Sword Art Online: X

Return to Real Life - Kayaba Hibiki

It's been a month since my consciousness returned to the real world. I got into contact with the cops, and someone named Kikuoka Seijirou came to meet with me.

I gave him what I knew of my brother's endeavors, and his company was shut down.

My brother, however, was nowhere to be found, not at the time, anyway. A few weeks later, his body was found.

Kayaba Akihiko no longer exists.

I felt no remorse, why would I? My brother only cared for his own ambitions, and was willing to sacrifice thousands of players just to see his dream succeed.

I had to complete rehabilitation, but due to the nature of my body being stronger and sturdier than most before I entered the game, I was out in a month instead of the usual two months that they predicted.

Apparently my body develops muscles faster than most people, for some reason. I don't know why, I don't know how, all I can say is thank god, because I don't think I can take any more rehab.

With the help of Kikuoka, I was also able to locate Sachi.

However, she, along with around 300 other players, did not wake up from the full dive, but HR Monitors show that they're still alive.

SAO servers have been shut down, so where could Sachi's consciousness be?

So I did what any sane person would do in a situation like this and hacked into the system.

That's right, I hacked into the system to locate the minds of the 300 or so players still trapped inside the NerveGear.

What I found was... Unsettling, to say the least.

They were trapped inside a new game. Alfheim Online, or ALO for short.

I couldn't forcefully eject them into the real world, because I have no idea whether the NerveGear would like that or not, and if it didn't, well, my body count would skyrocket from 200 to 500 in less than a day.

...

"God, what do I do?" I muttered as I took jabs at the mannequin in front of me, "Sachi and Asuna are both trapped in ALO, and what am I doing? Nothing. I've located them, but they're in an inaccessible area of the game. How the fuck am I meant to get to them?"

I grabbed it by one arm and threw it over my shoulder, slamming it into the ground.

I was training for a Judo tournament in the next two days, and the prize for first place, well, let's just say that it's enough to buy the Amusphere and ALO with lots more to spare.

I definitely need this in order to find out how to get to Asuna and Sachi.

Problem is, they are held in two different locations, so whoever I decide to save first will be the easier one to save, as security would increase drastically for the other, so I will need help with this.

I guess I'll just enjoy myself in this new Full-Dive Game and familiarize myself to the game mechanics in the meantime.

Well, I can't actually do that without winning the tournament first.

Eh.

I still need to enlist some help.

"Kirito probably has the most motivation to help at the moment, but he's still stuck in rehab." I muttered, "Goddammit, I don't want to leave them in there longer than they need to be in there."

...

With nothing else to do, I finished up my daily training in the courtyard and paid Kirito a visit.

Well, I should call him Kazuto now.

I decided to take my motorcycle.

When I got to the hospital, I spent no time hesitating and immediately demanded to see Kazuto.

"Oi, Kazuto!" I yelled, "How's rehab going for you?"

I saw him look up from his walker.

Heh, he looks like an old man.

"I'm okay, X, how are you?"

"Better than your old man body, apparently." I snickered.

His eyes immediately drooped as he gave me an 'are you serious?' look. "Glad to see that you haven't lost your snark. Did you come out here just to mock me?"

I shook my head, "I have a proposition for you."

He raised an eyebrow, "What kind of proposition."

I retrieved my laptop from the leather satchel I brought with me, "It's concerning Asuna and Sachi."

He immediately snapped to attention, "I'm listening."

I flicked open the server programs, "Okay, so I hacked into the server mainframes of the NerveGear to find where Sachi and Asuna were being held, and I found this..."

I opened up a diagram of the map of Alfheim Online.

"This is the game map for the Full-Dive game Alfheim Online, or ALO for short. I visited Asuna not too long ago, and there was this huge jackass trying to wed her in a month or so. I wanted to kill him, but I didn't have any weapons on me, and I was in a hospital ward. The thing is, he is working for the company keeping her consciousness, as well as my sister's, trapped inside this game."

I could see Kazuto getting ticked off.

"So, essentially, what you're saying is that Asuna is being kept inside another Full-Dive game against her will."

I nodded, "I'm planning on diving into ALO soon, but the problem is, Sachi and Asuna are being held in two different places within the game, both are inaccessible to normal players. This is where you come in. I'm going to explore the game first, and as soon as you're done with rehab, get ALO and dive in, by then, I should have already found a way into the inaccessible areas, so we can immediately free them, simultaneously. Well, provided that I can actually find you, but if I can't, just wander for a while. I'll find a way to locate you, just use the same username you used in SAO, okay?"

Kazuto nodded, "Alright, you get into the game and scout it out. I'll join after I've asked around."

"Sure, alright, see you, I guess."

I left the hospital in relatively high spirits. Well, as high as they can be, considering they are hog-chained to the ground by my dark and empty soul.

ALO, here I come.

A/N: And there's real life for ya. Next stop: Alfheim Online.

You might've noticed that I used X's real name instead of his username for this chapter's title. 

Even if you're mentally deficient, you should've already figured out that I will use real names when the characters are in real life, and usernames when they're in-game.

Anyways, I'm back to my regular updating schedule. Well, as regular as it can be, considering how distracted I can get.

If you enjoyed this chapter, consider voting and following for more. Peace out, everybody. Goodbye.

Timeless_95, signing out.