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Chapter One: The Assassin is Born

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"Block. Counterattack. Recover. Repeat," Suguha blew some black bangs out of her eyes when she plopped down on the mat. "Kazuto-nii-chan, are these the words of this dojo?"

A sigh reached her ears. "You're impersonating Jii-chan again." groaned Kazuto who was actually practicing against his dummy unlike her.

"No. This is an impersonation of Jii-chan." Suguha ruffled her own bangs and had a comically deeper voice. "Your stance needs more work Kazuto. Your striking needs more work, your everything needs more work."

Kazuto effortlessly struck the dummy so quickly with his practicing stick that there was not one error in his form. "Oh yeah. Needs loads of work." said the older brother.

Suguha stood up and stretched. "Yeah no. Years is years Onii-chan. Anyway…I could use a break."

"Pick up your shinai and practice lazy pants!" Kazuto said.

"I'm good. Don't you have that beta thing you said you were going to do?"

"I've got time."

Chuckling, Suguha walked outside and muttered. "Sure sure."

Sitting on the steps, the Kirigaya siblings drank water together with words of relief from Kazuto. "I'm so glad that all those years of training with Jii-chan will finally have real-world appliance."

"How so?" asked Suguha.

"How else?" Kazuto put his plastic water bottle down. "Sword Art Online's beta is later this afternoon. Heard you can apply some real-world sword skills if you're skilled enough. I'll be in my room." He walked away from the dojo's steps.

"Wait, Kazuto! Can I get my own and play with you when it comes out?"

Kazuto huffed a small amount of air out of his nose in a snicker. "That's not for three months Sugu, but sure why not?"

"Perfect!" laughed Suguha. "But wait, what're the most important things in a fight?"

"Again with the Jii-chan impersonations?" Eyes were rolled. "Friends, and then your sword."

"You're ready."

Her older brother chuckled. "I was always ready."

~000~

Scrolling through the SAO forums full of excited about to be Beta testers, Kazuto focused on a particular part of the screen muttering under his breath. "Assassin's Creed Black Flag Easter egg?"

After clicking on the link provided in the comment, a full page on a news website was written on this particular item he was interested in.

As a tribute to his favorite XBOX 360 game, Akihiko Kayaba has included a special Easter Egg in his new title Sword Art Online, known as The Cloak of Kenway. The item is said to have included the blades and skills of Edward Kenway from Assassin's Creed Four: Black Flag, and also a secret move set and sword skills not included with other regular weapons.

Mr. Kayaba himself was quoted as saying: "I really enjoyed playing Black Flag in my late teens. It's a game that has unfortunately been lost to the test of time, but I really hope to endow a new generation with the same joy I felt. Edward Kenway is my favorite video game character I've played as, and I really envy the player who's lucky enough to stumble across it. Having tested it myself, I can say without a doubt that it lacks nothing in terms of power and fun in use."

"Holy shit that sounds awesome." Kazuto laughed at his desk chair.

He spent a good few hours messing around on the internet like any good teenager would before focusing on the time in the bottom right corner of his screen. "Party time." murmured an excited Kazuto.

A series of clicks and a bit of setup later and Kazuto laid on his bed focused on the tiny clock in the Nerve Gear helmet's glass visor.

'13:58…13:59…14:00!' Kazuto's voiceless words rang in his skull before he spoke with a voice full of vigor and excitement, ready to hunt down that Easter egg.

"Link start!"

With a light sound, the helmet turned on after Kazuto closed his eyes. Kazuto's vision changed from black to white and a stream of color rushed into his mind. Then followed the system's registration of connecting Kazuto's senses to the Nerve Gear helmet.

|Welcome to Sword Art Online!| Kazuto read. |Choose what language you'd like to play the game in:|

Kazuto quickly chose |Japanese|.

|Username: Kirito. Password: *********|

|Login Successful! Please create your Beta Avatar!|

Kazuto decided to make his avatar look a little different from him, with darker hair and older features. The weapon he chose was the one that seemed most obvious to him, the [Starter's Sword].

|Are you sure this is the Avatar you'd like to use? Yes/No|

He chose |Yes| and more text appeared.

|Enjoy your Beta experience and be sure to give your rating on our website when finished!|

The screen changed and Kazuto felt something strange under his feet. First, he wasn't barefoot like he was on his bed, he was wearing boots and he could actually feel them. And the virtual ground…damn, this was new to him.

More importantly, he was no longer his old teenage self, wearing the face of a young man a few years older than him, Kazuto became Kirito. He wore leather armor that only covered tiny amounts of his body instead of the workout clothes he had on in the real world.

Walking around the starting plaza, he saw other Beta testers being logged in around him, appearing in the typical blue glows.

'The developers weren't kidding…these graphics are just astounding…' Kirito thought to himself.

He started to sprint, running past NPC vendors and players at their stands buying food. Kirito's [Starter's Sword] jingled at his belt as he ran, and eventually, he ran right out of the [Town of Beginnings] and into the fields of grass surrounding it.

A [Frenzy Boar] pawed at the grass and huffed air out quickly through its pink snout.

Kirito gasped. 'That looks exactly like a real pig!'

The [Frenzy Boar] turned to him and its eyes seemed to glow redder. When it charged, instinct took over, and Kirito drew his [Starter's Sword] without hesitation. When Kirito swung, the blade glowed blue in a [Horizontal] attack and he had executed the strike so well that the [Frenzy Boar] fizzed into shards when Kirito had finished running past it.

[Result]:

|Exp- 26|

|Col- 17|

|Items- 1|

"The hell?" Kirito tightened his grasp on his sword's grip, staring into its reflection curiously.

'I struck just how Jii-chan taught me, but why the hell did my sword glow blue?... Huh, I guess [Sword Skills] are matched up exactly to real world strikes perhaps? Or are at least similar?'

Kirito watched as another [Frenzy Boar] spawned in the same blue glow players did only a few steps away from where he was standing in the grass. It attacked again and unsurprised-ly to Kirito, the result was the same. The [Result] page popped up again and Kirito growled when he gripped his sword. "I'm loving this game."

Killing pigs he'd already been killing for ten minutes got as tedious as homework so Kirito decided to walk off in a new direction up and down the grassy hills of Aincrad.

Hearing shouts and screams erupt from a small cave designed into a particularly high hill, Kirito ran towards it and saw players running out of it yelling.

"What happened?" Kirito asked a player who ran past him.

"Freaking mini-boss cave troll is strong as hell! Just run away man!" advised the fleeing player.

Kirito spied a female player with a hood over her head standing outside the cave with a piece of uncooked [Boar Meat] in hand and a knife in the other. She was giggling to herself watching the men stream out of the cave in fear.

"I'm sorry to ask but what're you doing?" wondered Kirito.

The auburn-haired beta tester turned to him. "Seeing how many idiots try to take on this mini-boss." She saw a player's arm fly out of the cave before fizzling into pixels when it hit the ground. "Another one bites the dust." murmured the girl as she made another hash mark on her [Boar Meat] with her [Knife].

Kirito was further intrigued. "I have to know this but... Who are you?"

"Argo. Who might you be?"

"Kirito," He noticed how much Argo was smiling beneath her hood. "You enjoying the beta so far?"

Giggling, Argo saw another player get thrown out of the cave before dying when hitting the grass of the hill. "Loving it." She saw the look on Kirito's face. "Oh. Please don't tell me you're going in there."

"I in fact am. Do you want to come with me?" offered Kirito.

Argo snorted. "Uh...no thanks, I'm good."

Kirito drew his sword off his back. "Suit yourself." He muttered and rushed inwards. He was stopped by a notification before though.

[Would you like to start the quest |Cave of Wonders|? Yes/No]

|Yes| was hit by Kirito without a shred of fear.

Stalactites hung off the cave's ceiling as player surrounded a gigantic cave troll holding a club the size of most males around him. He roared and smashed the ground where Kirito was standing before he rolled away.

The troll was attacked when it failed to strike Kirito and a very unlucky player stuck his [Starter's Spear] into the blue skin of the cave troll's calf. The blue monster was apparently so strong that a direct strike to it equated to a poke and it turned around and picked up the player with his giant hands.

Smacking the player upwards against the cave's stalactites, the troll defeated the player easily.

A ranged player failed to stick an [Arrow] into the troll's eye and instead, the troll raised his blue arm holding his [Club] and took it right in the forearm. Right after that, the troll pancaked the archer with his [Club] roaring so strongly the cave shook.

Dozens of players kept attacking or avoiding attacks just to be defeated anyway as the troll appeared unbeatable, only Kirito managed to avoid the dreadfully lethal [Club]. Kirito was having trouble finding an opening to attack the troll but the moment came when the troll decided to swing his [Club] downwards at him. Ground shaking behind him, Kirito sprinted forward and rolled at just the right time to avoid the attack.

Successfully having avoided the troll's [Club], Kirito found himself between the troll's legs with the distance between them closed. Before anyone in the room could react, Kirito drove his [Starter's Sword] upwards and gained a [Critical Strike] in the troll's…private area.

It's [Strength] and [Vitality] simply were not high enough when it came to a strike so well timed, placed and executed. So the troll shrieked and exploded into the same dust every boss and mini-boss did.

The room took a few moments to react to what just unfolded as it happened very quickly, before cheering loudly for Kirito who was somewhat shocked by the whole ordeal. As players surrounded him and talked to him, Kirito saw the notifications in front of him.

[You got the last attacking bonus!]

[You have leveled up! Level 1-Level 4]

[Bonus items: |Cloak of Kenway |, |Swords of Kenway|, |Hidden Blades|.]

Kirito's black eyes had never grown wider. 'No fucking way…I get how hard the mini-boss was but…damn.'

He knew that no one could know that this cave was only a short distance from the very start of the game and that it offered a very powerful item, so Kirito took no time in shutting away the notifications as the players cheered for him.

Shortly after, Kirito walked back into the [Town of Beginnings] and rented a room in an inn to equip these items where no one could see him with it.

[New |Unique Skills| acquired! |Dual Blades| and |Assassin's Skills| have been added to your skillset!]

Equipped with his new [Assassin's Gear], Kirito took the pleasure of viewing these items and their stats.

[Cloak of Kenway - +5 Defense +6 Agility (Assassin's Stat; Sneak +7) Item Description: A simple black cloak and hood also come with leather boots, the very same outfit Edward Kenway wore in Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag.]

[Swords of Kenway – Long Sword(s)/One Hand. Range: Short; Type: Slash/Stab. Attack: 350 (x2) . Durability: 1500. Weight: 130. Strength: +28. Agility: +29. Item Description: These simple pirate cutlasses are rather light and are effective in various forms of combat.]

[Hidden Blades –Knives. Range: Short; Type: Slash/Stab. Attack: 120 (x2). Durability: 2000. Weight: 15. Strength: +17. Agility: +23.]

Kirito saw himself in the mirror in the inn's room. The [Hidden Blades] were simply knives beneath his black sleeves affixed to simple leather bracers on his wrists. He moved his hand backward and extended his wrist forward and the blade jutted out.

He had two cutlasses at his sides and his hood was begging to be placed over his head. Slowly, Kirito raised his hood and unsheathed both of his hidden blades.

"Ohoho yes…" moaned Kirito seeing how nice he looked.

Opening his menu, Kirito read up on these two new [Unique Skills] he got.

[Dual Blades –Allows the user to wield two swords simultaneously and use sword skills unique to this ability. 1.8x to Attack Speed Bonus, 1.5x to Weapon Defense Bonus, 1.2x to Cooldown Time Bonus]

[Assassin's Skills- Multiple different abilities ranging from being able to have unique [Hidden Blades Skills] to [Kenway's Mobility]. 1.2x to Attack Speed Bonus.]

Kirito kicked the windows to the inn open the second he read all this.

Sprinting across rooftops, Kirito built up speed to launch straight off a building onto another. After landing on it, he received a notification.

[You've developed your skill at two abilities, parkour and running, and your stats have improved as well as a result! Kenway's Mobility: 12/120. Agility: 53/120]

Kirito kept running across rooftops as the day progressed until he reached the edge of the town and jumped off a rooftop. A shadow was marked against Aincrad's bright sun and a proud voice echoed across the first floor. "This is the greatest day of my entire life!"

~000~

"So how'd the first day of the beta go?" Suguha saw Kazuto approach her on the steps of the Kirigaya dojo.

Kazuto laughed. "So…so very well." He sat down next to his younger sibling. "I decided to take a break for today and go back to it tomorrow. I don't feel confident enough to solo the first boss room so I'll just wait for a few other people to level up first and do it with them. And Sugu…you have no idea how happy I am."

"Why?" She let Kazuto reach out and tuck a bit of her hair behind her ear that was bothering him.

"I found…these super cool items and I can do all this parkour and special moves…God, I can't wait until tomorrow so I can try them out more."

"Meet anyone interesting?" asked Suguha.

Kazuto leaned back on one of the wooden beams holding up the awning of the Kirigaya dojo. "A girl named Argo…but I'm sure I'll meet some new people tomorrow. Plus, I got to make a good squad to take on the first boss room."

"Do you think I'll like the game?"

"Hell yeah. Except for having to hide the fact that I am...well me when I have the Assassin's gear, I'm loving every second of it."

Suguha sniffed. "Why?"

Kazuto answered promptly. "Because they'll see my face, know I was the one who beat the quest with the troll in it and know where to get the gear when the game starts for real three months from now. It's just better if I wear my hood."

Suguha yawned before leaning over on Kazuto on the steps of their dojo. "I'm looking forward to November when the game comes out so we can play it together."

He didn't really mind that they were sort of cuddling. "Yeah, I can't wait to show you this awesome Assassin's outfit I got. Plus the moves, blades, it's so damn awesome."

Suguha frowned as she closed her eyes on her Onii-chan's chest. "Hey, Kazuto?"

"Yeah?" acknowledged Kazuto.

"I miss Jii-chan."

"So do I Sugu, so do I." mumbled Kazuto as he glanced at the dojo he trained him in. He wrapped his arms around her and eventually they fell asleep together as crickets sang in the pond near the dojo.

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Will the next chapter start on the first day of the actual game? Nah, I think I'll write Kirito's experience with his new Assassin's gear up to the tenth floor and then move on to the game's launch and set the base for the Harem too.

Harem list? Sure here:

Kirito's Harem (8): Sachi, Leafa, Yuuki, Lisbeth, Argo, Asuna, Silica and Sinon.

The focus of the Harem will not be in that order in terms of anything, the order was random. I could've added others, but the problem is that it just becomes way too unfocused if there are too many girls.

I initially considered giving Kirito Gaming Powers, but seeing as this is Sword Art Online, that would be painfully redundant. The only clever way around this would be something like SAO: The Eroge, which is awesome as a little side note, where he's only given the powers of a romance game.

And SaintInfernalNeos, what happened to the Eroge story? I love that thing!

So how did I get the idea for this? Well, first, I love Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag along with the series in general and this seemed like a good way to show that love. Also, I remember very vividly that in an episode of the anime that Kirito explicitly tells Silica that his grandfather was abusive towards Suguha and that led to his quitting of Kendo.

The best way to explain Kirito as a teamwork focused and blade savvy person would be if his grandfather reinforced that from a young age, thus this idea was born.

How'd I come across SAO? Well back in April of this year, I was looking around Netflix needing something to watch, and then I saw the first two seasons of it there. I also really enjoyed the Mother's Rosario arc and had to include Yuuki here because if it wasn't for Suguha she'd be best girl.

Not to mention that I felt really bad for Suguha after Kazuto basically rejected her in the second season which I thought was really unfair to her.

And me being into Gamer stories now, I got hooked easily with the concept of being stuck in a game and also I liked the anime a lot too anyway. Oh yeah if you're familiar with my other work, lemons will be another separate story when and if I get around to them.

So see y'all next time! Also, I should probably make a writing schedule honestly…