One month after Akihiko Kayaba's game of death began, the death toll continues to rise, two thousand players having already lost their lives to the ultra-difficult VRMMO world of Sword Art Online. On the day of the strategy meeting to plan out the first-floor boss battle, Kirito, a solo player who vows to fight alone to get stronger, runs into a rare, high-level female player. She gracefully dispatches powerful monsters with a single rapier that flashes like a shooting star in the night...

This volume contains three stories, including "Aria of a Starless Night," which details how Kirito came to be called the Black Swordsman, and "Rondo of a Fragile Blade," the tragic tale of a young blacksmith that takes place before the second-floor boss fight.