Thirty minutes later, after debunking the ideas to look for a way to dispel the Noose of the Accursed and Klein's proposal to bait Mutasina into casting the spell and ignore its effects, we finally have a plan. It's one of Kirito's creations, but similar to one Crimson Squad and I have used before. It's the same one I considered during the break but didn't know how to work it here in UR. But once Kirito got the ball rolling, I did my best to make his plan more attractive and viable.

So after Kirito and I tagged-team the plan for fifteen minutes to the rest of the group, everyone agreed with it. With that, following a mini-celebration of Asuna's birthday, Kirito, Argo, Kuro, and I ventured out to the dark forest.

Checking out my stats, I'm currently level-20 thanks to the Life Harvester raising me two levels. My crafting skills have increased (Woodworking, Blacksmithing, Carpentry, Stone-Working) since I aided Lisbeth in creating some iron ingots from the ores we found and played with some carpentry creations. My ability tree is the most versatile of our ranks, being that I've spread points in three of the four trees-Sagacity, Brawn, and Toughness. Also new to my repertoire is the decay magic, with which I've steadily increased my acceptance of the spell and my magic proficiency until I logged out last night. I had no chance to raise its level today, and I have decided not to do so now.

As for the ice magicrystal, I almost consumed it after we began our trek to the woods, but I handed it back to Kirito. I didn't explain why and he didn't ask...but we understood the matter silently. Something about it didn't sit right with me using ice magic, and it has more to do with other than Eugeo. I am a Salamander in ALO, and that's a fire magic-based race. My most powerful arts in the Underworld were fire elements. At my core, using the opposing magic first was wrong. I made him swear the next fire magicrystal is mine.

"Hey, Kiri-boy, what about there?"

"Which way is 'there?'" Kirito questions as we stand a mile from the southern wood's edge. We took the rough path through the forest instead of the riverbed like we did yesterday to avoid potential enemy scouts. If Rei had her augment abilities from GGO, I would have brought her alone for her radar, but we'll have to do this the old way: keeping our eyes open while staying out of sight.

Unfortunately, it is dark here in the forest. The rain is gone, but the dark clouds are still present, so there's no moonlight to illuminate our way. We didn't bring torches, and I haven't unclipped my sword from my waist. We're relying on Kuro's senses to warn us of enemy players as we stick to the denseness of the woods while at the same time using our Night Vision skill to see.

With my high proficiency skill of nine in Night Vision, I make out the spot Argo points out to us. It's a narrow area in comparison to most of the paths along the riverbed. The forest encroaches on both sides much more here than it does anywhere else along the southern path down the Maruba River.

"Hmm, it's too far out to make out well."

"You can't see that? How proficient is your vision?"

"Last I looked, I think it was five-oh, now it's six."

"You oughtta grind out more Night Vision proficiency. The best way to raise its I've found is tryin' to read in darkness."

"That seems like it would lower your vision instead... Seems good."

"Don't it? What you say, Jay-man?"

"It'll do. Hold here." Reaching for the steel cylinder, I step out of the woods cautiously. Tempting fate, I let the blue beam glow, brightening the riverbed for a moment. I pretend to stalk over to the river, kneeling to take a drink of water. After a couple of scoops, I dictate there's no one in our surroundings since Kuro remains quiet, so I disengage and gesture for my friends to come out.

The reason I scoped out the area first was not because we were trying to draw out enemy scouts. As Kirito joins my side, he opens his ring menu, which produces light of its own. That effect occurs in SAO and subsequent games. It's great as a signaling mechanism, but because of the light, it can notify enemies of one's position. For solo players like Kirito, that is dangerous - hell, for Koharu and me, it was a risk.

I follow and mark the spot myself, and then we close our menus. Kirito exhales and tosses Kuro some jerky. "The real problem is time. If we start too early, it'll break down before we put the plan into motion, and if it's too late, it won't be ready in time."

"That's true," Argo murmurs. "I'm thinkin' we need to be starting on our idea right around the time Mutasina's army leaves the Stiss Ruins. It's a hundred people crossin' eighteen miles, so it'll take three hours, even if they run the whole way. In fact, if you run in UR, you're losin' TP and SP fast. So considering fuel, it'd be more like a four-hour jog…"

"And if it takes us an hour to set up our trap, that leaves a three-hour gap. I think it should hold up fine for that long…But there's no saying with these things until you make it."

"And considering the amount of resources it'll take, there's no way to test it out first."

"Yeah…"

I shrug. "This is more elaborate than the plan we made against Lievre's army, but the plan should work. This is a different game, though. Everyone back at Ruis na Rig is gathering resources for this trick of ours, so we need to be confident we only need one shot."

Argo crosses her arms, not convinced. "You say that, but what you did in GGO was simpler. Back then, all you lacked were the people. Everything else could be set without a worry for timing."

"I guess you got a point."

"Now that I'm thinking about it, Argo, Jaymes, we don't know for sure when Mutasina's group is leaving the Stiss Ruins, do we?"

Argo snorts. "Don't insult me, boy. I already identified about twenty individual social media accounts belonging to members of the Weed Eaters, Absolute Survivor Squad, and Announcer Fan Club, all of whom were assimilated into Mutasina's army. I'll know when they're on the move, because all their accounts'll go silent at the same time."

"And don't underestimate me either, dumbass," I say with a smirk. "Argo's idea is sound, but that doesn't give us an exact timing of Mutasina's movements. That's why I've taken care of that already."

Kirito raises an eyebrow. "How so? The only way we'd know Mutasina's movements exactly would mean we'd need someone to... Wow... Good thinking, both of you."

October 1st, the following afternoon

"Ugh...how many sandwiches did you make?"

Asuna looks over her shoulder to me, smiling playfully as she holds up nine fingers. "One for everyone."

I grimace and look down at the large, heavy-insulated bag under my arm. She had me carrying this bag in a rush from the classroom as we make a trip to the mechatronics club room in Building Two. We're heading there instead of the secret garden or the cafeteria because we're planning our strategy with the seven other students while we eat. In comparison to the garden and the cafeteria, the club room is closer, so ten of our fifty-minute break is travel time.

And if we went to the other places, we run the risk of other players listening in. Forget this school being mostly SAO survivors, there's plenty of players like us who still game in ALO, GGO, SA:O, and other VRMMOs. And if they're part of Mutasina's group, they know who Kirito the Black Swordsman, Asuna the Lightning Flash, Jaymes the Crimson Warrior/Lucky Red, and their allies are. Well, it might not matter where we meet in the slightest if they already know who we are, but as long as they don't know that we know of their plans, everything is good.

"What kinds did you make?"

"Ham, cheese, and tomato; egg and broccoli; and olive and tuna."

"I call one of the ham and cheese sandwiches." Asuna nods as we come to the descending staircase. To get to the clubroom, we'll have to go to the second floor and then cross the walkway. We haven't run into Tomo, Kotone, or Rika, so they must've gone ahead. I know Rika and Tomo are impatient people, but I kind of expected Kotone to wait on us. After all, her classroom is right next to ours, so we-

"Miss Yuuki, Mister Hardin."

Asuna and I pause before she puts her foot on the first step. Simultaneously we turn around to see Kotone, but she's not the girl who spoke. It's the one beside her, wearing a grey blazer with navy blue lapels, a pleated skirt, long, shiny black hair, and reserved, beautiful features. The girl that puts a slight shiver in my spine; Shikimi Kamura, the transfer student from Eternia Academy, Asuna's former school.

"Hello, Miss Kamura," Asuna says with a smile and bow. I hold my greeting, only able to process a slight smile and a bow. Shikimi returns the gestures, then looks to Kotone.

"Are you three having lunch right now? If it's not a bother, would you mind if I joined you?" I look to Kotone, who looks at me. It seems she wanted to defer judgment to someone else, someone not in Shikimi's class, and avoid a problem. Or maybe, because Kotone is one of the three people I spoke my hypothesis to, she doesn't want to spark suspicion that we know of Mutasina's plans. Lucky her...so I turn my head to Asuna, letting her voice the apparent answer.

"Um, well..."

...Asuna's not saying anything? How hard it is to say, "No, we have plans, sorry?" Promise to eat with her next time! We have a strategy meeting to attend, and my heart says inviting Shikimi - inviting who I believe to be Mutasina - is going to freaking backfire on us. Oh, even worse, what if we don't get a chance to strategize here? Reject her, Asuna, you can do it because I can't...for family business reasons.

"I'm sorry to have bothered you all. It was coming out of nowhere, wasn't it?"

"Uh...no..."

"Don't let it bother you. What about lunch tomorrow, instead?"

"...Yes, we'd love to join you tomorrow." Shikimi bows again after Asuna's response, then skips down the stairs. I watch her disappear, then turn to Asuna. She looks conflicted as she has been in the previous encounter with Shikimi the previous two times, and I also feel some conflict in myself. It's probably why I couldn't say anything to Shikimi; I believe her to be our enemy but at the same time... If I compare her to others, she only fits the bill due to coincidence. If it weren't for Kikuoka telling me how Kamura, the company, had something shady going on, I would have no reason to be suspicious of Kamura, the girl. She's been nothing but polite to us.

Could I be wrong?

Yesterday, I told Koharu and, later in the night, Momiji everything that led me to believe Shikimi is Mutasina. Kotone doesn't even know I have a red line between Shikimi and Mutasina, she only knows I'm suspicious of the girl, but she probably figured out why. All I have are coincidences and past experiences, not a single shred of evidence to support my claim.

Feeling cold in the heart, I nod to Asuna and Kotone, and we continue through the sea of hungry students to the second floor...and finally realize that Asuna set us to having lunch with Shikimi tomorrow. A fate I'd curse Asuna out for normally, but it's a prime opportunity to figure out if Shikimi and Mutasina are the same.

Getting home between four and five o'clock, Welcoming myself, I slip my shoes off at the entryway and head down the short corridor that opens up to the rest of the first floor. My feet lead me first to the kitchen, empty of my housemate Momiji. She didn't leave when I did, and I took the train to leave her in my car. Since that's in the driveway and her shoes are present, she must be in her room.

I had gotten used to Momiji's absence in the last two months. She left sometime in July after the Otherworlder War and when I woke up again in the real world. I learned my father gave her a position at RoboTelligence as his aide, a job that'll put her close to Project ALICE and Alice herself. I know she's been around with Alice, so she's closer to the AI than I am. Her work answered the question for me of why she left.

But I never asked her why she left.

She came here after graduating high school instead of going to university so we could go together simultaneously and be in the same year. She came to escape the shadow of her older sister and her family. Those were reasons I understood well enough as we grew up together. She came so we could repair that relationship in person and online, and truth be told, I enjoyed sharing my home with her after being alone for so long. Things were going so well that when I came back, and she wasn't there, an old hole opened in my heart - the same dilemma that formed when, seven years ago, Momiji's family moved from America to Japan for her sister's higher education. Back then, I lost my closest friend, the closest human being, and the first girl I've loved.

At twelve years old, it was inconceivable that I would be a hero in a death game, a renowned player in a world of guns, or even accept my father's dream of AI development and see it through in the form of Alice Zuberg, Eydis, Medina Orthinanos, and the Underworld. Back then, I would have rejected the latter completely with no other outlook in my life. But if I went back and told that kid what has transpired today, I have a feeling he'd ask one question: "What about Momiji?"

At twelve, hell even at fifteen before SAO, I would have given anything to reunite with her, but maybe I'm saying those things retrospectively. When I came to Japan, I was scared to do so. I thought she would have forgotten about me. I lived in Tokyo, and she's in Kyoto, so it isn't like I could see her on a whim. During the summer break preceding the SAO beta, I didn't want to visit Kyoto to visit my grandparents on the chance I might encounter her. But part of me, while playing the beta, wished I had reached out and figured if we could play it together. The same occurred leading up to the official release, but of course, that hope turned when SAO's true purpose was revealed.

Part of me thought there was a chance she could have been in SAO, and I didn't know it. We were gamers as kids, so it wasn't farfetched that she would play SAO. But even if she didn't, I regretted not meeting her. I remember my thoughts on the fifth floor of Aincrad, outside the labyrinth of Fuscus the Vacant Colossus, and how scared I was that the twenty-two of us who had gone to fight the boss were going to fail. A week before, after exposure to Kizmel, I found the resolve to return to the real world and try out my father's dream. Yet, it was neither my family nor my beautiful partner sitting beside me who plagued my mind before entering the dungeon; it was Momiji Takemine who I thought of that evening.

When we met again, we were Jaymes and Kureha. She's a GGO player of some reputation; I'm a newbie who had my converted stats hidden to a great degree, thanks to Strea, and my past was hidden because she never knew I was part of the SAO incident. But I couldn't hold back the skills and knowledge I mastered in SAO and ALO, so to her, I surpassed her quickly despite my level being lower. Kureha was under the same shadow that Momiji found with her sister, almost tearing us further apart.

To the young Joshua Hardin, there was only one certainty that she would always be at his side. Reality hasn't changed that fact, but the circumstances around it have. She realized it first; it was she who put her feelings out first, and it was she who delayed them until the time was right. Suppose a time would ever present itself. And last night, if I understand her words, the feelings hadn't changed.

"Master." In the time I began thinking about Momiji, I'd prepared a snack, used the restroom, and was returning to eat when Rei calls my name. She appears again at her respective height to me in the virtual world, seated on the stool next to mine.

Pushing the melancholy of Joshua Hardin away, I switch gears to what's to come tonight. "Good afternoon, Rei. Any activity?"

"None to report. Lievre and I have been watching the plains for the past hour as planned."

"Good. Give Lievre my praise too." It's barely past five, so its comforting that Mutasina's army hasn't moved. We predict they'll march around eight and arrive at Ruis na Rig by eleven. Lievre and Rei, watching the plains from the waterfall, will see them as they follow the Maruba River north, alert me, and take the boat back to base. They should return at least an hour before Mutasina arrives, so we'll have a gap of tense calmness before the battle begins.

To this moment, I still haven't figured out why Mutasina wanted us out the way. Yes, we're ahead in development compared to many players, but we haven't left Ruis na Rig. If Mutasina wanted to get to the center of the world of Unital Ring, where this "land revealed by heavenly light" must be, she can bypass us without conflict. While I do want to reach there, I personally have no interest in rushing to the center of the world.

Two phrases have constantly bothered me since hearing her speech. One of them, which we discussed last night, was that she identified Kirito as "the Black Swordsman." Logic dictates that if she knows one of SAO's great heroes by that name, it goes for Asuna, Jaymes, and possibly Koharu and more. The second quote is prior to that, when she answered why she did what she did.

"The darkness SAO gave birth to has only spread throughout the Seed Nexus and multiplied. Now those infinite worlds have coalesced into one. In Unital Ring, the darkness will be compressed again, and when its density surpasses its peak, something new will result…something even darker and deeper. And I want to see that."

SAO has been both a light and a darkness in my life, but if I had to choose, the bonds I made and my personal development made it brighter. If the friends I made along the way is the light, the dark side of my experience in SAO is PoH and his guild, Laughing Coffin. If "the darkness SAO gave birth to" is Laughing Coffin and their legacy, then Mutasina is not wrong. Xaxa, his brother Kyouji, Johhny Black, and PoH have resurfaced since SAO. Whether Itsuki knew I was an SAO survivor before his betrayal, he did try to kill me in Laughing Coffin's fashion-deception, manipulation, and indirect murder. Dedicated PK guilds, whether successor groups featuring former members or cult followings have been around in ALO (how I learned Lux was a former member herself), GGO (Subtilizer's group, which PoH might've been a member based on their allegiance in the Underworld) and across the Seed Nexus as Mutasina stated.

Unital Ring has been no different.

All the worlds have been merged, and the first enemies we've all encountered are each other. Crimson Squad squared off against other GGO players; Kirito and his ALO companions survived two nights against other fairies; the Eighmores beat Hyme's group before they left the Insectside region. As players move closer to the goal, we'll naturally encounter gamers from other worlds. For better or worse, the games we know - ALO, GGO, SA:O - are all together on the south side of the world. We'll all fight until someone, be it one man or many, reaches the land revealed by heavenly light,

In its own way, Unital Ring is a death game.

I killed Annihilator, the player who "killed" Koharu and almost did the same to Lisbeth, and four other players with little hesitation in SAO. There are many more members, such as Morte and Buxum, who I wished I could and would have slayed if it wasn't for Koharu's intervention or being held hostage herself. I almost pulled the trigger on Itsuki and would have done so if it meant I could protect Kureha and Zeliska's life - not knowing that the NerveGears on their heads were fake unlike mine and Itsuki's. Any other PKers or potential threats to life that I've come across, I've taken down without hesitation. I even threatened my best friend in the Underworld because she betrayed the Anti-Cedar Task Force and me to join the enemy.

I've done all except the latter with no regrets to this day. Player-killing is part of the game. But I did not do so in SAO easily with the idea that "this is fun". I did it to protect others or in vengeance. I've done it in ALO onwards partly in enjoyment (Crimson Squad does participate in tournaments and take on bounties), but also because some of those bastards deserved it, too, for getting too lax with PKing. In moderation, it's okay, but when it becomes a dedication, it becomes annoying for other players.

Mutasina has her reason for seeking out the land revealed by heavenly light, and so does Kirito and everyone else. My reason is personal. Yes, I want my player account to return to GGO; same for all my friends, but my true reasoning belongs to the real me, not to Jaymes. I still feel that Unital Ring and the Underworld are somehow connected, even if the connections are merely coincidences. If I am wrong, I'll accept that, but if I'm right, I must reach that place.

"Rei, can I ask you to perform one more task?"

"My AI can perform thousands of tasks simultaneously between worlds, Master. What is it you require?"

"I plan on scouting once I go online, in case there's movement we've missed. At the same time, I want you to monitor the accounts Argo claimed are from players in Mutasina's army. Whatever gets us an edge, I'll take it."

Rei nods. "I'll do it. Can you show me the accounts?"

After showing Rei the twenty-two accounts, I send her off and make my way upstairs to join those currently in Ruis na Rig.