Chapter 17 – Wings

11/17/380

The wind rushing across my face. My shirt billowing in the wind. The ground quickly racing towards me.

Truth be told, I hadn't paused to consider what I was doing before my feet had already left the top of the walls; as always, my body acted before my mind even had the chance to think it through. It was exactly the same situation as the moment when I had lunged towards Heathcliff upon realizing that he was Kayaba.

Now, as I fell through the air, I had a chance to think about my incredible impulsiveness. It was something that had gotten me into trouble time and time again, but it was also completely ingrained into my entire being. Especially if I considered how here, in the Underworld, my life wouldn't come to an end even if my Life went down to zero – it would be impossible for me to sit in the back and watch as others were killed. Even though I knew that I was placed here in the Underworld for a reason, to fix whatever had happened to my brain after being attacked in the Real World, it still didn't change the fact that I would be awarded another chance at living even if I lost my life here.

Besides, as arrogant as it seemed, I was simply stronger – no, at a higher level – than these soldiers of the Dark Territory. Like when Titan's Hand had tried killing me with their superior numbers, my stats had easily outmatched theirs, and the rate of my regeneration was simply greater than the amount of damage they could possibly inflict onto me. It was slightly different here in the Underworld without the system assisting me, but with the sheer number of times that I'd practiced wielding a sword, I was absolutely confident that I'd be able to crush the enemies in front of me.

As I was about to reach the ground, I quickly detonated a Wind Element underneath my feet to soften my landing. If I didn't do that, it wouldn't be like some other game where I would just take a bit of fall damage and be able to run into the fight. The bones in my feet and legs would instead physically crack, and the damage would render me immobile until I, or someone else, could repair it with healing magic. Such was the realism of this world that RATH had created. Racing forward as soon as my feet stepped softly onto the dirt terrain, I swiftly unsheathed my sword, locking my eyes onto the nearest Dark Territory soldier: my first victim.

Honestly, I felt pretty strange… I couldn't recall the last time I had felt such murderous intent. I found it quite odd, coming from someone who had even been reluctant to kill any of the members of Laughing Coffin during our raid of their secret base. It was almost like I viewed these soldiers of the Dark Territory in a worse light than I did that savage guild – those who were concerned with nothing other than killing for the sake of killing. Perhaps the only difference here was the fact that I knew there would be no way to stop these soldiers' rampage, unlike how we had the option of sending the members of Laughing Coffin to the Black Iron Palace.

At the very least, that was the impression I got from all the soldiers of the Dark Territory that I had gone up against. Orcs, goblins, giants, or whatever other demi-humans, none of them seemed to care about anything other than the complete and utter destruction of the Human Empire. There was no negotiation possible, or else that would have been the very first thing that I attempted. I never wanted to take any of their lives, and I already hated myself for doing that. But I needed to protect the ones who I cared about, and the only way I could do that was by ensuring that they could not be harmed. And though I had made that my goal, I had already let down so many of those around me.

I bit down on my lip in utter frustration, disgusted at my own inability to keep my promises. I had failed so many times before, and it was devastating; once again, the ones who I wanted to protect were in front of my eyes, with their very lives on the verge of being snuffed out. And there was no way that I would let that happen again. This time, I would be sure to do everything that I could in order to save them all. It didn't matter if I had to do it all alone, I would fulfill my duty and my obligation.

A set of heavy footsteps other than my own sounded out near me, kicking my senses into high gear. Instantly, I swung around, thinking that an enemy had somehow made it close by without me noticing. But instead, I was shocked to find a very familiar face running alongside myself.

"Bercouli?" I shouted over to my companion on the right.

The man next to me gave a bright smile as he unsheathed his massive sword from its sheath, then surged forward to run alongside me.

"You too, huh?"

I laughed lightly, pleasantly surprised to see Bercouli doing the same exact thing as myself. However, there was a certain part of me which had fully expected him to jump down as well. Maybe that was the real reason we got along so well – we would always act before our minds were able to formulate a proper opinion on what it was that we were doing. It would be easy to call that absolute impulsiveness – and anyone who said that would be completely correct, but that was exactly the way we were.

"Yeah, Asuna always says that my body moves faster than my brain does. Can't say I disagree."

Bercouli let out a hearty laugh. "Yeah? Fanatio and Alice always say the same things about me too. You my reflection or somethin'?"

I snorted hard at the comparison. "Your reflection? As if I'd ever want to be anything close to that."

Bercouli chuckled slightly at my retort but kept his silence otherwise as we both ran towards what would become the battlefield.

"But still, thanks for jumping down to save these guys, y'know?"

"What do you mean? Even if I wasn't born in this world, everyone here has a life worth protecting. If there's something I can do about that, then that's what I should be doing, right?"

Bercouli never got the chance to answer my question. At our speed, it didn't take long before we reached the first of the Dark Territory's soldiers. Some of them had noticed our charge and were bracing themselves, but it was far from enough to contain even just the two of us. With simultaneous roars, we charged into their formation, quickly breaking through whatever feeble resistance they had tried to put up.

Before long, I had already completely lost sight of Bercouli. The only things that I could see around me were my enemies. This wasn't the same organized army that had faced us at the Great Eastern Gate. In all the chaos, along with the massive wall that Asuna had put up, it seemed their forces had become scattered. And in their attempt to try chasing us as quickly as possible, they had lost a lot of their structure. Quite frankly, it was a far cry from their strength back when they had some level of organization; now they fought as a group of clumsy bandits clumped together, with no clear sense of order.

Even then, it was still proving to be a challenge getting through them. I couldn't even imagine the amount of effort it would take to completely break through. It wasn't as if I was only good at PvP; no, being a solo player in SAO had forced me to become extremely proficient in PvE, as I was always faced with multiple enemies all around me. The only two major problems: first, there were already way too many soldiers of the Dark Territory, and second, the events of the past few days had left me completely exhausted, with little to no rest.

But then, suddenly, several flashes of light landed near me, blowing a few small gaps into the already unruly formation. Screams of pain arose, with many abruptly finding that some of their body parts had been completely reduced to nothing. What remained of their arms and legs were nothing but black, charred stubs, without even any blood to flow out. I was initially as confused as the rest of them were, but I quickly grasped what was going on, considering that I had previously been on the receiving end of this attack once.

I had experienced those same bursts of light, albeit without suffering as much damage, in my fight on the 50th floor of the Central Cathedral. I had, firsthand, understood and experienced the absolute power that her sword, the Heaven Piercing Sword, could produce. There was absolutely nothing that could stand in its way, as arrows of pure light raced out of the tip of the sword, completely uncaring of whatever it was cleaving through. The only reason that I had been able to get out of that fight alive was because I created a mirror to redirect her blows. At this moment, though, I doubted whether these Dark Territory soldiers even understood the concept of light well enough to think of a way to counter her weapon.

I didn't even need to look behind me to confirm what I had already realized with all my other senses. The deputy commander of the Integrity Knights, Fanatio Synthesis Two, was definitely backing us up. But still, I couldn't help but want to turn around and witness it with my own eyes. Taking this short lapse in the battle, I paused my vicious onslaught to do so, and that allowed me to view the awe-inspiring sight of the other Integrity Knights joining the battlefield.

Now that it wasn't only Bercouli and myself, with the addition of almost the entire knight order coming down to the forefront, I was confident that we would be able to save our allies trapped in between their former pursuers and their new enemies who had appeared in front of them. But even with more firepower on our side, the simple truth was that the mass of beings separating us from our allies who were trapped in their own fight was too large. There was an unending stream of them, as if there were some sort of spawning crystal in the center of their camp. It was one thing to fend off a swarm as we had done at the Great Eastern Gate; but here, however, our objective was to break through their lines and secure a safe escape route. With the way that the battle was going, fulfilling this goal looked more and more like an impossibility. As the amount of time that we spent stuck on this side grew, so too would the number of our slaughtered friends.

The worst part was knowing that in a normal scenario, this battle might have been over in an instant. But with those we wanted to protect so close by, most of the Integrity Knights could not unleash their full powers. Maybe the only person capable of doing so was Deusolbert, but he was still not in prime condition, having exhausted himself to ensure the successful retreat from the Great Eastern Gate. The ones who were still in good fighting condition all had destructive abilities, but they were not the easiest to control. If they were used, there would be no guarantee of safety for our allies.

I kept all these things in mind as I slashed through endless bodies. And although we never had any discussions before tossing ourselves straight into the fray, all these experienced Integrity Knights clearly understood the danger of utilizing their true power; save for a few very calculated blasts of light from Fanatio, it was primarily pure swordplay. Seeing the lack of spells flying around me allowed me to reminisce on my time in SAO, where the only "magic", if you could even call it that, were the Aincrad Sword Skills.

After a short while, I had already lost sight of all the other Integrity Knights who had joined the battle along with Fanatio as we collectively pushed our ways through the mass of bodies. I soon found myself surrounded by screeching goblins, all desperately trying to hack me to pieces. I knew that it wasn't a good idea to get myself into such a disadvantageous position, but I had no choice if I ever wanted to get past these guys. Besides, it was surprisingly much easier than most would think; I guess no matter if they were human or not, there would always be that fear of friendly fire. All I had to do was turn around at the right time to avoid or block the oncoming attacks, since I probably wasn't going to be attacked from both the front and the back simultaneously.

"Cut 'em all down here! If we can kill these Integrity Knights, think about how greatly the Emperor will reward us!"

A singular voice roared above the clash of metal, permeating to the ends of the battlefield. It must have been one of the generals that was in this unit, speaking stupidly of some rewards that Vector would give out. But in reality, I could hear a hint of desperation in that voice. Even if we were completely outnumbered, the individual quality of each of our fighters greatly outclassed anything that they would be able to scrape together. And because of that, they were on the backfoot, being cut down one-by-one, with their overall fighting strength gradually decreasing.

Though I couldn't see anyone else's battles, I seriously doubted that any of us had even suffered the slightest of injuries yet. If anything, we would just be wasting our barely recovered stamina, but if that were to result in countless lives saved, I'm sure none of us would hesitate to make the same choices if faced with a repeat situation. But as our endurance gradually wore down, the number of mistakes we made would increase, and that wouldn't help our cause. Still, if our enemies were desperate, then that could mean taking more of an aggressive stance to try striking us down. With that, it might be easier to slip through the cracks and get past them.

Eventually, it got to the point where I couldn't remember for how long the battle had already lasted. Exhaustion began to set in, along with frustration that my surroundings had not changed in the slightest. I had no idea if I was making progress, or even being slowly forced back out. Worst of all, I couldn't even see anything other than wave after wave of enemies; I never had the chance to cross paths with any of the Integrity Knights. I had a strong suspicion that Asuna had also followed me down to battle as well, given how she was just as impulsive, if not more, than I was, but I hadn't been able to catch a single glimpse of her.

Other than being next to Bercouli as we charged in together, I had only seen the flashes of light from Fanatio as any indication of the presence of other Integrity Knights on the battlefield. It would be easier if we were able to bring out the remaining Human Army from Centoria, but by the time a large enough force made it out here, the battle would be over one way or another. At this point, realistically, it looked doomed. At the rate that things were going, we were practically wasting our time, completely unable to break through this small fraction of the Dark Territory's army. And because of that, all our allies who we had come to rescue would end up dead.

As these thoughts passed through my mind, the sounds of the battlefield completely changed. Another sound droned below the noisy clashing of metal, though it was hard to hear over the din on the ground. It seemed more like a knife slicing through the air, a battle between metal and sky. A whistling sound that I had heard many times over, but a sound quite unique to the Underworld. It took me a couple of seconds before my mind finally registered the source of these sounds, as I turned my head towards the skies in Centoria's direction.

I'll never forget that majestic sight, now and forever seared into my eyes. A formation of flying dragons, soaring through the wind, multi-coloured wings set against the background of the red, setting sun. Excitement and relief soared through my veins; we finally were able to get more reinforcements into the battle. Even if the dragons wouldn't be able to unleash their full destructive power, their mere presence was enough to invoke a certain sense of fear into their enemies.

And that was exactly what happened. Within seconds of my noticing the new arrivals, the mix of goblins and ogres surrounding me also turned their eyes skyward. Dread now settling into their eyes, I could already tell that their confidence had been shattered completely. I took that short opportunity to cut down a few of the ones who had, very carelessly, turned their eyes off of their opponent. With those few strikes, I was one step closer to getting through.

"Geh! Don't let him through! Let's finish him off now!"

The shrill voice of another ogre reached my ears, clearly trying to pull his comrades' attention back to the fight on the ground instead of the seemingly distant threat of the dragons who were still far away. However, his cries weren't well-heard as I continued to cut down at my enemies, and a few more fell to the ground before the remaining ones finally readjusted their gazes.

"Are you more scared of the dragons than of me? Big mistake!"

With another furious roar, I leapt forward to try once again breaking through. At this point, I could just barely make out the edge of the Dark Territory's formation. Fortunately, with the amount of attention that they had focused towards defeating the Integrity Knights who had come from behind, they hadn't had too much of a chance to pincer the trapped troops of the Human Empire. But with every single passing second, I could see the gap between our trapped allies and the Dark Territory's troops shrinking – their pursuers had already turned into attackers, trying to force them back into their impending doom.

But it looked like my pitiful attempt at intimidation had actually backfired. The only thing that it did was focus the ogres' attention back onto me, making sure that I couldn't force my way through in one swoop. My sword strike caught nothing more than the thick blades of two ogres, now working together to force me back. It was a deadlock – in terms of physical prowess, I would have been able to easily beat down even two ogres on pure strength alone. But the difference lay in the amount of fighting we had already done – these ogres were energetic still, having barely even crossed swords at all; on the other hand, even considering only what I had done today, my strength status was already drained low enough that I no longer had any advantage.

While my sword hand was occupied, I could hear more ogres circling around me. It looked like this time, they wouldn't even concern themselves with the possibility of injuring their own allies; the only thing on their minds was taking down their one and only target. If this continued, I would be in quite the pinch: not being able to take away my focus from the front, where two armed ogres were keeping me at bay, yet also having to worry about those coming up from behind me to strike me down.

If I had any hope of successfully getting out of this situation, I'd have to think of a solution fast. It'd be more appropriate to just call it "following my basest instincts". There would be no time to formulate any kind of complicated plan in my mind, so the only thing I could rely on was my body and its experience built up from previous sword fights.

But just as soon as my body was about to act out, the skies around me began to turn an eerie shade of black. The light from the blazing, setting sun which had been pestering my backside for the entirety of the fight suddenly disappeared. The unnatural pace of darkening was nothing like the sun's regular setting path, so I understood that something was amiss. For me, I knew that there was only one thing in the skies which were close enough to make such an immediate impact; judging by the expressions of the ogres in front of me, my guess was completely correct.

All across the battlefield, dragons swooped down, not using their fiery breaths, but instead utilizing their massive size and stature to disrupt the Dark Territory and its soldiers. Immediately noticing the looming shadow above, I ducked to the ground, and watched as the ogres who had been surrounding me were either thrown to the ground in agony or tossed away like ragdolls by the dragon's massive wings. As soon as the shadow no longer lingered on the ground, I immediately got up, rushing forward, ignoring any of the enemies who were still writhing in pain on the ground.

At the same time, I noticed other familiar faces bursting through the crowd of now mostly fallen Dark Territory enemies: Bercouli, Fanatio, Deusolbert, Asuna… there were many others of whom I didn't even get a good glimpse, as we all scrambled to separate ourselves from the mess that had wasted much of our time and strength. But finally, I could consider the first part of this operation to be complete. All we had to do now was to blast a hole through the group that we had just spent hours trying to get past.

Bercouli was first to comment on the dragons' astounding timing.

"Those dragons really came at the right time to save our asses! Wonder whose genius idea that was. Better give them a huge thumbs up when we get back to Centoria."

"Yeah, I can't imagine what we would have done if they hadn't showed up. We'd probably still be stuck in that whole mess."

Bercouli grinned back at me before raising his voice so that all the Integrity Knights could hear him.

"Alright, listen up! We're gonna have to do the same thing a second time! Cut them in half, and we retreat with the rest! Easy as that!"

Sure, the way Bercouli phrased it was simple enough, but I knew that every single knight who had jumped down from the top of the wall knew that this would definitely not be an easy task. In addition to whatever exhausted forces were part of this group, we were only about 15 knights, Asuna, and me. This was already looking to be a repeat of what happened on the final day of battle at the Great Eastern Gate, only on a much smaller scale. It was almost like having to play the same level again, except this time on hard mode.

I quickly scanned the situation, observing what the Human Army group had gotten themselves into. As one would expect, they had quickly moved all their supply wagons into the center of their formation, with their fighters surrounding in a ring. The side closer to us was much sparser; it looked like our distraction had worked rather well and we consequently prevented them from being attacked on both sides. But still, they needed to protect their cargo just in case a few rogue Dark Territory groups decided to divert their attention and go after the weaker ones instead.

Unfortunately, the majority of the fighting was taking place directly opposite to where we all were standing at the moment. It wasn't a pretty sight; the soldiers, seemingly without the leadership or power of any Integrity Knight, were desperately trying to hold off wave after wave of attack from the Dark Territory. Wincing at the thought of my own battered and bruised body, I couldn't even begin to imagine how poorly they were all faring at this very moment. The fact that they were still standing and fighting back was a testament to their strength, both physical and mental. At the very least, they looked to be barely holding themselves together, but that situation was unlikely to remain the same for much longer.

In any case, what we needed to do was to immediately launch ourselves back on the offensive, securing an escape route to ensure everyone's safety. There wasn't a moment to spare. Fortunately, by now, the ones guarding the backlines, away from the majority of the battle, noticed that the support of the Integrity Knights had arrived. Seeing the relieved looks on their worn faces made my heart jump; even though it was still such a hopeless situation, having any sort of good omen appear was already enough to change their entire mindset.

"All of you, listen up! We're gonna break through together, just like we did a few days ago!"

Every single time I heard Bercouli act as a commander, I felt chills crawl down my spine. His voice, so bold and inspirational, could lift even a dying man off his deathbed. With a few simple words, your life and energy could be revitalized. It was almost like a form of magic itself. And it was capable of showing off the indomitable, intangible thing known as the human will. When RATH had created the Underworld, filled with people and other people-like creatures using Fluctlights copied from babies, they had succeeded in creating nothing less than real human beings. That was something I had always been sure of, from the moment I stepped into the world and met Eugeo, to this moment now, seeing Bercouli encourage tired and broken individuals. Everything from then up until now had served to prove to myself that this was a world worth protecting – because it was a world that belonged to people, who, though not having physical bodies back in my world, were perfectly suited towards life in this one.

True, I could call them all "artificial" – every single thing about every single person here was simply data points. If that data were deleted, these people would cease to exist. In that sense, they were completely fake. But I had seen what they were capable of, I had seen what they could become. They were, undoubtedly, perfectly human. And that made this world even more worth protecting. I knew that when I could finally return to where my real body was, I would do everything in my own power to make sure that this world was no longer tampered with. They all deserved to grow together, in a world that was made for them. Not as an experiment of some sorts, but as independent beings who deserved life.

Screams and shouts of panic pulled me from my inner musings, as I stole a quick glance towards the direction of what seemed to be the source. There, on the far side of the battlefield, where none of us Integrity Knights were, I watched as the front lines of the Human Army began to collapse. One by one, cut down as their physical limits were finally reached and completely surpassed, it seemed like they could no longer hold back the constant barrage of enemies. No matter how much they called on themselves to stand fast, they no longer had the capability to do anything close to resembling that desire.

Our efforts would be pointless if our back lines collapsed before we could even secure a path to return to Centoria. But at the same time, if we couldn't secure that escape route, then we would only be delaying our inevitable fate. I was stuck at an impasse, unsure of which side I should run to. I think deep down, what I wanted to do was to run to the aid of my allies who were now being cut down as their bodies began to collapse and break down from the constant running and fighting that they had been subject to in these past few days. However, logically, I knew that the longer we waited for a proper escape route, the smaller the chance that we could even get anyone out. Was it right to sacrifice a few soldiers to guarantee everyone else's safety?

For a second, my mind won out, and I began to turn away from the rear, my eyes guiltily averting themselves from the chaos that was going on over there. With my eyes quickly sweeping over as I turned my head, they captured only one scene: long red hair, standing next to short brown hair, with a sword quickly zooming towards their necks.

It was at exactly this moment that the feelings in my heart completely overpowered whatever logical arguments my mind could conjure up. For what felt like the fifth time today, I leapt forward without thinking at all, my body powered purely by its own instincts. I was already fairly confident that nothing good would really come out of this, but it was precisely that reason which urged me to push forward. If anything, I could call it my own pride that made me so confident in my own abilities that I believed I would be able to create a miracle out of nothing.

At that moment, I felt that I had far exceeded the physical limits of a human being; it was almost like I was travelling in a race car, hurtling down the straight towards the two figures. But even with my speed verging on supernatural, I didn't think I could make it in time. It was almost like the entire world was moving in slow motion, as I watched the sword inch closer and closer towards the girls' necks.

I had to protect them. That was what my body was telling me. These two girls, the ones who I was closest to in this world other than Eugeo – how could I face him if I were to let them die too?

"Come on!"

I yelled at the top of my lungs, stupidly, as if screaming would help me reach my destination any faster. Though I didn't want to accept it, I already knew that I would not get there in time to save the two girls. Still, I couldn't help but try, even if it was already a hopeless situation. As if waiting for some divine intervention to teleport me in front of them, I willed my legs to push me farther, even though I was at a distance that no sword should be able to reach.

My momentum, carried forward by the swing of my sword, caused me to tip forward until I fell face first into the ground. I scrambled back to my feet, my eyes unready for the scene that would have unfolded before my eyes. What they saw, however, did not initially register with my brain as it was completely outside my own expectations; Ronie and Tiese remained completely uninjured, while the goblins that were all around them had their heads cleanly cut off.

An unending wave of confusion assaulted my mind. Had my sword somehow transcended the limits of space, capable of attacking foes which were completely outside my range? Perhaps… was this the power of my own Incarnation? But that made no sense, I clearly wasn't in the right mindset to even think about using this mystical power of the Underworld. There had to be some other reason, some other power, which had saved their lives.

It took me a while before I noticed that the heads of other goblins were also being taken off, one by one. I could almost trace a line along which I could see these headless goblins. Wracking my brain, I couldn't fathom who or what would be capable of doing this. Since it wasn't the people of the Human Empire who were being killed, but rather the goblins, at the very least this power looked to be on our side. But if this were the case, why hadn't I seen this attack before? I wasn't very well acquainted with all the Integrity Knights, but if there was someone with this level of power, we might still be fighting at the Great Eastern Gate. Could this be… another person from the Real World just like Asuna? But according to her, no one else had infiltrated the Ocean Turtle along with her. I couldn't exactly imagine how anyone else would have gotten word of this Project Alicization that she and I were currently trapped in, since this was supposed to be top-secret information. The only unknown in their plan that even allowed Asuna to catch wind of this all was myself, but even she had been surprised at Dr. Koujiro's willingness to help her sneak aboard.

Suddenly, a strange metallic glint caught my attention, and I followed as it sliced through the air, tracing a beautiful arc in the dusk-darkened sky. My gaze followed it, mesmerized, until it finally stopped in the hands of someone who I did not immediately recognize. However, given his attire, I could tell that he was supposedly an Integrity Knight. Carefully braided green hair surrounded a face full of childlike features, and to me, he looked nothing like a seasoned Integrity Knight. If anything, he was certainly young when the Synthesis Ritual had been applied onto him, but I had learned many times over that judging someone by their features, especially in this world with individuals who were literally timeless, was, to put it simply, idiotic.

I searched through my memories to try remembering who this person was, and when it finally clicked, I could hear him mumble a short introduction.

"Integrity Knight Renri Synthesis Twenty-Seven. User of the Twin-Edged Wings."

I had heard a lot about this knight, including how his Divine Weapon, the Twin-Edged Wings, would be so incredibly useful when defending against large numbers of enemies. I had also heard rumours that he wasn't able to utilize the weapon's full potential. He was also one of the knights who was unaccounted for after regrouping at Centoria, so there had been no information indicating his definite whereabouts. But seeing the level of his attack that he had done only a few seconds ago, he definitely had gotten over whatever mental block was keeping him from awakening his weapon.

I had no idea what had taken him so long to join the battlefield, or how he had gotten here in the first place, but now, with him here, our chances of getting out safely skyrocketed.

Better late than never, right?

A/N

Well, it's certainly been a rather long time. And I couldn't even make it up with a long chapter. For those of you wondering where I've been, you can thank Riot Games and that little game called Valorant. And then when I had finally gotten myself a little less addicted, all these preparation things for my next semester of school just started popping up, and then I turned back to Valorant to distract myself from those things. I even bought Total War: ROME II – Emperor Edition and I thought I was going to be distracted by that, but my base desires for FPS games won me over.

Anyways, the last season of Alicization is finally underway, and that's pretty exciting, I guess. It's interesting to see already how different things are when comparing it to my own fic. But I really don't like how they added in Ordinal Scale as canon, I feel like all it did was delay the plot by an episode. More veggie Kirito, I guess.

Sports are back and that's awesome brb enjoying myself some good Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Also, the last sentence of that chapter – honestly not sure if I'm talking about Renri or myself.

See y'all next time.