Sword Art Online: The Crystal Swordsman

The Frontlines

"To this day, I'm still not sure if I imprisoned him in my sword. To be apart of Soul..." I looked at it again.

"Oh god..." Asuna went pale.

"...Does that mean all of your kills souls entered this blade...?" Sinon asked.

"It had properties such as those in SAO, yes." I hesitantly nodded.

"That's... like a hive mind. It began with the dragon you first slayed to forge it, then every player afterwards..." Kirito spoke of it.

"That's impossible..." Asuna shuddered.

"No, if a player dies you have 10 seconds to revive their soul before it disappears." Kirito explained.

Everyone froze.

"But how is it possible to absorb it?!" Asuna was confused.

"Particle manipulation is not hard." Kirito simply said.

"This really is a Soul..." Asuna looked closer at my blade, rubbing her soft delicate fingers along it.

"It unfortunately doesn't stop there..." I admitted.

"All in self defence, right?" Liz asked.

I hesitated and thought about it.

"Where did you end up next?" Leafa tried to keep us on track.

"At the front lines. Floor 73." I began.

"I remember those stages being the hardest." Kirito pointed out.

"Agreed. 70 to 100 were impossible compared to what we had faced." I nodded.

"What did you do about the boss?" Leafa asked.

"Well, I assembled a team." I admitted.

"You? Assembled a team?" Liz snarked.

"Yes. They were well trained close friends of mine. They didn't make it to the end..." I hung my head.

"I remember us having a pretty good streak of not losing players to bosses before." Kirito chimed in.

I simply nodded.

"It became impossible. Nightmarish." My eyes started to water.

"That's why I had to put a stop to it." Kirito assured me.

I smiled and nodded.

"I know. You ended the death game for us all... And I am forever in your debt for that." I bowed.

He paused, being thrown off guard.

"Hey, you don't have to bow to me. Come on, cut it out!" Kirito waved it away.

"It's the truth, Black Swordsman. We are all in your debt." I admitted.

"But this is your story. So keep going... brother." Kirito put his hand on my shoulder.

I nodded and took a deep breath.

"At the time, I had no idea the boss would be so much more difficult. But I honed my skills within the 2 years I was in there. By that point, we were almost out. It was the final floors stopping us from leaving. 70 and up were hell and everyone was afraid no one could beat the game." I began.

"I remember the panic." Asuna spoke up.

I sat and waited at the closest town square to the tower. I instructed all my allies to meet me here.

"K!" I heard a familiar voice.

Rushing over to me was Hayden. He came to a sliding stop in front of me.