Have you ever had a premonition about death?
A premonition about death?
When I was less experienced,
and either the previous dark general or the one before him easily defeated me,
I thought that might be it for me.
But you brought back his head quite some time ago.
You haven't had any since?
You know, I can't really remember.
But why would you ask me that so unexpectedly?
Surely Your Eminence is free of such sensations.
You don't understand, do you, Bercouli?
It's every day. Every day, I sense death.
Every morning when I open my eyes...
No, even in my dreams.
And why is that? Because I still don't control everything.
Because I have enemies who are still alive.
And because the possibility of a new enemy emerging at some point in the future is always looming.
Well, well...
Being the pontifex certainly isn't easy, huh?
Your Eminence...
I think I finally understand what you meant now.
Heartless Choice
Here, Senpai.
You look a bit healthier today, Kirito-senpai.
And you have a good appetite!
Perhaps sleeping beside four beauties did him good!
I see.
The enemy from the real world really has some unique strategies.
Emperor Vecta is taking a risk.
This is war.
Unlike the outsider, little Asuna, this is no time for us to feel sorry for the forces of darkness.
We have to take this chance.
Chance?
That's right.
Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!
Have your people climb across ropes cast over the chasm to reach the other side.
I don't care if there are casualties.
You're to enforce the tightrope walking no matter what.
They're dying in vain!
Not for the five tribes of darkness's long-cherished goal, the invasion of the Human Empire...
but for something called the Priestess of Light!
Hurry! Hurry up!
Before something else comes to get in your way! Just make it over, all of you!
Enemy attack! Protect them! Protect those ropes at all costs!
They're only a small force! Don't let them get near the ropes!
Stop!
So this... So this is war, huh?
How can you call this a battle?
No way did they endure all that grueling training just to die like this!
Forgive me. Forgive me, all right?
Just as I suspected, the AI of the Human Empire units appear to be slightly superior.
No.
Strictly in terms of adaptability, they're in a different class.
Don't mess up, Critter.
Tuesday, July 7, 2026 12:05 AM Ocean Turtle
Syncing of the Underworld and the real world times is complete!
What?
Hey, is this for real?
Are they crazy? A PvP with life-like human avatars AND realistic violence?
You mean we can like, cut off arms and heads and stuff? No way!
No restrictions? Hell to the yes! The developer is adventurous!
I'm so signing up for this beta!
I'll let you have the dark knight accounts.
Go on and massacre the Human Empire Army to your heart's content!
Oh, no!
Daddy and Mommy are in danger!
Tuesday, July 7, 2026 3:02 AM Shino's apartment
Incoming Call
Kazuto Kirigaya
Sinon! It's Yui!
Y-Yui?
I'll explain later!
Get ready to go out right now, leave your apartment, and get into a taxi!
I'm sending the address and the fastest route to get there to your phone!
A-A taxi? To where?
Please hurry! Daddy and Mommy are in danger!
Tuesday, July 7, 2026 3:02 AM Kirigaya residence
Um... can you take me to Minato Ward in Tokyo, please?
Sorry, Mom. I promise that I'll rescue Big Brother, okay?
It's already been ten hours since Ms. Asuna logged into the Underworld, huh?
Which means that about a year should have gone by over there.
Was the World End's Altar that far from the Human Empire?
M-Mr. Kiku! The phone!
Sub Control Room. This is Kikuoka.
U-Uh, that's the Rath main location STL Development headquarters, right?
This is Hiraki at the Roppongi Branch. We have a problem, or should I say,
something odd is going on.
Someone from outside Rath just showed up without an appointment.
Outside? You mean clients?
No. It has nothing at all to do with clients.
And they don't look to be anything but high school girls.
And there's two of them.
D-Did you say high school girls?
Yes.
And they asked me to contact Seijiro Kikuoka of Rath headquarters right now,
to tell you to check the Underworld FLA rate immediately.
I-It's the same? Since when?
N-Names! Did those girls give their names?
Uh, yes! Actually... This is going to sound crazy, too,
but... Tuesday, July 7, 2026 4:34 AM Rath Roppongi branch
There's no way it's their real names.
Uh, let's see. They told me to tell you that it's "Sinon" and "Leafa."
I mean, they look totally Japanese to me, but...
Tuesday, July 7, 2026 4:40 AM ALO New Aincrad Floor 22
For crying out loud.
Damn him, he had to go off on his own and get mixed up in some trouble again?
A virtual world created by the SDF, and an honest-to-goodness AI named Alice?
But that's so beyond the realm of a game!
Not only that, but they're going to load her into a fighter jet and make her wage war?
Apparently, for now, Rath intends to use that technology in demonstrations both domestically and internationally.
But my guess is that the attackers occupying the Ocean Turtle
have a more specific application in mind.
Who the heck are these attackers, anyway?
It's extremely likely that the U.S. military or a U.S. intelligence agency is involved.
Th-The U.S. military? You mean the American army?
If Alice were to fall into the hands of the U.S. military,
in the not-so-distant future, she'd most likely be deployed in battle as an unmanned AI weapon.
I'm sure Daddy and Mommy want to prevent that, if nothing else.
Because...
Because Alice...
is proof that all VRMMO worlds, beginning with SAO,
and the people who lived in them, really existed,
and she's also the fruit of massive amounts of time, material, and mental resources!
I am convinced beyond a doubt that the true objective created by the Seed package
is none other than the birth of Alice.
Throughout countless connected worlds,
so many people have laughed, cried, grieved, and loved
and because the radiance of their souls resonated, a new form of humanity was born in the Underworld.
Daddy. Mommy. Leafa. Klein. Lisbeth. Silica. Agil. Sinon.
As well as so many other people. It was from the cradle woven by your hearts that Alice was born!
Yeah. That's true, isn't it?
We're connected to all of it.
Time, people, and our hearts, too.
Like a huge river.
Don't worry... Yui.
We'll go save Kirito and Asuna. We're definitely going to save them.
So please don't cry.
You heard her! You should've come to us sooner, Yuippe!
There's no way we'd ever abandon Kirito!
We owe that guy big time, after all.
We should pay him back a little now, at least.
Everyone, thank you so much!
Thank you so much.
Still, 30,000 VRMMO players diving from America? It could even be 100,000.
And they'll all side with the enemy against the Human Empire, huh?
What if we exposed the experiment or the attack on the American VRMMO sites,
and asked them not to take part in the fake beta test?
The reality is that this is war for a secret between the U.S. and Japanese militaries.
If we were to give off any hint of that, it could very well backfire.
Posting "Your opponents are real humans, so please don't kill them," wouldn't help, huh?
Well, then all we have to do is take a page from their book!
By making our own notification site for the beta test.
If the Rath guys give us accounts of equal level, we can drum up 30 or 40,000, just like that!
But there is one problem, you know.
What problem?
The time difference.
Right now, it's 4:30 am in Japan, meaning the period with the fewest connections.
On the other hand, in the U.S., it's 12:30 noon in LA, and 3:30 PM in New York.
There are way more active players over there.
Agil is right about that.
We couldn't hope to gather anywhere near 10,000 people right now.
If we were to use accounts of the same level as the enemy,
our chances of holding our own would be extremely low, I'd have to say.
But aren't any more of the god account that Asuna used, are there?
Not that we have time to level up from scratch like Kirito did.
So it's game over, huh?
No.
Accounts do exist.
Accounts far more powerful in terms of level and equipment than the default accounts being used by the enemy.
Wh-Where are they?
The very accounts you're logged in with at this moment!
Data conversion!
All of you, as well as scores of other VRMMO players
must convert the characters that you've trained throughout the Seed worlds into Underworld accounts.
I get it! Never thought of that!
That said, this particular method does have a few problems.
Tuesday, July 7, 2026 5:02 AM ALO Neutral City Arun
This is neither a lie or a joke.
Soon, tens of thousands of American players will unknowingly dive into the Underworld,
a virtual world based on the Seed created by a certain Japanese research company,
and they're going to massacre everyone who lives there!
The residents of the Underworld aren't mere NPCs!
They share the same emotions and souls as us!
Please lend us a hand to protect them!
Everyone, please convert your existing character data to the Underworld!
Lisbeth, I know that you and your friends wouldn't joke around this early in the day,
and the fact that Kirito hasn't logged in for more than ten days means this is no trivial matter. But...
To be honest, I find it hard to believe.
AIs with the same souls as humans, with the U.S. military out to seize them?
Both scenarios are far too unrealistic.
Moreover, didn't you also just say that there'd be several problems with conversion?
Would you mind explaining what those issues are first?
Yes.
The Underworld...
isn't being operated as a normal VRMMO game.
Which is why diving into it will present some problems.
First of all, the Underworld has no operational UI.
In other words, you can't log out of your own accord.
The only way to log out is to "die" in-game.
But that would trigger yet another problem.
The Underworld has no built-in pain absorber.
If you take enough damage to drop your HP to zero, you're likely to feel the most excruciating pain.
And finally...
at this time, the developers are unable to operate the Underworld.
Which means that once you've converted your character data,
there's no guarantee it can be converted back to the original game.
In some cases, it may even end up in character loss.
Hold on a second.
What's up with that?
Loss?
Give me a break!
D-Don't give us that!
Character loss, you say?
So if they're lost, are you guys going to make good?
Or is this just a trap to weaken us, tribe by tribe?
I'm sorry! We won't be able to compensate you.
We're keenly aware that money can't buy the characters you've raised until now!
That's why we're pleading with you! To help us.
To help our friends who are desperately fending off the American attack in the Underworld, even as we speak!
These friends you're talking about, you mean SAO survivors, don't you?
You can't fool us! We know that you former SAO players all secretly look down on the rest of us!
What do we care about invasions, artificial intelligence, or souls!
Don't waste our time with all this talk about bringing the real world into a VRMMO!
You guys can deal with that kind of thing yourselves!
Just you survivors, celebrated even in real life!
It didn't work.
My words weren't enough to get through to them at all.
That's right, this is happening in the real world!
Like you said, those of us who came from SAO might have the tendency to blur what's real and what's virtual!
But I swear to you, we don't think of ourselves as heroes, or anything special!
This girl and I...
we attend a school made up of only survivors.
The students there have to undergo counseling once a month, no matter what.
We get asked all these uncomfortable questions.
And they make a lot of kids take meds against their will.
We're all part of the government's potential criminal watch list.
And it's not just the students at the returnee school who are being treated that way.
All VRMMO players are looked upon that way, more or less.
As if we're dead weight that doesn't contribute to society.
People who refuse to face up to reality, not paying taxes or social security.
Some people even argue that the military draft should be reinstated,
so we can be forced to serve.
But there's one thing I know! And I believe it!
That reality is right here!
This world, as well as the countless virtual worlds connected to it,
in no way are they make-believe refuges!
For me, this world is the reality where I have a real life,
real friends, real encounters and partings, and real smiles and tears!
Don't you all feel the same way?
Aren't you all doing your best because this world is your alternate reality?
And yet, if it's just a game,
if you abandon it because it's nothing but a virtual fake,
then tell me, where is our truth?
All these worlds that we've grown came together just like this World Tree and started to bud.
And caused this flower called the Underworld to bloom.
Well, I want to protect it.
Please!
Please... help us.
Dark Territory Northern Chasm
All right! On to the sixth rope!
Next time: Ray of Light.
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