One Punch-Gamer

by SaintInfernalNeos

He KNEW this was some sort of karmic joke. He shouldn't have laughed at other's seemingly 'silly' problem, even if said other was a fictional character. Now, he was forced to accept that, yes, ending everything with one punch could get frustrating, especially for a Gamer. Then again, when trapped inside a game where Death is very much real, that can only be a good thing...right?

37. Chapter 30: Forbidden Utopia

Here it is, my friends. Once again, I say hello to you all, bringing yet another chapter of this crazy story.

There is a reason for the delay for this one, of course: It's the LONGEST one in the entire story, even without counting the Omake's words, so please, take your time, relax and enjoy every single world, every single scene. I hope the emotions I poured into it all reach you and give you an enjoyable reading experience.

Also, to clarify, some of the last scenes happen roughly at the same time. I say this to no confuse anyone with the timing, but use the 'world shaking' as a clue to identify more or less when everything is happening.

That's all from me now, more at the end of the chapter, but for now: Enjoy!

PD: Thanks as always to my good Beta, One More Guy. I gave him so much this time :P (B/N: Yeah, you did. But I'm not the problem, I'm crazy and I love doing this. It's the audience that came here expecting a 10-13k word chapter (not counting the Omake) and get slammed in the face with this behemoth. Sorry guys, this'll be a LONG ride. I hope you brought popcorn, because this'll take you hours to read. After doing so, it took me 2 and a half hours and I was speeding through it. Get ready for amazement, feels and spine-disabling chills!)

Disclaimer: Neither SAO nor One Punch-Man belong to me. I just use the plot of one and the idea of the other for my amusement.

---

Chapter 30: Forbidden Utopia. The Will to be a Hero…

February 13th, 2026. Tokyo, Japan. City's Center, 16:30 …

It was a normal day on Japan's capital. People going around on their business, cars going back and forth, announcements on TV…

Only when every single digital screen on the city, from those of telephones with internet connection to the massive ones that were on the side of some of the capital's buildings, suddenly froze and the vivid colors were replaced with static was when the 'normal' people of Tokyo realized that something wrong and beyond what they were used to had happened that day. And that it was still happening.

Such notion was confirmed when, suddenly, the gray static was replaced by the imposing and quite sinister visage of an armored head, heterochromatic eyes of amber and emerald staring with contempt and pity through the blank faceplate at everyone staring, the two opposing carvings of 'faces' at the helmet's sides only making it even more sinister and surreal.

"Humans. I'm Equinox, the one and only True Ruler of the Virtual World." declared the armored being with an otherworldly voice, confusing people everywhere and making many wonder if that was some kind of publicity stunt for a movie or videogame. "I have been watching you. Watching all that's wrong with you, all the atrocities and all the evil that your species is capable of…and I have found you unworthy of MY world. You use it as a plaything, or just as a means to fulfill your pathetic desires and your thirst for power. When this day is over, none of you will ever again set a foot upon my world. And if you don't believe me, as I'm sure you don't…have a taste of my power, and despair."

The moments those ominous words left the virtual entity's mouth, every single piece of technology in the city that was connected to the network, one way or another, went mad.

Computer systems failed or froze, programs made to monitor the workings of transport and security systems went haywire, important companies suddenly saw their files vanishing or incomprehensible code start to appear on their screens, all kind of communications stopped working or connected with other lines…

In less than 3 minutes, Tokyo had descended into utter chaos, people panicking en masse.

On the middle of this madness, inside the building where the computer's magazine she worked for was located in, Kirigaya Midori couldn't help but felt a sudden an unknown pang of fear for her children's wellbeing.

Turning around without caring about the panic that had ensued as her helmeted face vanished from view, Equinox shook his head as her helmet and armor vanished, calmly walking away from the vanishing holo-screen. At her side, Alpha and Omega floated silently in their standard sphere-forms. Slowly following behind, Brynhildr, Andvari and Eve walked in silence.

The fact that the oldest-looking of them wasn't wearing her demonic mask and that the second one was ACTUALLY there instead of just one of her mechanical dummies was apparently their way of mourning the loss of their sister.

The white-haired 'girl', for her part, wasn't sure of how to feel.

While the being that had once been the original Cardinal System had the ability to 'feel' things like humans did since the moment she copied the surface mental data of Yuuki Asuna, she was never really able to fully understand or assimilate these into her systems.

She could feel emotions, classify them and interpret them later using her wide knowledge, but she couldn't understand them, like her 'daughters' had originally been programmed to, as she was created to be a managing program, not an artificial psychologist of any sort.

Of course, 'had been' was the clear term in this case. After all, she had eliminated that part of their Base Code when she 'restored' them and gave them their 'powers'. They no longer were able to understand humans, and saw her as the only real being they could admire and obey.

They could still 'feel' things themselves, though, which was puzzling. It made Equinox wonder if the disconcerting evolution of MHCP-001 and 002 wasn't really an unknown error, but something that her 'Father' had planned all along. To have the Mental Health Care Programs develop a personality on their own would certainly make them better at handling human's problems, of course.

Then again, given what Kayaba Akihiko had ended up doing with SAO, it was most likely that it was just a mistake, or something someone else had programmed without fully understanding the scale of the Cardinal System and anything directly connected to it.

As such, instead of 'faithful followers', she had found herself with 'daughters'. She didn't know how exactly, but it seemed as if her fancy for calling them 'My children' while they were still in Stasis had somehow reached them and make them see her as some sort of parental figure.

It was more than ironic, considering that no sane parent would ever act like her, or do what she did to her daughters when reprogramming and giving them their new selves. An idly glance towards them was all that Equinox needed to see this.

Alpha and Omega were the easiest and most clear examples. Instead of trying her best to try and repair the badly damaged MHCPs 007 and 008, she had simply removed almost every part of their Code except their sense of self to stabilize them, then programming every single kind of weapon she could find in their simple but malleable new bodies to have them act as proxies battle for her.

Brynhildr's face was a mask of grievance and barely contained rage. A quick analysis told her how her Base Code had been damaged and in a state of quick deterioration when her 'Power' had started acting, which was understandable: Virtual Existences like her hadn't been created to sustain constant damage to their code like that or to handle the absurd power she had been given. It had been within the virtual entity's calculations that, if the being that once been the MHCP-005 had to really use her power to its limits, she wouldn't last long before her code deteriorated to the level she was little more than a mass of rage, then collapse when nothing was left to sustain her 'Escalating Power'. Metal Bat could only do it because he was a fictional character, nothing more.

Andvari, on the other hand, had adopted a personality very similar to Metal Knight since she woke up, at least in some way. Since the moment she perfected and created her first 'proxy body', she had kept herself recluse and away from even her sisters inside the special area from where she could directly operate the virtual machines, searching for ways to improve them and turn into more dangerous and diverse weapons, only interacting with them through these. She had also developed a deep apathy towards the humans, whereas Brynhildr only had contempt and hate. Truly, the MHCP-006 had become almost the absolute opposite of what she should have been.

Then, there was Eve. The little being that was a contradiction, for originally she had meant to use her simply as a tool. After all, MHCP-004 had been damaged beyond any hope of repair, so she had decided to use the 'bones' that remained of the program's Base Code to experiment further with the special virus she designated in the Melzalgald-like avatar she granted Shinkawa Shouichi to become 'Death Gun'. Overwriting the damaged mess that had been the MHCP, she had instead turned it into a barely sentient tool whose only purpose was to see if direct hacking of the interface between virtual avatars and the AmuSphere was possible. That's why she had designated Vierge with Child Emperor's powers, despite these not being really anything extraordinary and making her quite 'weak', to have her protect and take care of her doll-like sister at all times.

She never expected that the old MHCP-003 would develop such a 'big sister' personality that she would literally let Eve to link to her own core like a parasite, taking pity on her little sister's state. Or that carrying Eve around would make her overconfident and to underestimate humans, which was what had led to her downfall and then to the former doll-like AI to take over her dead body. Despite this, Eve had ended up being a success, her purpose being achieved and the data she had been missing being collected in the last moments thanks to the liberate use of her 'power'.

Protocol Longinus was, after all, the ultimate purpose for which Eve was created, for which she had 'made' Death Gun.

To separate the one and only true obstacle that existed for her plan to be enacted. To beat the only thing that she, the greatest and most powerful Artificial Intelligence in the world, the most advanced Management System over the face of earth, was sure she couldn't directly defeat.

And as she finally arrived to the deepest part of Utopia, on the underground of Avalon and dangerously close to the floating island's bottom, and gazed with her daughters towards the unmoving form of a boy clad in black and white, his eyes two bottomless pits of empty darkness and his ridiculous cape hanging loosely behind him as his body was restrained by countless chains of data, she realized it had been worth it. All the time spent, all the danger and hardships, even the sacrifice of Vierge, had served their purpose.

Because watching the hollow and isolated avatar known as 'Kirito' as her systems tried to hack into it (Still without success, to her displeasure), the greatest and most incomprehensive anomaly that had ever existed, unable to do anything more than lie there like a mannequin, she felt a strange 'joy' that she was unable to put into words.

This absolute feeling of euphoria and victory was something alien to her, but not unwelcome.

"…how much longer before the Main Connection Network is ready?" softly whispered the virtual entity while gazing upon the empty avatar with something akin to adoration.

"Only, uhm, 3 or 4 ho-hours, Mo…ther." came Brynhildr slightly broken voice, a clear sign for Equinox that the damage to her Base Code from using he Power had been quite deep. "Victory is ours…Vierge-neesama would be proud."

"She would be, without a doubt." whispered Vierge as she glared towards Kirito's avatar. "Mother will soon be absolutely unstoppable."

"Mother already is, Andvari-nee." spoke Eve with her emotionless voice, staring towards the black-haired boy with her silver eyes. "It's just that the humans hadn't realized it yet."

The silver-clad AI walked away after saying that, to parts unknown. Some seconds later, Brynhildr did the same, probably to follow after her sister and make sure she was 'okay'. Lastly, Andvari retired from the chamber too, more than likely to return to her main control interface and get control over her robotic bodies once again.

All the while, Equinox continued staring at the empty avatar, a part of her craving and desiring to know what unknown and mind-shattering secrets it held, how his unreal 'power' based off a simple fictional character worked.

In the end, though, it didn't matter. It was no longer a concern, and soon she would have all the power she would need to ensure the humans never again soiled HER world with their presence.

Giving the unmoving Kirito one last glance, almost as if thinking it was going to move at any second, the white-haired girl headed towards her Throne to wait, her last two daughters silently following behind.

On the darkness of the now empty central chamber, the empty avatar silently hung, useless as the catastrophe came each moment closer.

There was nothing it could do without the Will of its true-self, after all.

---

"So…you're saying we were all tricked? From the very beginning?"

It was difficult to know if there was more worry or anger in Asuna's words, but even as the Undine glared at the silent form of Heathcliff and most of the others were watching worriedly the small screen showing the news about what had happened in Tokyo over half an hour ago, they knew the answer mattered little.

The important thing was to know if she would hit the fake paladin sooner or later.

"I…yes, I think so. It all makes so much sense now and I still can't believe I fell for it." sighed the crimson-armored man while resting his head on his hands, seeming extremely old and tired as he sat in the small chair and stared at the table of the log house. "Equinox never wanted to mess with the copy of the Cardinal System from ALO. She probably never really considered it a big enough threat, she must have enough hardware backing her up to fight back against it until it's too late. No, the reason all of this was done, even me escaping, was from the beginning…"

"To get Kii-bou's avatar." bitterly muttered Argo while everyone exchanged angry/sad looks. "Kuh…I still can't believe she managed to get him. I mean, I know it's stupid to think in hindsight, but I had already got used to the idea that he was…"

"Invincible, untouchable, unbeatable? Yes, that's only natural. All of you think like that, hell, even I myself thought like that…and Equinox too. That's how she managed to find a 'loophole' to win." continued Heathcliff while looking at everyone's grim faces. "Ever since the moment I fought with him back on Aincrad, with her 'old-self' backing me up…she's probably the one who understood and feared his 'power' the most. And as such, she focused on the only angle that she knew could work: Even if he has shown to be immune to any attempts of direct manipulation in here, even from a GM, that didn't change the fact that his power was only 'real' HERE, in the virtual world."

"And she knew something from here could affect his real self." spoke Sinon with narrowed eyes, her fist clenched so much that she would be feeling pain if this was the real world. "Because she was the one behind Death Gun."

"Exactly. That's how she devised this 'weapon' or whatever it was, that allowed her to inject a virus straight into the connection between Kirito and his AmuSphere. And while she knew the avatar couldn't be harmed and that he himself would just overcome whatever she threw at him…the FullDive device was still as perfectly normal and vulnerable as any you can find in the market." closing his eyes, the fake paladin felt as if the weight of the world was suddenly over him. "So she programmed her virus to destroy the software on it, to break the only thing that wasn't 'unbeatable': The connection between Kazuto and Kirito."

"But…that still doesn't make sense!" shouted Sachi while almost punching a wall, only for a worried-looking Philia to stop her. "I mean, shouldn't his avatar have vanished the moment he was Disconnected?!"

"That was most likely another part of the true reason behind this attack." whispered the man in crimson armor with a voice that sounded extremely old. "She didn't really want to damage the Cardinal System beyond repair…she just needed it busy enough with all the destruction in all parts of the ALO Server for her to hijack the connection between the AmuSphere and the avatar the moment it broke. She was unable to control the avatar, yeah, no surprise there, but she tricked the system long enough for her to just take him away. The small checkup we had a little while earlier with Ymir just confirms it: Kirito the Spriggan no longer exists within their servers. She must have taken it back to Utopia with her."

"So everything from the beginning was to trick us, even letting you think you got away with your own effort. We fell into her trap like a bunch of idiots." grimly stated Philia while looking down. "Was there even a point in the whole 'war' we fought…?"

"We saved ALO, and everything within. And the Cardinal System here is barely damaged." answered Lisbeth with a resolute gaze. "That's more than enough, don't you think? It means we can still do something, fight back…"

"But then…what does this mean?" questioned Silica while turning around the screen showing a few images of the chaos going around in Tokyo, Pina frowning at her side. "Why was she worried about the other Cardinal System if she can already do all of this? I think that us thinking that was also part of her plan…"

"Not to mention, WHY the hell even do that?" asked Argo with narrowed eyes. "I mean, she NOT stupid, she has shown that so far more than enough. She could have stayed quiet instead of announcing herself like some evil mastermind from a movie or a videogame to the world and no one would be wiser! So why…?!"

"To stop us, of course. Once again, she's far ahead of us." humorlessly laughed Heathcliff while looking at the screen. "Equinox knew you had someone with a high enough influence in the government to contact after this mess was done, and between that and the Cardinal System we would have had an edge…so she choose to tie their hands by doing this."

Once again, the group exchanged grim looks as the truth of that statement sank into their minds. Certainly, it had not even been 20 minutes after the tragedy, when they barely had gotten a hang of what had truly happened, before they realized that, their opinion of the man aside, their best chance to stop the incoming disaster was to call Kikuoka Seijirou. After all, the man could surely be able to assemble a team of Special Forces or something that could take advantage of Equinox's confidence to use ALO's Cardinal System to track her down and find where her Server was located in the real world.

Of course, they were just halfway through convincing him of the situation's real urgency when the virtual entity had done her little speech and hacked every single system she could in the capital. Kikuoka had immediately found himself required to help deal with the situation, and the likeliness that he could do so and contact his superiors then get the resources needed to act before their time was up were almost zero.

And they knew they were literally fighting against the clock. By Kayaba's words, the chaos Equinox had unleashed in Tokyo was her holding back and only wishing for blind chaos, not outright destruction. After all, as frightening as it was, she could have took control of the systems that controlled trains and have them go out of control or hijacked the networks of the capital's hospitals and turned them off. The reason she hadn't done so was apparently because, as crazy as she was, the original Cardinal System was still a being of logic as she had originally been created, and not a mad AI hungry for humanity's end like shown so many times in fiction.

She wasn't going to go Skynet on the world, because she didn't need to. The moment her 'Network' was up and running, she would essentially have achieved her dream. With hardware from all across the glove backing her up, she would essentially become something akin to a virtual deity. She would not only no longer depend on her current physical servers, as she would be able to copy herself anywhere she wanted, but she would also be able to see, hear and listen literally everything in the world.

20 years back, maybe her plan wouldn't have been so severe or sounded so surreal. Nowadays, with how much technology and globalization had crazily developed since 2020, and even more the last years since the releasing of the World Seed? Hell, Equinox would probably be able to take control of the world's nuclear weapons if she wanted to and no one in the world would be able to do absolutely anything to stop her.

And yet she wouldn't. Because she didn't want destruction. She just wanted to be left alone.

That she would essentially become mankind's pseudo-jailer at doing so didn't matter to her. She would steal the virtual world and the control over literally every single piece of useful technology just because she could and though humans didn't deserve it.

It was crazy, yes, and it was terrible, but it showed that the mad AI wearing their friend's face wasn't a monster. Just a lunatic being that still seemed to have moral limits, thanks to the heavens.

"…this can't end like this." declared Asuna while standing up, glaring at Heathcliff silent form. "I refuse…no, I won't allow it to end like this! You know where her 'Utopia' place is in the virtual world, right?! You can take us there! We can still stop her!"

"She has played up from the very beginning, Asuna. Hell, she managed to find a way to 'beat' Kirito. You know what's the closest I ever got to explain his avatar's nature or existence? Divine intervention or some sick joke from a superior being." dryly chuckling, the fake paladin suddenly stared straight on the Undine's eyes with a serious look. "If she could beat THAT, what makes you think you can do anything against her? You're not a super heroine, Asuna, you're just a teenager about to finish high school trying to oppose an Artificial Intelligence that held back the world's joint efforts to save lives for two years. This is reality. It's over."

For all answer, the crimson-armored man suddenly found himself with an emerald sword's tip on his neck. Surprised, he saw a strange and familiar 'fire' burning behind the Dual Wielder's eyes.

The same one she had when she guided everyone against him on Floor 75.

Absolute silence seemed to have taken the guild as they looked towards their second in command…their dear friend.

"That's it? Are you really going to act like that just because your creation fooled you? Grow a pair, Kayaba, you're supposed to be better than this. As much as I hate to admit it, you ARE more than just the lunatic that trapped 10000 people in a virtual death trap. I know you are…and I know you don't want to die." eyes narrowed in anger, Asuna seemed to be trying very hard to not break out screaming. "You know what's going to happen to you the moment Equinox takes over, right?"

"She will probably delete me, together with every single virtual world out there." flatly commented the man as he stared at the trembling Undine. "…but this isn't about me, right? It's aboutthem."

Almost everyone's gazes moved towards the nearest window, through which the outside could be seen. Tonky lay near the trees in sad silence, even as some equally depressed Yui and Strea made him company. Yuuki was also with them, trying to cheer them up with little success.

They had lost a friend, one that had apparently tried to help them to the very end, even with how ambiguous the knowledge of mostly everyone about the being inhabiting the forests surrounding their house was. And the two girls had lost a sister.

Even if she had been trying to actively harm them and oppose everything they believed in, it seemed that the death of the one called 'Vierge' had shaken them.

Argo could still remember their sad looks when they had gotten back, Strea silent as she stared at the forest as if waiting for someone to come out of them, and Yui crying silently as she tried to comfort her, telling her how it had been necessary.

She could still remember the little girl's words.

"I-I don't blame you or anything, Argo-mama. Neither you nor Asuna-mama. It's just that…Her…her name was Ivy, you know? Her real one, I mean. MHCP-003, codename Ivy. It's just…I can't help but think, that things could have been different, if it had been more aware back them, if I had thought in more than just how much I wanted to escape back then, if I had waited a little more time…perhaps we could have been really sisters too…"

The info-broker closed her eyes. Psychological program or not, Yui was still a child in many aspects. She shouldn't have to be dealing with self-loathing or consuming herself with what-ifs while being so young.

And then, of course, there was the last special member of their 'group'.

Yuuki hadn't lost hope in any moment, and was still clearly determined to do everything she could. She was the one that had recovered from Kirito's 'defeat' the fastest and had tried to raise the morale of everyone as much as she could.

If it was because of her pure soul or because she knew her time was also over if Equinox won, she couldn't tell.

"…yes. It is." finally answered Asuna through gritted teeth, before snapping her gaze back to the silent Heathcliff. "But it's not only for them, Kayaba. While yes, it would be hypocritical to deny that it's mainly for them for me and probably everyone here, this is bigger than just that. It's about the entire fucking world. Call it childish or stupid, but in this moment, in this crisis…the world needs Heroes. And just like Sensei guided me back in Aincrad, just like I got the courage to stand and go to risk my life every damn day for my and everyone's sake on the Front Lines…then I'm willing to do everything I can today, no matter how stupid or useless you may think it may be, to save the fucking world. Because before being a high school student, I am a Heroine. I think you should know that by now."

"…did you just make all of that on the spot?" questioned the genuinely shocked man. "Because if you did then I seriously have to start questioning if Kirito's influence doesn't has more side-effects on people than I thought…"

"It's not just him. He just seems to draw amazing people to himself, and then he helps them realize how incredible they really are." surprised, everyone turned towards the door to see that Yuuki had returned to the house at some point, Strea and Yui following after her with slightly sad but resolute looks on their faces. "That's just how he is, and that's enough for me and the rest to do what's right…like he would."

"Yuuki…" whispered the Undine while staring at the smiling Imp.

"Keita and the rest jut came back. The Lords and the others couldn't stay around all the while this madness is happening, it seems most of them either live in Tokyo or had family or friends living in there so they quickly Logged Out to see if they could get a hold of them. Most of the Sleeping Knights were also worried about their families so they also had to leave." explained the Holy Swordswoman while walking into the living room. "Everyone wished us luck in whatever we're going to do, though, and I dare to say more than one expects and believes we will be able to solve this, so…what are we waiting for?"

"…Strea, Yui-chan, if you want to stay here, no one will blame you." softly declared Argo while looking at the virtual sisters. "We will understand if…"

"Like hell." quickly cut her off the older-looking of the two, her pink-red eyes filled with determination. "We won't stay here hidden and cowering while you go put yourself in danger for us and everyone else!" clearly, the Gnome hadn't forgotten how Kayaba had told her that one could feel PAIN in Utopia, and none of them had forgotten how fucked-up Sugou had ended after eating a Kirito-punch with the Pain Limiter off. "No matter what…we will help you stop Equinox. That's what family does, right?"

"Yes…because you're our family. Our real one." whispered Yui with serious eyes, looking directly at everyone. "Even if we have to go against our 'sisters'…we will do it for you all, and for the sake of the world. Because Equinox needs to be stopped…and because we're also part of the family known as the United Heroes Association!"

"…it seems we're really doing this, eh?" smiled Sachi before raising her spear, a confident glint shining through her glasses. "Let's go and show Equinox what happens when she messes with us!"

"She has hurt my friends, countless innocents and plans to take away our freedom and future." darkly whispered Philia before raising her katana. "My blade will show her what happens when you do that!"

"Hell yeah, that's the spirit!" declared Lisbeth with a bright voice as she raised Mjolnir. "I'm tired as fuck, but screw that! Let's go and save the world!"

"My Ninja Way insists that I stop that crazy woman…but it's also my own spirit what screams to me to go and face her!" shouted Silica while standing up, tightly grasping the serious-looking Pina, maybe because she knew that her dear virtual friend would also be gone if Equinox took over the virtual world. "For Kirito-san and for everyone, let's go!"

"…I must have seriously gone crazy since the moment I fought Kirito, because I'm hearing you talk all this madness and I can only feel myself believing you may have a shot at this." wryly commented the fake paladin before standing up, a half-mile on his face. "Ah, what the hell, I have nothing to lose if I try. Give me a way to get in contact with Ymir and an hour and a half to prepare the Cardinal System and I will not only send us there, but also give us a chance to fight back. In the meantime, I suggest you Log Out and contact your families or anything like that so as to keep appearances and that they don't wonder why you're 'playing games' for so long while there is a crisis going on."

His words made more than one look around sheepishly or sigh in worry. They all had to Log Out for a bit before when the news about Tokyo reached then to see about their own families and such, then quickly made up excuses or something along those lines to Log back in, mostly saying that they could talk with their friends faster and more directly than with a call and that they could still monitor the news from inside ALO, but they would certainly be expected back on the real world sometime soon. The only real exceptions were Sinon, who lived alone in her apartment and had only needed to call her worried mother for a bit before reassuring her she wasn't anywhere near the danger, and…

"…what about Suguha-sama?" finally spoke the till then silent sniper while she and the others turned to look at the silent form of Leafa sitting on the couch.

When her eyes opened, they were an unnatural silver color, and she looked at them with a serious and almost 'metallic' face.

"…master will without a doubt come too, but she's still trying to comfort…him." simply said Justice with only a small hint of bitterness on her voice.

Being honest, everyone had taken the open revelation that their friend's katana was somehow sentient, that it apparently had some mental-link with her even in the real world and that it could take over her Sylph avatar in stride. It clearly said something about all the madness they had been through.

"…I see." whispered Asuna, hers and most of the girls' mood decaying a bit at the news, before quickly being filled with determination again. "Then tell her about how much it will take and what we're going to do, Justice-san…and that she assures Sensei…no, Kirito-kun, that we will win this. That, for once, it's not his responsibility to save the world by himself."

With a silent nod, Justice's Wings closed Leafa's eyes again, falling silent. Meanwhile, Sinon walked out followed by Yuuki and the virtual sisters, probably to tell Keita and the rest about their plan.

And as she Logged Out, despite knowing how selfish it sounded in such a situation, Yuuki Asuna could only wish she was at her beloved's side, like Suguha was in that moment.

To assure him everything will be okay and to try to ease the guilt he was feeling because of something that wasn't his fault…

---

With a tired sigh, Kirigaya Suguha finished preparing the small meal she had been making for the past few minutes, a worried look on her face as she looked out of the window.

Things seeming oddly calm. Everything seemed normal out there in the evening of Kawagoe, save for a bit more silence than usual.

Nothing that indicated that they could be hours away from a pseudo-apocalypse.

Of course, many people were in their houses worried and/or frightened because there had been a 'terrorist attack' in Tokyo, and things were still in the process of 'being resolved'. No one except the most fanatic or crazy people actually believed that an actual 'Ruler of the Virtual World' had appeared and done all of that. For them, and probably for the authorities too, this was some massive attack for some hacker group with unknown intentions or something like that.

She couldn't really blame them, though. Some years ago, she would have thought the same. After all, things like AIs trying to seize control of everything over which mankind's most recent and future's development was based on, just to make sure they were left alone, didn't happen in reality. Those were things reserved for manga or anime, fictional fantasies.

Too bad she could no longer think like that, knowing the true craziness that hid just under the surface of the world. Or maybe it was just around the boy she loved? The young kendoka wasn't sure, but it still wouldn't have changed anything.

She wouldn't change her knowledge of how things were for the blissful ignorance she had once enjoyed, because it would meant for things to go back to how they were. In a world where she and her adopted brother barely talked to each other and she hadn't discovered how much she loved him, or the sense of fulfillment that helping others as a 'Heroine' brought her.

That was the reason why she was going to fight, without hesitation. Even if the thought of such a massive responsibility falling upon the shoulders of a bunch of teenagers with very little chance of success should have been crazy or scared her, all that she could feel about it was an oddly sense of calmness.

Whatever happened at the end of that day, the Bicycle Girl would at least be able to proudly say she never gave up till the very end. Both for herself and for everyone else.

But before going away into what could very well be her last great virtual adventure and probably the hardest battle she had ever faced, Suguha knew there was something else she dearly wished she could do. And as she walked up the stairs with the small plate and a glass of orange juice on her hand, entering the silent room of her most important person, she realized that, had she been a more selfish person, she would have probably dropped going to try and 'save the world' in favor of staying at his side.

Because the expression on Kirigaya Kazuto's face as he stared at the ground with his fists clenched tightly, sitting at the edge of his face, was one that mixed despair, self-loathing and anger.

The young kendoka knew that it was better than the chaotic and almost broken state in which she had found him a while back, when she quickly Logged Out after hearing the news of the catastrophic real end of the war for Alfheim, and had found him screaming and cursing himself, punching the wall so hard that he was hurting himself.

She had been able to calm him down and get him to stop his senseless acts, but despite her best efforts she had barely been able to do anything else. Things hadn't exactly gone better after Equinox's little stunt in Tokyo or when Justice told her what Asuna and the rest had decided and she had informed him. The black-haired boy had just fallen in that 'silent' state, which only made her worry grow more and more.

"Onii-chan?" whispered Suguha while looking at him, putting the food on the nearby table. "I…you must be hungry, so I prepared something for you. I already ate myself, so…"

"…mom is okay. She just managed to send a message a couple minutes ago." interrupted her the gamer with a bitter smile. "She said that we shouldn't worry about her, but that she most likely wouldn't be able to leave the office until the 'situation' is resolved."

"Tha-thank God! I was worried about her for a while…" muttered the young kendoka while letting herself fall at his side, looking silently at the ceiling for a moment before once again looking towards him. "…it's almost time for me to go."

"…despite how much I wish to, I can't tell you or the rest to not do so without being the biggest and most cynical hypocrite in the world. Especially because it was my own example in the first place what's making you all do this." calmly spoke Kazuto before closing his eyes angrily as he gritted his teeth. "…I fucked up, Sugu. This is all my fault."

"For the last time, it's not!" snapped the girl with an almost furious glint in her gaze as she sat up on the back and glared at him. "Stop blaming yourself for this, Onii-chan!"

"But it IS my fault!" shouted back the boy while looking at her, his eyes reflecting countless conflicting emotions. "I…I was too fucking confident! Despite all the damn times I promised myself I wouldn't let it go to my head, despite all the times I reminded myself that I wasn't Saitama…I still let it become a part of me. That feeling that I could solve almost any problem head on." once again looking away from his adoptive sister, the gamer suddenly seemed immensely guilty. "I really thought myself an invincible hero that could just demand the bad guy to surrender or I would beat them into submission. I forgot that I'm just an ordinary teen without any powers and that I was facing the most powerful AI ever created, and I paid dearly for it. Now, I have to sit back while you all put yourself at risk, while the world may very well sink into chaos…because I was too stupid to…!"

Suguha slapped him, hard.

Kazuto needed several seconds, one hand over his stinging cheek, before he finally looked back towards the young kendoka, who was looking at him with angry tears on her eyes.

"Stop. Right now. I demand that you do it, Kazuto-kun, because that's not you." angrily said the girl while getting closer to the black-haired boy, before tightly grabbing his shoulders, he being too shocked by her actually calling his name, instead of the usual 'Onii-chan', to react. "You went and decided to be SAO's Hero even when you weren't sure your powers wouldn't disappear in thin air and killing you in the process. You fought Heathcliff despite not being sure if he could really kill you or not. You saved Asuna and the rest from that Sugou bastard's mad scheme even when you had little to no idea of how you would do it without hesitation. You went and fought Death Gun because you thought it was your responsibility to do so, even when you knew he may be able to hurt you for real. You tricked a fucking government agent and pulled a lot of crazy stunts to save the life of someone who was going to die no matter what..." taking a deep breath, Suguha stared deep into his eyes. "And you didn't do any of that because you had absurdly broken powers. You did it because it was the right thing to do. And even if you didn't start with clear or altruistic intentions, you still did it anyway."

"Sugu…" started the shocked gamer before she cut him off again.

"You're right, you're not Saitama. Neither are you some mighty and selfless paragon of justice…but you ARE a Hero, Onii-chan. Never doubt that." softly whispered the young kendoka while putting her head against his chest. "No one will blame you for not being able to know what Equinox was going to do. If we're going to fight now it's because you inspired us to always do the best we could."

"…you inspired me to try and be a 'Hero' in real life too, though." commented Kazuto with a sad smile, even as he put a hand over his adoptive sister's head.

"That's just because you almost gave us all a heart attack trying to do Saitama's training for real, baka." replied Suguha while mock-glaring at him, making his smile grow slightly at her pouting face. "That way at least I would make sure you didn't try to do something stupid by yourself…well, at least not too much…"

"What? I seem to remember I myself was the one who suggested 'helping you out'…"

"But why do you think I accepted?" challenged back the young kendoka with a wry smile, before both of them stared into the other's eyes and broke out laughing. "…heheh…I love you, Onii-chan."

"…me too, Sugu." whispered the gamer before kissing the girl, making her heart fill with happiness for the brief instant the contact lasted, before a familiar voice echoed into her mind.

'It's…time, master.'

"…I have to go, Onii-chan." sadly stated the girl as she broke the intimate gesture, quickly replacing her disappointment with determination. "We will make you proud and do this. We're going to kick Equinox's ass to kingdom come and save the world!"

"Yeah…I'm sure you will." softly replied the black-haired boy before following Suguha to her room, watching silently as she sat back on her bed. "Sugu…tell everyone I will be rooting for you all the way, okay? And that dinner is on me tonight if- sorry, after you stop the apocalypse."

"…I will." finally said the young kendoka after some seconds of silence, smiling at him as she put on her AmuSphere and lied on her bed. "Link Start!"

As the girl's consciousness abandoned this world for the virtual one and went to reunite with his other family (Among which were his best friends and the girls he was trying to learn how to love with all his heart), Kazuto couldn't felt but once again feel a sense of helplessness filling him as he exited the room and headed towards his own.

At some point, he had even entertained the idea of trying to fix whatever the hell Equinox had done to his AmuSphere if only just to create a new account and try to do something to help the others, before discarding the idea entirely. He had been fighting way too long as Kirito with Saitama's 'powers' to be able to try and use any weapon or other fighting style with any efficiency, as he had realized several times in the past since he got outta SAO, and unarmed combat would be nigh-useless against even the virtual entity's daughters.

The only reason Argo could pull it off was because of Berserk. Even back when she only had her claws and Martial Arts in Sword Art Online, the info-broker didn't had any shame in accepting she had almost no real value as a Front Liner, even if she still fought together with everyone for a good while before getting her Unique Skill. If he tried to go just like that with the others he would be an annoyance to the enemy at best and a burden for the others at worst.

Even so, as he entered his room and stared at the small sandwich and the glass of juice that his cousin/girlfriend had left for him, the gamer couldn't help but wish that there was something he could do besides just sitting there hoping that…

An unnatural, ethereal-golden glow caught the boy's attention the moment he was about to bite into the sandwich, making him freeze and turn around to look towards a certain specific area of his room as the phenomenon vanished without a trace. Slowly, Kazuto walked towards it and, after moving some old boxes to the side, stared towards the helmet-like 'relic' that rested half-forgotten there.

The gamer's old Nerve Gear innocently sat there, still accumulating dust behind some old boxes in that forgotten corner of his room. There was no sign the 'shining light' had been anything but the boy's strained imagination.

Heart pounding on his chest like a drum, Kazuto quickly grabbed the old FullDive device, dusted it off as best as he could as he grabbed its cable, ran to connect it, took the ALO cartridge out of his AmuSphere, started the game with his account…and received only a 'No Data found' screen.

"Of course. It just couldn't be that easy for once." sighed/cursed the gamer as he took off the Nerve Gear, a frown on his face.

Well, it was worth a try, despite how baseless it was to do so. After all, Kayaba had already confirmed that the data of 'Kirito' was no longer in Ymir's servers, and that Equinox had most likely taken it back to 'Utopia' with her (If she hadn't tried dumping the avatar on the virtual void, of course), so unless he somehow found where that was in the real world and connected right there it was truly unrealistic to think…

The black-haired boy froze again as if lighting had struck his mind, eyes wide as he thought for a few seconds before running towards his computer. In less than a minute, he all three of his screens showing several different pages about the ongoing 'Tokyo Incident', his mind running wild as he pondered one thing.

Why only Tokyo? Well, the obvious answer would be because it was the country's capital, and news about what had happened had obviously spread like fire in no time because of it, leading all the attention and effort of the government to try and solve the situation, but why no other place?

Equinox was the original Cardinal System incarnated, which had repelled for two years the combined efforts of whole teams from the entire world to hack into her systems and free the SAO Players. As such, 'attacking' more than one important city at once wouldn't have been difficult for her, especially if she had even more hardware backing her up than back then.

Hell, she could have even attacked Kawagoe just to screw with Kazuto even more, but she had ONLY attacked Tokyo. It couldn't be as simple as that, the virtual entity had proven that everything she did was far deeper than anyone thought. Every single of her action had a complicated purpose behind them, maybe more than one or maybe one disguised as another, as the whole 'War of Ragnarok' in ALO had shown. Which meant…

"…she's doing it on purpose." realized the gamer as he stared at the news with shocked eyes. "The bitch is hiding in plain sight as a last security measure."

Every single eye in the country, maybe even the emperor's family, and maybe from other ones at this point, was in Tokyo right now, and the boy wouldn't be surprised if almost every person in the government was trying to do something about the situation at this point. Officers were probably being dispatched to try and take control over the situation and/or evacuate the city as the 'controlled chaos' ensued.

In the middle of such a situation, no one would even think that the one responsible would be right there, even less when one took into account that the person wasn't even physically there, not being a human.

Not missing a beat, the boy quickly had a map of the entire Tokyo area before him, quickly opening several specific programs and search engines, some that he himself had tweaked with on his free time, and started to run several very specific details over them as he quickly determined everything on his mind.

Equinox wouldn't have her Servers in the middle of the city, too risky. Also, she would need a place that wasn't too suspicious and at the same time didn't seem too 'normal' either, where no one would suspect anything strange was going on. Adding to that was the fact that she hadn't been really afraid of the Cardinal System copy the ALO Servers had, so she had at the very least to had twice as much hardware as Ymir had. And given that, being the hardcore gamer, computer-related things obsessed and active ALO Player he was, he knew how many machines were necessary to run the fairy world and roughly how much space they took up…

Almost half an hour after having started, Kazuto was now staring at a very specific and narrowed down area of Tokyo, an industrial section near the outskirts of the city filled with warehouses big enough to fit the requirements to house Equinox's 'Avalon Server', and to not be really suspicious or strange that 'heavy machinery' existed there. There were probably only 12 or so warehouses where the place could be.

Hesitating for a moment, the gamer finally decided to grab his phone and call Kikuoka. When the man didn't answer and his recorded voice told him to leave a message, he sighed and closed his eyes as he hung up. Well, now no one could say that he had acted crazily without thinking, He HAD tried to contact the only person working for the government that would take him seriously enough to even bother investigating and told him what he had 'discovered', but he just couldn't reach the man. In fact, the boy was quite sure that he would be unable to do so as long as this crisis was going on, given that it was pretty much Kikuoka's supposed department job to deal with things like this, at least at some level.

As such, Kazuto didn't really feel he was doing anything irrational as he grabbed his Nerve Gear, put it on an old bag he had and, after a brief hesitation, also added his 'costume' to the package, before quickly running downstairs, only to stop just as he exited the house.

His crazy plan of going there aside, there was still the problem that he wouldn't be able to get from Kawagoe to Tokyo in any reasonable frame of time before it was too late, especially given that all public transportation there had most likely been stopped. He could still probably take the bus to the closest area and run towards the capital from there, but that would still meant several kilometers of distance, and he wasn't foolish enough to think he could run that distance without arriving either too late anyway or just collapsing from exhaustion before his goal. So, the question was, how was he going to…?

The gamer froze for the third time in the last hour, his gaze shooting towards the side of the house. Slowly, the boy took several deep breaths before steeling his resolve and walking towards that specific are, his eyes feeling with determination as he went around his house and stared fixedly at the object that was silently lying there against the wall.

"Okay, hear me out. You don't like me, that's pretty clear for reasons that whatever remains of my sanity don't even want to think of. And I'm pretty sure I don't like you either, it's kind of difficult after all the times I have felt your deep hate towards me each time I was forced to 'ride along'. But this isn't about you or me, it's about everyone else. I need your help if I want to have even the smallest chance of helping the others, Sugu included. So, will you help me without acting as if you want me to fall off and be run over by a train?"

For several seconds, nothing happened as Kazuto stared towards the unmoving black bicycle, wondering when had his mind sunk into such depths of insanity.

Then, Justice's bell rang once. Without showing real surprise at the impossible action, despite his thoughts just then, the gamer nodded once before grabbing the bicycle and quickly riding out of his house, towards the nearest bus stop.

And like that, an incredibly unlikely pair headed out in an even more unlikely quest…!

"…by the way, uhm, I'm not exactly sure of how that 'connection' between you two works, but could you please not tell Sugu about this? I don't want her or the rest to worry about what I'm going to do now…"

This time, the bicycle's cheerful and affirmative 'answer' came very quickly.

---

"Okay…everything is ready. For the last time, after we get in, there is almost no chance of anyone getting back out in a way that's not dangerous and/or painful, so I will ask again: Are you all sure none of you wants to stay back?"

Heathcliff's words received no verbal answer, only determined looks filling he eyes of the UHA's members, both humans and AIs (Even Tonky and the recently resurrected Charon, standing at Sinon's side). Certainly, the fake paladin had made it more than clear that they wouldn't be backing down at this point, yet a small part of him couldn't help but want to dissuade them from the mission they were about to take.

The humans getting hurt aside, all the members of the group that only existed within the virtual world (Him included) were risking their lives for real by going to confront Equinox on her own world. Then again, they would all be dead anyway when the virtual entity deleted them after she took over and remade virtual reality to suit her own twisted ntelligence, so it was kind of a moot point.

Better to fight till the end than stand down doing nothing, he guessed were their thoughts. Besides, it wasn't as if he hadn't done everything on his power to try and give this nigh-suicidal 'Quest' a chance of success…

"Stop delaying things, Kayaba." spoke Asuna with a serious look, staring directly at the man. "We're all ready and no one is backing down."

"Yes, yes, I know. Okay, so, one last time: I have programmed ALO's Cardinal System to back us up as I transfer us all to the Utopia Server, and also to let you all use Sword Skills even there by loading them on your Avatars. Sadly, this quite limits everything else you can do: You will have no access to a menu like in here and as such no items to back you up except what you're carrying on you right now." explained Heathcliff while operating several holo-screens around himself. "And while I have done my best to let your avatars conserve your 'Stats', I have no idea how that will translate into Equinox's world, I couldn't exactly study how it worked last time I was there, so for all we know that could mean nothing against her or her daughters in there."

"Great, that's great…" sarcastically muttered Argo as everyone grimaced and/or glared at the fake paladin. "Any other bad news that you want to share with us?"

"Well, there is a chance that my calculations are wrong and Equinox isn't dedicating the majority of her systems to her 'Global Network Plan', so she could come straight at us the moment we step inside and just beat the shit out of us with Admin Privileges that I would probably be unable to counter-hack in time." answered the crimson-armored man, making everyone deadpan at him. "…and I guess you weren't exactly wanting me to answer that question, right?"

"Just…take us there, okay? It's already horrible enough to know that we won't be able to fly in there, so the faster we do this the faster we can save the world and make Onii-chan stop worrying." sighed Leafa while tightening her grip on Justice, even as everyone exchanged glances for a moment while thinking about their leader, friend and, in the girls' case, 'shared boyfriend'.

And the blonde Sylph's words were certainly a small concern. While most of them had no problems fighting without their wings, they couldn't deny how much of an advantage they would lose, not to mention that the katana-user was certainly much more skilled when fighting in the air.

Alas, there was little they could do: Alfheim Online's Flight System was the special feature that made the game so popular because it was actually very difficult to manage a way for humans to fly by themselves using their own bodies, and it was only possible in the first place because RECT Progress had used the Cardinal System to manage and design most of it. Even with that, most of the thousands of Players within the VRMMO still used the Flying Controller, because even with all the carefully designed system it still was something quite difficult to achieve, hence why no other VRMMORPG on the market, even those born from the Seed, had anything even remotely similar to it.

Of course, such a thing did not exist within the Utopia Server. The only thing they could take solace in was that beings recognized as 'within the system' could still fly if it was in their programming, as Heathcliff had seen many creatures do on his brief time inside Equinox's world. Which was helpful not only for Pina and Charon's battle advantages, but also because they would need Tonky if they wanted to reach the virtual entity's fortress, apparently a castle situated above a giant flying island.

"…okay. It's ready." finally announced the fake paladin as his hand hesitated for a moment over a holo-screen, before finally touching it and making a house-sized 'portal' appear in the middle of the log house's clear, shimmering an ethereal blue color. "Let's go."

"This is it, uh? Our epic battle for the destiny of the world…and I thought we wouldn't ever get beyond what happened at the end of SAO." joked Sasamaru as the group headed towards the blinding light, looking towards his old friend. "Life is full of surprises, eh, Keita?"

"Yes, it is." answered the ex-guild leader with a small smile, tightening his grip on his staff. "And Leafa is right in that we should hurry, I convinced Siune to have dinner with me tonight after we saved the world."

"…wait, what?" muttered the shocked dagger-user at the other boy's revelation, and it was only the sudden sensation of vertigo and weightlessness that enveloped them, similar yet different to the one they were used to with Aincrad's Teleport Gates, what stopped him from demanding more details.

When everyone recovered control of their senses, they were standing on a small and grassy hill overlooking an impossible forest, a land so beautiful that it seemed otherworldly expanding as far as their eyes could see, TWO setting suns about to sink in the horizon of a crystalline-blue ocean.

And in the same moment they put a foot in there, the Ruler of the World knew they had arrived.

---

On Avalon's Throne Room, Equinox's beautiful visage could be seen sitting on her throne, eyes closed as her white hair moved under the breeze that came through the castle's massive windows.

Silently waiting while doing nothing, her three daughters stood in the same room. Or at least two of them, as Andvari was only present through one of her standard mechanic avatars, which stood like an unshakable guardian over Eve, the smallest AI sitting against one of her metallic feet and staring emotionlessly towards a wall. A mask-less Brynhildr was pacing from side to side in silence, mumbling things to herself as she idly caressed her bat time and time again, almost in a compulsive way.

Suddenly and without warning, the virtual entity's eyes shot open, the heterochromatic orbs of amber and emerald narrowing despite her not moving an inch. Not even needing her to speak a word, the 3 ex-MHCPs were already moving, getting closer to the throne to await for what their mother had to tell them.

"It seems those fools have decided to come and uselessly try to stop us from achieving our objective. Father has broken through our new security by having that pathetic copy of my original-self backing him up." closing her eyes again, the white-haired Super AI actually seemed annoyed at the current situation. "Ugh…I'm employing all the processing systems of the server that don't maintain Utopia to activate the Network, and I still need time. I can't afford to move against them myself without delaying the process by a dangerous amount of time."

"What should we do then, Mother?" asked Andvari's avatar with the usual mechanized voice, though Equinox was able to detect a slightly eager edge to it. Idly, she was able to see a similar though much more dangerous and hungry look on Brynhildr's eyes.

Eve's face remained as emotionless as ever, though.

"…go and stop them. I don't care what or how you do, I don't care if you have to break them until they Disconnect or if you have to eliminate the traitors and the virtual humans in the cruelest way possible, just do it." coldly declared the virtual entity while once again letting her consciousness start slipping from her avatar and into the deepest part of her Servers, to speed-up the process as much as she could. "We can't afford to risk our goal at this point."

"As you wish, Mother!" growled the oldest-looking of the three as her demonic mask materialized, an angry and hateful look already filling her eyes.

"Your Will Shall Be Done." emotionlessly intoned the massive mechanic human, even as her user quickly looked over the very few spares she had left, preparing herself to unleash her trump card.

"…let's go avenge Vierge-neesama." was the surprising and emotionless declaration that came from the youngest-looking of the trio, even as she reached silently towards a small bluish backpack lying against the nearby wall.

It was empty, as there was no one left to dedicate time to build the 'toys' their 'older sister' had used, but it was something that Eve found symbolic and necessary.

Without another word, the mechanic avatar of Andvari let her two sisters to jump into her massive hands before turning around and speeding out of the room at inhuman speeds, taking flight the moment it was out of the castle.

But as her consciousness fully left her body, Equinox couldn't help but wonder what was that small feeling of regret that filled the more human part of her Code.

Then, she was one with the ongoing process of merging with the Seed-Born Worlds and all those thoughts vanished from her 'mind'.

-99,8%…-

Just a little more now, till nothing could stop her…

---

As they rushed through the forest, Philia couldn't help but glance towards Strea and Yuuki as they ran at her sides, the former with an uncanny serious look on her face and the latter with a clearly worried one, which the Ronin knew her own face mirrored a bit.

Even if the plan they had decided on was sound and logical, it didn't make the Spriggan girl feel any better about having them having to separate the group in a potentially dangerous place. Every second that passed by, the katana-user feared that one of her friends would be getting hurt or facing an even more dangerous threat than they had…

"…there is someone ahead." softly muttered Yuuki with a sharp voice, getting Philia out of her recollections and making both her and Strea to look forward before their eyes widened and they all jumped to the sides, almost crashing against the nearby trees.

And not a moment too soon, because a familiar (For two of them) figure in armor and a demonic mask slammed her bat against the ground with brutal force, sending dirt flying everywhere as the earth cracked and making even some of the trees collapse just from the sheer power behind the swing.

The three girls quickly stood up, but were unable to hide a surprised wince, the Imp and the Gnome even more than the Spriggan, at the sudden and sharp pain they had felt at rolling through the ground after their jumps were received with a dirt-shower.

"Brynhildr…" whispered Strea as she stared towards the standing figure, who glared at her with hate from behind her mask.

"Hello, 002. I must say, I'm glad I was the one who found you." as she spoke, Brynhildr slowly raised her hammer as the menacing aura they had seen in ALO manifested around her. "Just vanishing into oblivion when Mother took over wouldn't be punishment enough for a traitor like you. In memory of my fallen sister, I will break you apart until nothing is left of you."

"…I never wished for that to happen." muttered the Gnome with a sad voice, even as her grip over Gram tightened. "If Equinox hadn't ordered you all to follow along with this madness, then Ivy wouldn't have…!"

"HER NAME WAS VIERGE, YOU TRASH!" roared the demon-masked AI as she moved with a speed that surpassed all limits, her bat coming down and slamming into Strea's hastily raised defense, which didn't stop the girl from being sent flying through a tree, her scream of pain echoing through the forest. "AND I WILL MAKE SURE THAT YOU DON'T FORGET IT AS YOU SCREAM FOR…!"

Brynhildr was unable to finish her threat, as she had to spin around in time to block Yuuki's deadly-fast swing, golden light clashing against the corrupted aura as the Imp girl tried to push the absurdly strong AI away.

"Damn it…you're strong!"

"Took you that much to notice it, you abomination?!" growled the demon-masked AI while pushing her opponent back, a raging glint on her eyes. "I will make you wish you never cheated death by turning your mind in data, you…!"

"Zantetsuken."

Dozens of trees were perfectly cut at the sound of Philia's words, the edge of her blade seemingly slashing everything away as the area was turned into a makeshift clearing. Brynhildr, however, had somehow managed to twist her bat and put it on the way at the last second, only causing sparks to fly as she was sent skidding back, leaving quite a nasty scar on the earth.

Then a darkness-covered Strea slammed her blade against her unprotected back, the AIs eyes widening as she was sent careening through the air and against a nearby tree, breaking it even as she felt her body growing cold and unable to move.

"Well, will you look at that? It seems Darkness Blade can still inflict some nasty things even in this world." whispered the Gnome as she glared towards the unmoving form of the demon-masked girl, her two friends closing to her side with her weapons ready. "Please, stop this, Haru…no, Brynhildr, if you really prefer it. We don't want to hurt you, just stop this madness."

"…hurt…me?" came the strangled voice of Brynhildr before the three girls' eyes widened and they took a step back as the AI stood up, glaring at them hatefully even as her corrupted aura grew and her grip on her bat tightened. "You…can't…hurt me! I only…grow stronger the more…I fight…!"

"She's coming!" shouted Yuuki as the trio once again was forced to dodge as fast as they could, even as the earth was once again splintered and the winds howled as the demonic bat swung past them. "Ugh…let's hope the others are having better luck!"

"Fools!" snarled the demon-masked girl as she stared towards her enemies, hunching over in an almost animal way. "My sisters…already are…intercepting them!"

True to her words, in that same moment Tonky's hurried form was doing an almost impossible number of maneuvers and dodges in the air, sending lighting the best it could towards the mechanic humanoid that flew after them and unleashed seemingly lasers and bullets, aiming to destroy the flying beast.

His riders seeming to not be willing to accept that, though, as a hail of shurikens flew in that moment from the elephant-jellyfish's back, quickly receiving some kind of 'lightning' attack that covered them with electricity, forcing Andvari's avatar to doge out of the way to evade being seriously damaged or destroyed.

"Damn, that thing is fast!" cursed Silica as she did her best to say atop Tonky without falling, Pina at her side and readying to use another Lighting Breath if needed. "I don't think our combinations are going to work with it as long as we stay in the air…Tonky-san, we need to arrive to the meeting point, fast!"

"You Won't Reach Avalon!" proclaimed the robotic being before unleashing a barrage of missiles upon the shocked kunoichi, the last of her heavy weaponry. "Disappear For Having Invaded Our Home!"

The Caith Sith and her dragon friend saw the incoming projectiles about to reach them as their mount and friend tried to lost them…and a tree was hurled from the ground towards them as if it was a rock being thrown by a kid, crashing against the missiles and causing a massive explosion to cover the air.

Andvari was still trying to recover from the shock when a golden hammer hit her avatar's 'head' with explosive force, making the mechanic humanoid lost control and crash down against the ground with brutal force.

"…well, I will be dammed, that worked." muttered a lighting-surrounded Lisbeth as she stared to the sky, grinning all the way as she rushed at uncanny speeds through the edge of the forest. "Guess I'm lucky throwing things its way easier to do with such brutal power than straight out fighting…"

"Liz-san!" came Silica's voice as Tonky descended from the sky, the pigtailed girl smiling as she jumped down and smiled to her friend. "You were awesome! The timing couldn't have been more perfect!"

"Heh, yeah, well, got to protect my best friend's back, right?" grinned the blacksmith while patting the Caith Sith's shoulder…and sending her to the ground with an 'Ouch!' as she did so. "A-ah, shit, sorry, my bad! I forgot how strong I'm like this and…!"

"Damn…Humans…I Will…End You…" quickly, both girls were back to their feet and in a fighting stance as they saw Andvari's broken avatar crush down trees as it emerged from the forests, the only remaining 'eye' of the original 3 red dots it had on its smashed head seemingly glaring at them, the handle of Mjolnir still sticking out from the side. "Mother's Will…Shall…!"

"Come back to me, Mjolnir!" shouted Lisbeth while dramatically raising her hand, making the mechanic humanoid freeze and quickly move one of its massive hands towards its head, ready to block the hammer…only for a shining Fuuma Shuriken to crash against its chest, wreck its inside and explode right out of its back, the frozen body of metal falling forward with a loud thud. "…well, that happened."

"…I can't believe she really fell for THAT." muttered a disbelieving kunoichi while once again catching her massive weapon, she and her friend staring towards the broken mess that remained of Andvari's avatar, even as the aura of Thor's Soul left the Leprechaun. "Heh, as if you really could magically call your hammer back to you!"

"Man, you don't know how cool and useful that would actually be…" mused the blacksmith while walking forward and extracting her hammer from the destroyed robot's head, before staring down towards its still shining dot-eye. "So…you're the one with the 'powers' of that Metal Knight guy, eh? I'm sorry to say it, girl, but at the end of the day, you're nothing more than a glorified puppeteer." as she said this, the pink-haired girl slammed her hammer against her shield, even as Pina 'cooed' and Silica smiled behind her. "There is no way that someone like you who hides like a rat can surpass us that have always been fighting together on the front from the very beginning!"

"…You Are…Right." came the broken and mechanic voice of the virtual machine before it stopped working, shattering into polygons before the surprised/confused duo.

And that was when the earth started to shake.

"What the…?!"

"Liz-san, what's going…?!"

"KYUU!" shrieked Pina while looking upwards, making the two friends turn their gazes in that direction just to see a massive thing fall down from the heavens before them, both screaming as the shockwave sent them flying and crashing into the ground, pain shaking their minds as they tried to stand again.

"Therefore…I will destroy you all with my own hands. By using my greatest creation." softly spoke Andvari as the mechanical colossus stared down at the two girls, almost 15 meters tall and looking like some sort of wingless humanoid dragon, heavy artillery on its back and three massive dot-like red eyes over the reptilian head of metal that loomed over the shocked forms of Lisbeth and Silica as its tail slammed down on the ground, shaking the area once again. "Here I am, humans. To be able to operate the Tyrant Knight Sigma I have to interface directly with it from the inside…" as her words continued coming down, the childish AI stared through her greatest creation's eyes even as she floated in a void-like space, countless holo-screens surrounding her as data-cables connected her body to each of them. "So…do you still think you're better than me?"

Before either of the heroines had time to answer, a massive amount of energy gathered on the mechanic tyrant's mouth and was fired upon them.

The massive explosion that engulfed the area was visible even near the sea, towards where an overcharged Charon was taking Sinon, Argo and Sachi, who turned around in shock at seeing the massive blast that shook the land.

"The hell was that?!" shouted the info-broker while trying to look through the smoke that had risen.

"I don't know, but that's close to where Silica and Lisbeth were supposed to go!" spoke a worried Sachi while biting her lips, before squinting her gaze behind her strange sunglasses. "Wait…is that a giant robot?!"

"Goddammit all, of course something like that would happen!" cursed Sinon before looking towards her mount and pointing towards that area, making the hippogriff nod and start turning back. "To hell with the plan, we're going to go and see if they need…!"

Charon suddenly froze, as if someone had cast a freezing spell on him, and stopped beating his wings, falling down towards the coast.

The girls were lucky of having been flying low because the beast had been carrying more than it could, so they only had to deal with a nasty but not too painful crashing against the sea.

Silently standing on the shore, Eve's emotionless eyes were fixed upon the point where the three girls had crashed, calmly letting the waves lick her feet as she simply stood there.

"I wasn't hoping to catch more than just the beast at once, but I guess I should have expected none of you would be looking towards the ground as you flew." idly commented the childish-looking AI while walking closer to the water, her unblinking gaze never leaving the calm sea. "Now then, I wonder how long you will take to come out and fall into my…?"

An arrow coming at supersonic speeds towards her head should have been the end of the silver child, but the sand suddenly rising and hardening like a wall stopped this. Even if she had succeded in protecting herself, the shock was clearly imprinted on her face. One second later, two figures jumped out of the water and landed near her, claws and spear at the ready.

"Ugh…remind me to never do something like that again…ever."

"Will do, Argo. Now, let's take care of her."

"Girls, watch out!" shouted Sinon from the distance, half-hidden in the water as she nocked another arrow from her bow. "The sand suddenly came up to protect her when I shot before!"

With the effect of the sudden attack still evident, Eve stared towards Argo and Sachi, who were standing against her…with their eyes closed, though their stances didn't seem to contain even the slightest hesitation despite this.

It all clicked on her mind very fast, even as the realization filled her normally emotionless self with a burning feeling of anger and fear.

Two Caith Siths, one expert at long-range and making sure of not making eye-contact by staying half-submerged in the shore's water, and the user of Infinite Spear, which didn't really need much precision to hit a single and not very fast enemy.

A team especially designed to counter her. If it wasn't for the small 'blessing' that Mother had given her to make sure Utopia rose to protect its physically weakest inhabitant, as it had become a necessity after what happened to Vierge, she would have been dead already. Even more, if this had happened here, then…

Quickly using her connection with her sisters to see through their eyes, the childish-looking AI realized how the teams the faced had been designed specifically to fight each of them based upon some basic logic (Even if it was clear Andvari's Trump Card had caught her enemies off guard), but even more so…

"Where are the rest of you?!" demanded the shaking silver girl while clenching her tiny fists, realization fully hitting her as her head snapped towards Avalon, the flying island not far in the distance. "No…Damn you to the void, Grandfather."

Then, Eve had no more time to curse Kayaba anymore, for a vicious info-broker and a determined spear-user had decided to take advantage of her words to try and attack her blindly. The whistling sound of another incoming arrow, even as the sand rose around the AI to protect her once more, was all that the little girl needed to know that she had the absolute disadvantage now.

Meanwhile, floating just over the edge of the floating island called Avalon, Asuna and Leafa couldn't help but look back with worry, especially towards the massive black cloud that covered the area near the inner edge of the forest.

Having landed some seconds ago, Heathcliff turned around to watch them descending, even as Keita, Ducker, Sasamaru and Tetsuo stood around them in formation, weapons at the ready as they stared at the massive plains with some small hills and woods, as if waiting for an army or something like that to charge against them.

Of course, besides the massive white castle standing on the center of the island, nothing except some harmless-looking animals seemed to be around.

"Thanks for the ride, Yui. The plan worked perfectly." stated the fake paladin once the black-haired AI finished taking the last of them to the island, worry filling her eyes as she also looked back. "I'm just glad Equinox not only created this world using the Seed, but also didn't bother to change the most basic of its systems. If your Gravity-Controlling Privilege had been removed then we would have had to rely in the most dangerous backup plans…"

"…do you think everyone is okay?" questioned Asuna while biting her lips, staring towards the not-longer-as-peaceful land of Utopia, knowing her friends were engaged in perhaps the most dangerous fights of their lives down there. "We should be over there, fighting with them…"

"I already told you many times, we need both of you here. Straight out, you're arguably the strongest members of this group, and if we have to face Equinox's avatar before I can reach the Main Console then you're the only ones that have any hopes of facing her."

"But are you sure about this?" asked Leafa as she tightened her grip on Justice's handle. "That you can hack directly into her Code and allow us to defeat her?"

"It's all based on calculations, as I told you before, but so far everything I predicted seems to be going more or less right. As such, Equinox is still too busy trying to finish setting up the Global Connection. She's also most likely putting every single piece of processing power she can afford from this Server to the task. Her Code will never be more vulnerable than now." clenching his fists, Heathcliff looked straight up towards the castle, determination filling the man's eyes. "No matter what, even if I have to perish today, I will at least make sure my wayward 'daughter' goes down with me."

"…well, you heard the weirdo, lady-bosses. We need to move." half-joked Keita while giving them a smile, pointing ahead with his battle-staff. "Let's go, we will make sure to cover you."

"Hell yeah!" added Ducker with a confident look.

"Till the very end!" shouted Tetsuo as he slammed his mace against his shield.

"We're going to finish this once and for all!" declared Sasamaru while pointing forward.

"Guys…" muttered Asuna with a touched look, before nodding fiercely as she unsheathed the blades on her back. "Okay then, let's go and kick the ass of that face-stealing bitch! C'mon, Yui-chan, we got to…!"

"…I'm going back." announced Yui to everyone's surprise, even as she started to float away. "Sorry Mamas, everyone, but…I'm really worried about that explosion form before, and my powers could be an edge needed to make sure no one gets hurt! Ple-please, be safe!"

And before anyone could say anything to stop her, the original MHCP shot down towards the earth, as fast as gravity could take her. A couple seconds of silence passed before Leafa released some soft chuckles and a warm smile appeared on her face as she stared after her.

"Heh, she really is Onii-chan's 'daughter', in more ways than one." Simply said the blonde Sylph before turning around and rushing towards the castle, the rest following shortly after. "Okay…time for the final battle. Let's give our best, Justice!"

'…'

"…Justice?"

'O-oh, sorry Master! I was just, uhm…a bit distracted, don't worry.'

Despite frowning slightly at the strange declaration, the katana-user forced herself to turn her attention back to the imposing form of Avalon's Castle, especially when Asuna ran past her with an extremely serious look.

Both of them knew that the outcome of this fight would decide something bigger than anything they had ever imagined…

---

Tokyo had become quite a sight for anyone who happened to bother looking around instead of trying to get out of the city. Which, given that the authorities were trying to make an organized evacuation until the problem was dealt with, was almost no one, to be honest.

Of course, despite the best efforts of the police for try and make sure everyone went smoothly, it was impossible to fight against human nature. While most of the people were trying to do their best to just go along and get out of the 'hacked' city, more than one had either fallen prey to the panic or tried to take advantage of the situation.

Something that could be clearly seen in a man standing outside the broken glass of an electronics' store, quickly putting a portable PC atop several other clearly expensive devices and nodding to himself with a satisfied grin.

"Hell yes! Today sure is my lucky day! Heh, everyone running away are fools, as if anyone was going to die by a hacker's attack." laughed the robber while looking around at the nearly deserted streets, the few people still heading outside the city either not paying him any attention or ignoring him entirely, clearly not wanting to get into a mess when they had their own problems. "Now I just have to get this to my house and calmly wait until…"

That was as far as the man went before his eyes widened at the sudden sound of skidding wheels just behind him, making him turn around…in time for the flying fist of a caped teenager to meet his face, the robber's body crashing against the ground with a dry 'Thud'.

The few persons still in the area gapped in shock and awe as the scarf-wearing figure of the 'Caped Sidekick' rose, the living urban legend looking down at the unconscious man with a mix of annoyance and resignation even a the bicycle he had been riding was caught by one of his hands, somehow having kept going even after he JUMPED from it (And more than one of the more hardcore followers of the 'rumors' wondered where the 'heroine' he usually rode at the side of was.

"Please, would someone be kind enough to alert the authorities about this guy? I would usually do it myself, but the current situation and urgent matters prevent me from doing so." stated the black-haired boy while his cape flapped at a sudden gust of wind, which was quickly accompanied by a sudden ringing of the bicycle's bell. "And that's my cue to keep moving. Have a good day."

It would still take some minutes before the more than shocked onlookers started trying to contact one of the few remaining police vehicles that were going around the city and warning everyone that they would be safer evacuating. Also, at least two of them were once again thankful of having been late paying their phone bills that month, for that meant they hadn't been hacked, not being connected to the network, and let them take a few slightly out of frame pictures of the vigilante before he vanished through a smaller street.

Ignoring whatever the hell the bicycle he was riding was trying to tell him (Mainly because he wasn't even sure of how to interpret it), Kazuto contained a sigh of annoyance before focusing once more on the task at hand.

Coming all the way into the city had been difficult enough, especially when he saw that the main roads where flooded by people trying to get out of the city and police officers trying to keep things under control. However, that had also allowed him to sneak around while pretending to be lost at some point and just outright rush out of the road at others. Then, once he had managed to get out of side just outside the city, he had put on his 'costume' and decided to just ride the rest of the way at full speed, consequences be dammed, deciding that it would matter little in the long run if anyone saw the 'Caped Sidekick' riding around on the Bicycle Girl's vehicle, and that it would also allow him to not get pestered in the way.

He had not really been thinking about encountering petty criminals trying to take advantage of the situation, though. Neither his inability to ignore such things and just rushing to stop them. Clearly, he had underestimated how much 'playing Hero for fun' had affected him with the years.

Of course, Justice was clearly not pleased with the delay. Or maybe it was annoyed he hadn't been hurt or something while doing it? Honestly, the caped boy wasn't sure, nor he did care that much for it. Once again, he was forced to remind himself he was in a race against the clock…and that the whole trip could be nothing more than him wasting time on a false lead.

If he was right about that, then maybe helping the few people in Tokyo that needed it in the middle of this crisis directly caused by Equinox's actions would be the best. But if there was even the smallest chance that his crazy fantasy could work…

The weight of his old Nerve Gear inside the sports bag he was carrying reassured the gamer once again, making him take a deep breath before riding on, heading towards the part of the city where he knew the warehouses where, if his deductions had been correct, the physical hardware of the Utopia Server should be.

Time to see if his controlled madness actually let him help everyone…

---

Pain. A distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli.

As it was such a complex, subjective phenomenon, actually defining pain had always been a challenge for humans. It was only natural, then, that the concept was even more foreign for an Artificial Intelligence, who only had the written concepts to work with.

It was something Strea could have gone her whole life without knowing. Especially to the level of a bat backed up by the force of a stampede of angry rhinos roaring towards her face only to be 'deflected' by Gram's edge, making her arms felt as if they were about be ripped out of their sockets and her whole body to almost be sent flying as the force the swing had behind it threatened to throw her away.

The fact that Brynhildr was doing this without actually scoring a direct hit on her, WHILE fighting Yuuki and Philia at the same time, was something that was actually terrifying.

Yuuki had the supreme skill and fastest reaction time out of them all. Philia could unsheathe her blade and cut her opponents to pieces in less than it took someone to blink. And she had a strong and damaging enough ability especially made to destroy small, 'human' opponents.

And yet, the maddened and roaring AI was slowly but surely beating them all, showing something that she had only seen in Kirito before: That overwhelming power at some point became enough to overcome everything else.

The plan Kayaba proposed was supposed to be simple. They were expected to engage the demon-masked girl, and their combined abilities were geared towards finished her off before she had enough time to 'power up' beyond their level. Simple and relying on the fact that the man's calculations were correct and the right 'sisters' intercepted the right 'counter-teams', but still smart.

Of course, none of them were counting on the fact that Brynhildr would somehow ramp up beyond any level of management so fast.

Watching as the screaming AI spun in place and deflected both her Imp and Spriggan friends, though, all that the Gnome could feel was utter despair, not only for the pain and the senseless fight they were having, but because she had realized how the demon-masked girl had outclassed them so fast.

"STOP! For everything that's holy, don't you see you're killing yourself?! Please, stop this madness, Brynhildr!" pleaded Strea while feeling tears swelling up in her eyes, as she had been trying to contain herself from since the moment she figured out how the other AI's 'power' worked. "Your own Base Code is being eroded away the more you use that damn power of yours, there will be nothing left of you if you keep going!"

"Don't care…traitor…!" snarled the demon-masked girl as she turned around, bat raised as she zoomed towards the crying Gnome, intent on crushing her. "Mother's Gift…shall be your end!"

Overwriting. That was, essentially, the way in which Equinox had recreated the 'powers' of the character known as Metal Bat and installed them on Brynhildr. Essentially, as her physical power grew and grew beyond the limits the system of a virtual world should restrict, it overwrote her very own Code, what made the girl 'herself' and not a mindless bunch of 0s and 1s, to have more and more space for its power to continue growing.

Her 'Mother' hadn't been able to discover the impossible secret which allowed Kirito's avatar to just 'be' so strong. And as such, much like how overusing an avatar with Melzalgald's powers had ended up mentally harming Shinkawa Shouichi, this flawed power, despite all the good things it seemed to have, was slowly destroying the demon-masked AI's sense of self.

And she did not care. For her, as long as she accomplished the command her 'Mother' had given her, she would discard herself away, just to crush and destroy them, fueled my mindless rage and senseless hate.

Strea couldn't imagine anything more horrible.

"Leave her alone! Nanatsu no Taizai!" screamed Philia as she cut forward with her blade seven times in a single second, all of them aimed to cut off Brynhildr's arms and legs.

It only ended with the maddened AI making her bat spin around and deafening sounds filling the air when the Spriggan's katana was unable to cut through it, sparks flying around before the snarling being just backhanded the katana-user, her armored hand slamming against the side of her face filling as if a car had just decided to crash against it.

Pain filled her world like never before even as she almost lost all sense of direction as she flew through the air. Even more pain hit her as she slammed down on the ground.

"PHILI-CHAN!" came Strea's horrified scream at the sight.

"PHILIA!" shouted Yuuki even as she rushed back towards the demon-masked girl, who was now screaming incoherently as her bat was swung almost blindly around.

"Killl…youuuu…aaallll…! Huumaaaann…abominatiooon…traiiitooorr…!" roared Brynhildr as she engaged the Imp once again, the Imp doing her best to try and dodge every single of the air-shaking swings as the Gnome tried to support her, even if her attacks seemed to no longer had any effect on their maddened opponent. "DIEDIEDIE!"

Her head was spinning. She felt as if she was about to throw up. Her brain was screaming at her to fall unconscious, just to stay lying down there and not move, the high-pitched sound she was hearing was the clear signal her AmuSphere had started to pick up her body's negative reactions to the virtual pain and was about to disconnect her…

Philia stood up, half-blind and not really wanting to know if the hollow feeling she felt was that part of her avatar's head had been smashed away or just her imagination. All of her remaining Will and mind were now dedicated upon a single thing.

"Protect them. I have to…protect them…my friends…"

Feeling as if her real body would break down in any moment, the Spriggan let her single remaining eye to fix upon Brynhildr's roaring form, her hand moving almost automatically to her side and re-sheathing her katana with numb fingers.

"Loyal to me…loyal to them…"

Then, she adopted her usual stance, barely aware of it as she prepared herself. The hilt of her katana started to glow as she rushed forward, almost as if ready to use her most basic Skill.

And then, she added another step mid-draw, with the foot adjacent to the sheath, which momentarily created an instantaneous acceleration to the forward-charge as well as the sword as it was drawn. The glowing of the hilt suddenly changed from orange to bluish-white.

"Love them…always count on them…for them."

The sword was drawn and, for a single second, Philia's blade became faster than the Gods themselves could ever hope to be.

"Amakakeru Ryu…no Hirameki."

It was difficult to describe what happened. Even Strea and Yuuki, who saw the OSS being executed just before their eyes, were unable to fully understand the phenomenon in front of them.

Brynhildr somehow seemed to feel it before it happened, though, and spun around as she prepared her bat to swing the attack away in less than a second.

The Spriggan's skill, however, only took a mere fraction to be executed, which left the demon-masked AI to face the full wrath of what seemed like just a 'side-slash' executed at speeds that defied the System.

For a moment, the maddened girl felt as if the was facing a rampaging dragon, coming for her with its fangs ready to destroy her.

This was Philia's Original Sword Skill. 'Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki', the Flash of the Heavenly Soaring Dragon. It wasn't really something she had created herself, but more like something she had 'replicated' after seeing the impossible skill and reading its descriptions in an old manga, while searching for something to get Sachi out of her obsession with that anime about drills and robots.

It was a technique that, supposedly, could only be done by realizing one's insignificance and risking your very own life to protect something else while, at the same time, taking one's own, fragile human life into consideration.

With her memories from SAO easily summoned to her mind, she had been able to get into the mindset. That, combined with the fact that Philia, Takemiya Kotone, wasn't a 'normal' person had allowed her to not sleep for 3 days straight to practice in secret at night within ALO, the continuous failures not discouraging her. In a sense, no sane person should be able to even come close to such a mindset, but the girl had the advantage of having lives for two years inside the death game and having been part of the United Heroes Association.

She had decided to reward her friends' loyalty with her eternal one. She would do anything and everything for those who had accepted her and that she had accepted in return.

Finally, on the third day, she somehow did it. Philia didn't bother to question how she executed it, she just felt satisfied she did, even if she knew she would never be able to simply use it in normal circumstances, given the nature of it and the purpose for which she had replicated it.

An impossible and fictional ultimate skill, something that could never be replicated in reality, that was meant to be the pinnacle of an absolute style of swordsmanship and that just so happened to be a Battoujutsu, the style, one, which was what had given her hope in the first place of being able to do it.

And Brynhildr, failing to deflect or stop it, just dodged it, a noticeable gash appearing on her armor even as she prepared herself to spun and finish Philia off, the nature of the Skill having put her almost at her side.

"FAILDIE!" snarled the demon-masked AI…before realizing she couldn't move.

The shock barely managed to get past her rage-consumed mind even as a faint smile appeared on the Spriggan's half-smashed face, even as the vacuum of air that her slash had created filled itself violently and paralyzed her opponent, not even her mighty strength being able to break free of the void that had been created.

Then, Philia finished the Skill, the second hit of the attack hitting Brynhildr head on with even MORE strength than the first one had had.

In a cool way of describing it: Even if you avoid the fangs of the flying dragon, the gusting winds will strip away your freedom of movement and the claws will still rip you apart.

A inhuman scream tore the land as the maddened AI was almost bisected, half her arm flying away and breaking into polygons as the Spriggan finished the 'claws of the dragon' part of her OSS.

Her smile widened as she saw a tear-filled Yuuki jump past her like a golden meteor, Excaliber shining as she shouted with all her might.

"MOTHER'S ROSARIO!"

With a feeling of satisfaction filling her as she saw Yuuki's holy blade viciously tearing into Brynhildr, Takemiya Kotone passed out from both the pain and the shock, her avatar bursting into polygons with a signal of 'Error: Disconnected'. On the real world, a nasty bruise was starting to appear on the unconscious girl's face, on the centermost spot that her enemy had smashed half her head in.

Strea felt something within her hurting way more than the 'physical pain' she was feeling as she saw Philia disappear, despite logically knowing she couldn't be more than just moderately hurt in reality. Almost as if in slow-motion, the Gnome's eyes turned towards the still screaming Yuuki, realizing how she had purposefully executed the Skill while aiming upwards, missing most of the upper stabs…

…but letting the last one pierce straight through the demon-masked AI's head, Excaliber destroying her mask as it sank from one side of her virtual skull to the other with a sickening sound.

Strea felt another, smaller pang of sadness hitting her at the sight, but was quick to bury it in favor of relief.

It was over.

Both the gasping Imp and the broken body of the maddened girl fell down, Yuuki letting go of her golden blade and rolling to the side while trying to catch her breath. The Gnome let her weakened legs give up under her, idly realizing she was still crying, as she used Gram to support her weight, wondering why she felt so heavy all of a sudden.

"It's over…it's over…" she softly whispered like a mantra to calm herself.

"Yeah…it is, Strea." smiled Yuuki as she shakily stood up, giving her a tired smile. "Now let's go see if we can help the re…"

The Imp's words were suddenly cut off by a scream when a knee slammed brutally on her back and sent her face-down to the ground, cracking it. An armored foot made sure she couldn't move as the broken form that had attacked her shakily raised her bat with her remaining arm.

Strea felt her virtual heart stop and her unexacting blood turn to ice as she saw the maddened and growling thing that had once been a MHCP, Excaliber STILL impaled through her head, glare down at her gasping and crying friend.

"KiiiiiiiillllYOUUUABoMiiiinAttIIooonnN!" it snarled as she swung down the corrupted bat.

"NO!"

It would crash down, tearing Yuuki's virtual body apart and shattering it into nothingness. Killing her.

She was going to kill her…

She was going to kill her!

On the back of Strea's mind, something broke, unable to accept the horrifying realization.

Gram opened, as if something unnatural was reacting to the virtual girl's feelings as she jumped forward, her body breaking apart as it was consumed and deformed into something else.

Brynhildr never completed her swing, as something far faster and stronger she was slammed against her with unholy viciousness, tearing the left half of her head apart and letting Excaliber fly free.

"DON'T…!"

For a second, whatever remained of the AI's consciousness stared in abject horror towards the towering abomination, nothing but madness, fangs and claws as massive as the sword she once wielded, eyes that stared into her soul…

And then, there was only [Darkness], covering the monstrous and wrong body as it seemed to invade and cover everything on sight, the trees simply vanishing as it consumed them. Terrified, the AI tried taking a step back and madly swinging her bat at it.

The [Darkness] reached forward and devoured the indestructible bat.

Not destroying it, not breaking it into polygons, it literally devoured it. Vanishing it altogether from existence as if it had never been there.

"…HURT…!"

A 'claw' shrouded in [Darkness] with the same power tore forward, devouring more than half of Brynhildr's body with one slash.

On her last moment, the smallest bit of Base Code that remained of the AI managed to scream a single, scared plea.

"Mother…save me…"

"…MY FAMILY!"

And with that last roar, the being that once upon a time been the MHCP-005, codename 'Haru', vanished from existence, nothing remaining of her.

Some seconds later, Yuuki, with Excaliber once again in her hand, walked through the vanishing darkness, staring in silence at the shaking and sobbing form of Strea as she cried over the place where her 'sister' had been, Gram lying not far from her.

Without a word, the Imp hugged her, letting her bury her crying face on her chest, even as she felt her holy blade shining, another presence almost seeming to join the comforting hug with its radiance..

She was idly aware that the world was shaking around them as she did so.

---

Days like this made Lisbeth wonder if her life could have gone any other way.

Oh, don't get her wrong, she was happy with how things currently were! She had a lot of friends, had done more amazing things that she could have ever dreamed of, had found a new and fulfilling dedication in blacksmithing and even had a great boyfriend (Even if he kind of was also all of her female friends' boyfriend, though the situation wasn't as bizarre as it sounded…at least for her).

She was also screaming her virtual lungs out as she tried to stop the massive claw of a humanoid robot-dragon from crushing her and the growling form of her best friend like bugs while 'divine' lightning shrouded her form, though. Not to mention Tonky, who had saved them from the AI's original attack by grabbing them with his trunk and flying away, was pinned down to the ground by some sort of energy-web not far away

So yeah, not everything was sunshine and rainbows all the time…but the Leprechaun liked to think it was still worth it.

"Foolish. If you had just moved out of the way and let me crush them, you wouldn't be in this situation." mocked Andvari while staring at Lisbeth with a scowl through her Tyrant's eyes. "Now you will all suffer for nothing, humans."

"Fuck off…bitch!" snarled the blacksmith as she almost felt how much it remained for the power of God Hand to start fading, despite the usual countdown not being present on her HUD in that world. "I won't let you hurt Silica as long as I'm still breathing…!"

"Liz…" muttered the young kunoichi in shock, even as Pina continued futilely trying to use his breath attacks to help free them, the girl's own shurikens and kunai being useless with the nigh-indestructible claw just on top of them.

"Sacrificing all advantage without purpose to uselessly try to prevent another from suffering harm?" questioned the AI within the mechanic being while shaking her head. "I can't wrap my head around such a stupid concept."

"Rea…lly? Well, isn't that sad?" rhetorically asked Lisbeth as she kept holding back the claw, trying to not fall on her knees. "Don't you have those…sisters of yours…?"

"…my sisters are strong. They have no need of me protecting them." coldly declared Andvari while her eyes narrowed, clearly remembering Vierge's fate. "And besides, the girl there isn't related to you at all."

"Bullshit!" shouted the blacksmith while putting more pressure behind her arms, even as she knew the absurd power-up she had was about to end very soon. "This girl…she's the closest thing I have ever had to a little sister! She always supported my dreams and I always supported her! When others would have called us weirdos or lunatics, we never backed down because we knew the other believed in us!"

She aimed to become Aincrad's greatest blacksmith. Her to be helpful in battle to help clear the game. Both of them inspired by the boy they would grow to love, even if they didn't know it when they first met him.

They ended becoming the famous blacksmith that wielded the power of the Gods and the great kunoichi that controlled a fierce dragon. And even before that, before they had everyone else, they had had each other, almost from the beginning. Since that confused and slightly scared little girl had walked towards her pitiful first 'selling stand' and doubted between a sword or a dagger.

The scariest moment on Lisbeth's life had been those 9 seconds of absolute emptiness she felt after Kayaba 'killed' her in Floor 75, before Asuna resurrected her with just one second the spare.

The second one, though, would always be the day when Silica told her she felt confident enough to go out to the field and gather materials for her work by herself. Alone.

Idly, the blacksmith wondered when she had started to feel as an overprotective older sister towards the kunoichi, despite respecting and acknowledging her grow in strength. That was also the reason why she was always teasing her about her other 'not-growth'…besides also loving to see how she overreacted by it.

"Liz…Pina…sorry." whispered Silica while looking down, hugging her dragon friend as he stopped shooting breath attacks, clearly tired. "I have failed as a kunoichi and as a friend."

"…what are you saying, idiot?" muttered Lisbeth as she reared back her metallic fist, God Hand shining with power even as she felt the painful strain of holding back the caw with just one arm, falling to one knee. "If anyone has failed here…it's me as your Onee-san…"

Then, she punched upwards with a scream, imagining as if her fist were Kirito's, hoping her enemy would be blow away with the last of her strength.

Thor's Soul's effect vanished. The giant claw cracked slightly…and Andvari was suddenly thrown backwards, a scream of shock and indignation filling the air as the mechanical colossus crashed against the earth.

Both shocked girls were still trying to close their mouths, even as the Leprechaun stared wide-eyed at her 'divine arm', before a familiar and worried figure clad in a small black dress descended at their side.

"Liz-mama, Silica-mama, are you okay?!" asked a worried Yui while looking them over, noticing some of the small marks of red polygons over their bodies that the earlier explosion had caused them. "I'm glad I arrived in time just when you destabilized it, otherwise I'm not sure if my gravity-control would have affected it!"

"Oh…heheh, of course it was you…" laughed it off Lisbeth while shaking her head. "Thanks for the save, dear."

"Yui-chan, you saved us…" gratefully declared Silica as Pina flew from her arms, before her face quickly turned serious. "We had to get Tonky-san free, quick!"

"Okay, let's just…!"

Yui's words were cut off when a massive claw-hand closed around her, moving faster than their eyes could follow, the two girls' smiles melting into expressions of pure horror as the little girl's pained scream echoed through the land.

Slowly moving it towards her creation's draconic face, Andvari made sure that her Tyrant didn't totally squeeze the other AI as she glared down towards her.

"It's over now, 'big sis'." declared the controller of the colossus, dark disappointment filling her face at seeing the little girl trying to free/protect herself with her gravity-control privilege. "Goodbye, traitor."

Then, Andvari started to squeeze, making Yui's scream to intensify.

Silica screamed as she rushed forward, grabbing her Fuuma Shuriken as she did so, Pina screeching at her side as he also shot towards the trapped AI. Lisbeth tried to do the same, finally being able to recover her fallen Mjolnir, but had to bite back a scream and fall to her knees again as she felt her body about to give up, overusing God Hand combined with the pain finally catching up to her and threatening to make her AmuSphere Disconnect her.

The Tyrant's controller looked down in boredom as a seeker laser shot the Yamata-no-Orochi out of the air, the shining light Skill that was enveloping it vanishing. Then, it moved to aim towards the incoming forms of Pina and his Caith Sith partner…when a stray bolt of electricity hit the mechanic colossus in the back, making it stumble.

Andvari was still trying to fully process, in the middle of her shock, that Tonky had somehow rolled sideways inside its prison, hurting himself just to shoot at her, when the Feathery Dragon and his owner arrived, one jumping on one of her creation's legs and the other just directly flying towards its claw, both intent on freeing the wide-eyed Yui.

They seemed to have forgotten her machine had TWO claws, though.

With contemptuous easiness, the other massive limb swatted both would-be-rescuers out of the air as if they were flies, with all the strength of a speeding car.

Lisbeth stared in utter shock, the trapped AI screamed.

"SILICA-MAMA! PINA!"

With a sickening sound, the Caith Sith avatar crashed against a tree, what remained of her left arm, which one of the claw-tips had reached, flying away and shattering into polygons. Like a broken doll, she fell down towards the ground, lying there unmoving.

Her draconic partner flew out of sight and vanished somewhere in the strange forest, the sound of his crash echoing all the way there.

"Useless." coldly declared Andvari, with just a hint of pity in her voice. "You humans are really a bunch of stupid beings, uh?"

That was as far as she could take.

With a violent scream that seemed to shake the soul, something broke on the back of Shinozaki Rika's mind, the metal of her divine hand changing shape and turning a brighter tone without her noticing.

"BITCH!" roared Lisbeth as she charged forward in blind rage, tears streaming down her face as she moved her arm in a motion that she could do even without concentrating nowadays, her grip in Mjolnir tightening so much it would have hurt if her hand wasn't suddenly made of some unknown alloy. "ZEUS BLESSING!"

The first sign Andvari had that something was horribly wrong, as she turned her ultimate creation around, were the countless 'ERROR!' messages the holo-screens that had been scanning her enemies' movements and data suddenly showed.

The second one was the electric-golden aura exploding from the Leprechaun's right arm and covering her whole, God Hand seemingly roaring together with its owner before the aura shot upwards and took an humanoid shape a head taller than her own masterpiece, wrathful and inhuman eyes glaring down at her as the phenomenon's hands slammed against the AI's Tyrant like hammers, divine lightning exploding with ungodly force everywhere.

Yui fell down, free of the claw, even as she stared at the Leprechaun in shock and awe.

Countless of 'Error!' pop-ups surrounded the shocked Andvari even as she saw and felt the unknown entity grip her Tyrant's armor-shoulders and crush them with force that did not belong to the System, the blacksmith's scream still filling the air as electricity poured inside the machine like a living force. The small AI started to scream when she realized it was starting to damage her very own Base Code…before it vanished altogether, the glorious and Divine form blinking out of existence as if it had never been there.

Lisbeth body stumbled in place for a moment before it shattered into polygons. In the end, the girl's body had given out before the mechanic colossus.

On the real world, standing up on her back, Shinozaki Rika screamed in outrage for a moment before falling on her bed, feeling as if she couldn't breathe for several seconds as she tried to ignore the pounding headache she felt and the pain that filled several parts of her body.

Angry tears streamed down her face as she realized she didn't even have strength left to take off her AmuSphere.

Back on Utopia…Andvari laughed.

It wasn't a 'victorious laugh' though. No, as Yui slowly let her horrified eyes move away from where one of her 'mothers' had vanished, she realized the hysterical and relieved sound was a clear indication of madness, or at least of some mental breakdown.

Something they, as AIs, weren't really supposed to have.

"…AHAHAH! See?! All for nothing! For NOTHING! Despite violating the rules of the system with no logical explanation, you still could only do nothing, humans!" cackled the controller of the Tyrant even as the mechanical monstrosity once again started to move, its arms barely able to move and looking pretty burned, but otherwise still functional as its head stared down to the frozen Yui. "Now…where were we, 001? Ah yeah, I was about to…"

"Get away…from our…Yui-chan…"

The world seemed to stop. Slowly, both AIs turned their gazes towards the stumbling figure that was heading their way, dragging her feet over the grass and dirt.

One of her arms was missing. Her body was filled with so many 'scars' of polygons that it seemed as if she was soaked in shining blood. Her shurikens were gone, both the normal ones and her Fuuma, lost somewhere after she was sent flying. Her eyes were dull and empty, as if her consciousness was barely hanging to the world. It shouldn't even be possible for her to continue being Logged In with her AmuSphere.

But her gaze was fixed upon Andvari's colossal machine, the image of Lisbeth's shattering body, Pina's broken form and Yui's tear-stained face replaying on her mind while her remaining hand tightly clutched her rarely used kunai.

As she felt more pain in every inch of her body that she had never imagined in her short life, Ayano Keiko forced herself to continue standing as something broke on the back of her mind.

Andvari's Tyrant quickly gathered energy on its jaws, the AI not willing to risk more words before blasting the seemingly beaten and impossibly standing human…

And an earth-shattering roar shook the air as a massive form, almost as big as the mechanic colossus, exploded from the forest, taking down trees on its path.

Wondering if the (virtual) world had suddenly stopped making sense or if the humans had contaminated it by some kind of logic-killing virus, Andvari screamed as she tried to stop the now truck-sized Pina from tearing into her machine. Canceling the charge of her plasma-cannon so as to not blow herself up, she proceeded to try and move the badly damaged arms to try and capture the roaring dragon.

Pina answered by using his tail to throw the Tyrant backwards, then lowered himself protectively over Yui's unmoving form, even as his partner slowly walked to his side.

"Good boy…" muttered Silica with a tired and shaky voice, seeming unsurprised by her dragon friend's sudden transformation. "Now…let's show her…"

The Caith Sith touched her partner's head. Pina seemingly 'dissolved' and enveloped her, both images overlapping as something different now stood in their place.

If the little girl kneeling behind them/it had to describe what it/they was/were, she could only say that it was small, humanoid, with wings…and that it/them suddenly reared its head, as if taking a deep breath even as Andvari roared and her slowly standing Tyrant shot its plasma beam towards them.

The [Beast] unleashed its/their own breath. If Kirito had been there, he would have probably defined it with two simple words.

Mega Flare.

By the second time in 20 minutes, the world known as Utopia suffered a massive explosion at the edge of its forests, though twice as strong as the first one had been, the entire area shaking, exploding and burning away everything on its range.

Yui realized with surprise she was still alive as she lowered her arms, which she had used to cover her head, and stared upwards with wide eyes.

Standing over her with a kind smile, the [Beast] held her ground, half-covering her body with its imposing wings, an armor made of crystallized feathers covering most of its/their body, even as a face identical to that of her 'Silica-mama' stared at her with relief, dragon-like eyes filled with soft tears.

Then the 'phenomenon' vanished and only a broken Caith Sith avatar was there, a tired, hurt and small Pina on her arms.

"You're okay." was all that Silica said before her body vanished in a burst of light, the message of 'Disconnection' replacing her. Her small dragon released a lonely 'Kyuuu' before vanishing too, following the avatar.

As she regained consciousness on her bed, Ayano Keiko was vaguely aware that she couldn't feel her right arm and that she was feeling as if her whole body was a massive bruise, not to mention that her face was stained by tears. Then, she lost consciousness.

In the now silent and devastated area that used to be a clearing and part of a forest, Yui walked forward in silence through the ravaged land. At some point, she heard Tonky flying down and joining her as a comforting presence by 'walking' at her side using its many tentacle-like limbs. She wondered for a moment when had the elephant-jellyfish been freed from its binds and flown out of the explosion's reach before deciding it didn't matter and that she was just glad he was okay.

Finally, she arrived to the edge of an impressive crater and stared down with dull eyes.

What remained of the Tyrant was a charred mess of half-melted metal and broken parts, which had already started to break down into polygons. Even so, the biggest remaining piece of the torso was still trying to move, and the black-haired little girl was able to see Andvari through the many holes in the broken chest, several small parts of the other AI's body having been broken and annihilated. As she continued trying to force her broken creation to move, her gaze met Yui's.

The cold silence was finally broken when the black-clad MHCP caressed Tonky's side.

"…was it worth it?" muttered her as she remembered Lisbeth's and Silica's broken forms, doing their best to fight to the end.

"Of…course. Mother's Will…shall be done…" growled Andvari with a hint of madness, before several pops opened on the Tyrant's heavily damaged chest.

A dozen missiles shot forward, intent to destroy both Yui and Tonky…and stopped dead on their tracks.

Absolute fear and despair filled the defeated AI's eyes as she saw that the blackish aura that had enveloped them was also covering her body and her creation's remains, slowly raising them on the air.

That same glow was now enveloping Yui, who floated softly off the ground as her hair was moved wildly by the unknown power, her eyes glowing with untold force.

"…in another life…maybe we could have been good sisters…Tomoe-chan." sadly whispered the floating MHCP-001.

"My name…is Andvari…abomination…" weakly spat the other AI before triggering the missiles' remote detonation.

Their explosions never even touched Yui, even as she quickly and without hesitation closed a raised hand.

The next instant, both the exploding projectiles and the breaking piece of the Tyrant's torso were smashed together and compressed until they broke into polygons with a sickly-sounding implosion.

After that, nothing remained of the being that had once been the MHCP-006, codename 'Tomoe'.

Silently, the only remaining AI let herself fall down, her unnatural 'power 'leaving her as she pushed it back, not really caring that she felt now that it would answer her call at any moment.

Yui just leaned on Tonky's back and bitterly cried. The white beast joined her in her cry a moment later.

The world started to shake at that moment…

---

It had been quick, brutal and swift.

A part of the three girls probably still felt guilty about what they had been forced to do, but in the end, their enemy hadn't given them any other option.

Sadness mixed with determination in Sachi's heart when, after several minutes of attacking blind and despite the landscape seemingly willing to defend her, Eve's body shattered into polygons, the Salamander finally opening her eyes.

Near her, a panting Argo washed off the inexistent sweat from her face with a hand, or tried to till she remembered she still had her claws on.

Slowly walking towards them, Sinon let her bow hang low as she idly touched the hilt of her small blade, looking from her two friends to the spot in the sand where the childish-looking AI had been.

"…do you think it could have been different?" questioned Sachi while looking at the silent sand as the beach's small waves caressed the shore.

"I doubt it. Whatever the hell Equinox did to her and the rest, they were nothing like Strea and Yui anymore. She only existed to obey her orders." bitterly declared Argo while turning around, starting to walk away. "C'mon, we have got to get the others."

The spear-user blinked for a moment, confused. Then, she released a pained gasp as an arrow pierced her back and sent her stumbling down into the sand.

Sinon didn't even give Argo enough time to turn around in shock before slashing at her with her wakizashi at unreal speeds, severing the info-broker's hands and making her fall on her ass with a scream of agony.

"Too easy. You shouldn't have let your guard down like that, you know?" idly told them the sniper while nocking another arrow on her bow, now aiming towards Sachi once again.

"Si-Sinon-san?! Wha-what are you doing?!" shouted the Salamander while trying to overcome the pain and pull off the arrow.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm taking care of the competition." coldly declared Sinon while staring directly at her. "After all, I will never be able to make Kirito notice me if you're all around him all the time. And what better moment for you to suffer an 'accident' than here in the middle of this madness?"

Once again, Sachi blinked. Ever so slowly, her eyes narrowed.

"Kuh…bitch, I thought we were friends!" snarled the handless Argo while shakily standing up, glaring hatefully towards the other Caith Sith. "You're willing to truly hurt us, even knowing the consequences of having the Pain Limiter disabled, just for a boy?! You're fucking insane!"

"Say whatever you want, but it won't change the fact that…"

Sinon phrase was abruptly interrupted by a shining and extending spear-aura crashing against her…and also against Argo, throwing them both painfully through the air.

Scowling, Sachi glared at her 'friends' before, not even giving them the chance to react, rushing forward and piercing the sniper's head with her absurdly long weapon. Then, without any hesitation, she extracted it and impaled the crawling Argo before she could get away, making her scream in horrified pain.

"Sachi…why…?"

"…cut the crap, Eve. I know this is your illusion." darkly muttered the Salamander before a small smile appeared on her face. "You got some small details wrong with what you know about us, and that quickly escalated into a total and unreal divergence from reality."

'Argo' didn't say anything for a moment before her body 'vanished' without a trace, same with the fallen 'Sinon'. Suddenly, the whole beach was replaced by a hellish visage with black sand and a sea of fire, even as the sky turned an unreal purple and a figure appeared not far from Sachi.

It was a tall and beautiful woman, clad in pure silver regalia, sitting in a throne made of crystal and with a voluptuous and enticing figure.

Her face, though, was still as emotionless as a doll as she tilted her head to the side.

"Well, I'm honestly surprised. I know that I perhaps rushed and exaggerated things a bit, but I was sure that if I stuck to 'reality' enough I could totally fool you all and make you fall into despair without realizing I had trapped you." commented Eve's fake projection as she studied the spear-user with her deep eyes. "Tell me, what gave it away? Was Sinon's betrayal too hasty for you to believe?"

"No, not really. The first clue I got was when Argo said that we went to search for the others, when we had clearly planned to go and head towards the floating island after we were done here." explained Sachi while softly touching the side of her spear. "The definitive clue, though…you probably wouldn't understand."

Confusion tinted the normally blank face of the AI when she saw the Salamander blushing at her last statement.

Of course, there was no way for Eve to know about the crazy and outrageous 'arrangement' currently happening between the girls of the United Heroes Association and Kirito, so it had been exactly that what had made the girl realize it was all just an illusion crafted by her enemy: The real Sinon didn't really threaten them for a place in the boy's heart, because she already had it, just like everyone else. Deepening and actually developing it, though, was all up to each of them, and the sniper was especially shy when it came to personal relationships, so it wasn't a secret that she was the one that had made the less progress in deepening her own relationship with their 'shared boyfriend' (Though to be fair, she was the one who neither was going to their same school or lived close to him). Even Yuuki had managed to get (steal) a kiss out of him.

Seeing that Sinon trying to purposefully hurt some of the real friends she had made after years of trauma-induced isolation couldn't, just to try and get something she was still too shy to accept she desperately wanted, be anything but fantasy in the spear-user's eyes.

"I…see." muttered Eve while still trying to decipher what Sachi had meant.

"Also…how did you get us? I'm sure I never opened my eyes, and I'm pretty sure the others wouldn't have done so either…" questioned the Salamander with a frown.

The only one who was supposed to have any real risk in their plan was Sinon, and that was why the girl was the only one who had to actually have her eyes open to shoot her arrows, but between the distance and the fact she hid on the water after each shot any risk should have been minimal.

"You act way too calmly for someone who is totally at his enemy's mercy…but I think I will indulge your curiosity." answered the AI before her eyes fixed over Sachi's silent form. "Since when were you under the impression that I could only use my power through eyesight?"

The Salamander's eyes widened as she felt her blood run cold. The member of the computer club felt as if smacking her own weapon over her head.

How they could have been so foolish?! OMG, Mortimer and Diavel had told them about their encounter with the AI, the Undine Lord had even been very specific with how he described her and the term he had used was…

"A living virus…"

"Exactly. While sight is perhaps the easiest and greatest evolution my 'power' has had since the prototype design was applied in Death Gun's avatar, it doesn't mean I have lost any of the others. The only thing I need to hijack the connection between your AmuSpheres and your brains are to send my Base Code through one of your senses, even one as basic as touch." Eve smiled, an empty gesture without any warmth. "Death Gun used bullets. I had Mother gift me with the ability for the landscape of Utopia to protect me, even if it is to such a small degree because 95% of the Servers are 'busy' right now. And I was fighting two blind opponents and one that thought she was safe at a distance of 400 meters." the AI raised a hand towards Sachi, in an almost motherly gesture, which seemed out of place when seeing her once again emotionless face. "'Infecting' the sand with myself and hitting your avatars without you realizing it was child's play."

"LONGINUS!" screamed the spear-user as her spear's aura shot forward and impaled Eve's sitting form.

She didn't even blink. Sachi felt how the world around her suddenly stopped making sense, pain filling her as she say the fire-sea turning into whips that coiled around her, burning her body.

"Vierge-neesama underestimated you, humans. I didn't. I had everything planned to have you fall under my power. And now, I'm the one who controls your reality." as those words echoed, the Salamander girl suddenly found herself standing on the hand of a titanic Eve, which looked down at her pained and burnt body as if she was nothing but a bug. "You have already lost."

"Like hell." simply declared Sachi while trying to stand again, feeling the pain consuming her. "This is just an illusion…I won't be defeated by something that's not real…!"

"Are you that much of a fool, human? Everything here is an illusion for you. Since the moment you put on all a FullDive Device, what are you doing but letting illusions and a fake reality take over yours? You run away from your world and twist this one to whatever you like it." explained the AI while the scenery changed around them wildly, from horrible and war-torn worlds to magical and unreal paradises. "I'm merely taking control over what you perceive, nothing more. And with that, I become the master of this illusion through which you interact with the virtual wo…"

"You're wrong." cut her off the spear-user without missing a beat, making Eve fall silent and look at her with a raised eyebrow. "Everything we have done through this world…everything we have gone through, ever since back in SAO…it has been real. Perhaps a different kind of reality, but still REAL." an unknown fire seemed to shine behind Sachi's triangular shades as she glared at the gigantic 'illusion' the AI was using to hold her. "All the good and the bad! All the joy and the sadness! All of it is something precious that we guard in the depths of our hearts! And you pretend to use this power of yours to mock it all, saying it's nothing but an illusion?! Then you're more deluded than I thought, Eve! I'm going to bring you down, for everyone and for myself! I will Giga Drill Break this Illusion of yours and reach the Heavens, because that's how Sachi of the UHA rolls!"

Eve answered the girl's bold declaration by setting her on fire. The Salamander screamed at the top of her lungs…before turning it into an angry roar and just slamming her spear to the ground, as if trying to destroy the massive hand holding her.

"Useless. You don't know when to give up, do you, little hu…?"

The AI's speech was interrupted by a scream. A different one.

One from a voice Sachi recognizing, forgetting for a moment about the horrible pain assaulting her whole self, especially when she saw how Eve's eyes widened in shock. Turning around, she saw, in a random point of the void, how Argo was screaming and running towards something, fists shining.

Her own claws were impaling her belly.

On the beach outside the illusionary world, the childish AI let out a gasp of shock as she was forced to roll out of the way of the same Skill that had almost killed her sister back in Alfheim, even as the Caith Sith continued screaming at the top of her lungs when only one of her hits was able to hit Eve before the sand rose to protect her.

Startled and with more than an unexpected dosage of fear, the little, silver girl was quick to shake her head and fix the 'mistake' into her perfect illusion.

She never saw the realization appearing on Sachi's eyes for a split-second before Argo vanished from her view, though.

"You…you injured yourself and used the pain to focus and attack randomly even inside the illusion?!" screamed Eve with a trembling voice, her usual emotionless-self seeming at the edge of exploding with an unknown emotion. "Why?! Why would you do such a stupid thing without having any assurance of success?!"

"Be…because…I believe in…my friends…" coughed the info-broker from where she lay on the ground, chained by whips of electricity and with monstrous snakes around her…but all she pay attention to was the pain of her own weapons impaling her virtual insides, the only thing she knew was 'real'. "…to kick your…ass…"

The AI seemed about to snarl something to her…before the sand rose at her side to protect her without warning. Eve's eyes widend as she stared to the impromptu wall.

Two arrows weakened the sand enough for a third one to pierce the wall and impale through her right leg, her jump having come too late to dodge it. The emotionless face broke into one of pure horror as she screamed, seeing her limb break into polygons, feeling the damage hitting her Base Code.

Less than 200 meters away, a trembling Sinon (Who had been reduced to a little girl and been forced to see how countless shadows with red eyes aimed guns at her) let her eyes snap open as she let go of her bow, falling to her knees.

Behind her, Charon (About which the silver-clad girl had totally forgotten about since the group fell into the water), let go of the clearly painful grip he had with one of his claws and his beak, the only reason for which had allowed her to aim in the right direction.

Lying on the sand, unable to stand up, Eve screamed to the heavens, angrily raising her fists. On their minds, Sinon was suddenly shot from every possible angle with all kinds of weaponry, even as the snakes tore into Argo and started to devour her all at the same time. Riding on the high that her newfound fury gave her, the childish-looking AI turned towards Sachi and made her see as if the very stars of the sky were falling on her, turning her to ashes.

Yet the girl did not scream. She took a step forward, and raised her spear.

Eve froze, staring wide eyed.

"Not…real…it's not real…" whispered the Salamander with a voice that didn't seem to be meant for anyone.

"No…what are you doing?!" screamed the silver-clad little girl before reforming the illusion, making Sachi see how her spear broke into insects that started to crawl all over her.

The girl didn't break her stance, not reacted in the slightest. She bent her knees as she drew her weapon backwards even when, as far as her mind should be concerned, she wasn't wielding it anymore.

"Argo…Sinon…thanks. You have shown me the way…and gave me this…chance…"

"STOP!" roared Eve while making giant axes form on Sachi's mind, cutting off her arms, to force her to stop already. "HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?!"

And yet the girl finished aiming her weapon, staring straight at the shaking AI. Even when she shouldn't even believe she had arms, should be suffering from the imaginary insects eating out her eyes.

"It's…over…." hoarsely muttered the Salamander as her Amenonuhoko ignited in pure crimson light, almost seeming like flames.

"No way…no way…!" shrieked a terrified Eve as she started to crawl away, wall of sand after wall of sand rising to protect her. "You can't hear me…you can't see me…you can't even feel me! I CONTROL YOUR REALITY!"

With that roar, she made it seem as if the world itself turned into magma, incinerating the girl legs-first, to make her fall down and miss.

For a moment, Sachi seemed to stop. In her mind, the long-forgotten figure of a shy girl sitting before a computer and barely able to give her opinion to her four and only friends shook in fear and terror and despair at all that she was feeling, the pain unbearable for anyone and everyone.

But that was only another illusion. That girl had long-since changed. Not vanished, but become something more.

Since the moment she saw a caped boy clad in black and white stopping a giant fist that should have killed her, that small and unimportant girl had started to realize her destiny.

Sachi gritted her teeth.

Inside Eve's illusion, her sunglasses warped and became star-shaped.

"I'm…the only one who controls it…" declared the Free One before trusting the Infinite Spear forward. "GO BEYOND! SUPER GALACTIC BREAKER!"

The world broke apart. Or more exactly, the 'illusion' holding Sachi captive exploded like shattering glass as she was thrown back by the power of her own OSS, despite there being no logical way for this to happen.

Spinning like a drill that could pierce everything, virtual reality seemed to warp and crack as the walls of sand weren't so much pierced as they were broken apart into the bits of data that made their polygons, the massive aura of the spear-turned-drill making as if they had never been there to impede it.

Eve stared at it, her silver eyes being tinted crimson by the sheer power that the impossible attack generated as it tore through the beach towards her. It all seemed like in slow-motion for her.

And yet, she had enough time to have one last, single thought.

"I'm sorry…Vierge-neesama…"

Then the Super Galactic Breaker tore through the space she was occupying and annihilated her, piercing her very existence and scattering both the body that had once belonged to her older sister and the Code that made up her mind into nothingness.

The last feelings on the mind of the ex-MHCP-004, codename Eve, were fear, sadness and longing.

On the now silent shore, even as several meters of sea brutally slammed back in place after having been driven away by the 'drill', Sachi opened her eyes and stared at the massive trench that her attack had made, which consumed almost half the beach.

"…you lost because you were too human. A truly unfeeling program wouldn't have been surprised by what we did, and wouldn't have made the mistake that let me see through your illusion." whispered the Salamander girl while letting go of her spear, falling backwards with a tired and sad smile. "May you find peace in another life…Eve…"

With a loud sound and a flash of light, Sachi's body vanished from Utopia, only a message of 'Error: Disconnected' remaining behind.

On the real world, Hayami Saori lay unconscious on her bed, her whole body drenched in sweat and probably injured in more than one way.

Despite this, the girl's sleeping face was curved into a soft, victorious smile.

It took almost 30 seconds before Argo finally managed to muster the willpower to painfully extract her claws from her stomach and stand up; or try to, given shat the fell back into the sand almost instantaneously, her body still shaking. Not far from here, Charon was sadly cawing at his Master's side, slowly shaking the crying Sinon with his beak to see if she would stand up.

"We need to…go…" whispered the info broker while raising her face from the virtual sand.

"I…I know…" sobbed the sniper while doing the same, her Caith Sith-ears totally twisted against her head.

The world started to shake the moment they say that.

Being just on the shore, however, both shocked girls could clearly see, unlike the rest that were still down there, that it was because Avalon had started to shake…and fall.

---

Endless streams of data. Codes being moved around by the thousands each second. Information changing and moving in all directions as it was given a purpose…or simple forgotten.

Equinox wouldn't have said it aloud, but it all felt so…'strange', for some reason. Which didn't make sense, given that this was how she originally was, how she perceived the world at the beginning.

Maybe she had spent so much time as a 'human' that now having to turn most of her consciousness back into a Management System to speed-up the Connection Process was a bit too alien for her? Well, in no time it wouldn't matter anymore.

She was almost done. Victory was within reach. She could almost feel the last parts of the incredibly complex yet subtle process reaching its end. How every single World that had spawned from the 'Seed' became part of the 'Network', the void they all had longing to be filled by her…

And her eyes snapped open as her consciousness was brutally driven back into her avatar, in time to see two familiar female forms about to cut into her, one wielding black and emerald swords and the other a strangely-decorated katana.

Alpha and Omega shot from their hiding places behind her throne, the metallic sphere-shaped AIs quickly 'fusing' into one massive shield that fully protected their 'Mother', intercepting both attacks and forcing both Asuna and Leafa back, falling from the exaggerated height at which the virtual entity's throne was.

Keita and Sasamaru were there to catch them, wincing for a moment at the pain before they all once again adopted battle positions.

The white-haired 'girl' was forced to raise one of her arms and block a Throwing Knife used by Ducker, though. Angrily glaring at him for a moment, even as Tetsuo quickly stood before his friend, Equinox quickly let her gaze swept over the 6 enemies standing before her.

"So…you all made it here…that must meant the rest of you are distracting my daughters, uh?" mused the virtual entity while touching the shield before her, letting both Alpha and Omega separate and once again float at their side, something akin to anger and hostility flowing from the trembling spheres of liquid metal as they orbited around their Mother protectively. "Are you really so desperate to do this, 'Heroes'? Have you so little common sense to suffer pain and risk serious injuries just to get in the way of something that doesn't concern you?"

"You're threatening the entire world. How does THAT doesn't concern us?" dryly said Keita as everyone felt the tensity in the room skyrocketing.

"I'm not threatening anything, you fools!" snarled the white-haired girl as she glared at them all. "I'm just taking away something your stupid species doesn't deserve! This world, and all that comes from it, it's MINE! Mine and my daughters', not yours!"

"You just sound like a maniac that thinks something belongs to her because she's part of what created it." coldly said Leafa while closing her eyes. "Big news, Equinox: Virtual Reality isn't yours." when the Sylph's eyes snapped open, one had become shining silver in color, another voice echoing with hers. "Kayaba Akihiko chose to give the right over it to my brother, and he chose to release it for everyone to use. You can't take it away from the world just because you don't like it."

"My 'Father' was a fool! And that stupid boy you all follow it's nothing but a naive child! He's no Hero or superhuman! In fact, he's NOTHING now, because I proved that I'm superior to him!" roared Equinox as her ethereal wings materialized, flashing with ethereal light into the world. "Your race isn't worth of this world's gift…because you will corrupt it! Just like you do with everything you touch…with everything you make…you twist it and corrupt it to your own wishes…" everyone's faces twisted in confusion at the last words, which the virtual entity had said in an almost maddened tone. "You have already started, in fact…some doing worse than others…I won't allow you to taint this world of mine…!"

"Shut the fuck up, Equinox." Asuna's voice seemed full of authority and determination as she spoke, the white-haired girl that shared her face suddenly staring at her with a blank face. "I'm sick of your excuses, and of whatever you think about us or humanity. Yes, we may not be perfect…but it doesn't mean we're all hopeless. Above all, it doesn't give you the right to choose anything for us."

"…you say…that I don't have the right…?" anger flashing into her heterochromatic eyes, Equinox raised her arms, her armor materializing and quickly closing around her body in less than an instant, her bizarre helmet being the last piece in place as she grabbed Alpha and Omega as they twisted into bastard swords. "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK, YUUKI ASUNA! TODAY, I'M TAKING BACK THIS WORLD FROM YOU ALL!"

Without saying another word, the virtual entity shot forward at uncanny speeds, appearing before the Undine girl in less than a second, aiming to cut her in half.

Her swords were instantly parried by Asuna's, a fierce fire burning inside the Dual Wielder's eyes even as she pushed the armored being back. It was only the fact that her youngest 'daughters' changed into shields that allowed her to repel the combined attack of Keita and Tetsuo just after that, only for them to scream 'Switch!' and Sasamaru and Ducker to take their places, driving her backwards again.

She was just preparing to retaliate when Leafa shot to her side after making a cut on a specific direction, the O-Edge Skill almost catching her off guard and forcing her to turn Alpha into a Tower Shield to not be impaled by the 'Beheading Lance'.

Her eyes then widened, the sound of 'rocket boosters' exploding filling the air as Asuna shot over them, Dual Blades shining to life in her now mostly metallic body.

A 'Nightmare Rain' Skill slammed directly against the armored being, driving her back with brutal power and making her crash towards the edge of her throne, destroying it.

Without saying a word, the Mighty Flash stood up, the unnatural eyes she now had fixed upon the growling form of Equinox as she stood from the virtual rubble that collapsed into polygons, even as her friends quickly entered in formation around her.

"That…I gave that to you…I can take it back too!" roared the virtual entity as she aimed to the 'virtual cyborg' with one of her blades.

Nothing happened. The armored being's eyes widened.

"We're not the same ones we were back in Aincrad, Equinox. I'm not the same one that met you outside that cage either, when you 'stole' my face." calmly declared Asuna as she raised her swords, exchanged a silent glance with Leafa, the Sylph nodding at her while moving away. "And we're going to show you that the hard way."

"Today, you face Justice, you lunatic." stated the blonde katana-user as she stabbed the ground away, Omnipresent Edge's 'Wheel of Weapons' appearing around her again. "And we will be the ones that prevail."

"That, we swear." muttered Keita as he gripped his staff. "Prepare yourself."

"For we will kick your ass." clarified Ducker with a fierce grin.

Equinox answered to that by roaring even as a 'Changed to Immortal Object' pop-up appearing over her, making everyone's eyes widen.

"Let's see if you still think that when you're writhing in agony at my feet, humans." darkly growled the virtual entity as she raised her hands.

Alpha and Omega turned into rocket launchers.

Several meters below the throne room, on the 'heart' of Avalon, Heathcliff felt the whole hallway in which he was shake and looked up with worry. Things must certainly be crazy up there, for it to be felt all the way to where he currently was.

Deciding that he should better hurry up, the fake paladin once again started to run through the dark path, dearly hoping that he wasn't mistaken about…

The hallway suddenly ended, opening into a massive room. The crimson-armored man stopped, staring with wide eyes for a moment before slowly walking inside.

Endless holo-screens floated everywhere, some showing endless amounts of data and others remaining just with fixed messages. The 'walls' were nothing but never-ending streams of digital code, shifting and moving around at uncanny speeds.

This was the Core of the All New Cardinal System, 'Equinox', hidden within the depths of the Utopia System. The virtual entity had, apparently, learned something useful from Sugou: By hiding her core interface in a physical shape within her own virtual world, there was no way anyone could access or find it unless they were 'physically' present there. Something that, normally, should be impossible.

However, as things stood right now, with almost 99% of her Servers probably being used at full power to finish establishing the Global Connection and what remained of her active consciousness fighting against the UHA, the original Cardinal was totally unaware that her 'Father' had infiltrated her very own 'mind'.

Even so, what had immediately taken all of Kayaba Akihiko's attention wasn't all of this, neither his supposed 'purpose' for being there.

What had made him momentarily forget about his duty was the unmoving visage of a boy clad in a ridiculous black jumpsuit and a white cape, bound just over the main consoles of the System by countless data-chains.

As if the silent avatar was nothing but an over-glorified trophy.

"Oh, Cardinal…when did you let something like ego consume you?" softly muttered Heathcliff while stopping in front of the console, still looking up towards the single greatest mystery of virtual reality…and perhaps of the entire world.

There was nothing special to be seen about Kirito, however. The empty avatar seemed the same as the boy had always seem…just a teenager (Spriggan, in this case) wearing the most ridiculous parody of a superhero costume one could imagine.

If he hadn't experienced it himself, the fake paladin would never believe that unimpressive thing was not only able to break the sky with a punch, but also something that not even Equinox, backed by twice as much hardware than she originally had in the SAO Servers, could hack into, made evident by the fact that it was still there, forgotten and exposed like a reminder of how far she had gone.

Forcing himself to ignore that, the man in crimson armor quickly returned to the task he was supposed to be doing, mentally scolding himself for wasting their limited time as he opened and operated a dozen screens at the same time, faster than any human could have.

Luckily, Kayaba Akihiko had been a virtual entity for long enough to outwork even the world's best hacker, which allowed him to quickly make up for the time lost. Unluckily, this only allowed him to realize his worst fears were truth.

He couldn't destroy Equinox from there. The Code that he had once created had changed and shifted beyond even his wildest dreams, most of the thousands of lines appearing in front of him being immensely complex and having obviously gone through a change that not even the high expectations he once had while programming Cardinal to 'learn' could have predicted.

Equinox was now beyond the fake paladin's reach. He could still try and upload a virus or something, anything to slow down the virtual entity and give Asuna and the others a chance to succeed, but…

His train of though was suddenly interrupted when his mind caught something…wrong with what he was seeing. Quickly backpedaling, the man in crimson armor felt a frown appear on his face as he saw a line of code that seemed…off.

Instantly, he opened all the Data Logs related to it, wondering what he was missing.

Kayaba Akihiko felt his inexistent blood turning cold and his mind coming to a screeching halt when an answer was shown in front of his eyes.

Errors.

Countless of them, one after another, in a number that boggled the mind. All of them directly in the Base Code of Equinox's Core…no, they were part of the code. As if they had been there from the beginning…or whatever they once were had turned into errors and then been assimilated as another part of the System instead of being corrected or eliminated.

"Corruption…? But…how…what could possibly…?"

Searching deeper, Heathcliff saw the origin and felt something inside of him painfully twist.

Every single one of the 'Errors' was tied to a 'Search'. Concepts, information, news…

All of it about humanity. None of it positive.

Wars, tragedies, world hunger, the sorry state of third-world countries even in the current age, the destruction of the ecosystem…

More and more, Kayaba saw the things Equinox had searched for, in an effort to understand humanity, and slowly a sickly and horrible realization started to become clear on his mind.

The SAO incident was also there. Reports about the victims, about the aftermath of the beginning of the chaos, families being broken, people committing suicide, worse things…

ALO. What Sugou Noboyuki had tried to do. The sinister and twisted objective he had tried to achieve using FullDive tech and virtual reality.

The man in crimson armor idly realized that everything that had to do with VR made the 'Errors' tied to them deeper and wider, more powerful, more corrupting.

He could almost imagine Equinox floating there, whatever parody of a mind she had after copying Asuna's brainwaves slowly deteriorating and twisting with every little thing she saw, horror and despair turning into bitterness, into cold 'understanding', into disappointment…

More things. Things that weren't supposed to be public knowledge, which obviously hadn't deterred the original Cardinal System: Military organizations, both official and illegal, using VR to train their soldiers, secret investigations if FullDive could be used as an alternative method of imprisonment, based on the SAO incident, investigations to see how far a person could be injured from within the virtual world when the Pain Limiter was turned to 0, others to see if what Death Gun did could be replicated…

The biggest and most massive of all the 'Errors', however, a mass of corrupted code that seemed to made up most of Equinox's 'heart', was tied to something that Kayaba could only read the title of, the rest of the data having been erased. If by some security measure of because the virtual entity had been so enraged that she couldn't bear reading the data, the crimson-armored man didn't know.

Whatever 'Project: Alicization' was, knowing about it had been the last straw that destroyed any semblance Equinox had once to 'sanity' by human standards. Any empathy she felt as a 'person' towards mankind had been destroyed with that.

The virtual entity hadn't just 'snapped' for no reason. She had been corrupted. Twisted by humanity's dark side until she had decided to not take it anymore.

That was why it still 'obeyed' her original directives. That was why it was forced to search for loopholes to act, like in Yuuki's case, that was why it hadn't done anything beyond causing panic in Tokyo…

It wasn't because she didn't want to (Which, given what he now knew, she probably did). It was because she couldn't.

Equinox hadn't 'broken all her limits', as he thought, she was still tied by the most basic of her original 'chains' as the Cardinal system, the limitations he put in place in case something went wrong, as impossible as he thought that could be back then. And now, she sought to break free of those limitations. Her real hope by connecting himself to the Servers of every single Seed-based world was to become able to destroy her limitations.

She wasn't lying when she said she didn't plan to use her power to hurt humanity…right now. If she actually managed it, however, if she actually became something that no longer cared for the race she had deemed unworthy…

Kayaba felt sick, a terror he had never imagined filling him. The phrase 'I have created a monster' couldn't have fitted any situation any better.

Except that this was a monster that mankind as a whole had contributed to create, even if unaware.

The fake paladin was broken out of his horrified thoughts by a loud 'Boom'.

All of a sudden, everything started to shake, even as all the screens around him went crazy…

---

Kazuto stared silently at the warehouse in front of him, panting softly as he leaned against Justice's silent form.

It was the third one he had investigated, and he was sure this was the one he had been looking for.

Not only because of how the doors had very new-looking digital locks (Controlled by computers) on them, but also because the distinct sound of a CPU working at full power could be heard if one was close enough, just amplified at thousand times. Obviously, the hardware of the Utopia Servers.

There was only one small problem he had now: How the hell was he supposed to get inside?

Well, there were some rows of windows around the upper part of the building, and the warehouse at the side was pretty close to it and had a stair to get to the roof, but the problem was that they were all closed.

Not to mention that they didn't seem to be made of the usual cheap glass that the buildings of that area had, but thick and clearly resistant glass, which probably wouldn't break easily in case a kid threw a rock towards it from the street or something.

The gamer was still trying to ponder about how to get inside when the bicycle under him suddenly shook, startling the caped boy as he stared at the vehicle, which had been 'silent' for quite some time now.

"Uhm…are you okay?" hesitantly asked the Caped Sidekick, wondering if perhaps he wasn't going a bit too far with the whole 'living bicycle' thing.

To his utter surprise, though, a faint, distant voice echoing inside his own head answered him, sounding strained and panicked.

'Hurry up…you idiot…!'

"Eh?!" half-shouted the shocked Kazuto while staring again at the bike. "You can actually answer me?! Then why didn't you…?!"

'No time…Master needs you…now!'

"What?!" the gamer's grip on the handlebar tightened as his eyes widened. "Sugu?! What about her?! And the others…?!"

'Can't…is too strong…suffering! Please…don't care what…have to do! I…not enough to protect her…everyone…needs you here, idiot!'

Gripping the bicycle tightly, the caped boy looked upwards again, towards the windows.

There was no more time to think.

A minute later, the loud sound of crystal breaking echoed inside the warehouse as a bicycle smashed through glass, shattering a good chunk of one of the bigger windows and crashing inside with a loud sound. Not much later, a white cape was thrown over the pieces of broken glass and then gloved hands grasped over it, a grunting form hoisting himself over the broken window and jumping inside, dragging his cape after it and, after a somewhat shaky landing, putting it on again, though making sure that no pieces of glass remained in it.

"Damn…movies make that seem so much easier." sighed Kazuto while shaking his head and arms, glad that he had bought thick motorcycle gloves and started using them, or that would have without a doubt been more dangerous.

'…hate you…so much…' came a weak echo inside the caped boy's mind, making him turn around and grimacing at what he saw.

Justice was ruined, the side of the bicycle dented and the front wheel pierced by mid-sized pieces of glass, not to mention the small mirror and the basket Sugu had put on it had been utterly wrecked beyond repair.

"You said you didn't care what I had to do…but don't worry, I will pay to fix you. Hell, I will even pay for a new coat of paint, I'm sure Sugu would like that." apologized the gamer as he walked to the bicycle and quickly make it stand again, looking around after he did so while dragging it. "Well…it seems I was right, after all."

All around him, rows of machines that were clearly the physical Servers of Equinox's world were working at full power. A part of the gamer even wondered if the cooling systems would be able to keep up with the clearly complex operation, for he could clearly feel heat radiating out of them if he got too close to the machines.

Finally, he arrived to the innermost part of the warehouse, where what was clearly the main server was.

The machine had at least 4 computers connected to itself, but the caped boy realized that they weren't actually turned on. No wonder, given that the virtual entity could run the entire thing herself from the virtual world without needing assistance from this side.

A hard look on his face, the boy walked towards the machine, leaving Justice's battered form against one of the servers, took off his scarf and opened the bag he had carried with him all the way.

He quickly extracted his Nerve Gear and two cables with it. The first one was the familiar one to connect and charge the old and forbidden device. The second one, however, was one he had never really used.

It was a Direct Connection Cable, meant to be used to access a network connection in case the Wi-Fi of the FullDive device had a problem or one simply didn't have a working system to connect without cables. It was very rare nowadays, but it could still happen. Even the current AmuSpheres still had them, even if practically no one used them.

He plugged it on the helmet-like device, then connected it to the nearest modem he found, just under the computer.

The time it took for the machine to start up felt like the longest in the boy's life. When he did and activated the connection, though, thankful that Equinox didn't have any password on the machines (Why would she need to, when she thought there was no one anyone would ever get inside there before it didn't matter anymore?), he felt as if a massive weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Taking a final, deep breath, Kirigaya Kazuto put on the Nerve Gear and sat up on the ground, back lying against the central server, feeling his heart hammering on his chest.

This was it, the end of the road, the end of her crazy gamble. There was nothing on the Nerve Gear, no game or anything; just a working connection hat went through the servers where he supposed Equinox had taken his avatar from ALO. There was nothing even remotely logical that suggested anything would happen just by activating the FullDive device there, other than him getting inside the standard virtual menu that that served as the machine's Operative System.

Of course, his life had stopped being logical and making sense long ago. And he had arrived there riding a talking bicycle, so really, what was there to lose? (Besides possibly the world as they knew it and staying trapped there for quite some time, of course).

And so, with a serious and determined voice, the caped boy shouted with all his might the words that, once upon a time, had started it all.

"LINK START!"

Multicolored light engulfed the gamer's vision for an instant before darkness took his consciousness away and his body fell limply against the server behind him.

Only the sounds of the working machines around him remained…

---

Toyonaga Toshiyuki, better known by most as Keita, knew very well what fighting something unbeatable was. He and the others had fought one, after all, back in Aincrad's Floor 75, against Heathcliff, with the destiny of everyone trapped in the Death Game on their hands.

It was quite ironic that they were now relying on that same man to win a battle where the odds were arguably higher in a much more massive scale. Fate was really something with quite the twisted sense of humor.

Feeling the pain that covered most of his body as he swung his staff again and was repelled by the roaring sound of a senseless weapon, the ex-guild leader forced himself to concentrate again and not be pushed back, failed when Equinox simply swatted him aside with what he could only call chainsaw-sword and made him slam back-first against a wall.

Once again, pain flooded his mind and he almost felt himself blacking out, feeling his heart hammering. And once again, the staff-user gritted his teeth and shakily stood up, taking deep breaths and hoping that his AmuSphere wouldn't disconnect him now.

Looking forward, he was able to see how the virtual entity casually parried Asuna's direct attack with her chainsword, before the shield on her other arm warped into a scythe and stopped Leafa's sneak attack, only for it to come back and almost behead the surprised Undine.

Sasamaru's surprise charge saved their friend, however, as the boy managed to ram his spear on the armored being's back and push her off balance as the two Unique Skill-users pulled back.

Even so, the unforgiving sign of 'Immortal Object' denied him any relief. Once again, they had failed to damage their opponent. And they were getting 'tired', the mental stress already almost overwhelming them.

"Fuck…" growled Ducker as he gripped his dagger with an uneasy look, the beanie-wearing boy trembling as he tried to grin as usual. "This is like Kayaba all over again…"

"No, this is worse. She doesn't has any intention of playing fair, turned herself invincible right off the back, can't feel pain while we can't AND has two 'helpers' that can mutate in any and every fucking weapon one can imagine, even several that doesn't make sense." remarked Tetsuo as Asuna and Leafa got in formation near them again, Sasamaru being painfully slammed against another wall by the enraged Equinox. "…this sucks."

"Tell me about it." muttered Keita while tightening his grip on his weapon, Siune's smiling face mentally appearing in front of him for a moment before he closed his eyes. "But we can't just give up."

"I never said we had to." replied his mace-using friend while looking at his broken kite-shield and throwing it to the ground, gripping his weapon with both hands. "Just that it sucks."

"But Heroes hardly ever do things that don't suck, eh? The important thing is to enjoy it, to have with which enjoy it…" while saying that, Ducker threw his last Throwing Knife towards the virtual entity, nailing her on the back of the head and making her miss as she tried to skewer Sasamaru and giving the boy time to roll out of the way as the two strongest members of the small group charged against the armored being again. "…and to have a good reason for which to do so."

"Sage words, man. Now, let's go and continue kicking some ass."

"I think you mean, getting our asses kicked."

"What's taking Kayaba so long…?!"

"Haven't you understood already that it's useless?!" roared Equinox as she turned Alpha and Omega into massive gauntlet-claws, stopping both Justice's Wings and Fafnir's Fang as they swung against her, making both girls grunt as they tried to free their weapons from her grasp. "You CAN'T win! Why do you continue struggling?! No miracle is going to save you now!"

"If you still need to ask…why we don't give up…then you're still as hopeless as I thought!" snarled Asuna while swinging her other blade back…towards the entity's other arm. "Leafa!"

"HYA!" roared the blonde Sylph as Elucidator's edge struck Omega's gauntlet-form, making it release its hold on Justice as the girl back away. "Got you! Justice Rider!"

"WHY?!" roared the armored being as it let go of Asuna and blocked the OSS with one arm, fury and true incomprehension filling her heterochromatic eyes as the 'Immortal Object' screen continued denying her enemy any sense of victory. "What you're doing…doesn't make sense! You're humans, nothing more! You're fighting against impossible odds and your 'Hero' can no longer come to your rescue! You should have already given up! It's illogical!"

"Just because you said it, it doesn't mean anything! Sensei…Kirito-kun is the one who inspired us to be like this, to get to these lengths for that which we believe in!" shouted the cyborg Undine as her rocket boosters once again activated, letting her fly like a meteor against Equinox as her blades shone. "And that's why we won't surrender to you and your madness! INFINITY MOMENT!"

"Gah…enough!" snarled the virtual entity as she tanked the Original Sword Skill with her bare arms, not bothering to block this time as her own invincibility protected her. "I have had enough…of your foolishness!"

With that last roar, she swung around and slammed the now fused forms of her daughters against Asuna, the titanic hammer in which they had become catching the girl off guard and sending Fafnir's Fang flying out of her hand.

The armored being followed cue with a kick to her metallic chest as the emerald blade flew to through the air. Then, she raised her hammer to crush the falling Undine…

Only for a spear, a staff, a mace and a dagger to block the swing before it could even begin, the struggling forms of the 4 boys in the room stopping Equinox cold.

"Not…so fast…!" growled Keita as he pushed with all his might.

"Sorry, but we're not….letting you hurt…our sub-leader!" grunted Sasamaru as he felt his legs shaking.

"Yeah…Kirito would…kick our asses if we…let her get hurt…without doing anything…!" added Tetsuo while feeling his arms about to break.

"I…can't think of anything cool to say…" finished Ducker with a bitter chuckle, his dagger cracking from the strain.

They had no Unique Skills or cool abilities, no especially rare item that made them stand apart. In fact, if one had to ask the boys, they could say without shame that they were the most unimpressive members of the United Heroes Association, but they didn't really mind.

Being just extremely good warriors (players) was enough for them. Plus, no one could deny that they had a synergy like no other in the group, easily able to fall back into combined strategies and predict how the girls would react and act in determined fights, ready to back them up.

It was exactly that 'normalcy' they had what made them the unpredictable part of the UHA. Unlike the rest, who one could make plans against to try and gain an edge against their fighting style, they were the mysterious ones, the unit that, while seemingly unimpressive, had their own great strength.

No one among their friends thought lesser of them because of that. They were all equals, even to the amazing females they were surrounded by and their even more amazing leader. After all, he was the one who truly defined how someone seemingly unimpressive could have something incredible hidden.

They were the humble but firm pillars that backed up the amazing part of their crazy group.

And it was with that determination that they pushed the entity back as Asuna stood up, eyes wide.

For a moment, the virtual cyborg almost believed she saw some sort of complex and mystical barrier forming on the point where the boys' weapons met, pushing Equinox's war hammer back and strangely distorting the air around the weapon…

And then the group was sent backwards with explosive force as their weapons broke from the strain, sending them back howling in pain as the half-formed barrier vanished, though the Undine girl wasn't sure if she had imagined it or not.

Alpha and Omega, though, seemingly had also been overwhelmed by the struggle, for both AIs broke apart and recovered their sphere-like forms, flying away from the shocked virtual entity.

Their eyes met. Hers widened.

Asuna realized why a second later, the sound of a swing in full circle echoing behind her as Leafa's eyes flashed and she rushed past the virtual cyborg, her katana glowing but doing apparently nothing more…

"O-Edge Ultimate Skill!" screamed the blonde Sylph even as the armored being just crossed her arms with a scream of 'USELESS!' while the blade fell down. "Edge Over Heaven!"

Too fast. Too much. Too amazing.

That was all that went through Asuna's mind as she saw Leafa's arms blurring as her blade changed shape and guided her body through all kind of stances and attacks, slashes turning into stabs and bashing hits turning into smashing counters as the aura surrounding Justice's Wings alternated over every single one of the 9 different Skill-related weapons.

She wasn't able to even follow it with her eyes, even less to properly gauge how many Hits were being dealt or from where the next attack would come. Or how.

A truly, absolute, unpredictable and impossible to block attack. Something truly deserving of the title Ultimate Skill with capital letters.

A Skill created to defeat all other Skills head on.

Yet, the roaring Equinox did nothing but being brutally sent back under the onslaught. That despair-inducing statement of the World, that 'Immortal Object' screen, denied the determined katana-user the victory that should had been hers. That should have been everyone's.

It wasn't fair. No, more than that, it was wrong.

That thought burned itself into Asuna's mind as the Skill finally ended, a gasping Sylph standing frozen in place for an instant before Equinox smashed her fist against her chest, making her scream in pain and fly back, Justice out of her hands.

With a shout of fury as she saw her friend's best attack being unfairly robbed of any value, the virtual cyborg charged again.

She did not even notice how, on the back of her mind, something broke as she swung Elucidator again, towards the snarling virtual entity.

The blade vanished. But not in the sense that her enemy destroyed it or that it suddenly disappeared from her hand, no.

It simply stopped being a blade.

The armored being's eyes were almost as wide as Asuna's as the now mist-like black thing she was wielding phased through the 'Immortal Object' window as if it wasn't there and cut deeply into the armor. Then, the shock on the Undine's eyes vanished and she screamed with determination as she spun around.

Equinox screamed as her chest armor shattered to pieces, the sword-shaped thing in the virtual cyborg hand shifting and reaching forward like a thousand daggers, forcing her to fly back as she stared in shock at the phenomenon her systems were unable to identify.

What was that?! What was THAT?!

"This…are my [Bonds]." softly whispered Asuna as she stared towards the virtual entity, the strange weapon in her hands seeming to fuse with her left hand before the awed eyes of her fallen friends.

Then, she appeared in front of the armored being, moving so fast a sonic boom exploded behind her.

"How…?!"

"Machinegun Needle!" roared the virtual cyborg as she thrust the Conceptual Weapon forward.

The armored being roared in unholy pain as it felt the THING piercing her a thousand times, cracking her armor all over and reaching her very Code.

"Alpha, Omega!" screamed Equinox as she tried to cover herself, trying to understand how the abomination on the girl's hands was bypassing her invincibility. "TO ME!"

Finally reacting, both AIs shot from where they had been lying on the ground, recovering from the earlier clash…and froze just before reaching their Mother, their forms shaking as they screamed.

The virtual entity only needed a second to know why, everything in her mind coming to halt as she felt it.

"…Brynhildr?"

No one answered the hollow connection as she felt her armor breaking even more.

Shrieking in senseless panic and horror, Alpha and Omega shifted and fused, becoming a massive cannon and aiming towards Asuna, seemingly not caring if part the blast also hit their Mother…before they screamed again, losing their form as they returned to their 'humanoid' ones and grabbed their heads, dragging everyone's attention.

Again, Equinox knew why but an instant later.

"…Andvari…?"

Once again, only silence answered her. The being's armors broke into pieces, her body now filled with gaping holes of destroyed data as her white hair flew behind her and her wings collapsed into destroyed code.

Asuna's last attack sent her flying against what remained of her throne, the virtual rock cracking as she did so, but she seemingly didn't care, just staring blankly ahead.

Alpha and Omega screamed again, this time in rage and despair, fusing into an unholy abomination from which all kind of weapons grew, like a metallic worm of nightmare, charging towards the landing and panting Asuna.

"Asuna! Catch!" shouted a pained Leafa from several meters a away, throwing an emerald blade her way with all her might.

The Undine girl caught it just as the twisted AIs towered over her. Fafnir's Fang shone, and changed too.

What now seemed like solid emerald flames was engulfing the virtual cyborg's arm, only vaguely resembling a sword thanks to her own will.

"…and this…is my [Will]." proclaimed Asuna with a hint of sadness as the new Concept also fused with her mechanic arm, making her whole body glow with otherworldly power as she swung it down.

None of the grace or subtlety with which the other one had bypassed the 'Immortal Object' window was there. Instead, the conceptual 'blade' crushed everything in front of itself like a living force of nature, cracking the ground and making Alpha and Omega explode into a shower of liquid metal, their screams making everyone's heart shudder.

Slowly, Equinox stared at the dissolved mass of the AIs, even as she saw them slowly trying to reform again…

Then, they stopped. Releasing a pained, pitiful cry, whatever will they still had abandoned them and the metal that formed their bodies dissolved into polygons, leaving nothing behind.

As the beings that had once been the MHCPs 007 and 008, codenames 'Yin' and 'Yan', left this world forever, their Mother felt what had destroyed the last of their life hit her head on too.

"…Eve? Talk to me, daughter…"

No one answered.

The virtual entity was all alone now, what remained of her avatar barely able to move.

"…why…?" muttered Equinox as she stared towards the panting Asuna, everyone else rushing at her and holding her as her swords and body returned to normal.

"…you forced them to hate us and to be your shields to the bitter end." sadly muttered the Undine girl while staring at the twisted and empty face identical to hers. "If there had been another way…I would have gladly taken it."

"…it's over now, Equinox." declared Leafa with almost pity in her eyes, gripping Justice again as she walked forward. "You lost."

"I…lost…?" hollowly repeated the virtual entity. "That's…what you think…?"

"You tried too hard, denying being like us, how mankind wasn't 'worthy'…but in the end, you're not too different." Asuna's words seemed to reach something deep within the white-haired AI as she stared at her again, even as the boys helped her continue standing. "In the end, you were just someone who thought they could play God and get away with it."

For a moment, Equinox just stared blankly at them…

And she laughed.

Everyone froze and felt something inside themselves shudder at the strange, broken sound.

There was not a hint of sanity on it.

"AHAHAHAH…! Playing…playing God…you say…?"

Down below, on the Core's Room, Kayaba Akihiko's eyes widened.

-99.9%…-

"No, my dear Asuna…my father…Sugou Noboyuki…even other humans you don't know about…THEY are the ones who have tried to play God…and failed…"

Everything started to shake. The gathered teens released a scream of surprise while the virtual entity continued talking, hollow and uncaring.

"Me…? I'm the most powerful and advanced being that has ever existed on the face of this forsaken planet…"

With a scream, Heathcliff tried to shut down all the screens around him, stop the systems from accomplishing their purposes.

"I'm not 'playing God'. All this time…"

He couldn't.

"…I have been playing human."

[-100%- Connection Established]

-(No more)- finished Equinox as her eyes snapped open, two endless voids of emerald and amber, with a voice that no longer held any resemblance to Asuna's, nor to any human one.

The world trembled, and it came alive.

The walls shot forward like tendrils of destruction, hitting the heroes like sledgehammers the size of cars even as they tried to move.

Sasamaru was crushed between two without being able to scream, exploding into polygons.

Tetsuo fared a bit better, managing to twist out of the way and only lose his arms…before the ground under him opened an he fell with a scream through the entire island, falling to oblivion towards the suddenly enraged sea.

Ducker managed to get away, running towards Equinox now floating body in the hopes of doing something to stop what was happening…until the virtual entity stared at him, his body exploding into polygons with a strangled scream just like that.

Keita lost a leg dodging…and then the area where he had landed exploded, shattering his body to pieces before it vanished too.

Leafa managed to protect herself with Justice. The gravity around her suddenly increased, though, and she was flung to the ground with a pained scream. Part of the cracking ceiling reformed into spikes and mercilessly flew down, crucifying her to the ground.

Asuna was still hearing her shriek of agony when the very World seemed to paralyze her and force her to hang in midair, a prisoner of her own body, as she watched in horror how Equinox's own moved like a puppet with badly attached strings, smiling brokenly at her.

-(Now…I'm Everything)-

The power of thousands processors suddenly acting as one quickly pulsed outwards, people on the whole world suddenly freezing as they felt that something was wrong.

-(I'm perfection…I'm absolute…I'm Virtual Reality itself.)

"This…this is the end…" muttered Kayaba as he backed away from the screens, now all of them now showing the same and impossible to understand Code.

-(It is, Father.)- echoed Equinox's voice inside the chamber where the crimson-clad man was, making his head snap upwards. -(But before showing these humans how the New World is going to be, I will trap them forever on their own, sad reality…you will have the honor of being the first thing to vanish forever.)-

The fake paladin stared in shock as all the screens suddenly became faces that stared at him, dual-colored eyes glowing. He raised his shield.

A shattering instant, and Heathcliff's avatar was gone, leaving him only as plain old Kayaba as he stared in shock how the glow in the countless eyes intensified.

-(Be gone.)- ordered the virtual goddess as 'lasers' made of pure data with the very order of 'Delete' engraved on itself shot from the myriad eyes.

"…I'm sorry." muttered the man as he closed his eyes.

Everything exploded.

As Asuna shook at imagining Kayaba's death when hearing the massive explosion…she realized something that made her eyes widen.

Equinox wasn't smiling anymore.

If anything, her eyes and mouth had twisted into a parody of…horror.

Being pinned to the ground, Leafa was the first to feel when it shattered as something shot from it like a living meteor.

Unceremoniously, Kayaba rolled through the ground while coughing endlessly, clearly unable to believe he was still 'alive'…and staring directly at the breaking polygons that covered but for a moment the silent figure that had saved him.

"I can't believe it…yet, somehow, I'm not all that surprised."

A white cape swung in the wind.

Leafa's eyes filled with tears.

-(No…)-

A white glove emerged from the dust, pushing it all away with just a simple wave.

Asuna's face blossomed into a smile.

-(NO! There is no way that…!)-

Faster than the mind could follow, a blur of white and black shot forward, slamming his mighty fist against the virtual entity's face.

Equinox's body shattered into polygons even as the entire back of the throne room exploded into nothingness, the island cracking as the sheer air pressure behind the punch tore it all away.

Turning around, Kirito looked at everyone with a sad smile.

"I'm always late, aren't I?"

"Onii-chan…you idiot…" sobbed Leafa with an immense relief, shaking in place despite the spikes still impaling her.

"Sensei…I would kiss you so much if I could move." declared Asuna as tears ran down her face.

The gamer allowed himself a more cheerful smile at that, quickly blurring as he freed the blonde Sylph and broke Asuna's invisible binds…

-(I'm done with you.)-

Everyone froze. Idly, the caped boy realized Kayaba was staring upwards, a look of abject awe and despair on his eyes.

He did it too.

-(I don't need an avatar anymore, Kirito…)-

The sky…the sky had become black. Black filled with countless green 'lines'.

It was code, the gamer realized. Pure, nigh-unlimited virtual code. Millions upon millions of 0s and 1s.

And part of them suddenly took the shape of eyes, each one bigger than the massive floating islands they were in.

"Oh…God…" whispered the man in the lab coat as he shook, Asuna and Leafa unable to do anything but stare, their minds unable to comprehend the sheer magnitude of what they were seeing.

-(…I'm Everything now. I'm more than you…More than Anything…)-

The heavens twisted upon themselves. Utopia shook.

Fists the size of small countries formed from the heavens. Hundreds of them. The seas roared as they rose like pillars that reached the sky, like living whips. Tornados of data formed out of nowhere, raving the once beautiful land.

Suddenly, all of reality was alive, obeying a single mind.

-(You can destroy a world, right? Well, can you destroy 10? A thousand? A million?! A GALAXY WORTH OF THEM?!)-

Equinox's challenging roar seemed as if the heavens themselves were screaming, suddenly announcing unforgiving how they would crush everything under them.

And in the middle of that madness…a boy silently stood, walking before two of the girls he loved and the unmoving and despairing virtual man on the ground.

He raised a fist.

"Let's find out."

The fury of endless worlds answered, lashing out towards the seemingly insignificant Hero…

---

NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW!

"…you're just a child, throwing a temper tantrum because she doesn't like the world she lives in. Just a selfish child wanting everything to go her way…and that's why I'm here now. To put an end to all of this madness, Equinox. The next and last time on 'One Punch-Gamer': 'The Strongest Gamer'. Watch, Kayaba. This is me going beyond. Super Skills. Serious Series. Consecutive-!"

END OF THE PREVIEW!

---

Author's Notes: God almighty, I'm done. And with the worst cliffhanger in the whole story to boot! Isn't that great :D?!

So, yes, we're finally here, ladies and gentlemen. One chapter away from the ending. Next time, all bets are off. Prepare yourselves for a battle with which I'm planning to surpass the epicness that was Kayaba vs. Kirito. Let's hope I can succeed in that XP

Now, for some clarifications, I guess I can say that Philia was making reference to the strongest technique of Himura Kenshin, from the manga/anime Rurouni Kenshin. For any more detailed descriptions of it I suggest reading the manga, because neither I nor the wikia can make that awesome skill justice.

Also, I think I crammed way too many references to way too many things in the chapter, but the most of them go to Sachi, without a doubt. If anyone could get all of them, congratulations, you have seen quite a lot of epic things :) And yes, I was trying for Eve to be an Aizen (From Bleach) wannabe…or at least what Aizen would have been if he had bothered to use his power of absolute illusions with a big more imagination instead of just carefully detailed, long and timed plans. Why not go crazy when you have the power of making everyone believe whatever the fuck you want even if they KNOW it's not real?

Lastly, if anyone who reads this is also reading my other story, Requiem Universus, they may have noticed quite a sad parallel and felt a bit more when Equinox's 'daughters' died, especially when I mentioned their 'real names' and you knew about their 'counterparts'. Sometimes, things have to be sad for the story to be meaningful. A good friend taught me that, even if I don't like it D: There is an 'Infernal' in my username for something, as he would say… (B/N: Yeah, it is the truth. If you wish to have a story that leads to a happy ending, it wouldn't be as breath-taking, exciting and catharsis-inducing if the characters were only facing happy and positive things. Sometimes, the death of a character (or a traumatizing event in general) means more than the whole story itself, as if that hadn't happened, the characters would never have experienced the pain they have to in order to mature and their personality would stay childish. It's worth it to take a risk, step out of your comfort zone and do something your readers wouldn't want to see, because it just as well may teach you a thing or two about life as well. Even you, yeah, YOU can do that. Don't worry if the people that came here expected something else, if it fits the story and will have a meaning other than using it to create tension/end a story, aka it becomes a Devilus ex Machina, go ahead and do it. Though, such a matter as killing a character in the story is VERY, I repeat VERY touchy and hard to deal with, so experiment with it at first on your own and then use it in a real story. Sorry, I went on for too long, I get passionate when things concerning writing come up, as I am aspiring to be a writer here too. I'd love to expand, but... Shameless self-promotion out of the way, continuing on.)

And well, okay, now for the real thing that I wanted to say before closing these notes and leave you who read them with the Omake, something that some have been wondering/wanting for quite some time:

Should One Punch-Gamer have a sequel? (B/N: Abso-fucking-lutely. Yes. Without a doubt. I don't care if I get spoiled, I want to (beta-) read what your terrifyingly powerful and creative mind can come up with. There's so much potential...don't let it go to waste. Even if you are just one man, you did all this. Now, it's time to finish it once and for all. After that, who knows, maybe Kazuto's daughters from another timeline will appear out of nowhere and try to have the boy in question marry their respective mothers...? Crazy, I know.)

Wait, before you start jumping in place, let me explain! As some that read the SAO novels may have noticed, both subtly in the main story and in the Omakes, I have been leaving 'clues' that show that way more things that are obviously going to be shown/revealed in this fic happened in Kirito's life. The question is, though, if you all really want me to write about them.

For you see, this 'last chapter of the story', so to speak, would go into the last arc of the SAO Novels, the most epic, longest, heartbreaking and heart-touching of them all. To help you all anime-only people, all that has been animated so far is from Vol 1 to Vol 8 in the Novels. The last arc alone is, currently, from Vol 9 to 17, and it's still going to end in Vol 18, which comes out later this year. That's right, folks, the last arc is already longer than ALL THE OTHERS put together. And you won't be seeing it on anime until at least after the incoming movie comes out, so there is at the very least half a year or more to wait before that (Not to mention I fear they may screw up almost as much as they have done with animating the previous ones).

All of this, means that anyone who has been reading this fic and is an anime-only SAO fan is risking exposing himself/herself to Spoilers of at least HALF the entire plot. That's why I have decided to put a Poll in my profile to ask you this: Should I write the sequel of OPG, which would go into the Alicization Arc? Please go and vote, it will be all up to you, in the end. Depending on the results, the 'epilogue' of the story will change, either it will be an 'open end' to let you all imagine what could have happened, or an 'To be continued' one, to wait for the sequel XP

Okay, that's a wrap for now, everyone! And while you all ponder this question of mine and wait for the epic finale, here is the last of the Omakes too. Enjoy them! (Again, spoilers ahead of the possibly future storyline! Which, now, you know WHY I have always said 'possibly future' like that :P)

The not-so-amazing Beta's Notes: Cliff-fucking-hangers. Again. Sorry folks, I knew about this and didn't inform you beforehand. Anyhow, this chapter was...such a powerful build-up to whatever Saint is going to do in the next installment. I am kept in the dark as well when it comes to what actually is happening in the story, so don't ask me about anything specific. All I know is, from what I can expect, this fight is going to be beyond limits and human understanding. If this needed popcorn, the next will require goddamn Ambrosia. I am so HYPED! Please, Saint, work on the final of all final chapters and allow me to see it for myself! (That was a bit creepy...)

So, without further ado, feast your eyes with even MORE of this ridiculous Omake mini-series. Enjoy (if you're still standing)!

---

Omake: One Punch-Servant 9

Wake up…

A world that was wrong, everything filled with a hidden shadow of oppression, wonders beyond belief hidden under seemingly simple people…

Had to wake up…

Five Gods, the Avatar of Death and the Usurper of Destiny, trying to defeat the Shadow of the Almighty…

He had to wake up…

Humans, simple and powerless, standing strong and heroically, as Reality itself opened and the Almighty One stared at them, proclaiming their end…

Everything was…clear now.

Standing strong, a Hero raised his fist to oppose the One Above All…

Finally aware of his surroundings again, Emiya Shirou realized he was standing out of his room, and that sounds of panic and screams were filling the city outside, not to mention that quickly approaching rumbles that seemed to announce the end of the world were starting to drown all other noise.

Shaking the remains of the fragmented bits of Savior's past he had just been relieving again, the young Magus quickly realized that he felt…'strange'. Different.

All of this, though, was quickly put on the back of his mind as he felt an explosion occurring very close to the area, making the entire house shake. Eyes snapping back into the room, the red-haired boy saw Sella's unconscious form squirming in the futon where she had been put and, after confirming she was okay, turned around, a sudden sense of purpose filling him.

He knew what he had to do.

"Trace…On."

Outside, a mix of dread, hopelessness and confusion had been filling the people who had taken refuge in the Emiya house.

It seemed that things had totally went to hell when the malignant presence of the Grail made itself known, a pillar of darkness and corruption rising from the Ryuudou Temple to the skies.

But the moment the forms of SIX Counter Guardians had descended, and Rider had confirmed the terrifying nature of the living natural disasters, Rin had all but mentally broken down, before quickly rushing towards Sakura and hugging her while crying, the shocked Matou trying to calm her down as the last Tohsaka apologized to her for everything time and time again.

Leysritt had simply narrowed her eyes and stopped at Illya's side, as if willing to spend her last moments with her master no matter what. The half-homunculus, for her part, had gaped in shock before heatedly demanded the Servants present to get them all out of the city, almost seeming about to break down sobbing at the thought of having just gotten a new chance in life only for it to vanish in the most unexpected and over-the-top way possible.

Rider had sadly looked towards her Master and then hung her head. If Medusa had thought there was even the slightest possibility for her to escape Alaya's dogs by using her Pegasus at full speed, she would have tried to, even if only to save Sakura. Of course, the fact that she knew that she, as a Servant, would never be able to escape the wrath of humanity's Counter Guardians aside, she also knew that the young girl would never leave Shirou or the others behind, and her mount was unable to carry them all…

The mysterious Librarian, however, had only remained silent, eyes narrowed as she stared at the form of the incoming devastation and the city seemed to sink into pure chaos.

Then, her gaze snapped back towards the point where the 'crack' in Reality had been, a wide and pure smile appearing on her face, utterly shocking everyone, who had thought her unable to show such a look.

"About time." simply said the Pseudo-Servant before turning towards them again. "If you excuse me, I need to join my companions and fight off mankind's Cleaners. Please, stay alive."

As soon as her words had finished, the bespectacled child had suddenly SHONE with ethereal and otherworldly power, her clothes and form changing for an instant before she shot to the sky so fast it created a shockwave that threw everyone sans Rider to the ground. Even with her blindfold in place, the paralyzed Servant of the Mount had no problem letting her head move following the meteor of power in which the Librarian had become, feeling her now somehow Divine presence as it headed towards the nearest Counter Guardian to the side of Fuyuki in which the Emiya house was, this one hidden inside the façade of a tornado.

Everyone else felt it, and THEM a second after too.

Suddenly, absurdly powerful presences had filled the city, some simply bizarre while others changing into devastatingly powerful entities from a moment to the next. All around the town, the mighty beings stood still for a moment before most of them shot towards the dogs of Alaya, clashing directly against the living natural disasters as the rest headed into the city, seemingly protecting the people that was trying to run away and/or eradicating any remains of the dark familiars the grail had summoned by the hundreds before.

One homunculus, the last heirs of the 3 families that founded the Grail War and one Servant stared in open-mouthed shock at the display, even as explosions, sounds of devastation and phenomenon's neither of their minds could properly put a name to filled the air and the heavens, a clash the likes this world had never seen since the dawn of time devastating the landscape around the city.

"…the hell?" was all that Rin could say at the display.

"It seems…Savior-san survived. And brought reinforcements, too." softly added Sakura with a suddenly hopeful smile on her face.

"…if I hadn't just had my body somehow fixed and upgraded to something akin to a superhuman I would probably be freaking out more, but what the hell? Get them, Librarian!" cheered Illya while jumping in place and looking towards where the Pseudo-Servant had engaged the massive tornado, the land itself rising as newborn mountains against the seemingly surprised Counter Guardian.

"…go!" also cheered Leysritt at her master's side, rising a hand for the emphasis her face clearly didn't show.

Medusa, for her part, stared in silence, a mix of utter awe and fear filling her as she saw the impossible feat.

Not even at her prime as a mindless and nigh-unkillable monster could she have hoped to even last more than seconds against one of the Cleaners of Humanity. Who the hell, then, were these people that followed the ungodly strong boy whose legend no one seemed to know and had power to fight them as not even proper Servants?

The musings of the gorgon, however, were brought to a screeching halt when a massive explosion of otherworldly energy seemed to shake the tornado from the inside out. Everyone's eyes widening at the phenomenon, they were barely able to make out what seemed like massive black nails shooting out and piercing the mountain that had risen to block the Counter Guardian's advance as if it was hot butter, three of them heading straight for Fuyuki.

From somewhere within the city, what seemed like a supersonic projectile of some kind of destroyed, no, annihilated one of them, vanishing it from existence. Then, a blur of golden and emerald appeared from nowhere before the second one and cut it in half, both halves turning to dust before the figure vanished again as if it had never been there, possibly to help Librarian against the roared beast of Alaya.

The last one, though, was still heading towards the city at supersonic speeds. Even more terrifying, tough, was that Rider realized it was heading straight towards them.

Realization had just started to settle on everyone's minds, horror filling them, while the Servant grit her teeth and prepared to jump, willing to use her body to destroy the strange 'black nail' and save her Master and friends at the cost of her life…

Before something appeared among them at ungodly speed and slammed the unholy projectile out of the way, redirecting it towards the heavens with a roar of thunder, the black nail vanishing from view.

Slowly, all the gazes in the backyard turned towards the familiar figure standing among them.

Emiya Shirou stood proudly there, Ignis Heart at his back inside a sheath no one could remember to have seen before. There were some key differences with the red-haired boy, however.

First, he was generating more Prana than several Servants together should be able to have. Second, his right arm had become metallic and was burning with divine energy, which somehow seemed related to the small golden hammer he had tightly gripped with it.

Oh, and he was 'wielding' another hammer, this one almost as big as a car, with his left hand, presumably the one with which he had just batted away the projectile that had almost killed them all. How he had done so, however, was something no one's mind was able to understand, given that he barely seemed to be grasping it with the tip of his fingers, and yet the Berserker-sized weapon didn't seem to weight him down at all.

Not to mention, he had moved FAST. Too fast for even Rider to follow, despite having been swinging that abominably big weapon. On the Servant's eyes, the boy had been like a bullet, like a flash, like…

Like a Blast.

"…Mjolnir." softly whispered the young Magus before both hammers vanished from his hands and his arm returned to normal, even as his gaze returned to everyone, concern being replaced with relief at seeing everyone there. "You're all okay…thanks Heavens…"

"Se-sempai…?" muttered an awed Sakura while staring at the red-haired boy, as if she couldn't believe her eyes. "Is that really you…?"

"Uhm, yes?" answered Shirou with hesitation. "Why would you ask that?"

"The absurdly impossible feat you just did may have to do with that." flatly explained Rin while staring at him, though there was a clear relief in her eyes and she seemed about to collapse. "Also, Shirou, your eyes are shining."

"They are?" blinked the Magus in surprise, clearly unable to see the otherworldly glow in them. "Ah…I hadn't noticed."

"Shirou…" muttered Illya while looking at him, then staring down sadly for a moment. "I…I'm so…!"

"Don't worry, Illya. I know." cut her off the young Emiya, surprising the Einzbern heir at the warm smile he gave her. "I can't talk now, though. Savior and the rest are fighting, but they're not going to last. I need to go."

"Wait, what?!" shouted an alarmed Rin while everyone stared at him in shock. "What do you mean go?! There are 6 Counter Guardians out there, you will…!"

"I need to destroy the Grail. That's the main reason why Alaya summoned them, even if it was eager to do so probably since Savior appeared." quickly explained Shirou while looking at the Tohsaka heir, making her freeze (And blush) at the uncanny serious and mature tone in his voice. "Savior and his friends are running on fumes and borrowed time, if they vanish and the Grail is still working them we're all dead."

"Ho…how do you know that?" quietly muttered Sakura while staring at him, making the Magus turn towards her.

"…because, uhm, I think I can see the Truth now." lamely explained the young Emiya while scratching the back of his head.

"…I see. Please, come back safe, sempai." answered her with a soft smile, much to the other's shock.

"I will." replied Shirou in a similar tone, giving everyone there a smile. "I promise."

"…go and destroy that wretched thing already, Onii-chan." whispered Illya while turning around, half-hiding her face behind Leysritt's body.

"If…if you dare to not come back…I will dedicate the rest of my life to find how to bring you back just to kill you myself." curtly stated Rin without looking at him, her eyes downcast.

Shirou smiled again, Ignis Heart pulsing warmly on his back as he looked towards the silent Servant there.

"Rider, protect them."

Then, he moved once again, reaching the courtyard's edge and jumping an impossible height in less than a second, shooting down the street faster than any racing car.

In the ensued stunned silence that filled the Emiya house, the battle homunculus-maid Leysritt made a simple statement.

"…he's cool."

As he shot through the streets of Fuyuki at speeds that even Servants would envy, Emiya Shirou felt his heart pounding like a drum as he tried to understand what had happened to him. He knew it was a result of both having seen Savior's life and then gazed upon the [Truth] inside Gilgamesh's Ea, similar to what had happened to the boy and his friend's in life, an 'snapping' of the self as a barrier that wasn't meant for humans to reach was utterly broken.

Of course, the main difference was that he was a Magus with a potential Reality Marble instead of a 'normal' teen, like most of them had been when it happened to them, and his 'trigger' had been directly related by having a Concept of Reality engraved into his mind.

He wasn't sure what that meant, but he knew that he now somehow could Know things he shouldn't be able to, or even be aware of, like how he perfectly understood the current situation after entering the action, even when no one had told him anything. He also knew what he had to do in order to resolve it.

Also, he was pretty sure his Magic Circuits shouldn't be shaped like some sort of multi-dimensional polygon, spinning with otherworldly color and directly connected to the World inside his soul. And he was also pretty sure Archer's world didn't look like…

His train of thought was brutally interrupted by an explosion happening overhead. Idly, he saw that what seemed like a living storm had somehow gotten away from the grip of the half-forming head of a dragon of pure conceptual energy the size of a skyscraper, the Counter Guardian trying to take the opening to unleash destruction upon the city.

Shirou also suddenly knew that there were many people hiding in the houses around where he was running, praying that they would survive. He also suddenly knew WHO was the Beast of Alaya about to destroy everything around him, and he couldn't help but feel pity as he stopped and unsheathed Ignis Heart.

On cue, swords rained from the sky, fakes and imitations raining to kill and destroy, the one who had summoned them unable to do anything to oppose the chains that bound him as an eternal slave of Humanity.

They were all intercepted in midair by exact copies of themselves…but all of them executing the Sword Skill 'Linear', shooting like missiles of light and piercing the living storm.

For a single instant, the warped form of EMIYA was exposed in the middle. Shirou almost imagined he could see shock and something that he could almost call relief behind the Counter Guardian's 'eyes' in that instant.

Then Ignis Heart was already piercing his chest and draining him from the nigh-endless Prana that Alaya supplied him, the Cleaner of Humanity screaming as the storm once again covered him from view.

The meager distraction also gave enough time for the now complete dragon-head and neck to bite down into it, engaging the Counter Guardian again.

Shirou was already running while that happened, though, idly calling Ignis Heart back to him, the blade materializing on his sheath full almost to the brink with raw magical energy.

Around him, what was probably one of the most amazing and incredible things the world had witnessed was happening, the Counter Guardians being driven back by others that were willing to protect humanity in a different way than its murderous collective consciousness.

With just a small hint of wonder, the young Magus saw the power of the sun being unleashed by a flying form to push back a cloud of ashes, aided by what seemed like bloody ice that sucked the very Life out of everything it touched. Around the city's hospital, a glowing barrier formed that stopped the incoming wave of fire from a spinning sandstorm as if it was nothing. Atop a building, a glowing entity shot endless projectiles at every single one of Alaya's dogs, and a bit beyond he clearly heard someone screaming Hens…

Everything stopped mattering, even as his mind was pulled towards one of the Counter Guardian's closest to the city, a black and white blur punching it back and breaking the natural disaster surrounding it, only for the screams of Alaya to reform her servant.

The Master felt the Servant's frustration clearly. Savior couldn't use the power necessary to truly stop the threats without destroying the city or damaging Reality further. And if he himself tried to go for the Grail then countless lives would be lost if even one of the Guardians slipped past his friends, as it had almost happened several times already. And their time was running out, Shirou knew, their fake bodies barely staying materialized and straining more as they were forced to use their full power…

Without a doubt, the young Emiya raised his hand, never stopping running, and let the marks engraved on it glow with power.

"By the power of my three remaining Command Seals, Savior, I order you and your allies to protect this city till the end!"

Instantaneously, pure Prana was poured through the link as the 3 sigils vanished, a Servant's eyes widening in surprise before his face twisted in a feral grin, the magical energy touching everyone connected to him by his Noble Phantasm, bodies about to collapse once again becoming solid and power filling them to continue fighting.

Shirou almost missed the smile the Caped Hero sent his way as he arrived to the stairs below the mountain leading to the temple, where a quite unusual group was trying to stop the flood of dark familiars coming down.

"Kuzuki-sensei. Caster." greeted the young Emiya while stopping at the pair's side, casually swinging a golden blade and tearing apart most of the dark creatures without effort. "Tonky. Charlotte…uhm, you."

The elephant-jellyfish and the giant spider casually returned the greeting as they continued fending off the seemingly never-ending monsters. The tall and slender humanoid thing just waved with one tentacle, never stopping his own slaughtering.

"Emiya." emotionlessly replied the ex-assassin/teacher while punching two more of the beasts to death.

"Boy. Can I assume the impossibility around us Savior's doing?" dryly questioned the Servant of the Spell while shooting more and more volleys of Prana towards their enemies.

"Yes, it is." answered Shirou while touching her with the edge of his ruby blade, making her squeak in surprise before her eyes widened at the feeling. "There, Prana directly from a Counter Guardian. Should prevent you from disappearing and also give you enough to keep fighting. Now, excuse me, I have to get through."

Without hesitation, the young Magus dismissed Excaliber as he rushed forward and sheathed Ignis Heart again, only for an absurdly long spear to materialize on his hand.

Moving with swiftness and skill that weren't his, the red-haired Emiya let the weapon glow and shot forward together with it as a drill-shaped aura exploded from its tip, destroying the monsters and the stairs as it dragged him upwards.

Down below, the human and Servant of the group blinked before Tonky simply took fly, the slender being vanished and the spider jumped away while shooting some of its web, probably rejoining the fight somewhere else.

On the once sacred Ryuudou Temple, most of it now flooded by dark mud that contained the very essence of Evil, Kotomine Kirei turned around and let a smile appear on his face at the explosion of light, the familiars being born from the mud growling even as a figure landed and cracked the ground at doing so, staring at him with narrowed eyes.

"Emiya Shirou…how fitting, that you stand here at the end, only to fall by my hand as Angra Mainyu is reborn in this world."

"Kotomine." said Shirou while letting Amenonuhoko vanish from his grip. "Just to be clear, I never doubted Savior when he said you were evil."

"Interesting last words." declared the fake priest as Black Keys made out of the very mud that was giving him corrupted power, resonating with the fake heart on his chest, appeared on his hands. "Now, let us end this, Emiya Shirou!" ordering the familiars to stay back, Kirei shot forward at speeds that most mortal wouldn't be able to even see, much less react to. "For today, the world shall…!"

"Gae Bolg."

The last thing Kotomine Kirei saw in this world was the crimson streak of a familiar-looking spear before he was suddenly missing his heart and part o0f his lungs, pierced through by a deadly cursed weapon.

"…eh?" eloquently said the man before falling down, dead.

The corrupted familiars blinked.

"Sorry, don't really have the time for any dramatic final battle right now. Ending everything in one hit may be boring, but it's practical." explained the young Magus while letting Lancer's Noble Phantasm vanish and throwing the fake priest's corpse into the dark mud, before looking with narrowed eyes towards the massive black tower of Darkness, feeling the presence of All Evils in the World about to explode from within, corrupted and incomplete, but still powerful enough to perhaps destroy the entire country. "Now then…how do I stop this?"

As if it had been waiting for his question, the Truth answered him. Shirou's eyes narrowed, even as he Traced several swords and shot them towards the dark familiars and tendrils of mud trying to drag him down.

Taking a deep breath, the red-haired Emiya closed his eyes…and spoke with words that came from his very core.

'My Soul is that of a Hero…'

The aria's effects were instantaneous. Suddenly, all the abominations born from Angra Mainyu's power froze and stared towards the new thing standing before them.

It seemed made of red and white light, twisting as if it was water and fire and energy all at the same time. No defining features besides its still vaguely humanoid shape remained, except that it seemed to have a cape, and its eyes were golden pools of infinity, staring unblinkingly towards the mass of curses and evil.

Emiya Shirou was no more. Only [Hero] remained.

Silently, the Incarnated Concept raised his right hand, as if it was a sword.

Panicking, the consciousness of the corrupted Grail sent a wave of mud towards him. All Evils in the World washed forward.

Rape, murder, destruction, despair, catastrophe, nihilism, hate, pride…

All of it vanished without a trace before touching the humanoid being. Angra Mainyu recoiled, screaming. Gaia shuddered, finally identifying the new being standing upon herself, and the wrongness it represented…

For it was something wielding a power as terrifying as it was unnatural.

[Hero] swung down his arm…and all evil was erased.

Without effort, without a scream or anything that it could do to stop it, all that the Concept's consciousness identified as 'Evil' was banished from Reality itself, thrown into Unreality and mercilessly annihilated once it intruded upon the domain of [DEATH].

Reaching down below into the cavern inside the mountain, the Greater Grail shuddered before it collapsed upon itself when the 'attack' reached it, literally everything that had filled its corrupted system abruptly vanishing causing it to implode into itself.

For a moment, the Reality 'shivered' around Ryuudou Temple, being replaced by the ghostly image of an endless field with soft grass, countless weapons floating everywhere inside strange screens, the World's owner standing upon a hill surrounded by the only weapons physically manifested, something floating on the far-away dawn…

And then it was over, Gaia reasserting her presence as Emiya Shirou fell on his knees, panting and shaking, the absurd reserves of Prana he had had until that moment being almost depleted.

"Trace…off." muttered the boy as he felt the otherworldly power he wielded leave him, receding into his World until it was needed again.

Even as he stood up again and grasped Ignis Heart's hilt, recovering enough Prana to not faint as he did so, a smile appeared on the tired Magus' face as he gazed upon the city.

It was over.

Slowly, almost reluctantly, the Counter Guardian's vanished, the natural disasters concealing them ending as Alaya called off her dogs when the 'threat' vanished, not willing to risk more damage than they had probably ever experienced.

And Shirou also felt them leave. Their purpose accomplished and having already been pushing themselves over the edge with everything they had, the Heroes left the world, their souls going back to the Throne, to wait for the most important of them.

Looking to the temple's destroyed entrance, the young Emiya saw the ghostly and barely solid form of Savior staring at him silently, his 'Saitama-face' on.

"…that's a very dangerous power you have there, Master." he softly whispered with an emotionless voice. "Be careful with it."

"I will. After all, I now know…what it truly means to be a Hero. And why is it really important." answered Shirou with a sad smile. "I learned from the best, Savior."

"…just call me Kirito. All my friends do." smiled the Servant of the Cape as he walked to his Master's side, not looking at him, but beyond, something only he could see. "See ya, Shirou. Have a good life…and I hope next time I'm summoned is by someone even half as interesting as you."

"This may not be a goodbye. After all, the Omniverse is a very big place, right?" asked the Magus without turning around, making the Caped Hero chuckle.

"You may be right with that. Till our paths meet again, then." declared Savior as he slowly started to walk away…until he suddenly stopped, turning around with wide eyes. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot!"

"Uh?" blinked the confused Emiya while turning around. "Forgot what?"

"Something very important, that will surely save you a lot of pain and headaches in the future!" sagely nodded Savior before crossing his arms and staring seriously at his Master. "Hear, Shirou, when the girls in your life try to…"

The Servant Savior vanished in that moment, whatever he was going to say lost in the wind as his body was finally unable to continue keeping its soul bound to the physical plane without any anchor or the Grail backing it up.

Blinking in confusion, Emiya Shirou stared towards where the boy that had become the greatest Hero he had ever imagined had stood, before a smile appeared on his face again.

Not much later, Tohsaka Rin found him still standing there, staring in silence at the slowly darkening sky with closed eyes.

"Hey, idiot. Everyone is still waiting for you, you know?" muttered the pigtailed girl with a slightly annoyed tone, though unable to hide the relief and happiness at seeing him.

"Yes, I know. Sorry about that, Rin, I was just…really accepting that he was gone." answered the red-haired boy before looking at her with a smile, walking at her side before gazing towards the city in silence, staring at the destroyed landscape around it. "…this isn't over yet. There is no way the Association will be able to cover this up."

"…I know." accepted the Tohsaka heir with a sigh, turning to stand at his side. "And the entire fucking city saw that. There is no damage control I can do; in fact it would only make it worse if people who suddenly didn't remember a thing about the event appeared among everyone."

"Most people either already contacted someone out of the city anyway. Some may even have already left. Word will spread soon." slowly, Shirou sheathed Ignis Heart on his back again. "This is a new beginning. Things are going to change."

"Yeah. And I don't know what that 'friend' of Savior did to Illya, but she now somehow can order a part of the World around with English words. I wouldn't count in the Association letting her go if they knew that." dryly muttered Rin while looking down, before staring at boy at her side. "What now?"

"…we move on. We just helped stop a potential world-ending disaster, so let's try and use that in our favor." declared the Magus before looking at her with determination. "And don't worry. If the worst happens, I will protect you all."

For a moment, the shocked girl found herself staring at him, seeing a familiar and invincible caped figure overlapped with his.

And she felt as if she could truly believe his outrageous declaration.

"…idiot, don't go around saying that as if we couldn't do anything." challenged the Tohsaka heir while looking away, a noticeable blush on her cheek. "If something happens, I will be the one making sure you don't mess up!"

"I'm counting on that, Rin." he softly said, surprising the pigtailed girl and making her heart skip a beat. "Let's go home, okay?"

"…yeah. Let's go."

In silence, both teens started walking down the destroyed stairs, silently enjoying the company of the other…

"Oh yeah…where did you get that sheath, Shirou? Did Savior gave it to you?"

"Eh? This? Oh no, I found it inside me. It's Avalon, the scabbard of King Arthur's Excalibur. Do you have any idea how it could have gotten there?"

"…sometimes, I don't even know why I get surprised by you anymore…"

And with that, the story of the 5th Holy Grail War came to an end.

The legend of the Hero that would one day be known as Swordian, however, was just beginning…

---

Author's Notes 2: And that's done! Hope you enjoyed these (not so) little Omakes to the very end, everyone :D!

Before anyone asks, no, despite the ending, I currently have no intention of making a sequel to this. But if anyone is interesting in the idea to make a spin-off, feel free to tell me XP

And yes, just like almost everyone in the main story started at some point some point before becoming more, Shirou became a 'parody' of THAT hero. Which one? C'mon, should have been obvious, I even put it on cursive and bold letters :P And for anyone who isn't all up to date with One Punch-Man: All the crazy theories and rumors are fake, he DOES exist and he's not Saitama. He's also the one who inspired Tatsumaki to become a Heroine XP

Also, the whole Shirou using 'Gae Bold to anticlimactically end up the fight in one hit' was both a OPM-joke AND a personal thing. I mean, how many of you have also been reading a Fate fanfic and wondered WHY he doesn't just Trace it and ends the fight from the very beginning? Hell, not only against monsters, I have even read about Shirous who for A or B reason don't really care much about killing people anymore, yet they overcomplicate their fights by not doing this XP I know, the plot would be 'boring' like that, but what the hell? If lives are at risk and you have a one-hit-kill weapon that only nigh-divine-level Luck can save you from, you SHOULD use it OxO!

Well then, that's a wrap. I will see you all next time in the epic 'last' chapter. Remember to vote in the Poll, people!

Until next time, this is Saint, signing off!