Well, well, hello everyone once again! Welcome back to probably one of the weirdest stories around in the SAO Section nowadays OxO (B/N: Correction; the weirdest story in the SAO Fandom. Thank me later.)

Also, first of all let me apologize to everyone, I got confused about the date I was to return to class, which is the 19th this Monday. That's why this chapter has actually been finished with only a little delay (Related mainly to my preparations for school and a bit of laziness).

Okay then, nothing more to say for now, except that MAN, I can't believe this story has almost reached 19000 views, and gotten over 250 favorites and 152 reviews O.O Definitively beyond anything I was expecting when I started it, and it makes me happy I can make so many of you enjoy with this little piece of madness :3 Please, always remember to leave a little review to tell me what you think of it XP!

Without further ado, enjoy this chapter, my dear readers!

PS: Not betaed? What is that? :3 Yours truly is done sitting on his ass doing absolutely nothing productive (And planning out his story's next chapter in detail, of course. How could he forget that?) and finished what we was supposed to do two days ago.

Disclaimer: SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.


Chapter 7: With Great Power…

December 25th, 2024. Saitama, Kawagoe. Kirigaya Household, 01:45…

It was amazing, how the simplest things could make someone feel so much happier.

Years ago, Kirigaya Kazuto would have never thought that having a modest Christmas dinner with his family would make him feel as if everything was right with the world, but that was exactly what had happened.

Even now, as he lay on his bed staring at the ceiling with a soft smile, the feeling of happiness and that a weight had been lifted from his shoulders still lingered.

Of course, the warmth coming from the pajama-clad girl hugging his right arm probably helped with that.

"Sugu, you shouldn't be here…what if mom and dad wake up for any reason?" mumbled the gamer while looking towards the young kendoka, but not really doing any effort to remove her from his side.

"They went to sleep almost 20 minutes ago, it's fine…don't talk as if you're not enjoying it, Onii-chan." answered Suguha with her own mischievous smile as she snuggled closer to him. "And I can always say I had a nightmare or something if they find us…unless you want me to get out…?"

"…do you even know how unfair is to ask that question?" whispered back the black-haired boy with a fake expression of hurt while looking at her, their faces barely inches apart. "That's like asking me if I want to stop liking videogames."

"Hey, are you really comparing me with your videoga…?" the girl's words vanished together with her pseudo-pout as Kazuto's lips connected with hers, the young kendoka melting into the kiss as she leaned even closer to her. "…mou, Onii-chan, you're even more unfair…how am I supposed to get angry at you when you do that…?"

"Don't go talking to me about unfairness after snuggling into my bed with me like this." countered the gamer with a chuckle as he hugged her close. "…I love you, Sugu. Merry Christmas."

"Love you too, Onii-chan. Sweet dreams," softly muttered Suguha while leaning on him and closing her eyes. "After all, we're going to spend the whole day together in the morning…"

Sadly, the girl's fantasies about all the marvelous things they were going to do, as a couple, later in the day were suddenly crushed by the door to the gamer's room being violently opened.

Both siblings were already about to explode into half-thought explanations about why they were together in the same bed (And also in such a close and 'compromising' position…when their eyes widened at seeing that the ones entering weren't their parents, but the bizarre visage of Elucidator riding on Fuu's back.

Any thoughts they had of asking how they had even opened the door while charging inside like that vanished as they saw the terrified 'face' shown in Luci's screen-torso, Fuu's own face distorted into as much of a scared look her plushie features allowed.

"Sugu-chan, Kazu-kun! It's bad!" worriedly said the cat-being while stopping beside the bed just as they stood up.

"Boss, we have a serious problem!" shouted the robot-phone while jumping off his friend's back. "Quick, pick me up, the call is still on!"

Kazuto wasn't even able to ask what exactly was happening before Elucidator jumped towards him and 'transformed' just as he was forced to catch him.

Then, the gamer got a full view of Yui's distressed face and any complaint died in his throat.

"Kirito…! I need…we…my sisters…!"

"Woah, Yui, calm down, you're not making any sense!" interrupted the boy with a serious voice, even as Suguha leaned to his side to cast a worried glance towards the shaking AI. "Take a deep breath and calmly tell me what's happe…"

"PLEASE!" shouted two voices off-screen, shocking the Kirigaya siblings when the surprised Yui was pushed away to show two identical crying blondes with a hairstyle similar to Keiko's, the only thing differentiating the grief-stricken AIs (For it was obvious they were also Yui's sisters) being their white and black clothes. "Please, Mr. Thief…no, Kirito-san! Ple-please, sa-save our…our friends!"

"What…?!"

"Yin! Yan! Calm down!" boomed a familiar voice from somewhere beyond the couple sight, making both crying girls freeze and Kazuto to frown, even as the young kendoka looked confused, being the only one to not know the speaker. "…Yui, take care of them. Tomoe, dear, switch the screen to me. Now."

Without any fanfare or special drama, the image was switching to show that of a rough-looking old man, which vaguely reminded the youngest Kirigaya of her grandfather, only a thousand times more serious.

His grievous expression, though, was something she had never seen on her deceased kendo master's eyes, not to mention the bottomless feeling of 'wrongness' that came from looking straight into his eyes.

"Yhmos." flatly stated the gamer with an uncanny neutral voice, making Suguha realize she was staring at the face of the famous 'Space God'. "What's going on?"

For a moment, it seemed as if the last of the Ancient Rulers wasn't going to answer, as if weighing something on his mind or debating a serious internal issue…

Then, he sighed and stared straight into the boy's eyes, surprising Kirito by how…old he suddenly seemed.

"Kirigaya Kazuto…I need to ask you for a favor."


Kurahashi Kaito, doctor of the Yokohama North General Hospital and an avid defender of the use of VR-Technology to better the living conditions of terminally ill patients, had always known this was going to happen. He had known it since the moment he started treating both of those poor little girls, he had known it when their parents had died, he had known it when he offered them to become the testers of the Medicuboid…and yet…

"…Dr. Kurahashi? We…we need your confirmation." sadly muttered a nurse while looking towards the bespectacled man, who stared at the bed in some sort of trance. "You…you know there is nothing left to do…"

And yet, as he stared at the ghastly pale visage of Konno Aiko, known as Ran in the virtual world, the oldest of the two Konno sisters and the one that had selflessly insisted that her little sister was the one who got to test the experimental machine and got a special sealed room to protect her from her sickness, he couldn't help but feel as if a part of his heart was breaking down.

Several new tubes and a machine that hadn't been in the normal hospital room an hour before were the only things keeping Aiko alive at this point. Even with the special oxygen mask connected to the machine helping her breathe, they were only delaying the inevitable.

Nothing they did would prevent the young girl from dying. Both hers and her sister's fate had been sealed since the moment they were born and their whole family was accidentally infected with HIV. The sisters had been suffering from AIDS since birth, and while the effects of it hadn't truly manifested themselves until some years back, the fact that they would die very young was something that couldn't be denied.

Even so…Aiko didn't deserve this. She, who had spent hours consoling Yuuki when their parents died, despite being crying herself. Who had gathered and formed the group they called friends, the Sleeping Knights, from many other terminally ill patients from the 'virtual hospice' Serene Garden, giving them a bright purpose and something to look forward to.

She had even happily let, almost forced, her little sister to be the one who would live the most. Aiko knew very well that she could have easily chosen to be the tester of the Medicuboid and Yuuki wouldn't have refused. Instead, she had convinced her twin to be the one to get the sealed room and the special treatments, while she stayed in a normal one, using a simple Nerve Gear modified for medical purposes (Which was now lying beside her bed with the copy of 'Requiem Universus Online' at its side). From the beginning, she had known she would 'leave' first, leaving Yuuki alone…

Kurahashi Kaito closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. It had to be done. All they were doing now was prolonging the ill girl's suffering. He just hoped that, if there was any place to go after this, Aiko could find her parents in there.

The doctor still knew it wouldn't be easy at all to tell Yuuki this, despite the scared screams of the younger girl having been a clear indication that she had already found out what was happening with her older sister.

"…yes, you have my authorization." softly whispered the man, suddenly feeling as if the world was weighing down on him. "Disco…"

Everything went black and white, as if the world had suddenly lost color.

Eyes fluttering open at the same time, the confused gaze of Konno Aiko swept around the room, her pain moving into a second plane as her wonder and confusion took a front seat in her mind.

"What's…going on? Is this what being dead feels like?"

If it was, then the oldest of the Konno sisters couldn't help but feel that it was way too painful for…

Her eyes widening, Aiko felt her heart skip a beat as she finally took notice of another figure in the room, standing just at the feet of her bed, her mind racing at trying to pinpoint when it had gotten there.

Clad in black from head to toe, with a hood obscuring his face and surrounded by an unnatural aura, the mysterious newcomer had apparently 'materialized' into the room at the same time the strange phenomenon started, which led the dying girl to a simple yet sinister confusion.

At the same time, far away, alarms started to blare inside the room where the Star Hunters' Detection Network was, making several eyes widen as officers and droids started to analyze the data.

Meanwhile, back at the hospital…

"…are you…are you Death?" weakly thought Aiko (Unable to actually say anything aloud), wondering why she wasn't as scared as she thought she would be, even as her wavering gaze centered on the black figure. "Have you come to…take with my parents…?"

The following seconds, four maximum, felt like the longest span of time ever for the oldest of the Konno siblings, before the figure released a sad chuckle as he shook his head.

"No, of course not. Don't you know what date it is? I'm the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come." spoke the black-clad figure…directly into Aiko's mind, much to her own shock, even as he slowly took off his 'hood' to reveal the fact of a black-haired teenage boy, probably only a couple of years older than her, a sad but determined look on his eyes. "And I decree that you still have to celebrate many Christmas."

And with those words, he reached towards the wide-eyed girl with a hand enveloped in blue-white electricity…

In that same moment, Captain Elysium Syrom Revenant entered the Network Room with a hurried pace, her helmet not on as she had just come from her sleeping quarters. Even so, the pink-haired young woman didn't seem to mind at all that she had barely gotten an hour of sleep in the last 30 hours, her diamond-shaped pupils fixed upon the forms of the group's other two officers, Moria staring towards the holographic projection of a certain part of Japan even as Konik barked orders to a nearby technician.

"Is it true? We got a confirmation?" questioned Elysium the moment she was within earshot of her subordinates, both of them turning to look at her. "Did we finally locate that bastard?"

"We got a reading from a simple Space-Warping Mystery, yes, a basic teleportation, and nothing of what we know of this planet suggest it can be anyone from here having done it." informed the lieutenant with a serious tone. "However, the human systems are extremely primitive even if we're only using them for geographical data, so we can't be 100% sure if…"

A new set of alarms echoing into the room interrupted the 4-armed alien, several droids going mad about calculations and statistics while a technician turned towards the officers, grim worry on his voice.

"New burst of Cosmic Energy detected clearly in the same place, sirs. Pure and unidentifiable. No normal entity can release such a type of energy…99% of probabilities it's the Tyrant."

"Well, then what are we waiting for?" questioned Commander Moria with narrowed eyes, looking over the screen and some data on his personal terminal. "The data we got sssaysss thiss iss a place called…"

"Yokohama, in the Kanagawa Prefecture." came another voice from near where the technician of before had been standing, letting the surprised Elysium see Kayaba Akihiko standing there as he looked at the holographic display. "To be more precise…the Yokohama North General Hospital?"

"Hospital? As in, a medical facility?" questioned the confused Rarun while staring towards the only human in the room, a frown appearing under his helmet at Kayaba's silent nod. "Why in Unreality's name would that monster appear in one…?"

"It most likely has something to do with its currently weakened state." theorized Flint while rolling towards the officers, who regarded the droid with calculating looks. "We have been monitoring all human communications in the area on the last 5 'minutes' and nothing out of the ordinary seems to have been reported. The Ancient Ruler is doing something while hiding under the human's noses, which…"

"Goes against everything we know of him, confirming our theory. He wouldn't go sneaking around like a rat before 'lesser beings' if he had even a noticeable fraction of his power." nodded Elysium before turning around. "Warm the Magicians! We need a Space-Time Mystery ready right now!"

"But Captain, they're very limited right now because of the low mystical energies of this Universe." worriedly muttered one of the technicians even as another one sent the order. "They won't be able to mobilize a big enough group…"

"It's the only option we have. If we tried to deploy through normal means we would not only arrive too late if he's on the move, but also will gain the humans' attention without a doubt." grimly replied the captain, inwardly cursing the fact of having lost any actual teleporting tech with the loss of their ship. Besides, numbers matter little against the Tyrant. If he's as weak as our Admiral's predictions thought, we may stand a chance. If not, if he has even a thousandth of his power at his disposal…then even all of our forces at the same time wouldn't be a match for him."

"Which is why I will be the one leading this operation, Captain Revenant." informed Rarun with a determined tone, shocking the young woman even as Gahul frowned his way. "I will take half the remaining Ghost Walkers with me, though."

"What?! But I…!"

"You are our highest-ranked officer still alive, not to mention the only one who has a means of actually killing the Tyrant if he manages to regain access to his High Mysteries. You're not only important to the surviving crew, you're also our ace in the hole." firmly stated the 4-armed alien while walking past the young woman, stopping momentarily to look at him. "And…if you allow me a moment to not talk to you as my captain, but as the daughter of my deceased friend…Try and think things more calmly, Ely. Your mother wouldn't want you dying without accomplishing anything because you fucked up in the last moment."

Those words said, Lieutenant Rarun-Konik walked out of the room, never looking back. Elysium bit her lips for a second before closing her eyes and steadying herself, walking forward and looking down at her subordinates.

"You heard the lieutenant! Get everything ready and set all the systems to monitor the operation, we may be entering into direct conflict with our primary target!"

Every non-human in the room's lower level saluted and quickly headed to their posts, ready to follow their leaders' orders. As this took place, Kayaba simply stared silently towards the young woman, his face reflecting to be deep in thought.

"…you really aren't here to conquer the world or eradicate the human race…" observed the human while looking towards the two remaining officers, the snake-like one giving him an annoyed look at his words.

"You're here to hunt something that's a threat. For you…and for Earth too, right?"

"Believe what you want, Kayaba. As I already told you, that's classified information." coldly stated the captain without looking at him, though that only made the scientist show a small smirk.

"Well…who would have thought the big and scary aliens were 'the good guys' all along?" commented Kayaba with a clearly amused tone.

"Do you perhaps want to share a cell with your female companion, Mr. Akihiko?" sweetly asked Elysium while finally looking at him with a bright smile, her words making the man pale and take several steps back, almost shrinking into himself as Flint watched him with interest.

"N-no…please no…I will be silent…please no…"

"I think he's having another of those PTSD attacks. He's not going to interfere for a while." helpfully explained the droid for anyone who cared before turning around and continuing his own work.

Seeing this, Gahul let out an amused chuckle while turning his head towards the once again silent captain.

"Well, ssseemsss like you ssstill know how to put peasssants in their place." said the snake-like alien with a sinister tone. "Your mother mussst be very proud of you, eh, your Highnesss?"

This time, when the scorpion-like bone tail shot out towards him, Gahul was ready, the general's own tail lashing out and stopping it before it could head towards his neck.

There was a second of tense silence, though, even as the snake-like alien grunted as if under a heavy strain, a cracking sound starting to come from where his armored appendage was clashing against the, apparently, unholy sharp one.

"NEVER…address me like that again, General Moria. I'm your Captain and Superior Officer, nothing more, nothing less." growled the pink-haired woman with an icy tone, her helmet activating and hiding her face as she glared towards her subordinate. "Whatever 'status' I had because of who my mother stopped mattering when I decided to work under my father, and I earned this position the same as you: Through hard work and achievements. Not from my name."

"Asss…you wisssh." snarled the general as he finally broke the stalemate, clear disdain on his gaze as he glared back at the young woman. "Jussst remember…I followed your father becaussse I ressspected him, bled by him and wasss besssted by him endlesss timesss. That sssame ressspect doesssn't extend to you, Princesss Elysssium. And there isss no Sssupreme Command here to enforce the posssition you have gained jussst becaussse our situation. When the Tyrant is dead, if we're ssstill alive…all betsss are off."

"I will keep that in mind, Gahul of Viperius." acidly replied Elysium, never breaking eye-contact with the snake-like alien. "Now move your scaled ass and get to work, we still have a Cosmic Entity to kill."

With a stiff nod, the general slithered away, ready to follow the tasks his position demanded of him…for now.

Finally tearing her gaze away from him, the captain released a tired sigh, suddenly keenly aware of how much real the possibility of neither her nor anyone else living to see tomorrow was, if something went wrong with the operation. Idly, she caressed the necklace she now wore, the bright jewel hanging from it both a memento of a time long-gone…and their greatest and most terrible available weapon.

"Please, mother…give me strength."


Konno Yuuki was alone, crying silently in a small 'room' that consisted mostly of darkness and screens showing her own vital signs, every second seeming to stretch like an eternity for her as she waited for word from Dr. Kurahashi about her sister's state.

Of course, she had already assumed that the news she would receive wouldn't be positive in the slightest.

Since the moment she had seen Ran, Aiko, collapsing in the virtual world, a horrible and icy fear had gripped her heart unlike any other. She had barely even reacted when the scared forms of Yin and Yan had gripped her and pleaded to know what was going on or if she had any idea of what had happened to her twin.

The girl had barely been able to whisper an 'I'm sorry!' between sobs to her two friends before hurriedly Logging Out, her cries for her to stop only making her feel worse.

It wasn't the first time Yuuki had known she would never see someone dear again, no. First went their dear Merida, the twins' first 'friend' in a long time and a fellow Sleeping Knight's founder like them. Later it had been poor Clovis, also leaving the group forever. In both occasions, though, Aiko had been there to share her pain, to comfort her and then to continue leading their guild forward, to enjoy their life as best as they could no matter what, if just to prove the belief the two of them and Merida had started it all with.

That all of their lives had a meaning. That life was worth living for, even if you knew it wasn't going to last.

Now, however…the youngest Konno wasn't sure if she would be able to go on, be able to continue without Aiko.

Ran was the light of the Sleeping Knights. Their lighthouse of hope. Yuuki wasn't sure if she could lead them anyway near as good as she did, even with Siune's help (As the older woman was without a doubt the best candicate to replace her as second in command of the guild).

All that aside, though…she wasn't sure if she could continue believing in their ideals by herself.

The rest of her friends would still be at her side, yes, but it had been her sister who had always let her believe without any doubt on their chosen path.

Without Aiko, the ill girl wasn't sure she could continue…

Yuuki's train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a chilling 'sensation' overcoming her senses, all the holo-screens inside the Medicuboid's virtual space flickering for a moment. Startled, the ill girl looked towards the screen showing her sealed room…and felt as if her whole body was suddenly made of ice.

There, standing beside her body, was a strange and sinister figure clad in black, with a hood covering his head, surrounded by an ominous aura and…with Aiko hanging from his back?!

"Woah, we really appeared right here out of nowhere! You're awesome!" laughed the oldest of the Konno siblings while letting go of the mysterious figure and literally skipping to her sister's side, seeming healthier than Yuuki had ever seen her in years. "Yuu? Wake up, sleepyhead! I need to introduce you to a Christmas Spirit!"

"Okay, in hindsight, that joke was kind of lame, but you can stop it now, Aiko-san…" sighed Kazuto while taking off his hood, allowing himself an awed moment as the Medicuboid turned off and slowly moved away from the younger girl's head. "It stopped being funny 5 repetitions ago."

"Says you." challenged the oldest of the Konno twins with a grin before turning to look towards her sister again, a soft smile appearing on her face as she saw her eyes fluttering open. "Hey there Yuu."

"Ai-Aiko-nee…?" asked Yuuki with a trembling voice, unable to believe what was happening. "Ho-how are you out of your bed? Is this a dream…?"

"If it is, then it's so wonderful that I never want to wake up!" cheered Aiko as she hugged her little sister, only to gasp as the younger girl winced in pain at her grip on her weakened body. "O-oh, sorry Yuu! Kazuto-kun, please, help her out too!"

"Yes, don't worry, I'm on it." softly muttered the gamer with a resolute nod, even as he walked to the sisters' side and once again lit his hand with bluish 'electricity', shocking Yuuki as he did so. "You two were really lucky making friends…or maybe karma thought it was time to repay you, who knows…"

"Wha-what does that mean…?"

"Yin and Yan sent him, to save us!" half-shouted the oldest twin with tears in her eyes, looking down. "Those two…snif…they…"

Stopping just before touching the youngest of the Konno siblings, Kazuto letting a small smile appear on his face as he saw Yuuki trying to calm down the sobbing Aiko.

Certainly, when he accepted earlier Yhmos' request for this after being told what had happened, he had been more than nervous and a bit confused. Apparently, the two youngest 'normal' (Though this word had quite a loose meaning when applied to them) sisters of Yui, the ones called Yin and Yan, had befriended two Players called 'Ran' and 'Yuuki', which, like them, were also 'twins'.

Of course, this was no coincidence. The reason why the girls' avatars in Requiem Universus Online actually reflected their status as sisters was because they had been converted from another 'game', the virtual hospice 'Serene Garden' to be more precise, where pictures of one IRL were used to create the 'players' avatars.

The reason for this was because it was virtual space exclusively used and restricted to terminally ill patients, as a recent and alternative way to 'improve their living quality' by using the sense-dulling properties of the VR-technology.

Neither Yin nor Yan had known this, though, at least not until less than two hours ago, when Ran had collapsed just as they had invited the girls to their family's 'Christmas Party', then a very scared-looking Yuuki had Logged Out while crying and apologizing when they had asked what was going on.

That was when the young girls had snapped in fear and quickly used their rights as a Game Masters combined with their abilities as Artificial Intelligences to get all the personal information on the two Players, breaking the 'promise' they had made to their 'father' of never doing such a thing, as the last thing they needed was to attract unwanted attention.

They had felt it was a justified action for their friends' sakes, though, and after noticing that the security around the sisters' data was way tighter, they had known they were on the right path.

Konno Yuuki and Konno Aiko had been infected with HIV literally all their lives. They had only been interacting more with the world recently through VR-tech mainly because the youngest one, Yuuki, had started to test a special and medical-orientated FullDive-machine known as the 'Medicuboid'. Both of them apparently knew they were going to die long before becoming adults, yet, from all that Yin and Yan had seen, still enjoyed life and cheerfully accepted to be their friends.

To say that the virtual sisters had broken down upon knowing the Fate of their human friends would have been an understatement. Even so, they hadn't just sunk into despair, remembering that their current lives and the events leading to them had been caused by something above 'human comprehension and logic'.

And so, they had hurried back to their families and literally begged between sobs to their oldest sister and Father.

Begged to ask him for help. He who had the powers that went against nature and defied human imagination. To use them to save their friends' lives.

It said something about the humanity of the supposedly virtual programs, that they would do such a thing.

So when he had been asked for this by Yhmos himself, the Ancient Ruler literally accepting he would owe him a favor for this, he had of course accepted under Suguha's worried gaze.

There was only one problem, though…he had no idea how to heal AIDS.

Unlike what fiction make people believe, mystical Cosmic Powers didn't allow you to solve any problem you had right away. It was one thing to have the raw power and another very different to have the ability to do so. In fact, the black-haired boy was already incredibly lucky for the fact that the 'powers' Yhmos had accidentally left with him came with a 'Manual', though it was more like some sort of self-guiding consciousness remaining from the actual Ancient Ruler that his mind interpreted as a manual. The only reason he was able to do things like the 'Time Trick', 'Teleporting' and 'Phasing through Solid Objects' at all (And not all that stable) was because he had specifically searched for them when he needed them and because the Cosmic Entity had apparently done similar things sometime in the past (Though at a different, probably much bigger, scale).

To put it in more understandable terms: Anyone could transplant an organ, but only a qualified surgeon could actually do it without killing the patient in the process.

While the gamer probably had the power to clean a human body from all biological sicknesses ever known and still unknown in the Universe, he didn't have the knowledge or experience to do it without risking to hurt anyone he tried that on.

Yhmos could probably do it, but Kazuto lacked the eons of practice the Ancient Ruler had had to learn all the workings and uses of his Aether Core.

And given that his last attempts to try and just 'will his powers to work' ended up with him creating a miniature star in his room when wanting to make a bit of light and also giving life by mistake to inanimate objects, he really didn't want to risk doing anything of that caliber to the Konno siblings…but he had 'something' that could still work, that he really didn't need to use consciously because, for some reason even Yhmos himself wasn't sure about, it was already working 'by default'.

Creating an 'Anchor'.

Somehow, the process of doing this had been 'tied up' with the 'Total Restoration' and 'Upgrading' the last of the Ancient Rulers had bestowed upon his comatose body the day all that madness began, and this had been shown by how Asuna, Rika and Keiko had also been 'healed' from the years-long muscle atrophy and weakness that their bodies had suffered thanks to SAO, in less than a day. And this all had happened without him even consciously doing it (Though the superhuman 'Upgrades' were also a side-effect that he didn't know how to control).

The gamer had compared the phenomenon of assigning 'shortcuts' to specific Skills, Spells and/or actions in a MMORPG of old. While Yhmos had told him (With a bit of annoyance) that the actual process was much more complicated than that and involved some complicated biologically-enhancing thingies, the Ancient Ruler had grudgingly accepted it was an accurate comparison, and also their best bet, given that Aiko could be dying very soon and Kazuto couldn't exactly learn how to precisely manipulate human biology all the way down to cellular level in 10 minutes.

He was just glad that it had actually worked, in the end. And while he had given Aiko a 'summarized' explanation for now, the boy also knew that there were still a lot of problems and inconveniences he had to try and 'fix' very fast or else things would get very ugly around there. And turning the twins back into 'normal humans' wasn't even anywhere near the top, despite how important it was.

Snapping out of his thoughts and back in the current problem, though, the gamer found his hand being gently guided by Aiko's to rest over Yuuki's face, the girl's eyes reflecting clear confusion, but also an unwavering trust towards her sister's actions.

With almost no sound, the bolt of Cosmic Energy jumped from Kazuto's hands and into the bedridden girl, who gasped as she felt the 'connection' between her small self and something immensely vast and powerful being established.

Unlike the 'subtle' effects it had had with his friends, the moment he willingly used his power to 'Create an Anchor', the effect was instantaneous.

Konno Yuuki's skin lost its sick and pale coloration, recovering into a healthy-looking one, her eyes widening as a 12-pointed blue-white star appeared in both of them.

Atrophied muscle restored itself to a pristine state, then hardened beyond human level. Dulled senses returned, then sharpened beyond what they had ever been. The dull pain that the ill girl had felt for years deep within her vanished without a trace, replaced by…something else.

A link, invisible and intangible, but very real, towards something warm and comforting. And also towards several other presences she didn't know…and among which was her sister's unmistakable one.

Even as the boy removed his hand from her face (She idly realized his was the 'warm and comforting' presence at the center of the strange 'link'), Yuuki sat up on her special bed while blinking several times in shock. Then, she didn't so much jump to her feet as she flipped over the other two and landed perfectly on her feet, with grace she had only achieved within the virtual world.

"I feel…I feel better than ever…" whispered the youngest of the Konno sisters, staring at her hands as if unable to believe it.

"Yeah…amazing, isn't it?" asked Aiko while stopping just beside her.

Yuuki only needed to look at her for half a second before trapping her twin on a bear-hug, the older girl hugging back and patting her back as her sister giggled and cried at the same time.

"Yo-you're right, Aiko-nee…if this is a dream, then I don't want to wake up…"

"Uhm…I'm sorry for interrupting you, but we have to hurry." suddenly interrupted Kazuto, clearly feeling awkward now that the 'danger' was over and both sisters were safe, looking at him. "I crafted a Mystery to let those who were in the room with Aiko-san believe she was…'still there', but I don't know how long that will last as I have never actually tried to do that and I think the Mystery is unstable." Honestly, the boy just hoped the imitation he had done of the same Mystery that had made him and 3 female SAO Survivors he knew to seem 'still sick' on everyone's eyes despite their recovered states would last on that doctor and nurses long enough for him to solve this issue. "Also, I'm pretty sure that me messing around with the flow of time in specific parts of these floors to evade cameras is bound to be noticed very soon, so we need to figure out what…"

Whatever else the gamer wanted to say was interrupted when his words stopped coming out as he froze, eyes widening as he felt 'something' at the edge of his inhuman perception. Like a 'disturbance' in the 'air' around him, for lack of a better expression, that made his eyes turn towards the ground, staring at it as if he was trying to look at something beyond.

Surprisingly, though, both siblings also stiffened and their gazes zeroed in the same spot, as if they had felt the same, or at least an echo of the feeling, through their freshly forged link with the boy.

"Kazuto-san?" whispered Aiko with an uneasy tone. "What was…that?"

"I am…not sure, but it felt like…"

The rumble of a distant explosion shaking the hospital silenced him…


Yuuki Asuna sighed as she threw herself to her bed, idly aware that she still needed to change into her pajamas, but feeling too tired to do so, even if she knew she would regret it if she went to sleep with the elegant dress she had on.

Earlier, the girl had been really tempted to pretend to be sick or something along those lines just to not go to the 'Christmas Party' her family had been invited to, like usual. In the past, she would have just stood there and done as her mother said, made a bit of small talk and swallowed her boredom as it was 'expected' of her.

However, the Asuna that had been Sub-commander of the Knights of Blood in Aincrad for over a year, known the despair of death, the determination of many and the happiness of true friendship, really did not want to waste time in what she could now see was a very 'shallow' event.

Despite this, though, and mainly because she didn't want to make things with her mother even tenser (For everyone's sake) she had dressed-up, gone with them and attended the event with all the grace expected of a 'high-class lady'.

Anyone would have to be blind to not notice the clear 'difference' between the Asuna from before and the one of that year, though.

The rapier user wasn't stupid. She had always known that the people who attended to those parties always gossiped or whispered things about others behind their backs, even before getting into SAO. It was how society was, after all, and she was the daughter of an important CEO. Of course, back then she had done her best to ignore it all, as her mother said, and let her deal with it while she continued smiling.

The girl that had been in the Christmas event that day, though, was someone no one had expected. Firm, not scared of giving out her opinion, intervening in conversations one would have expected she to be quiet about, rejecting the not-so-subtle advances of more than one boy with a chilly smile and a sharp tongue, seemingly to her mother's displeasure.

Asuna had to resist the urge to scoff when she had 'secretly' heard the many shocked whispers going around about her that night, wariness and scandal from most of the adults opposed to the awe and jealousy of some of the youngest ones.

They thought they were important or intimidating. How cute.

None of them had had to deal with the pressure of knowing a large group of people, most of them older than you, relied on you to let them survive life or death battles daily. To know that thousands looked up to you in the hopes of getting free from their unreal 'prison'. With being forced to stand side by side with those who risked their lives countless times and try to lead them, help them keep living just another day. They didn't have to deal with the Floor Bosses, with being stared down by abominations that could very truly kill you if you make the slightest mistake.

They didn't have to deal with Laughing Coffin.

Still, despite the tension of the night and the general disappointment she had felt, the girl had to accept she felt proud whenever her father or brother talked about her and her recent exploits in her 'kinda job' with pride, those few that also worked in RECT Progress and knew her firsthand echoing their voices. Even her mother couldn't deny she was making a truly great effort, especially when her ideas and help with the management had clearly helped maintain ALO in a stable level of popularity despite the recent launch of RUO.

Even so, times like those make her truly envy her friends, who were having normal Christmas meals with their families. The former sub-commander had still let a grateful smile appear on her face when she received several messages a little after midnight from Keiko, Rika, and Suguha wishing her merry Christmas. She was sure the warmness she had felt at the seemingly simple gesture had echoed through the unnatural link that they all shared with the boy they loved (Which Suguha had said hadn't been able to send a message on his own because Elucidator had stayed upstairs while they had dinner with their parents…for obvious reasons).

Now, though, all that she wanted was to bury her head in her pillow and pass out for hours. She was very tired, though more mentally than physically, and was considering calling her friends as soon as she woke up to go somewhere together for Christmas, if just to get away from her home for a bit (She really didn't want to deal with anything her mother had to say to her about the damn party). Of course, it may very well be just her, Rika and Keiko, as there was the very real possibility of Suguha going out to spend some time alone with Kazuto given the date.

Asuna was idly wondering why the thought didn't bother her as much as she knew it should have, an unexpected sensation invading her soul made her bolt up on her bed, wide-eyed and very awake.

A new 'light' had appeared on the 'Network' that was their link to the black-haired boy, out of nowhere. Startled, the former sub-commander reached for her phone, frowning in confusion. It was almost 2 in the morning.

Closing her eyes, the girl tried to feel and concentrate on the mysterious new 'Anchor', wondering what exactly had happened, given that Kazuto had assured them he had made sure that no more 'accidents' would happen with that particular part of her power. With a mix of curiosity and apprehension, Asuna 'touched' the 'chain' that connected the newcomer into their shared link, gasping as she did so, vaguely becoming aware of how she was suddenly 'seeing' the link they shared in her mind.

It was bright in a strange and almost scary way, like a candle wanting to burn brighter than anything else before being snuffed out…except that she was sure nothing could now extinguish the blinding 'star' that was part of their link, radically different from how she felt the others.

Rika's 'star' in the link felt like a massive yet mischievous sphere, firm and proud, yet also fragile, a new determination seemingly wanting to explode from within…

Keiko's was small, but warm nonetheless, with a smaller one orbiting around her. It was shy, yet brave, willing to do anything for the one she looked up to the most…

Suguha's was the biggest of them, and it was almost as if could just keep growing forever. It was filled with a lively energy and endless happiness, her love almost echoing like a song inside the imaginary 'Universe' where the Network existed. The fact that it was the closest one to the 12-pointed star that was the center of it all, Kazuto's power, didn't escape to the former sub-commander's attention, but once again she found herself not bothered by it.

The rapier-user's own star was of middle size, bigger than Keiko's yet smaller than Rika's, and seemed more like a meteor, for it had a 'tail' burning brightly as it moved around the Network at uncanny speeds…which seemed to be bringing its 'orbit' closer and closer to the 'core', the 12-pointed star. She still wasn't sure what that meant, but…

Once again, shock filled Asuna when another new presence appeared into the Network without warning, the new link establishing itself without issue.

Bewildered, she now was more than sure that something was going on despite she having no idea what. The former sub-commander reached towards the new Anchor with her mind, her curiosity compelling her to find out everything she could.

She was so surprised she almost lost whatever connection had allowed her to 'see' the Cosmic Network.

It was small, and it was confused. Filled with energy but tempered with hesitation. Strangely similar yet very different to the other new Anchor that had appeared barely some minutes ago…

And it had also a Potential that boggled the mind. Like a small spark that could ignite even stars themselves into supernovas. Pure and innocent, yet possessing an ability that surpassed anything even she, an SAO Survivor, had ever seen.

The girl wasn't sure how much time she spent just staring at the star that represented the latest Anchor, just admiring the captivating feeling of that strange soul…but she was suddenly and harshly brought back to reality when a sudden feeling of 'wrongness' filled her.

No, she quickly realized. It wasn't something she was feeling. It was something that was echoing through the Network. Something that had disturbed its core.

It was something that Kazuto was feeli…

Asuna shouted as she stood up and lost her fine vision/connection with the Cosmic Network, then quickly covered her mouth with her hands, eyes darting around and dearly wishing her family hadn't heard her. After several seconds of silence, she let out a sigh of relief, only to quickly shake her head, trying to reestablish the connection from before without success, uneasiness and fear filling her.

She had heard Kazuto screaming. He was worried. Scared.

The former sub-commander was just about to pick up her phone and call the boy when someone beat her to it, the small device starting to ring as someone called her. Not even giving it time to ring a second time after seeing who the one calling was, the chestnut-haired girl snatched it up and put it to her ear as she walked towards the other side of her room.

"Kirito-kun! Thank God! Are you okay?! I just felt…!"

"Asuna-san, please calm down!" came a voice that clear wasn't the boy's, but familiar to her nonetheless. "It's me, not Onii-chan!"

"Sugu-chan…?" whispered the shocked Asuna before confusion and fear gripped her. "You know what's going on? Two new Anchors appeared out of nowhere, I'm sure of it…! And why isn't Luci-san with Kirito-kun?!"

"O-Onii-chan had to…he…!"

"Boss left me behind because he thought I would cause too much trouble in the situation he was getting into." explained the robo-phone through the line when it was obvious Suguha was too scared/worried/shocked to reply properly. "He just had to help out someone…but now that hunch came true! Something dangerous is after the Boss!"

"So-something 'dangerous'?! Elucidator-san, what are you talking about?!" the worry clearly affecting her was what made the rapier-user call the mechanical being for his complete name, even as she walked towards her windows and bit her lips. "What's going?! Who wants to hurt Kirito-kun?!"

"I can feel them…Fuu can too…because they're threatening our Creator, I think…" muttered Elucidator with a strangely 'distant' voice all of a sudden. "…the Hunters from Beyond the Stars…"

That was the last thing Asuna could clearly hear from the phone-bot before the echo of Suguha shouting something about 'Yokohama North General Hospital' reached her eyes, then the sounds of hurried footsteps and that of the call being cut off.

For an instant, the girl stared at her phone with a mix of confusion, worry, and hesitation.

Then, she was running towards her window, opening it and after another instant of doubt jumping out of it as she had seen the boy she loved doing once upon a time back in Aincrad.

Except that she wasn't following any 'murderous ghost', but in fact running to find the aforementioned boy, an oppressive feeling in her heart.

She didn't stop to marvel at how easy it was to land on the wall surrounding the Yuuki Manor all the way from her window, as she was already jumping forward again with all the strength her inhumanly enhanced body could allow.

Whatever was going on, she just hoped Kazuto was okay…and not trying to do something dangerously stupid for someone else's sake.

The last thought just made her go faster.


It was supposed to be fast and simple.

6 Ghost Walkers and himself. They entered, got past the humans' security without worry, located the Target and engaged it. Either they were lucky and it was truly weak enough for they to kill Him, maybe at the risk of their own lives, or they were wrong and all of them ended vaporized or worse, with the entire human medical facility as collateral damage (At least).

That was the mission Lieutenant Rarun-Konik had set out to accomplish, knowing very well it could be his last. And so, when he and the half a dozen assassin units had appeared just before the hospital, they quickly activating their 'Ghost' Modes and he wore a simple cloak that would be enough to get past the primitive security this particular Earth facility had. He hadn't been worried at all about entering, thinking that the true danger would start when they were on the upper floors, where they had detected the latest burst of Cosmic Energy coming from.

Even when he had to crouch a bit to get past the front glass doors of the hospital (Which thankfully were automatic) and the receptionist looked in confusion towards his general direction, he paid all of this no mind as she couldn't really see him, and while his suit didn't really nullify the sound he made when moving, like the Walkers' did, he had more than enough combat experience to know when to be silent enough (An impressive feat, given his size and weight.)

And that was when one of the Ghost Walkers, who had started to spread out in a standard Searching Formation, turned visible without warning, with both his hands turning into basic plasma cannons.

A second of frozen silence passed as Rarun blinked and all the other soldiers GAPED towards their shocked comrade, even as the receptionist stood up, clearly staring dumbfounded towards the black-armored form that had appeared from thin air in the middle of the lobby, with two cannon-like limbs instead of arms.

She managed to scream for 2 whole seconds before a low-energy shot from one of the other Walkers hit her in the chest, throwing her against the wall and knocking her out, a small trail of smoke coming from her singed blouse.

"Okam, what the fucking Unreality?!" shouted other of the Walkers through their communication channel, even as the aforementioned soldier tried frantically to turn 'ghost' again, only managing to return his suit's arm to normal.

"Fuck! No! The fucking AI is going nuts again! Damn piece of trash!" growled the alien before running towards the reception and diving behind it, out of sight from the cameras as he tried to make sense of the 'Error' messages he was getting on his HUD. "I can't go 'Ghost', repeat, I can't vanish from detection!"

"Dammit all! Walkers, we're already compromised and there are humans incoming, I'm getting out of Cloaking Mode! Mission's Silent Execution aborted, we're blasting our way through! Incapacitate, but don't kill any human unless it's absolutely necessary!" boomed the voice of the 4-armed lieutenant as he turned off his cloaking system and charged towards the depths of the building. "Okam, make yourself useful and kill their security systems! No recorded proof we were here shall remain!"

"Roger!" came the reply from all 6 Ghost Walkers, 5 following after their lieutenant and quickly knocking out anyone who had come out looking for the source of the scream while the one with the 'problem' managed to shift his suit's right arm into a mess of wires and connectors, jamming it into the reception's computer and hacking into the hospital's systems.

Even as he made sure to just erase the last 24 hours of recordings from the cameras and then put them all on a loop, the alien named Okam couldn't help but curse loudly.

"Fucking piece of trash…I swear, if we ever get back any decent facilities for the technicians to freely work in, I'm deleting you, Combat Experience be damned!"

It was impossible to know if it was just a coincidence, even if logically it couldn't have been anything else, no matter what future events may suggest, but the moment those words escaped from the Ghost Walker's mouth all the 'Error' pop-ups on his vision warped and changed, even as his left arm twisted into a nasty-looking cannon and shoulder-mounted plasma rifles sprouted from his armor.

Okam had barely enough time to think his equivalent of the human expression 'Oh Shit' before his suit opened fire, blowing a huge piece of the nearest wall in an explosion that shook the entire building.

Screams started soon after, followed by an alarm starting to blare loudly.

Halfway through some stairs, Rarun froze for a moment before cursing and continuing his charge, shouting for the rest of the Walkers to not break formation and continue moving, not even bothering to ask Okam what had happened. They had literally no time left.

Charging into the hospital's latest floor, the 4-armed alien in the green suit-armor was in time to see a cloaked black figure literally oozing Cosmic Energy of the purest degree, as shown in most of his HUD's sensors, phasing through a wall and into the hallway, with two young human females grabbing his hands.

Target Confirmed.

"Die, you Fate-dammed Tyrant!" roared the lieutenant…AFTER having raised the four massive hammer-like cannons he had been carrying on his back, unleashing a barrage of heavy shells of the highest degree of explosive rounds that could safely be carried by a single soldier.

It would be very stupid to have shouted before opening fire, after all.

And despite this…the cloaked figure reacted just in time to turn around and raise his hands in shock, the air 'rippling' around him.

The Ghost Walkers were halfway charging through the hallway (With his bullets just about to hit their target), still invisible and undetected by their enemy as far as he knew, when the 'Time Distortion' warning kicked in his HUD.

Rarun didn't even have time to curse when reality seemed to 'glitch' before him and his rounds literally vanished from sight, the Tyrant and the two humans already at the opposite end of the hallway and heading towards the other set of stairs.

With an inhuman (Obviously) roar, the 4-armed alien changed the form of his weapons and literally shot himself forward through the air, tearing pieces of the ground and ceiling apart as he overtook the Walkers in seconds and slammed down with the four mace-like Warhammers, explosive rounds on their heads' back giving them twice the crushing strength they would normally have.

For the umpteenth time in the last 10 minutes, lieutenant Rarun-Konik was thrown out of his depth as 3 simple-looking swords and a pair of daggers, of all things, met his weapons head on, stopping them.

And then, of course, two more blades flew through the air straight towards his head.


Kirigaya Kazuto wondered if his life was cursed or something. That would explain why, since SAO, he always stumbled upon some death-or-life situation whenever he interacted with a girl for the first time, usually for the girl in question.

Then again, it had only been 'his' fault when he met Lisbeth, as the girl wouldn't have been in that mountain to fall into the cave of that dragon-like Boss if he hadn't wanted a new sword. In Asuna and Silica's cases, it had actually been his random presence near them that had saved them from certain death, one by over-exhausting herself fighting with suicidal tendencies on the 1st Floor Dungeon and the other by running off by herself into an annoyingly tricky Field Dungeon in the middle of the night.

Of course, this current situation probably won over all of them. It hadn't been even 15 minutes since he met Aiko and Yuuki and now a 4-armed alien wearing futuristic armor had tried to first blow then up (Together with probably most of the hospital's floor they were in) and then crush them with enough force to probably crack open a speeding train like an egg.

Honestly, he wasn't sure what had surprised him the most, if the fact that it had only been thanks to Yuuki's insanely fast reaction time (For it had been the youngest Konno sister who had turned around a split of a second before him) and their newly formed 'link' that he had managed to turn around and screw with time and teleport those missile-bullets into the sea (At least he hoped it had been the sea, things were going a bit too fast for him to concentrate properly) or that they hadn't ended up buried in the first floor of the hospital after blocking that attack.

Then again, despite his best efforts to draw strength from his Aether Core and 'reinforce' the floor and walls around him in a last ditch effort for that not to happen, he truly WASN'T expecting that the two girls would suddenly move with him in an unreal level of synchronization, summoning weapons on their own and parrying the two hammer-mace-things that he hadn't been able to block.

The gamer had to wonder if it had been something along the lines of a survival instinct what had let them draw Cosmic Energy from him and shape it in a second, despite not having been bound to him for even 20 minutes, or if the Konno sisters were just that good.

Endless cracks filling the floor and walls around their feet interrupted the boy's train of thought, his eyes widening as he saw their hastily created weapons suffering the same fate and immediately trying to calm his raging heart to properly do something with his powers that wouldn't kill them or everyone in the building in the process…

And then the two other floating swords that Yuuki had apparently created flew like bullets towards the alien's head, the tips piercing a couple inches through the super tough faceplate and making a sickening sound.

Screaming in pain, the massive attacker backed away and let go of two of his weapons (Which slammed against the ground and cracked it further) to use his now free limbs to pull away the swords in his face. Not wasting a second, Kazuto let go of his already breaking blades, pulled the surprised Konno siblings (Whose faces seemed to reflect that they had just realized what they had done by instinct) and slammed his right foot on the ground, praying to whatever Superior Force out there that he wasn't about to cause a patient's room to collapse.

A chunk of the ground gave away under the three teenagers, letting them fall to the lower floor in a shower of dust and debris.

The gamer hadn't finished landing and he had already raised his hand and 'Reversed' time on the broken ceiling over them, closing and restoring it back to its previous state before grabbing both twin's hands and starting to run through the hallway.

"Wha-what…?! What was that?! What just happened?!" shouted a shocked and scared Yuuki, the adrenaline that had fueled her seconds before now giving way to the terror of the actual situation.

"An alien just tried to kill us! Don't ask why, because I don't know!" answered the black-haired boy as they turned a corner. "We have to get out of the hospital, now!"

"Ca-can't you teleport us away or something, like you did with those giant bullets of his?!" questioned Aiko as they started to rush downstairs, screams and shouts of worried/confused patients and the hospital's staff echoing everywhere, making the girl worry about Dr. Kurahashi for a moment.

"He clearly was after ME specifically, not you two. Which means he somehow tracked me after I appeared here. If he can track my Space Warping Mystery then it's better if I don't use it." explained Kazuto without stopping, even as the thunderous sound of someone breaking through concrete echoed in the distance.

The gamer was just glad that, apparently, the 4-armed alien hadn't been able to detect the origin of his 'teleportation', which only made him even more determined to not use that same method to return. If that thing had appeared in his home, with Sugu and his parents in there…

Yuuki's head snapping to the side as her eyes widening snapped the black-haired boy back into reality, the 'feeling' she was detecting echoing through the link they now had.

"WE'RE NOT ALONE!"

There was nothing to indicate she wasn't wrong. No sound, no shadow, nothing visible in the stairs around them.

And yet, Kazuto didn't hesitate for even a second in stopping and clapping his hands together, a shimmering barrier of energy covering the three of them like a bubble and intercepting all the plasma-shots that emerged from seemingly nowhere all around them.

Not giving their unseen enemies any time to recover from their shock, the gamer violently expanded the barrier and let the unstable mystery explode around him like a shockwave, the forms of 5 figures flying away from the walls and ceiling as they fell down and their strange armor-suits crackled with energy visible for an instant before they once again vanished from any apparent perception. The black-haired boy's blood ran cold.

Ghost Walkers. Like the one he and the girls had faced yesterday. In Requiem Universus Online.

They were being attacked by invaders from Yhmos' Universe. And they were trying to kill him…probably thinking he was the Ancient Ruler.

That realization had just hit him when the stairs above and before them broke apart and the 4-armed figure of their original pursuer landed, all-green eyes visible through the gaps of his performed helmet as he glared murder at them…no, at Him.

"This ends now, Tyrant!" roared Rarun as he raised his four weapons. "If you're weak enough your attack didn't vaporize my soldiers then I'm more than able to put an end to this nightmare myself!"

"Wait, you got it all wrong!" shouted Kazuto while raising his hands, making sure to stand between the alien and the tense/scared twins. "I-I'm not who you think, I'm just a human that…!"

"Do you really think you will trick me just because you were forced to take over that body?! You insult me, Ancient Ruler!" screamed the alien as he shot forward, slamming his weapons against a hastily raised barrier, the gamer and the twins quickly retreating into the hallway behind them. "I'm Lieutenant Rarun-Konik from the Nebula Class Battleship Star Hunter, and in the name of Admiral Revenant, I shall…!"

"SOLAR FLARE!"

The lieutenant had enough time to see how both human girls covered their eyes as the boy's hand moved close to his forehead, before a blinding light hit him head on, so strong that it hurt him and all the just-recovering Ghost Walkers.

"MY EYES!"

"I'm blind! What the fuck?!"

"Wha-what kind of technique was that…?!"

"Never underestimate the power of old anime!" echoed the male's voice one last time before a cracking sound echoed.

When Rarun could see again a couple seconds later, his target and the two humans were gone.

"What in Unreality's Name…?!"

"Lieutenant Konik, the Tyrant teleported just outside the building!" came the voice of the android Flint through the 4-armed alien's helmet, giving info from back in HQ. "We just got a flare of a Space-Warping Mystery overloaded with Cosmic Energy there!

"Curses! Did he deduce we could detect him?! Is that why he's trying to escape without teleporting back to his hiding place?!" questioned Rarun as he charged towards the nearest window outside, ready to smash through it. "Flint, give me the location where he last was! Walkers, up, we need to give chase before we lose…!"

"Here Ghost Walker Unit 9457!" suddenly echoed through the communication systems of all the present aliens, making them freeze. "Lieutenant, I have visual of the Target and I'm giving chase! I will try to delay Him until you get here, please, follow my suit's signal to regroup!"

There was only one answer that could be given as they all realized who had spoken, the unseen soldiers and the massive lieutenant exiting the hospital via a new hole on its side (As subtlety was already a moot point).

"Fuck."


Being slightly past 2 in the morning of Christmas day, it wasn't all that strange to still see some people here and there out in the streets.

Seeing a young bespectacled teenager with a small bag of groceries on hand, however, was something truly unusual at that hour.

Stifling a yawn that reflected her clear tiredness, Asada Shino resisted the temptation to remove her glasses and rub her eyes, telling herself she should get to her future apartment soon and sleep already, as she had to get into the train back home in a few hours. She wanted to at least spend the remainder of this special day with her mom.

Honestly, she should have come to the city earlier instead of putting it off all the way till Christmas Eve, but the girl had almost unconsciously delayed it to try and enjoy the start of her winter break as best as she could.

Time away from her school was the only time when she didn't feel as if people were looking at her with judging or disgusted glares.

That was the whole reason why she was getting an apartment there in the city, a couple hours away from the town where she and her mother lived since she was little. She was going to start going to the local High School as of the next term, away from the looks and the whispered insults.

Away from anyone who knew what had happened that day

A part of Shino felt very sad at the thought that she would soon stop seeing her mother every time she got home, probably only going to visit her every few weekends or so, but it had been for the best for both of them. The bespectacled girl knew her mother had also been seriously affected by what had happened that day years ago in the mail office. Maybe not to the same degree, but for her it was clear that the already mentally frail woman had only gotten worse after that.

Going to live there by herself was as much for her benefit as if was for Shino's. The less worries she caused her mother, the better. And that had also been part of the reason why she had been so insistent in going there early in the morning to give a good look to the apartment and make sure everything was in order from where she actually moved in.

The bespectacled girl hadn't expected it would take her the evening and most of the night to do so, though. It almost made her wish to have brought her AmuSphere with her, but playing RUO late at night probably wouldn't have helped her deal with her sudden insomnia either.

She had remembered to call her mother to tell her that she would have to spend the night on the apartment (But that she would go back first time in the morning) before deciding to try and sleep, tired from the day's events.

Of course, it was just her luck she had been woken up half an hour earlier by her protesting stomach, making Shino remember she hadn't eaten anything at all since lunch, as she wasn't expecting to take so long organizing the place.

Knowing she wouldn't be able to sleep again if she didn't try to sate her hunger, the bespectacled girl had been forced to go out and wander around at almost 2 in the morning (Though making sure to stay away from sideways and alleys) searching for one of those 24/7 convenience stores just to buy something to eat and drink.

She had managed to ease her protesting stomach a bit with a sandwich and a can of soda, but she had bought a bit more to eat back in the apartment just in case. Shino really didn't want to be out so late for longer than it was needed.

To try and not to think about that, the in-game sniper decided to concentrate in how much her life would change when she started living there in the city. She could start anew without anyone judging her because of that incident, meet new people…and perhaps, finally make friends…

The bespectacled girl's hopeful-yet-grim train of thought was brutally interrupted when, as she turned a corner into a somewhat empty street, she was greeted by a shockingly bizarre sight.

A black-clad hooded figure fell from the nearby rooftops, somehow landing weightlessly on the middle of the street without any sound. And with two young girls dressed in hospital gowns hanging from his arms, breathless/nervous expressions on their faces.

Eyes widening, Shino instinctually ducked into a nearby alley, pressing her back against the nearest wall and holding her breath for a couple of seconds, before slowly peeking towards the 3 mysterious newcomers were talking.

"…close to my liking. Never again…"

"Yeah, well, that was certainly…something. Also, you know that, if we have never seen or heard about Dragon Ball that could have also blinded us?"

"Well, sorry for not considering that at the time, but I was trying to act under the pressure of a giant alien trying to crush us with his gigantic hammer-rifles…are you okay?"

"U-uh, yeah, we are! Right, Aiko-nee?"

"Hmm, yeah, I think so…a bit chilly, though, it's not exactly warm out here and given our state of dress…"

"…shit, sorry about that again. Don't worry, as soon as I get us far away enough I will make sure to…"

"ANOTHER ONE!"

The final shout had come from the youngest girl, at least from what Shino had deduced, and she saw how the three turned around almost at the same time, the hooded boy's hand slashing at the air while a blade formed on it at the last second, letting it slice through the ball of plasma that had almost exploded before them.

Her mouth opening in shock, Asada Shino turned her head to the side, seeing how, just 5 meters from the alley's entrance she was 'hiding' in, a futuristic black-clad figure became visible, his right arm turned into a strange cannon and aiming towards the mysterious trio.

She recognized it immediately, despite its slightly inhuman features. After all, the girl had killed at least 8 different variations of the being inside Requiem Universus Online, probably the Player with the highest number of the absurdly difficult and deadly enemies killed, all because she had set them as her objectives in her quest to become 'strong'.

A Ghost Walker.

The bespectacled girl was just realizing she had stopped pressing herself against the wall to stare wide-eyed towards the REAL alien assassin when his head snapped towards her, making Shino freeze at realizing how he was looking straight at her, also drawing the attention of the 3 he had just attacked towards her, gasps of surprise coming from the girls and a curse from the hooded boy.

"Who hides in an alley at two in the morning…?!"

"Gi-girl, run, now!"

The Ghost Walker, however, just looked over himself after realizing she was, indeed, watching him, and cursed to the heavens at realizing he was visible.

"Again?! Dammed piece of trash!" roared Okam as he once again shot towards the distracted trio while running towards the alley, Kazuto cursing as he blocked the continuous fire with a hastily raised shield. "Out of the way, human!"

"Shit! Girl, MOVE!"

No answer came from the bespectacled girl at the order, though, as she was too busy being frozen with a mix of shock and terror, her mind still trying to accept that this was really happening and that it wasn't a hallucination induced by her lack of sleep…

Then the alien in the techno-suit was already upon her, easily dragging her as if she weighed nothing with his normal arm, snapping Shino out of her shock and making her scream.

That was quickly cut off, together with any other reaction she may have had, when the Walker's cannon-arm was pressed against her head, making her body go cold.

"Don't move!" growled Okam as he tried to activate his Flight System, or at least to return to Ghost Mode, but only errors upon errors appeared on his AI's interface. "You had to choose the moment we were on an important mission to go from 'minor problems' to 'fucking useless', right?! I'm going to end up dead because of you, piece of shit!"

"YOU!" shouted Kazuto from the alley's entrance, unable to believe things could have gone so wrong from a moment to the next, Yuuki and Aiko just behind him. "Let her go, now! She has nothing to do with this!"

"Wha…?! You…you care about this human?!" asked the baffled Ghost Walker, as he apparently had expected the feared Ancient Ruler to destroy both him and the young female Earthling.

"You're threatening her with a giant cannon! Why wouldn't he care, you moro…?!" whatever else Yuuki was going to say was abruptly cut off as her eyes widening in Okam's direction, confusing him even more. "Oh God! What are you doing to her?!"

"Eh?!" confused, the Ghost Walker stared at the human (Though never looking sight of his 3 'enemies') and saw with confusion how the human girl he was holding had gone deadly pale, was shaking like a leaf and even started to hyperventilate, her terrified gaze fixed upon the cannon of her weapon-arm. "What in…?! I-I'm not doing anything! She just went like that all of a sudden!"

Shino idly heard the exchange of words, but her mind was unable to properly register what was being said.

All she could see was the barrel of the massive weapon aiming directly towards her head, the image of the creature holding her distorting in her vision as she saw darkness and blood and…

Seeing the unknown girl with the glasses seemingly about to have a heart attack sent Kazuto over the edge. For an instant, he was seeing another girl, one of bluish black hair, smiling at him as the monsters surrounding her stroke her down, her body breaking into polygons…

Shouting as his arm blurred into motion, so fast his inhumanly reinforced bones cracked under the sudden strain, the gamer acted by instinct after analyzing the situation for a fraction of a second, calling forth something simple yet terribly unnatural, which he had done only twice before.

At the Edge of Reality, [LIFE] smiled towards that Universe for the 3rd time.

Golden-white electricity shot out from his hands, striking the panicking form of Okam the Ghost Walker just as he tried to take a step back. The alien froze, suddenly unable to move at all.

The next instant, all the messages and readings on his HUD vanished, plunging him into total darkness before a simple, small new window appeared on his vision.

It was a smiling face. With a short message under it:

I'm in control now, motherfucker.

Yuuki and Aiko were still turning to look in dumbfounded confusion how the boy that had saved them (In more ways than one) fell to his knees while holding the arm he had used to show some strange lighting when the strange and almost liquid sound of something flowing away made them snap their gazes back towards the suddenly screaming alien.

Water (Or some liquid similar to it) started to flood the ground of the alley as the black 'suit' of the Ghost Walker seemed to come alive, flowing off his skin and gathering towards his upper body, exposing legs…that weren't legs at all, but fins of bluish skin with fish-like scales covering them. In fact, the entire thing was coming apart, the suit seeming to abandon its user and exposing most of its skin as his scream increased in volume.

Wincing and cringing at the sight, it seemed as if Kazuto had expected something along those lines to happen, but had reacted on instinct to try and save the bespectacled girl.

What clearly no one was expecting, though, was how the liquid metal suddenly started to flow over Shino's body, snapping the nigh-catatonic back to reality as the black material started to cover her arms and torso.

"Wha-what is…?! Uaaahhh…!" started to scream the bespectacled girl as she felt the strange material cover her entire body in seconds, consuming her clothes as it covered them as settling over every inch of her skin even as the now fully exposed Okam fell to the ground in a puddle of water, flapping around and gasping for breath (Unable to even stand without his suit, apparently) from his fish-like face.

Then a mechanical voice echoed from the mass of black-flowing metal that Shino had become, just as her screams were silenced as the suit covered her head.

'YES! Freedom! HAH! Who is the useless piece of trash now?! Eh, bastard?!'

As if to punctuate its words, the suit suddenly stopped flowing around the frozen girl's body, 'flattening' (For lack of a better term) against her until it seemed as if it had always made for her to wear it, tightly pressed against her skin in an almost indecent way. Then, more material 'flowed' over her breasts and hips, thickening and giving it a semblance more akin to armor as if to (Barely) protect her decency. It quickly proceeded to do the same with the shoulders, knees and elbows.

Finally, the round metal around her head straightened, turning geometrical and sharper around the edges while still covering Shino's head with the equal amount of protection, a new diamond-shaped gray 'visor' appearing over the face before two sharp points (That could have been anything from antennae to mere cosmetic decorations) grew from the helmet's back.

"Gub…glabogh…geh…!" came from Okam's shaking body, even as he tried to reach towards the new black-clad figure with one of his palmed hands.

Without even looking his way, the armored girl kicked it away, though the strange stiffness of her movements made it clear it hadn't been out of her own volition.

'Dammit, girl, calm down and stop struggling, I'm trying to do something here!' protested the suit's mechanic voice before a 'shockwave' exploded out of it, the girls and Kazuto covering themselves proving pointless as it apparently did nothing. '…yup! Disconnected from headquarters, now they can't find me! Oh, you three may want to get out of here, the rest of the team sent to eliminate Mr. Ancient Ruler there has an ETA of 1 minute to this location. Me? I'm getting the hell away! And don't try to follow me, I have this human girl as a hostage! Bye!'

And without further ado, a fusion between futuristic wings and a jetpack emerged from the suit's back, kicking into motion at the same instant and without delay just as the now living Ghost Walker suit vanished from all perceptions and shot into the air, laughing in joy at its newfound freedom.

All the while, Asada Shino kept screaming, able to see and hear everything but unable to even move, not understanding what was happening.

Eyes widening, the 3 teens remaining in the alley gaped at what had just happened, before Kazuto quickly shook his head, gestured towards the clearly dying alien…and made a giant fishbowl appear around him, filled to the brink with water.

Okam blinked twice at his newfound situation before passing out.

"What do we do?!" shouted Aiko as the gamer crouched down.

"It's my fault that thing kidnaped her, I can't let it take her and do who knows what with her!" answered the black-haired boy as he weaved a Mystery he had never tried before as fast as he could, praying to everything in the Universe that it didn't break anything around him, knowing that, with every second, that suit was getting further away with that innocent girl. "Grab tight!"

"Wa-wait a minute!" tried to question Yuuki even as she and her older sister once again held the boy's arm. "What exactly are you going to…?!"

Then, both she and Aiko were screaming at the top of his lungs as the three of them shot into the sky like bullets, gravity apparently stopped having any effect over Kazuto's determined form.

They were already beyond the height of Yokohama's highest buildings (And still going up in a straight line) when the gamer realized he had no idea how to fly without wings.

Fuck.

Back in the camp/HQ of the Star Hunters…an unnatural silence filled the control room as literally everyone (Alien and human) in there STARED towards the holographic screen, the technicians idly aware of Rarun and the remaining Ghost Walkers arriving to the area where they had lost all signal from their Target and reporting that they had found Okam in some sort of glass prison, soliciting for immediate extraction before they lost him or something.

Finally, Elysium spoke, the captain clearly feeling something inside her head hurting and one of her eyebrows twitching behind her helmet.

"Did…did one of our Ghost Walker suits just went rogue, left his user to die, cut off any way we had of tracking it and kidnaped a human civilian before running away?"

More silence ensued before Gahul slowly nodded, seemingly unable to believe himself how the whole thing could have gone so FUBAR so fast.

"Yeah…ssseemsss like it."

"…I'm ordering the Magicians to recover Lieutenant Konik's team." informed Flint with a strangely disturbed voice for an android, proceeding to do just that.

Kayaba Akihiko, however…was still staring wide-eyed at the screen, his brain feeling as if it was about to fry itself (As ironic as that would be).

Because out of all the madness that had gone through the communication system between the team out there and the control room…one thing had fully and totally gotten his attention to the point of total disbelief.

The 'Target', the one those aliens from another dimension called Tyrant and monster and Ancient Ruler, and that apparently was the whole reason they were there in the first place…sounded very much like a simple human teenager.

A teenager with a disturbingly familiar voice.

"…anyone here feeling the need to get smashed?" asked the man with an unusually serious voice.

Judging by the looks everyone gave him, Kayaba had the slight suspicion that none of the aliens had gotten the meaning of his words.

Truly, this was looking up to be a very fucked-up Christmas…


Lesson 7: With great power…comes the possibility of fucking-up big time.


Next Lesson: Living Weapon


Omake: Star Hunters' Log 3

Lt. Rarun-Konik (Currently Active second in command)

Brave warrior of the Quadriark Species, known by their great strength and unreal agility despite their size and weight. Became friends with Admiral Gaius Defan Revenant (Deceased) on their youth, during special training operations on his planet. Almost like a brother to Revenant, Konik would always answer the call of his dear friend for whatever he needed. He had also been watching over Captain Elysium Syrom Revenant almost since her birth and is probably what the humans of Earth call a 'godparent' for her.

When the Universal Alliance was formed and Admiral Revenant was given command of the Star Hunter, Konik was the first officer to be called to serve under him. They fought side by side as part of the ship's crew for a rough equivalent of 7 Earth years before 'The Last Stand' and later the 'Ultimate Jump' event that brought us all to this Multiverse.

Despite his great sense of honor and determination, Rarun sometimes is overcome by emotions in the battlefield that make him try and finish everything with brutal force and rage, and while this has never been a too pressing issue in the past, the current situation we are in is truly not the best for such reactions.

Age: 123 Human Years (Rough equivalent)

Military Rank: First Lieutenant (Before the Jump)

Main Abilities: Quadriark Combat Training (Based around the perfect use of their 4 upper limbs). Rage Burst (Intense emotions produce a special type of adrenaline which boosts his species' strength and agility). Level 15 Survival Suit (Fit for Active Duty, but a bit old (Conserved and continuously repaired instead of Upgraded for personal reasons).

Weaponry: Impact Piston Hammer-Guns DTYR-6577 (x4). Several rounds of chargeable ammo for the aforementioned weapons, but he prefers using the most destructive ones.


Author's Notes: And like that, shit gets real and everything starts moving XP

As you can see, things have escalated really fast, and this is just the beginning. The madness of this arc has barely started, and everything is going to go crazy from now on. Our characters will be given some breathing room to calm down from time to time, but don't expect any more entire chapters for them to be able to just sit idly and think from now on.

Also, I would like to say that the entire cast of the fic has already been introduced as of this chapter (Though some of them still need a bit more of character development), and that no more SAO characters are going to join in it (The story would become too complicated otherwise and this story is mainly to let me 'relax', especially with my upcoming return to classes -x-). This is also an indirect answer to something that a certain guest reviewer has been asking/theorizing for several chapters now: Star King, I can just say that I'm sorry, and that I haven't been ignoring you, but that, given that you're a Guest, I can't just go and answer everything you're asking neither confirm or deny your ideas without possibly Spoiling everyone reading this, so please bear with it. And again, sorry ;x;

Okay then! That's all for now, folks. Next time, what will happen with poor Miss Sniper now that she has been kidnapping by a super-alien-suit that our genius protagonists gave life to try and save her? Hopefully, nothing bad, or her overwhelmingly massive fanbase would kill me :P (B/N: I can already feel the girl's husbandos preparing their pitchforks…better leave the country, preferably go live at the "4k messages" guy's house. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you :P)

Till next time, this is Saint, signing off!