Hikaru has vanished from his friends in the world of Aincrad and appeared in another VRMMORPG, will he be able to reunite with his friends?
Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from the words that I write and the characters that I create. Credit goes to the original creator of the SAO universe; credits also to the creators and contributors to the Code Lyoko series and related works.
Author Notes: If you want to understand this story fully, I would highly recommend reading my previous work: Code Aincrad. Also, while the first half is the same as the original story granted, but after the halfway mark, things REALLY change from the original. A few themes will stay the same, but this story will be drastically different from before.
Lastly, please read and review.
Alfheim Standard Time: [10:30] August 1st, 2025
Hikaru suddenly vanished from the world of Aincrad because of a mistake in the conversion process to another VRMMORPG according to his friend: Kazuto. After two months of slow reconstruction and transferring in Cardinal's archives, Hikaru materializes in the sky roughly two hundred feet above a forest and rapidly begins to fall.
Ah damn damn damn! There's no way I'm going to survive this!" Hikaru shouts fearfully as he sees himself rapidly falling to the ground.
Hikaru is still quickly falling and will hit the ground in less than 20 seconds.
"If someone's there, please help me!" Hikaru shouts during the fall.
Right when Hikaru would've crashed to the ground, he gets saved by another player who appears to have wings on her back with the pair then landing down to the ground slowly with the process being rather calm and serene.
"Are you okay, whoever you are?" The player asks worriedly. Hikaru quickly notices that it's a female player clothed in green and white with long blonde hair.
"I am now, I'm glad you saved me..." Hikaru says out of gratitude, but slows down when he would address the person.
"My name is Leafa, what's yours?" Leafa asks in a polite manner, extending her right hand to Hikaru.
"I'm Ul-" Hikaru cut off, thinking he should use a different identity for the time being considering the lessons he learned back in Aincrad, with Leafa tilting her head in confusion. "I-I'm Ulkaios, I'm pleased to meet you Leafa." Hikaru says with a mild, near invisible stutter in his tone, trying to improvise on a name for himself, accepting the handshake. He is unaware of how this altered his avatar name from his real name to this makeshift disguise of Ulkaios.
"Same to you Ulkaios, are you new to Alfheim Online?" Leafa asks in a polite manner.
"So this must be another VRMMORPG, just like Kazuto said." Hikaru says to himself "Yeah, I'm new to Alfheim Online, but when I created this character, I spawned in mid-air about to crash, but you saved me from that fate." Hikaru says, looking sheepish.
"I see. It's actually rare for that to happen to players starting out, anyway, it's only right for me to help a fellow Sylph." Leafa says with a smile toward Hikaru.
"So...I'm a Sylph in this world?" Hikaru asks himself, trying to figure out what in the world's going on and glances around the forest he's in.
"Look, I don't want to rush you, but we really shouldn't stay here, the Salamanders tend to frequent this area. I actually saved a Spriggan in this area named Kirito yesterday. He's been staying with me for a little while." Leafa says.
"Kirito?! Is it a coincidence? Is Kazuto in this world?" Hikaru asks himself in shock. "Leafa...you said you saved a player named Kirito? Could you bring me to where he last was?" Hikaru says in a relatively pushy tone, wanting to make sure that this Kirito is the same person he knew from Aincrad.
"Uh...sure, I dropped him off in Sylvain, it's about a thirty minute flight from here." Leafa trailed off, looking mildly confused about why Hikaru wants to see this Kirito.
"Flight? What are you talking about Leafa?" Hikaru asks, utterly confused about the idea of anyone being able to fly.
"Oh yeah, you're new to this game. Essentially, there's a flight engine in this game that allows the players to fly, though it's not unlimited." Leafa explains, with a small shrug of her shoulders. "It'll take too long if we walk from here to Sylvain, we need to fly if we want to reach it quickly. Here, let me teach you how to use the flight engine." Leafa continues while walking around to Hikaru's back.
"Wh-what are you doing Leafa?" Hikaru asks slightly in fear as he sees Leafa walking to his back.
"Just calm down." Leafa tries to soothe him while walking to Hikaru's back, puts her hand on his back and applies some force.
"H-Hey! What gives?!" Hikaru says freaked out when Leafa started touching his back.
"Relax, what I'm doing is a good lesson for new players, anyway, try to imagine bones and muscle spreading out around here and try to move them." Leafa spoke in a surprisingly compassionate tone, also a tone of an instructor.
"This reminds me of when Yui helped me back in Aincrad." Hikaru says to himself, noting Leafa's desire to help him. "Uh, alright." Hikaru mutters a little awkwardly, focusing on what Leafa told him about.
Hikaru summons his dark green wings, following Leafa's instructions and manages to get them fully spread out and instinctively flies afterwards, with Leafa nearby, also in flight.
"You're pretty smart, far smarter than that Kirito, he couldn't even do this on his first try. It took me ten minutes to get him to do this. You've impressed me Ulkaios." She laughed as she recalled Kirito's spiraling flight as she flies up to Hikaru.
Alfheim Standard Time: [11:00] August 1st, 2025
The pair flies to Sylvain, the Sylph capital and stop by the inn where Leafa dropped off Kirito. They arrive at the inn to find a player dressed in all black sitting on a small stool at a table.
"Is that...Kazuto?" Hikaru asks himself, trying to read the aura of the player whose signature clearly is black.
"Hello Kirito-kun, I see you've logged back in." Leafa says with a friendly tone to the Spriggan player.
"Ah, Leafa, good to see you, who's your friend?" Kirito asks and after Hikaru heard his voice, he quietly gasped, recognizing Kazuto's voice.
"This is Ulkaios, he's a new player of Alfheim Online. I saved him in the same general area we met yesterday."
"I'm pleased to meet you Ulkaios." Kazuto says, apparently not realizing that Hikaru is Ulkaios, since Hikaru noticed that his appearance is nearly identical from Aincrad aside from all of the green color and the new outfit.
Hikaru can't stand the thought of Kazuto being unaware of the fact his friend is literally in the same room, so he decides to take steps to prevent this from getting out of hand.
"Leafa, do you think I can talk to Kirito alone for a minute?" Hikaru requested with a mildly solemn tone.
"Sure, I'll wait outside for you both." Leafa says before departing the inn.
Hikaru looks around to see if there's any other players around before he reveals his identity as Ulrich Stern, or Hikaru Murai as most people called him.
"What did you need to talk to me about Ulkaios?" Kazuto asks.
"Kazuto, it's me! Hikaru! You know, from Aincrad!" Hikaru hissed just above the level of a general conversation, but not quite shouting.
"Wait...Hikaru?! What are you doing here in Alfheim? I saw you vanish in Aincrad nearly two months ago!" Kazuto exclaimed, clearly shocked since he saw Hikaru vanish back in Aincrad. Kazuto and the others had no idea what truly happened to him after that event. "Has he been here in Alfheim since the teleport?" Kazuto asks himself curiously.
"It's been two months? Wow, so I've lost two months' worth of time… Anyway, what happened to Karen and the others?" Hikaru asks, with his mood dropping a little as he hears that he's lost two months of time, and wonders what's happened to his friends during the two months.
"We haven't had a chance to meet up yet, I've been undergoing physical therapy since I left Aincrad. However a good number of SAO players haven't returned to reality actually." Kazuto informed him quietly. "Okay, he definitely hasn't been here long if he said that. But...geez, I cannot understand why he is unaware two months have passed. Why does he not know this?!" Kazuto continues in his mind, with his confusion about Hikaru only rising.
"Who hasn't returned?" Hikaru asks, feeling concerned for his friends from Sword Art Online.
"About three hundred people, including Asuna, Karen, Kana, Katsuo, Sylvia, Haruka, and Mamoru, have not returned to reality. Agil showed me a picture of Asuna being in this game. If Asuna's here, I suspect the others are here as well." Kazuto says, revealing his suspicions.
"Have they been able to get together to try figuring out what happened?"
"I have no idea, I just started playing this MMO yesterday after I heard Asuna was here."
"I see, we should get going, before Leafa gets mad at us, anyway for now, do you think you could call me Ulkaios? I'll call you Kirito in public."
"Certainly...Ulkaios..." Kazuto muttered with a little difficulty, finding it uneasy to call one of his close friends by this new name.
Kazuto and Hikaru then leave the inn to find Leafa waiting for them.
"Kirito-kun, you said you wanted me to bring you to Aarun?" Leafa asks.
"Yeah, I have a friend near there, I need to get there." Kazuto says quietly, with his thoughts being near singular about Asuna and the others now.
"I actually have friends of my own in this game, I want to try finding them if possible." Hikaru points out, wanting to find out what happened to the Senryaku unit and the Aincrad players in his two month absence.
"Do you know what their names are? Or what race they're in?" Leafa asked.
"Not particularly." Hikaru trailed off sadly, with his lack of knowledge being a huge hindrance here.
"That's going to make things difficult, I think there are at least 500,000 players in this game minimal." Leafa says with a small sigh, trying not to shatter Hikaru's hope. "Come on, let's go. We need to get you all some weapons for the upcoming treks."
The trio then depart to the markets since Kazuto has asked to buy new weaponry, and Hikaru is hoping to check out their inventory of katanas. Kazuto buys a large 'Black Iron Great Sword', while Hikaru buys a katana with the name: Arondite. Hikaru bought this new katana since he doesn't have any of the items or equipment from Aincrad since he got a system notice about how his inventory was utterly scrapped while he was falling to the ground; but he does have around 800,000 Yuld, which he guesses may have been converted from all of the Col that he had in Aincrad.
Around this moment, a female player nearby dressed in primarily purple and red, who looks rather similar to Karen, walks by the stall, which Kazuto and Hikaru notice right away. She slows down slightly when she arrives near the weapon stall, apparently looking for wares herself
"Damn it Okamoto… I was counting on you to help me out here! And you tell me 'I'm going to Lugru, find me there later.' You are…geez." The girl mumbles under her breath rather angrily.
"Excuse me, have we met before?" Hikaru asks the girl, wondering if this girl merely looks like Karen or is actually her.
"Hm? Are you speaking to me?" The girl asks absentmindedly not really paying attention to the person talking, until she realizes that he is indeed talking to her. "Oh, I'm sorry, I've been a little pre-occupied, I'm trying to find some friends of mine scattered all over. Though, I have no idea if they're even here or not." The girl says, still not quite paying full attention to the player talking to her.
"I see." Hikaru says calmly, still glancing at the girl.
"I'm also looking for a...very good friend of mine as well, but I have my doubts he's in this world to be honest." she trailed off, blushing slightly.
"Really, what are their game names? If you don't know the ones here in this world, what about the ones you remember?" Hikaru asks calmly, in a tone suggesting that he seemingly knows this person now.
"Normally, I'd be hesitant to say, but with game names, I'm looking for players who went by Masaru, Amaterasu, Elena, Mikuya, Pulse, and a few others." The girl trailed off, her blush having faded while she had been talking.
Kazuto muffled his gasp as he recognizes the voice of this character now, alongside the fact she knew Katsuo, Kana, Sylvia, Haruka, and Mamoru. This girl really is Solaris, or as she was commonly called by her close friends: Karen. Leafa then walks toward Hikaru.
"What's wrong with you guys? Is it that rare talking to someone from the Imp race?" Leafa asks with a mild sigh at the bewildered expressions from Hikaru and Kazuto. "Ulkaios, I'll trust you to keep Kirito-kun safe; bring him to the tower when you finish this conversation." Leafa leaves the area to get to the tower.
"Wait...Kirito...?" The girl sounded utterly surprised when Leafa said the name: Kirito.
"I'm glad to see you again, Karen Koizumi." Hikaru whispered loud enough for her to hear him.
The girl gasps in surprise. Understandable considering how someone knew her real name.
"How-How do you know my name?" Karen tries to talk calmly, in an attempt to disguise her fear.
"My name is Ulkaios in this world, but you know me as Hikaru Murai." Hikaru states rather proudly.
Karen gasps even louder, she presumed Hikaru was no longer even alive after the incident in Aincrad.
"Hikaru...? Is that really you?" Karen was not able to believe herself in the slightest, subconsciously hugging Hikaru.
"It's me alright, I'm glad I got to see you again Karen." Hikaru says with a tear in his eye, hugging Karen back.
"If you wouldn't mind, I'd prefer going by our in game names, that is, until we find the others." Karen says seriously, letting go of the hug before saying this.
"Okay then, my in game name is Ulkaios, Kazuto is still using the name Kirito, and what's yours?"
"I named this character Ashikaga, which overwrote my old name of Solaris." Karen says.
"Alright, Ulkaios, Ashikaga, we should get going, before Leafa gets angry at us." Kazuto says seriously.
"Right, let's get going." Karen says with a quick nod.
Hikaru, Karen, and Kazuto depart to the tower where Leafa is waiting for them. While the trio is walking towards the tower, they get a lot of negative stares from other Sylph players.
"Kirito, can you think of a reason why these Sylphs seem to hate us?" Karen whispers to the Spriggan.
"No clue, though Leafa did mention that I wouldn't be welcome here much, maybe they don't like other races here." Kazuto whispers back.
"It could be why Leafa told me to keep you safe. Perhaps they tolerate you guys since I'm walking with you guys." Hikaru interjected quietly, trying to avoid having the other Sylphs hear his statement.
"Right. You are a Sylph so I imagine they wouldn't attack anyone traveling with one of their own. We'd better stay close to you Hikaru, we don't want to cause needless complications." Karen nods, seeing the logic in what Hikaru said there.
They arrive at the tower after ten minutes of walking, with Karen being the guide, which is embarrassing slightly for Hikaru since he was supposed to be the one guiding them as he was a Sylph. They then enter the tower to find Leafa arguing with a small group of Sylphs.
Alfheim Standard Time: [13:00] August 1st, 2025
"Leafa, do you think you could leave our party and think there'd be no consequences?" The leader of the group demanded angrily.
"You told me that I could join when I had the time Sigurd, and that I could leave whenever I wished!" Leafa replied angrily about how Sigurd is trying to force Leafa to stay.
"You're one of the most famous players in our party. If you leave suddenly with no reason, you'll damage my reputation." Sigurd retorts with the same degree of anger as before, with a strong mix of egotism as he speaks of 'his reputation'.
"Hikaru, we need to help her." Karen whispers worriedly, hearing what Sigurd is saying.
"You're right Karen...wait, what is Kazuto doing?" Hikaru whispers back, before noticing Kazuto walk off toward Leafa and the others.
Meanwhile, Kazuto merely walks towards Sigurd.
"Party members are not items." Kazuto says in his usual calm tone.
"What did you say Spriggan?" Sigurd demands with a angry scowl.
"You can't keep players in you party all the time, as if they were your equipment." Kazuto says with the same tone.
"You dare lecture me you damn Spriggan?!" Sigurd was getting angrier; his hand had strayed to his sword, in preparation to draw it.
"Hikaru, we can't stand around now, Kazuto may need our help." Karen whispers in a serious tone.
"Yeah, let's go." Hikaru whispers back.
The pair was on their way towards the group when Sigurd started talking again.
"You clearly must be a renegade player who got kicked out of his own territory!" Sigurd exclaims with a rage befitting a Salamander player.
"Don't be mean Sigurd, I'm partying with Kirito-kun now." Leafa retorts straight back to him.
"Leafa, whoever you are" Sigurd growls angrily, jabbing a finger at Hikaru at the second half of his remark "Do you plan on abandoning the Sylphs and becoming a renegade like this Spriggan?" Sigurd demands with minor confusion at the arrival of a new Sylph, but still his anger burned.
Leafa looks slightly flabbergasted, but regains her composure very quickly.
"Yeah, I'm leaving Sylvain." Leafa resolves angrily.
"I have no loyalty to the Sylphs, so I have no problem leaving either, and my name is Ulkaios." Hikaru snapped angrily, he's pissed that this...Sigurd is harassing Leafa and Kazuto.
"Count me in too Leafa." Karen says.
"Ulkaios, whoever you are, you're coming with me?" Leafa asks in shock.
"My name is Ashikaga, and yeah, I am." Karen states.
Sigurd gets even angrier and draws his sword pointing it at Kazuto, with Hikaru and Karen drawing their weapons as well.
"Don't even think about it." Karen snarls very angrily, having no problem fighting other players if they're harassing her friends.
"As long as you were just going to fly around aimlessly, I wouldn't have bothered to deal with this. However, since you aim to be a thief, I have no choice but to deal with you. Since you're here in Sylph territory, you have no issues with dying, right Spriggan?" Sigurd demanded.
Kazuto looks shocked for half a second then merely sighs, probably because Sigurd does not scare him at all after everything he's experienced in Aincrad. Almost immediately, one of Sigurd's colleagues speaks out.
"This isn't the time Sigurd, if you kill someone who isn't even able to fight back in front of everyone."
Sigurd gasps in shock and looks around to the surrounding Sylphs in the tower staring at him. He reluctantly sheathes his weapon, with Karen and Hikaru doing the same, and says "Once you leave Sylvain, you had better run and hide Leafa. If you betray me, you'll regret it immediately." Sigurd states in a cold tone before departing with his group.
"Leafa, are you sure about abandoning your territory? I don't want you throwing everything away for me." Kirito says with relative sadness.
Leafa is quiet and merely pushes Kazuto towards the center elevator, and motions Hikaru and Karen to follow. When they exit the elevator, they find themselves on the top of the tower, which offers an incredible view of the surrounding fields.
"This view is incredible." Kazuto and Karen say at the same time.
"I know right, whenever I come up here and gaze at the sky, it makes everything else feel so tiny in comparison." Leafa says while reaching out to the sky with her right arm. "This was a good chance for me actually. I've been wanting to leave Sylvain for a while now."
"But, I feel like I forced you to leave on a bad note." Kazuto seemed sad about this.
Karen and Hikaru glance at Kirito, surprised that Kazuto is being so compassionate towards Leafa.
"I couldn't think of any other way I could leave Sylvain, Kirito-kun." Leafa states, absolutely nonchalant at leaving.
"Hey, Leafa, Ashikaga, do either of you know what a 'renegade' is?" Kazuto asks curiously, wondering what the term means after hearing Sigurd calling him one.
"A renegade is a player who abandons their territory. They're greatly hated by other players." Karen looked down sadly; she herself is considered a renegade.
"Leafa, are you sure about this? You're going to rather long lengths for someone you just recently met." Kazuto says in surprise, hearing the explanation from Karen.
"Yeah, but I don't know why players dislike renegades so much, even if they're renegade, they're still a part of their nation." Leafa still sounded as though she didn't care.
There's a little silence before a voice is heard
"Humans are so complex; I don't understand why they desire to seek others to appear in such unusual ways." A small fairy appears from Kirito's coat pocket.
"Wait...is that Yui?" Karen and Hikaru mutter to themselves.
"What do you mean?" Leafa asks.
"I'd want to express emotion in simple ways." Yui says after kissing Kazuto's cheek.
"That's some AI, she nearly seems human. Are all private pixies like that?" Leafa asked, just slightly curious.
"She's...weirder than most AIs." Kazuto says with a light blush from the kiss, stuffing Yui in his coat pocket.
"I see. The desire to seek others-" Leafa mutters quietly, before Karen interrupts her.
"Not to ruin the moment, but I think we should get going." Karen pointed out, interrupting the conversation with mild reluctance in her tone.
"Right, let's go." Leafa says before she gets interrupted by a voice coming from the elevator.
"Leafa!" The voice called out, as the elevator door opens.
"Oh, Recon." Leafa asks.
"I can't believe you Leafa; you should've said something before you left!" Recon says.
"Sorry, I forgot to mention it Recon." Leafa laughed.
Recon sighs "Leafa, they said you left our group".
"Well, I did it from the spur of the moment actually. Anyway, what are you going to do Recon?" Leafa says nonchalantly.
"I want to go with you Leafa but...there's something bothering me, I need to do a little investigation so I'm going to be staying with Sigurd's party for a while. Kirito, Ashikaga, Ulkaios, Leafa has a tendency to get into trouble, so be careful." Recon says with mixed tones, he must've been in the lobby where they were and overheard the fight.
"Understood." Kazuto, Karen, and Hikaru reply in unison.
"And just to make things a little clear, Leafa's my-" Recon was cut off by Leafa stomping on his foot.
"The four of us are going to be in neutral territory for a while, send me a message if you need anything Recon." Leafa called out, not showing any anger.
Leafa and the others took off from the tower and begin flying away from Sylvain. They fly for roughly an hour when Hikaru begins shaking in his flight, having nearly fallen twice and being helped by Karen.
"What's going on? I'm feeling a little weak..." Hikaru says feeling exhausted.
"I told you that you can't fly forever, we're probably reaching our limits, let's touch down and take a break." Leafa explains with a mildly stern tone, emphasizing how she mentioned the limits of the flight engine.
"Are you going to be alright Ulkaios?" Karen asks in a concerned tone, with her protective instincts from Senryaku returning.
"I...don't know." Hikaru shook his head sadly.
"What's wrong Ulkaios? Do you have a low constitution stat?" Leafa asks.
"I don't know. I hate that I'm being a burden though." Hikaru says.
"It's okay; the Ancient Forest is nearby, how about we stop there everyone." Leafa says with a casual tone, proposing an idea on where to rest for a short while.
Alfheim Standard Time: [16:00] August 1st, 2025
The group of four are resting on a small island among many above the forest. Leafa and Kazuto are still in good shape and have plenty of flying time available to them so they decide to hunt some wyverns, with Kazuto using his sword and Leafa demonstrating a unique skill of magic. However, Hikaru is feeling exhausted and Karen decided to sit with him while he rests. It took him a few hours to fully recover from this new sensation and the burden of flying.
"Hikaru, are you alright? Do you have the same situation as our time in Aincrad?" Karen asks worriedly.
"I don't know." Hikaru groans a little as he walks about a little before walking back to Karen "I may regret asking this, but I want you to slash me." Hikaru says with a grim expression, wondering if he lacks pain absorbers like in Aincrad. He doesn't want to run into a scenario of him being in pain in battle. He wants to test the factor in a controlled environment first as he can foresee two outcomes: He has a pain absorber and can fight as free as he desires with minimal to no negative repercussions, or he once again lacks it, meaning that Hikaru will have to fight more cautiously because of the flight engine being a far more powerful, yet risky factor.
"Are you insane?! If it's the same situation like Aincrad, you'll be in pain if I slash you!" Karen says in utter shock, with her developing a scowl at the idea.
"Just do it! Remember that I'm good at minimizing the pain's effects." Hikaru lightly shouts, telling Karen to do this.
"If you insist..." Karen muttered to herself angrily.
Karen draws a small sword she bought in Sylvain for 300 Yuld and very reluctantly slashes Hikaru's arm, leaving a gash of data three inches deep.
"Hikaru...how do you feel?" Karen asks worriedly, with her not believing that she just attacked one of her friends in such a way. This one action made her feel like she's betraying each and every one of her friends from how she just attacked one of her colleagues and closest friends.
"I feel...nothing, I can't feel pain here!" Hikaru broke into a grin, seeing the virtual gash in his arm yet he can't feel the sensation at all.
"That's wonderful...I was so scared for a minute there." Karen sighs in relief.
"Anyway, Karen, since you're here, were you able to find any clues on where Katsuo and the others are?"
"Sadly no. Though, I've been working with a player named Okamoto to try finding them, but we split ways for a while before I went to Sylvain. She told me she was going to wait for me in Lugru, an underground city."
"I see, does that mean you'll need to leave us to find this Okamoto...um, would you mind if I called you Ash as a nickname?" Hikaru asks, with him being rather cautious at the end.
"Go ahead, Aio. anyway, to answer your question, not necessarily, I asked her to keep in touch with me on occasion. We met about two days after I was made a renegade." Karen says with a smile at the nickname she gave Hikaru.
"Aio? Really?" Hikaru asks disappointedly, wondering why Karen suddenly gave him a nickname, and why that of all things. His favorite nickname in Aincrad: Jinsoku was one given to him through reputation as a fast fighter, and it sounded much better than 'Aio'.
"If you want to call me Ash, I'm going to call you Aio, atleast, while we're using these new names. I could've easily decided to call you Ai, which is a girl's name." After saying this, Karen easily grinned at the look on Hikaru's face.
"Okay, okay, I'm okay with Aio, just...please don't call me Ai." Hikaru pleads desperately.
"Understood." Karen laughs at the response from Hikaru.
"How long have you all been here actually?" Hikaru asks curiously.
"Around two months, I can't recognize anyone from Aincrad aside from voice. I haven't been able to find anyone from SAO so I've been on my own, desperately trying to find people from Aincrad and establish a place for us to meet up." Karen's mood immediately dropped to a despondent level as she says this, having been searching for her friends ever since she got in this world two months ago.
"Well, now that the two of us and Kazuto are reunited, we'll do our best to find the others." Hikaru says happily.
"Yeah, we'll find them before too long." Karen says, trying to sound happy despite how distraught she is over the situation.
Kazuto and Leafa touch down on the island a little while after the conversation between Karen and Hikaru ended.
"Ulkaios, Ashikaga, sorry but I have to log out. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Leafa says with a small frown, before trying to smile about her being back later.
"Sure, but if you wouldn't mind, could you call us Ash and Aio? We know our game names are long, so we wanted to make things simpler." Karen says.
"Sure, Ash, Aio, I'll be back tomorrow." Leafa says, with Kazuto nodding, though he's a bit baffled at how Karen suddenly decided to give a nickname to herself and Hikaru, since she's never done such a thing before in the three years he's known her.
Leafa's body remains motionless for a time which is the sign of delayed log outs, so Karen and Hikaru exchange more conversation to pass time when Leafa's body vanishes, though Kazuto stays for a little while longer.
"Sorry Karen, Hikaru, but I have to go too. But I do have to say, it's been good seeing you guys again." Kazuto says with a sad smile.
"Likewise; I was worried I'd never see you all again. I feel like that if the three of us were able to find each other, we could find the others." Karen says with a small frown, trying to sound optimistic however.
"Yeah, take care of yourselves, alright? I'll come back tomorrow morning." Kazuto says as he begins to log out.
When Kazuto logs out, Karen opens her inventory and takes out a small sphere.
"Help me out. We should set up camp for the night." Karen seriously says to Hikaru.
"Oh, right. Um, what is that thing?"
"It's sort of like Aincrad's Mirage Sphere. Except for how, if you infuse it with magic, you can create a field and project a campsite. If you can help me, we can make a pretty big field."
"Um...how do I use magic?"
Karen sighs deeply and says "Okay, crash course. This is the spell needed to use this item. Just repeat what I say: Þeír slíta nótt dýpt svalr." *1
While Karen said the incantation, letters began floating around her and an indigo colored beam flows into the sphere.
"Okay. Let me try; Þeír slíta nótt dýpt slavr." Hikaru says, trying to repeat the incantation used by Karen, but doesn't do it right, having messed up one single verse in the incantation.
"W-Wait! That's not how you-!" Karen rapidly shouts to Hikaru, but is too late to stop the explosion and huge smoke cloud in the area.
The pair then cough rather deeply from the smoke inhalation "Get down!" Karen shouts, quickly diving to the ground with Hikaru doing the same.
"What in the world was that?!" Hikaru asks in shock, coughing from the smoke.
Karen coughs rather badly yet quickly responds to Hikaru's question "It's called the Spellword Fumble Effect. If you mess up an incantation...you saw what happened. God...I can barely breathe."
"Are you going to be okay Karen?" Hikaru asks in between his coughing.
"I think so." Karen mumbles weakly "Just be more careful, alright?"
"Yeah, I will." Hikaru sheepishly nods.
After some time passes and when the smoke clears, the pair then redo the spell and do it properly, projecting a rather fancy campsite that covers the floating island. Karen then uses a small fire spell to light the fire and places two boxes over it
"Try to make yourself comfy Hikaru, we're gonna be here awhile." Karen says with a mild sigh, laying down by the fire.
"Hey Karen, what race is Okamoto? I'm a little curious." Hikaru asks, sitting across from Karen near the fire.
"She's a member of the feline Cait Sith race. She's a good friend to have, and she knows nearly everything about this game. She's been helping me out in exchange for me saving her life against a very large group of Wyverns a while back. I don't know why, but she seems really familiar to me, but I can't put my finger on it." Karen says rather calmly, having been pondering why Okamoto was so familiar to her.
"I see; I'll trust your faith in this person Karen." Hikaru calmly replies, knowing that he may end up needed as much help as possible to find the other players from Aincrad.
"Thanks, she did mention she was going to get a few friends to come meet me in Lugru."
"I'm glad you've made new friends here, but I hope we can find Katsuo, Kana, Sylvia, Haruka, Mamoru, and the others soon." Hikaru says with mixed feelings.
"I miss them too Hikaru, the sooner we're reunited, the happier I'll be." Karen says quietly.
Karen then grabs the two boxes that were lying above the fire on the metal spit and she hands one to Hikaru.
"Here you go, I imagine you're hungry." Karen says, holding back a minor blush.
"I have to say, I'm glad you always went the extra mile to help me back in Aincrad and now. Thank you Karen." Hikaru says in a grateful tone, blushing lightly at the generous gesture.
"U-Um...it's nothing, I had to do it because in our group, the only other master cooks were Kana and Haruka. Kana was busy taking care of Katsuo and Haruka was not with us most of the time." Karen says nervously while blushing, trying to pull off a tsundere-style explanation, which does not faze Hikaru, as he's been around Karen long enough to know when she's lying.
"Still, I'm grateful." Hikaru says.
"So you two really are who I thought you were." The navigation pixie: Yui says, flying out from a tree on the far end of the floating island, hiding from when Hikaru caused that explosion and coming out now.
"Yui, is that really you?" Karen asks in mild shock.
"That's right, I'm glad to see you Karen, Hikaru" Yui says happily, flying toward the pair.
"Yui, I want to ask you, with your AI background, would it be possible for you to find Katsuo, Kana, Sylvia, Haruka, Mamoru, or the others?" Karen asks, wanting to get to business ASAP.
"Sadly no, I no longer have access to admin controls, all I can access is map data, and character profiles to a very limited extent." Yui says sadly, feeling guilty about the lack of abilities she has access to in this world.
"You said you can access profiles, how far can you go with that?" Karen asks curiously, wanting to know how much or rather, how little, she has to work with.
"All I have access to is character names and the date they joined." Yui says quietly.
"Yui, if you can, could you compile a list of players who joined in the last two months? It would help lower the odds." Karen asks seriously, if they want to find the others, they need to lower the number of variables.
"Let me see..." Yui says while putting her hands on both sides of her head. "There are over five hundred players who started playing within the last two months."
"Over five hundred?! How are we supposed to find our friends out of such a huge list?! And especially since this world is so huge!" Hikaru exclaims in horror.
"We'll figure something out Aio. Worst case, we just wander this world until we find people from Aincrad. Anyway, Yui, can you tell which players entered this game through unorthodox methods?"
"Sadly no, the system of the game won't let me do so." Yui said sadly. "And there's too many people for me to properly list off. I'll just randomly list three people I see in the list...eto...Okamoto, Yamakage, and Minatoya." Yui says calmly and frowned slightly at the end, listing off three random players she sees in the list out of over five hundred.
"Okay, I know Okamoto first hand, and she's not from SAO, I know that much. I've heard of Yamakage, he's very fierce and has made it pretty high up the Salamander military chain of command, and he's only been here two months. I've never heard of Minatoya before, but it wouldn't hurt to try seeking her out. But for now, we should try aiming for Yamakage. I doubt he's one of our SAO players, but who knows." Karen says with a frown. "Actually, Yui, are you hungry?" Karen continues worriedly.
"Not really Karen, my conversion into a Navigation Pixie removed my need to eat, but I won't turn down food if you offer it Karen." Yui says quietly and happily at the end.
"Very well Yui, let me bring out a new bento box, but I think it'll be too large considering your pixie form, would it be possible for you to change to human form?" Karen says, opening her inventory window.
Yui changes her to her human form, accepts the bento and is about to begin eating but is interrupted by Karen
"Yui, mind waiting a moment? I just remembered that the food there is near frozen, let's warm it up first, okay?"
"Okay."
The group wait a few minutes for Yui's bento to warm up and they then eat the food that Karen made, and while they eat, Hikaru decides to ask Karen something he noticed a while ago
"Karen, you don't need to answer this if you don't want to, but you seem to know a lot about the renegades. Is there a reason for this?" Hikaru asks softly, not wanting to push Karen but he knew that Karen seemed down when speaking of it.
"It's not something I want to remember, but I know you'll never let me live it down unless I tell you, so I guess I'll explain. It happened when I arrived in this world about two months ago. I was fighting a particularly strong monster and when I slayed it, some Imp players saw how strong I was and how strong the strategies I used were so I was drafted into the Imp army. That afternoon, we were fighting a boss in the mountains to the northwest of Imp territory and I was assigned as aerial diversion, but I had no idea that I could even fly then so... I fled in the direction of Dragon Valley north of Salamander territory and abandoned the group I was assigned to. After an hour passed, I got a notice that I was exiled from the Imp nation on the charge of desertion. I spent a full week traveling Dragon Valley's northern border and noticed Okamoto near Ruger Corridor. I saved her life and she's been helping me ever since as a thank you. That is how I was made a renegade." Karen replies in a downcast tone, looking down to the ground in sadness, with those events having scarred her a little but nowhere near Aincrad's level.
"Oh...uh...I'm sorry for asking about it Karen. I didn't want you bringing up such painful memories." Hikaru says quietly, feeling guilty about making her remember things she may have wanted to keep quiet about.
"It's alright. It doesn't exactly bug me. Things like this happen when you draft people out of the blue." Karen says calmly, not wanting to show that it actually is a sensitive topic for her.
They continue eating the food and shortly after they finish eating the food, Yui returns to pixie form and flies in front of Karen.
"Would you mind if I sleep with you since Papa isn't here?" Yui asks cutely.
"Go ahead Yui. We don't mind, though we're going to be awake for a while longer." Karen returns with a calm smile.
"Thank you." Yui says with a big grin.
Yui flies inside Karen's shirt pocket and apparently falls asleep nearly instantly with Karen and Hikaru lightly smiling at the situation.
Alfheim Standard Time: [18:00] August 1st, 2025
Hikaru has fallen asleep, with him feeling exhausted from all of the events happening since he arrived in the morning to now, with Yui flying out of Karen's shirt pocket in her sleep, laying down near Hikaru in her human form and Hikaru instinctively pulls her close as she does so, with Karen smiling even more at the scene she's seeing.
"Hehe, those two look so cute together." Karen lightly giggles, seeing the pair sleeping next to each other like father and daughter or like young siblings.
Not long after seeing this, she grips her head, suffering from a minor headache
"Ow...what's...going on?" Karen groans weakly as she grips her head. "This hurts so bad…" After some time passed, the headache fades as mysteriously as it appeared. "What...what the hell was that? Hm." Karen rubs the temple of her forehead a little "Hehe, I shouldn't worry about it." Karen quietly giggles after she finished rubbing her temple.
Alfheim Standard Time: [19:30] August 1st, 2025
Karen stretches her arms and lightly yawns. She then glances at the see-through tent where Hikaru and Yui are sleeping in and when she is about to fall asleep herself, she hears people nearby
"Get away from me!" The voice, which sounds like a teenaged girl, shouts angrily, with it sounding scared as well.
"Not a chance Undine. Give yourself up and we'll give you the opportunity to become a healer to our Alpha Battalion willingly."
"No! I don't want to work for you Salamanders!" The girl shouts in the same tone, flying away from a group of eight players fully armored in red.
Karen brings out one of her spears and flies toward the Undine girl and the Salamander players
"Hey, leave that girl alone!" Karen shouts angrily, throwing her spear at a Salamander and does it accurately enough to pierce the player's heart, reducing him to a Remain Light status nearly instantly, since all of Karen's high level stats from SAO crossed over.
"GAH!" The Salamander player stabbed by Karen's spear shouts in pain as he's reduced to a Remain Light, with the other Salamanders and the Undine player staring at Karen in utter surprise.
"How dare you attack my team! You all, get that Undine. I'll fight this Imp." The leader of this group exclaims angrily "You will pay for disrespecting me, Major Yamakage!"
"Ah crap. I did not want to fight Yamakage like this! He's one of the strongest Salamanders there is! But I have no choice, I need to keep that girl safe!" Karen mutters fearfully in her mind, with her drawing one of her stronger spears and taking up a customized Shaolin stance she built with training from Katsuo in Aincrad.
"That style...isn't that…?" Yamakage asks himself, seeing the custom style being used by this Imp player "Elwing, everyone; change of plans. Imp, let's make a deal. If you can defeat my whole team here, we'll retreat. If you fail, you and that girl must join my battalion. Elwing, lead the charge."
"Hai, Yamakage-dono." Elwing, the sub-leader to Yamakage, says with a fierce salute, drawing her katana.
"If it means protecting her, fine by me. I won't let you Salamanders force her to help your plans." Karen says fiercely.
"...I recognize you. You're that imp renegade: Ashikaga! You've been destroying entire brigades of Salamanders! You've been a massive thorn to us." Elwing exclaims, having glanced at Karen's appearance.
"You know her Elwing?" Yamakage asks in mild surprise.
"Somewhat, Yamakage-dono. We met once northwest of Dragon Valley while you were at the leaders' council roughly two weeks ago. She was somehow able to wipe out half our battalion before she fled with Okamoto's Dragoon."
"Okamoto? She's helping this Imp girl?" Yamakage asks curiously "Strange, why would Okamoto help her? Izanagi, Yugana, and Okamoto have helped us so much and now I hear they're back-stabbing me and Elwing? Strange." Although it's hidden because of Yamakage's helmet, he is smirking at the update from Elwing when she mentioned how Karen defeated half of Yamakage's battalion "Also, this Imp was able to wipe out half my battalion single-handed? Doing so requires significant strategy and strength since I personally helped train nearly half of these guys and I was trained by Karen and the others in Senryaku and Aincrad. I doubt even General Eugene could do such things so...she has to be an Aincrad player. Only they are so accustomed to VRMMO physics. And such a strong tactician...Karen. Is she this imp player? Ashikaga?...I need to investigate further. Hm, if this Ashikaga truly is Karen, I guess that explains why Okamoto and the others are helping her." Yamakage says in his mind, wanting to see if this Ashikaga truly is the Karen he knows.
Elwing and two other Salamanders in the group draw their weapons and dash toward Karen and take up aerial combat, but when the two Salamanders got close, something hits them and they instantly enter Remain Light state. Karen and Elwing are left wide-eyed at the sudden death of the two Salamanders. Yamakage, the Salamanders, and the Undine player look at the battle in utter awe considering the sudden deaths of the two players. "What the hell was that?!" Yamakage is rather horrified by the sudden demise of the two Salamanders, since they were some of the best in the battalion and they were slain in seconds.
Karen, the Undine player, and the Salamanders in the area rapidly look in various directions, looking to see what attacked the Salamanders.
"Major Yamakage! Unidentified monsters approaching from the west!" One of the Salamanders shouts, noticing a large swarm of hornet like monsters.
One icon on the creatures is extremely recognizable by three of the people here, which is a ringed Eye.
"XANA?! Impossible!" Karen, Yamakage, and the Undine player exclaim in their minds. "How did XANA get here in Alfheim?! He was in Aincrad!" The Undine player further exclaims, remembering that she died at least twice against XANA's monsters back in Aincrad.
"Salamanders, fall back and regroup with the rest of the battalion! Imp, Undine, if you want to survive, come with us!" Yamakage shouts to his men and to Karen's group, with him abandoning his prior mission of getting that Undine and focus on routing this new enemy force.
"I have friends out here, I don't want to abandon them!" Karen shouts, fearing for Hikaru's and Yui's safety.
"Fine, but just hurry! We need to get out of here before my battalion gets overwhelmed by these things!" Yamakage shouts, flying to the other Salamanders.
The Undine however flies toward Karen when Yamakage took off "I recognize your voice Karen, it's me Haruka!"
"Haruka?! Thank god I found you. Anyway, let's save the reintroduction for when we get Hikaru and link up with Yamakage's Salamanders." Karen says in surprise, before dashing toward Hikaru.
"Hikaru's here too?!" Haruka shouts, surprised to hear of Hikaru's appearance, before trying to put it aside for now "R-Right. let's get him and get to the Salamanders. They were trying to recruit me against my will, but I'll be safer with them than on my own if XANA's here." Haruka says, following Karen.
Karen and Haruka land on the island where Hikaru and Yui is and Karen swiftly undoes the spell of the campsite area
"Hikaru, get up! We need to get out of here!" Karen shouts fearfully, rapidly shaking Hikaru while Haruka is watching over the area in case more Hornets show up, which happens rather quickly.
"What are these things?! I know I never saw such things in Aincrad before!" Haruka shouts, using some magic on these new creatures.
"K-Karen…? What's wrong?" Hikaru mumbles weakly, still half-asleep from Karen's harsh wake-up call.
"Get your ass moving Hikaru! XANA is here in Alfheim! We need to get out of here!" Karen shouts, pulling Hikaru up.
"Huh…? Wait, XANA?!" Hikaru mumbles, before regaining his senses "But how did-" Hikaru tries to continue before being interrupted by Karen
"No time to chat! This area's getting overwhelmed, we need to regroup with Yamakage!" Karen exclaims, helping Hikaru to his feet.
"B-But what about Kazuto and Leafa?!"
"We'll get them later, but for now we need to get out of this area!"
Alfheim Standard Time: [20:00] August 1st, 2025
The group flies in the direction of Yamakage's battalion and finds that they set up camp outside Lugru Corridor, with the area being overrun with Hornets and the various monsters used in Aincrad: Krabs, Creepers, Tarantulas, and some new kind of squid monster.
"What the hell are these-GAH!" One of the Salamanders shouts fearfully, being shot repeatedly by a Creeper and being reverted to Remain Light status.
"Damn it! We're getting overwhelmed, just like Aincrad! Why is this happening so quickly?! At least these people can't die, that's one thing." Yamakage shouts in his mind, dodging the attacks from these new monsters.
"Takuro! Major, we can't hold this area at this rate, we need to fall back to Gadan!" Elwing shouts fearfully as she sees one of her comrades die, trying to dodge the attacks from the Tarantulas.
"We can't do that Lieutenant. Our mission takes priority!" Yamakage retorts angrily, trying to get close to the monsters to destroy them.
"But Yamakage-dono!" Elwing pleads desperately before being stopped by Yamakage
"You know our mission Elwing! We are Salamanders! We never abandon our mission, no matter how many losses we take! Everyone, reorganize your formations and bring the fight to these beasts, follow my lead!" Yamakage shouts fiercely, drawing his two swords: Onyx Shark and Titanium Heart and attacking the ringed eyes on two of the Creepers.
"R-Right! Everyone, follow Yamakage's command!" Elwing shouts, drawing her sword and directing the remaining Salamanders to battle.
"Come on Aio, let's help out the Salamanders. Um...whatever name you're using, cover us with healing."
"Mikuya, just like Aincrad and got it Ashikaga."
"Hmm, for now, would you mind if I merely call you Miku? And call me Ash." Karen asks calmly.
"I...don't mind it, but why?"
"No reason, but I just kind of want to do things like this. I have been since...a little while ago." Karen admits with a small sheepish smile.
"Is that why you gave me the nickname: Aio?" Hikaru asks.
"Partly, but come on, Yamakage and the others need our help!"
Alfheim Standard Time: [20:45] August 1st, 2025
The monsters belonging to XANA have been pushed back for the time being, but the entire Salamander group belonging to Yamakage aside from himself, Elwing, and one other member have been slain and been sent back to Salamander territory
"Thank you for your assistance Ashikaga, all of you. We owe you for helping us in our fight. As a gesture of goodwill, we'll fall back and give up pursuit of our mission for now." Yamakage says, bowing in appreciation.
"I must thank you as well Ashikaga. You are a thorn in our side yet you still chose to help us." Elwing replies solemnly, bowing as well.
"If it's any condolence, I never wanted to fight you Salamanders, you fought me and I defended myself." Karen nervously chuckles at Elwing's remark.
"Heh. Elwing, Kimori, get back to Fellyre Shire and regroup with General Eugene and his soldiers to prepare for our mission. I need to speak with these three privately." Yamakage chuckles before sternly stating his order.
"But...Major-" Elwing tries to say in concern before being interrupted.
"Elwing, I am giving you a direct order. Fall back and regroup with General Eugene. I'll catch up." Yamakage shouts fiercely to his sub-leader.
"Yes sir." Elwing replies despondently, flying away with Kimori in tow.
"That was just harsh Yamakage." Hikaru says in mild shock over Yamakage's fierce attitude there.
"Sometimes I have to be harsh to her. She has many of the requirements of being an ideal leader: She's honest, fiercely loyal, strong, she knows the strengths and weaknesses of a lot of people in my battalion and she never criticizes them for it. In fact, she goes out of her way to help them refine their strengths and dispel as much of their weakness as she can. But she's a bit bull-headed and doesn't listen to me sometimes. However, she is still a strong leader and everyone knows she handles leadership on my behalf. I can't stand it much. If she worked on her own weaknesses, she'd be an ideal leader, just like this one girl I know. She rarely fought granted, but she was a very good tactician and her very presence raised everyone's morale because of how hard she pushed herself to help others." Yamakage says calmly, glancing at the sky.
"Yeah. That girl was a strong tactician, she was fair and honest for the most part. Her own special ability helped cement her reputation as a strong tactician for the others." Karen continues, knowing who Yamakage truly is after hearing him speak and referencing a girl with strong skill in strategy.
"How did…? Wait...hehe. Karen, good to see you." Yamakage says with a small laugh, removing his helmet for the first time since he got the armor and reveals the person beneath it. Although his hair color is a darker red, the face of the reputable Major Yamakage is nearly identical to that of Senryaku's second sub-leader in Aincrad: Masaru or more commonly called by his friends: Katsuo Viperia.
"Katsuo. I'm glad to see you." Karen says softly, hugging Katsuo.
"Likewise. The last two months have been hell without you guys around. I hate to dash, but...I have to return to the others. Also, be careful you three." Katsuo replies in the same tone, hugging Karen for a short time before letting go.
"Why?" Haruka asks curiously, wondering why Katsuo added 'Be careful you three', with her thinking that it's because of XANA.
"Captain Kagemune assigned a small brigade of Salamanders after a Sylph and Spriggan that was in this area. The brigade is determined to slay the pair, and I don't want you three hurt because of them. However, since XANA has returned, I doubt Kagemune will be able to get here. I imagine all Salamander forces will be reassigned to repel those new monsters and they'll need my knowledge to do so."
"Can't you do anything Katsuo? Kazuto and Leafa don't deserve being hunted." Hikaru worriedly asks, being sincere about his desire to keep them safe.
"Kazuto?! I'm guessing he's the Spriggan?"
Hikaru and Karen nod in response
"Crap, if I knew it was him sooner...god damn it. Look, I can't go against Kagemune now, it's too late. That brigade will be here tomorrow afternoon to ambush you all. As soon as Kazuto and Leafa get on, get them to Lugru. You'll be safe there. I need to go. Best of luck Hikaru, Karen, Haruka." Katsuo lightly snarls in irritation, recommending a path of action before giving his farewells and putting his helmet back on, then flying away to the rest of the Salamanders.
When Katsuo flies off, Hikaru, Karen, and Haruka are left in the area
"Karen, Hikaru, we should get to a town and rest for the night. There's one about half an hour south of here. I actually was traveling with another Undine named Liatris but we got separated when the Salamanders began chasing me, she may be there actually."
"Lead the way Miku." Karen says with a smile.
"Okay um...not that I mind, but we're by ourselves; you can call me Haruka."
"What's the fun in that? I want to call you Miku." Karen says with a giddy smile, flying south to the settlement.
Alfheim Standard Time: [21:00] August 1st, 2025
With Karen not around, Haruka and Hikaru talk a little bit
"Um...Hikaru..." Haruka tries to ask, albeit rather awkwardly at Karen's sudden attitude.
"Don't ask me. This is as much a shock to me as it is to you. Katsuo sounded like an absolute jerk, Karen's too upbeat...this is getting a little bit weird." Hikaru says, knowing what question is on her mind, as it's on his as well.
"Well...let's try to follow her lead alright? She may be acting weird, but she's still our leader. Someone we can trust with our lives…right?"
"I hope so. While she was friendly toward us all, she was never this...bubbly." Hikaru mutters quietly. "Yui, can you figure anything out about this?"
Yui flies out of Hikaru's coat pocket and floats in front of him "Let me see." Yui says, putting her hands around her head for a few moments "Hmm...it's a little tough to confirm, but I'm seeing signs of accelerated soul modification in both Karen and Katsuo."
"Soul modification? What are you talking about?" Hikaru asks agape.
"Someone or something is trying to change Karen, Katsuo, and who knows how many others."
"Yui, is it similar to what happened to myself and XANA?"
"Yes and no. I've been trying to do a little investigation on the matters of yourself and XANA and a theory I have is that it was a significantly advanced process that must have taken years to do. Look, when I say this, try not to panic as it's just one of my theories." Yui says calmly, trying to ease the upcoming revelation without horrifying Hikaru.
"What is it Yui?" Hikaru asks curiously, wondering what Yui's thinking about.
"Well...I think that...you aren't exactly...alive." Yui says weakly, hating herself for outright saying it.
"Not...alive...? Yui, please tell me you're joking." Hikaru pleads.
"I wish I was, but Hikaru, remember that this is just a theory of mine. Considering what I know of dimensional travel, which is not much granted, but considering your entrance into this dimension; I have a suspicion that your real self perished and an AI was created of yourself, with all of your memories being uploaded to make it think it was you."
"I...what?" Hikaru asks, with himself and Haruka staring at Yui with mixed emotions.
"I'm sorry I had to say it Hikaru, but considering your own circumstances, it's not very feasible to believe that you're still a human being. It's far more feasible that you're an Artificial Intelligence with your memories and emotions being uploaded to it to make it seem like you're human. As a result of your inherited senses, you may have felt pain and exhaustion, though in reality, it's all fake. The theories that exist about dimensional travel suggest that it's extremely dangerous when not used properly. XANA easily survived the travel because of how it's not alive like you were. Damage is expected, but repairable, but for living beings, it's likely that you died or were close to dead when you arrived in this world."
Hikaru is left utterly speechless at the new revelation of how Hikaru is possibly not human like his friends and is possibly an AI like Yui. For the last four years, Hikaru would never have even considered this possibility. However, he can't exactly deny since he knew that he woke up in the Forest of Doubt, so he can't shoot down the possibility of prior manipulation from someone on the other side.
"Hikaru, it doesn't matter if you're human or an AI. You're still our friend and we spent years fighting side-by-side." Haruka says, lightly hugging Hikaru to cheer him up.
"Thanks Haruka. For now, let's try catching up with Karen." Hikaru says with a small forced smile, feeling glad that Haruka's trying to cheer him up, even though he's feeling so rattled over the situation.
"It's no problem Hikaru. You know that we Aincrad players have to stick together, even through Hell's deepest labyrinth." Haruka says, with her lightly joking at the end.
"Haha. Thanks Haruka, I needed a pick-up from that shocking revelation."
"You're welcome. Now let's go catch up with Karen, baka." Haruka replies with a friendly sarcastic insult, flying to catch up with Karen.
"Oh, you're going down. Come on Yui, let's get going." Hikaru says with a friendly, yet smug tone, trying to ignore the shocking revelation right now.
"Okay." Yui says with a friendly smile, flying into Hikaru's shirt pocket.
Hikaru and Haruka catch up to Karen who is floating near one of the islands in the Ancient Forest and when they catch up with her, they fly to the settlement south of this area.
Author's Notes: *1. I HATE having to deal with the spell names. What I used for this spell is just taking parts of two different spells from the anime.