Author Note: This was a story originally written on FictionPress (search it up if you want). If you can't wait for future chapters, go on ahead and read it!

But, the future chapters in this writing will be updated and rewritten, so… yeah. Enjoy Virtual Legend!

It feels like it's been forever… So long since I'd begun this game of death. Heh… It's kind of reminiscent… and pathetic.

I was laying down in the grass. I took in its soft feel brushing my body as I stared at the clouds that blocked the sun's radiance. Of course, it wasn't real. Nothing in this world is. It's all just data. Piles and piles of numbers, letters, and symbols. Everything was just a virtual simulation. And yet, it felt too real.

Too real for a video game.

I ran a hand through my jet black hair. Back in the other world, it must've grown too long. Maybe down to my shoulder blades by now? I smirked at myself. Mom would get so mad…

But Mom wasn't here. Dad wasn't here either. I was alone in this world. Alone in the game of death.

The clouds finally let the sun shine upon the land, and I shielded my dark gray, almost black eyes. Tch… In every other game, I could stare at the sun, no problem. But no… This was programmed to be the most realistic environment anyone had ever seen.

"So real, it wasn't supposed to be game anymore," I said aloud. "We should've taken that seriously…"

I sat up, a strong gust of wind blowing blades of grass through the ripples in my black long sleeve shirt. I caught a few. They seemingly quivered in fear at my deep gaze as the wind let them be free.

"All I want…" I began.

"… Is freedom," a voice finished behind me. "That's what we all want, right, Keaton?"

Chapter 1

Today was the opening day, January 1, 2023. The day we logged into the almost unreal video game of all time. A game that was so realistic, one could easily mistake it for real life without a single thought.

I was about as excited as any gamer would be. I mean, playing a game in a way so that it feels like I'm the character? That's so unbelievably cool! The only downside that was explained was that a player took on their real-world appearance to make it feel like reality, while still being the fun that was a video game.

I spawned in the center of Titan Plaza, which got its name for its size. In the top left of my vision, there stood my HP and MP bar, coupled with my name and level. In-game, I was Keaton: Level 1.

"Welcome to 'Online Legends!'" a female voice announced. "You are the lucky 20,000 players who get to experience a sensation unlike anything ever felt before!"

I took in all of the freshness of the virtual environment. All of the buildings, the feeling of my virtual shoes around my feet, even the feeling of somewhat warm air; I just wanted to stay here. Forever.

I was so stupid to think that.

I watched as fellow players marveled the world known as "Online Legends." It was the revolutionary flame of gaming history. No one wanted to pass up an opportunity to at least get a taste of what the game could give them. But only 20,000 copies of the game existed, and they were sold out in under a 12-hour period. Coincidentally, every copy, save for about 200, was shipped to Japan. I was one of the immediate buyers in Japan. Lucky me!

"Hey, you!" I heard a voice call to me from behind.

I turned, and was faced by a teen who looked about my age. He had weakly spiked maroon hair, green eyes, and wearing a simple brown cloak. Judging from the gigantic rag hat on his head, he was a Wizard, one of the many classes a player can choose.

Me? I chose the Assassin. I always had this knack for high-powered melee attacks. I could be identified by the red scarf on my neck and the dual blades sheathed in black equipped on my back, as well as a belt of throwing knifes.

"Yes? Me?" I asked the Wizard.

"I was wondering if you wanted to party up! I don't know anyone here, and your Assassin abilities could go well with my Wizard!" he said, grinning and holding out a Wood Staff that stood a bit taller than he was.

This guy knew his RPGs. The Melee classes would be the main defense and offense, while the Projectile classes would be back-up, healing and dealing damage from afar. I didn't see any harm in doing so; it was just a game, after all. At the time, at least.

"Sure, why not?" I asked, bringing up the party invite menu. "What's your name?"

"Kyle," the teen replied, grinning childishly.

"Cool. I'm Keaton."

I scrolled down the list of people within the ten meter invite radius. I found Kyle's name, and pressed it. The message that popped up read, "Invite Kyle to your party?" I tapped the "Accept" button. I saw a menu pop up in front of him, and he accepted.

When he did, a mini HP bar with his name came up below mine, labeled "Kyle."

"So, Kyle, what do you want to do? Wanna fight some monsters?" I suggested.

"Yeah!" he replied excitedly.

This guy must've devoted a majority of his life to gaming, because he seemed really pumped. We exited Titan Town, and entered the Luscious Fields, which sprawled for most of the Online Legends map, save for the Wastelands, other towns, and some dungeons scattered throughout.

I scanned the area for an enemy, and my eyes fell on a zombie. Yes, a zombie. It was about two meters tall, with torn white and blue clothing, glowing red eye sockets, and acid dripping green skin. Above it was an icon with a red HP bar, labeled "Lvl. 1 Zombie." It would be an easy target.

I drew my Basic Blades. "Cover me, Kyle."

"Gotcha," he replied, drawing his staff.

I blasted forth at the zombie, and sliced a gaping hole in its chest using my blades like in Shingeki no Kyojin. It stumbled back, startled. However, the wound closed, and the HP bar refilled from three quarters to four fifths. The zombie then leaped at me, trying to bite my neck. I blocked with my swords.

"Kyle!" I shouted.

Kyle pointed his staff at the zombie. "Flames!"

Little spheres of fire emitted from the staff, and slammed into the zombie. It shrieked in pain as it fell onto the floor. I took one of my knives from my belt, and sent it into the zombie's skull. I cringed at the green puss that sputtered out of the injury as the zombie faded away with its HP bar empty.

I slapped Kyle's back playfully. "Great job, man!"

"You did good too! Heh heh!" he replied.

He stretched lightly. "This game is really amazing… I mean, here you can be who you've always wanted to be… Be the Hero who saves the princess in a valiant quest, be some traveling merchant, or the mysterious OP character in an anime. The possibilities are endless."

"Heh… You sound like some person in a movie," I commented, laughing lightly.

"Well, it's true! In MMOs, you can communicate with people worldwide! That's not exactly the case here, b-but still, y-you get it, r-right?" In his excitement, he began stumbling on his words.

I smiled at him. We were gonna get along just fine in this world.

"Why don't we kill some more monsters, build up our gold, and get some new weapons?" I asked. "Maybe along the way we level up. You up to it?"

Kyle scratched his head, chuckling. "I kinda have to take out the trash at my house… Sorry, I'll be right back!"

He slid down the menu, and went to the Settings.

And that moment, right there, was the moment that changed everything. Nothing was the same afterwards.

Nothing.

2: The Rogue Swordsman Arc II

"Sorry, I have to go now!" Kyle said with a laugh.

"That's fine; come back in a few minutes, alright?" I said.

"'Course!"

He held out his hand towards me, and I shook it gratefully. He grinned, and opened his main menu by spreading his left palm in front of his body. To me, he appeared to be making random tapping movements in the air, but to him, he was accessing various settings.

I turned to leave, hoping to earn some extra EXP while I was still here. It'd only been around an hour or so since I'd logged in; I still had some time until dinner. I then heard Kyle's feet trembling on the grass.

"No way…" he said, just barely loud enough for me to hear him. "This… this can't be happening…"

I walked back to him. "Is there something wrong?"

He looked at me, terrified. "I can't log out…"

"What? It should be in the Settings part of your menu," I said, having read the manual in the real world. "Did you check?"

"Yeah, I did! I'm telling you it's not there! And the text isn't missing either!" Kyle began jabbing his finger on what I assumed was the log out button.

I shook my head in dismay, opening my own menu. "Must be a bug… How stupid. The people over at RLG should be fixing yours by now."

I checked my settings, and got the same thing. In the list of Settings, there was supposed to be <<Sound>>, <<Battle>>, and then <<Log Out>>.

But <<Log Out>> wasn't even there. It was just a blank white spot.

I tapped it, hoping it was just a text error like Kyle had hoped. Nothing happened. I tried again, panic flaring in my body. Soon I gave up, falling on my butt in shock. I hugged my knees, eyes wide and wavering.

"No… No, no, no no…" I began to whisper, realization dawning on me.

We were trapped in this world. Trapped in this game. A blue light burst to life in front of me, blinding my vision. When it faded away, I found myself in the center of Titan Town, known as the Plaza. The feature of this brick paved circle was the Fountain, a place to heal HP, MP, and every in-game ailment. I saw that other players were also being transported, and judging by the growing amount, it must've been every single OL player to date. I heard a few conversations as players appeared.

"What the hell is this?"

"Didja hear? The log out button's missing!"

"What?! Seriously?!"

"I checked, and you can't log out!"

"No! This can't happen!"

"Why here! Why now?! DAMMIT, ANSWER ME!"

"Those RGL people need to fix this!"

"Get me out of here!"

The endless shrieks of chaos and confusion were soon silenced when we all felt the looming pressence of something dangerous. Something evil. I turned to the source, which was a figure standing on the sharp tip of the Fountain with little effort.

This figure was dressed in a sleeveless green tunic stained with blood, and four human arms with demon-like claws hung on both sides. Its face was a ghostly pale color, and deranged pale blue eyes looked at us individually. This figure's hair was a tangled blond that hung in various parts of its face.

He spread his right arms with a pointy-teeth grin. "Welcome, players, to the world of Online Legends!"

The sound that came from its lips was male, and showed signs of insanity, including a high and clown-like voice. He swung his head around without moving his body, sending chills down my spine. He giggled at our expressions.

"How many of there are you, by the way? Some 20,000?" he asked, clicking his tongue. "That's too small, but I can work with it."

He sighed, scratching his face with one arm, while the two others were placed on his hips, and two more crossed themselves across his chest, and the rest just lay there limply.

"Anyway, what was I going to say? Ah, yes, you must've noticed the missing <<Log Out>> button, yes? Allow me to explain. This game is a little test of ours. A test to see who is worthy," he said, voice going extremely murderous and dark. "Of course, a test can't be without rules, right? So here's what I propose."

He leaped into the air, and stayed there, cranking up his voice to an impossible volume.

"DEATH IN THIS GAME IS DEATH FOR REEEEEAAAAAAALLLLL!" he sang, the words echoing across the whole town.

At that moment, I felt like I'd been hit with a giant block of concrete. That can't be true, can it? Right? RIGHT?!?!?!

The figure landed back onto the Fountain in a graceful manner, clearing his throat.

"Now you may be wondering to yourself if there's anyway to escape this predicament you're currently in," he said, walking around in circles in thin air. "I have prepared such a method. I've actually provided two ways."

He looked at us, holding up a finger. "Option number one: Beat the 20 main dungeons scattered across the game. I've set them to the highest difficulty, so you could very well die."

Then his mouth curled into a creepy grin as he put up a second finger. "Option number two: you can kill another player. If everyone follows this rule, 10,000 of you will be dead, and 10,000 of you will continue living in the real world. The question is, who will fall into which category?"

He then took a stage bow, surprising a few people. "I shall leave you now to decide what you'll pursue. Choose wisely!"

With an arm, he snapped its fingers, and then he vanished in a flurry of black diamonds. The sound of his disappearance rang in my ears as I slowly began to believe him.

It all came down to which option I chose. The Plaza was the perfect place; PKing was allowed in this specific area. I began thinking about slaying the person next to me, a girl with pulsing blue eyes and long black hair. Everyone seemed frozen, so I could do it.

My shaking hand slowly moved to the handle of one of my knives. In an instant, I picked it up, and hurled it blindly. It struck someone, and they screamed.

That scream set off everything. The whole plaza erupted into an all-or-nothing brawl, player against player, life or death. I continued throwing knives until I had one left. I hadn't killed anyone.

I saw a player run at me with a yell, and he brought down a sword. I sidestepped, and drew my katana. I had to get out of here. I swung at his stomach, knocking him to the ground. I began dashing for the exit, slicing aside anyone standing in my way.

I glanced behind me for a split second, and saw someone heading straight for me. I dove into the safe zone, only to have him latch his hand into my leg.

"Let go!" I shouted at him.

His grip only tightened, and he tried pulling me back into the Plaza to kill me. With my last knife, I drove it into his face, causing him to let go. He didn't die by my hand, an axe came out of nowhere, splitting his body in two and shattering it into white crystals. I gasped in horror as I watched these crystals fade into nothing.

I turned around, and began to run away. I can't kill someone here; I'd be charged with murder! How would Mom think of me then? What would Dad do?

Would Serah even look up to me?

Serah was my stepsister in the real, a few months younger than I was. Lost in my rushing thoughts, I collided headfirst into another player. We fell onto the brick, me on the top.

"Ow…" I mumbled, shaking my head.

I looked at the player in question. It was a girl. A girl with long ponytail brown hair that had hints of an odd light blue, and she had clear blue-violet eyes. I recognized her.

"… Kiyoe?" I said, stunned.

"Karuno?" she said, her face heating up.

I got off of her, horror slapping me in the face. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"My brother bought the game, but couldn't play it because of some last minute touch-ups at work. So, naturally, I picked it up and logged in," she explained, wiping her mouth for reasons she still won't tell me.

I stood up, staggering slightly. I held out a trembling hand towards her. She seemed genuinely surprised at this.

"Why don't we try beating the game?" I asked, trying to smile.

"Come again?" she answered. "That's freaking impossible!"

"I know… Maybe I should just kill someone…" My eyes wandered back to the plaza, where people were dying at an alarming rate.

"No!" she cried out, gripping my arm when she got onto her feet. "Anything but that!"

I looked back at her, and I was shocked to see how desperate and pleading she looked. She hugged my arm a bit too weirdly.

"Please don't kill anyone…" she whispered. "Please…"

I took her shoulders, and placed her a few feet away from me. "Yeah. You're right. I wasn't thinking straight. We should clear the game."

She nodded with a fresh smile. "Yeah!"

In that plaza alone, a rough estimation of 5,000 players died, and the same amount of about 5,000 players were logged out. That was around half of the 20,000 original people to log into this game of death. The rest of us either became the ones to clear dungeons, various guilds classified as Capturers, or joined the Death Reapers, a mysterious murder guild able to kill players without logging out.

Our fight for survival began on that day, February 22, 2024.