Kirito had never been on a plane, nor had he ever had any real desire to ride one. Still, he was capable of understanding humanity's fascination with flight; the concept wasn't alien to him. There was something supposedly liberating in the idea, to be able to cast off one's shackles to the world below and take off and be, however briefly, free. Looking at it from that angle, it seemed quite appealing. As Kirito sailed through the air, none of these thoughts crossed his mind. In fact, he found the entire experience less than pleasant. This might have been due to the fact that his flight was less than smooth, instead tumbling wildly through the air, or that his launch had been against his best efforts, or that he wasn't even in an aircraft.

It might also have been due to his lateral flight coming to an abrupt and jarring halt as his body slammed solidly into the stone wall. His momentum gone, Kirito then flopped down to the floor, a full twenty meters from where he'd been launched. Stars danced in his vision from his head's impact into the wall as he coughed in pain. He clutched at his side, trying to get some of the air that was forced out of him back into his lungs.

The creature that had thrown him paused, waiting to see what he'd do next. It was a male lamia chimera, with the distinction of having its upper body covered in thick brown fur, capped with the head of a bear. The humanoid portion of its body was three times the size of a normal person, with four arms, each holding a slender kris type sword made of undulating steel. From the waist down the flesh flowed into the body of a snake, covered in brick red scales, reaching eight meters to the steel tipped tail.

The monster threw its arms behind it and thrust its chest forward, roaring in triumph. Finally able to breathe again, Kirito rolled over and brought himself up to his knees. The last of the creature's four health bars was partially depleted, but Kirito was nearly in the red himself. Kirito couldn't retreat; the Vasiliás Fídi was a floor boss, and the door to the arena had sealed the moment the fight had begun. The active anti-crystal field ruled out any escape that way. Either he was going to die, or it was.

Kirito stayed down on one knee, taking a moment to steady himself. The Vasiliás tended to only attack a standing foe, so he had a few more seconds before it got tired of waiting. He stabbed his Elucidator into the stone floor and reached into one of his pockets, drawing out a health potion. The drink was especially potent, and would put his health back in the green in just over thirty seconds. It was the last one he had outside his inventory, it would take too long to summon another if he needed it.

He needed it now.

Kirito stared at the object resting in his palm, looking between his red health bar and the likewise red beverage.

"Kirito!" He heard a voice shout with urgency.

He frowned, clutching the flask in his hand.

"Kirito," she repeated, "get up!"

He closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to remove the last twinkling stars from the corners of his eyes. The chimera decided it was finished waiting, but was in no hurry. With slow undulations of its reptilian lower body, it lazily slithered his way. He placed the potion back in his pocket and stood up, plucking his sword from the floor and preparing himself.

Sensing the challenge, the beast coiled its tail behind it and lunged forward, closing the distance between them in a heartbeat. Kirito had anticipated the move, charging forward and to the side, evading the strike. His off handed sword, a brightly coloured weapon in contrast to his blackened Elucidator, shone a vibrant blue as he slipped forward. Instead of meeting his target head on, he passed by, closely to its left, dragging his off handed sword along the length of its lower body as he ran.

The Vasiliás Fídi roared in anger and snapped its tail at him, forcing him to disengage long enough for it to bring its upper body around to face him. With a flurry of flashing steel, it attacked him in a continuous stream of rapid strikes. Kirito slowly retreated, blocking each attack with either of his own swords, the exchange of blows filling the area with the sound of rapid fire reports.

Faster! He urged himself.

With twice the swords coming at him than he could wield himself, he knew he couldn't last for too long. A few light cuts managed to push through his defenses, sinking his health even farther. Finally, seeing an opening, Kirito counter attacked, knocking aside the monster's two right swords long enough to strike at the corresponding wrists. His swords took on an angry glow as they hacked at the limbs. The reward for his efforts was the upper right hand dropping to the floor as the wrist was severed. He parried the attacks from the left, repeating the tactic and removing the lower left in the middle of its forearm.

Kirito drew Elucidator back, point forward and thrust it at its chest. The Vasiliás Fídi recoiled with a pained howl that made his ears ring, rising away from him on its muscular tail. With a rage filled roar, it slammed back down, bringing both remaining swords in heavy over strikes. Kirito rolled to the right, safely out of the way, only coming back to his feet in time for the tail to snap around quicker than he could dodge. The appendage slammed into him and his feet left the ground.

His landing was improvised, but a great deal more graceful than his last. As he hit the floor, he tumbled into a backwards somersault. The maneuvre ended with him back on one knee, stabbing both swords into the floor to grind to a halt. The chimera didn't wait this time, pressing the attack immediately. Its health was nearly gone, and Kirito's had begun to flash.

Get up! He shouted internally. Not today!

Kirito glanced at his HUD, checking the cooldown timer of his system skills. As he watched and his foe approached, the one he needed became available again. He rose, pulling his off hand weapon back at shoulder height, the sword point forward. His grip shifted, with the handle of the sword resting a little awkwardly between his middle and forefinger, with the fingers lightly gripping the crossguard from below, relatively. Stepping forward, he grunted with effort and whipped the arm forward, launching the sword like an improvised javelin. It sailed at the creature's face. While it was mid-flight, Kirito brought his main blade close and activated the needed skill.

The floor boss swept both of its remaining swords upwards in opposing rotations, ending with both weapons out to its sides. It blinked, for a split second surprised by Kirito's sudden attack. While the sword-turned-projectile had obscured its vision and supplied the needed distraction, Kirito had activated his dash attack as the distraction was batted away. With both of the chimera's blades out of the way, his next move was completely unimpeded. Kirito flashed forward at an almost impossible speed, sword straight out in a thrust. Elucidator impaled the Vasiliás Fídi straight through its sternum, jabbing out through its spine. Not yet finished, Kirito quickly braced his feet against its lower abdomen and grabbed his left hand onto its collar bone. Once secure, and before the monster could react with anything further than a surprised scream, Kirito retrieved his blade and thrust again, this time angled upwards. The black sword punched through its throat, impaling it again.

Kirito saw its last health bar empty. The final blow struck, Kirito kicked off its chest to avoid any attacks after the fact before it expired. He quickly disengaged as the Vasiliás Fídi made one last swipe at him before it toppled over and breathed its last. There was a massive death rattle as the pressure escaped its lungs, just before it burst into crystalline blue shards.

The long fight finally over, Kirito felt his fatigue catching up with him, refusing to be delayed any further. He dropped to his knees, and like the monster he'd just vanquished, sank to the floor, only rolling onto his back with a tired heave. He lie there for the next several minutes, watching his health slowly regenerate at a nearly imperceptibly slow pace. There was once a time he would brag about his health regeneration, before it was rendered obsolete and useless in the midst of battle.

There was no congratulatory banner hovering in the air to announce his victory, nor were there any of the musical swells that would normally accompany the defeat of a new floor boss. There was only the after battle report pop up panel that had disappeared while Kirito stared at the ceiling, waiting for his adrenaline fueled breathing to slow back down. He was curious what the report had said, but he was tired, exhausted by the ordeal. It could wait, if just for a few minutes. He closed his eyes and breathed in deep through his nose.

With the fight over and nothing else in the room but him, there was an almost complete silence. One could lose themselves in it if they weren't already too long used to it.

"What were you thinking?" The voice admonished him. She wasn't angry, but concerned.

Done resting, Kirito snapped his eyes open and scrunched forward, pulling himself to his feet with a tired grunt. The tip of his Elucidator scripped and scraped against the floor as he used it as a walking stick to take some of the weight off his feet while he made his way over to retrieve his other sword. He sheathed his main weapon on his back before picking it up, lovingly wiping away a smudge from the flat of the blade. The brightly coloured sword was a personal treasure of his, and he felt obligated to chastise himself, even if only internally, for doing something so foolish as throwing it. Once finished, it was sheathed beside its mate.

Finally, he waved his hand to summon his menu, checking the spoils from his battle. The Vasiliás Fídi was not a new floor boss. In fact, Kirito had come here to fight it five times before in twice as many days. Each time, he'd defeated it alone. Then again, that was to be expected. It had a chance of dropping one of the rare components needed to upgrade his off handed sword. Instead, it had yet again dropped nothing more than an ornate kris that was inferior to either of his own weapons, and some lower grade crafting items to be added to the stockpile.

Kirito looked between his inventory and his health bar, just now filling enough to stop flashing. He frowned in disappointment.

Not today. He thought. Like any floor boss, the Vasiliás Fídi would respawn in forty eight hours. Maybe next time.

With nothing further to accomplish here, he turned towards the arena entrance to begin his long trek through the boss labyrinth and back to the nearest town. A quick glance to his HUD answered the unspoken question of the time.

[10:46 PM, July 15, 2027]

There was a single pair of footfalls as he trudged towards the exit, more shuffling then stepping.

He was as alone as he was when he'd entered.

Author's Notes: A 'what if' scenario, following Kirito as a solo player in Aincrad. With writing Ergo, which is full of characters and OCs and is dialogue heavy, I wanted to try and also write something that is very much the opposite of that.

EDIT: Minor detail. Added one year to the date. Not of immediate importance but it matters later.