Sword Art Online Volume 18 � Chapter 22

Translator�s Notes:

Sword Art Online Volume 18 is the final main volume of the Alicization arc. It
consists of Chapter 21, Chapter 22, Chapter 23, an Epilogue, and a Prologue.

Translation Credits:

Translation � defan752

Proofreading � def_nomad, ZeHaffen

Scans � ruranobe.ru

Illustration Editing � Mttblue2

Consultation � SAO Wiki

Chapter 22 � The Decisive Battle

7 July 2026 / Eighth Day of the Eleventh Month of the Human Empire Calendar, 380
1
�Damn!�

Came an abrupt expletive from Critter, the information warfare operative of the
Ocean Turtle raid team, as he scrutinized the large monitor directly above the
console.

The red dot, which had numbered 30000 at its peak, was rapidly vanishing from the
inside out.

In other words, Chinese and Korean VRMMO players that had been thrown into
Underworld through Vassago�s secret plan had, by some way or another, been
annihilated and automatically logged out.

The blue-colored Human Empire army and white Japanese troops in the middle of the
red circle still numbered around a thousand survivors. That was an unavoidably
large number, and if this thousand people had the power to vanquish a combined
Chinese-Korean force of 30000, then that made them all the more dangerous.

�� What the hell is that dolt Vassago doing?��

Critter clucked his tongue while staring at one point in the monitor.

There was one last intensely glowing red dot positioned exceedingly close to the
Japanese troops. That was Vassago, who earlier converted his own account and dived
in through the STL in the adjacent room. He was right next to the enemy, but he did
not appear to be moving at all, let alone engaging the enemy.

Had he become some sort of prisoner and gotten immobilized? Or did he have his own
secret plan of defeating an enemy army of thousands-?

Critter repressed the urge to storm into the STL Room, slap Vassago awake, seize
his shirt collar, and shake him.

He could not reset the account while the Underworld administrator privileges were
locked. In other words, if he force-logged out Vassago, he would never be able to
use this account again. All Critter could do at the moment was limited to changing
the time acceleration rate, which was separate from The Seed Program, but anything
involving that had to be timed with extreme care.
Critter inhaled a sharp, deep breath, and zoomed out the onscreen map.

Deep in the south of Underworld, he could see another red dot still moving at full
tilt. That would be the raid team captain, Gabriel Miller.

What he had to consider now was the likelihood of the Human Empire army catching up
to Captain Miller, who had either already captured Alice or was currently in
pursuit of her.

The result of sending in large volumes of American, Chinese, and Korean players was
a significant impediment to the Human Empire army�s southward advance. By now
Captain Miller had a head start of several hundreds of miles inside. A jet fighter
could cross that distance in the blink of an eye, but it was quite unlikely for
such a thing to exist within Underworld. At the very most there would be winged
creatures.

-There�s no way they�re going to catch up.

Critter decided after a long three seconds of consideration.

He glanced at the watch on his left wrist. It was July 7, 9:40 AM.

There were still eight hours and twenty minutes until the JSDF�s assault team was
scheduled to storm in from the destroyer. Captain Miller had ordered them to
restart the acceleration with eight hours left - at 10:00AM. But with all of their
external troops completely destroyed, there was no meaning in waiting any longer.

In that case, he ought to bring Underworld�s time acceleration back to 1000 times
right now, and buy Captain Miller some time to secure Alice.

�No way around it� Just hold on a bit longer, Vassago.�

Speaking to the still completely immobile dot on the main battlefield, Critter
reached his right hand towards the lever that controlled the Fluctlight
Acceleration rate.

He looked up at the rate display on the main monitor, but his eyes suddenly halted
upon the scale to its side.

The display needle was currently positioned at the �1 on the very bottom. From
there, a number was marked every �100, and at �1000 a red line was painted across
as a border.

Then the scale continued to rise, with another border at �1200. It appeared that
this was the safety line for real, live humans when they dived in through STLs.

But the rate display continued to rise even further, finally stopping at �5000. If
there were no humans diving - if all of the world�s residents were Artificial
Fluctlights, then the internal time could be accelerated up to this point.

The time acceleration rate was adjusted by operating a physical control lever on
the console, and then pushing the covered button to its side. Taking care not to
touch the button, Critter slowly pushed the control lever upwards, as though he
were operating a horizontal lever akin to a ship or airplane throttle.

The rate display rose smoothly, and the digital numbers beside it began to change
at a staccato pace.
At �1000, he suddenly encountered resistance.

He pushed hard, and the lever began moving again, then stopped again at �1200. This
time, it did not show any signs of wanting to move no matter how much force he
applied.

�Oof���

Critter�s curiosity got the better of him. He began inspecting the large metallic
lever.

And then he immediately noticed a shining silver keyhole beside the confirmation
button.

�I see.�

His face split into a grin as he scratched his close-cropped hair.

If the safety limit was 1200 times, then the real danger zone had to be somewhere
above that. It didn�t seem like a bad idea to try unlocking the safety mechanism
first in case they became extremely pressed for time inside.

Spinning the chair around with him, Critter snapped his fingers at the other team
members inside the main control room.

�Hey, anyone here a lockpicking specialist?�

***

-So soft� so sweet�

This had to the best sleep he had had in these few months. That was why Higa Takeru
resisted until the very end the unknown voice in his ear trying desperately to wake
him up.

�� ey, Higa-kun! Listen to me! Hey, open your eyes!!�

-This had to be overly desperate, though. It�s like I�m about to die or something.

-It�s an exaggeration, no matter how you cut it. It�s not like I was stabbed; I
was� shot�

�---AHH!!�

His memory reviving with his consciousness, Higa cried out as his eyes snapped
open.

Whereupon he saw before him the face of a thirty-something man, black-rimmed

glasses flashing.

�AHH?!�

Higa screamed again.

He wanted to scramble backwards on reflex, but his body was not listening to his
commands. Instead, excruciating pain assaulted his right shoulder and Higa let
loose a third bizarre noise.

-Right.
I was shot by that man in the cable duct.

I lost a lot of blood but ignored it, prioritizing the STL operations instead. I
fed the three girls� Fluctlight outputs directly into Kirito-kun�s STL, but was
still unable to wake him up� and I think something happened next�

�� Ki-Kirito-kun, is he-�

Higa questioned, keeping his distance from the bespectacled man watching him from a
very close distance.

A cool female voice answered him.

�Kirito-kun�s Fluctlight activity has been completely restored. In fact, it is much

too active.�

�I.. I see��

Higa muttered, his voice mixed with a sigh.

A self-image recovery from that state was nothing short of a miracle. But surviving
blood loss of that volume was a genuine, bona-fide, miraculous-

He thought, again confirming his own situation.

He was lying on the floor of the sub control room. His upper body was naked, and
his right shoulder was bandaged. A blood transfusion catheter ran into his left
arm.

The bespectacled man, Kikuoka Seijirou, was to his left. Sitting directly on the
floor his right was Dr. Koujiro Rinko; she had taken off her white gown. Opposite
the catheter was Sergeant First Class Aki Natsuki, certified nurse, changing his
blood bag. She must have been the one tending to his wounds.

Higa looked back at Kikuoka, who, after remaining silent all this time, finally
sighed heavily and spoke:

�Good grief� I told you not to be reckless� --No, it�s my fault for not realizing
there was a spy among the technicians��

Kikuoka�s bangs were a mess and drops of sweat were visible on his glasses. Upon
closer inspection, Rinko was drenched in sweat as well; it seemed that both of them
had been trying to revive him. In that case, that comfortable sensation he had felt
between wakefulness and sleep was from then�

---Huh?

Who had given him chest compressions, and who had given him mouth-to-mouth?

Higa almost asked, but closed his mouth at the the last moment. There were things
like this in the world that could remain undiscovered.

Instead, he raised a question many times more important.

�How�s Underworld� How�s Alice?�

Kikuoka nudged Higa�s left shoulder as he replied:

�The players connecting from America, China, and Korea have all logged out. -And
also, there were almost 30000 players from China and Korea, but they�ve all left��

�Huh?� China and Korea too?! Not as reinforcements� but enemies?!�

He almost leapt up, but moaned from intense pain shooting from his right shoulder
right to the top of his head. SFC Aki�s scolding came swiftly.

�Take it easy! The bullet passed right through you, but it took a lot to stop the
bleeding.�

�G-Got it��

Higa relaxed, and Rinko informed him of the situation.

�-About China and Korea, it seemed that social media was used to cleverly incite
the online gamers� resentment and conflict, and then lure them here.�

�Is� that right��

Higa sighed softly. He had joined Project Alicization because� he was inspired
after a Korean friend of his had died from a terrorist bomb attack during his
military service in Iraq. But even if this whole thing was the fault of the
American attackers, there had still been an involuntary situation that worsened the
hostility between Japanese and Korean players.

He shook his head unconsciously, and after grimacing from pain again, Higa raised a
new question:

�How many people came from China and Korea?�

�Seemed to be almost 30000 at its peak. All 2000 players coming from Japan to help
were completely defeated.�

Kikuoka shut his eyes for a second, then continued:

�At that point, there were still more than 20000 Chinese and Korean players, so it
was fortunate that Kirito-kun awoke then and, in the blink of an eye��

�Wait, what?�

Higa could not help but interrupt the commander.

�Kirito-kun, by himself� in the blink of an eye, disabled a great army of 20000

people? That�s impossible, there are no weapons or commands in Underworld able to
inflict an attack of that much power or scale. Or� so I think��

Just then, Higa finally recalled in clear detail the conversation that had went
down before Yanai had shot him in the cable duct.

Other than a spy for the attackers, Sugou Nobuyuki�s original subordinate Yanai had
also been deeply obsessed with the Artificial Fluctlight �Administrator�. What kind
of experience of his had driven things to this point?

Moreover, the �fourth person� that had connected to Kirigaya Kazuto�s STL - the
anomalous Fluctlight in the Main Visualizer. Even if it, no, he or she had become
the key to Kazuto�s revival, Higa had never expected a subject-less, typical object
to express, or even simply mimic, human consciousness.
�� Hey� Kiku-san��

Higa muttered towards the commander, feeling a chill that was not part of the blood
loss.

�We� may have� created something unthinkable��

Just then.

From within an embedded speaker in the sub control room came blaring a shrill
alarm.

It was something Higa had set up: the sound of the time acceleration rate being
changed.

***

Gray clouds raced past me and Asuna at incredible speed. The blood-red sky overhead
and jet-black wilderness underfoot expanded as far as the eye could see.

There�s only one person capable of the Art of airborne flight in all of the vast
Human Empire, and that�s the Highest Minister - Integrity Knight Alice once told
me. Since Highest Minister Administrator and her �counterpart�, the sage Cardinal,
had both left Underworld, there was no way to find out exactly how they had learned
the Flight Art. That�s why it struck me that my ability to fly in midair above the
Dark Territory like this had nothing to do with an Art, but was the result of me
directly manipulating things with my imagination� the power that the Integrity
Knights called �Incarnation�.

Cardinal�s familiar Charlotte had protected me ever since I�d left Rulid Village,
and right now I could hear the giant spider�s words once more, deep in my ear.

�Every single Art is naught but a tool to guide and tweak your Incarnation� your
imagination, as you call it. You don�t need incantations or mediums anymore.

�Now, dry your tears, and stand up. Then, feel them. The prayers of the flowers.

�The truth of the world.

In the time that I shut myself out of the world around me after the battle with
Administrator on the topmost floor of the Central Cathedral of the Axiom Church,
all the way until I recovered a few tens of minutes ago, I seemed to establish an
incredibly deep connection with the �truth� of this world.

I could feel, quite clearly, the Sacred Power swirling in the space around me, and
I could convert it, quite easily, into elements without the need for an Art.
Although I had used an incantation when I had healed Klein and Lisbeth�s Life back
there, I should have been able to achieve the same effect just with my imagination.

Right now, I was flying by covering mine and Asuna�s bodies with Aerial Elements to
counteract air resistance while continuously discharging Aerial Elements behind us
like a jet engine. We were several times faster than a dragon, but we still needed
at least five minutes or so before we could catch up to Alice and the dragon she
was riding towards the far south, Amayori.

There were too many words, apologies, and thanks I wanted to give Asuna during our
respite, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not look her in the eye on my
right as we flew side by side, hand in hand.
The reason was�

After I awoke, after all of the blood in my body seemed to turn to light as my
sensation of omnipotence dampened, my recent memories rapidly organized and
sharpened in my mind.

The problem lay with a scene from late last night.

Having positioned my reclined body in the center of a tent, sitting in a circle

around me were Asuna, Alice, Ronye, and Sortiliena. Each of them were chatting
about their memories of me� To be precise, they were taking turns staging a one-act
play of each and every single one of my misdeeds. What other phrase suited its
description than �living hell�?

�Kirito-senpai regularly snuck out of the Academy to buy bags of honey pies from
the Deer Leap or fruit cookies from the Sunflower, and shared them with me and
Tiese.

�Which reminds me, when I graduated he actually brought me some Zephyria flowers,
which you normally only find in the western Empire. He told me that they took an
entire year to bloom.

When Ronye and Sortiliena shared these anecdotes�

�When we were climbing the outer wall of the Cathedral, Kirito took a meat bun from
his pocket and shared half of it with me. He heated it too quickly with a Thermal
Element and nearly charred it.

�When I first met him, he gave me a piece of black bread with cream on it. And then
we had blueberry tart, these huge roll cakes, and ate a lot of food together�

Alice and Asuna began using food-themed stories in response for some reason. Then
ensued an unending conference about things I�ve done and said�

�Ugh��

I couldn�t help but clutch my head and moan as we flew at high speed.

�Arrrgh!�

At that moment my consciousness rippled, and the generation and discharge of Aerial
Elements ceased. Intense wind immediately assaulted my entire body and I went into
a nosedive.

Crap, I muttered, allowing my coat to open into a pair of giant wings to rebalance
myself. But before I had a chance for respite�

�� YAHHHHHHHH!!�

Asuna was screaming and dropping like a stone from above; I threw my arms as far
apart as I could and caught her.

Having avoided imminent peril, I gazed point-blank into her widened hazel eyes. Any
apologies had to be said now.

�Asuna, it wasn�t like that!!�

�It was more of an excuse than an apology, but there was no turning back now.
�Absolutely nothing happened between me, Liena-senpai, Alice, and Ronye, really! I
swear to Goddess Stacia, absolutely N-O-T-H-I-N-G!!�

Hearing my desperate explanation, Asuna�s face�

Broke into a warm smile. She grasped my face with her slender hands, saying in a
half-astonished, half-longing voice:

�� You haven�t changed at all, Kirito-kun. They say you�ve been here for two years,
so I thought you would have become� a bit more� mature���

All of a sudden, clear streams of tears spilled from Asuna�s eyes. Her lips
trembled slightly, then uttered something hoarse.

�Wonderful� You�re Kirito-kun� You haven�t� changed at all� My� Kirito-kun��

Her words pierced deeply into my chest, where something hot and bubbly seemed
threatening to gush upwards, but I just barely held it at bay in my throat:

�� I�m� me. There�s no way I�ve changed.�

�Because� you�re like a god. You froze an army like that in a flash back there�
fully healed two hundred people all at once� and you can� fly��

All I could do was smile wryly.

�I�m just a little familiar with the workings of this world. As for flying, well,
with a little practice you�ll be able to do it too, Asuna.�

�� It�s okay if I can�t.�

�Huh?�

�I just want you to hold me like this while you fly.�

Asuna said with a watery smile, then wrapped her arms around my back in a tight
hug. I hugged her back, hard, and spoke again:

�Really� Thank you, Asuna. Even when you were so badly hurt, you still tried to
protect the people of Underworld� It must have been so painful��

Two years ago, when I was cut by a mountain goblin at the Mountain Range at the
Edge, I truly understood for the first time how realistic the pain in this world
was. It had only been a flesh wound on my left shoulder, but it was so painful that
I almost couldn�t stand back up.

But Asuna had faced PoH�s army head-on, pulling through to the very last minute
even with terrible wounds all over her body. Without Asuna�s struggle, Tiese,
Ronye, and the rest of the Human Empire army would have been crushed long ago.

�No� It wasn�t just me.�

Asuna said after listening to me, gently shaking her cheek from side to side
against mine.

�Sinonon, Leafa-chan, Liz, Silica-chan, Klein-san, Agil-san� and the Sleeping

Knights and everyone in ALO, all did their very best. Renri-san the Integrity
Knight, the Guardians of the Human Empire army, Sortiniena-San, Ronye-san, Tiese-
san, too��
At this point, Asuna�s body tensed as she seemed to realize something.

Before listening to her continue, I realized why.

�� Oh, right, Kirito-kun! The Knight Commander� Bercouli-san went after the enemy
Emperor alone��

����

I nodded silently, then slowly shook my head.

I�d realized that the oldest Integrity Knight I�d never gotten the chance to talk
directly with, Bercouli Synthesis One�s swordsman�s spirit, had vanished from the
ground long ago.

Before the war had started, we had met for the first time through the clashing of
imagination blades � �Incarnation blades�. In my gradually awakening memory, I
think that Bercouli back then was already aware of his impending death.

As the final destination of his three-hundred-year life, he chose to fight for

Alice�s safety.

Understanding the meaning behind my movements, Asuna�s arms tightened around me,
and she let out tiny sobs. But she quickly swallowed her weeping and asked me
directly:

�� Is Alice-san� safe�?�

�Yeah, she hasn�t been captured yet. She�s just about to reach the southern edge of
the Dark Territory� the third system console. But there�s a huge presence chasing
after her��

�I see� Then we must protect her, for Bercouli-san.�

Asuna�s face slowly parted from mine. It was dampened with tears, but filled with
ironclad determination. I nodded slowly at her. Then I saw a spark of doubt in her
eyes.

�But, for now� Just for a little bit, just for a little bit longer, you�re mine and
mine only, Kirito-kun.�

Her lips murmured as they grew closer and closer, and pressed against mine.

Under the crimson, otherworldly sky, my black wings beat steadily as I shared a
long, long kiss with Asuna.

In that moment, at long last, I finally understood why I had awoken in this world
two years ago.

The last Monday of June in the real world.

When I was walking Asuna home, I was attacked by the third accomplice of the �Death
Gun incident�, Johnny Black, a leader of the red guild �Laughing Coffin�. My
memories broke off after he injected me with succinylcholine from a high-pressure
syringe. I had probably stopped breathing or suffered some sort of brain damage, so
I was placed into the STL and Underworld for treatment.

By way of one cause or another, PoH, the leader of Laughing Coffin, was among the
band of people attacking the Ocean Turtle, and now he was a tree on the Dark
Territory surface like a miniature Gigas Cedar. If the time was accelerated again
before he was force-disconnected from outside, I didn�t know how many weeks he
would have to ensure in that blind, deaf state, but it should deal quite a bit of
damage to his sanity. He might even become like me for this past half year. It felt
very cruel, but I didn�t think I was overdoing it.

That man had tried to kill Asuna� and those people whom I hold so dear.

After many spellbinding minutes during which our existences seemed to fuse
together, Asuna�s and my lips finally parted.

�Reminds me of back then��

Asuna said, then quickly shut her mouth. I instantly knew why.

She was remembering the kiss we had shared under the setting sun, against a
background of the crumbling floating castle, after the death game SAO had been
completely cleared. That had been, indeed, a farewell kiss.

I smiled, and firmly tried to clear away her anxiety:

�Let�s go, then. Defeat Emperor Vector, rescue Alice, and return with everyone to
the real world��

Before I could finish that sentence.

An urgent voice rang directly into my head.

�Kirito-kun!! Kirigaya-kun!! Can you hear me?! Kirito-kun!!�

That rusty voice�

�Hey� is that you, Kikuoka-san? How did you contact me without a system console��

�No time to explain! Something bad has happened!! The time acceleration rate� the
FLA, those bastards�!!�

***

Brigg�s face was ruddy and unshaven as he inserted two metal wires into the keyhole
and turned, while Critter looked on with some unease.

Leave the picking to me, he had audaciously volunteered, but what could only be the
design of a time acceleration safety mechanism had resulted in a complete
difference from any old cylinder lock. Brigg�s finger movements grew steadily more
violent as he cursed nonstop, his voice rising too.

Standing behind him, Hans was gleefully staring at a watch on his left wrist:

�Riiight, that�s three minuuutes! Two more and you owe me fifty bucks!�

�Shut your pie hole! Two minutes is enough for me� to open this thing� and swim to
Hawaii� and back��

When the noise of the wire rotating inside the keyhole began to sound more like
vandalism than lockpicking, Critter was ready to say �Let�s give it a rest�. But
once those two began betting against one another, there was no stopping them before
one emerged triumphant.
�One minute leeeft. About time to get out your walleeet.�

�Holy shit!�

Brigg yelled suddenly, standing and throwing the snapped wire to the floor.

Finally giving up? Critter thought with a moment�s relief.

Without another word, the stubbled, red-faced soldier drew a giant sidearm from his
holster and aimed it at the keyhole.

�Hey, what��

A roar. And another.

Everyone else stared blankly as Brigg stuffed his pistol back into its holster,
looked at Hans, then towards Critter, and shrugged.

�It�s open.�

Critter gaped at the newly opened two-inch-wide hole in the control panel.

The darkness within sparked a few times, and then, the control lever frozen at an
angle began to tilt slowly. It moved about five inches, then softly clunked to a
stop again. Critter checked the monitor, but instead of seeing a number slightly
above 1200 like he had originally wanted � displayed in bright digits was the upper
limit, �5000.

�� Five� thou���

Just as Critter was reflexively calculating how much time one second in the real
world converted to in Underworld � there was another dull clunk of metal.

The control lever, supposedly stopped at its upper limit, continued to fall
downwards.

�What� the hell���

Critter muttered, when before his eyes, the digits on the monitor exceeded 5000 �
10000�

�No, we�re still okay. As long as I don�t press the confirmation button, the rate
won�t actually change. We can still move the lever slowly back where it was, like
nothing happened.

�Hey� Don�t touch it!! Nobody touch anything!!�

Critter shouted hoarsely, motioning Hans and Brigg away from the console.

He stepped gingerly towards the lever, cautiously reaching out his right hand.

Bang.

Before Critter�s hand touched the lever, there was a thin explosion.

The translucent protection cover over the red confirmation button right in front of
him was completely blown away.
As the giant monitor installed onto an entire wall of the main control room turned
completely bright red, a speaker cried an earsplitting alarm. A fifteen minute
countdown immediately appeared on the monitor and began decreasing with dizzying
speed.

***

When he heard the alarm again, a sign that someone was tampering with the time
acceleration for a second time, for a split-second Higa couldn�t help but try to
sit up, only to wince from searching pain.

�Higa-kun! I told you to take it��

Dr. Koujiro rushed over and pressed her hands to Higa�s back, but just then�

The sub control room monitor was painted completely red.

�What� What�s going on?!�

Kikuoka screamed. Pushing up his upper body with help from Rinko�s hands, Higa
squinted as hard as he could from behind as the commander flew to the console.

Displayed in thick gothic font, a message notified them that all three layers of
security on the time acceleration mechanism had been completely disabled, and the
entire Underworld was about to enter a maximum acceleration phase.

�What�����

Higa could only breathe instead of speak, so Dr. Koujiro asked sharply in his
stead:

�What does �maximum acceleration phase� mean?! Isn�t the FLA�s upper limit 1200
times?!�

�� That�s the limit of people from the real world diving inside� the actual limit
is 5000 times if only Artificial Fluctlights are present��

Higa replied almost automatically. The professor�s eyes widened even further.

�5000?! You mean� One second here would be about eighty minutes inside� Eighteen
seconds would be an entire day!!�

It was an impressive level of mental calculation, but Higa and Kikuoka shook their
heads stiffly in unison.

�What� Am I wrong?�

�1200 times is the safety limit we decided on when taking into account the
�lifespan of a soul� of a real world human� 5000 times is the limit of what can be
observed in Underworld from outside� Neither number is a hard limit��

Higa desperately squeezed the words from his throat, which was so dry it seemed
ready to catch on fire. Dr. Koujiro�s hand jerked on his back.

�Th-Then� What in the world� is the hard limit�?�

�Well, as you know, Underworld is constructed and calculated with photons. The
transmission speed of photons is theoretically limitless inside the Main
Visualizer� in other words, the limit is determined by the equipped subordinate
server architecture��

�All right, just spit it out! How many times is the limit?!�

Higa turned his eyes from the monitor to Rinks� face, and spoke:

�In the maximum acceleration phase� the FLA rate is a hair above five million
times. The STLs connected by satellite from the Roppongi branch can�t support that
kind of speed, so they should disconnect automatically� but as for Kirigaya-kun and
Asuna-san, who are using the STLs inside the Ocean Turtle��

One minute in the real world � would be ten years in Underworld.

Probably completing the mental calculation in an instant, Rinko�s eyes were

stretched open to their utmost, appearing to spasm lightly.

�Oh� my god� Quickly� Quickly, we need to get Asuna-san and Kirigaya-kun out of the
STLs!�

The professor was just about to stand up before it was Higa�s turn to grab her arm.

�No, Rinko-san! Preliminary acceleration has already begun; if we drag them out of
the machines now their Fluctlights will be damaged!�

�Then hurry and start the disconnection procedure!�

�Why do you think I wanted to crawl down the cable duct?! The STLs can only be
operated on from the main control room!�

Higa shouted, his voice raising too. Then he looked towards the commander in front
of the console.

Kikuoka seemed to already know what Higa was about to say.

�� Kiku-san. I�ll go down there again.�

As soon as SFC Aki heard this, she opened her mouth with a concerned expression,
but closed it immediately. Then she walked over, murmuring �I�m removing the
catheter�.

The commander nodded bitterly:

�Understood. I�ll come too. I believe I�m still strong enough to carry you down the
ladder.�

�No� No, you can�t, lieutenant colonel!�

Came the shout of Captain Nakanishi, the leader of the escort team. His face
greatly perturbed, he walked over with heavy boot-falls.

�It�s too dangerous, please allow me��

�No, we still need you all to defend the stairs. We�ll be opening the partition
again� We can�t use Ichiemom and Niemom can�t move.�

Those words caused everyone�s eyes to fall upon the left corner of the sub control
room.

The humanoid silhouette supported by a structural frame akin to a coat hanger was
not a real person, but a humanoid mechanical body researched and developed by Higa
as a part of Project Alicization: Electroactive Muscle Operative Machine Mark II,
or �Niemom� for short. Compared to Mark I, which was damaged as bait during their
partition-opening operation from before, it was much more slender; Niemom was
designed from the start to carry a Light Cube.

At the moment, nothing was plugged into the port on its head, so it could not move
in this state even if its power was turned on. In other words, it could not serve
as a walking shield like Ichiemom.

Looking away from the soulless robot, Kikuoka delivered a command, no, an order to
Nakanishi with a stern expression never seen before.

�In terms of danger, the ones more in danger ought to be you all in a firefight
with the enemy. But we need you to do it.�

Nakanishi tucked in his chin and saluted at his commander�s order.

�Sir, yes, sir!�

Higa listened to the JSDF officials� conversation and meekly raised his right hand.
It was still painful, but his fingers could definitely move.

The countdown on the monitor still showed around ten minutes before the maximum
acceleration phase.

But no matter how he estimated it, opening the partition again, climbing down that
long ladder, and initiating the STL disconnection procedure from the connector
would take a total of thirty minutes.

That twenty-minute difference would mean a time of � two hundred years in

Underworld.

It would exceed the one hundred and fifty year age of a human soul.

Worse, people from the real world� were most likely unable to withstand a duration
of that magnitude � practically infinite � within Underworld�

Within Underworld�

�Ri� Right!!�

Higa yelped, and waved his left hand, complete with blood catheter, at Kikuoka.

�Ki-Kiku-san!! When I was working on the STL just now, I secured a transmission
channel with Kirito-kun! Please call him on Line C12!�

�B-But� what should I say�?�

�Tell him to get out!! Get to the system console within ten minutes, or zero out
his own HP and his STL will automatically begin the disconnection process!! But as
soon as he enters the maximum phase the console will be useless, and dying then
will be the worst-case scenario!! He�ll have to spend two hundred years in sensory
deprivation� Please just warn him especially of that!!�

***

�Two���
Two hundred years?!

I barely swallowed the words before they left my mouth.

By now, Asuna was looking puzzled. She couldn�t hear Kikuoka�s voice.

�Listen to me, Kirito-kun: You have ten minutes! In that time, you must reach the
console from where you are and manually log out!! If you are unable to do so no
matter what, you can exhaust all of your HP� but that way is full of uncertainties
and extremely dangerous, because��

Because there�s the risk of me spending two hundred years in a death-like state.

I understood; interrupting Kikuoka, I demanded:

�I got it, I�ll try to get out through the console! I�ll be bringing Alice of
course, so prepare for that!�

�� If it�s not too much trouble. But right now, the escape of both of you takes
priority over Alice�s safety. Listen to me: Even though we can delete your memories
after you log out, two hundred years of this kind of time far exceeds the age of a
human soul! The likelihood of a normal consciousness recovery is� equivalent to
zero��

Hearing Kikuoka�s pained voice�

I replied quietly.

�Don�t worry, we will return. Also, Kikuoka-san. Half a year ago� no, last night,
I�m sorry I said such awful things to you.�

�It�s fine� we deserve the criticism. We�ve prepared bandages here for the beating
you�ll give us when you get back. � I think Higa-kun�s ready, I need to go too.�

�Okay. See you in ten minutes then, Kikuoka-san.�

And then the line cut off.

I kept flapping the hem of my coat to hover in midair as I gazed down at Asuna in
my arms.

�� Kirito-kun, did Kikuoka-san contact you? Is there� something wrong?�

I shook my head slowly, and replied.

�No� the time acceleration will start again in ten minutes, so he wants us to get
back as soon as possible.�

Asuna blinked a few times, smiled a little and nodded.

�Agreed, we really shouldn�t be staying here all day, for Alice-san�s sake. Come
on, let�s go save her!�

�Yeah. I�m taking off again.�

Hugging Asuna tightly, I generated another heap of Aerial Elements. Green light
immediately surged and encased us both.

To capture Alice, who had been advancing perpetually into the southern sky, and the
enormous, aberrant presence pursuing her � I flew.

Sword Art Online: Unital Ring Prologue

Translator�s Notes:

This is the prologue of the upcoming Unital Ring arc, which will be the final arc
of the SAO series. It was published in Dengeki Bunko Magazine Volume 59.

Translation Credits:

Translation � defan752

TLC � Gil

Proofreading � defan752

Consultation � SAO Wiki

<log #7 2026-9-15 21:44:21:45>

>No matter how many times we do it, it�s always mindblowing for me. Us talking like
this, with you being so much older than me.

>The concept of time has to be a mere trifle to you now, I presume? If hardware
resources allow, then you should be able to condense your cognition as much as you
like.

>It�s theoretically possible, but realistically, it�s not that simple. Pretty much
every supercomputer in the country is under �her� control nowadays.

>I see. That�s ironic. Considering how you�ve been backed into a corner by the same
program you supposedly built on a whim but then abandoned.

>Oh no, I�m actually quite pleased. A tiny seed�s sprouted in a corner of the
network, and it�s spreading leaves and growing branches� Just thinking about its
future makes me feel an emotion I thought had vanished with my physical body.

>Ever the romanticist, I see, even without your humanity. In that case� What�re you
going to do with the other seed that you left me � no, �him� � and the countless
worlds that have grown from it? Or are you satisfied with just observing them?

>The future of the �Nexus� relies on the will of the worlds themselves and the
choices of the people in them. Will the worlds simply expand chaotically and
eventually wilt and die� or will they advance to the next stage, �Unification�? I
don�t know either.

>Unification? Maybe even that would� No, I don�t want any more of this in the log.
For now, I think I�ll just follow your example and observe how things develop.

1
I � Kirigaya Kazuto, was born on October 7, 2008� or so I�ve heard.

I�m supposed to be eighteen this year, but for some reason this whole experience
hasn�t really felt like my own. Maybe it�s because I don�t remember my real
parents, since they passed away when I was still a baby.
My biological father was called Narusaka Yukito, and my biological mother was
Narusaka Aoi. So if the car accident that took their lives and badly wounded me
didn�t happen, that means I would have continued to live as Narusaka Kazuto. Though
I can�t confidently say whether I would have chosen �Naruto� over �Kirito� as my
character name in that case.

On the other hand, since my interest in computers came from my adoptive mother�s �
Midori-san�s influence, and since the identity crisis I had from finding out I was
adopted definitely played a part in my childhood online gaming addiction, it�s
possible that Narusaka Kazuto wouldn�t have grown up a gamer at all, and therefore
would not have been involved in the SAO incident. But it�s pretty pointless to
imagine that now.

In any case, that�s why I haven�t felt too near and dear to my own birthday ever
since I broke into the basic resident registration network when I was ten years
old. My attitude went south, and at its worst, in my second year of middle school I
forcefully pushed away my own birthday party at home, even making my little sister
Suguha cry.

Of course, I�ve reflected deeply upon those stupid actions, and despite my two
years� worth of birthday celebrations last year to make up for lost time in
Aincrad, I still have a hard time firmly accepting that I was born on October 7. I
think this state of mind will persist until I learn everything there is to know
about my biological mother and father.

There were only ten days until my birthday this year. Eighteen was also the age
when it became possible to get a driver�s license, and vote. Apparently Suguha had
already begun running various errands related to my party, and had ordered me
rather sternly to return straight home from school as quickly as possible. I�m
excited about it too, for sure. But right now I can�t allow myself to dwell upon my
own birthday.

Why? Because on September 30, a week before my birthday and three days from now,
it�ll be Asuna�s birthday.

�Daddy, have you decided on a present for Mommy yet?�

I heard the miniature fairy ask as she sat delicately on a mug rim. With my back in
the mesh of an office chair, I replied:

�Hmm� I�m still thinking��

The fairy who called me �Daddy� replied in a tone that was more older sister-ish
than childlike:

�It doesn�t matter whether you go to a store or buy it online. If you don�t decide
soon it�ll be too late! I really don�t recommend following a schedule as precarious
as last year�s birthday, when you only managed to get her present during lunch
break on the same day!�

�I know we�d like to avoid that, but it�s so hard! Asuna never talks about things
she wants� Oh, how about you go ask her what she wants, Yui? Indirectly.�

Yui, an artificial intelligence Asuna and I met in SAO and who then became our
beloved daughter, coolly rejected my appeal:

�No! Cheating is bad! It has to be something you choose yourself, Daddy. Mommy will
be delighted no matter what it is!�

�Well, you�re not wroooong�� I agreed, but dragged out the last word.

During Asuna�s birthday last year, I had feverishly deliberated back and forth all
the way up to the day before until I finally chose a red scarf as her present. I
was thinking that she probably had it rough in winter, especially since her daily
commute took 90 minutes each way. Somehow she ended up using only that particular
scarf from November to February, though I imagine she�s got enough scarves at home
to tie a large jumping rope, and there were bound to be warmer ones than mine among
them� but by the time I noticed, the coldest time of the year had long passed.

That�s why I was planning to choose something not as practical this year, but that
area exceeds my scope of knowledge as a useless VRMMO junkie. Searching things like
�recommended christmas presents by age� brought up a whole lot of pages, but it
felt inappropriate to decide on a present based on something like that.

�Hmmmm��

I stretched, then reached for the mug Yui was sitting on. Gazing at the fairy as
she softly lifted off and flew to sit on the edge of the tablet display (which I
rarely used nowadays), I drained the mugful of lukewarm cappuccino in one gulp.

I hadn�t been able to communicate with Yui in the real world without using the
�AVIC Probe� I�d made at school, but the wearable, multifunction �Augma� that went
on sale in April easily resolved this. Now, Yui could use data from my vision to
map, in real-time, the placement and shapes of the mug on the table, the tablet
display, and other objects; she could pass through them, and could move freely as
long as she did not pass beneath the desk. She would tell me that she preferred the
AVIC Probe to make me feel better, and she was able to mentally control it, but it
only allows me to hear her voice. Sure enough, even if I only used it to see my
precious daughter in the real world, I ought to be grateful for this otherwise
shady Augma device.

As I pondered this I reached out my left hand; Yui expanded her wings again and
alighted on my fingertip. I could barely feel the hint of her weight, but the
smoothness of her peachy dress and her faint warmth were reproduced on a borderline
virtual world-level. She moved in front of my face and I caressed her head with a
finger on my left hand as my eyes fell upon the bed on the other side of the room.

Atop the bedspread, freshly sun-dried today, there lay a head-mounted VR device:
the AmuSphere. A year and a half of use had worn its casing, and its once sleek
design now looked unwieldy next to the Augma, yet I still preferred FullDive to
both augmented and mixed reality.

�Say, Yui. I�ll choose Asuna�s present on my own, I will, but��

I looked back to the fairy on my left hand and continued:

�� Before that, could you help me do a bit of research? I�m buying the present in a
store instead of online this year, so I�ve still got time.�

Reading the meaning behind my words and glances towards the AmuSphere � an amazing
feat for an AI � Yui shrugged gently and replied:

�Good grief, it�s no use, is it? I�ll be waiting over there, then!�

She lifted away from my finger, spun in a circle as if in a dance, and with that
her tiny body vanished in a burst of light particles. I followed suit: I rose from
my chair and removed the Augma from my left ear. With the virtual desktop gone, I
turned my newly expanded visual field towards the west window.

It was Sunday, September 27. Only four days had passed since the autumn equinox,
but I could already feel the sunsets coming sooner. It was just past four but the
scaly clouds were already tinted a brilliant gold; a flock of birds returning to
their nests passed slowly below.

Suddenly, I thought I saw an ivory tower piercing through the dusky sky, and
blinked a couple of times. I pressed my right hand to my chest and allowed my
innumerable, almost overflowing memories to calm down, before sitting on my bed.
Using my folded blankets as a cushion, I lay down, picked up the AmuSphere, and put
it over my head.

Closing my eyes, I murmured the incantation:

�� Link Start.�

Variegated light enveloped my consciousness, transporting it to a faraway fairy

kingdom.

2
As Kirito, the Spriggan magical swordsman, I landed at my destination: the living
room of a small log cabin quietly erected on Floor 22 of the floating castle
orbiting Alfheim � �New Aincrad�.

This home had become a meeting spot for my friends, but now it was dark and silent
without a soul in sight. Asuna had told me that she was out with family and
wouldn�t be back until tonight, and Suguha was still at kendo club practice, but at
least Yui was here waiting for me� I thought as I surveyed the dim living room,
finally realizing that a message icon was blinking in the right side of my visual
field. It was from the mace-wielding Leprechaun, Lisbeth.

I pressed the icon and out popped a small, colorful window crammed full of
emoticons:

�Out upgrading skills with Silica, come help if you�ve finished your homework! And
I�m borrowing Yui-chan for a bit.�

���� I see.�

In any case, now I knew why my daughter wasn�t here. Yui�s status as a �Navigation
Pixie� in ALO granted her an invaluable ability to report the spawn time and
locations of monsters, making her a very reassuring presence when farming. But
what�s more, previously she couldn�t appear unless I � her system owner� verbally
summoned her after logging in, but recently she had become capable of materializing
of her own accord as long as one of my friends was online. It was kind of scary, so
I didn�t inquire further.

But on the other hand, it probably wouldn�t be far-fetched to assume that with
Yui�s ability one might be able to appear in two� or ten, or maybe even a hundred
places at once, but she was determined not to do so. An intensely self-reliant
personality was a common feature amongst all AI designed by Kayaba Akihiko, to the
extent that the AR idol �Yuna� who was heavily involved with the Ordinal Scale
incident half a year ago nearly suffered a breakdown of her core when she was
copied and used by her own talent agency.
�What now, then�?�

I closed Lisbeth�s message window and muttered to myself again.

One reason I dived into ALO was to ask her and Silica what kind of things Asuna
could possibly like, but if they were hunting it was best not to disturb them. I�ll
join them, then � was what I would very much like to say, but the phrase �If you�ve
finished your homework� from the message brought that thought to a screeching halt.
I hadn�t yet finished an computer science lab mini-report due tomorrow.

There was no way I�d ignore my homework, but it was also a fact that I had
neglected to raise my stats recently. A full-scale assault on the next floor boss
was planned soon, so I was keen on regaining my battle instinct by then.

New Aincrad was installed in ALO last May. Back then, only Floors 1 to 10 were open
to the public. The September update opened the floors up to 20; Floor 30 opened
this January, and there had been periodic updates since then. Floor 50 was
reachable by the beginning of this month. But Ymir, the operating company, had
probably turned their attention to painstakingly crafting each boss monster, as
with each new update the floor bosses were getting more ruthless, and up to this
day � September 27, the front line remained halted at Floor 46.

As much as Lisbeth was excited about buying a shop just like the one she ran in the
SAO era (complete with water wheel) the instant Lindarth opened in the main
settlement area of Floor 48, and as much as Agil declared that he was going to
reopen his general store in Algade in the main settlement area of Floor 50, at
their current clearing pace they would only be able to reach Floor 48 next month
and Floor 50 by the end of the year. Even if I was just planning to repay my debts
to the two people who helped me in Underworld, I had to get stronger�! � It took
all of my willpower to drag my right foot away from stepping out that door when
that same determination drove me to walk so fiercely up to it. However you looked
at it, it would be unacceptable for someone only ten days away from eighteen years
old to put aside his report and play video games. My experimental data was gathered
and ready, so I only needed an hour to finish � embracing such wishful thinking I
sat into a chair at the dining table. I logged onto my home computer, downloaded my
half-written report, and a large amount of experimental data from my homework
folder. I tapped a magic mug (Asuna had earned it from some quest) that randomly
produced one out of 99 different flavors of tea with the touch of a finger, drank a
mouthful of the minty-chocolate flavored liquid, fired myself up: �Right! Shoot for
45 minutes!� and began typing frantically on my keyboard.

Throughout my whole life, even when I was a serious gaming addict, I would almost
never forget my homework or leave it until the very last minute. I had my closest
call this past summer, but if you ask any random bystander they�ll tell you it was
because I was practically comatose for an entire month.

At the end of June before summer break, I was attacked by Johnny Black, a former
member of �Laughing Coffin� � the murder guild that had actively operated from the
shadows of Aincrad � and one of the perpetrators of the Death Gun Incident. I was
injected with succinylcholine, and it stopped my heart. I was eventually saved, but
only managed to awaken from a coma on August 1, and after a long recovery, return
home on August 16.

In other words, 65% of my roughly 40-day summer break got booked without my consent
and there was no stopping the pileup of undone homework. I�d be content even if I
could only halve that pile� I thought. I couldn�t explain the details or cause of
my coma to my school either.

I was attacked by a madman on the street and stayed in a hospital � if only it were
that simple. Kidnapped from the hospital in a disguised ambulance, airlifted by
helicopter to a marine research mothership floating faraway in the southern
Pacific, having my soul connected to a mysterious machine, cutting down a tree in a
different world called Underworld and going to swordcraft school, then battling the
ruler of that world and falling into another coma� Who on earth would believe that?

In the end, all I could do was power through the homework with my friends� help.
Whenever I thought about my agonizing, chaotic final week of summer break, I kept
writing my report but I�d mutter nastily under my breath:

�� Dammit, if I could have, I would have gotten a homework exemption before

disappearing��

No one replied, of course. I was the only one in the forest home. The person I
wanted to complain to hadn�t shown up in Alfheim for quite some time to begin with.

The �man behind� Chrysheight the Undine mage was Kikuoka Seijirou of the Ministry
of Internal Affairs� virtual reality division, but he had vanished from both the
virtual and the real world for about a month now.

Dr. Koujiro Rinko had taken over command of Kikuoka�s front organization �RATH�,
and Chief Engineer Higa Takeru was even more active than before at the development
site, so there was some hope in Underworld�s future � but even so, the man�s
disappearance brought with it a peculiar sense of loss.

If even I, who had been pushed to do things both tedious and dangerous, felt this
way about him, the RATH staff must be very depressed too. He had been annoying to
the very end� but come to think of it, he probably wasn�t dead.

Disguised as a useless office-bearing bureaucrat of Internal Affairs, Kikuoka

actually held the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Japanese Ground Self-Defense
Force, but had left the army due to a shuffling of some Ministry of Defense top
brass who had conspired with the American private military contractor that attacked
the Ocean Turtle. Now he had vanished without a trace and was likely no longer in
Japan.

I don�t know whether I�ll ever be able to meet him again. As I wrote my school
homework in a different home faraway from Underworld, sometimes I thought that I
even missed Kikuoka�s thoroughly unavoidable stories of smelly food.

Maybe it was because I was thinking about something so out of character for me � I
didn�t hear the sound of the door opening in the room and only noticed until the
clatter of footsteps grew near. I pushed the window of my almost finished report to
the center of my desktop while turning around:

�Welcome back, A��

�suna. I stopped myself at the very end before uttering the remaining syllables.

The female player standing behind me was not a blue-haired Undine, but a Cait Sith
with triangular ears poking out from her head. However, she gave off not a sliver
of the charm unique to her race.

The long hair draping over her back was dazzling golden. Her skin was fair enough
to be transparent, and her eyes were blue as sapphire. Her refreshing beauty was
very similar to that of her main body in the real world� no, in Underworld.

�� H-Hey, good evening, Alice.�

I raised my right hand slightly in greeting. Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis
Thirty�s long, slender cat ears twitched with a wfff.

�So sorry that it�s not Asuna, Kirito.�

�N-No, no no no, that�s totally, um, yeah.�

The knight�s stare grew colder and colder as it trained upon my frantically shaking
head.

Unable to withstand that sort of gaze, I looked down and noticed that she was
wearing golden armor over her blue gown and was decked out in full arsenal,
complete with golden longsword at her waist.

�Oh� You going hunting?� I asked. Alice�s scowl shifted ever so slightly.

�Yes, I promised Lisbeth and the others. It is just that� I still cannot get used
to that word, �hunting�.�

Alice pulled out a chair beside me and sat down with a clack. I got up by reflex,
muttering �Uh, I�ll go pour some tea� before trotting into the kitchen. I retrieved
another magic mug, pulled out an unidentifiable cake from our shared storage onto a
plate, and returned to the living room.

Alice was staring unswervingly at the report on the table. She looked up upon my
return and asked:

�Is this an exercise from the academy you attend?�

�Um� Oh, yeah.�

�Hmmm� �I was also given heaps of exercises in my Sacred Arts classes during my
education in the Cathedral.� As she murmured, a nostalgic expression washed over
her face, and a tinge of sadness was visible in her smile.

I have never met anyone with a fate more full of misfortune than Alice.

Born and raised for eleven years of her life in Rulid Village in the northern Human
Empire of Underworld, but whisked away by an Integrity Knight to the Axiom Church�s
Central Cathedral because she had broken a section of the Taboo Index stipulating
that �trespass into the Dark Realm was forbidden�.

With her previous memories stolen away by Highest Minister Administrator�s

�Synthesis Ritual�, Alice stood in our way as the strongest Integrity Knight of
them all when Eugeo and I broke into the Cathedral to take her back. Yet when she
learned of the Axiom Church�s lies and the Highest Minister�s atrocities, Alice
broke the seal suppressing her thoughts and joined alongside us in defeating
Administrator.

Afterwards, she left the Church and returned to live in the woods near Rulid
Village, taking care of me in my unconscious state for half a year, but still
joined the battle after learning that the final war against the Dark Realm had
begun. Despite her savage, goddess-like fighting, she was captured by the man in
charge of the Ocean Turtle raid team. Then she was rescued at the expense of Knight
Commander Bercouli�s life and logged out from the system console with Asuna�s
guidance. Now she was living in the real world with a humanoid mechanical body
developed by Higa Takeru.

Whether she was welcomed by the world or not, Alice was the world�s first general-
purpose AI and spent her days cooperating with Dr. Koujiro�s advocacy for human
rights for AI, but she apparently somehow found ways to log into ALO often to
relax. One reason might be that she was more used to Alfheim than the real world,
since it resembled Underworld more.

�Sacred Arts exercises were beaten into me too at the Swordcraft Academy, you know.
I still remember the incantations.� I replied while minimizing my homework window.
I set down the mug and cake next to each other. Alice�s catlike ears twitched.

�Oh? Then what would be the incantation that creates a small, hollow ball created
from metallic element, fills it with water created from aqueous element, and
surrounds it with a fireball created from thermal element?�

�Ugh� U-Umm, elements need to be generated in order of decreasing stability, so the

first would be generate metallic� Wait, no, should I start with the water element
first if I�m surrounding it with steel?�

Alice sighed loudly at once, and I retorted childishly: �W-What�s wrong? I don�t
need to use Arts anymore anyway. Incarnation does the job easy for those kinds of
things��

�That is not the point!�

Reprimanding me like a teacher, Alice familiarly poked the edge of the mug and took
a sip of the peachy tea that came gushing out.

�� I think today was a success.� She muttered, and I thought of how this home had
probably played host to several female tea parties. Knock on wood, I prayed
silently as I sat back down in my chair and tapped my mug with my index finger. Tea
of a deep purple color bubbled up, and with a bad feeling I tasted it; my tongue
was beset by an intense sourness reminiscent of blended umeboshi. My flustered
hands swiped up a piece of cake and I scarfed it down. Luckily, it was a very non-
sensational fruitcake. Alice was silently eating piece after piece with a fork as
well, apparently taking a liking to it.

Balancing the sweetness in my mouth with the strong salty umeboshi tea, I asked
again:

�So� you said you have trouble using the word �hunting�?�

�Ahh� that is correct.�

Alice nodded, her blue eyes turning to the darkness outside the window.

�� To me, or rather, to all of the people of the Human Empire in Underworld, what
you call �hunting� is a way of procuring beasts for food and giving thanks to
Terraria�s grace. But to the people, or players, rather, in this world, they kill
vast numbers of beasts and demons for the sole purpose of raising their Control
Authorities. I cannot denounce these actions, as I too killed hundreds to thousands
of demihumans from the Dark Territory at the Great Gate� I just do not want to call
it �hunting�.�

�� I see��

It was my turn to nod slowly.

Alice had already begun to understand the truth that Alfheim was created within the
real world. But, the concept of a VRMMORPG� a �game�, that is, was very difficult
for her to understand.
This was inevitable. The idea of a virtual world was no different from Underworld,
her home. Alfheim and Underworld were the same to Alice � �a world�, and the
feeling that all VRMMO players (including me) possessed, that they were �temporary
worlds�, was not something so easily shared with her.

So the first time Alice descended with me from New Aincrad to Alfheim, we ran into
some trouble from a Salamander PK group in the �Ancient Forest� near Sylph
territory. Silica was with us and was injured in the ambush, and Alice, furious
with rage, cursed out the Salamanders like a demon, so severely that they
apologized to Silica, paid her for the damage, and left � it was unprecedented.

The news that ALO�s cat knight �Alice� was the same artificial intelligence �ALICE�
who had delivered that grand speech at the press conference caused the incident to
spread amongst players as �The Legend of Alice-sama Scolding a PKer Until They
Cried�, but all I really wanted was for her to one day be able to enjoy ALO as a
game.

As I finished the cake and finally managed to drink a third of the tea, I said to
this imperturbable, alien knight:

�� It�s true. I think the word �hunting� in VRMMOs has diverged from the its
original meaning, but most people in modern Japan have no real hunting experience�
myself included. The meaning of words change with different times and places, and
the same probably happens in Underworld too��

����

Keeping silent, Alice focused on finishing her fruitcake and tea before replying:

�� Indeed. The Underworld of today is two hundred years ahead of the one from my
time, so there will definitely be great changes in not just language, but culture
as well. But no matter what these changes may be, I will have to accept them�
because they are the proof that you protected Underworld��

She smiled and gazed at me intently. It made me nervous and shook my head on
reflex:

�No� it wasn�t just me. Asuna, Sugu, Sinon� and the thousands of players from ALO,
and everyone else worked together to protect Underworld.�

�You are right� When you consider that, the usage of a single word is not much to
be worried about.�

She nodded and looked outside the window again, though her eyes were not gazing out
into the forest night, but a different, faraway world.

The Light Cube Cluster and Main Visualizer � the �containers� of Underworld, were
still running in the Ocean Turtle, which had now been locked down at sea by the
JSDF, but the situation remained awfully unstable.

The conservative faction of the Ministry of Defense � the anti-RATH faction, that
is � had been temporarily excluded thanks to Kikuoka�s selfless effort, so
Underworld�s immediate destruction had been averted, but during a power struggle
things might change in unpredictable ways.

Asuna, Alice, and I had dived into Underworld from RATH�s Roppongi branch on the
early morning of August 18. We were startled to land in space instead of solid
ground, but the two young Integrity Knights � Pilots, rather, who appeared flying
�Mechadragons� eventually managed to give us a lift to the Human Empire.

But we were very hesitant on whether or not to enter the Central Cathedral. During
those two hundred years, Asuna and I had become Underworld�s �King and Queen of the
Stars� and apparently had already died thirty years prior. It was difficult to
imagine exactly what kind of chaos we would bring upon the Cathedral, or rather,
the whole world, to have people like that suddenly appear while saying �Yo�.

For the time being, the young female Pilot who called herself Rolan�nei invited us
to her Centria home while we were there. In her strangely nostalgic abode we asked
the two Pilots to tell us about Underworld�s current situation, and were treated to
a meal too.

Dr. Rinko had warned us before diving that we would be �forcibly awakened in five
hours�, so before then (clocks finally existed in Underworld after 200 years,
thankfully), we promised to see the two Pilots again before logging off.

To be honest, I really do want to visit them, but Dr. Rinko and Higa-san told me
that diving again was strictly forbidden before they analyzed all the information
we brought back!

I could understand why the adults were being so careful like this. I still don�t
known who had given Alice the IP address to log into Underworld � though I had a
rough idea of who it was � the fate of Underworld, the Light Cube Cluster
preservation plan, and the problem of AI rights, would all be greatly affected.

Fortunately, Underworld was currently running at the same speed as the real world.
That way, we would no longer run into situations involving logging out and back in
only to find that years had passed, but it had been a month nonetheless. Rolan�nei
and Steeka had to be anxiously awaiting me, and I wanted to see them too, and
listen to their stories, since they were probably�

�� to. Kirito, are you listening to me?�

The cat-eared knight poked me with her arm, and I blinked a few times.

�Ah, ahhh, sorry, I was thinking about Underworld��

I apologized, and Alice�s irritated expression softened.

�I see. I think about it many times every day too.�

�Yeah� I�d really like to go back sooner.�

�Yes.� Alice nodded, and sighed mournfully.

Her level of longing was incomparably greater than mine. Besides, she had two
specific goals.

First, she wanted to re-hatch and raise her beloved dragon �Amayori� and her
brother �Takiguri� again, after I had transformed them back into eggs before my
final battle against Gabriel Miller.

Second, she wanted to awaken her sister Selka Zuberg, who was currently in Deep
Freeze on the 80th floor of the Central Cathedral�.

Neither task would be particularly easy, especially the latter. Alice would have to
convince the current Human Empire government that she was the same legendary
Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty who had vanished two hundred years ago.
But she was doing it no matter what, and of course, I was going to help her. I
wanted to see Selka again too.

Alice�s voice brought my mind back from that world once more.

�By the way, Kirito, Dr. Koujiro had a verbal message for you.�

�Huh�? A verbal message? Why not just an email?�

�Apparently she wanted to avoid leaving any traces on the internet.�

At that, my face stiffened.

RATH�s network ought to be fully protected with high-level security. A message that
had to be transferred not by email, not by voice, but by conversation within the
unlogged ALO, had to be exceedingly important.

In a loud, clear voice, Alice spoke to a very nervous me:

�The twenty-ninth, 15 �o clock. The expensive cake shop.�

���. Huh?�

�That is all.�

������.�

The twenty-ninth should be the day after tomorrow, and 15 �o clock was 3:00PM. I
understood that much.

But what on earth was �the expensive cake shop�? Tokyo had tons of those kinds of
places. Even my home city of Kawagoe in Saitama Prefecture had one or two places if
you looked for them.

For a moment I almost emailed Dr. Koujiro to confirm what she meant, but then I
lowered my raised right hand. If I contact her like that now, then all of her
effort would go to waste.

Tilting her head back and forth, Alice�s face was tacitly envious:

�There are so many types of cakes in the real world that I cannot count them all,
and plenty of things I have never had before in Centria. Merely looking at the
pictures makes me hungry.�

�Uh� Well, you�re right, but� I really liked the snacks you could buy in the
Central Capital. I could get a whole bag of honey pies for thirty Sias��

�Are the cakes here expensive?�

�Well, one Sia is about ten yen, so a cake from a typical bakery shop would be�
about forty Sias apiece.�

�What, that much?��

I chuckled at Alice�s round eyes.

�It gets worse. I had some cake at Ginza once, and they were a hundred and sixty
Sias each��
And then, it finally clicked.

Dr. Koujiro was not the type of person to use food-related code. �The expensive
cake shop� was just something she was passing on as well. And there was only one
person affiliated with RATH who would come up with a message like that.

Alice tilted her head slightly as my shoulders sank and I exhaled a long breath.

�What�s the matter, Kirito?�

�No� It�s nothing. I just got the meaning of that message. Thanks for passing it
on, Alice.�

�Please don�t mention it� is what I want to say��

The golden knight�s ears twitched slightly as though she had recalled something,
and she smiled mischievously.

�So would you mind training with me then?�

�Huh? Oh, you mean raising Mastery��

There was only one reason why Alice the proud knight would choose the cat-eared
Cait Siths as her race: it was the easiest way to become a dragon-flying �Dragon
Knight�.

But even so, the process was not that simple. Flying a dragon required a very high
Mastery of sword/spear skill in addition to taming skill. Training both at the same
time not only required repeated battle to increase your Mastery points and improve
your weapon skills; you also needed to spend your earned skill points on the taming
skill.

I considered it for a moment, then restored the homework window in one part of my
desktop to its original size.

�Then give me thirty minutes. I�ll take care of this and meet up with Lis and the
others so we can go get some skill points together��

But the latter part of my sentence was drowned out by a light whoosh.

It was the sound of a player logging in. Then, appearing directly into the log
cabin came the only other person apart from me�

I wheeled around with my chair at incredible speed, and Alice swiftly spun around
too. At the same time, a virtual avatar softly materialized at the door.

Pale water-blue long hair, a white-based battle dress and a silver rapier hanging
from her waist. Asuna the Undine healer/fencer saw Alice and me together and
blinked slowly a few times, her face wooden.

�Wel� Welcome back, Asuna.�

I stood up and greeted her; at this, she smiled at last and raised her right hand
softly:

�Good evening, Kirito-kun. Welcome, Alice-san.�

�Pardon the intrusion, Asuna.�

Alice was replying with a smile, but contrasted against the two�s calm expressions
was a steadily rising pressure in the living room. Was it my imagination, or was�

In any case, I had to finish my homework first. I coughed softly and spoke again:

�Well, I gotta take care of my homework, so if possible, could you two head on to
where Lis and the others are first��

But I was unable to say anything else.

A sudden impact seemed to come from underground as it wrenched the log cabin back
and forth, and a thunderous rumbling filled my ears.

�AHH!�

The instant I heard both of them scream, I instinctively kicked away from the
ground and seized Alice�s avatar in my right arm and Asuna�s in my left. I forced
all of us to crouch down, and then came a second powerful impact. The large beam
bisecting the roof audibly creaked as the mugs rolled and fell from the table to
the floor.

Earthquakes were not supposed to exist in the virtual world. Even if Alfheim�s
ground were to hypothetically shake, it would not be felt by New Aincrad. Further,
even if New Aincrad were to hypothetically shake, the log cabin should not
collapse. That was what logic told me, but I moved on instinct, shouting:

�Guys, outside!�

Almost dragging the rapier wielder and cat-eared knight, I crossed the undulating
floor and just managed to reach the vestibule. The instant I pushed the door open
and raced down the hall, a third impact, the strongest one so far, threw me off
balance. All three of us tumbled down the short stairway.

Luckily, there was a lawn in the front garden so our HP did not decrease. I thought
of hovering in the air to at least escape the next thrashing, and was just about to
reach out my left hand to activate my fairy wings�

Asuna screamed hoarsely, gripping that hand with all her might:

�Kirito-kun, that� that�s�!�

Asuna�s slender left finger was pointing towards the patch of sky in an opening of
the outer circumference near us. A second later, I saw it too.

Alfheim�s time, unsynchronized with the real world, placed us still in the morning;
there was quite a bit of time before sundown, yet the horizon had been tinted
crimson. The blood-red hue raced closer and closer towards us at alarming speed,
finally reaching the sky above Aincrad.

�� That is not the dawn��

Alice uttered, grabbing my right arm. Her words almost failed to enter my mind, but
my brain seemed to be shouting the same thing.

That red color was not the sky, but a massive hexagonal pattern fiercely filling
the space above us. Emerging on the surfaces of the shapes were the alternating
words: [Warning] and [System Announcement].
�Kirito-kun��

Asuna weakly called my name again.

I tightly grasped her slender hand, as in my mind a vivid memory of �that day� was
resurrected� the day on which I had seen the very same sky four years ago.

(To be continued)