "Please don't wake up!"

"... sweet ...", Kirito subconsciously noted instants before his dream-like slumber.

It had taken him nearly two hours, but the fatigue which he had accumulated over the day finally overwhelmed him like a flood and was about to put him to sleep.

However, midway through the process of shutting out his senses, an overwhelming sensory response pulled Kirito's lethargic mind back into it's conscious state.

With his mind rebooting, he could vaguely make out something "sweet" on his lips. It was by far more candid than the famous cheesecakes on Aincrad's 35th floor, and several times more mellow than the well sought after desserts in the Sylph territory.

This addictive taste chased away the remnants of Kirito's lingering sleepiness and nourished his longing for more.

Desperate to identify the source of that "sweetness", he opened his eyes-

"Eh-"

"!?"

... and was greeted by peerless azure beauty.

Trapped in an infinite dye that stretched from the cyan sky to the ocean's deepest blue, Kirito did not immediately realize that he peered into Sinon's eyes.

Startled by Kirito's sudden action, her mind was in chaos.

"AhhhhhH! He saw! I woke him up!? Nonononono, what if he thinks I am ...?! This is a misunderstanding! I need to apologize-"

"...this isn't wha- (t you think)", Sinon attempted to explain, though the last half remained unspoken.

With her lips already placed on his, Sinon's apology indadvertedly produced a contradictory result. That is, by moving her mouth, the two pairs of lips that were previously only touching, were now actively engaged in something similar to a kiss.

"!"

Sinon's body reacted even more furiously this time. Starting from the top of her spine, a heated shudder reverberated through her body, extending even to the tips of her fingertips and toes. If she were in her Cait-Sith form right now, her tail and ears would be rigid by now.

Next to her, Kirito was equally frozen. Not only did he wake up to Sinon kissing him, but after witnessing her taking it even further, the gears in his head overheated and scrambled his mind.

Still, thanks to his natural reflex he had developed over the years, he managed to pull away from the alluring temptation before he succumbed to it himself.

"Ah- I- I ... sorry or th-that!", he stuttered while assuming a sitting position.

However, his elevated posture now granted him a tempting view of Sinon's disheveled appearance. The loose sweater did little to cover up her petite cleavage and was just as inefficient in covering up her legs. Immediately averting his gaze to the side, Kirito rambled on.

"... S-sorry .. I should have slept on the floor! I m-mean you ..re a girl and everything, a-and ...", continuing on, his stammering filled the silence.

Meanwhile, Sinon was completely silent.

While clearly hearing Kirito's voice, none of that registered in her mind.

"I ..."

Moving up her right hand that was previously pressed on her chest, she was lost in thought.

"My ..."

Her slender index finger brushed against her pink lips, coming in contact with a faint dampness that was not her own.

"... first kiss?"