Chapter 8 The Truth is Revealed
After the whole situation with Golden Apple Guild Sora and Kirito continued on their usual tasks on the assault team. They still fight together on the frontlines; Sora still fixes any glitches found within Sword Art Online. One day in the Radiant Garden castle Ansem the Wise and his apprentices were checking in on the computer to spot for any glitches in S.A.O.
"Everything seems to be going well." Ienzo said.
"Looks like it, there hasn't been any problems in two days." Even said.
"True, but we're not taking any chances. Especially with that man in black still lurking around in the game." Ansem said.
Then they heard a very loud alarm go off and their entire computer screen flashing red.
"See…" Ansem said, not sounding surprised.
"What's going on? Where's the problem?" Ienzo asked.
"I don't know, but I know Sora can handle this." Even said with hope.
On Floor 50 Sora was in the fields fighting a few heartless that appeared in the forest.
"Phew, that takes care of that. Glad there wasn't anything troubling the people in town for everyone to panic and cause the heartless to rise up there. Well, it's getting late I'd better head back, Kirito is probably going to head home to show me his new sword, I'd better hurry." Sora said.
Then he heard a loud alarm go off and all of Floor 50 started flashing red.
"A bug! But where's the problem? There aren't any glitches happening right now." Sora said.
While he was looking around, he heard someone run towards runs him. He turned around and saw a strange glitching figure run towards him. Then the glitching figure brought his sword out and attacked Sora. He blocked the sword with his Happy Gear keyblade and he recognized the person.
"Diabel?!" Sora exclaimed.
"Mu… …ight for ever… one here." Diabel said.
"Diabel it's me! Sora!" Sora exclaimed, but still nothing.
"Mu… …ight for ev…" Diabel said, before his glitching self disappeared.
Then Sora heard the ringtone of his Gummiphone and saw an icon with a picture of his Gummiphone phone in front of him. Sora knew to click on it to talk to the picture of the castle.
"I'm guessing you know of a bug on this floor?" Sora asked.
"Yes, we got the alert on our end. Seems like you did to." Ansem said.
"I just saw Diabel appear in front of me. Did you see him?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, we're also seeing glitching versions of other players who are supposed to be dead appearing in town to." Ienzo said.
"Are the people panicking in the town?" Sora asked.
"People are terrified, people are watching players that are supposed to be dead appear in front of them. There are several heartless appearing over the town." Even said.
"Then I need to go to town and save them!" Sora exclaimed.
"Don't worry once you enter the System Sector and take out the bugs, these glitches will disappear. As for the heartless a few players from the assault team are in the town taking care of them." Ansem said.
"Alright, but I'd better hurry and find it before the situation gets out of hand." Sora said as he took out his keyblade to find the system sector.
"I hope Sora solves this problem soon before that entire floor glitches out." Ansem said.
"He will, besides we still have to find that black cloaked player here, he's likely the one responsible for this." Ienzo said.
"Hey guys! I found the backdoor to the System Sector, I'm heading in right now." Sora said.
"Good, we'll be here helping you out remotely." Ansem said.
"Thanks." Sora said, as he held out his keyblade through the backdoor and the bits of data code surrounded him, and he got teleported into the System Sector.
Sora entered the System Sector and the whole system to be unstable, the bugs and data codes were glitching in and out.
"It's complete chaos down here!" Sora exclaimed.
"We can see, it must be because of the problem outside. Since there are glitching versions of dead players back outside, it only makes sense that it'd be glitching where you are." Even said.
"If I get rid of the bugs here everything goes back to normal right?" Sora asked.
"Correct." Ansem said.
"Alright, then here it goes." Sora said as he rushed deeper into the System Sector.
As he rushed in, he took out the bug blocks all around the System Sector, but taking out the heartless was a little tricky. Every time Sora tried to take them out the heartless would glitch away from him.
"(Groan) Just hold still!" Sora shouted trying to take out the heartless.
But Sora as Sora took a breather, he heard something strange about how the heartless glitch in and out.
'Hmm… they seem to glitch in and out in the same places over and over. I just have to wait for the right moment to strike…' Sora thought to himself.
So, he did just that he remembered when the heartless would glitch in certain places, so he'd go to that spot, wait for the heartless to glitch in that spot and and take em out. It was tough but he finally did it, then when the room turned from red to yellow, he knew the problem was fixed.
"Phew, that was tough. Now I just have to call Ansem and his apprentices that the job is done." Sora said.
But before he could the the terminal, suddenly appeared in front of Sora.
"Guess they already know." Sora said.
With that he walked through the terminal and got teleported back to Floor 50 on the Fields.
He rushed back to the town to see if everyone was okay. He was relieved when he noticed that there weren't any glitching dead players or any heartless. But then he noticed a player he was familiar with.
"Hey Yolko!" Sora said.
"Sora! It's good to see you again." Yolko said.
"You to so what are you doing here?" Sora asked.
"After we found out what Grimlock did to Griselda, me Kains and Schmidt actually decided to reunite with some of our other members of the Golden Apple. I was on my way to see them until I found a glitching version of Griselda. (As she continued to talk, she started to break down in tears.) I'm really sure what she was saying, but I think it was the last words she said to us before she died." Yolko said.
"I'm sorry. It must have been hard to hear." Sora said, feeling sad for her.
"Yeah, it reminds me of the argument the guild had with the ring. You know, I was actually thinking about the entire guild getting back together but after seeing Griselda's glitching ghost, maybe that isn't a good idea." Yolko said sadly.
"Well, by the way your guild started to argue about what to do with the ring, it sounded like a normal disagreement any team would have. But that shouldn't stop you all from being a team again." Sora said.
"I know, but after we learned Griselda was dead, we all went our separate ways. I wish we never got that stupid ring. Then Griselda wouldn't have gotten murdered.
"You know finding the reason wasn't the problem, Grimlock was the reason Griselda was murdered. And it wasn't because of the ring it's because he couldn't handle how Griselda changed when she came to S.A.O." Sora said.
"Maybe, but what if something worse happens and we lose someone else in the guild. Or we'll have an even bigger argument on what to do with an item we find." Yolko said.
"As long as you're all together everything will work out in the end. If you have an argument, try to compromise with each other, find a solution that'll work for everyone." Sora said.
"You know, when I saw that glitching version of Griselda's ghost, it reminded me of the day we lost her and why we all split up. I was coming up with reasons of what could go wrong if the guild got back together, I wasn't thinking on why we should come back together. Thank you for helping me see that." Yolko said.
"You're welcome, I hope the Golden Guild comes back together." Sora said.
"Me too." Yolko said with hope as she left to join Kains, Schmidt and the other men in the Golden Apple Guild.
With that Sora went back home to meet Kirito, but he didn't know a suspicious black robbed player watching him leave.
"Hmm… looks like the glitches of those who were loss aren't able to maintain their forms in this game. But that's an easy fix looks like stage one is complete, the second is going to take time, along with the plans Xemnas used to create his artificial Kingdom Hearts." The mysterious figure said before he walked off into the forest.
It was getting late when Sora finally got home, but Kirto was already there waiting for him. He wasn't wearing the coat of midnight anymore, he now had black pants with a black belt that had a large silver buckle, a black V-necked shirt that was worn underneath a black trench-coat with gray lining going down the sleeves, and black boots with silver plates to protect his shins. He had a silver plate worn on the left side of his coat, and a pair of black fingerless gloves. He wore a strap that went over his right shoulder and under it to wrap around his left side. He now had a new sword he got from a monster drop called an elucidator.
"Hey where have you been? I thought you were staying inside." Kirto asked.
"Oh well you were taking awhile so I thought I'd go to our hunting spot and do some leveling up." Sora said as a cover up story so he wouldn't reveal his secret.
"Oh, well I went to that Blacksmiths shop Asuna recommended and I was able to get my new sword." Kirito said, as he showed Sora his new sword Dark Repulser.
"Cool! So how powerful is this sword?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, hey, are you going to get a new sword?" Kirito asked.
"No, I'm already happy with the weapons I've got." Sora asked.
"Yeah, that's something I wanted to ask. You seem to bring out new weapons when we fight together on the frontlines, but they always have keychains and don't really look like swords. I've looked everywhere for weapons that look like the ones you have but they don't have it. In fact, you're the only one in the entire game with weapons like those. So where did you get those?" Kirito asked, sounding a little suspicious on how Sora has those weapons.
Sora didn't know what to do, Kirito was on to him on his keyblades he knew he had to think of something to say to cover it up. But deep down he wanted to tell him everything how he got into S.A.O how he got his keyblade and what he does whenever he runs off when something strange happens in one of the Floors they go on. But Sora knew he couldn't say anything, he knew he needs to keep the world order. So, he thought of the best excuse he could come up with.
"Well, I've just been finding hidden chests, powerful bosses that just have these kinds of weapons and skills. I guess I'm the only one who finds them (nervous chuckle)" Sora said.
Kirito didn't really believe it, if an item that special is out he would have heard rumors about it. And why didn't Sora tell him about it, they tell each other everything. But Kirito decided to play dumb.
"Oh, okay that makes sense." Kirito said.
"Good! So (yawn) I'm getting a little tired so I'm off to bed goodnight." Sora said and he rushed off into his room.
"Hmm I think it's past time I figure out what you're hiding Sora." Kirito said while staring intensively where Sora walked off.
The next day the two players go to a dungeon on a higher floor to level up faster.
"Phew, that was rough mind if we take a little break?" Sora asked.
"Sure, I need to heal up anyway." Kirito said.
As Sora was starting to rest up, the Gummiphone icon appeared in front of him, and Kirito noticed it to.
"Hey, what's that icon you got?" Kirito asked.
"Ohh I'm probably just getting a message from someone. You know what I'll just take it someplace private thanks!" Sora exclaimed as speedily rushed off.
Kirito decided to follow him to see what's really going on. Sora ran outside the dungeon to speak with Ansem and his apprentices in private, so he clicked on the icon in front of him.
"Hey guys, it wasn't really the best time to call." Sora said.
"Sorry, but this is important there's a powerful bug rising on Floor 48 in a town called Lindas." Ansem said.
"What sort of problems are happening this time?" Sora asked.
"It seems the bugs are targeting specific places on the Floor corrupting it so heartless can spawn from those places." Ienzo said.
"Don't worry I'll head over there now." Sora said.
But it turns out while Sora was talking Kirito was on the other side of the door eavesdropping.
"Just what kind of trouble are you getting yourself into Sora? What's really going on with you?" Kirito asked.
Kirito decided to rush back to where they were before Sora realized he was eavesdropping on him. Then Sora came in to tell him where he'll be going for the rest of the day.
"Hey Kirito, I'm feeling kind of tired actually so I'm gonna head back." Sora said
"Sure, I'll just take out more monsters here." Kirito said.
"Okay, we'll see you later." Sora said.
As Sora rushed out, he had a strange feeling Kirito was catching on to him.
'Hmm Kirito didn't really look like he believed me on where I was going. I thought I heard footsteps behind the door when I was finished with my talk with Ansem and his apprentices. Was Kirito eavesdropping? (Sigh) I don't like lying but I have no choice. Besides most players in the game think I hacked it, if Kirito finds out what I'm doing he'll probably think that way to.' Sora thought to himself as he headed for Floor 48 in the town of Lindas.
Then Sora made it to Floor 48 in the town of Lindas it had a medieval village-town themed city, with a rural and tranquil atmosphere, characterized by its abundance of canals, waterwheels and support-class shops. The spacious city has stone paved roads with large trees planted in regular spaces along it, the court covered in grass and canals threading the road. a few buildings in the town have waterwheels, some even more than one, which makes the town ideal for support-class shops, like bakeries, tailor shops and smith shops, as the waterwheels can be used to power large-scale devices, like flour mills for bakers, looms for tailors or bellows or a sharpening wheel for a smith. Most of the buildings within the town have thatched or ceramic-tiled roofs and the city itself is surrounded by gently curving castle walls. Sora was walking around the town looking for specific places to check for bugs.
"Hmm… Ienzo did say that the bugs are affecting specific places on this floor. But which places would be getting affected?" Sora asked himself.
Sora looked around the town and he spotted several places infected by bugs where heartless were popping up. The people were hiding in their homes scared of what's going on. He'd tried to take them all out, but they just pop right back over and over.
"Hmm maybe if I find out what type of places the bugs are infecting it'll be easier to stop them." Sora said to himself.
He decided to go around and ask people what those places were before the bugs took over. He asked around and it turns out those places where places people would go to shop for items or weapons. He asked around to see if there was another shop around that sells weapons or items. They say on the edge of the town was Lisbeth's blacksmith's shop where they would buy weapons and get their weapons a repair or upgrade.
"Looks like the bugs might go after Lisbeth's blacksmith shop next, I'd better get there before I'm to late." Sora said as he rushed to Lisbeth's blacksmith's shop.
Meanwhile on the edge of town there was Lisbeth's shop, inside there was a young girl with fluffy pink hair with a white hairpin, and rosey pink eyes. She has clusters of small freckles on her cheeks under each eye. Her blacksmith uniform looks more like the uniform of a waitress: a dark red top with puffed sleeves and a flared skirt of the same color, combined with a pure white apron on top of it, as well as a red ribbon atop her chest. Her name was Lisbeth, and she was putting her newest weapon on the shelves for people to notice and buy.
"Hmm where should I put this sword?" Lisbeth asked herself.
Before she could put down the sword Asuna barged into the shop with a worried look on her face.
"Liz! Didn't you look outside?!" Asuna exclaimed.
"Asuna? What are you talking about? What's going on outside?" Lisbeth asked.
"It's chaos! The heartless are showing up here!" Asuna exclaimed.
"What!" Lisbeth shouted as she ran outside to see what's happening.
Asuna ran after her and when they both went outside, they were horrified at what they saw. An army of shadow heartless came together to form a demon tide and it was flying towards Lisbeth's Blacksmith's Shop. They dove right into the shop, and it started glitching and even more powerful heartless came out of it. Asuna brought out her sword and Lisbeth brought out her mace and prepared to face off against the heartless army. There were many shadow, soldier heartless and neoshadows that came from the house came out of it. Asuna and Lizbeth were able to take them out easily but then even more powerful heartless showed up. There were invisibles heartless (powerful pureblood heartless wielding a large sword. These winged Heartless can move freely through the air. Besides their sword, they attack with their tail and wings.) Lastly there were Ogre heartless (very similar to invisible heartless but faster and more powerful and they attack with a massive shockwave.) Asuna and Lizbeth tried to fight them off, but they were overwhelmed by the heartless army. An invisible was about to attack Lizbeth, but Asuna got hit by the invisible heartless instead. Her health bar changed into red now her life is in real danger Lisbeth tried to protect her, but she got easily overpowered by an Ogre heartless. It was about to raise its sword to destroy them, but they heard a loud clang and looked to see what was happening. Sora was blocking then with his Hero Origin keyblade
'Woah… where did he get that sword?' Lisbeth asked herself as she watched in awe as Sora took down the Ogre heartless.
"Are you two alright?" Sora asked.
"We're fine, but my health bar is almost down to zero." Asuna said.
"Don't worry Asuna, you can have a few of mine." Lisbeth said as she gave her a healing potion.
"We need to go into the town, we can hide out in one of the houses." Sora said.
Then the three players ran into town and hid in one of the houses from the heartless, unfortunately it was a little cramped since there were other people in the house.
"What's going on? What the heartless doing here?" Lisbeth asked.
"I think it may have to do with a bug that's taking over the entire floor." Sora said.
"Like what happened on Floor one?" Asuna asked.
"Yeah, but this time it's more serious. The bugs are infecting important places here where players buy items and weapons." Sora said.
"And now the bugs have infected my shop…" Lisbeth said sadly.
"Don't worry, we'll save your shop." Sora said.
"Thanks, I'm Lisbeth by the way." Lisbeth introduced herself.
"Oh, so you're the blacksmith who made that sword for Kirito I'm Sora." Sora introduced himself.
"Wait you know Kirito?" Lisbeth asked.
"Yeah, the two of us fight together on the frontlines." Sora said.
"Hey where is Kirito today?" Asuna asked.
"Oh, he's just doing some leveling at a dungeon on higher Floor." Sora said.
"Yeah, don't mind her she's just dying to know how her boyfriend is doing." Lisbeth said.
"How many times do I have to tell you it's not like that!" Asuna exclaimed with her cheeks turning red.
"Um anyway we've got to find a way to get rid of those bugs and clear the heartless from this floor." Sora said.
"I can get in contact with some members of the assault team to help clear out the heartless." Asuna said.
"But what do we do about my workshop? And the other shops in the town?" Lisbeth asked
Before Sora could answer they saw another demon tide high in the air and diving down on another ship for items infecting it with bugs. And right after that heartless came out that item shop.
"That's the same heartless that infected Lisbeth's shop." Asuna said.
"Hmm… well that heartless seemed to have come from the center of the town. I'll go there and see what I can find out." Sora said.
"WHAT! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! THAT THING CAN KILL YOU!" Asuna exclaimed.
"I can handle it Asuna, once I go to the center of town, I can find out what's going on." Sora said.
"I'm starting to understand why you and Kirito get along, you're both insane." Lisbeth said.
"Maybe but it's the only way, I'll be fine I promise." Sora said.
"(Sighs) Well alright but be careful, I'll call some members on the assault team and handle the heartless in the town." Asuna said.
"Right." Sora said as he ran out the house to save the entire Floor.
However, on top of one of the the houses Kirito saw Sora rush off and followed close behind him.
"Hmm where are you going Sora?" Kirito asked as he followed Sora.
Sora went into the center of town, and he was shocked at what he discovered. There were demon tides popping up from the creator in the ground that led to the System Sector. Sora instantly opened his main menu to get his Gummiphone and talk to Ansem and his apprentices.
"Guys, I found where the System Sector is inside this huge crater in the center of town." Sora said.
"I'm looking at this right now Sora, this is very serious the bugs must be powerful enough to break a hole through the backdoor."
"Don't worry I'll jump down and handle this." Sora swindle with confidence.
"Alright but be careful if the bugs are powerful enough to break a hole through the System Sector, they must be even more powerful inside." Ienzo said.
"Alright." Sora said as he put his phone away and jumped into the creator.
Kirito ran after Sora and looked down the crater he jumped in.
"Seriously, that guy is crazy. But who am I to judge?" Kirito asked himself as he jumped into the crater.
Sora reached the bottom of the crater, and he finally reached the System Sector. But it was complete chaos in there. Demon Tides were everywhere in the System Sector running wild and free.
"(Sigh) This might take awhile." Sora said sadly as he got ready to fight.
But before Sora could do anything he heard a very loud and familiar scream come from above him.
"WHOOOAAAA!" Kirito shouted as he fell on the ground on his face.
"(Groan) And I thought falling into that dragon nest was a sheer drop." Kirito said.
"Kirito! What are you doing here?!" Sora exclaimed.
"I could ask you the same question, you told me you were heading home." Kirito said.
"Well uhh… I was… I mean I was going to…" Sora said before Kirito interrupted.
"Spare the excuses I know you came here to stop a heartless invasion on this Floor, I overheard you talking to someone about it." Kirito said.
"So, you were listening on my conversation but why did you come here what I have to here is none of your business." Sora said sternly.
"It is now because we're a team remember. You reminded me there are limits to what a solo player can do and the same goes for you to. You can't possibly stand here and tell me you can handle this on your own." Kirito said.
"Kirito, this is different this is no longer a game it's now real I need to do this because this is my responsibility. If I don't get rid of this bug it'll cause serious problems for this Floor maybe this entire world altogether. You wouldn't understand." Sora explained.
"Sora, I felt that ever since I was labeled as a beater I was all alone. But you showed me I don't need to be all alone. You stood by my side despite all the trouble I caused us, but you refused to leave my side. You've always been there for me now I want to be there for you." Kirito said.
"It's just I didn't want anyone else getting involved in this, it's more dangerous than being on the frontlines. And if anyone knew I could do this they'll think I'm a hacker for real." Sora said, sounding a little sad and guilty.
"You didn't think any differently of me when everyone said I was a beater, so I won't think any differently of you. Besides if it really is that dangerous then I wanna help you and I'm not taking no for an answer." Kirito said with determination.
Sora thought about it, he and Kirito have been fighting together for months and they live together. Sora wanted to talk to someone about the secrets he has, and he really wants to help him.
"Okay, let's do this!" Sora exclaimed.
"That's the Sora I know. And just so we're clear I'll have a lot more questions to ask you." Kirito said.
"I know and I'll answer them. But first we have to save this Floor." Sora said.
"Right, so do we have to do?" Kirito asked.
"You see those heartless? We have to take them out." Sora answered.
"Hmph, sounds easy enough." Kirito said with confidence.
"If you say so, but a little word of advice use your sword skills." Sora said as he charged towards the heartless.
The demon tides charged at Sora and Kirito attacking then, by all the shadow heartless working together to attack the two players. Since Sora has dealt with this type of heartless before he was able to fend them off easily. But Kirito was having a little trouble fending them off, luckily Sora is always there to lend a helping hand.
'Sora have you been doing this type of work all on your own? I don't even think half of the assault team could handle these heartless like you.' Kirito said to himself with admiration to Sora's strength.
Then all the demon towers in the System Sector came together as one to form a massive demon tornado. The entire System Sector was starting to rumble, Sora and Kirito were getting concerned about this.
"If that thing gets out the System Sector the entire Floor will get destroyed." Sora said.
"Then how do we stop it?" Kirito asked.
"We need to get inside of if and defeat the heartless inside." Sora explained.
"WE NEED TO GET INSIDE THAT THING!?" Kirito exclaimed.
"If we want to get rid of it than yes." Sora said.
But before they could do anything, the heartless was was sending out shadows to attack them. Sora and Kirito had dodged the attacks from the shadow heartless, but Sora then had an idea on how to defeat the demon tornado.
"Kirito! I'm going to make the heartless focus on me so you can get inside and take out the heartless inside the tornado." Sora said.
"I'm on it!" Kirito said.
So, Sora lured the heartless towards him and Kirito used this as an opportunity to jump into the tornado and take out an orange sphere of heartless in the center. Once it was destroyed the entire heartless disappeared and the floor turned from red with red codes to yellow to yellow with yellow codes.
"Now what happened?" Kirito asked.
"We did it the bugs are gone." Sora asked.
"Great, so how do we get out of here?" Kirito asked.
"Well usually a terminal shows up when the bugs are gone. But we didn't get in normally, so I doubt we can get out the same way to." Sora said.
"Then what do we do?" Kirito asked.
"We'll get out the same way we got in. We're gonna run up that crater." Sora said.
"Race you there!" Kirito said as he jumped up to run up the crater.
"It's so on!" Sora said as he caught up with Kirito.
"I'm first! Are not (laughs)" they say at the same time.
"Uh Sora, what do we do about that?" Kirito asked pointing out the crater.
"Hmm… I have an idea." Sora said.
Sora held out his keyblade and pointed it at the center of the crater, then a keyhole appeared in the middle of the crater. Then a bright light came from the tip of the keyblade and went into the keyhole locking up the backdoor to the System Sector and fixing the crater.
"That'll do it." Sora said.
"How did…" Kirito said in awe before Sora interrupted him.
"I know how you feel but first we need to go into town and see if everyone is okay." Sora said.
Then the two players were near the house Sora, Asuna and Lisbeth were hiding in and saw members of the assault team helping the people in the town. They looked around and the item and weapon shops went back to normal. Then they decided to run to Lisbeth's Blacksmith's shop to see if it's back to normal. When they got there it was back to normal and Asuna and Lisbeth were standing in front of it.
"Asuna! Lisbeth! You're safe!" Sora said with excitement.
"Yeah, I'm glad to see you are to. It looks like everything is going back to normal." Asuna said.
"Yeah, but I couldn't have solved the problem without Kirito." Sora said.
"Well, you looked like you could use some help." Kirito said.
"(Giggles) Well well well the dynamic duo strike again." Asuna said.
"Thanks for helping us, guys. And Sora come by shop sometime if your weapons ever need a gear repair. Plus, I'd like to learn more about that strange sword you used." Lisbeth said.
"Sure, thanks Lisbeth. Well, we'd better get going." Sora said.
"Yeah, see you later." Kirito said.
Then the two players left Floor 48 and returned back home on Floor 50 Sora was ready to tell Kirito the truth on everything. He told him he's from another world, his keyblade are magical weapons from another world, and he travels around to defeat heartless on other worlds. Kirito just stared in awe at what Sora told him, he told him he once left his island home, but he didn't think it could be to other worlds or that the heartless are dark monsters from the real world.
"Whoa… you certainly know how to tell an epic tale." Kirito said.
"Thanks, so does that answer some of your questions?" Sora asked.
"Well, that explains those heartless and your weapons and abilities. But you didn't explain why they're here." Kirito said.
"Well, me and a few friends from the real world believe someone else from another world came here and brought them." Sora explained.
"Okay… wait friends from the real world? Wait you mean when I overheard you talking to someone, you were communicating with someone from the real world?!" Kirito asked.
"Yeah… and I didn't use the nervegear to enter S.A.O." Sora said.
"Seriously?! What kind of technology is on that world?!" Kirito exclaimed.
"Very high tech that I don't understand." Sora said.
"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me." Kirito said.
Sora continued to tell his journey across the universe, when he was betrayed by his best friend, faced off against Ansem Seeker of Darkness, took on Xemnas the Organization's superior and Master Xehanort. He told him the different forms he can take on and explained more on the rage form he saw Sora take on. He told him when he fought in the Keyblade Graveyard and witnessed his friends die infront of him and he had to use the Power of Waking to bring him back. But he ended up disappearing from the world and Riku had to bring him back. Kirito was shocked at all this; Sora was always so happy and cheerful. Now he really felt bad for Sora when the Moonlit Black Cats died, he was reliving the trauma of his friends being killed in front of him.
"It's just so hard to believe a cheerful guy like you had to go through all that. Now I feel even worse about you seeing the Moonlit Black Cats die like that." Kirito said with remorse.
"It's okay, it's like I said it's not your fault we're in this together." Sora said.
"So… what was the real reason you logged into S.A.O?" Kirito asked.
"Well…" Sora said as he explains the Mark of Mastery, how the organization hijacked it and he failed. So now he's getting a second chance by being in this world.
"Sheesh you've got a lot of work to do huh?" Kirito asked.
"You have no idea." Sora said.
The two players started to laugh at joke they made until Sora asked Kirito a question.
"So, you're not mad at me for keeping this a secret?" Sora asked.
"Well, I was a little upset, but I knew you had your reasons. Honestly hearing your story makes me respect you even more." Kirito said.
"It does?" Sora asked.
"You see when this death game started, I only cared about surviving. But you weren't fighting for yourself, you were fighting for everyone, you were protecting everyone from dangers we didn't even know about. Now I learn you do this type of stuff in real life; you must be a real hero huh?" Kirito asked.
"Well, you could say that. So, we're still a team?" Sora said.
"Only on one condition." Kirito said.
"What is it?" Sora asked.
"Let me help you take out the bugs in this world. If we're a team, then we'll help each other out." Kirito said.
"Deal." Sora said and the two friends shook hands the Red and Black Swordsmen are still a team.
There you have it Kirito knows Sora's secret let's see how it helps the two players going forward.