A/N: Sword Art Online is the property of Reki Kawahara, A-1 Pictures, Yen Press and Aniplex USA. Please support the official release.
The room was swaddled in a veil of thick mist. The deathly vapor warped our surroundings by using its spineless tentacles to trail around everything. It drifted and ghosted, glided and dangled. It clung to and enrobed everything it could. Nothing was spared. Every nook and cranny, every stone and rubble; it was all engulfed by the fog.
"Ahh! It's no good! I can't get loose!" Marco screamed as his body was dragged away from our little group by writhing tendrils of smoke, his hands desperately clawing at them in wild panic. "Help me!"
"Don't worry, Marco! I'm comi-" Klein started, only to be swept off his feet by the same incorporeal fog.
"Klein!"
"I've got ya!" Argo cried out as she rushed to his side, taking a firm grip around his arm. "I ain't lettin' you go!"
Somewhere in the distance, we heard the sound of a fellow Assault Team member screaming out in terror.
"GET IT OFF ME!"
You have to help them! YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!
My mind was howling at me now, pleading my trembling muscles to move. But they refused to listen. My body was frozen in place, rendered motionless by the horror unfolding in front of my eyes.
"Kirito-kun! We need you!" Asuna called out from somewhere to my right. Even in my panicked state, I managed to force my eyes in her direction, seeking out those beautiful hazel orbs of hers.
A flowing mane of chestnut-colored hair filled my vision moments later.
"Snap out of it, Kirito-kun!" she yelled, grabbing me by the shoulders and forcing me to look at her. A stream of blood trailed down the right side of her face, ending at her chin where it dripped off and fell towards the ground. Her eyes were wild and unhinged as they tore into my own. "Please, go help Marco right now! He's going to die!"
A burst of electricity shot through my body.
"D... D-Die...?"
"Yes, die! So what are you waiting for?! Go help hi-"
Mid-sentence, her ribcage suddenly burst open, showering me with warm blood and gore. A squirming tentacle of smoke peeked out from amidst the ruins of her chest.
"K-K... Kiri..." she choked, before a large clot of blood forced its way up her throat.
"N-No... No! NO! Asuna! ASUNA!" I screamed, clutching her unmoving body in my arms as the tendril of fog retreated from the wound.
"ARGHH! HELP ME! HEEELP MEE!" Marco wailed somewhere in the distance, moments before the smoke penetrated his open mouth, filling his lungs in seconds and choking him from the inside-out.
"Marco!" Argo howled, still trying to pull Klein free from the tentacles that had him in an iron grip. She didn't see the one approaching her from behind before it was already too late.
A second later, Argo's head was impaled by the smoky tendril, its ethereal form puncturing her skull from the back. The tip of it emerged on the other side, peering out of her mouth where it continued wriggling in a display of morbid delight.
Klein tilted his head backwards to look at her. Moments later, he screamed.
A... A... A-Argo...
This was all my fault. I was the one who had dragged them to this Boss Raid. Insisted that it would be okay. That we would be okay.
Now... they were all dead.
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The Swordsman Chronicles
FanfictionKazuto Kirigaya had always known SAO would be unlike any other game he had ever played before. What he hadn't been expecting, however, was just how deadly it would be. AU reboot of the Aincrad Arc, set in a harsher version of SAO where Player-Killin...
