- The seventh floor of "Ayn Grant", "Monster Arena".

In the arena surrounded by NPC spectators, two teenagers are engaged in a duel around their respective missions.

The two young figures wielded the long swords in their hands and constantly intertwined with each other, and there was an occasional bright light on the weapon, which was the embodiment of the use of "sword skills".

"I said. This is the first time we've had a duel?"

Taking a step back, the ordinary young man looked at the red logo on the other party's head and said.

「…… Who knows? But since you've chosen a different faction, that's how the campaign mode works."

Adjusted the posture of holding the sword, and the young man with his handsome appearance looked helpless.

Probably because they are the first batch, and they enter the battle at the same time, each mission between the two is basically a hostile relationship, although it will be refreshed, but it will have to wait for a long time. In this world of closed beta where every second counts, no one wants to wait an extra day.

So every time a mission is released, the two of them will almost crash.

But in this way, it can be regarded as not knowing each other, right?

For the handsome boy who is a lone player, the boy with the character "Yu" is already one of the few people he can communicate with.

And he also guessed that this teenager who probably entered the game with his original face data should also be a senior player, because there is not much difference in strength levels, so every time they PK they have to play for a long time.

No, if you don't have the advantage of weapon strengthening, you must have been distanced by him a long time ago, right?

Staring at the general-purpose weapon that an ordinary boy bought from a shopping street, the boy named "Kirito" has a deep understanding of this problem.

"As a result, do you still want to talk with this thing?"

Raising the one-handed sword in his hand, "Yu" made an attack.

"The next blow is the decisive blow, Kirito!"

"Ah, let the horses come!" Excellent!"

Now that the health bar has been lowered to the yellow zone, the two "protagonists" rush at each other again and unleash their own winning blow.

In the next moment, the qi waves of the sword halberds clashing raised a huge amount of sand.

……

So why did the two people who didn't have an intersection appear here to fight? This brings us to the timeline a little bit further.

************************************************************************************************************************

More than a month ago, the third floor of "Ayn Grant", on the periphery of the ancient forest road.

Standing behind a giant tree, Yuki is faced with a choice.

After separating from Argo, she is working on a mission called "The Emerald Key", and this mission is also a faction campaign mission, which means that you must choose a faction to join.

Fighting fiercely in front of her was a blonde male elven knight in armor, and a dark purple-haired female dark elf showing off her plump figure.

It's just that in Yuki's eyes, it becomes whether to choose the camp of Europeans or Africans.

Although she would love to join the white-skinned Europeans, her instinct kept calling her to help the dark-skinned Africans...... Ahem, it's Miss Dark Elves.

After hesitating for a while, Yuki finally decided to follow his instincts......

Just as she was about to think about it, footsteps sounded from the other side of the bushes, and she looked over with some surprise.

At this time, most players should still be thinking about how to attack the third-layer boss, and few people should come here.

Pushing aside the grass, the people who came were also quite surprised to find that there were already others here.

"Hello."

"Ah, hello."

Nodding politely, Yuki looked at the somewhat stunned guy.

"Are you here to take on the mission?"

"Uh-huh."

Seeing the other party's somewhat silent response, it should be an unsociable guy.

"In that case, then I'll choose a side first, no problem, right?"

"Hmm. I've already done it once, so you can choose first."

It seems that he is still a guy who is on the front line of the raiders.

Without hesitation, Yuki took the lead in rushing in the direction of the dark elves, while the latter paused and ran towards the forest elves opposite.

……

Seeing two people suddenly running out of the bushes, the two elves who were fighting stopped fighting one after another and focused their attention on them.

As the two sides chose their lineups, the elves who each joined a player began to fight again.

And the two who were also hostile to each other because of the camp relationship also fought like a paddle.

When the elves entrust the task props after each other's big moves fall, Yuki also clearly saw the logo and character ID on the opponent's player's head that had turned red.

（Kir…… ito？ ）

（…… ）

(Really...... Is that you...... ）

She remembered that the other party did take over this task during the closed beta period, but she didn't know which time period it was.

Whether it's fate or farce.

On this day, the "Absolute Sword" and the "Black Swordsman" met on different world lines.

************************************************************************************************************************

- Whoa, whoa!!!!!

In the arena, the cheers created by the NPCs are heard at the same time as the time bar at the top is reset to zero.

Looking at the amount of blood displayed above, Yuki smiled at the boy who was sitting on the ground resting.

"Kirito, it looks like I won this time."

"Ah...... I know."

Standing up with a wry smile, Kirito didn't seem surprised by this result, it was not the first time the two had played each other, and he basically lost more and won less.

Even at the end of the closed beta, Yuki still has a standard that can be found everywhere in the shopping street, or a novice sword.

He didn't think that with the skills of the other party, he would not be able to get a better prop.

Then there is only one reason.

"Yuu, why don't you change to a better weapon?"

Just like in his hand, he is also holding a weapon that has been refined +6.

"Huh? Ahh

Withdrawing the sword behind his back, an incredible smile flashed across Yuki's face.

"Don't worry, I just want to hone my skills, so I don't change weapons."

Because she has decided to take this world as the starting point of her own growth.

"Forehead ......"

Hearing this answer, Kirito seemed to recall something, and smiled bitterly with some admiration.

"It's almost over......

"Hmm."

Looking at the NPCs who were still full of people, both of them sighed with emotion.

Because of the two-month closed beta time, it will end tomorrow.

As far as the two of them are concerned, they should be the ones at the forefront of the strategy speed.

……

"Kirito, what do you think of the world?"

「——？！」

Just as the two sides were about to log out, although they didn't know why the other party suddenly asked this, Kirito, who looked down and thought about it, still replied seriously.

"It's true...... It's so real that I want to live in this world. When I went to school and came home, my mind was pretty much about SAO."

Yes, he just loves the world so much.

"Really? It's a very problematic statement for a young person, but it's undoubtedly the highest praise for the creator of this world."

"See you then."

Waving his hand at the boy, Yuki then uttered words that he didn't react to for a moment.

"I hope you won't be too surprised when we see each other next time."

「……？」

The character turns into a torrent of data, and a player named "You" logs out of this world.