Congratulations! You have become "The Protagonist"! Let's start raising Flags!
"The Omniverse". An infinite construct formed by infinite Multiverses, which are, at the same time, formed by infinite Universes. On it, everything can happen…
And yet, sometimes, things that are beyond all understanding and that are so horrifying they should never happen, do so.
Like in this case, something that, every time it happened, brought headaches of Cosmic proportions…[LIFE] and [DEATH] made a bet."
And yet, sometimes, things that are beyond all understanding and that are so horrifying they should never happen, do so.
Like in this case, something that, every time it happened, brought headaches of Cosmic proportions…[LIFE] and [DEATH] made a bet."
—Opening Statement
SAO: The Eroge is a Sword Art Online Fanfic by SaintInfernalNeos.
Lots of people wish their lives could become a videogame...thing is, though, few actually bother specifying WHICH type of game. Kirigaya Kazuto is about to realize it's not as obvious as it should be when he wakes up one morning with the 'power' to raise "Flags", unlock "Routes" and gain "Affection Points". Will his Sanity survive what's about to come his way?
It was written for April Fools' Day 2018. Although not being a joke; seems to be a sort of tradition as Lusus Naturae was launched the same day the previous year.
According to SaintInfernalNeos:
"It has become, surprisingly, the most popular prologue of mine ever, and most of it in less than 24 hours of it being published."
It can be read here
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Any spoiler regarding Chapters 1-2 will be unmarked. Proceed with caution.
SAO: The Eroge provides examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: Downplayed with Diavel, who after surviving against Illfang ends up becoming Second-in-Command of the Knights of the Blood Oath since Asuna stuck around with Kirito.
- Argo and Kizmel permanently join up with Kirito and Asuna for longer and thus reach Clearer level.
- Sachi who gains a Stand and joins the Front Liners as part of Kirito's harem.
- Yuna gets a moment in Chapter 5; while captured by Laughing Coffin, tricks them into letting her use her Chant Skill to Stun most of them so she can try and get away, even putting up a bit of a fight against Xaxa where she manages to score a few blows on the bastard.
- Adaptational Dumbass: As an indirect result of Kirito's "To Protect that Smile" skill having caused 'Errors' in the system, Yui lost 90% of her knowledge and common sense and became an airhead when the Cardinal system tried to delete her.
- Adaptational Heroism: As a result of Kirito saving Yuna's life, Nautilus (Eiji) doesn't turn as villainous as his canon self from Ordinal Scale and even befriends Klein and Fuurinkazan (Who he hated in canon).
- Alliterative Name: One of Argo's past relationship status names was Best Beta Buddies.
- Argument of Contradictions: Amusingly [LIFE] and [DEATH] get into an argument of this type over which of their Gifts, living beings like more, at least when simplified into a context anyone 'normal' could understand.
- Asshole Victim:
- Considering Rosalia's actions towards Silica in canon, as well as here in the story where she came close to killing her, its not that hard to be not affected by her death in Chapter 5.
- Kibaou's death at the hands of "The Fatal Scythe" in Chapter 7 didn't really affect Kirito and the others considering the former's attitude.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: As in canon, Kirito gains the Martial Arts skill, though this time he uses it more often as his Dual Wielding became synonymous with his Secret Identity instead.
- He also gains a ragged grey cloak, the 'Cloak of Effort', that boosts his SPD and Martial Arts' effectiveness which becomes the 'Cloak of Champions', tripling his Martial Arts' power and effectiveness, while trying to save Lisbeth.
- Big Damn Heroes: Klein and the Fuurinkazan guild, who always show up with their 'Fuurin-mobile' to provide backup against whatever threat there is.
- Boring, but Practical: At the end of Aincrad, Kirito might not have flashy 'super abilities' like his wives, but he's way above the curve in Level alone, not to mention the Passive Boosts, Passive Skills, Active Buffs, and Damage Bonuses he gained from the Hollow Area.
- The Casanova: Played for Laughs. As Kirito's dating sim powers are an endless cause of hilarious mishaps with the heroines.
- Cassandra Truth: While fighting Kayaba in Chapter 8, Kirito admits to the man the circumstances of his powers. Naturally, Kayaba, who was already at a Villainous Breakdown prior to the fight, assumes Kirito is lying and flatly tries to kill him.
- Continuity Nod: Quite a few for Chains of Fate.
- We see a glimpse of [DESTINY] with his literal Cosmic Chess Game.
- [FATE] ignores [LIFE] & [DEATH] and goes back to 'play with his Chains'.
- Contrived Coincidence: Basically how the "To Protect that Smile" Skill works. When it activates, coincidences happen that somehow make a Heroine happy.
- Cosmic Plaything: As usual Kirito seems to be the "The Absolute Ones" goto choice. This time [LIFE] and [DEATH] make a bet and use a Kirito to determine the winner.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Surprisingly, Skull Reaper, the 75th Floor Boss, who gets destroyed in a matter of minutes without causing an injury to the raid party.
- Cut Scene: Basically what happens after choosing a Choice, to execute that choice. Complete with a Cut Scene Drop.
- D-Cup Distress: Downplayed with Suguha in Chapter 5, as she felt annoyed that she'll have to stop wearing a bra underneath her pajamas if her breasts kept growing.
- Death by Adaptation:
- Rosalia in Chapter 5 when a Boss shows up and kills her as a result of "To Protect that Smile" triggering in response to Kirito's rage when she nearly kills Silica.
- Kibaou in Chapter 7 when "The Fatal Scythe" appears and kills him instantly when the former tried to head straight for the Admin. Console.
- Did You Just Have Sex?: Defied Trope. Kirito took his time to school his expression before joining his party after Their First Time with Argo just to avoid this trope. A wasted effort because Argo got breakfast earlier and, well...At that moment, as if summoned by their words... Aincrad's most famous info broker skipped down the stairs.
Yes, that's right. She didn't just walk down the stairs. She skipped. Argo.- It later becomes a Running Gag that the girls who did 'it' with Kirito are in a very happy mood the next morning.
- The Dog Bites Back: With some help from Kirito, Lux manages to work up the courage to fight back against the rest of Laughing Coffin, and help the Clearers raid their base earlier than in Canon. She even manages to get a few blows in on Xaxa.
- Dynamic Entry: The Fuurin-mobile enjoys quite a few instances of this, being used against all sorts of monsters. Including Kayaba.
- Embarrassing Nickname: In chapter 4, Kirito learns from Ducker that his constant traveling with only Asuna, Argo, and Kizmel have resulted in him gaining the moniker of 'The Ladies' Man Swordsman'. He's less than enthused by it, and part of his agreement to help stick around to train Sachi and the Black Cats alone is in hopes that spending some time away from his Party will result in the rumors and nickname dying down.
- Exotic Extended Marriage: Kirito and his harem partake in a Dark Elf Ceremony that acted as one in Chapter 8.
- Famed In-Story: Despite avoiding his Beater title, Kirito still gains fame (or infamy) as 'The Ladies' Man Swordsman' and the 'Nameless Knight'. Lisbeth lampshades this.Lisbeth: "You're both the arguably most hated non-Orange player and the more famous and respected by most of the population? (chuckles) Somehow, that seems to perfectly fit you."
- First Kiss: With Sachi after surviving the floor trap in Chapter 4. Asuna and Argo are not happy about that, though Kizmel apparently took it in stride.
- Fluffy the Terrible:
- Sachi calls her terrifyingly powerful spirit "Night Kitty".
- Philia names the Fellbeast she gains 'Mochi', which Kirito lampshades.
- Genre Savvy: Kirito knows well enough that a Declaration of Protection would do more harm than good for Sachi in the long run as it does nothing to solve her problems. Instead, he chooses to encourage her to confront her issues head on, and as a result, she becomes much stronger than she ever was.
- Head Desk: Kirito's response to Kayaba's Death Game announcement.
- He does it again once he realizes the original of Sinon's power; specifically that she is a literal expy of Archer from Fate Stay Night (the original erogame version) in Kuro's Stripperiffic version of his costume.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Defied. By rebuking against Kibaou's accusations and angrily throwing the "Coat of Midnight" at Diavel, Kirito avoided the whole fiasco of his 'Beater' status in canon.
- Played straight after Chapter 3, but downplayed. While Kibaou and most of those under his command tried to slander Kirito's deeds as the "Nameless Knight" as interference, the latter nevertheless had the respect and admiration of many players who he helped after his debut.
- Innocent Fanservice Girl: Similar to canon, Kizmel, who has no problem undressing or being seen naked by Kirito and even acting confused when Asuna and the others get flustered over it.
- Interface Spoiler: Non-video game example (kinda). Kirito's powers allows him to read a summary of the Heroines, which includes their past and problems that they haven't revealed to him yet.
- Internal Reveal:
- Lux and Yuna finds out Kirito and the Nameless Knight are the same person during the Laughing Coffin incident.
- Klein and the other members of the Boss Raid follow suit during the Gleam Eyes battle. And if anyone else didn't believe it yet, the final nail in the coffin is him transforming into his second identity in front of everyone during his battle with Heathcliff in Floor 75.
- Irony:
- Like in canon, Sachi's insecurity of holding her friends/guild members back are apparent in her conversation with Kirito. After cutting down all the enemies that were conjured from the Floor Trap which killed them in canon and gaining more confidence in herself, it's now her guild that felt they would hold her back.
- Klein and Eiji becoming good friends/guildmates due to being unlucky about getting a girl, in comparison to the movie where Eiji HATED Klein and the Fuurinkazan guild, blaming them for Yuuna's death, and going out of his way to beat them down until they needed to be hospitalized. The author even calls it a massive piece of 'Multiversal Irony'.
- Lighter and Softer: Word of God has stated this will focus more on Kirito keeping his sanity intact for all the hilarity that comes with his powers than on action since the end of Chapter 1.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Kirito is this as the Nameless Knight. He even describes his second identity as a 'walking cliché'.
- Mythology Gag: A few to the original series:
- Kirito initially considers his 'superpower' utter crap and thinks he probably would have more luck 'cutting down a building-sized tree with an old axe' a reference to the Alicization Arc.
- Kirito equipping the grey cloak he earned from a quest has got him feeling that as if he was about to embark on some 'post-apocalyptic adventure through a desert' a reference to the Phantom Bullet Arc.
- Yuna's appearance after using the mysterious mic is based on her AI counterpart from Ordinal Scale.
- Next Tier Power-Up: Like in One Punch-Gamer, the characters gain some 'superpowers' over the course of the story. In order...
- Sachi gains the power of a Stand that not only increased her firepower, but also her luck tenfold in Scene 3.
- Silica gains a Kirin armor while Pina takes a level in badass after fighting the Kirin Field Boss offscreen.
- Kirito gets his armor reforged with Kirin materials in Scene 5, removing the Power Creep it suffered due to being a Floor 3 item.
- Argo gets a pair of psi-blades in the Hollow Area in Scene 10.
- Kizmel gains Avatar powers while trying to save Strea in Scene 12.
- Asuna gets the Libra Gold Cloth forged by Liz in Scene 13.
- In Scene 14, Yuna transforms into her AI counterpart's appearance while getting the ability to give away broken buffs and remove any debuffs.
- Lisbeth finds an Iron Man armor in the Hollow Area in Scene 15.
- Lux gains the keyblade Oblivion in Scene 17.
- Non-Linear Character: This comes up in [LIFE] & [DEATH]'s discussion when they try to figure out how long it's been since they have seen each other.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Concerning certain events where Kirito enters the Dating Sim choices; the *Warning: Choosing the Wrong Choice will forever Block this Heroine's Route line always gives an ominous foreboding feeling to him that would befall on whichever heroine his powers are targeting.
- Not Me This Time: Played for Laughs, as upon learning about his Embarrassing Nickname of The Ladies' Man Swordsman, Kirito instinctively looked at Argo, who quickly denied starting those rumors.
- Ominous Message from the Future: Philia's Hollow friends get one from Eugeo, who tries to warn Kirito of something that will happen to Strea to keep her from becoming the 100th floor boss as they really needed her abilities as the Hunter right now, something that was implied she'll lose had Lux not bailed her out.
- In a less ominous side of things, Eugeo apparently gains the White Tiger Morpher (which later turns into the Green Dragon Morpher)—and later, gains the Green Dragon Dagger—and has Krypto the Superdog as an ally.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Everyone looks in shock when they see Argo skipping as she comes down in the morning. She and Kirito had sex the night before.
- Papa Wolf: Kirito becomes extremely mad when Kayaba struck Yui in Chapter 8.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Downplayed. While Kirito's Heroines could easily deduce him as the 'Nameless Knight', his Title grants him 'Identity Protection' on everyone else.
- Plot Armor: Kirito realizes that "To Protect that Smile" effectively gives him this since the skill warps causality in order to cause events that make sure that the heroines aren't unhappy, and thus would also work to avert the worst thing that could cause them unhappiness: his own death. Of course, like most things that the skill causes, it doesn't mean that what happens would make the situation better as the way it averts his death during his battle against Heathcliff is by glitching out SAO and starting the Hollow Fragment scenario.
- Popcultural Osmosis Failure: Argo was annoyed when her reference of Elves being the finest of Archers goes over Asuna's head. Kirito is likewise flummoxed when Philia, who is equipped with a suit of armor reminiscent of Sauron, Ring of Power included, is completely lost and doesn't recognize the reference behind her equipment and circumstances.
- Powers That Be: [LIFE] & [DEATH] this time. For once it's not [FATE]'s Fault.
- Reality Warper: Basically what the skill "To Protect that Smile" does, although Kirito has no control over it.
- Sanity Slippage: Kayaba goes through this as a result of all the madness brought by Kirito's Harem Skill and goes through an outright Villainous Breakdown towards the end.
- Screw Destiny: In-Universe. While Kirito remains unaware of it, his ability to cruise through arguments thanks to his 'Wisdom' skill and his ability to warp reality with the "To Protect that Smile" skill, allows him to avoid events that would happen in canon (Like when several universes died and others were born at the same time in a slightly, out-of-synch cycle).
- Secret Identity: Kirito sometimes goes around saving other Players as the 'Nameless Knight', if only just to vent.
- Sentient Cosmic Force: "The Absolute Ones".
- Shock and Awe: One of Pina's new powers after her encounter with Kirin.
- Shout-Out: Has its own page here.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the second chapter, Coper (who had died in a failed attempt to MPK Kirito in canon) was stopped before he could enact his plan to try and trick Kirito, and was instead left Bound and Gagged inside of a cabin. Diavel also survives the First Boss Fight.
- In Chapter 4, Sachi and the Black Cats also survived the trap that killed them in canon.
- Chapter 5 continues the trend with Yuna, who Kirito revives with the Stone of Resurrection, thus undoing her canon death.
- Sudden Game Interface: Of the Dating Sim variety.
- Support Party Member:
- Yuna is this with her Chant Extra Skill, which she had maxed by the time of Floor 75. Her abilities become more broken after using the mic dropped by the Amygdala boss.
- Asuna also becomes this after getting the Libra Gold Cloth and becoming a Walking Armory, capable of lending multiple overpowered weapons to others.
- Took a Level in Badass: Pina gets A LOT more powerful than her canon self thanks to the field boss Kirin.
- Tempting Fate: What Kirito has realized he's done when Kayaba announces the Death Game (Well he thinks he has, [FATE] is actually preoccupied, the death game was Destined to happen anyway). For his Response see Head Desk above. For how he Temped Fate see What Could Possibly Go Wrong? below.
- Their First Time: Kirito and Argo have sex in Scene 9. Luckily for Argo, Kirito's powers allows for his Dating Stats to affect his prowess in bed.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: After going through Aincrad lacking 'superpowers' like his girls (much to his dismay), Kirito finally gains his own superpowers which allows him to transform into any of his 'identities', theoretically even in the real world.
- Time Stands Still: Happens whenever Kirito has to pick a Choice.
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Kirito says this (Well, as a statement) and as a Result:"In that instant, for some reason, several Universes died and others were born at the same time, in a slightly out-of-synch cycle, causing [FATE], on Its "Throne above Everything", to groan."
