No one's POV

Sinon(mind): I didn't make it in time.

Sinon watched the crying knight in golden armor clinging to the scarred body of the older swordsman in silence. At the knight's side, two huge dragons hung their heads, apparently sharing in the grief.

She had raced through the air after Alice, the Priestess of Light, who would decide the fate of the world; her captor, Vecta, the god of darkness; and Knight Commander Bercouli, who was in hot pursuit of them. She'd made full use of the voluntary flight system she'd had to practice so hard in ALO and kept her bearing south at the maximum speed the system would allow—but by the time she caught up to them, the battle was already over.

Perhaps this was a moment where she ought to praise Bercouli's strength, instead. He had caught up to Vecta's dragon, which should have been impossible, and beaten the unbeatable super-account.

There was one great injustice in the situation, however.

With Bercouli's death, his soul was lost forever. But the destruction of the soul of Vecta, the god of darkness, was not the end of him.

Sinon needed to explain that the danger had not fully passed to Alice, who had cried all she could for now and so currently sat still and empty. But Sinon didn't know the right words to use.

Valuable minutes trickled away in silence, until at last it was Alice who spoke first. Despite the tears that reddened her face, Alice's stunning beauty left Sinon speechless. Her cobalt-blue eyes, shining like the surface of water, caught the sniper directly.

Sinon(mind): She looks just like Big Sister Rumia!

Sinon eyes widened in disbelief. Alice's appearance truly resemble Zora's late Big Sister. Her pink lips opened to expel a voice as gentle and clear as a platinum bell.

Alice: Did you...come from the real world, too?

Sinon: Yes.

Sinon admitted.

Sinon: I am Sinon. I'm a friend to Philia and Zora. I came here to rescue you and Bercouli from Vecta... I'm sorry that I wasn't able to make it in time.

Sinon knelt on the rocky top, which was scarred from the fierce battle, and bowed in apology to the other girl. Alice just shook her head.

Alice: No...I was foolish. I paid no attention to my rear and was kidnapped as helplessly as a baby. It is my fault. Even though saving my life is nowhere near equal to losing the life of a great man like Unc...like the commander of the Integrity Knights.

The deep regret and self-admonishment in her voice robbed Sinon of the ability to speak. Alice looked up, fighting back tears.

Alice: What is happening in the battle?

Sinon:...Philia and the human army are managing to fight off the red army from the real world.

Alice: Then I will return north to them.

She said, getting unsteadily to her feet. She tried to head to one of the dragons, but Sinon stopped her.

Sinon: You can't, Alice. You need to continue south, to the World's End Altar. If you touch the console there...er, the crystal panel, the real-world side will summon you to them.

Alice: Why? Emperor Vecta is already dead.

Sinon:...Because...because that's not true.

And then Sinon explained it all. About how if a real-worlder died in the Underworld, they did not truly lose their life. That the enemy who dwelled in Vecta's body was surely coming to attack again in a different form this time.

Alice reacted with tremendous fury, as though emotions she'd just barely been holding in check all exploded at once.

Alice: So...the foe that Uncle gave his...his life to slay is not even dead?! He's only temporarily vanished and will return to life as though nothing ever happened...Is that what you are telling me?!

She shouted, her armor clanking as she closed in on Sinon.

Alice: That...that nonsense cannot be allowed to pass!! Then...why did Uncle...why did he have to die?! What is a duel when only one combatant is risking his life...but a folly, a farce...?

Her blue eyes filled with tears again, and all Sinon could do was stare.

Sinon(mind): I have no right to argue with her. I've died countless times while fighting in GGO and ALO. And like Vecta, I'm a god here who won't really die when I die...

Still, Sinon took a deep breath and stared right back into Alice's gaze.

Sinon: Then...would you say that Zora's suffering is false, too, Alice?

The golden knight inhaled sharply.

Sinon: Zora is a real-worlder, too. If he dies here, he won't lose his true life. But the wounds he's suffered are real. The pain that he felt and the damage to his soul are real.

Sinon paused and took on the barest suggestion of a grin.

Sinon: I'll be honest... I like Zora. I love him. So does Philia. There are many, many other people who do, too. They're all worried about him. They're praying, praying for him to get better. And though they can't say it, they're all wondering why Zora had to go to these lengths.

She placed her hands on Alice's shoulders and said firmly.

Sinon: Zora was hurt because he was trying to save you, Alice. He went through all of what he did just for that purpose. Are you going to say that the way he felt was false...? And it's not just Zora. The same goes for your commander. He suffered all these wounds and ultimately gave his life to create the opportunity to save you. He gave us this valuable time to escape from the enemy's clutches.

There was no answer right away. Alice simply stared down silently at the prone body of Bercouli. Big tears began to fall from her eyes again—until the golden knight clenched them shut and raised her head, resisting some urge.

Alice: Sinon, if I...if I leave through the World's End Altar to the real world, will I be able to return here? Will I be able to see my loved ones again...?

Sadly, Sinon did not have the truthful answers to Alice's pressing questions. All she knew for certain was that if the enemy got Alice, the Underworld itself would be destroyed and deleted forever.

If they could protect the world and Alice, their hopes would come true. It was all that she could believe for now. So Sinon nodded her head slowly.

Sinon: Yes. As long as you...and the Underworld are safe.

Alice:...Very well. Then I will continue south. I don't know what awaits at the World's End Altar, but if that is what Uncle and Zora wished for me to do...

Alice knelt, white skirt splaying outward, so that she could tenderly brush Bercouli's hair, and she placed her lips on his forehead. When she stood up again, the knight's body seemed surrounded by an aura of newfound purpose.

Alice: Amayori, Takiguri, just a bit more work to do.

She said to the dragons, then turned back to Sinon.

Alice: And...what will you do, Sinon?

Sinon: Now it's my turn to use this life. I think Vecta will come back to life on this spot. I'll find a way to beat him...or at least to buy you enough time to do what's necessary.

Alice tucked in her bottom lip and lowered her head.

Alice:...Please do. I will be sure that your sentiments do not go to waste.

Sinon saw the two dragons off as they flew into the southern sky, then took the white longbow off her shoulder.

Apparently, it was highly likely that the people who attacked the Ocean Turtle were private military contractors working with the support of the American government. One of them used Super-Account 06, Vecta, the god of darkness, to attack Alice.

It was the kind of opponent that Sinon, just a normal teenage girl in the real world, could never deal with.

But here, in a one-on-one fight in a virtual world?

She would beat anyone who crossed her path.

With that oath in mind, Sinon waited and waited for the moment her enemy dived back in.

(Elsewhere)

He felt the dry sensation of the last bone breaking in his fist. Iskahn, chief of the pugilists guild, looked away from the enemy, who toppled backward with limbs splayed out and a hole punched through the chest protector, and he stared silently at the hand that had inflicted it.

It was not the steel fist that crushed everything it touched any longer. It was a bag of swollen flesh, full of pulverized bones, lacerated meat, and loose blood. His other fist had already been in that condition for a while. His legs were bloodied and bruised, such that he could no longer kick with them, nor even run.

Dampa:...You fought brilliantly, champion.

Rumbled his second- in-command, Dampa. Iskahn glanced over his shoulder. The large man was sitting on the ground, both arms lost, and with many blade wounds on his face and body, indicating that he'd continued fighting with nothing more than head-butts and body charges. His eyes, which always glittered with aggression and intelligence, were now dull, making it clear that Dampa was at the end of his life. Iskahn raised his broken fist to pay his respects to the brave warrior's soul.

Iskahn: Well, I suppose this is one way to die that won't shame me when I visit the old generations in the afterlife.

He limped his way over to his aide, dragging his leg, and collapsed to a sitting position. Over a long, furious battle, they had ground down the red army from over twenty thousand in number to maybe three thousand. The cost was that barely three hundred pugilists were still alive, all of them gravely wounded, unable to form a proper battle configuration, gathered in one big clump and waiting to be crushed for good.

The only reason the three thousand enemy soldiers weren't making one final charge to wipe them out at last was the presence of a single knight and dragon, visible ahead of Iskahn and Dampa, fighting as though possessed by demons.

(Elsewhere)

The exhaustion of her body and mind were completely beyond their peak. But through clouded vision, the Integrity Knight Sheyta Synthesis Twelve still detected the presence of enemies and lifted her arm, heavy as lead, to ready the Black Lily Sword. Byew. Air whipped dully aside.

The ultrathin blade cut into the shoulder of the enemy's armor. The feedback sent needle stabs of pain all through her arm from wrist to elbow.

Sheyta: Haaaaaaah!!

She screamed a battle cry, her throat cracking, defying her epithet of "Silent." The sword managed to break through the thick plate and sliced right through the body beneath it. Then she pulled it free of the collapsing enemy, who screeched at her in words she did not understand.

Sheyta's breathing was labored. It was not just the near-infinite supply of enemies that had her so exhausted, but the odd hardiness of the red soldiers.

Her Incarnation was not working well. The weapons and armor of the enemy were far inferior to Sheyta's divine weapon, but there was a nasty resistance to the sensation of severing them. The same could be said of the enemy's attacks. They hurled their weapons at her in crude, unthinking ways, using nothing but strength to guide them, and yet, she found it strangely difficult to read them ahead of time.

It was like fighting against shadows. Projected against a wall was an army of shadows, who were, in fact, nowhere near her.There was no enjoyment in fighting them. She lived to cut things, but cutting these shadows left Sheyta with nothing but powerful disgust.

Sheyta(mind): Why is it? Whether they are shadows or flesh, or even simple statues, I should be happy with anything that is hard to the touch. After all, I am a puppet who knows nothing but cutting...

The Black Lily Sword was a Divine Object whose narrow blade had the maximum priority level. It was a tool meant entirely for severing objects, and it was a kind of totem for Sheyta herself. If she stopped cutting, her entire reason for existing would be lost.

Administrator had taken the single black lily that Sheyta had brought back from one of the ancient battlefields in the dark lands and refashioned it into a sword.

Quinella: This sword is a representation of the curse carved upon your soul. The curse of homicidal urges created by a wavering in your genetic traits. Cut and cut and cut again. Only at the end of that bloody path will you find the key to undo your curse... perhaps.

At the time, she'd not understood the pontifex's words. Sheyta had done as she'd been told, and over almost countless months and years, she'd dedicated herself to slicing. At last, she'd met the perfect rival: a pugilist who was harder than any person or any thing she'd interacted with through her sword.

Sheyta(mind): I want to fight him again. If I do, I might learn something about myself at last.

A desire that had driven her to break off from the Human Guardian Army and stay here at this battlefield. But it did not seem as though she would have the chance for a rematch with that red-haired gladiator.

She drained the last mouthful of water she had left and tossed aside the empty waterskin, glancing over her shoulder as she did so. Visible atop a distant rock was the chief pugilist, his body broken and bruised. He was staring right back at Sheyta, a note of sadness in his one remaining eye. Suddenly, she felt a twinge in her chest.

Sheyta(mind): What is this pain? I just want to cut that man. I want to taste that battle again, to feel everything burning to its core, and to sever that fist, harder than diamond. That was my only desire, so what is it that makes me feel like...like my chest is being clenched in a vise...?

Suddenly, there was a faint cracking sound near her hand. Sheyta lifted the Black Lily Sword and examined it. That ultra-black blade, which seemed to absorb all light that hit it, now had a single fissure running through it, finer than a spider's thread.

Sheyta(mind): Oh...I see now.

She inhaled deeply and smiled. All her doubts had been answered. At last, Sheyta understood the meaning of Administrator's words—and the nature of the curse.

A sudden rumbling drew her attention to the next enemy, charging at her with a crude war hammer raised high in the air. Sheyta smoothly sidestepped the initial swing and thrust her sword into the center of the red armor.

Her final attack was utterly silent. The Black Lily Sword slid directly into the man's heart, gracefully ending his life—and without any kind of sound whatsoever, it broke apart in the middle into a storm of black petals.

Sheyta lifted the hilt up to her mouth as it crumbled in her grasp, and she whispered longingly.

Sheyta: Thank you...for all of this time.

It even felt like there was a bit of flower fragrance in the air. On her right, her longtime mount and partner, Yoiyobi, crushed an enemy soldier with a swing of its powerful tail. The beast's gray scales were dyed red with the blood from a plethora of wounds, and its claws and fangs were all chipped or missing. It had used up its heat breath, and its movements were sluggish.

Once she was sure the enemy's charge was done and the coast was clear, Sheyta walked over to her dragon and ran her hand along its neck.

Sheyta: Thank you, too, Yoiyobi. You must be so tired... Let's rest now.

And so Sheyta and her dragon, each supporting the other, headed for the low hill where the remnants of the pugilists guild were gathered. Their chief was still sitting when she arrived, and he greeted her by raising a hand that was so swollen it looked about to burst at any moment.

Iskahn: Sorry about that...I caused your precious sword to break.

He offered, but she just shook her head.

Sheyta: It's fine. I finally understand now. I know why I've been spending my life cutting everything...

She slumped to her knees and lifted her hands, pressing her fingers around the young warrior's face.

Sheyta: To find something I don't want to cut. I've fought and fought to find something I want to protect. That is you. I don't need the sword anymore.

To her surprise, the pugilist's left eye welled up with clear liquid. He gritted his teeth and grunted deep in his throat.

Iskahn: Yeah...damn it all. I wish I could have had a family with you. I'm sure we would have had powerful children. The greatest pugilist the world has ever seen, greater than my predecessors and greater than me...

Sheyta: No. Our child would be a knight.

They looked into each other's eyes and smiled. Under the warm gaze of the large man nearby, Sheyta and Iskahn shared a brief embrace, then sat side by side. Three hundred pugilists, one Integrity Knight, and one dragon waited in silence for the steady approach of the red soldiers.

(Elsewhere)

Yuuki: Looks like the battle is largely decided, by my estimation.

Yuuki said as they returned from the front line to the rear of the group. Philia murmured in the affirmative. The Japanese players in magic-wielding classes set about casting their newly learned sacred arts to heal the wounds the two had suffered. They weren't able to utilize the same imagination-amplified boosts that the actual Underworldian priests could, but because high-level converted characters had an appropriately advanced arts-usage privilege level, they could get the job done.

Philia: Thank you for coming to help us.

Philia said to the female player who was healing her. Then she said as much to Yuuki and Klein.

Philia: Thank you, too, Yuuki, Klein. I don't know how I can show my appreciation...

The sight of Philia at a loss for words made Klein rub the spot under his nose in apparent embarrassment.

Klien: C'mon, don't be like that. You know I owe you and that damn Zora more than I can possibly repay with an act like this...

Yuuki giggled at Klien's joke and look around at the Human Guardian.

Yuuki: Big Bro is in here, too, isn't he?

Philia nodded.

Philia: Yes. When the battle's over, you two should go and see him. If Klien tell him one of your usual stupid jokes, and Yuuki should give him your tight hug, I'm sure the urge to tell you off will snap him right awake again.

Klien: Wow. That's just cruel.

Yuuki: I won't let him go until he does.

Their face turned into a grin, but there was deep concern visible in their eyes. They already knew how deep the wounds to Zora's soul were.

Philia(mind): But maybe it's true. Maybe, when everything's safely over, and the enemy is gone from the Underworld and the Ocean Turtle, and Kirito and Asuna and Sinon and Leafa and Yuuki and Klein and the rest of the ex-SAO gang, and Sakuya and Alicia and the ALO folks...and even Alice and Tiese and Ronie and Sortiliena all stand around him, Zora won't have a choice but to wake up. I have to keep fighting now, so that I can greet him with a smile when that moment comes.

As soon as her wounds were healed, Philia thanked her healer again and got to her feet. Like Yuuki had said, the outcome of the battle was essentially sealed at this point. The number of American players in red was about equal to the Japanese players now, and their attacks were growing desperate and simple, perhaps because their overall spirit had been broken.

But the battle here in these ruins was just the warm-up fight. The real problem was Alice, the Priestess of Light, who'd been abducted by Emperor Vecta. While Commander Bercouli and Sinon were holding him down, they had to rush after the emperor and take Alice back from him. They would select an elite team from the converted players, borrow the human army's horses, and race south at top speed.

If they could just catch up, then even the super-account wouldn't be able to handle the full force of an elite team of the nation's top players working together. Their power was so overwhelming that she felt utterly confident of that. The way they fought so bravely, swords and shields and armor glittering in the sun in every color of the rainbow, made them look like the einherjar, the heroes of Valhalla in Norse mythology...

Philia wiped away her tears and turned from the front line to the very rear of their camp. The supply team's wagons had been brought forth from the back of the temple grounds to form a makeshift base. The sight of the wounded Japanese being healed by the sacred arts of the Underworlders felt like a blessed thing to her, something she couldn't describe in words.

Asuna: All right...It's all right. Everything will work out...I know it.

Philia: Yeah.

Yuuki and Klein overheard and agreed firmly.

Klein: You bet your ass.

Yuuki: Then, we got one more round of work to do!

Philia: I know.

Asuna: Right.

Philia turned to head back to the front line of battle—when something in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she froze.

Philia(mind): What was that? It was something dark...like a black smear...

She looked around, trying to capture the thing she'd seen, and at last, she spotted it. Standing atop one of the huge holy statues that lined the path through the temple ruins, the closest one on the right-hand side, was a person.

It was hard to see against the glare of the sun. It was just a dark shadow, blurring into the red of the Dark Territory's sky. Was it one of the Americans who was taking refuge from the battle? Or one of the Japanese, using the opportunity to scout out the situation?

A closer examination revealed that the cause of the silhouette's flickering outline was a black half cloak that whipped in the wind. The cloak's hood was pulled low, keeping the face completely hidden. But...

Philia: Um... Asuna, Klein, do you see that...?

She tugged on Asuna and Klein's sleeve before they could rush back into combat and gestured with her other hand.

Philia: That person standing up there. Does that look familiar to you...?

Asuna: Eh...?

Klien: Whoa, someone's up there just scoping out the scene? Who the hell would do that...? I can't say they're familiar, because that cloak makes it impossible to see their...face...

Klein trailed off. Then he turned his stubbled face to Philia and Asuna, white as paper.

Asuna: I'm seeing things... I must be seeing things!

Philia: Hey, what's the matter? Do either of you remember them? Who is that person?

Klien: No...it can't be. There's just no way...Am I...looking at a ghost...?

Philia: Gh-ghost...? What do you mean, Klein?

Klien: I...I mean, that black cloak...That leather poncho...it's just like Laughing Coffin's...

The instant she heard that name, Philia felt the center of her head freeze, like it had just turned to ice.

Laughing Coffin. That was the almighty red guild, the group of murderous PKers who'd terrorized the old, deadly SAO from its mid-level to late-game sections.

Red-Eyed Xaxa. Johnny Black. Many legendary PKers had lurked in their midst. They'd claimed scores of players' lives...until ultimately, a major alliance of frontline players had teamed up to vanquish them and destroy the guild.

In the battle, virtually all the Laughing Coffin members either died or were apprehended and imprisoned, except for one who escaped alive. It was the guild leader, who was mysteriously absent from the guild's hideout: the one man who was responsible for directly and indirectly killing more SAO players than anyone else. He went by the name PoH.

Klien: That's PoH!

Asuna: The one that killed Big Sister Rumia!

He always wore a black poncho and did his bloody work with a huge dagger that was more like a meat cleaver than anything else. And now, two years later, that murderer was in the Underworld and watching Philia, Asuna and Klein from above.

Philia:.........It can't be.

She whispered, her throat hoarse.

Philia(mind): It's an illusion. I'm seeing a ghost. Begone. Go away.

But the black silhouette flickering in the heat haze just mocked her prayer by raising its right hand. Then it wiggled it back and forth in a sarcastic greeting. And what she saw next was worse than her nightmares. Next to the figure of the man in the black poncho, a new figure appeared out of thin air. Then another. Then another.

An entire squad of red soldiers appeared on the roof of the massive temple ruins adjacent to the back of the statues. Another few dozen appeared atop the building on the left side of the path, too.

Philia: Please, no. Just stop.

Philia prayed. Her heart couldn't handle any more despair. But the new red army continued to arrive, and continued, and continued. A thousand, five thousand, ten thousand. When it had passed thirty thousand, Philia stopped trying to estimate the number.

It was impossible.

They had just succeeded, at great cost, in removing all fifty thousand of the American players from the simulation. The other side couldn't possibly have arranged another such huge army in this short an amount of time. But they couldn't be Japanese, either. If there was a misleading recruitment effort on the Japanese Internet to get people to the Underworld, Klein and the others would have noticed it.

It was an illusion. They were all shadows without form, created by sacred arts.

Even the Japanese players on the front line of battle, their victory all but complete over the remaining American stragglers, stopped fighting and turned to watch. An eerie silence settled over the huge battlefield.

Then the murmuring began.

The rustling and activity of the red soldiers crowding the rooftops of the palatial temples reached Philia's ears like a disquieting breeze. With the voices all blended together, Philia couldn't tell in the moment what language they were speaking. She concentrated hard and eventually heard a few voices speaking louder than the others.

Red player 1:...Bigeopan Ilbonin.

Red player 2:...Uri narareul jikida.

Red player 3:...Han zhong lianmeng.

It wasn't English. It wasn't Japanese. At Philia's side, Klein uttered a wordless groan from deep in his throat.

Klien: Uhhh...that's not good...That's really not good...That army ain't from Japan or the US...

Philia felt a cold trickle of sweat run down her back as she waited for him to finish.

Klien:......Those are Chinese and Koreans.

(Real World)

Even after Critter finished guiding the Chinese and Korean connections into the Underworld, he had difficulty believing it. As Vassago Casals had instructed him just before diving back in, he'd spread the connection client program for the Underworld to the Internet of the two countries just northwest of Japan, but he found the whole thing rather befuddling.

PoH: I mean, Japanese and Koreans are practically the same thing, right?

Many people in America didn't even know that Japan and South Korea didn't share a physical border. Some people just thought the two countries were a part of China. Critter wasn't that ignorant, of course, but he assumed that the three countries, being so similar, were on good terms—that it was similar to how the EU was all jumbled together.

So Critter didn't understand at all why Vassago told him to do what he did. He didn't have time to build a new fake website, so he used social media to spread the message. The first tweet he wrote said, JAPAN IS ATTACKING A PRIVATE VRMMO SERVER SET UP BY AMERICANS, CHINESE, AND KOREANS!!

For the next one, he explained, JAPANESE HAVE HACKED THE SERVER, BECAUSE THEY WANT TO MONOPOLIZE THE SEED NEXUS, AND THEY'RE GENERATING SUPERPOWERFUL CHARACTERS AND ATTACKING THE AMERICAN, CHINESE, AND KOREAN TESTERS. THE SERVER DOESN'T HAVE A PAIN BLOCKER OR MORAL PROTECTION CODE SET UP YET, SO OUR COMRADES ARE BEING SLAUGHTERED AND SUFFERING GREATLY, and attached a video recording of battle in the Underworld.

It depicted the knights and soldiers of the human army fighting back against the American players, but the Underworlders spoke Japanese, so there was no way to tell the difference. The impact of the video was clear, because the retweet numbers rocketed upward, and the download rate of the client program was far more rapid than it had been for the Americans.

Critter was stunned.

Critter(mind): This kinda makes it seem like Japanese, Chinese, and Korean VRMMO players...don't get along very well?

(Underworld)

PoH(mind): In fact, you might even say they absolutely loathe each other.

Vassago Casals was back in the Underworld in the form of PoH, the character who once led the murderous Laughing Coffin guild. A smirk was lying across his lips, the only thing visible beneath his black hood.

He raised his right hand and spoke in Korean to the players in red behind him.

PoH: Give those invaders a taste of their own medicine!! Make them feel pain! Slice them to pieces!! Make sure they never try to mess with our people again!!

The huge mass of at least fifty thousand howled words of rage in two languages. In their eyes, surely, the Americans being killed by the Japanese players were testers from their own countries.

Vassago felt laughter bubbling up inside of him. He swung his hand downward. With a noise like a tumbling avalanche, the crimson horde leaped down onto the Japanese below.

PoH(mind): Now kill each other. Dance for me—so hideous, so pathetic, so comical.

(Elsewhere)

Sinon:...Here he comes.

Sinon muttered to herself. She had spotted what looked like a black dotted line extending down from the red sky like a thread. She wanted to charge her Annihilation Ray to maximum power and destroy the enemy as soon as he physically materialized. That way, he wouldn't be able to defend or evade.

But the actual thing for her to do right now was buy time. If the enemy could simply generate high-ranking accounts infinitely, for example, killing him was meaningless.

First, she would get him into a patient battle of attrition to see how he reacted. If he seemed to treasure his life, to play cautious, that would suggest that this was a precious account that could be used only once. Then she would attack with full power and destroy him so that he couldn't log in with the account again.

If this was a mass-production account, however, she couldn't go ahead and kill him. She needed to draw out the battle as long as possible, to give Alice enough time to travel to the World's End Altar.

So Sinon did not draw her bowstring. She hovered in the air and waited for the enemy to materialize. The black line of data descended upon the spot where Commander Bercouli's body had lain until a few minutes ago.

Alice had put his corpse over the saddle of one of the dragons. She said that she would have it taken back to another Integrity Knight waiting for him in the human realm—a woman.

Sinon: A love rival?

Sinon asked. Alice just smiled and said.

Alice: You're my rival.

Sinon(mind): Good grief.

After that, there couldn't be any easy logging out of this place. She had to stay here in this world, no matter what it took, until the moment she saw Zora awaken.

Newly determined, Sinon kept her eyes fixed on the rock top. The black line made contact with the center of the flat surface and pooled into a kind of sticky puddle. It was as dark and thick as a bottomless hole going down into hell.

The end of the line at last sank into the pool, and—plish.

A little ripple spread across its surface, and a moment later, a hand thrust through without a sound. When Sinon saw the five slender fingers wriggling and grasping at empty air, she felt a kind of revulsion run down her back.

She continued waiting, holding back the urge to burn whatever it was right this instant. Slurd. A left hand appeared to join the right and grabbed the lip of the pool.

With a wet slosh, a man's head appeared. It was a surprisingly unremarkable face. It certainly wasn't what she'd call attractive. His short blond hair seemed plastered to his head, his nose was narrow, and his lips were thin. It was a Caucasian face but oddly plain and underwhelming. She almost started to doubt herself. Was this really the new form of the same person who was using the Vecta super-account earlier?

Then the man lifted his torso up out of the pool and looked around with empty eyes like blue marbles and caught sight of Sinon floating above. As soon as she looked into them, she paused. She'd seen those eyes before. They seemed to reflect everything and yet absorb it as well, all with an utter lack of emotion. When they recognized Sinon, the eyes widened slightly. His lips twisted into the faintest suggestion of a smile.

Sinon(mind): I know it. I know him. I know those eyes...that face. And it was recent, too. Somewhere...

As she watched in a daze, the man pulled himself free from the pool all at once, making an unpleasant sucking sound.

His clothing was odd, too. There wasn't a single piece of fine metal armor anywhere on his body—it was most likely whatever gear had automatically been converted with his character. He wore a leather vest over a matching dark-gray top and bottoms and woven boots on his feet. It looked just like the kind of battle gear a soldier in the real world would have. He possessed a longsword at his left side and a crossbow at his right.

The puddle of black water did not disappear when the man left it. To her shock, it pulled itself right off the ground and writhed like a living thing. In fact, it was alive. The part that separated from the ground stretched and thinned itself until it became a pair of wings that flapped rapidly.

It had a very strange shape, neither bird nor dragon. The body was round and flat like a basin, with four round eyeballs attached to the front. Batlike wings extended to the sides, and it had a long snake's tail in the rear.

The mysterious flying creature flapped its wings with the man standing atop it and rose until it was the same altitude in the air as Sinon. It hovered about a hundred feet away, and the man on its back smiled bloodlessly again.

He reached forward into empty air with his arms, for some reason. Sinon tensed, preparing for a spell or something of that nature, but that was not it. He curled his hands into a choking gesture and wrenched them together, simulating wringing her neck. At last, and all at once, Sinon remembered. Her voice escaped from her lips, dry and hot.

Sinon:.........Subtilizer.........

It was him. The American player in the fourth Bullet of Bullets tournament of Gun Gale Online just two weeks ago, who'd caught Sinon in a sleeper chokehold from behind during the grand final.

But why was he here?

Sinon was too stunned to remember to ready her bow. She just stared.

(Real World)

Through the center of the pyramidal megafloat Ocean Turtle ran an extremely solid Main Shaft constructed of ultra-tough titanium alloy. The cylindrical three-hundred-foot shaft housed at its very bottom, surrounded by multiple layers of protective walls, a pressurized water reactor. Above that nuclear reactor was the main control room, currently under enemy control, and STL Room One.

The core of the Underworld and of Project Alicization itself—the Lightcube Cluster—was located above that. All of this was known as the Lower Shaft. Above the cluster was a horizontal pressure-resistant barrier that split the shaft in two. The Upper Shaft above the barrier contained massive cooling systems, the sub-control room, where Rath's staff was hiding, and STL Room Two, where Sora Kirigaya and Kotone Takemiya were using The Soul Translators.

It was nine o'clock on the morning of July 7th. A humanoid robot was walking down the staircase on the fore side of the Upper Shaft, all on its own. This was Ichiemon, Rath's prototype model. Three armed military officers followed its slow, plodding pace.

In the same moment, two small people were awkwardly making their way down a ladder inside the cable duct located on the aft side of the shaft.

Higa(Mind): I'm so glad I don't have claustrophobia, fear of heights, or fear of the dark.

Takeru Higa thought, trying to bolster his spirits. But given the extreme circumstances, it didn't seem like the presence or absence of phobias was going to make a difference.

For one thing, the inside of the duct, which was lit by orange emergency lights, went on for forty yards below him. If his sweaty palms slipped on the rungs, or his shaking feet missed a step, he was going to have a very unpleasant time falling down to the pressure-resistant barrier that closed off the duct far below.

He should have had his fellow researcher Yanai go down first. At least then he wouldn't have to keep staring down into that yawning vertical pit.

Also, he said he was going to protect me from gunfire. How will he do that if he tells me to go down first? Higa thought spitefully, glancing up at Yanai, who was a dozen or so feet above him on the ladder.

But when he saw the man's pale face looking even worse, and the way he desperately clung to the rungs, Higa couldn't blame him. It was laudable of him to have volunteered for this dangerous mission at all, and the presence of the automatic pistol tucked into his belt was reassuring, at least.

Higa looked back down and resumed climbing. A calm voice came through the earpiece on his left side.

Rinko: How is it going, Higa? Any problems?

It was the voice of Dr. Koujiro, who was watching them from above, her face poking over the hatch into the duct. Higa whispered back into the mic at his mouth.

Higa: W-we're managing. Should be down at the pressure barrier in about five minutes, I think.

Rinko: Got it. Once you're ready, I'll give the order to the Ichiemon team to send him in. You're going to open the wall up once the enemy notices Ichiemon and starts attacking.

Higa: Roger. Whoa, I'm really getting that Mission Impossible vibe now.

Rinko: Let's shoot for Mission Possible, all right? I can't help but feel that the entire situation inside the Underworld depends on Zora's revival. Please, Mr. Yanai, make sure my little friend can do his job.

Yanai gave the last part a quick affirmative in a tremulous voice. Higa couldn't help but snort.

Higa(mind): I'm still just her "little friend."

He shook his head and, with palms whose sweat had dried up at some point, squeezed the next rung. When he looked down, the barrier wall was much closer than he remembered it being.

(Elsewhere)

Critter watched the players from China and Korea swarm on the monitor screen like a giant cloud, until an alarm out of nowhere jolted him to his feet.

Critter: What was that...?!

He glanced over the console and noticed that a single red alert was blinking on a sub-monitor off to the right side.

Critter: Whoa...The lock on the pressure-resistant barrier's been undone! S- someone, go check out the corridor!!

He shouted. Before the sentence had even left his mouth, Hans the lanky assault trooper had grabbed an assault rifle and sprinted out to see.

Brigg: I had a good hand, dammit!

Snarled the bearded Brigg, who tossed a number of similarly colored cards to the floor as he went after his partner.

Critter(mind): Would Rath attempt a surprise kamikaze attack, knowing they don't stand a chance in a regular fight? Or is this some kind of strategy...?

Critter got up from the controls and headed to the Maincon door. The elevator had no power, so if anything was happening, it would be at the stairs. Hans and Brigg thought the same thing; he could hear their boots clanking on the metal steps. Abruptly, however, the sound stopped, replaced by throaty bellows.

Hans: Whoa!!

Brigg: Are you kidding me?!

It was quickly followed by rifle fire.

(Elsewhere)

Higa already knew that the percussive kata-ta-ta-ta sound coming through the walls of the cable duct belonged to semiautomatic guns. At this point, poor Ichiemon was on the opposite side of the Main Shaft, his body's muscle cylinders and titanium bone structure being pumped full of holes. But because his battery and control systems were on the back of his frame, he should have been able to keep walking for a time.

Rinko: Go ahead!

Dr. Koujiro said through the earpiece.

Rinko: Open the barrier hatch!!

Higa used all his strength to turn the handle of the hatch on the barrier that separated the duct into two parts. The air hissed out briefly as the hydraulic shock absorbers kicked in. The thick metal lid lifted upward.

Like the space above them, the duct in the Lower Shaft was lit with orange emergency lights. The sound of combat coming from the stairway area on the opposite side of the shaft grew noticeably louder.

Higa swallowed, adjusted the backpack with the little laptop inside, and made his way through the hatch, which was even narrower than the duct. He got his feet back on the ladder rungs and resumed descending.

Higa: If this were an action movie, they'd be saying stuff like 'Go, go, go!!'

He whispered to himself—but it was directly into his little mic.

Rinko: Did you just say something?

Rinko asked through the comm.

Higa: Er, n-nothing...I've got another thirty feet to get the connector for cable maintenance...Oh! There, I see it!

A number of thick optic cables along the wall of the duct met at a black panel box. If he hooked up the laptop to the maintenance connector there, he should theoretically be able to perform direct operations on STL Units Three and Four in the nearby STL room—and on Five and Six in the Roppongi office.

Higa(mind): Just you wait, Yatagami. I'm gonna wake you up!

Higa continued down the ladder with renewed vigor, momentarily forgetting his fear. Through his earpiece, he heard the voice say.

Rinko: Well, I'll be back in Subcon monitoring Sora's fluctlight signals. Good luck, Higa!!

It was the same kind of encouragement Dr. Koujiro would give him back in college, when he knew her as Miss Rinko. Higa couldn't help but glance up. All he saw, however, was Yanai's face twisted with concentration and fear as he came down the ladder from above. Higa shook his head as he looked back to the approaching control box.

(Underworld)

After the Korean and Chinese people descend to the Underworld. Some of them were at taken at back.  It was not natural, but carved. It looked like the roof of some massive, templelike building, in fact. The space around him was bristling and crowded with other Korean players, thousands of them...Perhaps as many as ten thousand.

There was no process for him to choose an avatar, so while the finer details and weapon types were different, everyone around him wore the same dark-red armor. Wol-Saeng glanced down at the red gauntlets on his hands before looking forward.

It was hard to see through the throng, but it did seem like the battle was still ongoing in a flat space in front of the temple. The reason that the other Koreans around him weren't moving was probably because the battle was practically won already. The colorful group that was presumably the Japanese players had finished exterminating the other group of red-armored soldiers and was now regrouping, but there was no cheering coming from their side.

Something was wrong. He just couldn't quite put it into words yet.

At the very least, this wasn't a promotional stunt for some new game, like he had imagined before he started the dive. The terrain, with its ugly red sky and featureless black earth, was too barren to be enticing, and there was no mention of any regulations or warnings before he dived. It couldn't possibly be an official event.

But still, he couldn't accept that tweet's claim at face value. For one thing, what possible meaning could there be in raiding a test server and killing testers within the game? You could inflict temporary pain and humiliation on them, but that wasn't going to delay or cancel the game's development, by any means.

Nearly half the Koreans around Wol-Saeng seemed a bit taken aback by the situation, too. He heard them asking questions like "What should we do?" and "Are they really Japanese?"

But just then, he heard a voice call in Korean from the right.

PoH: My comrades!

Wol-Saeng stretched and looked in that direction, but the crowd was too thick for him to identify the speaker. All he could see was a red marker reading LEADER hovering above the mass of humanity. The same voice came from that direction again.

PoH: I am hugely grateful that you answered our summons! Sadly, the alpha testers have already been slaughtered by the Japanese intruders—no, invasion! But they've moved to a different test location to repeat the same thing!

Wol-Saeng instantly sensed a bristling of anger, tangible among the crowd of thousands. It was the word invasion—chimnyak—that set off the Korean players. It was clear within moments that whatever reservations or skepticism individual players might have felt soon burned away, leaving behind only fiery hostility.

"...Bigeopan Ilbonin!!" someone shouted—"Cowardly Japanese!!"—and the angry yells spread from there. When the wave died down, the leader addressed the crowd again.

PoH: The Japanese hacked the server, so they can create as much high-level gear as they want! They stole admin access from us, so we only have default equipment now! But I know that your righteousness and patriotism will triumph over any sword or armor!

He got a bellowed response."...Uri narareul jikida!!" ("Protect our country!!") Next, far to the right, there was a fresh angry shout in a different language. "Han zhong lianmeng!!" Wol-Saeng didn't know what that meant, but he could tell that it was Mandarin. Apparently, there were as many Chinese players present as there were Koreans.

As the voltage of the gathering surged, Wol-Saeng still couldn't get over that lingering feeling. At the same time, his instinct told him that there was no stopping the momentum of the situation now. On the other side of the throng, the "leader" raised a black-gloved fist.

PoH: Go!!

He said in English, a command that players of both countries would understand. The furious red army roiled like one massive being and burst into motion.

Philia: H-human forces! Supply team! Full speed ahead!!

Philia cried, just before the swarm of red soldiers atop the roofs of the temple buildings could go into motion. The Human Guardian Army's supply team was deployed at the entrance to the temple grounds. The palatial ruins extended out on either side of the path through the middle. In other words, the enemy was bristling with weapons, thousands upon thousands of them, just overhead.

Philia: Abandon your supplies! Wagons and priests, start moving now!!

She instructed, but it wasn't going to be in time. The new connections, probably Chinese and Korean, were just about ready to leap over the heads of the holy statues lining the path to land right in the midst of the supply team.

Asuna gritted her teeth and raised her rapier.

She focused her imagination on the point of her weapon and swung it down hard. A rainbow aurora shot straight out of the end and slammed into the statues along the path.

A terrible, mind-bursting pain shot through her head, but she kept her imagination focused until the statues started rumbling into motion. Their square mouths opened, and they swung their short arms as they began to attack the players crowding the roofs of the temple.

The red soldiers in the front line leaped backward to get out of the way but collided with their own kind rushing up from behind, which started a domino-like chain reaction. While this was happening, the eight wagons and about two hundred priests that made up the supply team began moving.

Asuna could control the statues for only about thirty seconds—after that long, she fell to the ground in agony—but it did succeed in getting the weaker rear unit out of the danger zone, past the north end of the temple grounds and into the open wilderness. The surviving men-at-arms, less than five hundred in number, and two thousand Japanese players moved forward and enveloped the rear guard, preparing for battle.

But there was no real terrain to speak of here, and trying to fight tens of thousands of enemies would inevitably involve a desperate defense on all sides. They'd just barely defeated the American players and their numerical advantage by using the walls of the temple ruins to limit the size of the front line of combat and employing a thorough healing rotation system. If forty or fifty thousand Chinese and Korean players surrounded them now, it would only be a matter of time before their line crumbled.

Asuna: Hng...

Asuna used what little willpower she had left to get to her feet and raised her rapier again.

Asuna(mind): We need a wall...Please, just let me make a wall that will protect everyone, right at the end.

She prayed, focusing her imagination once again. Instead, however, she felt a tremendous jolt go through her, and she fell to the ground, gasping. Something rose to her throat and erupted outward. She looked down and saw a small puddle of blood on the ground.

Philia: Asuna! Please don't push yourself!

Yuuki: We still got some plenty of strength left!

Klien: Leave some of the glory for us!

Agil: That's right, let us handle this!

They stood before Asuna, dagger, longsword, katana and great ax at the ready—when the red army recovered from the chaos and began to leap from the roofs in earnest this time. It was a drop of at least sixty feet, so more than a few of them landed badly and suffered limb damage and mobility problems, but more of their fellows used the injured as cushions to land on the ground unharmed.

Red player 1: Dolgyeoooook!!

Red player 2: Tuuuujiiii!!

Philia had never learned Korean or Chinese in school, but she naturally intuited that both of these words meant "charge." The crimson wave fanned out to the left and right as it descended upon them, and it was Yuuki, Klein and Agil who struck back first.

Yuuki: Haaaaaaaaaa!!

Klien: Zeiryaaaaaaaa!!

Agil: Raaaaaahhh!!

With air-shattering bellows, they unleashed wide-spread longsword, katana and ax skills. White and blue light flashed together, and dozens of the enemy soldiers erupted with blood.

At their sides, the territorial lords and ladies of ALO and their followers, and the ferocious Sleeping Knights, opened battle with maximum strength. Metal thrust like machine guns. Heavy impacts sounded like explosions. Swords, axes, and spears roared, and with each colorful sword-skill blast, more red soldiers toppled over dead.

Air creaked as it compressed, and the massive army's charge briefly stopped. But...it was no more meaningful than fighting back against the rush of a broken dam with one's bare hands.

Screams and shrieks of anger swirled over the battlefield, and above it all, a faint sound of high-pitched laughter that Philia could barely hear from the ground where she hovered. She looked up through dazed wits and saw, atop the roof of the ruined building, the man in the black poncho practically dancing with glee.

(Real World)

Higa descended the ladder as quickly as he could manage with intermittent bursts of gunfire coming from the other side of the Main Shaft. He reached the panel box that glowed dully in the orange light and opened the lid with cramping fingers. Inside, he was briefly disappointed to see that it was just a messy bunch of fiber-optic cables and had to rifle through them for a while before he found the connection port for maintenance purposes.

It was showtime.

He took a deep breath to calm his thoughts, then pulled a cable and his laptop from the backpack. He stuck one end of the cord into the connector and the other into the PC, then started up the STL operations program, praying nothing would go wrong.

A blank black window opened, containing nothing but a teasingly slow blinking cursor. After a while, it scrolled to the right, displaying status messages.

STL #3 CONNECTING.........OK.

STL #4 CONNECTING.........OK.

So the signals coming back from the units in STL Room Two next to the sub-control room were healthy. Next, he tried to establish a connection to Units Five, Six, Seven, and Eight in Roppongi through the Ocean Turtle's satellite signal.

Higa:...Yes!

It was successful. Now he could operate the six STLs housing Sora Kirigaya, Kazuto Kirigaya, Kotone Takemiya, Asuna Yuuki, Shino Asada, and Suguha Kirigaya.

Unfortunately, because the enemy was hijacking the lines from the main control room to the STL room and satellite antenna, he couldn't do anything about the other two Soul Translators. If he could, he'd be able to boot the two attackers currently using Unit One and Unit Two right out of the Underworld.

Higa caught himself before he thought too hard about that. He placed his hand on the laptop's tiny keyboard.

Higa(mind): Here we go!

He told himself, right as he heard a high-pitched wail overhead.

Yanai:......D-don't move!!

It was Yanai's voice. What was he talking about? Higa looked up, annoyed, and saw the muzzle of the pistol, gleaming and dark, just ten feet above him.