Prologue: Will

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I have been ready ever since I started development on Sword Art Online."

The only source of light in the dark room came from a bank of computer screens, each crawling with lines of computer coding. Keys clacked repeatedly as the fingers upon them typed in the finalized commands. A yawn, then a sigh came from the figure resting in the high-backed chair in front of the console. It twitched, easing itself into a more comfortable sitting position.

"This is part of my dream. To create a perfect world. A perfect world needs its inhabitants, does it not?"

"Of course it does, but this… this is excessive."

A pause. "Are you referring to my little side project, or the players?"

"Little side project, hah... I am referring to both. You're breaking many laws... moral or otherwise."

"Don't worry. TAIC will account for individuality. They won't be exactly the same."

"That's not very reassuring. Also, you have not tested this yet. Won't there be any interference or bugs with the system if you installed it?"

The voice sounded hopeful.

The sound of the keyboard ended abruptly, and the chair swiveled around.

Koujiro Rinko squinted as the movement of the chair momentarily allowed the computer backlight to shine into her eyes. As a result of the light behind the chair, she could only vaguely make out the features of the man in it.

The man she had to kill, to save ten thousand lives.

The features on the man's shadowed face shifted into a wry smile. "There won't be. I have already checked every part of the code many times. There is no interference with any part of the game. Sword Art Online is the perfect test ground for this."

"So you really are going to kill those who die in-game?" Rinko asked. "And those who's NerveGears are interfered with?"

The smile flickered and disappeared. "I already have. So far…." The chair swiveled back towards the counter, and 3 seconds of clicking followed. "…134 players have already died. By in-game death or outside interference."

Rinko gripped the knife hidden in her pocket tightly. This is it, she thought. I have to do this. Before he kills any more, I have to do this.

A frosty silence hung in the air.

"You're thinking of attacking me, aren't you, Koujiro," the man in the chair murmured. "with the knife you have in your pocket…"

Rinko jerked back in surprise, then regained her composure. "It's only right. You're about to finalize the part of Sword Art Online that would cause the death of a thousand people."

"Not even close. I estimate over two thousand will die in the first month alone. Ah," the man regarded one of the screens, "there goes another one. 135 now."

"All the more reason to end this right now. To save all those innocent lives."

The man's voice suddenly became almost inaudible. "But can you?"

"What?" Rinko stepped closer.

"Can you lift your sword, and thrust it into my flesh? In other words, can you kill?"

Rinko had no response.

"Killing isn't such an easy thing," lectured the man, "Koujiro. You take the entire being of a person, their thoughts, their dreams, and their future, away from them. Death is final. It is the point of no return… killing really depends on strength of will; I have an ambition far more important to me than other lives… I have the will to kill, to achieve my goals, for my world. What about you?"

Rinko stayed silent, thinking. Of course I do! I have to do this. He's about to kill so many people… so many innocents.

Yet, her hand refused to raise the blade.

Why! There's no reason not to!

"Do you have the courage?" whispered the man. "Do you have the will to do so?"

Another frosty 5 seconds passed. Neither person moved.

Then the man sighed. "Well, I am going to write and finalize the code into the server, boot up the TAIC, and lock the servers to further interference. This is your last chance to save all those players." A pause. "Three more. 138."

Rinko made no move. Then she whispered, "I have to stop you. I have to..."

The man studied her figure for a full half minute, then turned his back on her and began typing. The sound of clacking keys filled the room.

"There. It is done." The man pushed himself away from the desk, and turned again to face Rinko. "You've lost your chance."

The knife dropped from Rinko's fingers, burying itself into the hardwood floor. Reiko herself didn't move.

The man stood up from the chair and walked over to Reiko. He gently laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Now that we have established that you won't kill me... will you help me?"

Reiko's voice came out strained. "Why... should I help someone like you, who has signed the death sentence of 10,000 people?"

A smile appeared on his face. "Because I will join their ranks."

"What!" Reiko's head snapped up. "What do you mean?!"

The man regarded her curiously. "I mean what I mean. I will join the players of Sword Art Online." He made a bemused sound. "My perfect world, complete with death, and I don't get to experience it myself? What is the point in that?"

Reiko said nothing, staring at him with a suspicious expression.

He sighed, then said, "Please take care of me while I FullDive, Koujiro." He walked out of the room into the hallway.

"And thank you."

As soon as the door closed behind him, Reiko fell to her knees. The tears began to flow.

I couldn't do it, She thought. I don't have the will to kill.

I'm sorry... I couldn't save you all...

I didn't have the will... to stop Kayaba Akihiko.

Now... it's too late.

Quickly pushing the matter of Koujiro Reiko out of her mind, Kayaba Akihiko quickly stepped through another door, into a dimly lit room. The room's only furnishings were a cot and a bedside table. What was important, though, was the bulky helmet resting on the bed, connected by various cables to an internet uplink port.

Kayaba stretched leisurely as he reclined on the cot. He picked up the helmet.

Finally. My dream shall be realized.

The NerveGear rattled as Kayaba's hands shook. Noticing this, he took several deep breaths to calm himself down. It wouldn't do for the players to see an excited administrator proclaiming their possible deaths. Oh, this guy enjoys killing! He must be a mass murderer or something! Nope, that wouldn't do. It would defy the nature of his goals.

Despite what people would think, Kayaba thought, my aim isn't to kill people. My will is to create the perfect world.

And every world needs death.

With that last thought, he donned the helmet and reclined on the cot.

He opened his mouth.

"Link Start."

A colorful array of shapes and streaks passed before his vision, and he felt his virtual body reorient itself from a resting position to a vertical one.

After the usual introductory logo and connection check, Kayaba found himself floating in darkness, with several options floating in the air in front of him. He immediately selected the Sword Art Online link.

Everything disappeared, and Kayaba was drifting alone in the void.

"Cardinal," he intoned, "have you selected the subject for the TAIC project?"

In response, several windows popped up in front of him. 3 in total, one occupied by a picture, the other two with information.

"Hmm." Kayaba studied the picture of a young man, with messy black hair and a slightly feminine face. The name underneath read Kirito.

Kirito, huh... I remember him. One of the best players during the beta, if I recall correctly.

Looking down to the next window, Kayaba's estimate was confirmed as he viewed Kirito's beta stats, items, and login times. Even now, having played on his new character for only a few hours, he only needed 40% experience to reach level 2.

He's quite dedicated to this game... Yes, he will do nicely.

"Choice accepted, Cardinal. Run the program."

The windows shrunk, storing themselves in a corner, and a loading bar appeared in their place. It slowly but surely began to fill up. 1%...2%...

Kayaba smiled to himself.

"Congratulations Kirito. You should feel honored to be the basis for the first TAIC."

He made a swishing motion with his hand. A translucent keyboard popped up, as well as the login screen for Sword Art Online:

LOGIN ID:

PASSWORD:

Kayaba typed Bob, the name of his anonymous moderator account, into the ID Box. For the password, a long string of alphanumerical characters was inserted. Thinly smiling at the simplicity of the ID, he hit the enter key.

The screen vanished, and the loading icon, an hourglass, appeared in its place. Emblazoned in medieval font, LOGGING IN was displayed over it.

The sand in the hourglass quickly fell to the bottom, and Kayaba's vision cleared. He opened his eyes to witness the entirety of Starting City, the biggest town in Aincrad. Kayaba was floating directly above the center of the town, giving him a bird's eye view in every direction. Of course, he was not visible to anyone; it would cause quite a stir to find a floating man in the middle of the city.

Starting City was a circular city built around the main plaza. Themed upon an old medieval city, the buildings were not built quite tall; the only structures over a single story were the central clock tower and the Black Iron castle, as well as the arches enclosing the plaza. Surrounded by thick, stone walls that could defend against any monster on the first floor, the city could house well over six thousand people. It also contained numerous parks, including several lakes. It had taken Kayaba a long time to design the entire complex. Now looking over the whole city from a beautiful viewpoint, he felt the time he put into it was worth it.

Quickly, he called up the moderator menu and selected the Mass Recall option, selecting "ALL PLAYERS", as well as designating the target as the plaza below.

A warning chime resonated throughout the entire first floor of Aincrad.

"Ding... Ding... Ding..."

Almost immediately, blue teleport pillars formed in the plaza, crowding it until the area was packed to the maximum. Cries of surprise echoed as Kayaba deployed and checked a counter; all the current players were in transit. Satisfied, he ended the Recall order.

The pillars faded away, and the diverse group of players all milled around in confusion.

From his height he could barely discern the voices and sounds rising from below. With his administrator privileges, he increased the Scan skill to the maximum, and used the eavesdropping function, closing the menu afterwards.

"Can we log out now?"

"Can't they take care of it quickly?"

"My pizza's gonna get cold!"

Was among the many snippets of conversation Kayaba managed to catch. So, they have already discovered the missing logout button.

All of a sudden, he felt hesitant. The question, Should I really do this?, crossed his mind.

Kayaba shook his head, getting rid of the thought.

This is for the perfect world. No turning back.

This is what I have always wanted.

This is my will.

An elaborate twist of his hand called the moderator menu back into place. With no further hesitation, Kayaba stabbed at the SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT option.

Kirito's hand shook, and he collapsed onto the ground.

"Kirito! You okay?"

"Argh!..."

It was quite a strange form of pain, as if his insides were swelling up, then suddenly removed. Accompanied by a massive headache, the feeling made Kirito feel like puking his guts out.

All of a sudden, the feeling left Kirito, leaving him curled up in a fetal position on the ground, groaning.

"Kirito!?"

"I... I'm okay..."

A hand entered Kirito's field of vision. Grimacing, he grasped it and, with its help, pulled himself upright.

"You sure you okay? It's not something wrong with the NerveGear, right?" asked the owner of the hand.

Klein, Kirito's newfound friend, had a worried look on his face as he observed Kirito's pained form. His red hair and bandanna, combined with his facial features, gave him a raffish, mischievous look. Eyeing Kirito warily, he scratched his head with one hand as the other sheathed his sword.

However, that was just a customized character. Kirito himself had the appearance of a young man in his late teens, with a stern, handsome face. It had annoyed him when people commented on his actual facial features, which were rather feminine.

"N-no... there shouldn't be. The NerveGear has no side effects..." murmured Kirito.

Klein frowned. "For sure, something's wrong. You don't just get seizures or something just like that."

Kirito considered his words. "Perhaps... just a freak incident. Maybe due to *ahem* close proximity to you."

"Yeah, yeah, and my sorry butt can beat you in a sword fight."

"Ha-ha. *cough* It should be alright..."

Kirito had almost recovered from the freak seizure by then. He straightened up, and looked around.

The plains area of Aincrad's first floor surrounding the Starting City was one of the largest areas in the floating castle. With the sunset in the distance, the stalks of grass waving in the breeze, and the rustling of the trees, the whole scene looked like it came straight out of a painting. Kirito and his new friend, Klein, appeared to be the only ones around; neither of them could see anyone in any direction. Since they had only just cleared out the area's Blue Boar mobs, the monsters have not had enough time to respawn yet.

Kirito called out the menu. Like before, the Logout option was still missing. He tapped repeatedly where he remembered the button was supposed to be.

"Serious now… Maybe it was a bug, like this missing Logout button. It's the first day of release, at least something is bound to go wrong."

"I seriously hope they fix it soon... So many bugs like these would ruin Sword Art Online's reputation."

Kirito narrowed his eyes as he thought of something. "Argus is supposed to be famous for being very considerate towards its customers. It would be sort of bad for their reputation if there are tons of screw-ups like these on the first day. Speaking of which," Kirito added while checking his menu, "It's been 15 minutes since we've sent the bug report and there still is no response." A pause. "Not even an automated system message."

Klein agreed. "It would really suck for the VRMMO Genre to have its first game fail like this."

They both sighed in unison.

Then Klein suddenly tore at his hair and moaned.

Startled, Kirito dropped his sword. "Klein! What's wrong?" Is he experiencing the same thing that happened to me?

Klein groaned out:

"My pizza! It's going to go cold... A cold pizza is not good!"

Kirito's eye twitched. Swiftly reclaiming his fallen sword, he gave his new friend a good thwack on the head with the hilt.

"Ow!"

"Idiot! You actually had me worried!"

"Ding!... Ding!... Ding!..."

Startled, Kirito whirled around and held his blade in a combat stance, before realizing the sound was not that of an attacking Blue Boar, the common mob appearing on the first floor.

It was the sound of a ringing bell. The bell sound had no discernible source nor was not very loud, but it resonated throughout the entire first floor.

"Ah.."

"What's this!"

Both Kirito and Klein shouted out their surprise in unison.

Almost immediately, as if in response to their cries, a blue pillar formed from thin air and enveloped them. It remained there for a second; then dissipated.

For a good 10 seconds, all Kirito could see was blue light in every direction. When the light faded, he wasn't in the plains area anymore.

Instead, he was surrounded on all sides by players. Craning his head, he could see that the enclosure around them was a familiar series of arches. Turning around, Kirito saw the clock tower in the middle of the area. This was the Starting City's Central Plaza.

As for its occupants, players of every size and class could be found. Were he able to see over the heads of those next to him, Kirito bet that the entire plaza would be filled. It seemed like every single player logged on to Sword Art Online had been transported here.

He recognized this phenomenon as the Mass Recall feature. Available only to moderators, it transported everyone within the entered parameters to the target location. It was usually used to evacuate a certain area if a bug was discovered, or if a mod had a very important announcement to make.

A few seconds of awkward silence passed.

Then everyone in the plaza started talking at once.

"What's happening?"

"Can we log out now?"

"Can't they take care of it quickly?"

"My pizza's gonna get cold!"

*THWOP*

"Enough about your pizza!"

"Ahhh..."

Then someone raised his voice to the maximum volume and bellowed, "Everyone... look up!"

Reacting instinctively, everyone obeyed and looked up. At first sight, there was nothing special about the bottom of the second floor. It was a light blue color, streaked with gold from the sun shining in through the side of Aincrad.

Then Kirito squinted his eyes and looked closer. Using his Level 1 Scan skill, he could just make out a small red hexagon, bearing the words, "SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT" directly above the central clock tower.

Immediately after Kirito read the words, the hexagon flickered, then multiplied and spread across the sky like a virus. In seconds, the entire 2nd floor was covered in "SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT" and "WARNING" signs.

The virtual hairs on the back of Kirito's neck rose. The announcement looked innocent enough, but Kirito's instinct was warning him of danger. It told him something was about to go horribly wrong.

Klein, just noticing the message, said, "Ah, then they're going to inform us of the bug fixes?"

"Probably," replied Kritio, his brow furrowed, "but something just doesn't feel right..."

As the rest of the players noticed the announcement, they began to quiet down, expecting a reassuring Game Master to tell them everything was all right.

Nobody expected what came next.

The sunset dimmed. The air grew heavy, and the light took on a shade of red.

From the lines separating the announcement hexagon panels, a viscous liquid began to filter through and drop down. The way the liquid stuck together suggested it was most likely blood, or a some kind of sludge. Instead of falling into the plaza, it collected at a point above the clock tower, slowly forming into a twenty foot tall, hooded figure.

Then Kirito's scan ability kicked in, and he slowly realized that the figure had no face. He could see the green designs at the back of the hood, where it should have been blocked the wearer's head. His eyes traveled to the figure's hands, and quickly realized they were disembodied. The white gloves stood out on their own, not connected to anything.

The robe was the kind that Argus employees and game masters wore during the beta test. The green color and hood design were exactly the same. During the beta, though, the robe and hood were actually occupied by people. Whatever weird combination of hair styles, gender, or nose shapes, they had faces. This one was empty.

The floating figure was essentially an empty robe with gloves. Nothing more.

The silence stretched out for another few frosty seconds. Then people began to murmer:

"Is that a Game Master?"

"Where's its face? I heard they were supposed to have faces..."

"What's going on?"

"You'd better compensate me for my pizza when this is over!"

Kirito decided not to say anything, and simply slammed the hilt of his sword into Klein's head once again.

*THOCK*

"Owww..."

Just then, the hooded figure raised its right arm, as if to point at something. Instantly, all ten thousand players fell silent.

The left arm rose as well, then it spread its arms out as if to hug something. The disembodied gloves became more apparent as the visibly moved away from the dangling sleeves of the robe.

Silence. Nothing moved.

Then a low, firm male voice, resonated throughout the entire first floor of Aincrad.

"Players," it slowly proclaimed with deathly finality, "I welcome you all to my world."

Author's Note

Hello! I'm Victory3114, and this is pretty much my first time writing fanfiction ^^

Plot may conform to the original storyline a little, but there will probably be deviations.

Soooooo, I'm a newbie here, and some constructive criticism would be nice. Help improve future writing, you know. Please R&R (stands for read and review, right?)

Thank you all for reading!

~Vic

Meh, I nearly forgot... I don't own Sword Art Online or any of its characters... If I did, I'd be publishing light novels in Japan :P