Here it is! The supernatural, pseudo-science Sword Art Online fan fiction that absolutely no one asked for! Not a single soul in this inferno of suffering asked for something like this! I'm just gonna pray to the Monkey King that this lasts longer than the last failures that I made. You know what I'm talking about... probably. Maybe.

[Italics] = Interview

[Standard Text] = Messages

"So, I would assume that you would want me to start at the beginning?" Kazuto asked. The room he was in had him surrounded by bland, white walls and a fluorescent light hovered above him. Kazuto sat at a table with a woman sitting opposite to him, his hands intertwined on the table.

"Yes, obviously," said a woman, a nurse more specifically. "I have all the information about what had occurred in that moment in SAO, the one where you and Kayaba faced off, in our last meeting but this is something completely unexpected."

"Define 'this,'" Kazuto said simply. "You'll have to be more specific, Aki."

"Your... abilities," Aki said. Kazuto grinned while his face seem to glitch and distort in a creepy manner, much to Aki's discomfort. "What you and your... informant have shown is something that hasn't been seen in sixteen years and even then it was all in a different country."

"Alright, so what do you wanna know?" Kazuto asked.

"The time you discovered your power, when you had your encounter with Nobuyuki Sugou," the nurse said, clicking a pen and holding up a notebook. "How did you come across them?"

Kazuto had lost his initial grin. He sighed as he ran his hand through his hair, "You know those moments in anime and manga when the main character unlocks a hidden power when under dire circumstance? Like say... near death?"

"Yes?"

"Well... there's some merit to that, apparently."

Kazuto Kirigaya stood in the very center of his room, staring incredulously at his own palms, feeling time slow into an unbearable crawl as he processed what he did. Kazuto felt his mind... buzz? Like a family of bees was making themselves right at home in his head. It was a weird and yet... oddly not unwelcome feeling.

[I had... lost all hope of being with Asuna again.]

Kazuto flexed his hand again, showing what appeared to be blue and purple pixels and digital projections given physical shape with the buzzing extending from his head to the tips of his fingers. The shapes themselves varied in their sizes and proportions, some being triangles, some being circles and some being both circles and triangles. Some of them were shapes in forms and proportions that Kazuto couldn't even begin to describe and some he thought impossible.

[I was... livid to say the least. The fact that some random asshole was about to make off with Asuna to another country against her will... and after everything we've been through... well, it was too much to bear.]

Kazuto stared at the slash mark and then back to his hand again. The digital projections made a kind of buzzing and/or humming sound when they shifted in response to Kazuto's movements. Kazuto remembered, he had made a swiping motion, like he was swinging his Elucidator, in a fit of blind rage and... something happened. Something with a bright blue glow had appeared and created that slash mark.

[And what had you done to have caused the damage?]

Kazuto flexed his fingers yet again, the pixels and shapes reminding him of his time as a beta tester for SAO. Some of the glitches he had seen when some layouts weren't aligned correctly or when weapons kept shattering into polygons when coming into contact with Immortal objects.

Bzzt! Bzzt! SHING!

"What the fuck?!"

[Heh, not my greatest reaction, but I guess you could call it the most appropriate.]

In Kazuto's hand was a large, bright blue sword. In fact, Kazuto recognized the design as his Dark Repulser, though there were more floating blue pixels around the blade. The sword itself was much larger than the original Dark Repulser, and yet it felt similar in weight. It felt comfortable in his hand. Sitting down on the edge of his bed, Kazuto inspected the design of the digital blade in his hand. It was around the size of a two-handed greatsword, if a little larger, though Kazuto could hold it in one hand as if he were holding a pencil.

Maybe because it's a sort of digital projection? And not the actual thing?

Kazuto then used his other hand to make a downwards swiping motion with his index finger. The gesture was used to open up your menu screens in any virtual world, but the screen's absence gave credence to the fact that, yes, Kazuto was in the real world. Which meant that whatever he was doing was real. But he wasn't doing it with any amount of machinery.

Which begs the question. What the hell even is this?

Whatever Kazuto had, it seemed that he was able to conjure objects from... what? Whatever you could project from a screen? Was he able to create physical holograms?

What were those called again...? Oh yeah, hard-light projections.

I think Kayaba tried to experiment with those once, but he had failed in doing so.

Walking over to his computers, Kazuto switched them on. Opening the desktop, Kazuto reeled back when the screens began to go haywire. The screen flickered with glitched activity, blocks of code and color flickering in and out.

Kazuto stared back down onto his hands to see that the pixels were flowing from his hands towards the computers. Kazuto then felt a pulse between his fingers and, before he knew it, his hands were on the screens of his computers. Suddenly, a shuddering feeling seemingly fell from the screen and coursed through Kazuto's fingertips, around his arms, and then making a humming sound in his head.

[I had seen these... images. The images depicted me performing different things with my powers. It was... like my own power was teaching me how to use it.]

Wings.

Digital wings.

Kazuto stared at his own ceiling in stunned silence. He saw himself flying throughout Tokyo's skies with bright blue wings made of pixels, but they looked feathered. Like angel wings. Looking down from his ceiling, Kazuto saw that the screens no longer glitched. They were perfectly stable and showing that everything was in proper working order.

Wait, so I... absorbed...

Kazuto felt his eyelids grow impossible heavy, his eyelids drooping down before gluing themselves shut. Kazuto fell over onto his desk, limp like he just had every switch in him turned off.

[And you just fell asleep?]

[Yeah. I didn't know why, though. Still don't, but I don't think about it too much.]

Morning rolled around faster than Kazuto wanted, though that didn't matter when Kazuto found himself sleeping on his desk. His computers were turned off and there was a blanket over his shoulders.

Did Sugu come in here last night?

But better yet, Kazuto remembered some of the things that had occurred the night before. All that... video stuff with the glitched screens and digital wings...

Was all that just a dream?

Bzzt! SHING!

...

There was a long pause as Kazuto turned his head to his right and stared dumbly at his hand. His Dark Repulser had appeared as if to prove him wrong, the timing of it was just impeccable.

What? Is this power sentient now?

Kazuto willed the sword to disappear, still thinking back on what he had experienced the night before. Apparently, whatever Kazuto had was using video or digital energy as a basis, in which he could create about anything by manifesting it into a hard-light projection. Or something similar to that.

That would explain the vision with the digital wings. Speaking of which...

Kazuto shot up from his chair, a grin set on his face as he imagined the digital energy coursing throughout his body. Allowing himself to breathe, Kazuto let the pixels and polygons surround him. Kazuto's form glitched and distorted before an abundance of pixels gathered at Kazuto's back.

Bzzt! Bzzt!

There it is!

"Kazuto?" called out a feminine voice from the other side of the door.

FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!

[HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]

[Will you stop laughing?!]

[Aha... ah, I'm sorry... just... you sound like that one meme with the guy holding a hot pot and he's yelling that same thing! Hahaha!]

Kazuto looked behind himself and at the door in a panic. He couldn't show this to Suguha! She'd freak out and that was the last thing he needed first thing in the morning. Maybe he'd show her some time later, but not first thing in the morning.

Shit! Go away! Go away! Go the hell away!

And like that, much to Kazuto's surprise, the buzzing in his head had stopped completely. Kazuto stared into his mirror and saw no more pixels and polygons surrounding him and he wasn't glitching or distorting.

Okay, I'm good. That could've been disastrous.

"Y-Yeah?" Kazuto called out in response.

"I heard some weird stuff, is everything okay?" Suguha asked from the other side of his door.

Kazuto walked over to the door, turned the knob, and opened up to see Suguha in her usual red pajamas. Kazuto couldn't help but notice that Suguha was... shorter? But that didn't make sense. Wasn't Suguha only shorter than him by a couple centimeters? Now it looked like he was a full head taller than her and, apparently, Suguha noticed the same thing.

"Did you... grow taller these last couple months?" Suguha asked awkwardly, having to crane her neck to look her brother/cousin in the eyes.

"I-I... maybe?" Kazuto said as he rubbed the back of his head uneasily. Rehabilitation from a two-year coma was an absolute bitch to handle and it involved months of physical reconditioning, exercises, and then some. Nurse Aki even told him to continue with his physical workouts to make sure that he was in top shape and not turn back into the scrawny child that was rolled into her care.

[And all that exercise paid off, didn't it? From what I hear, Asuna was all over you when you went to that pool party for her birthday.]

[Who told you that?]

[...]

[It was Lis, wasn't it?]

[... maybe?]

"Okay... well there's bacon and eggs on the table if you want it," Suguha said, much to Kazuto's delight.

"Thank you," Kazuto said. Suguha nodded and walked away to do her own thing, though Kazuto couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong.

Ping.

"Huh?" Kazuto turned around to see his computer suddenly light up with activity. Curious, Kazuto inched himself closer to his monitors with a cautious pace. Finally, he was close enough to see that he was being sent a message in a chat room by an encrypted sender.

What is this?

Opening up the message, it read...

[You don't know me.]

[And this is how you met your informant?]

[Yeah. Went by the call sign 'Banner Man.']

[But I know you.]

Kazuto's brows furrowed in concern. The message was obviously right; he didn't know who this guy was. And who the hell is Banner Man?

[I know who you are]

Kazuto blanched for a brief moment. This guy knew who he was? Was he a member of Laughing Coffin?! Was it Kayaba?! Sugou?! Fuck! Too many questions!

[I know what you are.]

...

There was another pause as Kazuto processed what the message said. Kazuto's onyx eyes turned to pinpricks. Was this... was this related to his Video powers? It had to be! But he only found them out last night when he-

[I can help you.]

Kazuto paused. He paused before steeling his nerves and deciding to respond. Kazuto frantically typed away on his keyboard, he honestly didn't have time for this.

[How can you help me? Who even are you? - Kirito]

Kazuto sat on his chair and crossed his arms, though his knee bounced from the bedroom floor as an indication to Kazuto's nervousness and impatience.

Ping.

Kazuto raised a brow when Banner Man didn't send a direct message, but instead it was a screenshot instead of a direct message. This was getting weirder and weirder every time. Who even was this guy?

Opening the screenshot, the orchestra in Kazuto's heart raised in pitch, rapidly rising to its crescendo as he laid eyes upon the image. Vast white, silk dress. Red ribbons. Ornaments upon pointed ears.

Light auburn hair.

Bright amber eyes.

A sullen stare that didn't belong.

Kazuto nearly staggered as he continued to stare at his beloved. Right there, behind the golden bars of a gilded bird cage.

Ping.

[I can help you save Her.]

Kazuto really did stagger. Help him save her?!

Frantically typing, Kazuto responded...

[Why? - Kirito]

There was a pregnant pause, Kazuto's mind run rampant and the buzzing in his head now sounded like someone had agitated a swarm of hornets.

[You and I are not so different.]

Kazuto continued to stare at the messages in confusion.

[If you wish to know more, simply head to this location.]

Ping.

Another message appeared, this time bearing an address. Of course, it was somewhere in the outermost parts of Tokyo. Kazuto didn't waste anytime putting on his street clothes and venturing out the door. Stuffing his phone in his pocket (since his power was video related, perhaps it would come in handy) and putting on his shoes, Kazuto opened the door to the world outside.

"Sugu, I'm heading out!" Kazuto called out.

Suguha came hopping down the stairs, "Okay, be safe," Suguha said. "Are you visiting Asuna again?"

Kazuto's eyes suddenly became determined and serious, "No, but I will very soon," Kazuto said ominously as he shut the door.

Suguha stared at the door, confounded. Why did Kazuto say it like that? Did he know something she didn't?

Kazuto took long strides as he walked with a purpose through the bustling streets of Tokyo. Pedestrians around him could apparently sense his seriousness as they promptly parted ways in order for him to pass, but Kazuto paid that little mind.

Kazuto pulled out his phone to see that it was somewhere around twelve. Kazuto scowled.

I honestly have no time for this. I just wish I didn't forget my bike in my haste.

Kazuto scolded himself as he kept up his pace. Kazuto had wished he had any faster method of transportation at the moment.

Wait, my wings!

Kazuto mentally face-palmed as he walked down a secluded alleyway, away from the prying eyes of the public. Kazuto was never really a social person and he didn't enjoy crowds all that much. Summoning his wings where everyone could see him was just begging for attention.

Letting his pixels gather at his back, Kazuto stood still as he concentrated. It was so much easier with repetition.

{Initializing Musical Score: Buckbeak's Flight - Harry Potter}

Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt!

Fwoosh!

Kazuto stared behind himself as he looked at his new wings, each one around twice his actual body size. They were, of course, a bright blue and were pixelated, but there were definitely feathers. Kazuto also noticed that the wings had golden armored plates with dark blue accents that was positioned upon the upper extremity of the wings.

No way! Are those...?!

Kazuto had a flashback of his days in SAO. There was a particularly powerful boss on the sixtieth floor of Aincrad. One with the same wings and same colored armor. An immensely powerful and angelic foe that took the might of both the Knights of the Blood Oath and two other front-line guilds to take down.

He Who Dwells.

Kazuto remembered that boss well. In fact, it was the same boss that dropped Asuna's armor (even though its appearance was changed to that of a KoB uniform). But Kazuto had other things to worry about, namely getting up off the ground and getting to the location of his 'informant.'

However, before Kazuto could ponder how to actually move his wings, his body moved on instinct. Kazuto's wings spread and flapped once before he was sent thirty feet into the air.

"Holy shit!" Kazuto yelled out in shock as, in another beat of He Who Dwells' wings, he was flung forward in a straight line. Kazuto felt himself shaking due to turbulence, but found himself righting his position into something more natural. Kazuto took a moment to collect himself before he leaned himself back. The movement stopped his momentum and placed him in an idle position with the wings flapping occasionally.

[So how did flying feel?]

[It was nothing like anything I've felt before. I felt so... free]

Kazuto felt a grin stretch onto his face as he flapped his wings once more, going even higher into the air.

"Ha ha! WHOO!" Kazuto whooped in childish whimsy as he flew higher and higher, his movements becoming as easy as breathing. "WHOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!"

Kazuto stopped as he flew past a veil of clouds before rocketing himself towards his goal.

As much as I enjoy the feeling that flying brings, I have things to do and my wife to save.

Determined, Kazuto sped up his flying.

...

Well, I can enjoy this feeling on the way there.

Walking through an alleyway, Kazuto found himself at the doorstep of a shady-looking place. The lamplight above flickered in and out and was covered in dust and cobwebs. Kazuto shuddered when he thought he just spotted a pretty big spider crawl from the lamp and then scurry somewhere else.

Yeah that's right, fuck off.

[Wow. You really don't like spiders]

Kazuto never liked spiders and, apparently, neither did Asuna. Apparently, Kayaba added house spiders as a little prank on players who had a home or establishment. Having Asuna shrieking like a little girl and then jumping onto his shoulders while brandishing her Lambent Light rapier that one day away from the front lines would've been funny as all hell were it not for Kazuto's own discomfort.

[Wait, that actually happened?]

[Yup. Asuna still denies it to this day]

Kazuto felt his eyelid twitch imagining Kayaba's laughter as he watched countless players get scared shitless seeing another eight-legged, beady-eyed freak of nature sitting on their nightstand.

But Kazuto couldn't afford to be distracted. He had Asuna to save and he needed all the help he can get. Knocking on the door, Kazuto was greeted with silence. The silence hung on a noose while Kazuto's patience wore thin. Seriously, where the hell is this guy? This is the right address, right?

Rumble.

Kazuto looked around frantically as he felt a rumbling and the sound of hard stones grating against each other. The quaking of the ground became more pronounced as more stones grated and grinded, creating a rather irritating sound.

Sounds like... concrete?

Whoosh!

Kazuto, relying on his superior reaction time, looked up to see someone leaping off of the building next to him and was cocking his leather-gloved fist back. Upon pure instinct, Kazuto transformed himself into a flurry of digital energy, his body turning into a mass of blue pixels and polygons as he warped some distance away. Kazuto stumbled from the sudden effect.

Crash! Crack!

Kazuto's eyes turned to pinpricks as he just witnessed a man slam his fist into solid concrete and the concrete gave way to his fist instead of the other way around. The decent-sized crater had formed with the figure's gloved fist at the center.

Kazuto took a closer look at the figure. Judging by body structure, it was male, that much was for sure. His height also suggested that he was actually somewhere around Asuna's age. The man wore what looked like a black, leather trench coat with the collar upturned and a white V-neck underneath. He was also wearing dark blue, denim jeans held up by a simple brown belt, with a silver chain attached from the belt to his back pocket, additionally with black shoes to top off the rest of his outfit.

But what made the hairs on the back of Kazuto's hair stand on end was the mask the man wore. While his leather hood was up, the man wore what looked like an M50 joint service general purpose gas mask with a pitch black tint on the lenses so as to hide the eyes from outside view.

But that's the kind of gas masks only the military uses! Where did he even get that?!

Either way, Kazuto was prepared to defend himself.

Bzzt! SHING!

Kazuto summoned four floating Dark Repulsers at his side while he manifested the wings of He Who Dwells. The masked man tilted his head, as if curious, before he raised his hands.

Before Kazuto's eyes, the masked man started to hover before countless shards of concrete floated and circling underneath him in a cone with the point at his feet, as if the concrete was holding him in midair.

He's... like me?

The masked man suddenly summoned three curved, jagged pillars of concrete to float around him. With a gesture, the masked man sent one of the pillars of concrete flying at Kazuto. Kazuto, again on instinct, transformed into digital energy and warped away from the attack.

Fine. If you're gonna be like that...

Kazuto flung his right hand forward and sent one of his four Dark Repulsers at the masked man. But, while Kazuto wasn't surprised, the masked man casually waved his hand and flung another concrete pillar at the sword, knocking it away and letting the Dark Repulser stab itself into the cement wall of an abandoned building.

"It'll take more than a few swords to land a decent blow on me," the man said, his voice muffled by the mask his wore. "But kudos for trying."

Kazuto wasn't actually sure if the masked man was genuinely praising his efforts or if he was patronizing him, but Kazuto was pretty sure it was the latter. Gritting his teeth, Kazuto took to the air with his wings, this time manifesting three other pairs of wings to-

"Manifesting more wings to give yourself more maneuverability and to add as defenses," the masked man said, stunning Kazuto for a moment. "Now that was a good move, especially against another Conduit."

[That was the day I learned the term 'Conduit,' super-powered human beings with the ability to control certain types of matter]

Conduit?

"Is... is that what I am?" Kazuto asked.

"It's what we are, Kazuto Kirigaya," the masked man said. "Like I said, we're not so different."

...

"Banner Man?" Kazuto asked in disbelief.

Banner Man laughed uproariously, "Yes! Finally, you got it!" Banner shouted. The concrete around him vanished as he descended to the ground. Cautiously, Kazuto did the same thing, but his wings still remained just in case. "Just so you know, I attacked you to make sure it was you and not someone else disguised as you."

Kazuto rolled his eyes, "And my Video powers didn't make it obvious?"

"Oh they did, but I also wanted to test you," Banner said.

"I didn't pass, did I?" Kazuto asked rhetorically.

Much to his surprise, Banner laughed, "Actually, you passed with flying colors," Banner replied. "You had the willingness to fight against an opponent with seven years of practice and experience with his Concrete power while you only had wings and swords."

"So you said that you could help me save Asuna," Kazuto said with his arms crossed, getting back on track to the reason why he was here. "Why? Who even are you? How do you even know me?"

Banner shook his head, "Not out here, come on in" Banner said, leading Kazuto the door he had knocked previously. "I can answer all of your questions once we're inside."

Heading inside the building, Kazuto wasn't surprised when he spotted seven computers and a large monitor all on one wall and a keyboard on a massive desk. The desk had some amounts of paperwork while next to the whole setup was a conspiracy board. The board showed its traditional spider web of red strings which each point and cross section pointing to a person, location, or event. Some pictures of people had large, red X marks over them in red permanent marker.

Kazuto shuddered at the newspaper clippings of young children being taken and the sudden uprising of yakuza activity.

Underneath the board was a multitude of stray papers with bits and pieces of information Kazuto couldn't be bothered to remember, with the papers being strewn haphazardly in a circle. The blank space within the circle meant that Banner would sit cross-legged in that space and do his own thing. Whatever that was.

On the other side of the room was a large kitchen with various utensils along with a refrigerator and a small table. Finally, in another corner was a decent sized bed to fit three people at most and with a night stand. The night stand had a picture frame with two young children.

One child had Kazuto nearly reeling due to his impossibly long black hair (seriously, not even Asuna's hair was that long!) which was tied into a quite possibly the world's longest French braid reaching his rear and vivid magenta eyes. The other was a young girl with thin black hair tied in small white ribbons by the sides of her face with the back cut short. Her eyes were the same color onyx as Kazuto's and she wore a small pair of oval-shaped, half-rimmed glasses.

Kazuto thought that, if people didn't know any better, the young girl could be passed off as the younger sister to either Kazuto himself or the boy in the photo.

"So... you want answers," Banner said with his back turned to Kazuto. Kazuto saw that Banner had removed his mask and placed it on the desk. "I will answer them as best I can."

Kazuto hesitated for moment, but ultimately mucked up the courage to ask, "Who are you really?"

Banner didn't move for a moment before he removed his hood from his head. Kazuto watched intently as Banner reached towards his neck and pulled something out. Kazuto's eyes began to widen every second as he witnessed a familiar braid of long, ebony tresses fall onto Banner's back reaching his rear. Kazuto noted that Banner's hair was black before it faded into a rich magenta to the end.

With a sigh, Banner turned around, showing a young and somewhat feminine face and familiar magenta eyes.

Kazuto took a step back as he stared into the eyes of the child from the photo.

"You recognize my appearance from that photo," Banner said. "My name is Kuro Ishiyama."

Kazuto paused for a moment to process the name, "... Ishiyama..."

"No no, just call me Kuro," Kuro said as he took off his coat and threw it onto his bed. "I'm not that into formalities."

"Okay then, Kuro, why decide to help me when this isn't your problem?" Kazuto asked wearily. "I've never known you in my life nor do I recall meeting you in SAO. I do get that we're both... Conduits and all but... still..."

Kuro sighed, "Well, I think we can benefit from each other," Kuro said plainly. "For one, you barely know how to utilize your power's full might. I, a Conduit who has had seven years of experience with his powers, can help you get started."

Kazuto nodded. That was fair, he supposed.

"That and Nobuyuki Sugou has been on the top of my hit list for the past three months," Kuro said with such seriousness that it actually scared Kazuto. "I'm sure that he's the reason that three hundred of SAO's players didn't wake up when they were supposed to."

Kazuto's blanched as he stared into Kuro's eyes, "So... it's not just Asuna?"

Kuro shook his head, much to Kazuto's horror, "No, she's not the only one," Kuro said as he picked up what looked like a video game case. "That image I showed you? It was taken by a group of former beta testers in this game."

Kuro tossed the case to Kazuto, who caught the case with one hand. Kazuto took one look only to raise a brow at how... friendly it looked.

"ALfheim Online?" Kazuto asked dubiously.

"Look what's on the back," Kuro said simply.

Turning the case around, Kazuto looked to see something called RECT Progress.

"RECT Progress?" Kazuto asked as Kuro walked over to his conspiracy board and grabbing a photo of Sugou.

"Yes," Kuro confirmed. "After Argus went bankrupt due to the Sword Art Online incident, its servers and data were acquired by RECT Progress Incorporated and used to create the VRMMORPG ALfheim Online. And you wanna know who currently governs RECT Progress?"

"Sugou?"

"Sugou."

"Damn it all," Kazuto hissed in disdain. "And your saying that Sugou has all the other three hundred players being held here?"

"That's my suspicion, yes, but I needed to gather evidence that I thought impossible to get until I found out about you," Kuro said as he jabbed a Concrete dagger into the face of Sugou's portrait in a vicious manner. "With your Video power, you could make finding evidence and freeing Asuna alongside the three hundred a much easier task."

"And how exactly can I do that?" Kazuto asked, curious about the other things that his Video powers could do.

"Well, what I want you to do is transform yourself into digital energy like you did when you engaged me in combat," Kuro said. "You can do that, right?"

Kazuto nodded as he pulsed and glitched before once more becoming the humanoid mass of pixels and polygons.

"Now, jump headfirst into my computer," Kuro said, much to Kazuto's confusion.

"What would that do?"

"By transforming yourself into digital energy and code, you would be able to travel through any screen and into the virtual world without the use of a FullDive device," Kuro said with a grin, letting his sentence end so that Kazuto would get the implication.

Kazuto's brows raised to his hair, though Kuro couldn't see it, "I CouLd gO anyWheRe i wanT, CoUld paSS thrOugh undETected, aLteR mY OWn APpearance..." Kazuto mused, his voice distorted by the fact that he had a digital mouth. Those same images of Kazuto using his power appeared again, this time showing Kazuto floating around the digital and virtual worlds completely invisible to everyone else but Asuna.

"You would be invincible," Kuro said with a grin.

[Okay, it's official. Your Video power is absolutely broken]

[You would not believe how many times Asuna tells me this]

Not wasting anymore time, Kazuto tossed himself into one of Kuro's computer screens. The screens shimmered and distorted for a while and Kuro was getting a little antsy for all the time that passed. Did something go wrong?

"... Kuro..."

Kuro looked up at the screen to see Kazuto's shimmering face staring in wonder at the digital environment around him.

In Kazuto's point of view, strings of code and information criss-crossed in a field of blue and white. What Kazuto saw as so massive and filled to the brim with information. Everything from the latest news in Tokyo to a gun-related incident in Seattle.

"... It's so weird in here... so much information... all in one place..." Kazuto said with a slightly staticky voice.

"That is because your inside the Internet," Kuro said with a grin. "You have infinite access to all sites and servers and you can now enter the virtual world whenever it damn pleases you."

"... So, you're saying..."

Kuro's grin stretched further, "You could literally go see Asuna right now if you want to."

Kazuto felt his heart leap to his throat in response to Kuro's words. He could go see Asuna right now if he wanted. They would be reunited...

"However, you need to exercise caution," Kuro warned, "Sugou may be a piece of shit but he's far from stupid. He's ALfheim Online's game master under the username 'Oberon.'"

"... the Fairy King... what an arrogant prick..." Kazuto muttered to himself. Of course Sugou would place himself as the highest authority in the land.

"On the bright side, this makes Asuna easier to find and track," Kuro said as he typed away on his keyboard through a roster of usernames in ALfheim Online. "For one, Sugou plans on 'marrying' Asuna, right?"

Kazuto curled his hand into a tight fist at the very notion.

"I'll take the sudden glitch in my computers as an irritated 'yes,'" Kuro said. "You can hide your presence to everyone but Asuna if you want and can keep Sugou off your trail."

"... Good..."

"Now for how we find Asuna, well... what was the name of Oberon's breathtaking bride in the myths?" Kuro asked as he placed his cursor over a certain username.

"... Titania...?"

"Titania," Kuro confirmed as he clicked on the name Titania. It was, of course, locked via a string of passwords and firewalls but the fact that an ordinary player username even had all this was what made it stick out like a sore thumb.

"... Where was that image taken...?"

"There's a gigantic white structure at the center of the game's land called the World Tree," Kuro said. "Asuna is at the top of that in a golden bird cage. You'll know it when you see it."

Kazuto nodded. Determined, Kazuto 'surfed' the Internet and finding what looked like a portal to that fantasy world that held Asuna and the Three Hundred in chains.

Asuna. I'm coming for you.

And cliffhanger! I know! I'm an ass!

But yes I did introduce an OC of my own making and kudos to those who know who Kuro's friend in that portrait is.

[Edit] I combined the first and second chapter into one longer first chapter.