Sword Art Online - Alternative Reality

New Look, New Home CHP. 1

The refreshing winds of early spring blew across the field, causing the blades of grass to dance around us. To my right, the river leading out of the main town on the 48th floor glistened under the afternoon sun, and to my left stood various figures, huddled under the cool shade of the large oak-like trees, watching on in anything but silence. Normally I would be the first one to lay down and take a nap, but right now all of my focus was on the person before me, although nowadays I tend to only focus on her anyway.

Her white and red clothing glowed with a deep radiance, her chestnut brown elegantly flowing with the wind, and her eyes shined with mesmerizing light. The smile that I look forward to every day, threatening to take away all pretenses of self-control.

Of course, the main thing that was holding me back was the sharp glint of her rapier as she held it in a mid-level stance, ready to strike me at a moment's notice. The count-down timer in front of me had already reached 30 seconds, and I could hear from my 'friends' off to the side a tremendous amount of support, of course, none of it directed my way. It made me wonder just how did I end up here in the first place.

Well, it all started this morning, March 7th, 2024. Yesterday we had just reached the next labyrinth guardian on the 56th, so we decided to take it easy today. Ashley, Liz, and Sachi had been interested in buying their own shops in Lindarith here on the 48th floor, so Asuna and I joined them in scouting out shop locations. Since we were in the area, Makhol and Keita ended up joining us, and then Klein and Agil, and then Naut, Yuna, and even Silica. Even Argo ended up sneaking in at some point.

By the afternoon, we had a group of 13 people just walking around with nothing better to do. So the most obvious thing to do with this group, according to our self-proclaimed samurai, was to have a grand tournament with a grand prize from pooling in some of our hard-earned Cor. So with Sachi as our referee, we headed out into a secluded field, and after drawing straws, we started going at it.

Of course, because some of us had major equipment and level differences, we had to put on some pretty severe handicaps. For example, even though all of my duels were set to 'Half-Finish' mode, I would lose as soon as I dropped under 90% and I wasn't allowed to use my main weapon, just a store-bought one that Agil was lugging around.

Despite my complaints, the matches were fairly entertaining to watch. Argo running around Agil and him surrendering after getting too dizzy. Keita's underdog victory over his teacher Makhol. Naut's near comeback victory over Klein, but just falling short at the last second. Can't say any of my fights were that interesting, although Keita's complaint about me yanking his staff out of his hands using a 'Martial Art' skill was pretty funny. My only regret was not hitting Klein on the head hard enough in my last round.

The semi-final between Argo and Asuna was an incredible competition of speed, where they both agreed that the first person to get a solid hit would be the victor. I was already aware of Asuna's game-breaking speed, but with Argo's heavy AGI built, all of us were on the edge of our seats as they dashed back and forth. The deciding factor though was Asuna's use of the river, using a sword skill to splash water at Argo and landing a hit before she could recover. With that, the finalists came down to the incredibly beautiful fencer, and myself.

Of course, I had no intention of fighting Asuna over the prize and was about to forfeit when Silica of all people made a chilling proposition. If I won, I got to get double the grand prize, still not something I was willing to fight for. But if Asuna won-then she would have full control over my outfit choice for the next week. Without so much as a glance to me, she walked over to her spot of the field, drew her rapier, and left me with no room to even think about running away.

Since partying up again, our leveling rate had increased rapidly, with me up to 80 and her at 78, so we switched over to our regular equipment. Just the other day Liz had made her an incredibly powerful rapier, aptly named 'Lambient Light', which fit her perfectly. Meanwhile, I had barely enough STR to use the 'Elucidator' that had dropped for me back on the 50th floor.