Vassago Casals, one of the Hispanic members of the Assualt team, pissed grabbed another member of the assault team.

Vassago: Critter, you bastard... just try saying that again!

Critter grabbed the wrist of Vassago with a smirk on his face.

Critter: I'll repeat it as many times as you want, Vassago. Listen up! This console is locked tighter than a pile of dried shit. I could crunch numbers on the laptop we brought until you die of old age, and I'd still never crack it!!

Vassago. You're missing the point, you damned four-eyes! You said we got locked out because we took too long to break in!

Member 1: Hey, hey, all I did was point out a fact.

Member 2: For someone who hung back cowering during the battle, you sure are cocky!

The other members just sat and watched, grinning, rather than stepping in to stop the argument. Once he determined it had gone on long enough, Gabriel snapped his fingers to draw their attention.

Gabriel: Okay, that's enough, you two. There's no time to point fingers at each other. We have to consider our next move now, all right?

Member 2: Yeah, but Bro, this guy needs to be put in his place.

Gabriel assumed the tone of a team leader as he announced.

Gabriel: I'm satisfied with what this team's achieved till now. Our only casualty was Gary getting grazed. And we succeeded in taking over the control room, our primary objective.

Vassago: Yeah, but if we're locked out of the control system itself, what's the point? Our ultimate target, the LightCube, is beyond that wall, right?

Vassago asked about the Lightcube and letting go of Critter and he staring up at the ceiling.

Gabriel: That's why I'm saying we need to come up with a way to breach that wall," Gabriel said.

Vassago: Still, those JSDF guys won't stay holed up forever. Once the real soldiers come charging in from this turtle's escort ship-

Vassago was interrupted by Gabriel speaking up again.

Gabriel: I was told that the Client and the JSDF have a certain deal in place. Apparently, the naval escort won't make a move for 24 hours after the operation's launched.

Critter let out a chuckle, leaned on the main console.

Critter: So this operation's not just a burglary, then?

He amusingly asked.

Gabriel: All right. Now let's go over the current situation.

Gabriel looked down at his wristwatch.

Gabriel: It's currently 1447 hours, Japan Standard time. Forty minutes have passed since we broke in. Right now, we're inside the Ocean's Turtle's Main Control Room. Although we've successfully taken over our target facility, we failed to capture the Rath tech, and we've been locked out of the system here. Our next objective is to take over the Sub Control Room.

He turned to another member of the assault team.

Gabriel: Brigg, do you think you can cut through the bulkhead door?

Brigg: It doesn't look too promising. It's made of cutting-edge composite materials, and it would be impossible to cut through it within 24 hours using the portable saw we brought.

Gabriel turned to another member.

Gabriel: Hans, what if we used C-4 to blow it open?

He asked for another route into the Sub Control Room.

Hans: I wouldn't recommend it. The chamber housing the LightCube Cluster is just beyond that wall. If we blast open the door, there's no guarantee that the contents of that room would be left unscathed.

Gabriel: Aaah, The mission we've been tasked with is to find a single LightCube out of a mountain of them, and extract it along with its interface. We already have the cube's unique ID.

Vassago: Come on, this scrawny Four Eyes has been giving us this crap about hacking into the Pentagon, and yet he can't even crack open a flimsy system lock.

He taunted Critter who was still on the console.

Critter: Whoa, what a shock. I just got told off by a gamer who's only fired a gun made of polygons!

Vassago: You bastard!

Vassago stomped toward the blonde hacker, reeled back his right fist and threw it at the ready hacker. Right before his fist connected with his face another hand grabbed his wrist, following up the arm reveal Gabriel glaring at both at the arguing members.

Gabriel: Do you guys want to go back empty-handed, and get jeers instead of bonus?

They all shouted "No".

Gabriel: Are you incompetent enough to be outdone by amateur techs?

Them: No!!

Gambriel: Then start thinking! Prove that those containers sitting on your necks are filled with something other than Oatmeal!!

Gabriel ordered, acting out the hard-assed commander routine out of habit.

Them: Yes Sir!!

Critter started typing away at the main console causing lines of code to appear on the screen. Gabriel was watching but was lost in his head.

Gabriel: The pressure bulkhead leading to the LightCube Cluster chamber can't be breached. Meaning that our only option is to control the system from here.

Gabrel: How's it looking?

Gabriel asked Critter, zoning back into reality.

Critter: No chance of logging with administrator privileges. About all, we can do is peek enviously at the fairyland where the Fluctlights live in such bliss.

He spoke. He tapped some keys, and a window opened on the big screen on the wall, displaying a rather odd sight.

It was not at all what would define as a fairy tale kingdom. The sky was an eerie red colour, and the ground was as black as asphalt. A number of primitive tents constructed of simple tanned hides sewn together sat at the center of the image. Next to them, there were about ten creatures with squat bodies and bald heads squalling about something.

Gabriel: Goblins?

Critter: Hey, you've done your homework, Captain!

Vassago: Yeah, but they seem kinda big for goblins. There are Hobs. They're Hobgoblins, I bet.

Vassago as he commented about it he has his hands on the back of the chair Critter was sitting on.

Gabriel: Critter...

Gabriel spoke to the buzz-cut man on the chair as an idea took shape in his mind.

Critter Yeah?

Gabriel: Are these monsters part of the system?

Critter: Hmm, doesn't seem like it. In a sense, these are real people. They're artificial fluctlight loaded onto the LightCube Cluster... they've got souls.

Vassago: Really?! Oh my god!

Vassago abruptly screeched, leaning forward.

Vassago: These hobs are humans?! They've got souls, just like us?!

Vassago grabbed the top of Critter's head much to his annoyance.

Vassago: Do those LightCubes all contain goblins and orcs like these? Is our Alice one, too?

Critter: Obviously not.

Critter replied, slapping Vassago's hand away in annoyance.

Critter: This realm called the Underworld... is divided into the Human Empire, where normal humans live, and the Dark Territory that lies outside it, which is teeming with monsters. It's pretty much a given that Alice lives in the Human Empire, but since it's so gigantic, there's no way that we'll ever find her by just peeking in like this.

He finished as the Human Empire was shown on the screen.

Vassago:Come on, that's a total no-brainer!! If that's the case, all we have to do is dive into this Human Empire, and ask whoever we come across, 'Hey, do you know a girl named Alice?'"

Critter: Wow, we have a dumbass here!"

Vassago: What's that, bastard dickweed!?

Critter turned around from the console.

Critter: Look, there are tens of thousands of people living in the Human Empire. You really think you can canvas them all on your... own?

Critter immediately turned back to the console typing away as fast as he could.

Critter: Wait. Hold on, Hold on! Maybe it doesn't have to be done by one person.

Gabriel: I see... The accounts set up to log into the Underworld... It's unlikely that they'd all be level 1 ordinary citizens. Isn't that right, Critter?

Gabriel asked, following where he was going with this.

Critter: Yes. Yes, Boss. Five accounts appeared on the giant screen. For the Rath operators to log in and observe, or else control it from inside, they must be set up with accounts of all ranks and professions.

Vassago: Hey! How cool is that? In other words, we should just log in as a general or president or some other big shot, and order them to smoke out Alice, right?

Critter: I don't know, hearing you put it like that... makes this idea sound really stupid.

Critter grumbled. He then tried to access the accounts from the Human Empire side, only for all of them to be locked.

Critter: Dammit, no good, huh? They have some hardcore protection on the High-Level account logins as well. Looks like we can only dive into the Human Empire with an ordinary citizen's account.

Vassago: Damn, what a letdown!

Gabriel: Critter, aren't there any high-level accounts set up outside the Human Empire?

Gabriel asked making the hacker turn around curious.

Critter: Outside it? But aren't the chances of Alice being there close to nil?

Gabriel: Well, yes, I guess so. But it's not as if the borders are totally impenetrable, right?

Gabriel spoke as he was glancing up at the screen.

Vassago: That's my Bro! Thinking outside the box! In other words, you mean, go in as general of those monsters and attack, right? That would get me more fired up, for sure!

Critter A-ha, found it, found it!

Critter smacked a key with a flourish, and two more windows appeared.

Critter: All right! No password! First, here's someone with the rank of Dark Knight. His Object Control level is... 70! We can work with that!!

Vassago; Hey, not bad! That one's mine, all right?

Critter ignored him and bought the other window on top.

Critter: And the other one is... What's this? The ranking's blank, and there's no level, either. The only setting is its name. Now how do you pronounce this? Emperor... Vecta?

Vassago: Holy crap, an emperor? Never Mind, I'll take-,

Vassago started to say until Gabriel spoke up from beside him.

Gabriel: No. I'm taking that one for myself.

Vassago turned toward his leader and stared for only a moment before shrugging.

Vassago: I won't argue. Okay, so you can take on the role of Emperor, and I'll be the Dark Knight. Hey, I'm starting to get pumped up! Hey! Four eyes! Can we log in yet?

Critter just typed away, completely ignoring Vassago. He was absorbed in the information popping up on the monitor. Gabriel saw this and asked

Gabriel: What's wrong, Critter? Is there some other problem?

Critter: Maybe it's just something that's bugging me, but I'm looking at the data, and this odd phrase keeps popping up. I'm not sure what it means yet.

Gabriel: Oh? What kind of phrase?

Critter took a deep breath.

Critter: The Final Load Test.

As they were speaking Spider-Man who had started recording their conversation.

Spider-Man: Final Load Test. Oh this is gonna be a huge fight going there.

So he contact with Price and his teammates.

Price: any information?

Spiderman: The Final Load Test.

Price: Blood Hell, a war huh?

Ghost: A war in Underworld there's something that is much more crazy than that.

Price:*zombie ptsd*

Soap: oh great well we're a couple hallways below the main control.

Spiderman: oh I gave you guys camouflage so you won't get spotted while you're waiting.

Price: well thanks mate.

(Meanwhile in Sub Control Room)(Sachi's POV)

Asuna: We'll do it. We'll head into the Underworld and make sure all of them are safe.

my eyes went wide but I was against the idea of going into the Underworld and being able to see Yami again.

Higa: They are the most experienced at virtual movement so sending them into the Underworld makes sense.

Higa said, glancing at Kikuoka.

Kikuoka: That was the plan the whole time, but you should know the Underworld isn't exactly stable right now. Because we're about to enter the last stage of the scheduled final load test.

Kikuoka spoke as he was glancing at the giant screen.

Rinko: Final... load? What's going to happen?

Rinko asked as she was confused. Higa cut in with a gesture to explain.

Higa: Well, um... to put it simply, the shell's going to crack. The human territory and Dark Territory have been separated for centuries by the Eastern Gate, which is going to fall to zero durability and allow an army of monsters into the Human lands. If humanity has built up a sufficient defensive structure, they should be able to drive back the invaders to the end. But in this experiment, Kirito and Yami mostly did something the Axiom Church, which is the ruling body, so... I'm not sure if that will happen.

Mitchell: a war is gonna happen and with Yami who could stop the war without any of his stronger abilities within seconds is out.

Sachi: That's why we're going have the, use the highest account level possible.

Asina: Well, the choices are endless, then. A knight, a general, a noble... There are all kinds of superuser accounts to choose from.

Rinko: Um, hang on.

Higa: What's up?

Rink: Isn't there a chance that our attackers could come up with the same idea?

Higa: Oh... yeah. True, they're just as likely to catch onto this method, as well. But they won't have the time to crack the login passwords for any superuser accounts. Their only option would be a level 1 ordinary citizen... that's it.

Rink: What's wrong?

Higa: Never mind, it's nothing. You two should go get ready.

Asuna and Sachi: Okay.

Asuna and I both said in unison before heading downstairs again.

(Small Skip)

We both stood in the room where the three STLs were hooked up in a hospital gown like Kirito but with pink and blue as our respective colours. Asuna was telling our friend group what were we doing, I was already ready to head into the Underworld, sitting on top of the STL I was crying on earlier.

Aki hooked up an IV to my arm as she whispered to me.

Aki:*whispering* Are you ready?

Looking over at Asuna to make sure she didn't hear this for some reason.

Sachi: Yes. I'm ready.

The smile on her face grew as she whispered something else I wasn't expecting her to know about but she is a nurse.

Aki: I'll be sure to take care of those two boys.

End of Volume