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“Well, while I was searching through my usual data, you had gotten a message from someone I had never seen before. Normally, it could be a spam email or some sort of scam, but it was neither of those. I checked who the message had come from but no matter how hard I searched, the person who sent the message was unknown. But one thing for sure is that it was directed to you.”
That sounded ominous. Now Kazuto’s interest was peaked, he had straightened his back as he looked at Yui. What could the message be about? Who had sent it? There was only one way to find out.
“Yui, show me the message.” Kazuto asked. In response to this, Yui nodded and used the Augma to pull up the message from his inbox. The message had suddenly expanded outward into a box of text, and Kazuto had immediately started to read through it.
“Hello, Kazuto Kirigaya! Or would you prefer Kirito? Regardless, I have come to you today to invite you to a game. Not a game in the standard-sense, but it acts like a competition. Multiverse Online, a ‘game’ that revolves around PVP. Through the usage of your Augma, you could easily enter this place. There’s no death involved but I can’t say there won’t be any pain. You have been chosen to enter this game as a contestant. If you choose to join, I’ll know. Just log into the Augma and use your usual Link-Start command. Oh, and don’t worry. You’ll be able to log-out freely and return safe, I know how sensitive that is to you. I hope to see you soon!”
“Talk about sketchy…” Kazuto said as he read through the message. Of course, this message was highly suspicious, and even more than that the chances of this being legitimate seemed quite low. He’s never heard of a game called Multiverse Online, while he’s heard and played VR-games centered around PVP, he’s never heard of this. For all he knows, there might just be a virus installed on his Augma. “Yui-”
“After reading this message, I had done a full-scan of your AmuSphere. There’s nothing strange or off about it, and even more it’s impossible for the AmuSphere to take a life. I did discover that a new program was installed onto it, a VR game, as the message said. But I couldn’t enter it or find anything about it…”
Kazuto was cut off before he could even ask his question. So this game was a complete mystery. It may be a legit game but was it for certain that there was no risk involved? Maybe Asuna was right, he had a knack for getting himself involved in strange situations like this. If he were to be honest, it’s not as if a part of him wasn’t interested in the idea. He wanted to see what this was all about. If there was no risk involved, then why should he decline? He’d be able to return as well. If the game blows then that’s that, and maybe it would come up in passing one day as a story to tell.
“I guess it’s worth checking out. It sounds sketchy but at the end of the day it can’t pose any actual risk to me. I’ll just check it out for a little bit and I’ll be back. Give me…a few hours, maybe?” Kazuto responded, making up his mind.
“Hm, if you’re confident Papa. I won’t stop you! But please take care. If you notice anything weird don’t keep it to yourself.” Yui replied, her tone seemingly a bit worried.
“A game where you can die is too easy. I’ll be back before you know it” Kazuto smiled, finding some comfort in that phrase he used all that time ago. He had climbed into his bed, placing the Amusphere on and relaxed his body. Once he had closed his eyes, he whispered the magic words:
“Link Start.”
—
Rainbow light had clouded Kazuto’s vision, transporting him to a far off-land that he would not be aware of. After a brief intermission of pure white, he had found himself suddenly spawning in some open grass-field. There were mountains in the back behind him, and even a pentagon-like building, each side of it being a tower. All of the five towers had a different color. However, while those were the things that were immediately noticeable to him, the next was that not too far away, most likely a few meters or so, was another person.
Kazuto had immediately reached behind him on instinct, an automatic movement. But once he did, he felt a sword on his back. It was a sword of a familiar weight, and that’s when Kazuto realized he wasn’t Kirigaya Kazuto, the high school student in the real world, but Kirito, the swordsman from the nostalgic SAO period. He was Kirito the swordsman, or some would call him the «Black Swordsman».
Of course, suddenly grabbing his weapon might have triggered a violent response in the other person. But this game was supposed to be a PVP experience, so wherever he had logged in had to be the «Battle Field». Looking at the other person, it was a male also holding a weapon just like him. A sword to be exact.
They appeared to be around the same age, he couldn’t have been much older than Kirito himself. He had blue eyes, and was wearing a loose blue-jacket. Over all of that was a black cape, if not for that and the sword he could very well just be the average japanese person. Whoever he was, he was already charging at Kirito.
“Already!?”
Looks like they were getting right into it. Kirito barely had time to react before he brought his pitch-black blade up to block against the strike. The sword he pulled out was no other than «Elucidator», one of his primary blades from the SAO. He looked forward, noticing that the hand of his opponent was glowing while he held his weapon.
“...That was a great strike. Just who are you?” Kirito asked, a small smile creeping on his face.
“Hiraga Saito. Are you also a person who entered this competition..?” He asked, looking back at Kirito as he held his sword. He didn’t look aggressive, he seemed to be in good-spirit. The weight behind the strike felt all too heavy for this to be virtual. It was an experience similar to the Underworld. It was hard to believe this could all be replicated through the AmuSphere but that was something he couldn’t exactly question at the moment during battle.
The two sword-fighters broke apart from one another. The speed behind his strike was excellent, it was a speed that far-surpassed humans. It was as if he was constantly enhanced beyond human limitations, if he had been any slower in his reactions then he would have been hit dead-on. This Saito-person would be dangerous to combat against if he were sloppy.
Kirito suddenly took a familiar stance with the distance he now took from Saito, putting his right foot forward, setting his sword behind, and beginning to execute the sword skill «Sonic Leap». Doing so caused his sword to glow a brilliant green color before his body was amplified and pushed forward by an invisible force.
Kirito leapt forward, cutting down to slash directly down Saito. A clean cut that he clearly hadn’t expected, but despite the clean slash Saito didn’t waver. Saito had quickly stepped back, raising his sword and slashed at Kirito causing him to back away. The speed of the strike was far too great for Kirito to get out unscathed, he found himself being briefly scratched by the blade as he backed up.
Then, the two swordsmen immediately engaged in fierce combat. Saito’s strikes were brilliant, he had a style that felt perfect, similar to his own. There wasn’t wasted movement, it felt like every move had been one that was engineered to be perfect. If Kirito had to describe it, he felt as if he were combatting a master of the blade. But even with this mastery, there were still openings to be found.
Clashing, sparks of the blades as they collided into one another, parrying and deflecting each other. Saito’s attack would be met with a parry. But even when Kirito tried exposing the brief opening that his parry gave him he found his blade blocked with a speed that was greater than human. Kirito prided himself in having fast reactions but Saito was just as quick.
“Damn you’re good. I never had to fight another swordsman this tough before.” Saito said, a few pants as he broke away from Kirito.
“It’s just practice..!”
Kirito said, the distance closing between them once more. Saito crossed the ten meter distance between them in a blink of an eye, there was practically no travel time between them with his constantly amplified speed. It was as if Saito always had a «Sword Skill» active, just on his entire body. Saito came down with a vertical strike, both hands on his blade to cut Kirito down where he stood. However, Kirito was expecting something like this. He already had a hand at his waist, his pitch-black blade taking a purple glow before he slashed upward. He executed the One-Handed Sword Skill «Snake Bite», a 2-hit sword skill. Due to the raw speed of the skill itself, the two strikes of the skill hit in an instant, it only makes one impact. The first strike knocked Saito’s blade out of his hands, the second one striking the boy head-on to send him flying.
There was no indicator to suggest when a match was done, but Kirito figured that was it. After seeing Saito fall, he let out a sigh. That was a fun fight, too many risky moments for his liking.
“Ah, damn it..! Those abilities you keep using, I can’t get around it. Is that some sort of magic? I’ve never seen a Sword Technique like that before.” Saito said, defeated. He held a hand over his chest, there’s some blood there but it was nothing fatal. He would definitely live to fight another day.
“Really…? You’d think- actually. Do you know what kind of place this world is..? It doesn’t seem like a game and judging by how I was able to hurt you, it has to be something else.” Kirito said, scratching her cheek.
“A…game? No way, or well, the way it was described made it feel like it. But I was invited to some sort of grand arena tournament. I was told it would be friendly and that there would be a lot of people involved. This is definitely my home, that’s for certain. But if it’s anything like a game, this might just be a replica of it.” Saito replied, picking up his sword and sheathing it. Noticeably, the glow on his hand was gone now.
“I see. It definitely seems like a fighting game but something tells me there’s more to this than we were told. Maybe it would be best to try and locate others…?” Kirito asks in response, sheathing his own blade for now.
“I can’t say no to that. I need to find someone anyways, they shouldn’t be too far from here.” Saito nodded.
Kirito was debating on calling Saito a partner, but the thought of that hurt his soul more than he would like. Ever since that incident in Underworld, he can’t bring himself to get close to another male his age again. Because of that, he wasn’t sure if he could do that in good faith.
“Alright, Saito. Just call me Kirito, let’s work together until then.”