Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンライン 1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Inthe year 2024 the first VRMMORPG for the Nerve Gear was released in Japan. The dream of any gamer finally came true, the dream where you get to fully experience what you want your avatars to do in any MMORPG. One of these gamers is Akio Katsukawa, a 15 year old teenager who lives with his parents along with his older sister, Kimiko and younger brother, Hayato. Akio is a simple teenager who is not afraid to show his love for games, even if that is the case that did not stop him from becoming a tad bit athletic which is shown by him becoming a part of his school's football team.

"Guys it's here!" Akio shouted as he burst through the still in his football uniform while carrying a big box. Loud footsteps could be heard from the upper floor before shifting to the stairs. Two faces leaned from the staircase. Kimiko, a girl that looked older than Akio who had brown hair going down just below her shoulders, the other one was a kid who looked roughly around 11. He had messy black hair that was cut short his name is Hayato.

"Yes! Come one let's hurry!" Kimiko exclaimed before rushing upstairs followed by Hayato. Akio just sighed before kicking his shoes off and running after them, struggling with the load both on his back and in his hands. Reaching her big sister's room he thought about knocking only to realize that he had his hands full so instead of knocking gently he settled with a strong kick to the door.

"Yeouch!" He yelped before kneeling to prevent his hurt foot from carrying his weight. Hearing the door open he looked up to see a beautiful 17 year old girl with shoulder length brown hair wearing a blue shirt with the words 'VR Gamer' written in English. Her lower apparel consisted of a white pair of shorts not even reaching her knees.

"Did you really just kick the door?" She asked in disbelief and Akio answered with a nervous laugh along with a sweatdrop causing her to sigh. She signaled him to come in and he complied. The room was of a western design, big enough to fit two beds and a computer with plenty of room to walk around. Setting the box down he looked around and saw his younger brother Hayato sitting on the edge of the other bed. He was wearing a plain red shirt and gray shorts, his messy hair held a dark color like Akio's.

"You lack common sense" She concluded before plopping down her bed. He didn't even think to argue seeing as how he found it true… to an extent.

"Come on! Let's open it already!" Hayato excitedly suggested, his excitement shown by him bouncing on the bed. The 12 year old had been very excited for this day, the day he could finally play with his older siblings.

"Hold your horses" Kimiko said in English knowing that Hayato wouldn't understand it causing the younger sibling to tilt his head in confusion. She held great admiration in the western countries so she spent her time with studying their culture along with English. Akio merely laughed before walking over to the computer table and picking up the cutter. Facing the box he twirled the cutter in his fingers before skillfully drawing the blade and stabbing the box and dragging the blade towards him.

"You always did have a flare for dramatics." His siblings rolled their eyes.

"What's life without a little flare?" He argued before opening the box revealing a dark gray helmet. Nerve gears are the console that allowed VR games to be played by sending microwave signals to the brain to stimulate the 5 senses of the body. This was his little brother's since he was the only one who didn't have one. He gave the helmet to Hayato before opening the closet and picking up 2 more Nerve gears placed in a lower shelf.

"Kimiko-nee can you get the copies?" Akio requested as he threw her Nerve gear beside her. She nodded before digging into the box and picking up 3 identical boxes and distributing it to her younger siblings. He looked at the clock to see that it was only launch would start at 1:00 sharp.

"Calibrate your Nerve gear Hayato, we still have 30 minutes."Kimiko said as he helped the youngest wear the helmet. Akio with nothing else to do decided to pick up a towel and head on over to the bathroom to clean himself from the sweat he accumulated from football practice.

"Gonna go take a bath." He informed them before going out of the room. After a few minutes he finished and decided to wear a blue jersey along with green shorts that had a purple trim on the edges. He went into the Kimiko's room again while still having his towel on the top of his head, drying off his wet hair. According to the clock it was already 12:55, five minutes left.

"Hayato done calibrating yet?" Akio asked as he continued to dry his hair before taking the towel off and shaking his head in an attempt to remove more moisture from his 2 month old uncut hair.

"Yeah we were waiting on you." Kimiko answered, she already had the Nerve gear on her head as she lay on the bed. Hayato was also in the same position only on the other bed. Akio picked up his Nerve Gear and opened the compartment on the back, he inserted the disk and closed it before putting it on his head. On the top left of his vision was a digital clock that said 12:58.

"2 minutes" He said as he lay down beside his sister, keeping his eyes on the digital clock.

"Hurry up time!" He heard Hayato mumble in excitement, eliciting a giggle from Kimiko and a chuckle from him. He could understand his excitement though. Around 2 years ago was when he and Kimiko got their respective Nerve Gear and they have been playing it for quite a while. She favored peaceful games such as 'Virtual Wonder Farm' while he favored action packed games such as 'Metal wars' but there were times they would play together although rarely.

12:59

The clock read. SAO promised an entire castle which was equivalent to the size of the earth or possibly larger and with that came the freedom to do whatever you want such as farming, fishing, cooking and even riding animals which perked his interests since he always wanted to ride a horse before and even dangerous stuff but you would be safe and sound in the confines of wherever you did a Full Dive. Taking in a deep breath along with his siblings he waited

13:00

"Link Start!" They shouted in Unison, taking them to the World of Aincrad.


	2. Chapter 1

**I do not own SAO (I wish I do)**

**I will make this story follow canon as much as possible**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**The Deathgame**

** [Most of you may have noticed that you cannot find the log out button. This is not a bug but an original feature of SAO]**

_What's going on? One minute we were in the fields and the next a forced warp transferred us here._

**[Most of you are probably wondering why I, Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of the Nerve Gear would do this]**

_What do you mean it's an original feature? Why? Why would you do this!? Ransom!? Or do you want us to be your personal guinea pigs!_

**[It is not for ransom. I have always dreamt of creating a world, a world I could observe and admire. That is why I created Sword art Online]**

_You want to play God? That's why you trapped 10,000 people in this virtual prison!? Kayaba Akihiko you…. You monster_

** [The only way to free yourselves is simple: Complete the game. One more thing: You can no longer respawn in this game so if you die, your avatar will be deleted and if that happens the Nerve Gear will fry your brain]**

_Complete the game!? Kirigaya-san only reached floor 8! The beta-testers didn't even get near 30!_

**[This ends the tutorial for the official Sword art online launch. I wish every player the best of luck]**

_Looking at my siblings I saw Kimiko on her knee trying to comfort a scared Hayato. I clenched my teeth as my fellow players started rushing out of the square. Kimiko put on a brave face while comforting our brother but I knew from the shine of her eyes that she is even more scared than him. I put my hand on Kimiko's shoulder and told her to come with me. Heading towards the «Starting Fields» I could feel my fists trembling._

_ "Mom, Dad… I will protect them"_

* * *

"Switch!" A black haired teen shouted as he threw a wolf off with his sword and stepped aside to allow a brown haired girl to step in with her spear glowing green before stabbing the airborne wolf causing it to shatter in bright polygons.

"The death in this game is too beautiful" Akio thought grimly as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead. The pair's heavy breathing was a sign that they have been doing this for quite a while.

3 weeks after the announcement of Kayaba, some still cling to the hope that they'll be rescued as they continued to remain in the giant starting city. The -Starting Fields- have been hoarded by players who started to fight back, those who want to finish this game and go back home to their families and friends.

Some players couldn't take the pressure and the truth that they were trapped in this world and so they sought freedom. By jumping off of the castle itself while some just didn't know what to do and got themselves killed in the fields. The casualties neared 2,000. 20% of the players trapped here.

"I am gonna have to thank Kazuto for telling me about this stuff" Akio said as he looked at the forest near them. With the «Starting Fields» filled with other players the two had no choice but to pick off mobs near the «Forest Region». The players that decided to clear this floor had started grinding. It was now common to find a level 3 player among them but the problem was that they only fought mobs with levels lower than them making their progress slow but none of them complained seeing as how they prioritized their own safety first. Akio on the other hand was already level 6 and is now helping his big sister, Kimiko who is currently on level 3.

"I wonder how Hayato is doing" Kimiko wondered as she absent mindedly nibbled on some herbs. They had left their little brother in the starting city with Sasha, a lady who had taken it upon herself to take care of the kids who doesn't know anything about what was going on.

"He should be fine, after all Sasha is there to look after him." Akio reassured her. Kimiko merely nodded before hearing a growl from the shrubs. From the shrubs 4 wolves slowly came out, their furs took on the hue of light gray giving off the impression that they came from caves. Normal players would scurry off when they see that they are outnumbered or the more brave ones could possibly die. Akio is an above average player but Kimiko had been thought Sojutsu, The way of the spear.

Akio readied his standard «Iron sword» and allowed it to gain a red glow. As if on cue the wolves started to charge. The first wolf leapt and bared it's fangs but Akio merely smirked as he performed a «Linear» stabbing right through the wolf's head instantly shattering the canine. This world created by Kayaba held details that rivaled reality when it comes to fights. Weak points could be taken advantage off and no bugs had been found by the beta-testers and certainly haven't found any now.

Kimiko stood ready with her «Long Spear», eyeing the wolf as they circled one another. Kimiko made the first move as the tip of her spear glowed green before executing «Pierce» a simple sword skill that any spear could use. She thrusted her spear forward, the wolf narrowly dodged the quick skill before leaping up to tackle her but before it could even get close she stepped her foot back and twisted her body while following it up with her spear causing the tackle to miss and hitting the wolf below the tail dropping the wolf's HP. Turning to the other wolf her spear's tip started glowing blue. She swung her spear above her head, gaining momentum before performing a horizontal swing, effectively slapping the wolf on the face and sending it flying. «Gale Swing» is one of her newly acquired skills, aside from the fact it has to wind up it also deals low damage compared to other Long spear skills but the best thing about it was it had one of the widest range and knockbacks enemies a fair distance away. Facing the other that she had wounded, she swiftly performed another «Pierce» penetrating the wolf's stomach causing the wolf to let out a pained howl before shattering into polygons.

Letting out a shout, Akio performed a «Slant», shattering another wolf. Seeing the one his sister threw off he went into a full blown sprint before leaping with his sword over his head, glowing red. He brought his sword down, slicing the mob in half. For a moment everything fell silent before the sound of shattering polygons broke the barrier. Akio stood up and sheathed his blade on his right hip. Looking up he noticed that the sun was about to set soon.

"Kim, let's go back its starting to get dark" Akio suggested, calling her by her avatar name. Ever since this started they had agreed to call each other by their username just for the sake of their avatars. Nodding, they walked away from the forest and headed towards the city.

"By the way Tsukio, why are you still in your starting gear?" She asked as she observed Akio's green «Starting Armor» but before he could answer a shout from a player interrupted.

"Stop hogging my spot! Get your own!" it sounded "What do you mean your spot!?" another argued. The «Starting Fields» was filled with players, desperate to kill a «Blue Boar». None of these players even came near to the other regions because of their paranoia. Arguments could be heard all around while some just decided to quietly party with others to gain equal EXP. Akio had talked to some of these players and offered to help them level up near the forest but they just branded him as either suicidal or insane.

"If these guys are the ones that plan on helping finish this floor we're gonna be here for a while" Kimiko complained grimly. It was true, if you're a level 2 player killing level 1 mobs you would only get around half of the standard EXP, and these boars don't give out a lot.

A familiar blue light shone a few feet away from the players before dimming and revealing a «Blue Boar», players moved as one towards the mob and proceeded to kill it but one thing the pair noticed was no glow came from their weapons, they just hacked and slashed like there was no tomorrow, desperate to get a hit just so they could gain EXP. He would have laughed at them if they weren't so desperate. Looking at the sky, he saw that instead of the bright blue color it was now tinted with orange.

"Everyone! Daylight is about to disappear!" Akio shouted as loud as he could as to warn them. Another concerned player shouted as well and soon another. Players started to return to the «Starting City» and soon only a few players remained.

"Good to know some still care about others" Kimiko smiled, to which Akio nodded in agreement.

* * *

The city was filled, players could be seen walking and idly chatting with one another while some viewed goods on both NPC and player merchants. Some players don't seem to have any weapons.

"Probably those who decided to live a peaceful life" Akio thought as he looked around.

"I am gonna go see Hayto" Kimiko said before running off to the church. Akio scratched the back of his head before hearing the familiar chime, indicating a PM.

"How's the grind?" The message was from Klein, one of the players he had befriended. He invited Akio to join their group, to which they plan on turning into a guild, but the teen kindly declined seeing as how his siblings were his top priority now. Klein respected that and decided to add him to his friends list so he could at least monitor how he was doing.

"No change, just helped my sister level a little." He replied but only managed to grasp the problem in his reply after he had pressed send. Almost immediately another chime sounded.

"You have a sister!? How old is he? Does she look good? Does she need protection from mobs? Introduce me later ok?" The reply was long considering the one second gap. Akio laughed nervously before writing a reply.

"See ya" His reply was short but he hoped that Klein would get it but that hope went down the drain the moment another chime sounded. Ignoring the constant chime sound he continued walking around the merchant district hoping for some better equipment, until the sound of his stomach growling stopped him.

"Time to get some bread I guess" He mused before going over to an NPC and buying 4 breads. Going to a local Inn, he asked the NPC permission to use the kitchen. He materialized the bread on the counter top, along with some «Boar Meat». He scrolled his inventory and found the items he was looking for. «Salt» and «Pepper» shakers materialized on the counter top. Tapping his left finger on the «Pepper» and his right on the «Salt» he glided them over the meat, letting the system spread the spice over it. Opening his inventory he chose «Cooking tool» and out came a kitchen knife. Tapping it on the meat, it suddenly split into 3 «Cut Meat (Boar)», unequipping the tool he tapped his finger on the meat and tapped the bread, making a simple sandwich.

"Good thing about this place is that anyone can cook with the proper level" He thought before storing the sandwiches and nibbling on the remaining bread. He walks out of the Inn happy with his work. He invested some time to level his cooking because of the lack of flavorful food, he doesn't plan on mastering it though. Continuing his walk around the district he found out that Klein had finally stopped sending messages, looking into his inbox he sighed as he read the number of new messages.

"63 messages" It read, he chuckled nervously at the sheer number. Deleting them he composed a PM for his sister.

"Make sure to be up early, we still need to grind" Then pressed send. His sister slept at the church along with Sasha and the kids while he slept in an Inn. Looking up he saw the full moon, it reminded him of the times he went home late, he would always look up while walking, keeping track of the moon seeing as how he was always fascinated by it. Akio is a bit of a poetic person at heart, he always said the famous quote 'Stop and smell the roses' but because of this incident he had been rushing for the past 3 weeks.

"No time to stop" He said to himself as he continued on.

* * *

1 week later he had heard that a group had finally cleared the first floor resulting in a nice boost of morale for the others. He had reached level 7 in that time and upon hearing about his level a player spoke to him.

"You should join the frontlines, the frontliners were about level 6 when they cleared the first boss" Akio was slightly surprised, he thought that the ones who would clear this floor would be players around 11 or above.

"Guess I was being a bit paranoid" He found it ironic that he called other players paranoid but in truth he was as well. He said that he will think about it and left without another word. Ascending to the 2nd floor he found the beauty of the floor astounding. Despite being similar to the 1st floor, hills covered the horizon along with forests and a small lake could be found nearby.

"This time… I will" Akio smiled as he opened his menu to PM his siblings.

* * *

**Author's note: Sorry for slow updates, School is her but I think the exams are actually helping me update (hur hur hur)**

**Here are their avatar names**

**Akio: Tsukio**

**Kimiko: Kim**

**Hayato: Hayto**

**Read and Review, constructive criticism is allowed (I need it). Some of you may have noticed that I borrowed some ideas of other SAO fanfiction such as Prince of Swords (If you haven't read it, do it now) if this irritates you I am sorry but this may not be the last time I will borrow ideas. Sorry.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Mighty Shield**

"You were right Tsukio, this place is beautiful" Kim gushed as she looked around, in the middle of the main city, «Urbus », was a giant tower where you would be able to see the landscape surrounding big city. Akio was leaning on the rail, looking over his shoulder with his arms crossed while Hayto was leaning over the rail with sparkles in his eyes as he observed the scenery. The mobs around the city were now wolves, instead of boars which proved more challenge for the frontliners who fought safely.

"I want to see the other floors…" Hayto mumbled, completely mesmerized by the scene. Akio chuckled before ruffling the younger sibling's hair.

"Me too, which is why I am gonna be joining the front lines today" Tsukio said, smiling. He took some time thinking about it and thought that he might be able to help the front liners out of their paranoid shells. He was thinking that his sister would be proud of it so what happened next surprised him.

"no…" "Wha?" "No" She immediately answered taking her eyes off of the scenery.

"Why not?" Akio asked confused as to why his sister would deny him of helping.

"It's dangerous!" She argued, raising her voice

"You don't think grinding is dangerous?" Tsukio calmly argued back, knowing that raising his voice would aggravate her.

"The boss fights are more so!" She shouted, increasing the volume of her voice once more.

"Please don't fight!" Hayto pleaded, he didn't like to see them fighting… especially in this dangerous world

"They planned the first boss fight! So what makes you think they won't plan the next!?" He argued, his temper getting the better of him.

"You are not going to the next boss fight!" She demanded. That did it, something in Tsukio snapped causing him to finally explode

"Listen here Kim!" Kim flinched at his little brother's angry voice

"We are not siblings in this world, we are merely fellow players in our avatars. Avatars are just codes and data who only have the personality of whoever controls them so don't you fucking dare say that you can tell me what to do!" He snapped, he hated being bossed around in the real so what made her think that here is any different. Kim finally turned towards him only for them to see tears running down her cheeks

"Please don't… I don't want to lose family" she sobbed, Tsukio saying that they were just fellow players stabbed through her heart like a dagger.

"Nee-chan please don't cry" Hayto pleaded as he looked worryingly at his beloved Nee-chan. He doesn't like seeing her cry because it made him want to cry too.

"You're being way too emotional." Tsukio scoffed as he made his way to the stairs. Didn't she understand? He was doing this for them, so they can go home and see their family again and she can see 'him' again.

"Don't you want to see Kudo-san again?" with those words Tsukio descended from the tower, leaving the two to their thoughts.

"Kudo-kun…" She repeated softly just the thought of him made her sad . Kudo was her boyfriend. He was someone who respected her hobbies even though he wasn't into them. She loved him as much as she possibly could. Unable to take it any longer she finally broke down and sobbed her worries away. She could feel small arms wrap around her, knowing it was Hayto she continued to cry on his shoulders.

"Nee-san…" Tsukio mumbled as he looked up to the tower they were just in, knowing his sister she was probably bawling right now. He hated it… he hated it when she got too emotional, who would want to see their sister cry? It bothered him. He thought by hooking her up with Kudo she would finally change for the better, to know how to control her emotions better. He could feel his fists clench in irritation, he needed to vent… he needed it now so without another thought he ran….away from this city and into the fields.

Tsukio stood in the fields as countless «Lvl 3: Field Wolf» roamed around. His hold on his blade's hilt tightened and his teeth clenched as he remembered what happened in the tower.

"Huwaaaah!" He cried as he performed a «Vertical», slicing a wolf on the stomach and driving its HP down. Normally he would have aimed for the neck for an instant kill but he couldn't care less as he grabbed the wounded wolf's neck and threw it at another one. The wolves' «The Pack» skill came into effect as others started to attack the angry teen. Tsukio glared at the ones charging at him before activating a sword skill, then another, and then another. Soon every attack he made was followed with the red glow. He couldn't care less, he needed to release and this was the only way he could think of.

* * *

Time passed and Tsukio finally stopped. He didn't know how many he had killed but it was enough clear the field, to make his health «183/1643», for his blade to be on the verge of breaking, and enough EXP for him to level up then half way to leveling again. His breathing had become heavy from continuous fighting. His break was cut short as he heard the familiar ringing of chimes. Knowing that he was in a dangerous state he decided to go into the main city before opening his inbox.

**"What happened? Kim came in here then walked straight up to her room, I can still hear her crying" **The message read. Looking at the sender he read that it was from Sasha, sighing he decided to reply.

**"Just some issues, don't worry about it"** He read it once more before pressing send.

"First day in floor 2 and I manage to make her cry" He sighed, going through his friends list to send a PM before heading off to find the Inn.

* * *

Beside the tower, a raven haired teen clad in green «Starting Armor» stood with his arms behind his head. His brown eyes scanned the ever moving crown, looking for the person he had called. Spotting a player in a brown leather cloak he made no move and let her position herself beside him.

"Tsukio, I presume." The player stated and by the sound of the voice it was a girl, golden brown locks could be seen from her hood and whisker marks across her cheeks indicated who she was, «Argo the Rat»

"Any place here where I could grind in peace?" Tsukio cut to the chase, he needed to grind if he wanted to help the frontlines and going solo may not be safest but it is certainly the fastest way to level.

"You have the «Col»?" She asked, she didn't want players running off with her information so she always asked for «Col» first. Tsukio wordlessly opened up his menu and pressed a few buttons, later a trade request screen appeared in front of the information broker, selecting yes she immediately saw the amount of he was willing to give which almost made her do a double take.

4,500 col! It might not amount to much but this early in the game most players tend to only give around 400 and the highest someone has paid her was 2,500 col. Seeing someone willing to pay this much she immediately hit accept, successfully getting the large amount.

"On the western plains there are large buffalo type mobs, although during my scouting I had seen a new area that wasn't in the beta test. On the north regions there is a cave somewhere called «The Iron mines» although I suggest having someone to back you up" Argo informed him but before she could walk away her client spoke again.

"One more thing… describe the person who earned the title «The Beater»" Tsukio asked, he had heard it last night during his stay at the Inn apparently someone had let another player die and they said that it was the guy who reached the highest floor during the beta test.

"I would need more for a description but the name I could give you, he's «Kirito»" She told him before running off, she had no plan on describing him no matter how much the client paid her but a name couldn't hurt right?

Meanwhile Tsukio was shocked there was only one person who used that alias in games since they sometimes play together. Even so why would he let a player die? He was someone who always played the good guy so why?

"Kirigaya-san… what happened?" He muttered before shaking the thoughts away. _Better not jump to conclusions, he would never do something like that unless he was given a reason._ With those thoughts in mind he headed out.

* * *

Tsukio decided to try out the new dungeon Argo told him about thinking that the western plains may become occupied by other beta-testers.

The entrance of the dungeon was a simple cave entrance going down, despite being called «The Iron mines» there were actually steps that would lead down and torches lined the wall, it looked more like an actual dungeon rather than a mine. Beside the entrance was a male NPC who was wearing a miner's helmet along with a blue shirt and leather jumper pants. A gold exclamation point stood atop of its head, indicating a quest.

"Please help us! We were planning on making a mine here but something had ruined our machines… can you please investigate whatever is destroying our precious equipment?"

"I'll do it."

"Great! Here these might come in handy." The exclamation point on the NPC's head became a question mark, indicating the quest started before a screen popped up in front of Tsukio.

"Obtained: x4 Explosive picks, x8 Health potions," It read, Tsukio's eyes seemed to glimmer at the item «Explosive picks» but quickly shook away the stars. He opened up his menu and read the quest log.

"Seems like the only thing I need to do is investigate… but why would the NPC give me those throwable picks?" He wondered but his train of thought stopped as he arrived at the bottom of the stairs. A big opening shaped in a big dome, stalactites hung from the ceiling and in the middle of the room was an out of place statue of a warrior made out of marble wielding a metal shield designed with metal plates giving off the picture that it was wearing armor but before he could observe any further a resounding boom reverberated in the room, looking behind he saw that a wall of stone had closed the staircase. His eyes widened as he could hear the sound of footsteps, BIG footsteps.

"Don't tell me" he muttered fearfully. Turning around he saw the statue except it wasn't an «Immortal object» 2 health bars were displayed at the side of its head and above it a name read «Golemus, the Defender of the Keep»

"All who trespass shall be met with their demise!" A voice boomed, although the statue's mouth didn't move Tsukio could tell it was the one who said it. If it was a regular mob it would've been easy, he would kick it's ass but because of the word "The" he knew that it wasn't a regular mob.

"Damn it! Out of all the people, I had to be the one to enter here!" Tsukio thought as he hastily drew his «Iron Blade», only to find out that its durability had reached critical.

"Shit" Tsukio cursed before going into a battle stance, 15% of his blade's durability was left and considering the boss' hard shell he only has a few swings. He finally got a good look on the boss and noticed that it was 4 times his size, further increasing his fear. The statue reared its arm back slowly. Tsukio made a note that it was a slow hitter. Making a dash for the left he was confident that it would miss. He was wrong as he felt a shockwave hit his back causing him to fly forward, dropping his health a little. Looking back his eyes widened in shock as he saw the statue's fist, it was lodged into the floor with a purple sign on top of it saying «Immortal Object».

Shaking his shock off, he quickly stood up and saw that the statue wasn't moving. Seeing this as a golden opportunity he went into a full blown sprint, putting his increased AGI into his feet as he dashed forward. He prepped his «Vertical» sword skill letting his blade gain a red glow letting out a cry before letting the system assist take over. Instead of cutting through like he had hoped, a resounding clank reverberated in the room as he felt the blade immediately stop on the golem's hand. He gulped as the boss slowly reared back its fist again. The good thing was it could only use one hand since the other held onto a shield. The teen sprinted off again, hoping to throw the boss off course.

"How do I kill this thing when I am just in my starting gear?" He pondered as he felt another shockwave from behind him but he had been able to keep upright. While the boss was trying to remove its hand from the stone floor Tsukio had managed to get behind it before an idea struck him. Quickly opening his menu he put the item into his pouch. Red needles around the size of a pen appeared on his belt. Picking one off of his belt he let it glow red before letting the system assist throw it straight into the back of the golem causing a big explosion on impact. The golem let out a cry of pain before falling flat on the ground, inspecting the HP bar Tsukio saw that it barely moved but looking back to the statue he saw that the affected area on the boss' back took on a red hue.

"A weak point?" He mused before jumping onto the boss and performing a «Linear» towards the red spot. The boss' health barely dropped before it stood up again, throwing the teenager off lowering his HP again.

"Dang it! If only I had better equipment" He cursed himself for being overconfident, he read his health and saw that it was now «1372/1643».Only taking two instances of indirect damage had already dropped his health around 200. Gritting his teeth as he saw his desperate situation, he only had 3 more means of damage but at this rate he wouldn't even halve the first bar. He figured that blunt weapons would probably damage its armor but right now he only had a sword with 10% of its durability left. A glimmer above caught his eye, and looking up he saw the gigantic stalactites decorating the ceilings.

"So that's how…" He smirked before looking back at the boss who had started to rear its fists back, this boss isn't supposed to be beaten by ordinary means… this is a scripted boss fight.

Another punch landed on the floor serving as his cue to finally end this boss fight. Throwing another pick onto the boss' back it went down with its back exposed, glowing red again. Picking up the last 2 picks he aimed at the gigantic stalactite, letting the 2 picks glow red before executing a «Double Throw». An explosion resounded and later the giant stalactite fell, impaling the statue causing it to let out a loud cry before shattering into countless polygons. Tsukio's EXP went up, gaining 2 levels.

"Hell yeah!" Tsukio celebrated as he threw his fists in the air… before falling down from the mental exhaustion. Looking around he saw that the staircase had opened once again then another window popped up showing that he had obtained an item.

"Obtained: «Guardian's Soul»" It read and without anymore thought he inspected the item. In his hand a marble colored orb materialized, it was designed with silver intricate waves on the bottom and top.

"Hold's the essence of the Guardian of the Keep" The description was short but it was enough for Tsukio to understand it. It was a usable item, he clicked on the use button and the orb shattered into polygons. A grayed out secondary skill bar appeared on his HUD, curious he decided to check his new skills but found out that he didn't have the requirements to activate them. Lying on the ground he opened his skill menu and saw a new set of skills.

"Mighty Shield" he read before realizing what it meant.

In SAO players have the freedom to choose their weapons, some decided to use «One-handed» weapons such as «Swords», «Short maces», «Daggers», etc. for the benefit of being able to equip a «Shield». «Shields» are secondary equipments that allow you to block attacks for reduced damage but sword skills were absent from them. It's possible to parry attacks with sword skills but you would have to be very skilled to completely parry an attack and you would be very vulnerable if the system assist miss. If his hunch is correct than this skill might have the potential to allow him to completely negate damage which would pretty much make him the ultimate tank.

Standing up he decided to complete this quest and go back to «Urbos» with one thought in mind.

"Next stop, the front lines."


End file.
