"Hello, and thank you all for tuning into MMO Stream!" A female announcer said over the live stream a young male was watching. The current viewer count tuning in was well over one million, and that was only on one of dozens of websites streaming the event. "We are now jumping into the grand event, winner takes all battle royale in the most popular MMO out there, RAIZE!" She said excitedly, sitting behind a desk along with two other people. The two men next to her were the creators of the game who she had just interviewed, hyping up the final moments before the battle royale began.

"The one who is crowned the victor will win an amazing trophy and $100,000 dollars! The winner will also receive a brand new Nerve Gear and beta access to the new VRMMORPG game, Sword Art Online! We give out a huge thank you to Argus, the company who owns the Nerve Gear and sponsoring the event!" She was practically bouncing out of her seat as she herself was excited to see the massive battle take place. "Please stay tuned, as the finals will begin in just a few short moments!" People watching the event around the world were furiously typing away on their keyboards, spamming the chatroom and countless others until the words had become a complete blur across the screen.

Everyone was excited for this.

The black haired male listened as the announcer continued to talk with the game's creators. 'Guess we're gonna start soon'. He thought anxiously. The boy sat in front of three monitors. The middle one had RAIZE loaded up on it, and his character seemed to be in a waiting lobby. On his right, he had many statistics pulled up and info he had researched about RAIZE. The left monitor had the live stream he was watching. 'I should get ready.' He quickly hooked up his gaming headphones into his computer.

He was about to place them on when there was a knock on his door. "Kazuto, are you almost done? Dinner is ready." A young, feminine voice called out from behind the door.

Kazuto Kirigaya grimaced as he heard his younger sister, or rather his younger cousin Suguha, yell through the door. "I already told you guys not to bother me today!" He yelled out vehemently. "I'll come down after I'm finished!" The boy turned back in his chair, his mood now dampened. 'Geez, I already told them a hundred different times that today was the day that I would be competing in the battle royale, but they still keep knocking on my freaking door.' He thought as he placed his headphones on, ignoring anything else that may come out of the girl's mouth. 'I can't have her or mom distracting me from the game. This is exactly why I put that lock on my door.' Even though he told his family weeks in advance that he would be particularly busy today, they still kept on coming up the stairs to check on him.

"Oh, okay. Well, dinner will be in the fridge when your ready for it." Suguha replied back, sounding dejected. "I guess..." She mumbled out, knowing he didn't hear her. 'This is the third day in a row he's missed dinner. I know that he's in some gaming competition, but I can't help worrying about him.' Suguha thought as she slowly walked back downstairs to join her mother for dinner. Ever since he picked up that game, it was almost like Kazuto was a different person. He rarely spent any time with her now.

It made her sad.

This was how every conversation had been between the two for years. The girl could barely remember the last time he went out and did something, anything else, but he wouldn't have it. All he ever wanted to do was play games. When they walked home together or past each other in the house, he would barely speak a word to her. When he was in the middle of one of his gaming sessions, he would always brush her away. All she would get from him were a couple sentences along the lines of, "Go away! I'm busy!" or, "Sugu, could you please leave me alone? I'm in an important game." She just wished he changed back to his old self. The time when they both still did kendo and the time they actually knew each other.

Heck, it didn't even have to be kendo anymore. It could be any activity, or even just sitting and talking would be more than enough for her. She had tried to reach out countless times to him, even going as far as trying to play the same stupid games he always did. In the end, not even those worked. Not only couldn't she wrap her head around the mechanics, but she was highly outclassed. He didn't want to play with a beginner, or with her. She just wished everything could be normal like it was when grandpa was still alive.

All she wanted was her big brother back.

"But there is nothing I can do." She whispered as she sat at the dinner table along with her mother, her words unheard. It would be pointless to try to talk to him now. Once he started, it was like he would never stop. Especially now, as today was a very important day to him. 'Maybe tomorrow I can try again.' She thought as she tried to keep her depression from reaching her face. She didn't want her mom to know she was hurting.

Maybe tomorrow.

'Good she left. I hope she doesn't come back until this is over. I can't even get distracted for a single second while I am in this thing.' Kazuto thought, his nervousness from before kicking back up again.

Kazuto, in-game alias known as "Kirito", was a gamer. Not just a normal gamer, but a hardcore gamer who spent all his free time on video games and all his money boosting his specs on his computer. The game he played more than anything was the current #1 game of 2022, RAIZE.

The game RAIZE goes by a single motto. "LET'S RAIZE SOME HELL!" It's an MMORPG that is centered upon player vs. player interactions. You equip your character with gear after grinding on monsters and events in various locations on the game's wide and vast map. After that, your objective is to take out other players and steal their loot, so that you could progress and become even stronger. Sounds simple, but with millions of different people playing worldwide competing against another, it is anything but. RAIZE is an extremely difficult game, as a player's skill could far outclass your own. The fact that there was only one safe zone in the entire game, the starting city, made it hard to stay alive.

But that's also what made it so fun. It made every collectible, every reward, every level that much more worth it. The exhilaration of defeating another player and taking their stuff was addicting, which was why it was such a successful game. It is extremely difficult to play, and with more and more people playing by the day, it would only get more difficult.

Especially for a hardcore gamer like Kirito.

Most players group up with their friends so that they could gang up to defeat a strong player. You would have a much higher chance to beat someone in a 5v1 than a 1v1. It was a popular strategy to team up, and almost everyone did, which often times could prove to be unfair to some. One of the fastest ways to get good at RAIZE was to get a group of your friends to quickly gather equipment so you could team up on smaller groups of opponents. This way of playing made teamwork a very vital role when playing the game.

A role Kirito had forgone the moment he logged in.

Kirito was a solo player. He didn't like to team up and felt like his own strategy was better than a groups. True enough, he had taken down dozens of players and had managed to come out on top. After rumors of a solo player taking down teams of elites, Kirito started to make a name for himself as he became better and better at the game. Because he played by himself, he was known to be a powerful player. He became so good that others started to look at him as one of the best. His name appeared in forums and videos of his skill began popping up all around the internet, proving just how good he really was.

His fame only continued to grow. He was practically an internet sensation as everyone wanted him in their group, but nobody wanted to meet him out in the field from fear of losing their items.

He was just that good.

There were several professional tournaments for RAIZE throughout the years it was released. They were all fun and unique in there own way, and always had an amazing prize pool. Consolation prizes for second and third were always money and a trophy, but the best prize would always go to first. Previous tournaments have always had some sort of group battle where players would take each other on in teams. There was even a tournament that involved the fastest objective completion. These tournaments, while amazing to watch, were ones where Kirito could never actually compete, or even qualify. He simply did not have a group of friends that he could enter with. People who invited him to play were players he didn't trust or know their battle plans, and teamwork between them would be difficult. He just wasn't confident enough in anyone to play with them. However, this particular tournament was very different than the others that had been held.

It was a battle royale, meaning one on one. No teams. One victor. Winner takes all.

When Kirito heard of the announcement of this event, he immediately jumped in. Looking at the rules and the prizes, how could he not? It was like the tournament was specifically designed for him to play in. If he won, he'd get $100,000 dollars, a free copy of the new Sword Art Online's beta test, and the Nerve Gear. He'd get a trophy too, but he couldn't care less about that.

The rules stated that all forms of teaming up were banned. If you did, you would be immediately disqualified. You HAD to play on your own. The entire battle royale was created for a sole reason.

To decide who was single-handedly the best player in RAIZE.

And Kirito was aiming to be it's champion.

As soon as qualifications to enter the tourney began, he logged in and spent over twenty-four hours playing non-stop. He only had a week before the time limit was up, and there was no way in hell he wouldn't qualify for something as grand as this. After countless hours he poured into the game, the countless times he had let his health drop and missed dinner, he had finally qualified. Now here he was sitting on his chair, awaiting for the battle royale to begin.

Kirito started to feel a little anxious. He had never actually competed in a professional gaming tournament before. He looked at the live stream and saw there were now close to three million people watching it. He wiped his hands onto his pants, ridding them of their sweat, before going over all the knowledge he knew about previous tournaments, what was in this one, and everything he knew about the game, along with his own strategies he started forming. After playing this game for so long, he knew he mastered it.

The boy was addicted, and this was something he was aware of. Not just to RAIZE, but all video games in general. It all started four years ago, back when he was ten. Kazuto was suspicious on why his mom had always acted weird at the mentioning of parents around him, so after finally giving into his curiosity, he hacked into private records of his family.

Bad news.

He found out he was adopted by his aunt because his parents died when he was young. His whole outlook on his family changed. His mom, the mother he thought all his life was his true mom, wasn't actually his real mom. Not only her, but Suguha also wasn't his real sister. After learning of this, it was hard to even be around them. He felt like he didn't belong with them, like a stranger. So he played games. He began to play them so much that he no longer liked to do anything else. That was also around the time he had quit doing kendo. His grades in school also started to drop, but he soon realized that his games would be taken away if his grades were low. He always stayed at the top of his class and even went as far as doing a week's worth of homework ahead of everyone else in class so he could focus more on playing games.

He did feel guilty for pushing his aunt and cousin away. Like he had left them on the side of the road. Still, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get over the fact that they weren't his real family. The only thing that could keep his mind away from the pain of thinking about it was gaming.

A small notification box appeared on Kirito's middle screen with RAIZE loaded up. He abandoned his thoughts and read it. 'They're notifying me to get ready. It'll be starting in one minute.' He adjusted himself, getting comfortable in his chair and quickly looked back at the door to double check it was locked. No more intruders, no more distractions.

It was time to play.

"Okay everyone! The battle royale to determine who is the best player in RAIZE is about to begin! Countdown!" The female announcer spoke out loud as the number ten appeared on the livestream, and on his game. Kirito sat as the number painstakingly ticked down until it had hit zero.

The announcer gave one last shout.

"LETS RAIZE SOME HELL!"

---

"And that's it! Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the tournament and the new best player in RAIZE! Your champion, Kirito!"

It was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard in his entire life. He, Kirito, a fourteen year old gamer, was now the very best in the most popular game in the entire world. Music blared, people cheered, keyboards were destroyed as fingers typed away into them. All of his anxiousness he had while playing in fear of making a mistake and being eliminated had vanished. The grin Kirito sported nearly split his face in two.

He couldn't contain himself.

"YES!" Kirito yelled as loud as he could, standing up so swiftly he knocked over his chair and ripped his headphone cords out of his computer. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this elated. No, he had never felt so great. It was like the world was his and his alone. He had so much fun. More fun than he ever possibly could have dreamed of.

Today was the best day of his life.

Rapid steps could be heard running up the staircase under the boy's loud cheering. "Kazuto! Are you alright!? What happened!?" Suguha yelled with worry filling her voice, banging on his door. Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she suddenly heard him downstairs. She had never heard him scream so loud in her life.

After a few more cheers and countless knocking later, Kirito had finally heard her cries of worry. He quickly unlocked his door and opened it up. He didn't even give her a second to speak before quickly hugging her. "Sugu! I won! I won!" He yelled with triumph.

Pink tinged her cheeks as she felt his arms around her. "Won? Won wha-AHHHH!" She suddenly screamed and the boy picked her up and began to spin her around, her face now redder than a tomato.

"Today is the best day ever! Oh Sugu, I love you!"

"EHHHHH!?" She screamed once more before comically passing out in his arms.

---

One Week Later

After the tournament and celebration was over, there were still some things that he had to do to obtain his winnings. The agreements had to be finalized and he had to sign a second contract, the first being the one to participate in the battle royale. He also had to give out his address and email to the company so that they could confirm that he was Kirito. Of course, none of this was made public for privacy reasons. After everything was worked out, and after his mom gave an adult's approval after they had found out he was underage, all he had to do now was wait for his prizes to come in the mail.

School was just letting out and Kazuto was now heading to the grocery store. His sister Suguha, or cousin, was staying after school because she was in the kendo club and had practice. He remembered that his mom, or aunt, wanted him to pick up tonight's dinner. He walked begrudgingly, as he would prefer to go home and play RAIZE than eat.

Except now it was almost impossible to play.

Every time he logged into the game, he would be bombarded by players in the safe zone. They asked him a bunch of questions, including tips on how he won and how they could get better at the game. Countless of players asked him to join their groups, but like always, he turned them down. Some gave up, but others were really persistent. He did his best to ignore them, but it was easier said then done. They would follow him around everywhere and it sucked. Even on a video game, Kazuto was not a social person. That was one of the major reasons he had decided to play solo.

He tried to stay hidden from the crowd, but because his username displayed above his head, it was pointless. Everyone who played the game recognized the name 'Kirito'.

EVERYONE.

He tried to leave the safe zone so he could go out and play the game normally, but he couldn't. Every time he tried, there would be a bunch of people who would instantly try to ambush him. He was good, and could most definitely fight off several different players, but even he had limits as high level players with high level equipment would charge at him in attempt to dethrone him of his title.

The bunch of wannabees.

Kirito let out a sigh thinking about it. 'Oh well, I guess it doesn't really matter much. I'm sure the hype will die down eventually.' He thought for a moment, before another idea popped up into his head. 'Besides, if this new virtual reality game is as good as they are making it out to be, than I'll probably just quit RAIZE.' Virtual reality was starting to get very popular in recent years. Some companies had some minor successes with it, but none were as big as Argus' new game, Sword Art Online. Created by Akihiko Kayaba, it was supposed to be a game where a player could dive straight into the video game by wearing a helmet called the Nerve Gear. After the player activates it by saying, "Link Start", it would transport a person's consciousness out of the real world and into the virtual one. This new virtual world acts like your typical MMORPG game, except that you, an actual person, were playing and moving inside of it.

'I wish I knew more about it.' Kazuto pondered the game and how it would play out. Playing a video game by going into a new world and moving around with your own body sounded unfathomable. If what they said is true, and if there aren't any bugs, the game would easily revolutionize the entire concept of the world of gaming. 'It sounds sick.' He thought excitedly, for what would at least be the one-thousandth time.

Thinking about the game had made time go quick, as he found himself now in front of the grocery store. 'I need to withdraw some money.' Kazuto thought after looking inside his wallet. He had been to this store plenty of times before and knew there was a small ATM in the corner on the inside. He walked inside and up to the ATM, inserting his debit card inside the machine. Kazuto looked at his balance.

Balance: $100,136.89

His mouth fell open. One hundred thousand? But that could only mean...

'Oh my gosh...' It's here! He got his prize! Kazuto nearly began jumping with joy before composing himself. Quickly realizing that someone could easily walk up behind him and look at his balance, he hurriedly took out the needed money and withdrew his card.

'Be cool dude, stay calm.' He pepped himself mentally. Everything was fine, no need to get excited out in public. Just get the food and walk home. The young teen was practically walking like a robot as he grabbed a random item for dinner, paid for it, and walked out of the store. His feet slowly carried him down several blocks until he arrived at his home.

He walked inside the door.

"MOM!"

Kazuto's mother yelped and he heard a crash. She must have been washing the dishes. "K-Kazuto? Is that you?" She hesitantly asked while peeking at the front door. She hadn't heard him yell like that since he'd won that game tournament thingy.

"Is it here? Did the package arrive?" He said so quickly that it was almost unintelligible.

She blinked for a moment, processing his words, before understanding. "Yes, yes, I put it in your roo-" Was all she was able to get out before he suddenly vanished. 'Did... Did he just teleport?' She thought before heading back to clean up the broken plate she accidentally threw at the wall.

---

'Yup, it's all here.' Kazuto thought as he went through the packages that were delicately placed on top of his bed. He sorted them all out, even though there wasn't much to go through. 'Nerve Gear, check. Sword Art Online, check. The trophy, too. It's all here.' Kazuto immediately began to read the manual on how to use the Nerve Gear properly and how Sword Art Online should be installed. He set up everything just as the instructions said and now he was just waiting for the game to be installed into the Nerve Gear.

He sat on top of his bed, listening to the machine hum as it was processing the data it was fed. He was feeling very impatient, but knew he would get to play eventually. Laying down and looking at the ceiling, he pondered on what he would buy with the prize money he won. "A new computer?" He asked aloud. He could use a new one, after all, his was almost a year old. Way too outdated.

His foot bumped into something. "Hmm?" Oh, he'd almost forgotten. He had also gotten a trophy. He picked it up and took a good look at it. He never actually focused on how it looked until now, but it was actually very ethereal and pretty. He had seen pictures of it that were advertised throughout the week of qualifying and before the actual battle royale, but the pictures didn't really do it justice. It was way cooler to look at in person. The trophy was made of a neat blue glass that practically shined in the light with circular designs going up into the RAIZE logo. On the bottom of it was a small pedestal that read, "RAIZE #1 player of 2022: Kirito.

'I guess this means I've officially become a professional gamer.' Kazuto smiled as he stared at the words. Only true professionals get paid to play, and with one-hundred thousand now in his bank account, he could definitely call himself one of them. He never really gave the trophy that much thought until now. He spent his focus on the money and game, completely glossing over the thing that symbolized his win. It actually made him feel proud to have something like this. It was proof that he had become a pro gamer, something that he could only wish to be in the past.

He remembered that he had a large shelf inside of his room with another trophy. The boy stood up and gently placed his new trophy right next to the only other trophy he had. It was a kendo trophy. It was simple, made out of wood with gold-colored plastic. Nothing all that special. Nevertheless, he did win it for getting first place in a local kendo tournament, beating out everyone else who had entered. He got it years ago, before he found out the truth of his parents. It was supposed to be the first of many. Now he would just put his gaming trophies up there.

"It should be downloaded now." Kazuto said, still excited to be one of the first people to beta test the first ever VRMMORPG. It was announced that the beta for the game had begun just yesterday, which means that he was a day late to the party. He would have to spent a little extra time playing to catch up, time he was sure he would enjoy. He placed the Nerve Gear on his head and said two words.

"Link Start!"