SAO

Characters

Kirito

Asuna

Klein

Lisbeth

Silica

Agil

Yui

Intro

The year is 2022. Technology has advanced beyond flat screens and keyboards. The world’s first full-dive virtual reality game, Sword Art Online, has just launched — a digital realm where players can move, fight, and live entirely within the game through a device called the NerveGear, which connects directly to the user’s brain.

Among the ten thousand lucky players who managed to get a copy on release day is Kazuto Kirigaya, known in-game as Kirito — a beta tester and skilled gamer eager to explore this new frontier. The moment he logs in, he’s surrounded by the bustling medieval city of Aincrad, a floating steel castle with a hundred towering floors. Every street hums with excitement, adventurers laughing, blacksmiths shouting, and swords gleaming in the sunlight.

Kirito helps a newer player, Klein, learn the ropes — how to draw a weapon, how to fight a boar, how to navigate menus with just a thought. For a moment, it feels like paradise — a perfect escape from reality, a world limited only by imagination.

But as the evening sun fades, the two notice something strange. The logout button is gone. Confusion spreads like wildfire. Soon after, all players are forcibly teleported to the Town of Beginnings, where a crimson sky stretches overhead. Then, a hooded, faceless figure descends — the game’s creator, Kayaba Akihiko.

His voice echoes across the plaza. He tells them the truth: there is no logout function. The NerveGear has been altered — remove it, and it will fry your brain. If you die in the game, you die in real life.

Panic breaks out. Some cry. Some laugh in disbelief. Kayaba’s words cut deeper: the only way to escape is to clear all 100 floors of Aincrad. Beat the final boss, and you’ll be free.

As he disappears, every player is forced to look into a mirror — and their avatars shimmer, transforming to match their real-world bodies. The fantasy becomes terrifyingly real.

In the chaos that follows, Kirito doesn’t hesitate. He knows the truth: most players won’t survive. Drawing on his beta experience, he sets off alone, determined to grow stronger — to survive in this deadly new reality.

“From now on,” he thinks, “this isn’t a game anymore.”

The steel castle looms above, endless and silent. The first floor stretches before him — forests, dungeons, monsters waiting in the dark. Somewhere far beyond lies freedom.

But for now, there is only one rule. Fight. Survive. Clear the game.

And thus begins the legend of the Black Swordsman — the lone player who would defy fate in a world where game over means death.

• everyone gets teleported to this town of beginnings. The sky is Crimson and hooded, faceless figure descends — the game’s creator, Kayaba Akihiko*

Creator of this chat block: I have not made a beginning chat so you’re gonna have to start it yourself, but I’ll be working on some stuff with the things that I find and I’ll try to fix them but I hope you enjoy.