Protagonist (Fatal Bullet)

The Protagonist (主人公) is the player's character in Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet. The Protagonist began playing Gun Gale Online (GGO) due to the request of their childhood friend Kureha.

Appearance
In the gameverse canon, the Protagonist is a male with short black hair and blue eyes. He wears a battle jacket with a blue collar and black pants with metal knee pads. The alternative female version of the Protagonist, by default, has long black hair and green eyes. She wears a white battle jacket and red and black skirt. The Protagonist is depicted using a FAMAS G2 model assault rifle as well as a pair of Beretta 93R machine pistols in promotional art and pre-rendered cutscenes.

Personality
The Protagonist is an untalkative person, even having a unique aura of both friendliness and unsociability, according to Kureha. According to Kirito, the Protagonist is similar to Kirito's solo player self in the way he has zero friends.

Fatal Bullet
The Protagonist was invited by Takamine Momiji (Kureha) to assist her in a special update tournament in GGO, which was rumored to have a hidden rare item. Having been joined by Kureha almost immediately after logging into GGO for the first time, the new player was given a brief overview of the history of VRMMOs and the unique characteristics of GGO before heading to the tournament registration area. Along the way, the two encountered Itsuki, a top player and leader of the renowned Alphard squadron, who praised the Protagonist's resolve to participate in the competition despite their inexperience. After the man took his leave to enter the tournament himself, the Protagonist followed Kureha into the teleporter to the event dungeon to learn the basics of combat.

Once the Protagonist felt they understood GGO's battle system, they and Kureha proceeded further into the dungeon in search of the rare item. However, the duo encountered Itsuki again, accompanied by his partner Taipan. Sensing they were outmatched by the top players, the Protagonist and Kureha agreed to Itsuki's request to handle a difficult monster deeper within the dungeon, in exchange for being allowed to leave unharmed. Having managing to defeat the enemy, they parted ways with the top players at a fork in the road not far ahead, with the Protagonist given the privilege of choosing their path first. Shortly afterwards, the pair found a dormant warp gate. While Kureha fiddled with the controls, the Protagonist unwittingly stood in the middle of the structure when the girl accidentally activated it, which teleported the new player to a large room in a different area of the dungeon.

In the middle of exploring their new surroundings, the Protagonist's attention was drawn towards a strange capsule at the far end of the room. Curious, the new player touched the capsule, triggering the device to register them as some sort of master. Then the capsule opened to reveal a person inside, who slowly levitated out of the pod before collapsing. The Protagonist rushed to catch the falling person, narrowly avoiding a gunshot from an enemy player behind them. Immediately afterwards, they spotted the enemy player's partner charging at them with a photon sword, whereupon the new player instinctively moved to shield the mysterious person from the attack. However, they were spared when the mysterious person addressed the Protagonist as their master, causing the photon sword user to stop their ambush at the last moment.

Having been joined by Kureha, the Protagonist learned from the photon sword user and his partner, who respectively revealed their names as Kirito and Asuna, that the mysterious person they had attempted to protect was an ArFA-Sys Unit (Afasys), a player support Non-Player Character (NPC) companion who had just permanently registered the new player as their master. While Asuna and Kirito took their leave to continue advancing in the tournament, the Protagonist and Kureha remained with Afasys until the android had finished starting up their main system, after which the new player spent the rest of the competition learning how to use the NPC's first gift to them, the unimplemented Ultimate Fiber Gun (UFG). Once the trio were automatically transported to the SBC Glocken upon the tournament's conclusion, they were reunited with Itsuki, Kirito, and Asuna, the first of whom the Protagonist thanked for enabling them to meet Afasys before accepting the Photon Sword Wielder's invitation to a party to become better acquainted with each other and their circle of friends.

After the party, the Protagonist and Afasys followed Kureha and Kirito on a tour of the SBC Glocken and the facilities therein, during which they met several of Kirito's friends that were not present at the party. The new player also encountered Bazalt Joe, who saved them from being swindled by a shady merchant player; Daisy, another Type-X ArFA-Sys Unit who Afasys befriended; and Daisy's master Zeliska, a mysterious player who seemed to know more about ArFA-Sys Units than she let on. Having finished their exploration of the city, the Protagonist learned they needed to recover Afasys's missing parts in order to restore the android's functionalities and enter the SBC Flügel, a new area to be implemented as part of the Gold Rush Update. To that end, they began exploring the Remnant Wasteland, where they quickly found the first component.

A short while later, the Protagonist was approached by Bazalt Joe, who inquired on their relationship with Afasys out of concern for the latter's bouts of clumsiness. Realizing the man was under the impression that the android was a regular player, they clarified Afasys was their Artificial Intelligence (AI) companion, whereupon the new player was requested to transfer their ArFA-Sys Unit ownership rights to Bazalt Joe. Once it became clear the gunman would not be easily swayed, the Protagonist accepted Bazalt Joe's challenge to a duel over the matter; with assistance from Afasys and Kureha, they defeated the man and his allies in two successive fights, after which they respectively received as a reward an expensive item and information on the location of the other missing ArFA-Sys Unit parts.

Almost immediately afterwards, the Protagonist was in their residence with Kirito, Kureha, Sinon and Yuuki discussing the SBC Flügel's upcoming implementation when they were unexpectedly visited by Daisy and Zeliska, who had found Afasys lingering in front of a store without any funds to purchase equipment or knowledge on how to return home. After it was revealed the situation was mostly caused by the Protagonist's ignorance of the ArFA-Sys Units' allowance function, the new player learned they could give Afasys money which the android could use to buy items for themself or their master. Promising to not let the issue repeat itself, the Protagonist utilized the system to prepare themselves for a deeper expedition into the Remnant Wasteland. Following the information they won from Bazalt Joe, they managed to locate the second missing ArFA-Sys Unit component.

While wandering the streets of SBC Glocken some time later, the Protagonist, Afasys and Kureha spotted two players harassing another. Despite Kureha's recommendation that they should notify a game administrator first, the Protagonist was about to intervene on the beleaguered player's behalf when Itsuki preempted them by forcing the bullies to retreat. Grateful for his intercession, the trio accepted the man's invitation to Alphard's headquarters. There, they discussed what motivated each of them and other people to start playing GGO, which eventually resulted in Itsuki offering the Protagonist to join Alphard. Though flattered by his interest in them, they declined the proposal but consented to adding each other to their friend list, after which they could have the man accompany them on their adventures.

Not long after encountering Spiegel, Sinon's friend from real life with whom she had a complicated history in Sword Art: Origin, the Protagonist, Afasys, and Kureha were given hints by Zeliska on where to find the last of the missing ArFA-Sys Unit parts. To that end, they liberated the Remnant Wasteland by defeating its field boss in order to access the Solitary Sands, where they repeated the feat to enter the Old South. Though the trio needed to purchase information from Argo to progress further, they eventually managed to unlock a sealed dungeon in the city ruins, where they collected the third and last component. With Afasys's functionalities fully restored, the Protagonist was able to focus on vanquishing the remaining area bosses in the region so as to access the Forgotten Woods, where the SBC Flügel would be implemented.

Once the SBC Flügel was finally released, the Protagonist gathered in Kirito's residence along with the others to debate their next course of action. Since the group still only knew little about the ship, the Protagonist agreed to first scout the new area to determine the difficulty of entering it, with Afasys, Kirito and Kureha accompanying them. Having reached the SBC Flügel's gate, the party was surprised to be designated as trespassers by the Gatekeeper boss guarding the entrance. Unable to deal any meaningful damage to the Gatekeeper despite their best efforts in the ensuing battle, they realized they somehow must have missed an important prerequisite for accessing the ship. Therefore, the Protagonist and Afasys reluctantly retreated back to SBC Glocken while Kirito and Kureha stayed behind to cover their escape.

Once Kirito and Kureha had safely returned, the Protagonist was in the middle of discussing how to find the the last requirement for entering the SBC Flügel when they perceived Afasys had disappeared. Sensing the ArFA-sys Unit blamed themselves for failing the entry quest, the player decided to search SBC Glocken for them. With assistance from Zeliska, Daisy, and Bazalt Joe, they located the android in the plaza in front of the governor's office, where they comforted Afasys over their guilt. This enabled the ArFA-Sys Unit to remember the final condition for gaining access to the ship, which the Protagonist consented to fulfill before they could return to the others.

Having returned to the SBC Flügel's gate, the Protagonist and Afasys fought the Gatekeeper for the former's right to freely enter and leave the ship. Since all the entry prerequisites were now correctly met, the duo were able to successfully defeat the boss. Almost immediately afterwards, they were approached by Daisy and Zeliska, who congratulated the two on their victory and offered to partner with them in exploring the new area. Once the proposal had been negotiated, the Protagonist reported their accomplishment to everyone in Kirito's residence, whereupon the group decided to create a squadron for convenience of access to the SBC Flügel. Sensing Kureha's discomfort over them being the leader of the squadron, the Protagonist offered the position to them but was instead challenged to a duel for the role, with Kirito, Sinon, and Yuuki also participating and Zeliska refereeing the battle royal, which the Protagonist won.

Following the celebration of the new squadron's establishment, the Protagonist spent some time preparing themself to officially enter the SBC Flügel. During this period, they learned from Kirito how to deflect bullets with a photon sword and wield it alongside a gun; helped Sinon acquire the rare AMR Tiamat sniper rifle; and became acquainted with Fukaziroh, LLENN, M, and Pitohui. Once they felt sufficiently ready, the Protagonist led the rest of the squadron into the interior of the ship. Despite some teasing interference from Itsuki, the player was able to safely explore the SBC Flügel's bow but encountered a sealed door that blocked access to the dungeon's deeper areas.

Trivia

 * The Protagonist is highly skilled at non-VR games. This ends up contributing to their quick learning of GGO despite it being their first VRMMO game, allowing them to even block bullets with a photon sword like Kirito.
 * The Protagonist has high real life luck, contributing to finding their Afasys (ArFA-sys) unit as well as various high rarity items.
 * The Protagonist is skilled in riding a motorcycle. Whether that is from video games, having a real license, or some other reason is up to the player.

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Protagonista (Fatal Bullet)