September 27th, Kirigaya Residence
"Papa, have you decided on what you'll be giving Mama for her birthday?"
Kazuto Kirigaya, age seventeen for the next ten days, glances at the little fairy sitting on the rim of his mug placed on his desk. "I haven't. I'm still thinking about it..." 'Mama' is Asuna Yuuki, Kazuto's long-time girlfriend, and even longer-time partner. Her nineteenth birthday is in three days, on September 30th.
The fairy scolds him. "Whether you're going to buy it at the store or order it online, it's not going to be in time if you don't decide soon. I wouldn't recommend the tightrope schedule you opted for last year when you had to use your lunch break on the big day to pick it up!"
"I'd rather avoid that feeling of terror, too, but it's just really hard! Asuna never talks about how she wants this or that...Yui, do you think you could find a way to ask her what she wants? Maybe Josh knows?"
"You can't cheat like that! Mama will love anything you get for her, as long as you choose it yourself!"
"Yeah, I know that's true as a general rule, but..." Last year, as Yui said, was definitely a last-minute choice. Kazuto settled on a red scarf, being that winter was approaching and Asuna has a ninety-minute commute to school. She wore it proudly from November to February, but it was too late that he realized she had multiple scarves and some that protected her better than the one he got. This year, he wants to give something impractical, yet in some ways its out of his element. The silver ring he gave her in May, simple as it was in design, was exhausting enough. "Hmmm..."
Reaching for his mug, he downs the last of the cappuccino inside. Yui flutters over to a flat-screen display. Thanks to the Augma ability to create augmented reality imagery, Yui can appear anywhere in Kazuto's sight without clipping through objects, as if she was really present. He explores this more as he lifts his hand to her, and the fairy settles on his fingertip. He can't physically feel her, but the warmth is there.
As he brushes Yui's head, he aims his sight on the Amusphere. After a year and a half of use, the exterior is wearing out, but it still does the job. He vastly prefers it to the Augma. "Say, Yui. I'm going to pick out Asuna's present on my own, But before that, I can do a little research, right? I plan to buy it in person rather than ordering it, so I have a bit more time to work with."
Yui understood Kazuto's intentions based on his glance at the virtual reality headset. "Well, I suppose I can't stop you. I'll be waiting for you in there!" She disappears in a spray of light, and Kazuto removes the Augma from his head. Looking out the window, he stares at the departure of the sun. It's only four o'clock, but the skies are golden with the signs of the early sunset. Birds fly back to their nests, and as he stares, Kazuto sees a white tower rising towards heaven.
He blinks several times, losing the image. Washing away a sudden swell of emotions and walking over to his bed, he puts the Amusphere on his head and lies down. Closing his eyes, he mumbles words he's spoken so many times now. "Link Start."
Floor 22 of New Aincrad, Alfheim Online
It's a sunny afternoon in the sixteen-hour world of Alfheim and the floating castle above it, New Aincrad. Kirito the Spriggan loads up in an empty home, not unusual but still eerie for him. It's a hangout spot for his friends, but Kirito is aware that Asuna is with her family at the moment, and Suguha is at kendo practice or on the way home. Yui should be here, as she implied.
Her absence is answered in a message sent from Lisbeth. "Silica and I are raising our skill levels on the 45th floor. Come help us when you're done with homework! Oh, and we're borrowing Yui."
"...That would explain it." In ALO, Yui and her "sister" Strea are classified as navigation pixies that have superb player-assistance capabilities. They could tell what monsters appear in an area, their respawn rates, name it, it might be possible. Yui belongs to Kirito, while Strea is the property of his friend Jaymes. While Strea has always appeared online, with or without Jaymes online or in ALO, Yui used to only appear if Kirito was online, but nowadays she's like her younger sister. Strea's situation is different, given she's recognized by the system also as a player account, she doesn't exactly need Jaymes.
Kirito hadn't gotten around to questioning his daughter, not that it mattered to him anyway. She could appear in multiple places at once, but like all AIs designed by Akihiko Kayaba, the sisters tend to appear in one place. This extends to Jaymes' other AI, the Type-X Artificial Financial Advisor System (Arfa-Sys for short) Rei.
"So what now?" He thought he could get some advice about Asuna's gift from the girls, and even thinks about joining them, but Lisbeth's message clearly states he should prioritize the mini-science experiment report he has due tomorrow. She's right, but he's behind in raising his skill levels, and with a floor boss fight looming in the near future, he wants to be in top form for it.
As of today, New Aincrad has forty-sixth open floors. Ymir, ALO's developer, releases floors regularly since its installment last year with the fiftieth floor available as of this month. Lisbeth, Jaymes, and Agil are the most stoked for the upcoming floors, as the former pair are eager to return to the forty-eighth floor and the town there, Lindarth. On the original Aincrad, Lisbeth had a shop there and Jaymes stayed there with her for most of that last year in SAO. Agil used to own a shop in the town of Algade on the fiftieth floor and plans to do so again.
Deciding on the mature choice, Kirito takes a seat at the dining tap, takes Asuna's magical mug with a selection of ninety-nine flavors, and accesses his home PC from within the game. Kirito had never slouched on homework, even though this past summer made that task hard, being attacked by Johnny Black, a former member of Old Aincrad's deadliest guild, Laughing Coffin, and spent the end of June to mid-August in a coma. He had to enlist his friends to help him finish that work and was jealous that both Asuna and Joshua-who had a similar period of unconsciousness from early July to the same day in August-finished their homework before their ordeal.
"The least you could have done before you vanished was order them to release me from my homework obligations..." The target of his grumblings is Seijirou Kikuoka, of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' Virtual Division. He vanished after Kirito, Asuna, and Jaymes woke up over a month ago. He was responsible for the company known as Rath, now headed by Dr. Rinko Koujirou, Takeru Higa, the chief technical officer, and RoboTelligence, the company run by Jaymes' family and partially funded and operated the project Rath worked on.
While he prods his mind on Kikouka, Kirito misses the sound of a player logging in to the game. He catches on when footsteps come behind him. Pushing the holowindow with his report aside, he turns around. "I thought you were asleep, A—"
That's not Asuna. It is a female avatar, but a far cry from the love of his life. Instead of the Undine, the girl's avatar identifies as a member of the Cait Sith race, a race of fairies that look like a fusion of elves and cats. Unlike Silica, a Cait Sith too, this one doesn't exuberate cuteness. He won't deny her beauty, though. Golden hair streams down her back, her eyes a brilliant blue, and skin so pale she might as well be a ghost. She looks as she did when he met her-not in the real world, but in the Underworld.
Looking in her aquamarine eyes, Kirito holds up a hand and waves. "...H-hi, Alice. Good evening."
Alice snorts. "You seem rather disappointed that I'm not Asuna, Kirito."
"N-no, no, noooo! I'm not thinking that. At all!" If he had the confidence of the only male friend his age, he probably would agree with Alice's statement. He doesn't have the confidence nor knows if that feeling is present, but it doesn't lessen the cold glare he's receiving from the girl. Looking away from her face, he notices her golden armor and longsword equipped. "Oh...Are you going hunting?"
"Yes, I had an agreement with Lisbeth. But...I will admit, I'm not used to this word hunt." She takes a seat at the table, while Kirito gets up to treat his guest. He grabs a tea mug and a pastry of some kind from the shared item storage, then returns to the table. As he serves Alice, her eyes are glued to his report. "Is this an assignment for the academy you attend?"
"Er...yeah, that's right."
"Hmm...When I was training at the cathedral, I was given piles of sacred arts assignments." She smiles nostlagically, but there's hints of sadness and longing.
Alice was born in the Underworld, in a village located in the northermost reaches of the land. She lived there until she was eleven, then was taken prisoner after breaking the highest law in the land, the Taboo Index, after accidently crossing into the adjacent realm, the Dark Territory. Taken to the tower known as Central Cathedral, she should have been executed, but instead, the goddess of the world known as Administrator conducted the Synthesis Ritual. Alice lost her memories, While he was there, Kirito and a boy named Eugeo sought to their way to the cathedral to rescue Alice, only to find her as part of the Order of Integrity Knights, Alice Synthesis Thirty. When Kirito told her the truth of the world, Alice broke through the Seal of the Right Eye, gaining free thought and helped Kirito and Eugeo fight Administrator.
In the aftermath, Eugeo died, Kirito suffered a coma within the Underworld, and the Human Empire was thrown into a crisis. Soon after, Jaymes appeared, originally to find Kirito and protect Alice from enemies in the real world that boarded the Ocean Turtle, a mega-float in the Pacific Ocean that served as Rath's headquarters. Jaymes' objective was fulfilled instantly, but with the world in a state of disarray, he decided to help Alice finish what Kirito started. It ended with the resurrection of Administrator, aided by her adopted son and mistakenly by the son's distant descendant, and the final defeat of them both.
After that, Alice took care of Kirito with Jaymes' blessing. Residing in the woods outside her hometown, she was with Kirito for half a year until the war with teh Dark Territory began. She fought valiantly, but was captured by Gabriel Miller/Subtilizer, the man who led the invasion of the Ocean Turtle and took the position of the dark realm's emperor. Thanks to Commader Bercouli's sacrifice, Sinon and Jaymes teamwork, and a final fight with Jaymes and Kirito, Gabriel failed. Alice was guided by Asuna and Koharu to the real world, and given a mechanical body by Takeru Higa.
As the world's first bottom-up AI (as opposed to Yui and other named AIs, who are classified as top-down AIs) she spends her time with Dr. Rinku advocating for AI rights. It's amazing she finds time to join Kirito and his friends online. Alice must find the worlds of ALO and Sword Art: Origin more like home than his world.
"Yeah, I got plenty of assignments at Swordcraft Academy, too. I even remember the phrases for the sacred arts."
"Well, well. And what is the command to create a small hollow sphere of steel elements, filled with water, then warmed by heat elements from the outside?"
"Hrrg! W-well...the general rule is to generate elements from the most stable first, so I'd start with Generate Metallic...er, no, wait. The steel ball has to surround the water, so does the water element come first...?" Alice responds with a sigh, causing Kirito to retort, "L-listen, it's fine. When you have my abilities, you don't need to say the words. Incarnation will do the trick instantly..."
"I heard Jaymes say the exact same thing when I first met him, but that's not the point!" Snapping, she taps the side of her mug and drinks the pink contents within. That seems to calm her down. "Mmm...this is a good one."
After taking a sip of his new cup of plum tea and a handful of the identified pastry (fruit pie), Kirito switches the topic. "So...you were saying something about the word hunt?"
"Ah...yes, I was. To me...and probably the rest of the human realm...hunting is the act of killing a wild animal for food, while thanking Terraria for her blessing. But the people of this world—these 'players'—kill unfathomable numbers of animals and monsters solely for the purpose of raising their authority level. I do not mean to say this is wicked. In the battle at the gate, I slaughtered hundreds, if not thousands, of demi-humans from the Dark Territory, after all. But...I do not wish to call it hunting."
"...I see." Alice understood ALO was a virtual world created just like her own, but the concepts between them are hard for her. Her virtual world is, at its simpliest description, a simulation of life with actual human souls involved. ALO is just a VRMMO game that people partake in. It lead to a funny misunderstanding one time when Silica was sneak-attacked by some salamanders, and Alice verbally tore them apart. Kirito hasn't seen such verbal recourse since he partied with Asuna and Jaymes in SAO. After seeing that, Jaymes swore to never let her join him in Gun Gale Online, where player-killing is more critical to gameplay than ALO.
"I agree that the word hunt you hear in VRMMOs has drifted quite a distance from its original meaning. But the truth is, the vast majority of the population of modern Japan has no experience with real hunting—including me. When times and places change, so do words. I'm sure that phenomenon happened in the Underworld, too."
"Well, two hundred years have passed since I lived in the Underworld, so I suppose there has been a great change in not just language, but culture in general. Whatever change that might be, I must accept it...For one thing, the very existence of that change is proof that you protected and preserved the Underworld..."
"But...it wasn't just me who did that. Asuna, Jaymes, Ko, Sugu, Sinon...in fact, there were thousands of players from ALO and GGO who went to the Underworld to protect it."
"Yes, that's right...In that sense, the use of one measly word seems a very insignificant thing."
The last time Kirito dove into the Underworld, he, Alice, Asuna, and Jaymes found themselves in space. They were confused, but eventually lead to the ground by three Integrity Pilots flying spacecrafts-no, dragoncrafts-and returned to the human realm. However, they didn't go to Central Cathedral. Whatever happened in the two hundred years Kirito, Asuna, and Jaymes remained in the Underworld, it seems that made more than a name for themselves; Kirito and Asuna were the Star King and Queen of the human empire, while Jaymes headed the Dark Territory as its Crimson Emperor. Those three figures 'died' thirty years ago in Underworld time. One of the pilots, Laurannei, guided them to her home, and the three pilots caught them up on the affairs of the world.
Most importantly, Alice and Jaymes were reunited with an old friend, Eydis Synthesis Ten, formerly Jaymes' queen in the Dark Territory. The four promised to return, but they haven't been admitted until the data received from the trip has been looked over. Well, Kirito, Asuna, and Alice haven't been given permission. Jaymes was recently granted clearance weeks ago now that his father oversees Rath's operations, and Kirito can see his friend has a longing to return. Yet he has stated he'll go back when everyone else can go. It's been a month for both worlds, and Kirito bets Laurannei, Stica, Mattai, and Eydis are antsy for the otherworlders' return.
"...rito. Kirito. Are you listening to me?"
Kirito blinks as Alice jabs him on the elbow. "Ah! Yes. Sorry, I was thinking about the Underworld..."
Alice's scolding look softens. "I see. I find myself thinking about it several times a day."
"Yeah...I want to go back soon."
"Yes," The only person who may miss the world more than Jaymes is Alice, being it is her homeland. Not only is she homesick, but she also has three objectives, one previously achieved with her reunion with Eydis Synthesis Ten, her 'elder sister' and closest knight. The other two aren't easily achievable-rehatching her dragon Amayori and its brother Takiguri (Kirito rewound them to their eggs before fighting Gabriel Miller), and reuniting with her real sister, Selka Zuberg, who remains in deep freeze on the eightieth floor of Central Cathedral.
Alice would have to convince the current government she is the legendary knight to get a chance to revive Selka. At best, she could do it. At worst, Jaymes would be able to revive Selka using his sword Falchion, which acts as an administrative key in the Underworld. However, something tells Kirito that that route may be impossible, though he doesn't know why. Maybe they tried once before and Jaymes failed.
"By the way, Kirito, I have a message from Dr. Koujiro."
"Uh...a message? Could she not just e-mail me?"
"Apparently, she did not want to leave traces on the network." Must be very important if Dr. Koujirou didn't want to utilize Rath or RoboTeliligence's tight security. "The twenty-ninth, at fifteen o'clock. The expensive cake shop."
"...Huh?"
"That's all."
Kirito sighs. The date and time are clear, but 'expensive cake shop' could be anywhere in the city of Tokyo. He thinks of sending the doctor a message, but her route of delivering the message means she wants to keep this secret...which begs another question. Does Joshua know of this meeting? If she invites him, using email or directly speaking to him wouldn't be seen as strange. He's...practically her future boss. He'll have to ask later, though not on ALO tonight. Jaymes and Sinon are together in GGO for the foreseeable future.
On the inside, Kirito smiles at the various jokes he could make at their expense...and shivers as he imagines the coldness he could receive from Koharu, the kindest girl he's ever met.
"There are countless varieties of cake in the real world. So many things I never ate in Centoria. Looking at the pictures of them makes me hungry."
"Uh...yeah, I guess...But I really liked the sweets I used to buy in Centoria. Those honey pies? Three for just ten shia, and that filled a whole bag..."
"Are the cakes here expensive?"
"Well, I always imagined one shia being equivalent to about ten yen, so a nicer pastry shop might cost...oh, forty shia for one piece?"
"Th-that does sound expensive."
"And there's much fancier ones. I once had a piece of cake in Ginza that would be a hundred and sixty shia..." Kirito suddenly realizes what Dr. Koujirou's message fully meant. He sags his shoulders and sighs, wondering why that certain employee of Rath just had to use code.
"What is it, Kirito?"
"Oh...it's fine. I figured out what the message means. Thanks for telling me, Alice."
"It was a very easy task...is what I would normally say...but..."
The feline ears of Alice twitches and she develops a mischievous smile. "Perhaps you can help me with my training, then,"
"Huh? Oh, boosting your skill proficiency?" Alice chose the Cait Sith race for a similar reason Silica did. Silica, in SAO, was a renowned beast tamer, due to her possessing the feathered dragon Pina, so her choice to select the beast taming race correlated with her past self. Alice had the same reason, as the race is the easiest for reaching the character class of dragoon. In other words, she wanted to be a dragon knight like she was in the Underworld. She'll have to have high levels of taming and sword or spear skills. Sword proficiency increases with usage of the weapon, while the Beast Taming skill requires skill points to raise levels.
He still has his report to finish. "Give me thirty minutes, then. Once I've finished this, we can go meet up with Liz and the gang and work on earning SP for—" He's cute off by the sound of a character logging on, and this time, it is who he expected.
Who else but the Undine magician and the strongest fencer he knows, Asuna.
"W...welcome back, Asuna," Kirito stammers out while standing.
"Good evening, Kirito. Welcome, Alice."
"Pardon me for intruding, Asuna,"
Kirito feels the temperature in the room rise as the two women smile at each other. Oh boy... He clears his throat and speaks again. "Um, I need to wrap up this report, so if you two don't mind, you can go ahead and meet with Liz—" He's interrupted by a strange, powerful shaking of the cabin floor, and a thunder-like roar that scares the girls. Acting on instinct, Kirito grabs them and crouches as the shaking continues. Another boom echoes in the cabin, the ceiling beams creak, and the mugs topple off the table.
If this is an earthquake...no, there's no way. New Aincrad is in the sky, so even if Alfheim was experiencing a quake, Aincrad is safe. And one the idea that New Aincrad is the source of the shaking...considering all factors of flight, some air turbulence wouldn't cause the cabin to collapse. In any case, Kirito makes the instinctual decision. "Get outside, you two!" He runs for the door, dragging the girls behind him. As soon as he pushes it open and reaches the porch, a third shock occurs, launching the trio to the grassy front yard.
Before he spreads his fairy wings to escape the shaking land, Asuna grabs Kirito's hand, and with a trembling finger, points to the sky. "Kirito, l-look...!" It doesn't take him long to notice. Earlier, New Aincrad's sky was blue and sunny when Kirito arrived; now it is blood red.
"...That is not a sunset," Alice nervously remarks, but that's not the only thing that has Kirito's attention. The sky isn't just red, but several hexagons create a pattern in the sky, and on those hexagons are four repeated words.
Warning and System Announcement.
"Kirito," Asuna whimpers. He squeezes her hand, but like her, he's having the worst trip down memory lane, and he knows that, within ALO, he's not the only one. He's sure Liz and Silica (and unknown to him, Koharu) are seeing this, they know this sight as well. For now, unbeknownst to those six in ALO, Jaymes, currently in GGO, is filled with the same fear too. If Klein, Agil, Philia, and Rain are or were online, they would know it.
They have seen this sky, this pattern, and those words before, on November 6th, 2022 at five-thirty pm, in the courtyard of the Town of Beginnings. All Kirito can hear in his head is those words that began it all. "'Welcome to my world, dear players...'"
Welcome to the first part of Unital Ring, The Mysterious New World. This will cover volumes 21 and 23, simultaneously on the first evening of UR, pick up where 21 continues afterward, then the second day in volume 23. The first few chapters will have some overlap.
There are some video-game-specific characters and events told through this chapter and the upcoming ones, including my OC, so if you're reading my stories for the first time, that's how I do things. If you're not, you know how things go.
Updates will initially be slow, at least until I fully upload the Underworld story I have written, but as of today, this story is 60-75% done.