And they were off, it it seemed. Iris, still in a sour mood, wondered what they could make with their current cooking level and those ingredients. Being the kind of person who enjoys eating to distract herself when in a bad mood (it was a good thing she wasn't in a bad mood often), she hoped they wouldn't burn too much of it. Any hopes she had for a second sandwich evaporated when she threw hers in anger at Matsuta and she had been so furious that she had hardly listened to Sapphira, only realizing what her answer could have been after looking in her cart as they walked. "I'll take point." She volunteered, walking ahead at a brisk rate. Her intended style had a large focus on agility and speed, so she wanted to start working on leveling up the skill as soon as possible. How would she work on acrobatics, though..? Was there a training ground for that? Did she just have to use the skill in battle until it leveled up? It was strange, this world had practically become reality for her, but it differed from any possible reality but virtual by having aspects that ostensibly made it out to the the world of a game. In a way, it was exciting; have the ability to train her stats and participate in combat in an absolutely beautiful new world, but at the same time, she had to feel a bit afraid. One wrong step and she'd be dead. No retries, no respawn. Apparently, the room where people once respawned in the beta test was now replaced by a monument with every player's name, dimming and fading when they died. Kayaba wasn't the kind of person to bluff either, if she wasn't mistaken about him. He wouldn't threaten them with death and then just let them wake up normally when they died in-game.

Soon enough, she was deep in her musings, though averting the mistake of looking into the past. That wasn't her past right now, it was Maya's. Her past had begun this very day and now she was in the present. She was with new people, ones that she had never met before. It sort of pained her to force herself to be a new person, but she'd get used to it. "Hey, anyone mind if I scout head? I'll find us a place to set up camp." Iris turned around and asked the group as they exited the gates of the Starting City, running was the best way to get a head start on leveling her agility and speed stats. Plus, she kind of wanted to see the sights a bit before it go too dark for the day, even if they were probably going to be on the first floor for a good while. They'd be busy soon, anyway, at least now she had an excuse to run ahead without much of an objective. The first floor had easy terrain on purpose, it's not like they'd have many problems finding a place to camp, but she needed an excuse. "I like some alone time once in a while, you know?" Without waiting for much of an answer, she started stretching and once she had finished, she turned towards the group with a half-forced smile. "So? I won't be long!"

It had been a bad shock. The anticipation, the rush of a few victories that first beautiful day, and then that bloody fragger and his god complex had to go and ruin it all. Still, even with that and how everybody went nuts, Tailpin didn't feel much worse than before. This was still the only place where he would ever walk again. This was the only world where he could run. And, he had run indeed. He'd managed to run almost half of the distance to the next town and back. But, he hadn't spent much time fighting monsters. He was going to kick himself for that later. He looked around and saw all the people with level 2 or 3 gear already and here he was with the only interesting thing on him being the short bow in his hand.

Well, it could always be worse. He could have actually lost that first fight and died. Instead of being reduced to seven hit points by a level one monster. He really did stink at swordplay. This bow was his saving grace. He hadn't missed once and had even killed a couple monsters on his own before they could close the distance. Tailpin was almost sure that he'd learn a bow skill soon. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to attract anyone to party with him. Without an actual skill he wouldn't be able to really get anywhere.

So here he sat on a hill between spawn points waiting for either a good idea or a pretty girl or perhaps a party with an opening to notice him. At his age he really didn't expect any pretty girls in his range but there was still a chance of the other two possibilities. It was in the middle of these thoughts that his idle eyes fell on a girl stretching by a group of other players. They seemed engrossed in conversation. After all, they hadn't noticed the slow and meandering approach of a level one monster through the tall grass. Well, if he jogged he could get in range quickly enough. He was bored and listless anyway.

So he jogged. He didn't look like he was in a particular hurry as he loped along. He didn't look threatening either, all alone as he was. Then he slid to a stop, held his bow at an angle across his body, took aim, drew back an arrow to his ear and tried something new. He twisted the string and it happened at last. The arrow lit up and Tailpin released it. It flew in a swooping arc instead of a straight line and hit the boar type monster in the eye. A critical hit registered and the monster dissolved into sparks. The thirty year old man lowered his bow and breathed a sigh of satisfaction before raising his hand to wave at the party.

When the sound of a creature being destroyed reached his ears Mai'lo reacted without thinking. He leaped forward, putting distance between himself and his party and his right hand darted over his shoulder to grasp the hilt of the sword strapped to his broad back. A blink later and the sword was in his hands as he spun around, looking for where the attack had come from.

Not too far away was a man carrying a bow and walking calmly toward them. Mai'lo hadn't even realized that bows were a possibility in this game, there hadn't been much information available on ranged weapons when he skimmed over the game stats.

"Can we help you with something?" He called out. "We're not looking for any trouble."

@Tracyarmav

TsuMeTai's lips moved in a silent snarl. He, too, hated bullies. "Oh, I'm with you, all right." Doing a quick check on his status, he brought himself up to full health before glancing at Cin. "You ready?" Without waiting for an answer, he dashed off towards the group, knowing that his friend would be able to catch up in no time.

---

"Go ahead, Iris. PM me if you need help." Kip gave a half-smile. She was confident that the other girl could take care of herself, if she was volunteering to scout ahead.
Then she heard the same sound as Mai'lo. As a beta tester, her reflexes for such things were more highly developed than some newer players. She, too, spun towards the sound and grasped her sword, drawing it quickly. As she saw the archer walking toward her, she pointed her sword towards the ground; not threatening, but ready.

Tailpin kept walking at an easy pace as the loot window popped up for the creature he had killed. It only yielded a little money and experience but the fact that he knew a skill now was far more important. The killing of a monster shouldn't be shocking in a rapid spawning field like this one, yet everyone else seemed tense. In fact, they looked more than a little dangerous. He stopped walking. He looked at their readied swords. He stopped smiling and took a step back before answering the male player's questionable greeting.

"I'm not looking for trouble either. That monster was almost close enough to become aggressive and attack on its own and I was hunting anyway." His voice betrayed uncertainty.

Tailpin's eyes ran over the group over and over but kept coming back to the swords. The only reason why they were out was his presence. That was a bad sign. He wouldn't stand a chance against even one competent swordsman never mind two at once. Besides, he was too close, there was barely ten yards between them now. He wouldn't even get two shots off before he was impaled. Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all.

"I can see that I'm... interrupting. I'll be going then." He said with a nervous smile as he took another step back.

Mai'lo shook his head and sheathed his sword with a hissing rasp of steel. "No need," he said, holding his empty hands up to the newcomer. "Sorry, we're all a little jumpy. We did just discover that we're all trapped inside a death game."

He took a step forward and held out his hand for him to shake. "Names Mai'lo. We decided to party up, figuring safety in numbers." Mai'lo introduced everyone else ending wirh, "and Iris ran ahead, she was feeling restless so she's scouting the path."

Sheathing her own sword, Kip offered an apologetic smile. "Sorry 'bout that. Monsters don't always travel alone, so I got used to readying my blade when I heard one die." She gave a kind of one-shoulder shrug; sometimes it could be a false alarm, but during the beta test, that habit had saved her life multiple time.

Iris had chosen well to get moving though she had missed meeting whoever had shot the arrow, using the opportunity of evading any fire after seeing the trajectory line appear for a second, not noticing it going into a monster until after she had started running, there was still enough light to see the landscape. Rolling hills, forests and plains stretched far and wide until they stopped sharply at the edge of the floor, where the massive floating castle of Aincrad opened up to the world outside with a sharp drop, though past there, she didn't think anyone could do much. The fall would end anyone who tried escaping down to the world below (if it was even modeled, it was a game, after all, which she was finding less and less easy to believe, despite all the evidence she could ever need being perfectly apparent and there was probably an instant-kill wall past a certain altitude to kill off any high defense players) and the structure of Aincrad made it simply impossible to ascend by any other way than through the dungeons, thanks to its steep shape, as evidenced by all the promotional material showing it. More important was to know the floors inside Aincrad, of course, and this one was certainly an attractive one, a good starting terrain. The forests weren't too dense and they were sparse, the scenery was welcoming and the climate was just about perfect, not too hot during the day and not too cold at night. Still, winter was coming, and SAO did have a season system, so she'd have to get some warmer clothes soon.

For the moment, however, lighter equipment suited her perfectly. It made the role of scouting that she had given herself quite easy indeed, she didn't get too weighed down at all. Even the armoring on her left forearm was reasonably light, forgoing heavier mail for a system of interlocking plates that would absorb shocks from swords reasonably well. They probably wouldn't face more than beast monsters for the time being and any humanoid monsters in the dungeons using blunt weapons would probably be quite slow. Still, it'd pay to be careful, while she could probably use the plates to protect against swords, the bronze would be crushed by any blunt weapons and that would be it for her arm for that battle. She'd have to dodge those, thus the interest of leveling her agility and speed early on. SAO was strange when it came to the sensation of running. Iris felt the steps, quick and strong on the dusty road, but without the pain and muscle fatigue that came from running for long. Maya had never been much of an athlete, jogging once in a while with friends, but mostly remaining fit simply from doing a few minutes on a treadmill at home, so she often got quite sore and her feet quickly started hurting. Not in SAO, here, the worst Iris felt was a tingling. Side effect of the combat system and its "pain", she supposed. Still, she found the simulation of fatigue was quite realistic and within a while, she found herself getting tired and she slowed to an easy walk, looking around her for a spot where they could camp out for the night.

To be honest, it wasn't hard, the landscape made her job quite easy, it was very flat and not at all hard to navigate. The only difficulty was the "platforms", some completely unattainable at present by anyone, due to their height. Perhaps some might reach their surfaces once their agility and acrobatics were better, but for now, they had to stick to the natural land. Eventually, she found a spot next to a cliff with a view directly on the road. No one could sneak up on them and the area seemed to have been cleared entirely of any monsters. Man, people are getting fast. Iris remarked with a wry smile. She wondered if there would be anything left for her and her group. She still needed to try her machete, after all! Thinking this, she laughed for a moment, until she heard a strange sound; a clamor of footsteps. Not a group walking together, the sound was too cacophonous, no, they were pursuing someone else, steps she hadn't heard. Turning, she hit the ground, hiding behind a rise in the earth, looking through the grass. Indeed, there was a hooded figure, about forty meters ahead of the group chasing them. They were moving fast and seemed tired and with the distance, they probably hadn't heard the group after them, a bunch of six mean looking players. However, mean as they looked, they were all low-level, even compared to the one they were chasing. Iris briefly hypothesized that they had been in a party since the beginning, making the EXP distribution when they trained on monsters quite light, but, the problem was that these guys probably had a good grip on fighting together.

Then again, she wasn't far above them, due to the time she used in the town making the group. Damn Matsuta, now she was in trouble. Part of her was nagging the rest to play the hero and help the hooded person, but with about a level less than all of them, she'd be in danger if she went for them. Then, she saw something interesting; two players on the grass past the light woods. Compared to herself and the troublemakers, they were higher-leveled by a good measure and they looked to be heading to fight them. Still, Iris worried somewhat for them, their adversaries were better numbered, if nothing else. She didn't need to be told what to do, with a start, she pulled her machete off the sheath on her lower back, flipping it around and darted off from where she laid into the trees, waiting for the two men, one armed with a halberd and the other with a sword, to make contact with their opponents. Once they did, she burst out of the trees behind the bullies, their backs turned to their unknown third enemy. With a cry to break their attention away from the men, giving them a chance to get the advantage, hopefully, she slashed at one of them with a basic sword skill, before jumping to the side and getting into a combat stance, her left arm raised to deflect attacks and her right arm and blade to the side, ready to parry or take the initiative. She wouldn't kill and her impromptu allies wouldn't either, she would just get them to surrender.

Hopefully.

Tailpin stopped backing up but didn't come closer until both weapons were at rest. Then he realized exactly what he had heard. A beta-tester. This could really be even better than the chance he thought it was. But, she hadn't introduced herself. The guy had, though. With a quick look around to make sure that there were no monsters close enough to worry about, Tailpin put his bow on his back where it attached just like any two-handed weapon.

"That's ok. I'm sorry if I was too forward. I'm Tailpin. I guess... I always assumed that real life was a 'death game' already so it, really wasn't that much of a change for me." He had a wry smile, if a sad one, as he spoke. He was planning to explain his preference for the bow but that thought was driven clear out of his head by something more important. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mai'lo, Kip. I look forward to meeting Iris as well but you said that she's scouting ahead?" He nodded to each of the introduced persons and then gestured in the direction where he had seen a shape dash off a moment before he approached. "That way? I thought I saw some creatures in a hollow down that way that looked to be level four or five. I didn't get a close look. I was looking from one of the hills around there to get some mapping data at the time and saw a couple wander out for a second or two. Are you sure she'll be alright alone?"

Tailpin wasn't the type to rush off to someone's rescue on his own. He didn't have the skills or confidence for that. Still, he was all in favor of everyone surviving and making it out of here again, that is... if they wanted out. In any case, if someone had doubts about this Iris's abilities then he would definitely lend his bow to help make sure she was ok. He might not know this group well yet but he had every intention of sticking with them if he could manage it.

The unfortunate cloaked figure, wasn't giving the bullies what they wanted, and they looked ready to make the issue violent, but they noticed the two charging players, both a couple levels above them at level 6 to their level 4, which gave them a slight pause. But they had the better odds numerically, so five turned to face the attackers while one held their captive. Iris's shout and attack came as a complete surprise. The guard, the one closest to Iris, and so presumably the one she struck, cried out in pain and whirled, whipping his blade out and making a horizontal cut that would strike her torso on her right side, if not blocked or dodged.

The others all looked over their shoulders for one brief, but crucial moment, seeing only one low level (2-3?) player behind them they turned forward again just as the first two attackers struck. The cloaked figure, forgotten in the fray, dashed away, arcing towards the nearby woods, where it would be easier to hide.

Oya! I shouted a response to Tsu as I charged with him. Hearing a noise behind the group, I hope it isn't friends of theirs, but stay focused on my target. Seeing their reactions I grin, knowing it wasn't any friend of theirs. Reaching the group I lunged forward; driving the point of my halberd hard into the nearest player, taking full advantage of his distraction to bypass his shield and score a heavy blow to the boy's torso. The blow knocked him backwards and dropped his health all the way down into the red zone. The shock and horror conspired to rob the boy of his balance, as he stumbled and fell onto his back, only a few feet from Iris and her opponent, off to her left. I grin again, this one a morbid, devilish grin, and plant my feet, throwing my thighs, hips, back, shoulders, and arms, into slicing the halberd in a flat arc to right, away from Tsu and his opponents, to hit the player on the far right of the line arrayed against us. He was armed with a massive two handed sword, of European design. He tried to parry, but his unwieldy weapon, backed only by his arms and panicked horror, was not enough to stop the blow, only soften it. I shout again as I watch his health also drop rapidly to just inside the red range, and reverse my swing. Oya!

Spinning on my back foot to bring the spike into the bully's other side, the massive weapon creating a low whirring sound as it cut through the air around me with surprising speed for such big weapon. The bully lunges forward, stabbing halfheartedly with his sword, already trying to step back out of range of my strike even as his strike lands; depriving it of much of its potential power. The blade pierces my unprotected back, which hurts, but it doesn't slow me down. I'd felt so much worse when my step dad had stabbed me in a drunken rage one night. This game was child's play compared to my real life. I glance at my health bar as I spin around, shouting again in malicious glee as I see it drop but fail to reach even the yellow section. Oya! I feel my face split in a wide grin, and my belly roll with laughter at these cowards and their pathetic attempt at defending themselves. These bullies could not best me and Tsu, and I am not about to let them survive long enough try their luck on some other hapless traveler.

@LadyTale@Yunagi

@Tracyarmav

The hand-and-a-half sword, TsuMeTai's chosen weapon. Also known as the bastard sword. Forged to be wielded one- or two-handed, for versatility, speed, and power. Earlier, with the monster, he had held it in one hand. Now, both hands were planted firmly on the hilt.

A quick stab to one player, then the sword was ripped out and slashed at another. An overhead slash towards a third, leaving all three in the red zone. Glancing around, TsuMeTai saw that the one being bullied had made use of their distraction to escape. Heh. Good for them. He also saw that each of the bullies were in the red zone. "Cin." He called. "What do we do with them?"

---

"I don't know, I haven't seen her fight yet." Kip shrugged, then paused thoughtfully. "I do know that she has good aim with a sandwich." She gave a kind of combination grin/smirk thing.

Mai'lo started to laugh at the memory of the ballistic sandwich but choked it off a moment later, a frown creasing his brow. "Anyone else hear yelling?" He asked.

He took a few steps past Tailpin, looking ahead in the direction that Iris had run. It was hard to make out, the distance making everything smaller but there definitely appeared to be a battle underway, and no easy sign of Iris.

"Come on, guys, Iris might be in trouble." Without waiting for a response, and hoping they followed he broke into a run, bent low with on hand grasping the hilt of his sword for stability while his legs churned like pistons, propelling him forward at a startling pace for a man his size.

As he ran the health bar that constantly floated within his field of vision caught his eye. 300 hp, level 4. Gods, I hope that's enough. he thought.

It sounded like this was a lively group. If they were throwing sandwiches at each other it had to be a good sign, or a messy one. Thankfully, food items just shattered in this world instead of making much of a mess. Fringe benefits to virtual reality came in handy. But, amusing stories couldn't break Tailpin's preoccupied pattern of thought enough to summon a smile. Those monsters hadn't been the same type. Now that he thought back, one of them had been shiny and moved slower than the other. There was probably armor involved in that type. His eyes kept wandering down the road where the girl had gone.

Tailpin saw the faint movement in the distance and heard the yelling but it isn't wise for an archer to charge. Well, it's not wise to charge first anyway. As soon as Mai'lo started running, Tailpin followed. Though, the archer did have to slow down a little to stay behind the more heavily armed player. He kept trying to see as far as he could and he could soon identify several of the health bars. A couple of them were in the red already.

The higher his perception skill got the better he'd be able to target with his bow. He would need to be able to fire into a raging melee without hitting allies. Besides, he'd have to be far away enough not to get dragged into the sword battle. In fact, with where that fight was taking place he'd have to practice that skill now. He couldn't just follow the fighters straight into the battle. He needed to find a spot with overwatch.

His eyes swept right and left as he ran. His right hand moved in the air and pulled up the mapping data that he had gathered before. It wasn't complete but he could tell that there were two accessable heights within bow range of the place where the fight seemed to be. There was something still on his mind though. If he was right about where that hollow was then he'd have to be able to hit anything that they attracted with this commotion. Those monsters might be bound to a limited territory but the entrance to that hollow was only about fifty yards from the edge of the area where the battle seemed to be.

Assuming the worst case scenario, there could be as many as six level five monsters in that hollow. He wasn't strong enough to kill even one monster that strong. It would take at least six solid critical hits at his level to bring an average level five down. But, a skill impact could stall one or create an opening for a more powerful player. He'd have to focus on support for now.

Tailpin glanced at the warrior ahead of him and then glanced back at the road behind them and those on it. His eyes were serious. Then he broke away from the road and veered off to the right, heading for a slope that would give him a good vantage point. He'd be isolated but that spot would let him use his bow most effectively. He just hoped that nothing attacked him from behind while he was in that exposed position. He was not quite level two still. This would be dangerous.

Sapphira wasn't too bothered by the commotion around her, she was more or less invisible to people, even more so in real life. The only point of attention she would get now were her new features, aka her ears and tail. As the others met new players and rushed to aid Iris, Sapphira sat down on top of her cart and inspected herself in a mirror-like stone she picked up. Why was she looking like this? Not that the ears and tail didn't look cute on her, quite the contrary. But she nevertheless asked herself what she did to deserve this, whether this was a blessing or a curse, she didn't know yet.
Sapphira was quite confident that her extra appendages were not the result of a programming error, no, Kayaba must have willed this. But there was where the tricky part started for Sapphira's thoughts. Why would she be a fox-girl in a game where death lingered at every corner? What sense would it make? What were her advantages in this state? Higher hearing? Better flexibility?

"Arrrrggghhhh!", Sapphira groaned to nobody in particular. "I just can't wrap my head around it!"
Of course, this meant her self-induced invisibility of attention just vanished.

Iris' opponents surprised her with their ability, as soon as she stepped into battle. The one she had struck recovered quickly from the slash and wanted vengeance as soon as possible, the glowing gash long across his back. Focused on another who had turned around, considering him the greatest danger, she almost missed the whirling slash from the one she wounded. A long, heavy sword swung towards her and she desperately tried to block with her machete, but it slid off the lighter blade with easy, damaging its durability greatly. In the split-second that she had slowed the attack down, she spun around, letting the blade hit the armored part of her left arm. The metal protected her from a cut, but she cried out as her arm was hurt, as if she had been punched. It wasn't much, it could be worse, but it definitely brought her health down, she quickly dropped into the yellow zone. Growling, she managed to summon the strength to push the sword away with her forearm, and while her opponent's guard was dropped, she held her machete tight by the handle, punching him square in the face, which didn't take off much health but left him dazed. The girl took advantage of this to kick his leg, and push him to the ground, giving a kick and knocking the wind out of him before moving onto another opponent.... that is, if there were any left. While she dealt with him, the others had mopped up the others, their prey escaping away. They were all still alive, but in the red zone. Now it was her turn to subdue them, she decided as she dropped her machete. Stepping off her defeated enemy, she made a rounding kick to one's cheek, knocking him to the dust, before getting behind another, who was miraculously still standing, combining some harsh punches to the back with a sweeping kick to knock him over. She walked over to another, recovering her machete, she gave a bash with the handle to one's chest, throwing him at another.

Finally, the last one, witness to the decimation of his friends, though with the best health, she decided against knocking him out. Instead, she went before him and put the blade to his throat. Then, it occurred to her. They weren't players at all, but NPCs. They lacked the name tag designating them as players, for one thing, which she hadn't noticed in the heat of battle. However, if she forgot about that, she'd have a hard time realizing that they weren't real people. This last one, he had a look of terror in his eyes and it was a far cry from anything else she had ever seen in a game. It wasn't acted, nor invented, it truly felt genuine, like he didn't want to die. For a moment, she wondered; who, in this world was a person and who wasn't? NPCs she had seen so far acted realistically, with emotions, connections between them, routines and their own friends. This wasn't a game anymore, to her, it wasn't a death game. Instead, it was a game that became a new reality, erasing its virtual nature, in a way. She didn't need to be in SAO for long to realize that. Life could kill, on Earth and in Aincrad. Fail and death was a possibility. Maya had never experienced the situation, but she wasn't oblivious to others facing it.

When she thought about it, this man and the five others, on the ground, writhing in pain, crying and whimpering like wounded animals, were just as much a person as she was, only they didn't have a body within the "real" world. It was a marvel technology had come this far. If she finished them now, would they be missed? By whom? She had decided against killing when she thought they were players, not wanting to kill a real person, but when she realized they were NPCs, she became unsure. Finally, she put her blade down and looked at the players she fought with. One, a dark haired man with a red bandanna, intimidating looking clothes and an even more intimidating halberd and the other, a shorter, leaner fellow with a bastard sword. Both had a vicious look in their eyes, at least to her. "Let them go." Iris said firmly, putting the machete down from her hostage's neck and disarming the man. She threw his weapon aside and did the same with the others' weapons, until they were all in a messy pile. Standing in front of it, she made a gesture for him to go and watched, keeping an eye on the two players, Cin and TsuMeTai. "Get going. Do this again and I'm not saving any of you. And hurry, monsters might respawn soon." Those who could manage nodded, thanking her quietly and started helping each other up. Something about it felt right. It was strange the peace they found themselves in, going from the yelling, slashing, clanging sounds of battle to the peaceful ambient sounds of floor one in minutes. She'd have to get used to that.

Hazel eyes oscillated the distance between themselves and the bared fangs now in the process of clamping shut for a kill. But rather than gourging down on succulent digital flesh, the set of canines and co. only met the cold metallic taste of iron. The edgeless blade didn’t hurt the wolf in any way, but the beast was given the time to fully process the situation, as its entire quadrupedal figure lurched forward with the sword. Ken pulled the estoc to his side with all his might, simultaneously digging his knee into the animal’s stomach.

A barely audible whimper managed to seep through the still clenched jaws. It was determined, he had to give it that. Worst off, although the player couldn’t see any other visible mobs, an inherent sense gnawed at the back of his head that backup was on the way. He had to finish this. Fast. The wolf continued to thrash about in an attempt to disarm the swordsman, who thereby proceeded to plant his boot on the canine’s muzzle. ”Sorry, I’m more of a cat person.” He kicked at the wolf, finally freeing his sword. The beast faltered for only a short-lived moment before it lunged toward him in assault. Ken gripped the hilt of the estoc with both hands and assumed the form a rapier sword skill, which looked a bit wonky with a three foot blade.

A luminescent aura emanated from the weapon as he drew it back towards his chest, then twisted it mid-strike to add finesse. The fine point effortlessly sunk into the nape of the wolf’s neck, displaying the iconic placeholder of blood, graphical red. The wolf’s limbs flailed about for a few moments, until it slowly went limp, and ultimately burst into a cloud of pixels. Ken still held his stance, indulging the process of inhaling and exhaling, even though more howls resounded in the distance. The boy finally fell onto his rear, scrutinizing his level and health gauge. He was halfway dead, yet had attained a level of three. A wry smile ran across his face, which was soon replaced with a series of curses.

The player got to his feet and broke into a sprint, only finding respite in his boosted stats after ascending to the next margin. While a portion of his mind was dedicated to making sure he wasn’t being followed, another was still in the midst of hazarding a guess as to why he was in this current situation. One of the ten thousand players in what had recently became known as the Death Game. Of course it wasn’t a genius who dubbed SAO that, but he or she must have had some experience in audit, ‘cause the term burned through the whole entire playerbase like wildfire. How much he wanted a pair of headphones pressed firmly against his ears right now. The young adult wanted to drown out the cruel world he was given eighteen years to acclimate to with tunes. But in this game, such an innovation which had been deemed an essential by him was nonexistent. Ken had to face the new world head-on, with all of the forthright it entailed. This was something he wasn’t fond of. He just wanted to shut himself away and wallow in denial. But he wasn’t raised to think in such a manner. It had only hit him now that he was running faster than usual. It wasn’t noticeable at a glance. But the change was prevalent. Oh how far technology had truly come.

”They’re catching up.” He mentally noted, taking a brief moment to glance behind him. There weren’t any obvious signs that he was being shadowed, except for the faint rustling of undergrowth. Ken clicked his tongue and picked up the pace, sheathing the estoc to maximize his speed.

It wasn’t long until he literally flew into an open dirt road. The boy straightened out to stabilize his form as he finally touched the earth. He cast his gaze back at the forest, albeit he knew his adversaries wouldn’t give chase outside of their preset zones, parameters of code still weren’t an evident form of jurisdiction to the player. He obliged to take the moment to catch his breath, taking in his surroundings while doing so. The boy wasn’t too far off of the spawn town, but he was definitely in an area where mobs were a couple levels higher than himself. That wolf nearly made a snack out of him, but Ken’s reaction time prevailed and gave him another day to live. Or, at least another few hours. After all, the scene he had accidentally waltzed into didn’t leave him with much to do. Although the names of the players and their levels before him remained confidential, the individuals he deduced to be NPCs didn’t need to hide anything.

The players already present were certainly the interesting bunch. Even one had a set of cerulean bunny fox ears. The boy began to draw his weapon to assist his fellow players, but just in a flash, they had already disabled and disarmed the rotten bunch. Visionary stood there utterly amazed at how savvy they were, it took him a while to evocate some words. ”Wow… Oh, um…” Oh yeah, he wasn’t exactly the most fluent speaker. That did indeed pose a problem. ”I COME IN PEACE!” The usual stoic threw his hands up in surrender, hoping that the players who were obviously of a higher status wouldn’t devastate him.

Mai'lo slowed to a stop when he saw Iris disarm and k ock several of the characters to the ground. The ones on the virtual dirt all had life bars in the red but they appeared to be NPCs? That didn't entirely track. He'd thought NPCs couldn't attack players like that.

He shrugged it off a moment later as they fled, several leaving their weapons behind. Iris was left with two players that appeared to have helped her against the thugs. He wasn't sure entirely what'd happened but he straightened up, still keeping his hand near his sword just in case.

"Alright, Iris?" He called out.

"I come in peace!" At the sound of the new voice Mai'lo reacted without thinking, spinning sharply to his right and drawing the massive sword in a single fluid motion. He thanked his foresight for putting a stupid number of points into his strength. He wouldn't be as awkward with the huge weapon as most people would automatically expect.

"One of these days people are going to stop sneaking up on me, right?" He asked of no one in particular. "I'm really getting tired of jumping out of my pixels at every fecking turn." He straightened up, lowering his guard n slightly but he didn't return the sword to its sheathe, holding the weapon low and to his left where he could quickly bring it up in a devastating horizontal slash if need be.

TsuMeTai turned away from the former battle site, sheathing his sword as he did so. "Because you ask it, I'll let them live. If I see them attacking a player again, I'll not stay my blade." He said over his shoulder, keen eyes looking over the newcomers.

"Well, aren't you nice." Kip said sarcastically to the one with the hand-and-a-half sword. "NPCs or not, they still have a life in this game." Then her eyes strayed to his health bar, and the name by it. She smirked. "Oh. Oh my gods. You're really trying to live up to your name, aren't you? TsuMeTai, Marked General of Zot."

Did she just? "Like you're one to talk, Kip OMEGA." TsuMeTai let a small smile curve his lips, and he extended a hand. "Nice to meet a fellow fan of old webcomics."

Kip accepted his hand, shaking it firmly. "Pleasure." She agreed with a grin. "Now, shall we help your friend with those monsters?"

"We shall." Together, the two rushed the beasts, swords flashing through the air before scoring their hits.

Emperors world ground to a halt, everything stopped suddenly as a horrifyingly deep sinking feeling occurred within his chest. He dropped to his knees as Kayaba's robed avatar disappeared. "Shit shit shit..." he thought "D... die in real life? But... but that's not... that's gotta be a joke right? This is all some elaborate prank cuz he's got a hecked up sense of humor right?" his smile was missing from his face, a look of horror and shock taking its place. He couldn't understand, why him? Why did this happen to him? Why did he have to be thrown head first into some madman's death game. He was trapped in a mix of fear and disbelief, part of him was sure it couldn't be true but the other half was gripped with the terror of dying. Emperor looked around weakly, trying to spot his friends amongst the crowds. They were supposed to meet up and find each other when in the game, he was supposed to have allies.

Try as he might Emperor could not see a face he recognized within the crowds, the mirrors had given them all their real faces but even so everyone else was a stranger. An unknown face mirroring the fear and shock he wore himself. This was not going to be easy, this was not going to be fun but he had to survive, he had to make it back home.

Emperor began his journey by cowering in a tavern, his face buried into a table and soft whimpers escaping his mouth. The denial had faded, all he was left with was the terror of being trapped. Eventually he managed to shake himself to his senses, he had to get strong enough to survive and like hell would he be able to do that hiding in some building. With forced courage he readied his scimitar and ventured out of the city to begin his quest to escape from this hellhole.

The snapping fangs of a wolf narrowly missed Emperors legs. He cursed under his breath as he readied himself to face the creature, sword ready. He had been farming whatever enemies he could find for a little while now, slowly trying to both get used to and level his combat skills however he was far from being a combat master. He let out a deep breath before raising his scimitar behind his shoulder, activating a curved blade sword skill as yellow light enveloped his blade and he charged forward through the wolf. The shattering sound of a defeated enemy reached Emperor's ears and he let out a sigh of relief, he knew however he was gonna need to find allies quickly if he wanted to get anywhere properly in this game. All the other MMO's he'd played he made it a top priority to find party members and friends, this one was no different and he began slowly walking back to the town. He wasn't sure whether he'd find anyone but he was determined to try.