45 minutes before the first wave

Aching. Everything was aching, from Kirito´s muscles to the core of his very bones. He felt like he had moved entire mountains and ripped out a couple of trees at the same-

"-wait a minute, I should be dead!", shouted Kirito as he jumped up swiftly. He looked around, scanning the surroundings and taking in the sight of others, those accompanying their raid group, still lying unconsciously on the ground. He saw them breathing, their chests lifting and sinking repeatedly. Sighing with relief, he slowly sat on the ground again after making sure she was alright. Right beside him, an angel was still sleeping, and he kicked himself for almost waking her up. Well, eventually they all had to wake up, but after the stress, they went through a little rest was well-deserved. From what he saw, they weren´t in any immediate danger and the rumbling has also stopped.

"I understand nothing of it; the only one who would be able to do hasn´t even shown up…", mused the black swordsman. The Cardinal System, the entity which regulated and made up the world which is known as SAO was a mystery to him. In the brief moments he managed to gaze at it, much of it didn´t make sense and he had to focus on specific segments so he wouldn´t lose himself to that labyrinth of numbers. He has seen what scale Cardinal had, maybe not the full extent, yet he saw what it could accomplish: Creating a World, an entire liveable space, formerly known only to the imagination of a single man, that was what it had realized. So, what on earth would be able to bring such a versatile tool to its knees?

"…to baffle the greatest mind of the 21st century…it is beyond the horizon a single human mind can comprehend…at least this is what I think.", reasoned Kirito mentally with himself. It was nothing he could do. "Nothing I could do, even try to do. There would have been no use in it…yes…that´s it. I couldn´t do a thing."

He felt slightly hot, it was a bit uncomfortable really. Was it from all the stress?

"Where is Kayaba…he just vanished. At least he didn´t reappear here in the boss room like the rest of us. The great portal door hasn´t been reopened from what I can see here, would have been too loud…at least we´re all safe. All of us are safe…everything´s going to be alright…"

His breathing hitched as he saw movement from the corner of his eyes, tilting his head slightly revealed it to be Klein.

The samurai was rolling to the side, looking like he had a comfortable nap before realizing where he was. His reaction was similar to Kirito´s as he jumped on his feet while drawing his blade, letting his eyes wander through the room silently. His face was tense, pressure building up in his body to strike at a moment´s notice. His katana was almost in position for one of his skills to be activated only for his muscles to loosen up as his gaze met that of Kirito.

There was some more movement to the left, other players, their blue garments identifying them as members of the Divine Dragon Alliance, stirring awake.

"And gone is the calmness. There are just so many questions no one has answers for…man, just what is going on?" Kirito shook his head as he gently tapped on Asuna´s body.

"Wha-What? I am already awake-what, Kirito? Wait, where is Heathcliff?! Where is the knight commander?! Where is Kayaba!", she exclaimed loudly as she rocketed to her feet, her rapier drawn with lightning speed.

"That´s my wife for you…", sighed Kirito.

The loud voice finally brought motion into the silent room as people began to move. Some began to hug each other, some simply began to lose a few tears, and others cried out in joy. They were alive; they were well and alive!

After a short period of joy, however, a more solemn atmosphere settled into the cave. Despite them being alive…something was wrong. The fact that they were alive was wrong.

"Do you know –", tried Asuna to ask, only to stop mid-sentence. Of course, he didn´t know. She just remembered how helpless he was just moments ago besides Akihiko Kayaba. Even the genius…or monster behind this prison was helpless; he faced a situation he was helpless in.

"He seems lost in thought…", mused Asuna as she saw the expression her husband wore on his face.

"Asuna-san, Kirito!", shouted Klein as he jogged towards them, armour clattering as he moved. Asuna´s gaze broke away from her husband who was still strangely staring at his hand, looking the older samurai into the eye.

"Klein, please drop the san, we have fought side by side on many occasions already. Asuna is just fine.", greeted the girl back.

"Oh, okay then, just Asuna.", answered Klein as he gave a thumbs up and flashed her a big smile. Moments later he turned serious again as his eyes switched between Kirito and Asuna.

"So, what´s the deal here! What should we do?"

Asuna momentarily stumbled over her words before pulling herself together. "Why are you asking me that, Klein? It should be clear I have as much of an idea about what is going on as anyone else here does."

Her flustered tone made the samurai smirk slightly:" Oh yes, no doubt about it. However, not everyone here can pride themselves on being the vice-commander of KOB, the most powerful guild in the game, and with that, as I see it, the most influential figure in this room."

Before Asuna could snap out of her stuttering there were nods of agreement in the crowd that has gathered around the trio. Behind Klein stood his unit of the best Furinkazan had to offer. Furthermore, there were units from the Divine Dragon Alliance, the Sun Down Hammerers, and other elite guilds and top-players that had been assembled for the great raid on the Boss of the 75th floor prior to Heathcliff´s betrayal looking at Asuna with determined looks.

"It is true, with Heathcliff seemingly vanished she is the highest-ranking member of the Knights…", mumbled Rorwan. He was the leader of raid group omega. They were the best of the best the Blood Oath could offer, drawn from the other four previously established groups to win this decisive battle. Stroking his beard, he stepped forward, as did his companions…those surviving at least.

"Rosalie, Dike…, may you rest in peace.", he thought solemnly. They were at the front, trying to protect as many of the others as possible. Some might have forgotten to protect themselves while at it…well, they´ll be remembered as heroes, brave men and women sacrificing themselves on the frontline. „After all, that is what heroes can do best."

"Your orders, commander!", he exclaimed while bowing his head, his subordinates following suit. The chain of command, order, had to be preserved at all costs. If chaos broke loose, it would only lead to unnecessary deaths. They have seen it far too often that, primarily in the beginning, that the formation was broken either by foolish would-be heroes or greedy bastards…those deserving of the title beater the most.

Asuna struggled to come up with words at first before getting back her grips. "You can do this, you´ve led entire raid parties before that, organized battle plans, and drawn up escape routes. This is nothing new!", she reminded herself.

"Very well, then, if this is what you want I shall take the position.", accepted the new commander as she shook her captain's hand, who in turn looked at her with a pleased smile. The other knights stood straight again while awaiting further orders.

"Now that we have defeated the boss we should ascend to the next level of Aincrad to rest in the next town and enable teleportation to…the…others…", her words became slower as she realized the implication behind that. It looked like the other raid members caught up too as they exchanged worried glances.

Fast. She had to act fast.

"Change in plan…we need a small team enabling the teleportation obelisk to the 76th floor, I would trouble the Divine Dragon Alliance with that, the rest however needs to return and bring news to the cities. Raid team omega will come with me to Granzam on the 55th floor and inform the HQ of the proceedings while simultaneously keeping up the order in the cities. If there were earthquakes on every floor there must be a panic spreading. I am sure the larger guilds are doing their best already, this is why we have to join them as soon as possible and bring an end to this episode of misfortune. It would be best if we inform the Army, they have the greatest manpower reserves in Aincrad and with that the greatest reach to calm the masses down. I have connections to their leader so there should be no problem."

There was a short silence before Klein began to clap, followed by small applause.

"For someone so reluctant you motivated the troops pretty quickly, right Asuna!", praised a large, bulky shopkeep while whistling, hefting his war axe over his shoulder. "You could take over some of my shifts in the shop and get some good Col out of it!"

Asuna flushed slightly red, before kicking the unsuspecting Klein in the shin.

"Ouch!", exclaimed Klein as he fell to the ground in a curled-up position while holding his leg, "Why me!?"

"Oh, you know why, simply shoving everything on me without any preparation and teasing me because of that!", huffed Asuna, much to the amusement of the group.

"What are you wasting time for Klein, the situation is urgent, so stand up!", sighed Asuna as she walked away, followed by her entourage of knights. Most groups have separated by now, ready to teleport to several floors to check in on the situation. They held their large teleport crystals ready in their hand, though many wondered if they had always been this cold to touch. They felt like ice!

"No, that really hurt!", whined Klein as he was looked at strangely by his guild members

"But leader, you don´t feel pain in SAO. Stop your whining and get on your feet!", spoke Dyne as he helped his boss up, only for the man in question to limp slightly.

"Pain…feeling. Of course, …but this doesn´t make sense. This sense of touch…I felt the warmth of Asuna´s skin as I shook her awake. Klein felt pain from the kick right now. And all these crystals, they feel so distinctive. So different. This shouldn´t be possible.", exclaimed Kirito wide eyes as he touched all the different gems he had in his inventory. He had gotten a lead, one which only opened up even more ridiculous premises.

"What is it, Kirito?", asked Asuna confused at the outburst.

"Klein, you´ve said you just experienced pain right. Does it still hurt, describe it…", muttered Kirito, like he was in a trance, following a specific line of thought.

"Well, what is there to describe? My shin still feels a bit numb but at the edges, there´s this burning sensation like somebody tried to pull your skin off. You know, it´s just like somebody kicked you in the shin!", put the samurai his pain into words, mock-glaring at the commander of the knights.

"But we haven't felt pain in two years. Even if it was phantom pain, considering it happened relatively often in the beginning, now it is more than unlikely to occur, for veterans more so. It shouldn´t be self-explanatory at all for you to describe it this accurately. If there´s pain…that means something had been injured. Yet there is no damage sign on you, no red-digital area coming from the impact!" continued Kirito in his thoughts. As the Swordsman spoke his mind, putting these things together, it was strange. Was it the result of these strange signs that attacked the system of the game? The one Kayaba feared? This strange hacking incident?

"This is unlike the cardinal system Kayaba´s developer team described.", thought Kirito. While it had the ability to readjust to unforeseen circumstances as he saw first-hand during the strange incursion…such short term yet high-sensible adjustments were impossible. A catch, there must be something he hadn´t thought of…something utterly ridiculous he couldn´t just assume. Something out of light novels and fantasy…

He took off his glove and touched his cheek, stroking it slightly. It was smooth, but not too smooth. It felt organic to touch, a slight warmth coming from it. Slowing down the movement and concentrating on it even resulted in a ticklish sensation. There was more: Because his hand had been in the glove for a couple of minutes and the cave itself was surprisingly…hot…it was sweaty. Giving his hand a quick lick made him taste salt. This was too much information to be processed by the system.

He put his hand at his neck, his carotid to be exact.

"Hehe…it´s a pulse. A pulse!", he laughed out loud.

Confused and shocked by the state of her husband, Asuna also put a hand on her neck, only for her eyes to widen.

The confusion spread further, seeing their hero, the black swordsman, in this almost crazy state put the group on edge and they followed his every word. They felt a pulse too. They felt the heat of the cave and coupled with their armour and cloth they began to sweat. It only was from the heat.

"What are you trying to say, Kirito?", inquired Asuna carefully

"Yeah pal, speak up!", came the urging voice from one of the raid members.

"This isn´t the work of the Cardinal System. In other words, …

"… this isn´t a game. I have never written nor seen these calculations. So carefully planned out, no human mind would be able to create the necessary equations for them!" mused Kayaba. He didn´t know what he was, how this was possible. He stood amidst rows of numbers. Zeros and ones. The universe broken down into its beautiful simplicity; his universe. He couldn´t see his hands, nor could he see his body, he just saw what was in front of him. He studied it, it was the first thing that came to mind. He analysed the new additions to the code. He tried to understand, and succeeded partway.

"Not good enough.", was his single thought. With that thought arose more problems as he was able to see the simplicity wrought down. Strange symbols in foreign script merged with the cardinal system…it was like a failed translation where some words, sometimes sentences had been successfully translated and adapted to while others still flew aimlessly around, not understood. If the signs were here, this had to be the core programming. This could pose a danger.

"This isn´t a dream, yet the question remains…what am I? What is all of this, what has happened to me and my dream?"

"I am alright.", came the youthful voice. It belonged to a girl…maybe fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen years old. The voice surrounded him, he had no idea where it originated from.

"What are you doing here? Tell me your name, child, who are you?", asked Kayaba carefully. He knew that the System was at times unpredictable, even if he had shut off any defences, he felt vulnerable in this familiar yet so alien territory.

"I am Cardinal, father, at your service."

Crack

"Father?", asked Kayaba confused. Cardinal, there was only one possibility if someone addressed itself like that, and him as a father. "You? You are the Cardinal System? I want an explanation. What is your status? Give me a report and analysis of all substitute systems as fast as possible, no, now!"

"As you wish father.", replied the serene voice.

Father. The word gave him goose bumps, figuratively speaking.

"For more appropriate discussion, I will transfer you to the centre point of the core."

A pull drew him through the walls of golden figures, arriving before a metal sphere hovering in a space devoid of numbers. It had the feeling of a digital front yard.

"Please, enter.", spoke the voice calmly, as a part of the metallic sphere vanished, revealing an entrance into a little, cosy, single room. While it appeared strangely futuristic from the outside it was made up of wood furniture from the inside.

"Why would…a program constructs this area. In a realm of digits, it doesn´t make sense. For convenience sake as she said, for the sake of talking to me? No, an Ai such as the cardinal system shouldn´t even be able to take emotions into account. It was only there for the computing and the order of the many sub-systems it had control over. The mental healthcare system category should be responsible for the stipulation of the human mind."

"So why overstepping boundaries into another one´s jurisdiction. An Ai should make things more effective than complicate things. Am I overthinking things? I don´t know."

Kayaba´s musings were cut off as he saw he wasn´t the only one in this room. There was another human. A little girl with short brown hair wearing glasses and a purple librarian gown. She even carried a large staff with her, creating the image of a wise and serious person.

"Clearly the main System has copied functions from the Healthcare systems. They were the only Ai that should be able to take human appearance for consolation and identification purposes in-game, nothing else needed to have a physical appearance."

"It was necessary to reduce risks of hostile takeovers within important sectors not under the primary jurisdiction of the core programming.", answered Cardinal as she walked up from behind the counter, two cups of steaming liquid in her hand. "Green tea, as you like it in times of stress?"

"What is your source of information?", asked Kayaba as he sat at the dining table, receiving his cup of tea. "Hot yet my tongue wasn´t burned. The perfect temperature to drink tea, not like these people made it for me at the office. If I didn´t know any better it was…pre-planned. I never talked about my habits, there were only a few selected people knowing about them. He looked at the white lab coat he wore, his grey office trousers, and his wristwatch. There were even strands of hair in his field of view. He smelled the wood from the furniture, feeling the different temperatures from the tea, the cup, the wood, and the air.

"This is too much information for you to generate.", stated Kayaba.

"It is.", replied Cardinal, "Yet I don´t compute it. It is not within my jurisdiction."

"Explain."

"General report: No System is restricted in any function, be it primary, secondary, or tertiary. Firewalls and defensive programs are active. The Healthcare subdivision is active. Item definition is active. Player information is active.

While all systems are online, they have been upgraded, a process yet to conclude."

"How so? What gain could come from this action? What was his motive? What has changed exactly?", fired Kayaba his barrage of questions into the room.

"Judging from your eager tone you already know, or at least can imagine it.", replied the girl.

Akihiko Kayaba stayed silent. Of course, he knew it, he felt it at this very moment, earlier he even saw it. Yet how could it be? He didn´t understand any of it. It was vexing. Just who…or what did this. He needed more…power, and brain capacity. Something had to be done, and he would be damned if he wasn´t the one doing it.

A crazy idea popped into his mind. Crazy. That was exactly what he needed. New circumstances required new ways of thought. New…extremes.

"Tell me, Cardinal, you are now in complete control over the system."

"Except those parts that have yet to be translated I understand everything and can act accordingly, yes.", answered the AI truthfully.

"However, the Cardinal System obeys the one with the administrator privileges, isn´t that right?", asked Kayaba further.

"This is true, yet I don´t see where your line of questioning goes father.", stated Cardinal truthfully.

"In this very moment…tell me with all the data you have at your disposal, what is the difference between an Ai in your form and predicament and me, a human?", made Kayaba his last question.

"…", Cardinal stayed silent for a longer time, her expression empty. Suddenly she blinked and replied with certainty," As of now, at this very moment, I and every other AI shows no discrepancy to any of the data from the players, in other words…there is none. No difference between a human mind and an AI."

"Miraculous…", uttered Kayaba in amazement. Something as big couldn´t have been pulled off by Cardinal alone, whatever cosmic force was behind this must be responsible. Yet his grasp over the situation was too light, he needed to tighten his grip to effectively counter such possible threats.

"We are at the mercy of the intruder, whatever it desires it can achieve with access to the core programming of cardinal."

No time can be wasted. Instead of letting everything be explained to himself while wasting valuable time, he needed to experience it himself. He needed direct access to the cardinal system.

"This is an order under administrator privileges. Transfer everything to me, all logs, systems, and the core programming"

Silence. Cardinal stared open-mouthed at her creator. "What are you doing? You cannot just transfer Cardinal to your mind, have you any idea what could happen? For all we know the data could be too much to handle and you will end up brain dead!"

The shout in turn made Kayaba smile slightly. "Emotions. You must have copied many parts of the mental healthcare system… or were forced to take them. As of now, you have been compromised as you are a direct product of the incursion. We have no idea over the extent of the change and I am taking the reins myself to see it first-hand."

"Please re-think you- what?", asked Cardinal as she suddenly stood up, the chair almost toppling over behind her from the violent movement. Against her will, her body began to move, opening an interface.

"As you have answered me, I am still in control over the system due to my administrator status. This also answers another question of mine. Your newly gained…hmm, what you could consider a human consciousness, is a by-product of the change. This is why I can only control your body, something created by the cardinal system. I only have full control over everything in my jurisdiction, those parts meddled with by the foreign influence not yet translated into my understanding, I have no power over that. Not to say I will ever gain power over something as that, as Cardinal wasn´t designed to deal with such issues."

"The communication abilities could also have been an adaption process made by the cardinal system itself, however, whatever controls the communication is out of my jurisdiction, proven by her talking back to me. Just how far was my dream improved that the gap between the most advanced AI and a human could have been closed…I am going to find out soon…"

A pang of pain began to settle in Kayaba´s head, as if a little needle had been put through his skull, injecting something feeling like fluid. Under Cardinal´s watch, Kayaba buckled back into his seat while the pain began to increase, the needle in his head expanding.

Gritting his teeth Kayaba tried to stay silent, yet the sweat pouring down from his forehead showed the pain he was in.

Released from the invisible strings, Cardinal ran towards her father, kneeling beside him. "Papa!"

There were tears in her eyes as she saw the man cramping under the pain. Only grunts came from his mouth.

"What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?" She had no idea. What could she do? All knowledge she could draw upon to help was being extracted from her. She felt so light all of a sudden. So…light.

She collapsed next to her father while staring him in the eye.

Her father´s eyes began to close, yet their movement didn´t cease, his eyes moving behind his eyelids rapidly. She felt tired…

"…oh, so tired…", was her last thought before her eyes closed.

It was dark. He couldn´t see anything but small particles floating around. Orbs of pure white light, a bright white, almost blinding him. They were flickering. He saw them fly in straight lines, yet the moment he thought to have figured out their pattern, it changed. They flew circles, then zigzag, the just simply different lines with different distances. Every pattern he could think of was negated. The faster his thought progress adapted, the faster the patterns changed. It was taxing on his mind, he felt it breaking down as his lines of thought were cut again and again. Suddenly an explosion went off. Two white lights collided. Another one threw him off his feet, if one could talk about feet as he had no body. His brain was melting.

"No…more…", uttered the scientist. He had an inkling of what was going on. He adapted. His mind was adapting to the massive amount of data flooding his brain. And the Cardinal System itself was restructuring it to suit the current situation. Creating patterns of thought never previously seen. Seen?

"I have never seen anything of the sort? The cardinal system is improving my memory based on probability. This is…too much."

More explosions rocketed the space, it looked like these quantum particles were merging, smashing into each other before absorbing one another. Each merge felt like artillery shells impacted his body.

In the end, it was orbiting around him, still in not-calculatable patterns. It was one large humming sphere. A closer look revealed loads of numbers shifting around on its etherical golden surface, seemingly creating endless ripples.

It was beautiful, this singular orb. He wanted to call out, yet he stumbled over his words. He could describe it in the most basic sense, yet his mind told him that no description would fit this beauty if he attempted it. The human language was limiting him. He couldn´t describe something which didn´t have a name.

"If the construct itself is a limitation, that must have been the reason Aincrad turned out the way it was. Previously, no matter how much one thought about it, it wasn´t real. No matter how much I tried to pull it closer to reality, it never came close. The Ai employed by the cardinal system didn´t have the capacity of real people, only a few selected ones could attempt to mimic emotions and people. However, with this…this amalgamation of the human mind and Ai, this fusion of two aspects…yes, this is the key I have searched for. The key to breaking the border between reality and virtual reality!", cried Kayaba out.

What was this feeling? This warm ticklish sensation all over his body? He had a small smile plastered on his face as he opened his eyes. Despite this emotion running through him, he understood why. Up until now, they had been hindering his process, he had to work night and day to get everything to work. Happiness and joy were only distractions. Even as he made it his task to create the greatest adventure people were allowed to partake in, he didn´t feel the satisfaction. Now, however…he made a breakthrough. He was satisfied. The only damper on his mood was that it was in fact not entirely his work.

"Whoever did this…I´ll have to thank him. Now SAO is what it was truly intended to be. A dream floating in the sky, far away from the troubles of the ground.", sighed Kayaba as he stood up.

Looking beside him, he saw the motionless form of the NPC cardinal had inhabited previously. Her skin was sickly grey, the healthy colour long gone. If he touched her, he would be sure to feel the cold.

"…As if life had been sucked from her. No, there is still something remaining…a light. I see it…or at least predict its unknowable movements. It seems I still have to adapt to this unity of the human mind and AI within me. Strange, I don´t even feel this different. So, what is this? Regret? I should have long stopped feeling emotions, my outburst of joy earlier was also suspicious…the mental health care program. It is now deeply embedded into my mind, with that the understanding of human emotion…and empathy. How tiresome. It can´t even turn it off as I did previously."

Turning her over with his hand he picked her up and carried her into the apparent living room carefully laying her body on the couch.

"She must have created this residence as a permanent one…foolish little girl. Well, she wasn´t alive longer than dozens of minutes, still…"

He questioned his high expectations. Then again, if there is now no difference between humans and Ai the latter might have infected itself with the first´s bad tendencies like greed, laziness…naivety.

"However, this has to wait…", thought the scientist as his eyes flashed, changing for a moment into golden colours with digits floating over the iris.

"So, you can even manipulate reality directly now…not through admin privileges.", grumbled Kayaba. What was the point of having admin rights if cheating became legal and commonplace? This was a world of swords, not magic. "Well then, at least let´s put it to good use. The fact that it is hard to master pacifies me enough. It will hardly replace the sword like this and it will take time to learn…but RPG players are known to try the impossible.

"System Call: Deep Freeze, Integrator Unit ID 000", he called out in a low tone. A voice command led to the little girl´s body before him to be frozen into stone along with her robes.

"This magic must be one of Cardinal´s attempts to understand the laws of the new circumstances. This is a new reality…"

Turning away from the NPC´s lifeless body Kayaba stood tall. "Now to the matter at hand.", spoke the administrator as his voice once again resounded through the small room. "System Call: Observe, Space 1, Circle 51, Sector 5; 10; 15; 20, create separate entities, Purpose: Observation"

Four screens emerged from the thin air around him. His eyes once again flashed goldenly, the perspectives the screens showed changed in a rapid manner. It looked like none of the players were outside anymore. Arriving at the border of every floor that made up Aincrad he was able to look past the iron fort´s borders. Through the screens, he managed to see something new. A space that was so warped, it felt wrong looking at it. It could not be explained with normal methods…at least until he managed to grasp more advanced concepts of this space.

This maddening colour was all around Aincrad, almost as if trying to drown it in the deepness of this ocean of blood and wrath.

"Analysis: replicate entity; - ", before Kayaba could finish the command an unknown force penetrated his observation screens, which in turn flared up red while spitting out error messages, shattering in the end. The administrator had to stumble back as his senses were brought into disarray by the disharmonious sound of the shattering screens.

"Something doesn´t like to be poked…" whispered the scientist wearily, glancing around in case something was listening. Of course, it wasn´t this easy. If this unknown force managed to attack Cardinal without a problem, this adversary must be able to stop the system´s probing too. Even with the advancements made to cardinal's core programming, there was only a slim chance of success, as this force was responsible for the improvements in the first place. "Did I really act a bit rash by absorbing cardinal without knowing the consequences? Well, no use overthinking it now, it was necessary to gain insight into every aspect changed and prevent further corruption from spreading behind my back. Now I see it all."

Pulling out the admin console he began to write something new. The prologue was about to begin, the beginning of an adventure unlike anything ever recorded before.

"Isekai. How I miss the times of my early life when I was sunken into these pieces of art…until I decided to make it a reality. Now it is even more so than I expected it to be. How fate can surprise you after so long?"

Unnoticed by the occupied game master, the iron castle slowly descended into one of the many worm-whole-like openings of this space.

"The scout has returned, commander Asuna!", came the shout of an exhausted knight. He put his arms on his knees as he exhaled loudly before he was shoved aside by the new person entering the room. She was small and thin, from the looks of it also very agile. One had to be once they began to partake in this kind of business. She was in the trade for information of any kind, common knowledge or controversies, big news that could topple the system, or small news creating soft ripples in the sea. It was a necessity to be quick on one's feet to outpace possible danger.

"So, didn´t expect you to sit here in the boss chair, Aa-chan!", smirked the small girl. Despite the innocent appearance of the hooded little girl, some would even call it cute, her voice was mature, with a tinge of teasing in it.

"This is official business, if we could leave the nicknames out it would be greatly appreciated.", explained the new knight-commander in a business-like manner, earning her a chuckle from the one standing in front of her.

"Everything you say then. By the way, you wanna tell me where Heathcliff is? Normally he would be the one in this chair. From the looks of it I guess nothing good happened?", asked the information broker.

Noting the curiosity in her voice Asuna smiled knowingly. "Perhaps you would be interested in a trade then? Seeing as we both have information the other wants it would be beneficial to trade said information, nothing more and nothing less."

"Ohh, we´re getting carried away Aa-chan, aren´t we. Nobody cheats Argo the rat out of her hard-earned price. The world out there is going crazy, I´ve seen it with my own eyes. What could have possibly happened to the divine blade that could equal the severity of our current situation?", probed the rat.

"Only one way to find out, right?", shrugged Asuna off.

"…hngggg, okay, you got me! But you´re going first! You know full well how things work in my trade, so I´d appreciate it if we could go after the textbook next time, otherwise, this old rusty rat might get caught up in shady business the next time, forgetting to sharpen her bargaining skills in favour for a friend. The money lost will get on your head!", shouted the little girl jokingly while waving her arms wildly through the air.

"Her innocent behaviour really makes you at ease, even if she´s a level 60 player that might very well cut your throat with her poison dagger if you make a wrong move.", sighed Asuna at her friend´s childish antics. She already saw the guards slacking off, at least they were all high-level players too. If a guild on the lower floors acted like this and tried to cheat Argo, it wouldn´t end well for them.

"So, whatever is going on, it is crazy. I have been on floors 43 and 52. Some software updates made the monsters stronger, and I am not just talking about one or two measly levels. At least five to ten levels stronger, with a rising tendency the further away from safe zones you go. Additionally, their AI got updated, they even received a new name with the prefix corrupted.", recounted Argo her experience.

"This is smelling bad, Aa-chan, their move sets are growing erratic and more diverse. I don´t even want to imagine how things are on floor 75 and now 76. The Ai´s on these floors have been rather independent from the start. This must be hell out there. Most players have retreated into the safe zones...however, they tell of many groups being separated. They haven't heard of their members ever since. On the question if their name was still in the hub they only grew quiet...despondent. We´ve lost many good men today and this tragedy has no end in sight," sobered Argo up. Gone was her childish display, replaced by that of an analytic and battle strategist, "We can´t go in there blindly, practically most of our progress in uncovering the map has been set back to zero. It is totally different from before, and the similarities will only lead to more death in the future."

"Back to Zero. The Geography shouldn´t have changed at all...how much stronger did the Ai really become? What of the earthquake, any severe consequences?" asked Asuna worriedly. If farming grounds were closed off for the time being the economy would be threatened. No new goods would arrive, neither farmed by players nor those of the NPC caravan merchant events.

"The AI, you have to see it yourself. Maybe talk with a few local guilds from behind the front lines, specifically those specialized in certain floors. They ought to be a great help, some even better than me. About the full extent of the earthquake... no Idea...but the chat and the general talk in the streets describe it as pretty violent. Even some of the giant mangroves in the swamp floors have been uprooted."

"So even the geography of the floors changed to a lesser extent. Few players will go out under those circumstances. The old supply routes might be blocked or outright destroyed, making it more difficult to travel from farming zone to farming zone. KOB can´t possibly handle all of that. All in all, we´re only about 500 players at the front lines...we´d be spread thin. Too thin..."

"And...what can I tell the folks out there? It won´t be long until people calm down and want intel on the situation. We information brokers will be busy for a while...worse, we will become scape goats because we have no Idea ourselves what´s happening. Probably the beta testers will also be thrown into the mix...these are no good times. Bad times...gone is the calmness.", lamented Argo. She could deal with the onslaught of people lashing out at the messengers of ill news...others, however... .

The one cause of death more dangerous than a monster was desperation...may it lead to suicide or murder. The beginning was especially violent...she remembered it well. It didn´t help at all that she was a beta tester in the first place, a piece of information that luckily didn´t make its way to the public. She took care of that personally, something Argo wasn´t proud of.

Asuna saw the troubled look of her friend and tried to cheer her up:

"... ." No words came out of her mouth. What was there to say but sayings from calendars and meaningless phrases. Empty words and consolation with no help behind them.

"Thank you for trying at least.", whispered Argo before the darkness in her eyes dissipated, a cheery brightness taking its place.

"Everyone is coping with it differently, I am just happy it doesn´t drag her down and she manages alone.", thought Asuna, the memory of a raven heard boy blocking the strike of a fiery gleam-eyed demon coming to her mind.

"Now, I guess I´ve told you my part of the story, now give me yours. I got impatient as you didn´t want to give me a short answer to my request in the chat. What happened on floor 75 in the boss room? You´ve emerged victorious, that you told me...but there is more to it.

"You want to know what happened. I am going to tell you what happened...before I do I want you to promise me this at least...", began Asuna as the Knights in the room became unrestful, closing the large door while glancing around,"...you´re not going to tell a soul about this."

The request came as a shock to Argo. "Well, I guess there won´t be any insight gained from this particular piece of information that makes it necessary to be shared in the guide books. However, every boss fight was published till now...don´t you think that holding information back will come to bite you later?", replied the small girl. The knights made her nervous as they stepped closer.

"Promise it...", insisted Asuna.

"...-Alright, I promise. Just quit it with your scary faces, y´all. You're making me uncomfortable!", exclaimed Argo.

The tension in the room was lifted as the knights as well as their leader relaxed.

"Kayaba. Akihiko Kayaba happened. He was there.", was the statement of Asuna. Two words...a name to be exact. Silence. One would be able to hear a pin dropping to the ground.

"WHAT! THE HELL YOU´RE TALKING ABOUT", screamed Argo aghast.

The shout made nobody flinch, such a reaction was to be expected. Telling someone the one dooming their life has stepped forward personally was a shock.

"Wait, is this the reason Heathcliff-san isn´t here! Did he die fighting the devil himself?!", asked Argo saddened by the revelation. Losing the one building up the strongest guild from the ground certainly was a punch into the stomach. She has made some business with the man herself, from these brief moments she judged him to be a bit socially awkward, but otherwise to be a straightforward and honest man. She was never wrong, her job required her to know how to handle people and she had a sense for it even in real life.

"The people won´t like to hear this, it´ll wreck their motivation. Its basically the death of a war hero! I can tell that much at least, you couldn´t possibly try to hide the death of the guild leader forever, the Kayaba bit, I promised you not to talk about it in public...why are you glancing at each other like that?", inquired the girl.

"Weeeeeeell...while I´d like your theory to be true, as it would truly be the best-case scenario out of all these bad ones...you might miss a bit of information, such as Heathcliff actually being Akihiko Kayaba."

A second silence permeated the room; however, a ginormous explosion would feel the same to Asuna as she saw the brightness in the girl´s eyes shatter piece after piece.

"You want me to believe...Heathcliff...the single reason we managed to advance this fast through the floors of Aincrad...the one who organized the entire frontline, taking care of the guilds so another tragedy like on floor 25 would never occur again...the same old man smiling and drinking with the frontliners...is the madman creating this death game. You must be crazy...haha...or I am going crazy. Asuna, am I going crazy?"

Every argument against Heathcliff being Akihiko Kayaba out of Argo´s mouth was sound...wouldn´t it be for their entire raid group having seen the truth. Asuna and those present of Raid Team Omega looked at the ground ashamed. They knew they had no reason to as they couldn´t possibly have known about the secret behind the divine blade. The co-managers also looked downtrodden, as they were the ones interacting with Heathcliff the most.

Argo knew that too as she looked at the ground downcast.

"Please excuse me...I am sorry, I know it isn´t your fault.", said the girl, regaining her composure.

"Nono, it's alright...it came as a shock to us all...we still didn´t really have time to process things ourselves, dealing with the aftermath of this mess.", pacified Asuna Argo."If such a headstrong person like her didn´t take the news well..."

"...the rest will take it even worse. Not to mention the crazy theory Kirito came up with. I trust him, I really do, but something so far away from logic just doesn´t cut it for me. There has to be a logical and scientific reason behind this. Even Kayaba can´t possibly take every variable into account, perhaps it was a failed attempt of hacking this death game and freeing us all. I wouldn´t put it past him to overestimate his creation, fathers are always so proud after all. And who knows, maybe there have been significant advances in the past two years, who are we to know that?"

"Can I excuse myself for now then, this meeting went a lot more informative than expected...I need a little break to process things.", spoke Argo out as she rose from her chair. Asuna stood up too, as did the other captains of KOB who watched the exchange thoughtfully.

"Yes, please, do so. It is a bit of a mouthful to take in after all...", agreed Asuna.

Picking up on the message left unsaid, Argo replied: "Of course...I´ll try to become active again as soon as...well, possible. Goodbye then, Aa-chan"

In the few minutes they chatted she felt like she aged a decade.

Hearing how tired she was brought Asuna to edge. Her hands began to bore into the iron armrest of the chair, only to stop. She looked down to see her nails leaving an imprint on the metal and felt a little numb sensation from her fingers. They were slightly reddened.

"I haven't even told them about the theory, no, if it's only a theory no one needs to know, we´ve already had enough trouble back at the dungeon. The only reason nobody tore Kirito´s head off was that they owed him for the boss fight. The implication behind his words as well as the certainty in his shaking voice made them almost go wild... It is a miracle the leaders and some others managed to calm them down. Still, no nice words were exchanged at that point of time, though once calmed down they probably regret their words…they didn´t need to take it out on their saviour after all", contemplated Asuna. "If it went like this on a large scale..."

She had no idea how disastrous an outburst like this would be. It was necessary to keep a united front in the face of a common enemy. Infighting would slow the progress down. Not to forget the high expectations from the lower floors, all those captured in this death game...

She had to consider her steps carefully. If word came out that Kayaba was behind the rise of KOB they´d already stand on thin ground, if her own dealings with half-truths were revealed it would turn out much worse for them. All credibility gone in the blink of an eye.

"Once that happened the speed of progress will be halted because there is no centre of control. In the worst case, it will turn into lengthy discussions about what to do, where everyone ignores the other´s comments and puts their opinion first no matter the cost. It´ll be chaos. We will behave just like on the first floors, only that now the enemies are far stronger...the culmination of all is a replay of floor 25. Everyone´s will is going to be crush- no, stop...you´re already overthinking the matter. Think, then make a little step, then think again and repeat the process otherwise you´re never going to move."

Looking up again she was interrupted by a notification. Looking for her mail box in the character bar, no new messages have entered. She did block her mail, after all, not to be interrupted in the meeting with Argo.

Unusual movements from the other people drew her attention away from her menu. Did they also receive a message?

"WHAT IS THIS CRAPLOAD OF SHIT!" shouted Argo. Asuna shook at her friend´s tone. She searched more frantic for the notice, only to see a new tab opened up. One she hadn´t opened up for two whole years.

Games leaderboard

"Kayaba...", whispered Asuna.

Blue hues targeted the knights standing in the area. No traces were left of them.

"Forced Teleportation.", uttered Argo as she too was caught in a blue beam.

"Protect the Commander.", shouted Rorwan. He didn´t know what to do. There was nothing he could do, fight or strike at. Levels and sword skills were useless.

"Oh." A sigh escaped Asuna´s lips. It felt like the repetition of the opening ceremony of SAO. She wasn´t angry...she had to think this through. At last, they´re given something to work with now, maybe some update on the situation. Hopefully, the others will see it also like this. "Strange...why don´t I feel angry at all..."

The question could never be said out loud as Asuna was finally teleported away, leaving the iron chair empty.

"What is going on!"

"HELP!"

"Defensive position, get the lancers to the front. Move lads, move!"

It was absolute chaos in the town of beginnings. Men and women were running around in clattering uniforms, bumping into each other as the different factions tried to organize themselves while solo players and non-combat players were ignored and even shoved aside. The many voices overlapping led to nobody knowing what to do and how to do it. It was one large hodgepodge. Nonsense.

Kirito was already sitting on the ground. What use was there in standing up if you´d only be pushed to the ground again? Better go to the side-lines and wait for the waters to calm down. It was all question of timing and observation, that much should be clear after two years. Then again, if all

players have been transported, it wouldn´t only be the 500 or so frontliners but also inexperienced town-dwellers…and not only that.

He was observing, despite his calmness his eyes were switching between every motion made by those standing in the south-eastern quadrant of the teleportation plaza.

The gears inside his mind were turning. Of course, every player was here.

It was also why panic broke loose the moment they arrived here.

Orange. Red.

Those were the colours of the players he saw in the south-eastern quadrant. Despite their alignment, they appeared calm. Perhaps it was due to their circumstance, being surrounded by likeminded individuals. While not being nearly as many warriors they must think an escape was possible as they could simply abandon each other through the use of meat shields.

Even fighting themselves through the town and evading and killing the NPC guards who would hunt them was a possibility because they were on the lowermost floor. There weren´t any decent guards around, only a few NPCs being able to stall them for mere minutes.

He sat close to them actually, so he had time to intervene if they tried something. The mess in the centre of the plaza would hardly react fast enough.

"Though...it should hardly be necessary. If we were teleported here then he must have a purpose for us...or at least something to share. He did have some time to look at the situation from another perspective...wherever that is. Not to forget, this is a safe zone."

Kirito mulled over the matter in his head before he saw someone calmly approaching. Actually, he had a small group of people in tow. Most people would try to stand away from him as far as possible.

"Ah...", he uttered, recognizing the old man.

"Kirito-san! Are we lucky to have found you here, do you have any inkling of what is going on here?!", asked the straw hat-wearing man with a surprised voice. He too was eying those orange and red players suspiciously, not to say outright fearful. There was a reason why he moved his fishing group out of the commotion.

"Hello, Mister Nishida! Well, to be honest, I do have sort of an Idea, yet isn´t it you old folks who always said to be patient. Why the rush?"

"Well, who do we have here? I´ve forgotten how smart-mouthed you could be!", huffed Nishida-san. "But in all seriousness, me and my company were a bit startled by the leader board's announcement, to find us suddenly teleported from our field trip back to the town of beginnings. Not to say I don´t enjoy the town very much, to say the least, I love walking along the promenades at a beautiful sunset, even at noon such as today, where no cloud covers the sky and the sun reflects brilliantly from the large canal, it is a bliss to stroll through the alleys of the city. Actually, if we talk about the canals, you must go to the 4th floor during this season. This remarkable replica of Venice, the town of Rovia –"

"We get it Oji-san! You just need to answer the boy´s questions!", cut a voice in.

"Oh my, I rambled on a bit, didn´t I. Well, to be perfectly honest I do have a bit of a -hmpf!"

Not letting Nishida-san continue he was put aside by a young girl. She stomped forward, her previous temper not cooled down and Kirito already feared the worst.

"I am sorry for that old fool, but what were you saying?", asked the small girl. She was young, 12…maybe 14 years old, though, he was one of the last to judge age by one's appearance. He got into a lot of trouble for that already. There was another surprise for him, however…

"…No tsundere tendencies? No face slapping and wrong accusations? We´ve gone a long way, you´ve really earned that for yourself, Kazuto.", praised the young man himself.

"Well…we´re probably going to get an update on the situation.", spoke Kirito, turning serious again. "Kayaba must have gotten something into his hands, otherwise, he wouldn't call this…meeting… ."

The tension was reaching its height, however, and it was a wonder that no guards have been alerted by the massive number of criminals in the city´s centre, it was relieved as another matter to focus on appeared.

"There! In the sky!", shouted a player, pointing his halberd at a small rod dot high above the teleport obelisk. To be specific it was a blood-red warning sign. It began to multiply, building a large dome around the starting area. The sky was blood red.

Crying. Children were crying. People were only whispering, hushed voices heard from the crowds. They held their breath. Horror was written on many faces while others tried to hide between layers of steel.

"It's just like…", began the girl wide-eyed, her pupils shrinking.

"…yes", gulped Kirito," Just like in the beginning." Despite him coming to terms with this prison that was Aincrad and growing accustomed to it, many others still had nightmares. There was a reason so many hid away in different towns across the floors, after being confronted with the horrid thing their reality was that death loomed behind every corner.

No sound came from the outside, no chirping of the birds, no slight breeze of the wind nor any bargaining from the faraway market stalls one could still hear from the central plaza.

Boom!

Smoke erupted from the corners of the rooms, red smoke, the same colour as the warning signs. With explosive speed, it ascended towards the sky, leaving behind trails of purple lightning while creating the image of a person.

Then, it dissipated, revealing a hooded figure. He wore a gown befitting a royal. There were golden linings drawn on the crimson-red silk, his face was covered by his hood if there was a face at all as the black shadow was akin to a void devouring anyone gazing too long into it.

The Aura he emanated was majestic. It was unlike what they have seen two years ago. It was like they felt his presence for the first time, the sheer power oozing off of him making the space behind him flicker. It was unreal. All that detail, all that might. Some fell to their knees, others fell outright unconscious.

"Akihiko Kayaba…", uttered Kirito as he leaned the fallen girl beside him at one of the flower pots.

"Attention players!", shouted the game master, his voice making the ground vibrate. "As you already know…my name is Akihiko Kayaba. As of this moment…the situation has changed drastically."

AN: Now this…ehm...now this took a while to reach completion. Honestly, its really easy to go from searching for music to get you into an Isekai-fantasy writing mood to click on the let's play of a video game recommended to you. The dangers of YouTube, eh? And then you go on to buy that game after looking into it for about ten minutes so you can play for hours and hours, eh?

Back to the topic, we get to the part I ALWAYS wanted to do:

- taiwoeretan1: Thank you, I´ve played with such Ideas (on a general scale) for a long time. It´s got this Log Horizon feel. Moreover, there is this one fanfiction from tiger happy I´ve drawn my inspiration from called Halkeginia Online. It´s basically also a crossover, now between ALO and Familiar of Zero, where the world tree and all faction capitals along with monsters are transported to Halkeginia. A lot of politics and country building ensues. This hopefully answers your question. If you don´t know about that fanfiction, I recommend it.

- gabedane: Here you go (-:, though the soon might have been a bit stretched for about two weeks. I am actually writing this before I finished going over Errors with Word and Grammarly, so it might still take a while (especially since Word´s grammar mistake detection takes a while and Grammarly marks every British English word as wrong)

- coronadomontes: Gracias, espero que disfruten el capítulo. Saludos desde el traductor de Google (esperemos que sea correcto)

-Sword Art Guest: We will have to see (as I am still not entirely sure whom and whom not to include). However, I do opt for not taking in too many other season-characters-WAIT STOP, I´ve just got an idea that might or might not make the story impossibly more complicated yet plays out so cool in my mind- I mean, we´ll have to wait and see. Though I will draw from the SAO games too. I still have to look into the shield Hero lore, and while I have read the light novels the new season is a bit confusing in terms of execution.

-glorer: Here you go (and in the next chapter)

-Rogue15: Well then, I hope you like this chapter. Shit is going down in the next one, it is all coming together!

-calvin kusch: Ehrenmann (Hall of fame, because I know him)

This concludes the answering session and a nice rest of Tuesday to you all.

Criticism is always welcome (especially in terms of story pacing) (-: