The Aincrad Arc is the first story arc of the Sword Art Online series. It covers the journey of Kirito within the VRMMOPRG Sword Art Online. In terms of the Sword Art Online timeline, the events of the Aincrad Arc take place between November 6, 2022, and November 7, 2024. The events of this arc are detailed within the following media: Sword Art Online Light Novel volumes 1 and 2, Sword Art Online - Aincrad Manga volumes 1 and 2, and episodes 1-14 of the Sword Art Online Anime.

Story

Continued from page 1.

Kirito gets a rare loot-drop piece of meat that needs a high-level cook, and Asuna happens by and says she fits the bill, so they have the rare dish together at her home. Later, a guild-assigned bodyguard Kuradeel follows Asuna, and Kirito proves he can do his job too by dueling and winning. Later, Kirito and Asuna reach the floor 74 boss and check it out before going back to restock.

The duo goes to challenge the boss. They team up with Klein and his guild, then are surpassed by a squad from "the Army" who rush ahead. As they reach the boss room, they see the door open and the squad losing the battle, and save all but three people in a desperate rush. Kirito finishes the boss himself and almost dies. He comes to his senses, and Asuna hugs him. She wants to Kirito to be safe, so she wants a break from the guild duties. Heathcliff decides to test if Kirito is worth her time.

In a duel between Kirito and Heathcliff in a stadium of floor 75, Kirito meets his match. He keeps attacking when he sees a weird effect, and Heathcliff uses Kirito's surprise to overpower him. Kirito has to join the guild now, and feels uneasy; he tells Asuna about his experience with the MBC, and she promises to protect him. On Heathcliff's order, Godfree, Kirito, and Kuradeel go to grind, and during a rest Kuradeel poisons both with paralysis. He is revealed to be in the PK "guild" Laughing Coffin, kills Godfree and nearly kills Kirito who is saved by Asuna at the last moment. Her hesitation almost costs her her life instead but Kirito saves her this time, killing Kuradeel without remorse. The duo are very close now, and Asuna later accepts Kirito's marriage proposal.

Kirito and Asuna spend their honeymoon on a peaceful floor 22 in a forest house when they find a girl — neither a player nor a NPC — who suddenly just collapses. Asuna and Kirito take her to their house, and the next morning learn she is called Yui and does not remember anything. She cannot even pronounce their names so they accept, endeared, when she tries "mama" and "papa". Trying to find her parents, they go through an event that starts jolting her memory, and Yui says she does not remember the Town of Beginnings, then faints with a mysterious phenomenon affecting people around.

The Army member Yulier asks Kirito and Asuna to save her leader Thinker tricked into a trap in a dungeon, and the duo does not know what to think when Yui confidently says Yulier is not lying. The four of them go to the mission during which Yui regains all her memories and erases the tough boss. She was part of the Cardinal System, a mental health AI who had broken the order to watch but not interfere. She gets deleted but Kirito manipulates the system console to save her data into an object Yui's Heart.

The couple meet Nishida, a network security manager who oversaw the game development, and help him fish up and cook a huge lake beast. Later, Heathcliff requests Kirito and Asuna's participation in the floor 75 boss raid. Asuna and Kirito decide to protect each other with their lives and beat the game no matter what. The powerful boss then appears.

After a fight where 14 people died, Kirito suddenly attacks Heathcliff, and a large "Immortal Object" appears over him. It was Kayaba Akihiko himself, who has been planning to become the floor 100 boss himself. He agrees to duel Kirito removing his protection this time. In an intense fight, Kirito and Heathcliff slay each other just after Asuna protects Kirito with her body. After two years, the game is cleared. In a developer area away from Aincrad, the three have a talk as the other players are logged out and Aincrad slowly crumbles. Akihiko explains he has realized his childhood dream of a castle in the sky. Kirito and Asuna give each other their real names and embrace each other. The infirm Kirigaya Kazuto wakes up in a hospital, and strugglingly gets up to go meet Asuna in real life.

References

SAO Anime - Fan Wiki