Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Scherzo of Deep Night 2023

In 2022, Akihiko Kayaba creates a virtual reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game (VRMMORPG) named Sword Art Online (SAO). As depicted in the first volume of the Sword Art Online: Progressive light novel series, the NerveGear is a 2nd generation FullDive device developed by a company named Argus, with Kayaba as its creator. It has a single interface that covers the player’s entire head. It controls the player’s consciousness by redirecting the brain’s signals to the NerveGear, such that they can experience and control their in-game characters with their minds without any physical movement. It has its own battery source, as well as a high-frequency electromagnetic microwave transmitter.

A few months before the official release, some beta testers are shown taking on a floor boss, as they dwindle down its HP, an unknown player runs in and delivers the final blow. That same player then reaches the door to the next floor and one of the other players attempts to get to the door. Unfortunately, an announcement is made that the beta is over and the official release will be on November 6, leaving that player disappointed over their failure.

On November 6, 2022, 10,000 players log into SAO for the first time, only to discover that they are unable to log out of the game. Kayaba reveals himself to tell the players that they must beat all 100 floors of Aincrad, the enormous steel castle that is the setting of SAO if they want to escape the game. Only then would they be able to log out. Dying inside of the game or having their NerveGear forcibly removed from their head will cause them to have their brains destroyed by the NerveGear, thus killing them in real life as well. This leaves most of the players in a panic as their very lives are at stake and this game is no longer for fun.

Asuna, who had logged into the game to play with her school friend Misumi Tozawa, or Mito within the game (who is also revealed to be the player from the beginning of the movie), initially struggles to cope with her new reality of being trapped inside the game. Having been an original beta tester, Mito uses her previous experience to help Asuna level up quickly by killing monsters far outside the start town where the non-beta players would be unaware of, and the two form a party. During this time, they enter a cave and find that it had already been ransacked, most likely by some beta testers. They find a treasure chest, but Mito warns Asuna to leave it alone as it most likely is a trap as no beta tester would’ve missed something like that. This turns out to be true, as they overhear some players in battle, and learn that they had opened a booby-trapped treasure chest, which spawned a large swarm of monsters. Mito and Asuna can only watch as they are all killed and vanish right before their eyes, this leaves Asuna shaken and more cautious than ever.

A few weeks later, Asuna and Mito head off to kill nepenthes, a plant-based monster located in a mountainous terrain of the floor. Mito warns Asuna that killing the nepenthes with a fruit over its head will cause it to spew out smoke and trigger a massive assault of nearby plants, and to avoid it at all cost. During battle, Mito leaves to capture a rare sly shrewman and during that time Asuna accidentally kills the nepenthes with the overhead ball, triggering an onslaught of them. Mito attempts to save Asuna but is forced over a cliff by the plants and is unable to reach her as the nepenthes begin travelling down the mountain to attack her. Watching Asuna’s health bar fall down to dangerous levels, Mito panics and regretfully dissolves their newly formed party. Asuna receives the disbanded party notice just in time to get attacked by an even more dangerous monster after killing all the nepenthes. Before she is killed, Kirito arrives and easily eliminates the monster. He offers her healing potions and a map back to the nearest town before abruptly leaving.

After returning to the inn that Asuna had rented with Mito, she apparently sees that the logout button had returned. She pushes and apparently wakes back up in the real world, where she is greeted by her mother, who tells her that it is time for dinner. Strangely, she seems to be living a happy life as opposed to what her life was actually like, until she sees that she received a message from Mito and suddenly her world crumbles around her. Asuna awakens to learn that it was just a bad dream, but this inspires her to fight even harder then ever and if she dies, so be it.

On the morning of November 27, 2022, Asuna wakes up alone in her lodge room and declares that if she is to die in this new world, she will go out in her own way. She purchases a cloak and spends the next three days killing monsters inside a cave. Kirito enters the cave and insists that she go to the nearest town and recuperate her health before she is killed, to which she refuses and suddenly collapses from exhaustion. She awakens outside of it, having been dragged out by Kirito, who requests that she join him in town for a group meeting on preparation for defeating the first floor boss.

The two arrive in town and attend the meeting organized by the player Diabel, who announces to the attendants that they will all form multiple sets of parties and strategize in order to defeat the floor boss, Illfang the Kobold Lord, tomorrow morning. As the meeting starts, a player Kibaou interjects and accuses the beta testers of causing the deaths of the 2000 people who died during the past few months. However, another player Agil defends the beta testers as they were all given a free guide book from the beta testers and despite that a lot of people still died. Meaning the blame doesn’t lie with the beta testers and declares that they should all instead focus on beating the boss on the first floor. Asuna notices that Mito is one of the players in attendance but fails to interact with her as she feels betrayed because she left her to die.

Later that night, Kirito gives Asuna a new rapier and the two practice their fighting strategy. During this, Asuna asks Kirito if beta testers are really bad people as she explains to him that she was deserted by one as she was just about to die. Asuna reveals what had happened with Mito and how hurt she felt, when she was abandoned by her. Kirito goes on to explain that he had a previous similar experience and feels that she was simply scared to lose her own life and chose to save herself in the moment, which gives Asuna some relief on the matter. Kirito also asks what rare monster Mito was trying to kill, she describes it to him and he realizes what her intentions were, assures Asuna that Mito still cares about her.

The next day, Kirito, Asuna, Mito, Diabel and the remaining group of party members arrive at the boss room and battle Illfang and his minion sentinels. When Illfang’s health becomes low, Diabel goes for the finishing attack, but before he can see Illfang’s true weapon, he is mortally wounded by its onslaught. With his dying breath, Diabel tells Kirito to defeat the boss and save the players at all costs. During the battle, Mito discovers that Asuna is alive and well, and gives her the drop she got a few months ago, which was a rare wind fleuret rapier and works together with her to hold off the boss and its minions. With the assistance of Asuna and Mito, Kirito successfully defeats Illfang, causing the players to celebrate their victory as they have successfully cleared the first floor.

However, the celebration is short-lived as Kibaou suddenly accuses Kirito of letting Diabel die as he overheard him warning Diabel to stay away from the boss as he knew that the weapon was different from what was used in the beta. Another player immediately accuses Kirito of letting Diabel die by having previous knowledge about Illfang he did not share with the players and they proceed to label him a “beater”, a combination of the words “beta-tester” and “cheater”. Kirito intentionally provokes them to protect the other beta-testers and accepts this title and claims the prize for defeating Illfang: a black leather trench coat. He then becomes the first player to clear the first floor by stepping through the gate.

After discovering the cloaked girl with Kirito was actually Asuna, Mito apologizes to her for what happened back in the mountains and offers to form a party with her again. Asuna declines the offer, believing that she has found her own path forward within this world and that it involves Kirito. The two depart as Asuna joins Kirito on the second floor and the two formally exchange their names with each other. As the two head off to activate the second floor teleporter, a mysterious girl can be seen hiding behind the floor gate, apparently eager that the two current strongest players have joined forces. (Courtesy of Wikipedia)