Ad Libitum


I leaned forward on my bike, lowering my head as I followed the GPS to Kazuto's location. It was almost time for the fights to start, and I wanted to talk to him about the message he sent me before everything kicked off for the night. The text hadn't had much detail to go on... Besides, Din and Yui predicted that there were going to be multiple spawns tonight again, so there wasn't going to be much time to talk once it started.

When I arrived, Kazuto was pacing around in circles. I recognized the motion; I did the same thing when I had too much energy and nothing to do, or when I was thinking hard about something and my body needed to just move. In this case, it was probably the former, since he looked up as soon as I approached. "Nick, you're here," he said.

"Got your text," I replied with a shrug. "I wasn't going to let you down. But you're gonna have to explain exactly what you meant by 'We're going grinding.'"

Kazuto had the grace to look a little sheepish, especially when I paired my dry delivery with a raised eyebrow. "Oh. Sorry, I was in a hurry... I was looking around earlier, searching for any sign of Eiji, and then suddenly I was just... walking through a dark garden."

I tilted my head and prepared an eloquent response. "Huh?" I asked.

"I don't know how," he said, "but I was... Full Diving. On the top floor of Aincrad. The Ruby Palace was right in front of me as the sun rose."

My eyes widened. The Ruby Palace... That was the final floor, where we would have fought Kayaba had Kazuto not put the clues together on Floor 75 and killed him there. I still didn't feel guilty about keeping quiet; I knew Kayaba's identity, but I had bartered my silence for Kazuto and Asuna's happiness. Even if other players had died, I didn't know them.

"I looked around," he said. "The gardens were full of flowers, and butterflies flying around. And then I saw Yuuna."

"...The ghost girl, or..."

He shrugged. "She had her hood down and looked exactly like that picture of Shigemura's daughter. We can call her White Yuna, I guess? I don't know for certain what she is. I asked her all kinds of questions, but she didn't answer any of them. There was this song she sang... It was so familiar..."

He trailed off, and I shook my head. "So we don't know anything more than when we started?"

"I'm getting there," he said. "Sorry, I got lost in thought. But White Yuna said that we can get Asuna's memory back." As those words echoed in my head, my spine blazed with electricity and my fingers clenched into fists. We can do this. No matter what I have to do, I will help my sister. "But she said the rank I have now isn't high enough to do it."

I took a slow, deep breath and then exhaled. "So we're going to fight. And kill. All of the bosses tonight, you're going to steal the Last Attack Bonus and raise your rank as high as it can be."

Kazuto nodded silently.

I grinned at him, and cracked my knuckles. I winced a little from the pain in my left hand, regretting touching the raw skin, but the sting died away quickly. My heart pounded in my chest and the viper inside me squeezed and contracted over and over, flexing with every heartbeat. "Let's do this."

...

The first boss we fought that night was simple. It had been a hard boss to fight at the time, so its patterns were burned deep in my muscle memory. It was a massive stone golem, purple with red lines tracing its body. In addition to its size, the body alone serving as a weapon if it stomped on us, its right was a gigantic stone longsword. As we whittled the health down, it blazed with blue flame, and the boss roared before slashing.

A wave of blue energy rippled out, passing through players without slowing down. Even their shields didn't stop the penetrating force. I saw one player get cut through the chest and then collapse to his knees, unresponsive. Must be an SAO Survivor, losing his memory... But there wasn't any time for me to worry or think about that. I ducked under the wave of energy, Kirito doing the same thing since I'd warned him it was coming, and then the two of us bolted forward.

The golem's eyes flashed as it turned to us, and I pulled forward just a little bit. I slipped under its guard and past its sword as it tried to smash us to the ground, and planted my feet as I drove an uppercut into the vulnerable stomach area of the humanoid boss. It cracked, and part of me wanted to drive the blow home, shattering it entirely - but I didn't, pulling back my punch and dodging to the side. After all, I wasn't the one that needed the kill.

Kirito had slipped by the boss's sword on the other side, and now that I was clear he could strike. With a strong, heavy slash his sword bit into the golem's side, ripping through the cracked area and carving a huge chunk of stone free. The damage was more than enough to kill the already-weak boss, and it exploded in a spray of multi-colored confetti.

We didn't even wait to watch the animation finish. Before the confetti finished imploding, Kirito and I had already finished sheathing our blades and were running to our bikes. "Multiple bosses have appeared, just like last night!" Yui reported. "But this time it's the ones from floors 20 to 30!"

"They're spawning at a staggered rate," Din told us, flying in the air alongside Yui. "If you can kill each boss in five minutes, then including travel time you should be able to reach them all!"

Ten bosses, huh? And if they're from 20 to 30... "Kirito," I said as the two of us ran through the dark park. He gasped out some sort of acknowledgement. "The boss from 26. It's mine," I said, through my deep breaths. My stamina was better than his, and I could talk while running, but this was still going to be hard. I had to pace myself... "My payment for fighting with you. You can have the others, but that one is my kill."

"Yeah," he panted. "We're gonna take all of them down tonight!"

Driving to and from the battles was probably the most stressful part of the night. Using GPS, we would drive to the boss as fast as possible. Sometimes I'd reach the location first, but usually it was Kirito. He was just more reckless when it came to weaving in and out of traffic. Fortunately, there weren't any accidents - or, at least, Yui and Din routed us around them. Each boss spawned for only ten minutes, and they were far enough apart that even with the fastest routes and our skill, we were cutting it close.

The routine was simple. We would show up, park our bikes a little haphazardly - most of the time I didn't bother locking my helmet, since it would just waste time later. All we did was park, get off, make sure our Augmas were on, and then run to the boss. If we were lucky and the spawn was close to the other one, we'd arrive a minute early. Most of the time, the boss was spawning just as we reached the zone. Once the boss spawned, I would do my best to remember the patterns and fill in Kirito as fast as possible. After that, it was just the two of us, relying on our hard-earned skill.

And every time, we succeeded. It helped that the other players weren't as driven; when the bosses started rampaging at the end of their lives, they tended to back off and watch the new pattern shift instead of pressing the attack. This was fine. It meant that Kirito and I could charge in with reckless abandon. After all, we didn't need to watch the shift when we already knew what was going to happen.

I would weaken the boss with my dagger and my fists, and then Kirito would kill them with his heavy longsword. As soon as the kill was confirmed, we'd run back to our bikes and start driving to the next location, courtesy of Din and Yui.

The only exception to the rule was The Venomous One, the boss from Floor 26. That one was mine, and Kirito accepted my terms. Instead of taking the kill when the gigantic snake - just as harmless as I remembered, though that could be more because with every pounding blow from me and Kirito, its head snapped to the side - reached low health, he dropped back to avoid its spray of venomous spines.

Instead of trying to dodge, I just raised my fists. "It didn't work last time," I snarled at the boss. "And it won't this time either!" With a hiss, the boss shook and writhed, launching the spines out. I hissed out a breath and -

- ducked my head, swerving to the left as one spine flew to my head. The next spine coming to my body was blocked by my dagger, smashing the projectile to the side. I spun with the force of my block, and brought my hand up as I completed the spin just in time to see the third and final spine coming towards me. I didn't have time to dodge, or bring my dagger up to block, so I took the easy way out. A punch lashed out, colliding with the tip of the spine, and it splintered under the force of my blow. It froze in midair for less than a heartbeat before I followed through with the punch, reversing the spine's flight. The other pointed end streaked straight for the boss's open mouth, stabbing into the viper's vulnerable tongue. That little stunt earned a shriek of pain.

...That wasn't exactly intended, but... fuck yeah, that was awesome.

I nearly stumbled from the spin, but I kept my balance and ran towards the boss. It's almost impressive, the way the boss shrunk from me. Do you remember me yet?!

It lifted its head in an attempt to rear away from my approach, but that was fine, I could improvise. With a snarl, I dug my dagger into the soft underbelly of the snake and ripped forward as I ran. The slight tugging increased as the edge of my blade slid into the harder scales on its side, and I ripped my dagger out with a flash, tucking and rolling.

I came up to my knees as the boss whirled, wrapping its body around me. My eyes darted left and right, but there wasn't any way for me to escape. If it were the virtual world, I could just fly out, but... here in AR, the rules were different. The Venomous One opened its maw to let out a loud hiss and I tensed, just before the boss snapped its head forward and struck.

My dagger flashed up.

The boss froze, a red line tracing vertically directly down the center of its head. My dagger's edge had split the snake almost perfectly in half, and I smiled fiercely as it exploded in confetti, freeing me. Even while the confetti expanded, I sheathed my dagger and found Kirito waiting for me by the edge of the mall space. I jogged over to him and the two of us headed for our bikes.

Only a few more to go...

...

The final boss was in front of us; Waheela The Black Wolf, the boss of Floor 28. I don't remember the Floor itself, but Waheela was memorable enough. A gigantic crimson wolf, its shoulder coming up to my head, with the power to turn itself into smoke and shadow. In the fight in Aincrad, it'd taken extra effort by the Knights of the Blood and the rest of us Clearers to beat it.

Unfortunately, I couldn't remember precisely the strategy we used to defeat it then. I think it was the stress of being in front of people that drove it from my mind - Waheela was only the third fight I'd helped coordinate as a tactician, and I still wasn't used to the attention at the time. Most of my effort had gone into making sure we hadn't screwed everything up, or more importantly, making sure that I didn't embarrass myself in front of the crowds.

Waheela lunged, jaws snapping closed. Sparks flew as its teeth grated against Kirito's sword, and he gritted his teeth with the strain. Steam billowed from the monster's mouth, its hot breath fogging up on contact. While it was stunned, I took advantage of the opportunity and slashed out, my dagger carving a crescent of red along its flank. At the same time, Kirito surged and ripped his sword out with a grunt, slashing Waheela's mouth open. His second blow thrust forward and slammed into the boss's chin, knocking it flying.

Before the crimson wolf struck the ground, though, it exploded into black smoke. Kirito and I spread out, watching the trail of inky darkness to see which of us it was attacking. I had a gut feeling, though, and sure enough it was right; the shadow struck at Kirito, ignoring me completely. I gritted my teeth, feeling an itch in my body burn as I wanted to rush in and attack, but I knew I couldn't.

Kirito blocked the blow and Waheela's shadow form bounced around, curving and swerving in midair for another attempt. Kirito blocked that one as well, and the boss bounced again. "I can't believe they're knocking down its HP all by themselves," I heard someone whisper. We'd already told them that we were going to be the ones to solo it; after a few pointed stares and minor threats of PK courtesy of me, they agreed. Waheela struck again and this time Kirito countered instead of parrying, his sword cutting the darkness.

Splatters of shadow struck the ground and fizzled away, so it looks like he's doing something right. Waheela cycled through its pattern again, and so did Kirito; block, block, counter. After countering, the shadow closed up and swooped at him, and Kirito bounced back. I winced when I watched him run into someone. Kirito turned to glare at him, and the boss landed up on the ring surrounding the arena; this was a new area for me, resembling a coliseum with steel spikes ringing the black walls. "Jeez, chill out," the guy Kirito ran into said. "What are you getting so worked up for? It's only a game!"

My eyes tracked the boss's movement and I was already in pursuit by the time it finished racing along the top of the arena and jumped down. It landed among a group of watching players and they scattered as the shadow reformed into the huge wolf, snarling and snapping at anyone in range. Before it could bite down on someone, I introduced my dagger to its jaws and forced them shut early, saving the man. "Move it!" Kirito shouted. I spared a second to glance at him; he was running this way, sword drawn.

He jumped in the air and slashed Waheela's side, earning a growl from the boss. He aimed for a follow-up attack, but the boss burst into smoke before he could hit it. My eyes widened. "Phase two," I shouted to him, backing up to put my back against his.

Sure enough, as the cloud of darkness rushed me, the head and forepaws of the boss reformed - just in time to meet my blade rising up and burst into darkness again. I couldn't block; it would pass through my blade, for whatever reason. The only way to do damage while it was in this phase was to counter the blows before they struck. The darkness wheeled and reformed behind me. I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see Kirito step forward in a slash, cutting the boss's head and making it split apart again.

Kirito shouted with rage as he chased down the smoke, forcing me to follow him to keep his back secure. I sighed in resigned dismay and chased after him, watching as he cut another attack attempt down. It reformed again and rushed from the side, but I met the charge with a slash of my dagger. Waheela burst apart and reformed behind me, lunging away and then back only to be met by Kirito's slash.

"It's time for a bonus stage!" My eyes widened, and I looked up. Unexpectedly, Yuna was standing there, arms stretched out; but this wasn't White Yuna, the... whatever she was that we'd been talking to. Instead, this was the idol version of Yuna, the one we'd all known about before this started. Black Yuna, maybe? "Good luck, everyone!"

The green light sprinkled down and covered my body, along with everyone else that was here. An icon appeared in my vision and I shrugged, grinning lightly. Increased speed was nice and all, but it only really affected how heavy my weapon felt - and since I was a dagger-user, it didn't really weigh all that much in the first place.

With a shout, Kirito slashed at Waheela and the boss split apart again, dashing away. It reformed further away, its entire body coming out of the cloud of darkness, and my eyes widened. "Oh crap!" I yelped, tucking and rolling. Waheela howled and its shadow spread out without a light source affecting it, covering the ground in front of it in a large cone. Spikes burst from the darkness, piercing players left and right. I'd managed to jump far enough to get away, but Kirito was still struck by it; I saw that his chest had been pierced, as well as his arm. He was stuck, and his health was going to start draining fast.

It might kill him.

With a hiss of rage I surged from my knees, running to the boss. It was stuck in position and couldn't attack, and there was no way it could avoid my next move. I planted my feet solidly and dropped my right shoulder before leaning in and letting out a shout as my right fist drove upwards. After all, it's casting a shadow. If I move the source, it'll break the shadow.

My uppercut slammed into the vulnerable stomach of Waheela and with a yip of surprise it went flying as the curve of my fist arced up. The red wolf formed into shadow in midair, but my goal had been accomplished - by knocking the boss away I was able to interrupt the attack. I whirled to see Kirito was perfectly fine, his eyes hard with anger. A long howl caught my attention and I braced myself to counter Waheela's charge, and as it burst from the black cloud to slash at me -

- Kirito's sword slammed into the small of the wolf's back, pinning it to the ground. Waheela The Black Wolf didn't even have a chance to fight back; the damage we'd done, combined with Kirito's savage attack just now, killed it. As it burst into multi-colored confetti, exploding outwards, the watchers cheered loudly. After pausing in midair, the confetti imploded in on itself, disappearing with a little pop and sprinkle.

I approached Kirito as he stood up and sheathed his sword. "Good job," I said with a simple nod. Above his head, his rank counter ticked down until it stopped; he was now ranked 9th in the game. I didn't know what mine was, but it'd be high. He'd earned more points than me tonight, thanks to getting the kill on most of the bosses, but I'd still earned the participation awards.

Kirito nodded back, and I hid a worried look. His eyes were wild and angry, and even succeeding in defeating all ten bosses - which, by the way, I can feel my legs burning from all the running around I've done tonight, this hurts - hadn't quenched the anger. I was pretty sure nothing would, until he successfully saved Asuna.

"Congratulations!" The mocking voice was a little... different than I remembered it. Kirito and I turned to see Eiji standing there, clad in his purple Ordinal Scale outfit. He was applauding quietly. "It looks like you've finally learned how to handle yourself in this game... Black Swordsman."

"You bastard!" Kirito shouted. Before I could stop him he lunged at Eiji, swinging his sword in an overhead slash.

Eiji grabbed Kirito's arm and twisted. Without the number two even having to take a step, Kirito's momentum was used against him and my brother was flipped onto his back. I winced as he hit the ground hard, but wiped the expression from my face before I stepped forward to smirk at Eiji. "How's the nose?" I asked, a sharp grin pulling at my lips.

The boy looked the same as when I fought him yesterday - with the exception of a cut scabbed over on his mouth. "Oh, this?" Eiji asked. "It's nothing. My lip was split, that's all." I snarled at him, hissing under my breath. Rat fuck bastard... I'm going to enjoy smashing that look of superiority off your face.

Kirito rolled over and pushed himself to his hands and knees, and Eiji turned around with a smirk. For an instant the viper lunged, aiming for his back, but I was able to shove it down and bottle it up again. In front of Kirito, a message appeared; from where I was standing I couldn't read it, but Kirito's eyes widened.

"Instead of Yuna rewarding you," Eiji said, "I will." With one final glance at me over his back, he jumped away. Despite doing my best to track him, I lost sight of him almost immediately. Damn my night vision being terrible, and damn my kinetic vision being shit too.

Walking up, I offered Kirito my hand to help him to his feet and he accepted it. Once he was upright, he spun the message around to show me. 'Come to Yuna's concert. I'll return Lightning Flash's memories there. From E'. I tilted my head as I thought about it. Would Eiji just... give it up, like that? I doubt it. If he would, he would have done so when I tracked him down yesterday. This was a trap of some sort. "You're going to have to fight him," I said quietly.

"I know."

"Do you want me to help?" Kirito's eyes hardened, and I looked at him. "You might be a higher rank than me in the game, Kirito, but that's the game. My fighting style is the one designed for fighting humans."

Kirito licked his lips, and then said, "... I want to tell you to wait up with the others, at the concert. Make sure they're safe. But you wouldn't listen, would you."

It wasn't a question, but he already knew the answer: I wouldn't. In any case, the girls weren't helpless on their own. They'd have Agil there, too; there would be five SAO survivors and the champion of the third BoB in GGO, so I would just be another helping hand in the end. "I'll be with you," I said. "C'mon, let's go home."

...

I leaned back on Kana's bed, staring at the ceiling. She snuggled against my body, pressing close, and I absently put my arm around her. Like there was any chance I wasn't going to spend tonight with her, when there was the chance of losing my memories tomorrow. Judging by the way she'd agreed almost instantly, I was pretty sure she felt the same way. "Suguha's gonna send Kazuto a video showing him how to do kendo moves," she said quietly. The room was dark and we were nominally trying to fall asleep.

"Good," I replied. "It'll help." Both in the sense that knowing how to swing a sword will assist him in Ordinal Scale, and in the sense that like my martial arts, kendo is a fighting style designed to clash against others. I didn't say anything about Kazuto's duel tomorrow with Eiji; he'd asked me to keep quiet about it from the others, and I'd agreed - with the implicit exception of Kana, naturally. He'd known better than to even consider asking me to keep it a secret from her.

"Tomorrow everything will be over, huh?" she murmured. I just nodded, before rolling on my side. Kana faced me, her small hands on my chest, and I gently pressed my forehead against hers. "We'll be okay, Nick. We'll be okay."

"We will," I said to her. "I promise." Kana smiled up at me, and we settled down to try to fall asleep and get ready for tomorrow.


The New National Stadium Arena was exactly as crowded as I expected it to be. Sure, the place was huge and had all the amenities expected of a high-tech public area - the decor was nice, and the part of the stadium where we could walk around was pleasant enough, not to mention all the drinking fountains and bathrooms - but that didn't change the fact that it was still filled with people. I could already feel my body tense up just thinking about how many people were going to be packed together. See, this is why I don't go to live concerts ever. It sucks.

Now, because Kana, Shino and I had purchased our tickets through the normal means - that is, Kana and Shino purchased them from the seller - we could sit wherever we wanted. However, Asuna and the others from the SAO Survivor School couldn't choose; they were stuck in the bleachers. We chose to sit together, naturally. It meant we weren't seated on the floor itself, with an up-close and personal view of the stage, but I didn't care all that much. My family was more important than watching Yuna.

"Wow," Shino said idly, looking around. It was early, but the seats on the floor were already filled up. "Yuna's more popular than I thought."

We were all wearing regular casual clothing, as strange as it was for me to see Agil outside of ALO or his bar. Everyone looked nice, though Keiko was rubbing her throat from time to time, for some reason. I wonder if she's okay... Either way, the seven of us filed into the seats pretty naturally; Keiko and Rika were on the far end, with Asuna sandwiched between Rika and Shino. I sat between Shino and Kana, with Agil taking a seat on the right side of our little pack.

"Ugh," Keiko whispered hoarsely. "My throat's sore from karaoke..."

We all looked at the poor girl. She looked totally mortified - and she'd even dressed up nicely for this event. "That's what you get for overdoing it," Rika said.

Kana grinned and passed me something. I glanced at the small wrapped item in my hand and chuckled, shaking my head. "Keiko, here," I said, getting up to hand it to the girl. She took the throat lozenge gratefully and popped it into her mouth at once.

"Thanks, Nick, you're the best," she said.

I just shook my head. "Don't thank me, thank Kana. She's the one that brought them."

My girlfriend leaned forward and lifted her purse. "I've got more if you need them."

"Ah! Thanks so much!"

I smiled, seeing Keiko's face light up like that. Asuna turned and smiled as well. "Silica," she said. "Thank you for yesterday."

"O-oh, sure!"

On the other side of us, Agil sighed. "Oh, man... Wish Klein and Suguha could be here." We all nodded.

"Wait," Asuna said as everyone finally took their seats. "Where's Kirito? Nick, do you know?"

I shrugged. "Bathroom break," I replied. "He'll be back in time, don't worry." I had no idea how long it would take for us to fight and defeat Eiji, but it shouldn't be too long. For one thing, it was about to be a two-on-one fight; and on the second hand, Eiji fought with my style… Kazuto knew how to counter that, and it was my style. I knew how to beat myself. "On that note, I need to take a piss myself. Be right back."

"Gross, Nick." Kana sighed after her automatic complaint and waved her hand at me. Asuna wrinkled her nose at my crudity. "Hurry back."

"Yeah, I will," I said before getting out of my seat and stepping past my girlfriend, hurrying to the aisle and then up the steps. I had to push past a few people looking for their seats in the bleachers, but their huffs of offense and irritation meant less than nothing to me. The viper hissed in my ears, and I felt my lips spread in a feral smile that held no humor.

The cool air washed over me as I stepped out of the inner part of the arena, and as soon as the doors behind me closed the loud chatter of the waiting audience members was muffled. I didn't waste any time, trying to remember where the nearest elevator was. I remembered that we'd turned left to enter the doors, so I turned to the right and started running. I needed to get there as fast as possible... I smashed the button on the elevator door as soon as I found one, hitting the thing over and over again like it would help. "Come on, open, you stupid thing," I growled, heart pounding.

Eventually - after what felt like ages - the elevator chimed and the steel doors slid open. I darted inside and hit the button for the third basement floor, hammering on the close doors button to speed it up even by a second or two. The elevator plunged, and all I could think about was 'What happens if I'm too late?' I was pretty sure I would be fine, but anything could happen in a second.

In all honesty, I was a little worried about Kazuto. Mainly because while I believed that he was the better swordsman, Eiji was cheating. He was faster and stronger than could be possible thanks to... whatever was boosting his abilities. Plus, I hadn't said anything, but I could see that Kazuto was running on pure willpower by now. I got the feeling that he hadn't slept much last night, and that he'd spent a good portion of time practicing the swings Suguha had sent him.

Training wasn't a bad thing, in and of itself, but Kazuto was rushing things. I'd checked him earlier, when we were the only ones at the stadium, and it didn't seem like his muscles were exhausted, but he'd been totally uninterested in fighting even three days ago. It took time to build stamina up, and I wasn't sure Kazuto would be able to fight and beat Eiji.

Of course, that's why I was there.

The doors opened, and I stepped forward. I hesitated for a second before I shook my head and said, "Din?"

"Uncle's signal is coming from over that way," Din said, pointing straight forward. I nodded in thanks and started walking forward casually. Once I knew where to go, it was easy to hear the sound of voices going back and forth in the direction I was going, echoing a little strangely in the concrete jungle of the parking.

I arrived on the scene just in time to hear Kazuto and Eiji shout, "Ordinal Scale, activate!" The two of them dashed forward almost simultaneously, swinging their little wands in the air. It looked ridiculous to me, but to them they'd be swinging sharpened blades with killing intent.

Well. Let's not leave them waiting. I clenched my fists and winced for a heartbeat as it pulled the sensitive skin on my left hand, but put it out of mind. The viper hissed loudly as I said, soft enough for my words to be hidden by the clash of the two's combat, "Ordinal Scale, activate."

I was surrounded by blue fire and the world changed just a little bit; my casual clothes were replaced by my Ordinal Scale uniform, and a pair of heavy gauntlets wrapped around my fist. I licked my lips and nodded to Din to back up to Kana and the others. He nodded and flew over to give me a quick hug before flying up, disappearing into sparkles before he hit the ceiling.

Alright. Now it's just Kirito, Eiji… and me. I took a slow breath in and let it out again, centering myself, before peeking around the concrete pillar I was hiding behind. Kirito and Eiji were clashing, swords slamming into each other. I raised my hand out, catching Kirito's eye, and he nodded almost imperceptibly. Kirito knew I was here… I just needed a good chance to lunge in.

Kirito swung with a shout, and Eiji shouted back as he slashed upwards, parrying Kirito's blade – but that was the whole point. The clash was loud and echoed, and I used the noise to cover my approach as I kicked off the ground and raced forward. A harsh breath hissed out of me as I struck, shooting my fist forward in a punch aimed to the lower ribs.

It connected solidly and I felt a moment of savage glee when Eiji stumbled. "What?!" he exclaimed, knocked off-balance by my blow. I grinned and lowered my shoulder to convert the strike to an elbow that whiffed as he stumbled away. Of course, Kirito was still there, and he swung his sword in a gleaming arc towards Eiji's neck.

Eiji moved inhumanely quickly, swinging his sword with enough force to push Kirito back. Still breaking physical limits, he added pressure to Kirito, swinging and swinging, forcing Kirito on the defensive. Kirito blocked desperately, sparks flying as his sword bounced. As Eiji lowered his arm for a horizontal slash, Kirito used the bounce to position himself for a downward cleave –

- but Eiji smirked and his left hand whipped out to grab Kirito's wrist. My brother's eyes widened and he dropped a knee, rolling as soon as Eiji let go. Eiji's slash went over his head, and I snarled as my fist smashed forward towards his face. "I'm here too!" I snapped. Eiji, seemingly unconcerned, cartwheeled away from the first punch and jumped over my next combo. His after-image trailed over my head towards a nearby concrete pillar before he kicked off towards me, sword trying to pierce my body. I got my hands up in time and blocked the tip of his sword, feeling the pressure from the blast numb my arms.

Pushing through the loss of feeling, I clenched my fist and punched up, colliding solidly with his chin. Eiji backflipped away but staggered on the landing. "Can't dodge in midair." I grinned fiercely, trying to shake feeling back into my hands.

With a shout Eiji sped towards me, but I didn't stick around to fight. My goal was to wear him down, little by little. This was real life, and when my blows connected they did real damage; the uppercut had to have shaken him a little bit, or he would have been flawless like usual. That was why I wasn't using the dagger.

Besides. I wanted him to suffer for what he did to Asuna. The dagger would be too painless, and the viper in my heart hissed venomous agreement.

As I ran, Eiji's too-fast footsteps chased me. Good thing I work out. "For someone who talks so tough, you sure like sneak attacks!" he shouted at me.

I grinned. "Switch."

"What-" That was as far as he got before Kirito lunged, swinging his sword in a diagonal slash towards his ribs. Eiji was forced to jump over the blade to avoid Kirito's blow, but that put him in midair, perfect for me to strike. I slid towards him and kicked in a textbook roundhouse, slamming my foot straight into his gut and knocking him to the ground beautifully. Eiji rolled and bounced before converting the tumble into a slide, and he coughed as he staggered to his feet, shaking his head.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" I snarled. "And you can't see it coming. Your Future Step is nothing like the real deal!" He needs to see the moves for the Augma to predict them. So, all we had to do was attack from behind or put him in a position where he couldn't dodge.

"Heh…" Eiji laughed. "Guess I can see why everyone thought you guys would clear SAO. You've got some moves!"

Kirito smirked. "Wish I could say the same to you!" he shouted as he ran towards Eiji. "Second rank my ass!"

He kicked forward at surprising speed, closing towards Eiji. Eiji snarled, though, and launched himself forward, faster than Kirito could move. Thanks to Kirito's reflexes, though, he was able to push off of his back leg and pivot out of the way, so Eiji's cross-slash struck the pillar right behind Kirito instead. The concrete exploded into dust that I knew was virtual but still felt like it was going to make me cough. Visibility was impeded, and I stood back to back with Kirito. That way, one of us would be able to block no matter what.

"People only remember the players who fought on the front lines," Eiji said. Thanks to the environment, his voice echoed and bounced so much I couldn't lock down where he was. "But Yuna and me? We didn't fight. So we get treated like we didn't even exist!"

Kirito gasped. "Wait, you guys were together in SAO?!"

"That's right!" Eiji shouted, bursting from the cloud of dust with his sword already glowing and halfway through a jump. My eyes widened and I raised my hands just in time for him to slam down. Like I half-expected from a jumping slash, the power was ridiculously strong and I was slammed backwards, barely able to keep under me from the block. Before I could recover, Eiji appeared in front of me like he hadn't crossed the distance between and slashed me –

- and his sword clashed against my dagger. I'd finally brought it out, pushed to the point of needing the weapon. It stopped the damage, but I was still knocked off my feet as he passed by me from the sheer momentum behind his blow. I crashed to the ground and slid, the pavement rough against my side. "And I was with her at the end! I watched her vanish!" Eiji shouted as he rushed to the side, his suit trailing purple lights as he closed on Kirito incredibly quickly.

Kirito swung, eyes wide, but Eiji grabbed his hand and smashed down with the blade of his sword. "I hated myself for being so weak!" Eiji exclaimed through gritted teeth. He slashed again, cutting Kirito diagonally across the chest. "The girl I cared for was in danger, and I couldn't lift a finger to save her!"

He chased Kirito and slashed, dragging his blade through the ground. It left a furrow of superheated rock as it passed, and Kirito barely managed to dodge out of the way. Eiji dragged it up one of the columns as he ran up the pillar, kicking off and spinning in midair towards Kirito. He grabbed Kirito by the arm and spun, throwing my brother into the wall with all of the momentum he had.

Kirito slammed into the concrete wall, and his sword went flying. I snarled and pushed myself to my feet, ignoring the pain sparking through my side. This was going to hurt tomorrow… I charged the pair as Kirito pivoted out of the way of Eiji's rage-fueled slashes that carved into the wall of the parking garage, desperately making his way towards the sword lying on the ground. I slid in front of Eiji and brought my dagger up in a gleaming arc, stabbing forward and intercepting Eiji's blade.

I didn't try to match his strength. I knew I wouldn't win, so I pivoted. My right fist snapped out and barely grazed Eiji's cheek, but I was already bringing my body around for another dagger slash. I had to keep moving, keep attacking, or I'd fall behind. Meanwhile, Kirito ran to the side while I kept Eiji busy.

I jumped back, parrying and dodging the blows from Eiji as I danced away from his hasty strikes. "Who cares if we take away everyone's memories of SAO?" he snarled. His body was moving so fast I really could see afterimages of his sword slashes. One of his blows carved through another pillar, sending a spray of concrete shards hurtling towards me. I weaved through them as Eiji jumped up and landed on another pillar for half a second before launching himself towards me again. My body bumped up against a pillar behind me, and he raised his sword. "We're doing them a favor!"

"You hurt my sister!" I growled, feeling the viper hiss in my ear. "Favor or not, you're going to suffer for that!"

"Rythin, hold him still!"

I didn't really comprehend Kirito's shouted order, but my body reacted without thinking and I lunged forward. Eiji's blow struck over my shoulder, smashing into the pillar I'd bounced against, and the viper hissed in elation as my hand rose, slamming into his throat. "Ghk!" Eiji choked as his momentum forced him against my hand and cut off his air supply.

Kirito lunged then, gripping at the back of Eiji's jacket and pulling. "Let's see how good you are without this!" he shouted.

Eiji's eyes widened as Kirito tore something free, and sparks of electricity crackled in the air. I kneed him in the gut and punched, making sure to crunch his nose properly this time before jumping away. He staggered to the side, half-bent clutching at the back of his neck as red blood poured from his nostrils. It splattered against the ground oh so nicely, and the viper hissed in glee. He glared at the two of us, panting, and then raised his sword. "God damn you!" he shouted, moving so much slower than before.

I braced myself to meet the charge, but a white and black blur passed by me as Kirito stepped forward with a slash. The two of them passed each other, pausing... and then Eiji collapsed to the floor while Kirito stood up, moving his hand to sheath the sword. I exhaled, feeling the rush of adrenaline leave my body. My heart was still pounding, but that just meant I needed to relax. "We all suffered, back then," Kirito said, turning to look at Eiji. "But I won't lose to a guy that rejects the past because he thinks he suffered more."

Eiji groaned, totally defeated, and as I walked over his Ordinal Scale faded away. He'd been totally defeated. Now that he was in his regular civilian clothes, I could see a few wires sticking out from the back of his coat. Whatever Kazuto ripped free during the fight, that was the source of his inhuman abilities... A bodysuit, with synthetic muscles to enhance force? "Now do you wanna give me Asuna's memory back," Kazuto shouted, "or do you want to keep going?"

Still on his hands and knees, Eiji started chuckling. I snarled under my breath and stomped over, grabbing Eiji by the shirt collar. I am a hundred percent sick of his shit. "Alright," I said, "talk or I beat it out of you. What's your plan." It was a demand, not a question.

"It's too late now," Eiji said, grinning at me like he'd somehow won. "Practically every SAO Survivor is upstairs."

Wait, didn't they all get the free Augma and ticket to the concert? Son of a - "Dad, we have a big problem!" Din exclaimed, appearing behind me. "Yuna finished her song, and then she just disappeared and now a lot of bosses from Aincrad are spawning!"

With a snarl I tossed Eiji to the ground roughly. "Bastard," I growled. "This whole place is a trap."

Eiji smiled, staring at the ground as he crawled over to a nearby concrete pillar and leaned against it. "In a few minutes," he said, "we're gonna start scanning the brains of every one of them and take their memories of SAO. Their memories of that hell. And then we'll bring Yuuna back to life."

"The fuck?" I asked bluntly, even as Kazuto gasped.

"What are you talking about?" Kazuto shouted.

Eiji tilted his head back to sneer at us. "Like I said," he replied, "it's too late now. And you can't stop it!"

Kazuto grabbed his Augma off his head and started running. Meanwhile, Eiji started cackling, like he'd totally played us. My lip curled and I brought my leg up in a roundhouse kick to his jaw. That shut him up quickly enough, and I turned to run after Kazuto. I just barely caught up to him as he was slipping into the elevator, and it closed behind us. As soon as we were inside, Kazuto pulled out his phone and dialed Kikuoka. "Tell me you have something," he said without preamble.

"Okay," Kikuoka's voice replied. "So here's what I learned from Kamura, the company that manufactures the Augma. The drones flying inside the stadium are equipped with a special function. According to my source, they can boost the output of the Augmas wirelessly."

"So... what does that mean?" Kazuto asked.

"It means, if they run that brain scan inside the stadium, we might be dealing with something worse than partial memory loss," Kikuoka replied. Permanent memory loss? Spine damage? The elevator shook as it reached the first floor and we both got off, running.

I gritted my teeth. "That's... bad," I said.

"You said it," Kikuoka replied. "The scan could permanently damage the brain. It might even kill people."

"Kill?" I repeated, my voice dropping the usual pleasant tenor I tried to keep. "Like the NerveGear."

"Just like it," Kikuoka said.

I narrowed my eyes. The viper hissed in my ears. "If anything happens to any of my family," I said almost casually, "I'm going to kill Eiji, and then I'm going to kill Shigemura. Just so you're aware, Kikuoka."

He sighed. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," he said. I didn't care. My statement of intent was clear.

Kazuto and I took the stairs two at a time, running up to the stadium; I led the way, since I knew where everyone was sitting. I reached the door and grabbed the handle, using my momentum to slam it open and let Kazuto in first. I followed shortly after that and swore, loudly and in great detail. It was total mayhem. The orderly rows and seating blocks had been abandoned as people shouted and moved, swinging their arms and jerking abruptly. It looked like they were performing some kind of performance piece, but all I had to do was say the magic words. "Ordinal Scale, activate."

Like that, I could see the true horror. It wasn't just one boss or two, this time. No, I counted at least ten bosses in a quick glance, and the red circles and columns of fire kept appearing even as I watched. Beside me, Kirito gasped in shock. "I'll get the professor," Kikuoka said. It was hard to hear him over the shouting. "But I need you to get everyone to take off their Augmas. Hopefully they'll listen to you - the Black Swordsman and the Diamond Tactician."

"We'd need Asuna for this," I grumbled under my breath, trying to figure out which part of the room was the worst off. Haha, just kidding, everything was terrible everywhere. I even saw The Skull Reaper, that damn bone centipede's rib cage crawling in and out like a creepy parody of inhaling and exhaling. Damn it, where are the others...? There!

The girls and Agil were where I'd left them; they hadn't abandoned their seats for the more crowded fighting arena of the center floor, for which I was grateful. I would never have been able to find them in time if that had been the case. I lightly punched Kirito's shoulder to get his attention and pointed to the girls, and he nodded. The two of us took off running, trying to get to them.

One of the bosses - a flying mantis... The Mantis Queen? I think it was something like that, at least - was flying around the stadium air, until someone below took a shot. I didn't see exactly what happened, but an explosive round detonated against the boss, sending it crashing into the stands a few rows below everyone. Asuna remained seated, with Silica standing guard over her, while Sinon, Liz, and Argo advanced on the stunned boss. Agil stood halfway between the two, heading towards the mantis.

A pillar of fire rose, immediately behind Silica and Asuna, and my eyes widened. Curses spilled from my mouth as I ran, somehow pulling ahead of Kirito and hitting the steps two at a time, desperately trying to reach the two girls. The fire split apart, revealing a familiar goat-headed boss carrying a massive sword in one hand. The Gleam Eyes... Bastard! You're not taking them!

"Asuna!" Liz shouted desperately, but The Mantis Queen chose that moment to surge up, and everyone in that fight needed to focus on them. I wondered if Argo was looking my way, but that didn't matter. I had to reach Asuna and Silica or die trying. My sides flared in pain, though, and I nearly tripped down the steps.

The Gleam Eyes raised its heavy blade over its head, and there was no way Silica's small dagger was going to be able to stop it from killing them, not with her rank -

- until a shadow passed over me, and I stared with shock and a little bit of confusion as Kirito dove from the railing above my head at the boss, his sword digging into its body as he fell. The momentum carried through, enforced by the game's own rules, and the Gleam Eyes toppled to the ground, Kirito hitting the ground a moment later.

"You idiot," I snarled, finally reaching the girls. Gods, if Kirito hadn't done that, watching those two die right in front of me... "You okay, Kirito?"

He was lying in a pile of the seats he'd knocked from the bleachers. "Asuna...!" he gasped, staggering to his feet. "You okay?!" A step later, and he tilted as his left knee buckled. Shit, he's hurt something. Which makes sense, he just dove like ten feet onto hard concrete.

"Kirito!" Asuna gasped, smiling down at him. I wondered why she and everyone else was wearing their Ordinal Scale outfits - they knew better, which meant that they'd been forced into them somehow - before I shook my head and chased the thought away. Right now, the only thing that mattered was handling the bosses. I knew that none of the important people in this room would remove their Augmas unless everyone was safe or dead.

I stopped in front of Silica, and rested my hand on her head. "Good job," I told her, and she looked down. "Silica, look at me."

"But, I couldn't..."

"You tried," I told her, and she looked up. "That's what matters. You tried to protect her. Now, Kirito and I are gonna handle the boss. Keep an eye on Asuna for me, okay?"

Silica smiled. "Yeah!"

I glanced over at the other fight, and my eyes went distant for a second. They can spare... "Agil!" I shouted, and the dark man looked my way. "Over here! You're with me and Kirito."

"You got it," he called back, his voice a somehow soothing rumble over the high-pitched shouting.

The two of us approached Kirito, and I studied him. "Can you walk?"

"Y-Yeah..." he said, wincing as he put weight on his leg. Yeah. Uh huh. Sure.

Well, it'll have to do. "Agil, you're tank," I said. "Keep the Gleam Eyes's attention and cover Kirito. Special moves to watch out for is its breath attack, but Kirito and I should be able to interrupt it. Other than that, it just swings its sword around."

Agil nodded, holding his large axe at the ready. In front of me, The Gleam Eyes surged from its prone position, roaring in anger, and I circled to the side. Kirito couldn't move, so he was stuck on the steps; Agil would need to cover him, which meant that mobility was going to be my protection more than anything else. "Think we can handle it on our own?" he asked.

I laughed mirthlessly. "Agil, you remember what happened to this thing back in Aincrad, don't you?" He grinned, and I twirled my dagger. "Let's be about it!"

...

The Gleam Eyes roared as Kirito delivered a powerful slash to its chest. Stretching from the boss's left shoulder to its right hip, the cut blazed with blue fire, and the stupid goat boss exploded into confetti. "And stay dead," I muttered, letting my burning arms fall to the ground limply. Gods, I need something to drink... and a nice warm meal, and about thirty uninterrupted hours of rest if I'm being greedy.

The point boost gave us all a rank boost; Kirito was now number two in the game, and I was right behind him at number four. Agil was in the upper hundreds, and I couldn't see where the others were at the moment. If it weren't, y'know, a live battlefield, I'd check. Even as we caught our breath from beating the boss, another sphere of fire blazed into existence behind us. Oh come on! I panted a few harsh breaths before taking a deep breath and raising my dagger again.

With a flash of steel, a scythe cut apart the fireball and revealed the boss. A grinning skeleton's skull stared back at me, twirling a scythe that was as big as it was. It hovered in the air, its ragged cloak fluttering around it. The Fatal Scythe - and this time, Yui can't use her admin powers to one-shot the damn thing. It spun its scythe and then swung the wicked-looking blade at us, and we all yelped and dodged, jumping away. Nobody tried to block it, naturally.

Kirito landed next to me, and his leg buckled again. He barely managed to stay upright by grabbing on to one of the seats, and I winced. There was no way he could fight this thing the way he was. Hells, even if he was rank one in the game, I don't know if he could beat this boss.

As if it sensed our weakness, The Fatal Scythe flew up to the two of us. There was no way Kirito could move, and he desperately raised his sword. As if it would do anything, I raised my dagger, preparing to try to parry the massive scythe blade. The Fatal Scythe reared back, and then swung down -

- and the blade slammed into a massive shield, held up by Yuna. The one that we'd seen in the park, wearing the white hoodie. The shield had a massive butterfly motif, and it cast an aura around us to completely block the attack. She yelped but held firm, keeping the barrier up even as The Fatal Scythe pushed on it. "Yuna!" Kirito gasped.

"Help me, Kirito!" Yuna gasped. "If we don't stop this, everyone here is going to die! Once the average of their Emotive Counters passes ten thousand, a high-output scan will activate and destroy their brains!" An emotive what now? I looked over at the stage, and frowned - there was a large panel displaying a number, about eight thousand or so, and a wave form. The wave form fluctuated and pulsed, as if it were a giant heartbeat. Huh. Guess that's an Emotive Counter.

"I'm on it!" Kirito shouted. He looked at me and nodded, and I nodded back.

I whirled and let out a piercing whistle, designed to catch the attention of anyone nearby. "Anyone who can hear me, listen!" I roared, feeling my throat start to hurt by the end of the sentence. "Take off your Augmas, immediately! This is an order from your Tactician!" Swallowing, I rubbed at my throat. Huh. I taste copper. That's probably not good. I had invoked my name, but it didn't seem to help. There was too much chaos around.

"It's no use!" White Yuna gasped, her barrier flashing as The Fatal Scythe slammed another heavy blow down on it. "My dad put the bosses in the other events so everyone here would fight, thinking it's part of the game." Admittedly brilliant, and if it weren't threatening the lives of the only people in the world I care about I might have been impressed.

"Then what do we do?" Kirito asked her desperately, close to shouting.

"Go to the place we met yesterday! That was Floor 100 in Old Aincrad!" Yuna said, turning back to look at us. "Go there and beat the boss!" Beat the what now. "It's our last hope! Sit down, I'm going to unlock the Augma's Full Dive function now!" The Augma's what now.

"You can Full Dive from the Augma?" Kirito asked.

"The Augma's just a version of the NerveGear with limited functions," Yuna replied. "Now get going!"

With a surge, she shoved her shield forward and knocked The Fatal Scythe away from us. The barrier flickered, and Kirito nodded. I glanced at him and shrugged. "We're ready!" he said. Then, a gloved hand gripped his shoulder. I looked up to see Agil, as well as Sinon, Silica, Liz, and Argo standing behind us, eyes hard. "You guys..." he said. I stared at my catling, meeting her gaze, and hated myself for wanting to ask her to just remove her Augma and stay behind where it was safe.

I couldn't do that to her.

We all took a seat on the bleachers, the ones with larger weapons setting them aside. Kirito and I sat in the second and third seats of the row respectively, and the others sat in the row behind us. Before I could stop her, Argo hopped the row and settled down on my right, eyes daring me to comment. As a smart man, I didn't say a word, and her lips twitched. She placed her small hand in mine, and I squeezed gently. In front of us, Yuna turned and raised a hand. Her hand started to glow bright white. "Let's do this," Liz said.

"Yeah," Silica replied.

"Good luck Daddy, Uncle!" Yui said, swooping down to hover in front of me and Kirito.

Din flew over and landed on the back of the seats in front of us. "Mom, Dad," he said, "be careful."

"We will, kid," I said. Argo leaned against my shoulder, getting comfortable. She pressed a quick kiss to my cheek, and I closed my eyes as I put my arms around her. If we lost... We weren't. We weren't going to lose, but if the impossible happened I wanted to go out holding my girlfriend.

Beside me, Kirito said to Yui, "Guard your mom."

"Right!" the little fairy nodded seriously.

I looked to the side as Asuna walked down to where we were sitting. "Kirito," she murmured, sitting on the empty seat next to him.

"Don't worry," he said to her. "This won't take long. It's the only chance these people have," he said, even as she watched him with a worried expression. "And I'm gonna need you to wait here."

"Kirito..." Asuna murmured as he leaned over.

"Keep that safe until I get back, okay?" he said to her, straightening up. I blinked, curious as to what they were talking about. Did he give her something? I was on his other side, I couldn't see at all. Whatever it was, it was important, because Asuna sucked in a huge breath, her eyes widening.

We all sat back as Yuna nodded to us. Here we go... I leaned my head against Argo and let my body relax. Good, I won't fall and hurt myself. Then, as one, the seven of us called out in a firm and clear voice, "Link start!"

And then my vision went white. The next thing I knew, I was watching colors stream past my vision, all of my senses gone except for the vision. It was the log-in animation I'd seen the first time I'd Full Dived using the NerveGear. Heh... Talk about nostalgia.

When my vision cleared, I was in the sky, descending towards the open roof of a ruby-colored castle. It was a gigantic palace, and I realized what I was looking at. "The Ruby Palace," Argo murmured from next to me. I glanced around to make sure everyone was safely in and counted six other bodies along with me. Each of us was dressed in our Ordinal Scale outfits with our OS weapons and armor, and we were floating in some sort of shimmering rainbow bubble.

"Gonna sell any information about it?" I asked my girlfriend. She was too busy staring at everything, eyes wide.

"No way," Liz murmured as we entered the top of the palace and started plunging down into its depths. It was designed to be a gigantic spiral staircase set into the walls with a large, open center, it seemed, so I could see all the way to the bottom floor. "So this is Floor 100. The Ruby Palace!"

"Can't believe after two years, we finally get to take a crack at it," Agil rumbled.

Above us, the skylight we'd entered through sealed behind us, and I felt the first stirrings of uneasiness. The doors always closed when we started a boss fight, right...? Then that meant... I exhaled as I realized that the massive statue standing in the center of the floor wasn't a statue at all, but the boss we were going to be fighting. "What the fuck..." I breathed. It was beyond massive, beyond gargantuan, beyond any word describing the size discrepancy. We were as big as one of its eyes. And let's not even get into the gigantic spear it was holding. The blade was longer than Agil was tall.

As we fell, the eyes of the boss flashed and I yelped, "Oh shi-!"

The tip of the spear swung around and slammed into Agil, deceptively fast for its size. With a single lunge, the boss drove him into the wall.

Fuck. First blood to the boss?

The rest of us landed on the ground and the protective bubble popped. "Agil!" Kirito shouted.

I was more interested in looking at the boss itself. Its skin was pure white, and it was humanoid-shaped, almost resembling a woman. It was wearing some sort of long, dark red dress that fell to the floor to cover the lower half of its body, but its top was bare. The armor on its shoulders swooped like wings, almost, and a massive... sundial-like thing stretched out behind its head like it was the world's most threatening hairstyle.

I just didn't have the words to describe what I was looking at, except for 'unnatural' and 'looks like a real fucker to fight.' Ruby crystals were set in the boss's thing, one at the base of the six points sweeping out like extra blades. There were five more above it, and four more on its head proper. In its left hand, the boss held the massive spear that had struck Agil, and in its right it held a massive, dark red claymore.

Its health bars filled up, and I counted. "Ten?!" I yelped. Okay, this is unfair, can we just fight Kayaba again or something?

The crystal above its head appeared, a bright red color. Its name appeared directly below it - An Incarnation Of The Radius. I see... Aincrad. We're fighting a literal incarnation of the world that had trapped us for two years.

This is gonna suck.


So as you might guess, trying to describe what AIncRad looks like? Kind of a fucker.

The OS Boss Fights in the original were… a bit weak? It's more along the line of 'How the heck did Kirito make it there and kill the boss in ten minutes' sort of weak. Hopefully, Rythin being there as well helped explain things a bit. He and Kirito are both strong players, after all, even if Rythin is a little crippled thanks to using his right hand for dagger and only palm strikes in the left. It's one of those things where he'll just ignore the pain if he has to, but will avoid it otherwise.

Anyway, we're moving into the home stretch. Everything is awful, Shigemura's evil plan is working, and the gang is on a desperate mission to stop things before everyone gets their brain fried. I mean, Nick is all for just having them remove their Augmas and not get killed, but I think the others would be a bit upset at witnessing several thousand people getting murdered without trying to stop it. Of course, he's going to do what they want, so he's fighting too.

Now, the thing is, a lot of the motivation got exposited during Kirito's fight with Eiji (and off-screen while Shigemura rants to Kayaba's electronic ghost). Some of it will be mentioned next chapter, but go read Hopeful Chant, the tie-in prologue story to Ordinal Scale. It explains a little bit about Eiji and Yuna, and more importantly shows Yuna's last moments in SAO.

Meanwhile, Kikuoka is trying to find and arrest Shigemura. He seemed to be watching from the private rooms in the arena, but actually was just watching a video projection from the old Argus buildings. Also Shigemura has a huge guilt complex since he got Yuuna the NerveGear and he's doing anything in his power to bring Yuuna back from the dead, even as an AI – he's gathering peoples' memories of her and using neural networking to… Fucked if I know. He's gonna do wizard magic shit and turn the memories into an AI that has his daughter's personality.

Many thanks to everyone that favorited, followed, or left a review.