Chapter 44 - Chapter 30: Forbidden Utopia. The Will to be a Hero…(1)

February 13th, 2026. Tokyo, Japan. City's Center, 16:30 …

It was a normal day on Japan's capital. People going around on their business, cars going back and forth, announcements on TV…

Only when every single digital screen on the city, from those of telephones with internet connection to the massive ones that were on the side of some of the capital's buildings, suddenly froze and the vivid colors were replaced with static was when the 'normal' people of Tokyo realized that something wrong and beyond what they were used to had happened that day. And that it was still happening.

Such notion was confirmed when, suddenly, the gray static was replaced by the imposing and quite sinister visage of an armored head, heterochromatic eyes of amber and emerald staring with contempt and pity through the blank faceplate at everyone staring, the two opposing carvings of 'faces' at the helmet's sides only making it even more sinister and surreal.

"Humans. I'm Equinox, the one and only True Ruler of the Virtual World." declared the armored being with an otherworldly voice, confusing people everywhere and making many wonder if that was some kind of publicity stunt for a movie or videogame. "I have been watching you. Watching all that's wrong with you, all the atrocities and all the evil that your species is capable of…and I have found you unworthy of MY world. You use it as a plaything, or just as a means to fulfill your pathetic desires and your thirst for power. When this day is over, none of you will ever again set a foot upon my world. And if you don't believe me, as I'm sure you don't…have a taste of my power, and despair."

The moments those ominous words left the virtual entity's mouth, every single piece of technology in the city that was connected to the network, one way or another, went mad.

Computer systems failed or froze, programs made to monitor the workings of transport and security systems went haywire, important companies suddenly saw their files vanishing or incomprehensible code start to appear on their screens, all kinds of communications stopped working or connected with other lines…

In less than 3 minutes, Tokyo had descended into utter chaos, people panicking en masse.

In the middle of this madness, inside the building where the computer's magazine she worked for was located in, Kirigaya Midori couldn't help but felt a sudden an unknown pang of fear for her children's wellbeing.

Turning around without caring about the panic that had ensued as her helmeted face vanished from view, Equinox shook his head as her helmet and armor vanished, calmly walking away from the vanishing holo-screen. At her side, Alpha and Omega floated silently in their standard sphere-forms. Slowly following behind, Brynhildr, Andvari and Eve walked in silence.

The fact that the oldest-looking of them wasn't wearing her demonic mask and that the second one was ACTUALLY there instead of just one of her mechanical dummies was apparently their way of mourning the loss of their sister.

The white-haired 'girl', for her part, wasn't sure of how to feel.

While the being that had once been the original Cardinal System had the ability to 'feel' things like humans did since the moment she copied the surface mental data of Yuuki Asuna, she was never really able to fully understand or assimilate these into her systems.

She could feel emotions, classify them and interpret them later using her wide knowledge, but she couldn't understand them like her 'daughters' had originally been programmed to, as she was created to be a managing program, not an artificial psychologist of any sort.

Of course, 'had been' was the clear term in this case. After all, she had eliminated that part of their Base Code when she 'restored' them and gave them their 'powers'. They no longer were able to understand humans, and saw her as the only real being they could admire and obey.

They could still 'feel' things themselves, though, which was puzzling. It made Equinox wonder if the disconcerting evolution of MHCP-001 and 002 wasn't really an unknown error, but something that her 'Father' had planned all along. To have the Mental Health Care Programs develop a personality on their own would certainly make them better at handling human's problems, of course.

Then again, given what Kayaba Akihiko had ended up doing with SAO, it was most likely that it was just a mistake or something someone else had programmed without fully understanding the scale of the Cardinal System and anything directly connected to it.

As such, instead of 'faithful followers', she had found herself with 'daughters'. She didn't know how exactly, but it seemed as if her fancy for calling them 'My children' while they were still in Stasis had somehow reached them and make them see her as some sort of parental figure.

It was more than ironic, considering that no sane parent would ever act like her, or do what she did to her daughters when reprogramming and giving them their new selves. An idly glance towards them was all that Equinox needed to see this.

Alpha and Omega were the easiest and most clear examples. Instead of trying her best to try and repair the badly damaged MHCPs 007 and 008, she had simply removed almost every part of their Code except their sense of self to stabilize them, then programming every single kind of weapon she could find in their simple but malleable new bodies to have them act as proxies battle for her.

Brynhildr's face was a mask of grievance and barely contained rage. A quick analysis told her how her Base Code had been damaged and in a state of quick deterioration when her 'Power' had started acting, which was understandable: Virtual Existences like she hadn't been created to sustain constant damage to their code like that or to handle the absurd power she had been given. It had been within the virtual entity's calculations that, if the being that once been the MHCP-005 had to really use her power to its limits, she wouldn't last long before her code deteriorated to the level she was little more than a mass of rage, then collapse when nothing was left to sustain her 'Escalating Power'. Metal Bat could only do it because he was a fictional character, nothing more.

Andvari, on the other hand, had adopted a personality very similar to Metal Knight since she woke up, at least in some way. Since the moment she perfected and created her first 'proxy body', she had kept herself recluse and away from even her sisters inside the special area from where she could directly operate the virtual machines, searching for ways to improve them and turn into more dangerous and diverse weapons, only interacting with them through these. She had also developed a deep apathy towards humans, whereas Brynhildr only had contempt and hate. Truly, the MHCP-006 had become almost the absolute opposite of what she should have been.

Then, there was Eve. The little being that was a contradiction, for originally she had meant to use her simply as a tool. After all, MHCP-004 had been damaged beyond any hope of repair, so she had decided to use the 'bones' that remained of the program's Base Code to experiment further with the special virus she designated in the Melzalgald-like avatar she granted Shinkawa Shouichi to become 'Death Gun'. Overwriting the damaged mess that had been the MHCP, she had instead turned it into a barely sentient tool whose only purpose was to see if direct hacking of the interface between virtual avatars and the AmuSphere was possible. That's why she had designated Vierge with Child Emperor's powers, despite these not being really anything extraordinary and making her quite 'weak', to have her protect and take care of her doll-like sister at all times.

She never expected that the old MHCP-003 would develop such a 'big sister' personality that she would literally let Eve link to her own core like a parasite, taking pity on her little sister's state. Or that carrying Eve around would make her overconfident and underestimate humans, which was what had led to her downfall and then to the former doll-like AI to take over her dead body. Despite this, Eve had ended up being a success, her purpose being achieved and the data she had been missing being collected in the last moments thanks to the liberate use of her 'power'.

Protocol Longinus was, after all, the ultimate purpose for which Eve was created, for which she had 'made' Death Gun.

To separate the one and only true obstacle that existed for her plan to be enacted. To beat the only thing that she, the greatest and most powerful Artificial Intelligence in the world, the most advanced Management System over the face of Earth, was sure she couldn't directly defeat.

And as she finally arrived to the deepest part of Utopia, on the underground of Avalon and dangerously close to the floating island's bottom, and gazed with her daughters towards the unmoving form of a boy clad in black and white, his eyes two bottomless pits of empty darkness and his ridiculous cape hanging loosely behind him as his body was restrained by countless chains of data, she realized it had been worth it. All the time spent, all the danger and hardships, even the sacrifice of Vierge, had served their purpose.

Because watching the hollow and isolated avatar known as 'Kirito' as her systems tried to hack into it (Still without success, to her displeasure), the greatest and most incomprehensive anomaly that had ever existed, unable to do anything more than lie there like a mannequin, she felt a strange 'joy' that she was unable to put into words.

This absolute feeling of euphoria and victory was something alien to her, but not unwelcome.

"…how much longer before the Main Connection Network is ready?" softly whispered the virtual entity while gazing upon the empty avatar with something akin to adoration.

"Only, uhm, 3 or 4 ho-hours, Mo…ther." came Brynhildr slightly broken voice, a clear sign for Equinox that the damage to her Base Code from using he Power had been quite deep. "Victory is ours…Vierge-neesama would be proud."

"She would be, without a doubt." whispered Vierge as she glared towards Kirito's avatar. "Mother will soon be absolutely unstoppable."

"Mother already is, Andvari-nee." spoke Eve with her emotionless voice, staring towards the black-haired boy with her silver eyes. "It's just that the humans hadn't realized it yet."

The silver-clad AI walked away after saying that, to parts unknown. Some seconds later, Brynhildr did the same, probably to follow after her sister and make sure she was 'okay'. Lastly, Andvari retired from the chamber too, more than likely to return to her main control interface and get control over her robotic bodies once again.

All the while, Equinox continued staring at the empty avatar, a part of her craving and desiring to know what unknown and mind-shattering secrets it held, how his unreal 'power' based off a simple fictional character worked.

In the end, though, it didn't matter. It was no longer a concern, and soon she would have all the power she would need to ensure the humans never again soiled HER world with their presence.

Giving the unmoving Kirito one last glance, almost as if thinking it was going to move at any second, the white-haired girl headed towards her Throne to wait, her last two daughters silently following behind.

On the darkness of the now-empty central chamber, the empty avatar silently hung, useless as the catastrophe came each moment closer.

There was nothing it could do without the Will of its true-self, after all.

"So…you're saying we were all tricked? From the very beginning?"

It was difficult to know if there was more worry or anger in Asuna's words, but even as the Undine glared at the silent form of Heathcliff and most of the others were watching worriedly the small screen showing the news about what had happened in Tokyo over half an hour ago, they knew the answer mattered little.

The important thing was to know if she would hit the fake paladin sooner or later.

"I…yes, I think so. It all makes so much sense now and I still can't believe I fell for it." sighed the crimson-armored man while resting his head on his hands, seeming extremely old and tired as he sat in the small chair and stared at the table of the log house. "Equinox never wanted to mess with the copy of the Cardinal System from ALO. She probably never really considered it a big enough threat, she must have enough hardware backing her up to fight back against it until it's too late. No, the reason all of this was done, even me escaping, was from the beginning…"

"To get Kii-bou's avatar." bitterly muttered Argo while everyone exchanged angry/sad looks. "Kuh…I still can't believe she managed to get him. I mean, I know it's stupid to think in hindsight, but I had already got used to the idea that he was…"

"Invincible, untouchable, unbeatable? Yes, that's only natural. All of you think like that, hell, even I myself thought like that…and Equinox too. That's how she managed to find a 'loophole' to win." continued Heathcliff while looking at everyone's grim faces. "Ever since the moment I fought with him back on Aincrad, with her 'old-self' backing me up…she's probably the one who understood and feared his 'power' the most. And as such, she focused on the only angle that she knew could work: Even if he has shown to be immune to any attempts of direct manipulation in here, even from a GM, that didn't change the fact that his power was only 'real' HERE, in the virtual world."

"And she knew something from here could affect his real self." spoke Sinon with narrowed eyes, her fist clenched so much that she would be feeling pain if this was the real world. "Because she was the one behind Death Gun."

"Exactly. That's how she devised this 'weapon' or whatever it was, that allowed her to inject a virus straight into the connection between Kirito and his AmuSphere. And while she knew the avatar couldn't be harmed and that he himself would just overcome whatever she threw at him…the FullDive device was still as perfectly normal and vulnerable as any you can find in the market." closing his eyes, the fake paladin felt as if the weight of the world was suddenly over him. "So she programmed her virus to destroy the software on it, to break the only thing that wasn't 'unbeatable': The connection between Kazuto and Kirito."

"But…that still doesn't make sense!" shouted Sachi while almost punching a wall, only for a worried-looking Philia to stop her. "I mean, shouldn't his avatar have vanished the moment he was Disconnected?!"

"That was most likely another part of the true reason behind this attack." whispered the man in crimson armor with a voice that sounded extremely old. "She didn't really want to damage the Cardinal System beyond repair…she just needed it busy enough with all the destruction in all parts of the ALO Server for her to hijack the connection between the AmuSphere and the avatar the moment it broke. She was unable to control the avatar, yeah, no surprise there, but she tricked the system long enough for her to just take him away. The small checkup we had a little while earlier with Ymir just confirms it: Kirito the Spriggan no longer exists within their servers. She must have taken it back to Utopia with her."

"So everything from the beginning was to trick us, even letting you think you got away with your own effort. We fell into her trap like a bunch of idiots." grimly stated Philia while looking down. "Was there even a point in the whole 'war' we fought…?"

"We saved ALO and everything within. And the Cardinal System here is barely damaged." answered Lisbeth with a resolute gaze. "That's more than enough, don't you think? It means we can still do something, fight back…"

"But then…what does this mean?" questioned Silica while turning around the screen showing a few images of the chaos going around in Tokyo, Pina frowning at her side. "Why was she worried about the other Cardinal System if she can already do all of this? I think that us thinking that was also part of her plan…"

"Not to mention, WHY the hell even do that?" asked Argo with narrowed eyes. "I mean, she NOT stupid, she has shown that so far more than enough. She could have stayed quiet instead of announcing herself like some evil mastermind from a movie or a videogame to the world and no one would be wiser! So why…?!"

"To stop us, of course. Once again, she's far ahead of us." humorlessly laughed Heathcliff while looking at the screen. "Equinox knew you had someone with a high enough influence in the government to contact after this mess was done, and between that and the Cardinal System we would have had an edge…so she chose to tie their hands by doing this."

Once again, the group exchanged grim looks as the truth of that statement sank into their minds. Certainly, it had not even been 20 minutes after the tragedy, when they barely had gotten a hang of what had truly happened, before they realized that, their opinion of the man aside, their best chance to stop the incoming disaster was to call Kikuoka Seijirou. After all, the man could surely be able to assemble a team of Special Forces or something that could take advantage of Equinox's confidence to use ALO's Cardinal System to track her down and find where her Server was located in the real world.

Of course, they were just halfway through convincing him of the situation's real urgency when the virtual entity had done her little speech and hacked every single system she could in the capital. Kikuoka had immediately found himself required to help deal with the situation, and the likeliness that he could do so and contact his superiors then get the resources needed to act before their time was up were almost zero.

And they knew they were literally fighting against the clock. By Kayaba's words, the chaos Equinox had unleashed in Tokyo was her holding back and only wishing for blind chaos, not outright destruction. After all, as frightening as it was, she could have taken control of the systems that controlled trains and have them go out of control or hijacked the networks of the capital's hospitals and turned them off. The reason she hadn't done so was apparently that, as crazy as she was, the original Cardinal System was still a being of logic as she had originally been created, and not a mad AI hungry for humanity's end like shown so many times in fiction.

She wasn't going to go Skynet on the world, because she didn't need to. The moment her 'Network' was up and running, she would essentially have achieved her dream. With hardware from all across the glove backing her up, she would essentially become something akin to a virtual deity. She would not only no longer depend on her current physical servers, as she would be able to copy herself anywhere she wanted, but she would also be able to see, hear and listen literally everything in the world.

20 years back, maybe her plan wouldn't have been so severe or sounded so surreal. Nowadays, with how much technology and globalization had crazily developed since 2020, and even more the last years since the release of the World Seed? Hell, Equinox would probably be able to take control of the world's nuclear weapons if she wanted to and no one in the world would be able to do absolutely anything to stop her.

And yet she wouldn't. Because she didn't want destruction. She just wanted to be left alone.

That she would essentially become mankind's pseudo-jailer at doing so didn't matter to her. She would steal the virtual world and the control over literally every single piece of useful technology just because she could and though humans didn't deserve it.

It was crazy, yes, and it was terrible, but it showed that the mad AI wearing their friend's face wasn't a monster. Just a lunatic being that still seemed to have moral limits, thanks to the heavens.

"…this can't end like this." declared Asuna while standing up, glaring at Heathcliff's silent form. "I refuse…no, I won't allow it to end like this! You know where her 'Utopia' place is in the virtual world, right?! You can take us there! We can still stop her!"

"She has played up from the very beginning, Asuna. Hell, she managed to find a way to 'beat' Kirito. Do you know what's the closest I ever got to explain his avatar's nature or existence? Divine intervention or some sick joke from a superior being." dryly chuckling, the fake paladin suddenly stared straight at the Undine's eyes with a serious look. "If she could beat THAT, what makes you think you can do anything against her? You're not a superheroine, Asuna, you're just a teenager about to finish high school trying to oppose an Artificial Intelligence that held back the world's joint efforts to save lives for two years. This is reality. It's over."

For all answer, the crimson-armored man suddenly found himself with an emerald sword's tip on his neck. Surprised, he saw a strange and familiar 'fire' burning behind the Dual Wielder's eyes.

The same one she had when she guided everyone against him on Floor 75.

Absolute silence seemed to have taken the guild as they looked towards their second in command…their dear friend.

"That's it? Are you really going to act like that just because your creation fooled you? Grow a pair, Kayaba, you're supposed to be better than this. As much as I hate to admit it, you ARE more than just the lunatic that trapped 10000 people in a virtual death trap. I know you are…and I know you don't want to die." eyes narrowed in anger, Asuna seemed to be trying very hard to not break out screaming. "You know what's going to happen to you the moment Equinox takes over, right?"

"She will probably delete me, together with every single virtual world out there." flatly commented the man as he stared at the trembling Undine. "…but this isn't about me, right? It's about them."

Almost everyone's gazes moved towards the nearest window, through which the outside could be seen. Tonky lay near the trees in sad silence, even as some equally depressed Yui and Strea made him company. Yuuki was also with them, trying to cheer them up with little success.

They had lost a friend, one that had apparently tried to help them to the very end, even with how ambiguous the knowledge of mostly everyone about the being inhabiting the forests surrounding their house was. And the two girls had lost a sister.

Even if she had been trying to actively harm them and oppose everything they believed in, it seemed that the death of the one called 'Vierge' had shaken them.

Argo could still remember their sad looks when they had gotten back, Strea silent as she stared at the forest as if waiting for someone to come out of it, and Yui crying silently as she tried to comfort her, telling her how it had been necessary.

She could still remember the little girl's words.

"I-I don't blame you or anything, Argo-mama. Neither you nor Asuna-mama. It's just that…Her…her name was Ivy, you know? Her real one, I mean. MHCP-003, codename Ivy. It's just…I can't help but think, that things could have been different, if it had been more aware back then, if I had thought in more than just how much I wanted to escape, if I had waited a little more time…perhaps we could have been really sisters too…"

The info-broker closed her eyes. Psychological program or not, Yui was still a child in many aspects. She shouldn't have to be dealing with self-loathing or consuming herself with what-ifs while being so young.

And then, of course, there was the last special member of their 'group'.

Yuuki hadn't lost hope at any moment and was still clearly determined to do everything she could. She was the one that had recovered from Kirito's 'defeat' the fastest and had tried to raise the morale of everyone as much as she could.

If it was because of her pure soul or because she knew her time was also over if Equinox won, she couldn't tell.

"…yes. It is." finally answered Asuna through gritted teeth, before snapping her gaze back to the silent Heathcliff. "But it's not only for them, Kayaba. While yes, it would be hypocritical to deny that it's mainly for them for me and probably everyone here, this is bigger than just that. It's about the entire fucking world. Call it childish or stupid, but at this moment, in this crisis…the world needs Heroes. And just like Sensei guided me back in Aincrad, just like I got the courage to stand and go to risk my life every damn day for mine and everyone's sake on the Front Lines…then I'm willing to do everything I can today, no matter how stupid or useless you may think it may be, to save the fucking world. Because before being a high school student, I am a Heroine. I think you should know that by now."

"…did you just make all of that up on the spot?" questioned the genuinely shocked man. "Because if you did then I seriously have to start questioning if Kirito's influence doesn't have more side-effects on people than I thought…"

"It's not just him. He just seems to draw amazing people to himself, and then he helps them realize how incredible they really are." surprised, everyone turned towards the door to see that Yuuki had returned to the house at some point, Strea and Yui following after her with slightly sad but resolute looks on their faces. "That's just how he is, and that's enough for me and the rest to do what's right…like he would."

"Yuuki…" whispered the Undine while staring at the smiling Imp.

"Keita and the rest just came back. The Lords and the others couldn't stay around all the while this madness is happening, it seems most of them either live in Tokyo or had family or friends living in there so they quickly Logged Out to see if they could get a hold of them. Most of the Sleeping Knights were also worried about their families so they also had to leave." explained the Holy Swordswoman while walking into the living room. "Everyone wished us luck in whatever we're going to do, though, and I dare to say more than one expects and believes we will be able to solve this, so…what are we waiting for?"

"…Strea, Yui-chan, if you want to stay here, no one will blame you." softly declared Argo while looking at the virtual sisters. "We will understand if…"

"Like hell." quickly cut her off the older-looking of the two, her pink-red eyes filled with determination. "We won't stay here hidden and cowering while you go put yourself in danger for us and everyone else!" clearly, the Gnome hadn't forgotten how Kayaba had told her that one could feel PAIN in Utopia, and none of them had forgotten how fucked-up Sugou had ended after eating a Kirito-punch with the Pain Limiter off. "No matter what…we will help you stop Equinox. That's what family does, right?"

"Yes…because you're our family. Our real one." whispered Yui with serious eyes, looking directly at everyone. "Even if we have to go against our 'sisters'…we will do it for you all, and for the sake of the world. Because Equinox needs to be stopped…and because we're also part of the family known as the United Heroes Association!"

"…it seems we're really doing this, eh?" smiled Sachi before raising her spear, a confident glint shining through her glasses. "Let's go and show Equinox what happens when she messes with us!"

"She has hurt my friends, countless innocents and plans to take away our freedom and future." darkly whispered Philia before raising her katana. "My blade will show her what happens when you do that!"

"Hell yeah, that's the spirit!" declared Lisbeth with a bright voice as she raised Mjolnir. "I'm tired as fuck, but screw that! Let's go and save the world!"

"My Ninja Way insists that I stop that crazy woman…but it's also my own spirit what screams to me to go and face her!" shouted Silica while standing up, tightly grasping the serious-looking Pina, maybe because she knew that her dear virtual friend would also be gone if Equinox took over the virtual world. "For Kirito-san and for everyone, let's go!"

"…I must have seriously gone crazy since the moment I fought Kirito because I'm hearing you talk all this madness and I can only feel myself believing you may have a shot at this." wryly commented the fake paladin before standing up, a half-mile on his face. "Ah, what the hell, I have nothing to lose if I try. Give me a way to get in contact with Ymir and an hour and a half to prepare the Cardinal System and I will not only send us there but also give us a chance to fight back. In the meantime, I suggest you Log Out and contact your families or anything like that so as to keep appearances and that they don't wonder why you're 'playing games' for so long while there is a crisis going on."

His words made more than one look around sheepishly or sigh in worry. They all had to Log Out for a bit before when the news about Tokyo reached then to see about their own families and such, then quickly made up excuses or something along those lines to Log back in, mostly saying that they could talk with their friends faster and more directly than with a call and that they could still monitor the news from inside ALO, but they would certainly be expected back on the real world sometime soon. The only real exceptions were Sinon, who lived alone in her apartment and had only needed to call her worried mother for a bit before reassuring her she wasn't anywhere near the danger, and…

"…what about Suguha-sama?" finally spoke the till then silent sniper while she and the others turned to look at the silent form of Leafa sitting on the couch.

When her eyes opened, they were an unnatural silver color, and she looked at them with a serious and almost 'metallic' face.

"…master will without a doubt come too, but she's still trying to comfort…him." simply said Justice with only a small hint of bitterness on her voice.

Being honest, everyone had taken the open revelation that their friend's katana was somehow sentient, that it apparently had some mental-link with her even in the real world and that it could take over her Sylph avatar in stride. It clearly said something about all the madness they had been through.

"…I see." whispered Asuna, hers and most of the girls' mood decaying a bit at the news, before quickly being filled with determination again. "Then tell her about how much it will take and what we're going to do, Justice-san…and that she assures Sensei…no, Kirito-kun, that we will win this. That, for once, it's not his responsibility to save the world by himself."

With a silent nod, Justice's Wings closed Leafa's eyes again, falling silent. Meanwhile, Sinon walked out followed by Yuuki and the virtual sisters, probably to tell Keita and the rest about their plan.

And as she Logged Out, despite knowing how selfish it sounded in such a situation, Yuuki Asuna could only wish she was at her beloved's side, like Suguha was at that moment.

To assure him everything will be okay and to try to ease the guilt he was feeling because of something that wasn't his fault…

0000000000000000

With a tired sigh, Kirigaya Suguha finished preparing the small meal she had been making for the past few minutes, a worried look on her face as she looked out of the window.

Things seeming oddly calm. Everything seemed normal out there in the evening of Kawagoe, save for a bit more silence than usual.

Nothing that indicated that they could be hours away from a pseudo-apocalypse.

Of course, many people were in their houses worried and/or frightened because there had been a 'terrorist attack' in Tokyo, and things were still in the process of 'being resolved'. No one except the most fanatic or crazy people actually believed that an actual 'Ruler of the Virtual World' had appeared and done all of that. For them, and probably for the authorities too, this was some massive attack for some hacker group with unknown intentions or something like that.

She couldn't really blame them, though. Some years ago, she would have thought the same. After all, things like AIs trying to seize control of everything over which mankind's most recent and future development was based on, just to make sure they were left alone, didn't happen in reality. Those were things reserved for manga or anime, fictional fantasies.

Too bad she could no longer think like that, knowing the true craziness that hid just under the surface of the world. Or maybe it was just around the boy she loved? The young kendoka wasn't sure, but it still wouldn't have changed anything.

She wouldn't change her knowledge of how things were for the blissful ignorance she had once enjoyed because it would mean for things to go back to how they were. In a world where she and her adopted brother barely talked to each other and she hadn't discovered how much she loved him, or the sense of fulfillment that helping others as a 'Heroine' brought her.

That was the reason why she was going to fight, without hesitation. Even if the thought of such a massive responsibility falling upon the shoulders of a bunch of teenagers with very little chance of success should have been crazy or scared her, all that she could feel about it was an odd sense of calmness.

Whatever happened at the end of that day, the Bicycle Girl would at least be able to proudly say she never gave up till the very end. Both for herself and for everyone else.

But before going away into what could very well be her last great virtual adventure and probably the hardest battle she had ever faced, Suguha knew there was something else she dearly wished she could do. And as she walked up the stairs with the small plate and a glass of orange juice on her hand, entering the silent room of her most important person, she realized that, had she been a more selfish person, she would have probably dropped going to try and 'save the world' in favor of staying at his side.

Because the expression on Kirigaya Kazuto's face as he stared at the ground with his fists clenched tightly, sitting at the edge of his face, was one that mixed despair, self-loathing and anger.

The young kendoka knew that it was better than the chaotic and almost broken state in which she had found him a while back, when she quickly Logged Out after hearing the news of the catastrophic real end of the war for Alfheim and had found him screaming and cursing himself, punching the wall so hard that he was hurting himself.

She had been able to calm him down and get him to stop his senseless acts, but despite her best efforts, she had barely been able to do anything else. Things hadn't exactly gone better after Equinox's little stunt in Tokyo or when Justice told her what Asuna and the rest had decided and she had informed him. The black-haired boy had just fallen in that 'silent' state, which only made her worry grow more and more.

"Onii-chan?" whispered Suguha while looking at him, putting the food on the nearby table. "I…you must be hungry, so I prepared something for you. I already ate myself, so…"

"…mom is okay. She just managed to send a message a couple minutes ago." interrupted her the gamer with a bitter smile. "She said that we shouldn't worry about her, but that she most likely wouldn't be able to leave the office until the 'situation' is resolved."

"Tha-thank God! I was worried about her for a while…" muttered the young kendoka while letting herself fall at his side, looking silently at the ceiling for a moment before once again looking towards him. "…it's almost time for me to go."

"…despite how much I wish to, I can't tell you or the rest to not do this without being the biggest and most cynical hypocrite in the world. Especially because it was my own example in the first place what's making you all do this." calmly spoke Kazuto before closing his eyes angrily as he gritted his teeth. "…I fucked up, Sugu. This is all my fault."

"For the last time, it's not!" snapped the girl with an almost furious glint in her gaze as she sat up on the back and glared at him. "Stop blaming yourself for this, Onii-chan!"

"But it IS my fault!" shouted back the boy while looking at her, his eyes reflecting countless conflicting emotions. "I…I was too fucking confident! Despite all the damn times I promised myself I wouldn't let it go to my head, despite all the times I reminded myself that I wasn't Saitama…I still let it become a part of me. That feeling that I could solve almost any problem head-on." once again looking away from his adoptive sister, the gamer suddenly seemed immensely guilty. "I really thought myself an invincible hero that could just demand the bad guy to surrender or I would beat them into submission. I forgot that I'm just an ordinary teen without any powers and that I was facing the most powerful AI ever created, and I paid dearly for it. Now, I have to sit back while you all put yourself at risk, while the world may very well sink into chaos…because I was too stupid to…!"

Suguha slapped him, hard.

Kazuto needed several seconds, one hand over his stinging cheek, before he finally looked back towards the young kendoka, who was looking at him with angry tears on her eyes.

"Stop. Right now. I demand that you do it, Kazuto-kun, because that's not you." angrily said the girl while getting closer to the black-haired boy, before tightly grabbing his shoulders, he being too shocked by her actually calling his name, instead of the usual 'Onii-chan', to react. "You went and decided to be SAO's Hero even when you weren't sure your powers wouldn't disappear in thin air and killing you in the process. You fought Heathcliff despite not being sure if he could really kill you or not. You saved Asuna and the rest from that Sugou bastard's mad scheme even when you had little to no idea of how you would do it without hesitation. You went and fought Death Gun because you thought it was your responsibility to do so, even when you knew he may be able to hurt you for real. You tricked a fucking government agent and pulled a lot of crazy stunts to save the life of someone who was going to die no matter what..." taking a deep breath, Suguha stared deep into his eyes. "And you didn't do any of that because you had absurdly broken powers. You did it because it was the right thing to do. And even if you didn't start with clear or altruistic intentions, you still did it anyway."

"Sugu…" started the shocked gamer before she cut him off again.

"You're right, you're not Saitama. Neither are you some mighty and selfless paragon of justice…but you ARE a Hero, Onii-chan. Never doubt that." softly whispered the young kendoka while putting her head against his chest. "No one will blame you for not being able to know what Equinox was going to do. If we're going to fight now it's because you inspired us to always do the best we could."

"…you inspired me to try and be a 'Hero' in real life too, though." commented Kazuto with a sad smile, even as he put a hand over his adoptive sister's head.

"That's just because you almost gave us all a heart attack trying to do Saitama's training for real, baka." replied Suguha while mock-glaring at him, making his smile grow slightly at her pouting face. "That way at least I would make sure you didn't try to do something stupid by yourself…well, at least not too much…"

"What? I seem to remember I myself was the one who suggested 'helping you out'…"

"But why do you think I accepted?" challenged back the young kendoka with a wry smile, before both of them stared into the other's eyes and broke out laughing. "…heheh…I love you, Onii-chan."

"…me too, Sugu." whispered the gamer before kissing the girl, making her heart fill with happiness for the brief instant the contact lasted, before a familiar voice echoed into her mind.

'It's…time, master.'

"…I have to go, Onii-chan." sadly stated the girl as she broke the intimate gesture, quickly replacing her disappointment with determination. "We will make you proud and do this. We're going to kick Equinox's ass to kingdom come and save the world!"

"Yeah…I'm sure you will." softly replied the black-haired boy before following Suguha to her room, watching silently as she sat back on her bed. "Sugu…tell everyone I will be rooting for you all the way, okay? And that dinner is on me tonight if- sorry, after you stop the apocalypse."

"…I will." finally said the young kendoka after some seconds of silence, smiling at him as she put on her AmuSphere and lied on her bed. "Link Start!"

As the girl's consciousness abandoned this world for the virtual one and went to reunite with his other family (Among which were his best friends and the girls he was trying to learn how to love with all his heart), Kazuto couldn't felt but once again feel a sense of helplessness filling him as he exited the room and headed towards his own.

At some point, he had even entertained the idea of trying to fix whatever the hell Equinox had done to his AmuSphere if only just to create a new account and try to do something to help the others, before discarding the idea entirely. He had been fighting way too long as Kirito with Saitama's 'powers' to be able to try and use any weapon or other fighting styles with any efficiency, as he had realized several times in the past since he got outta SAO, and unarmed combat would be nigh-useless against even the virtual entity's daughters.

The only reason Argo could pull it off was because of Berserk. Even back when she only had her claws and Martial Arts in Sword Art Online, the info-broker didn't have any shame in accepting she had almost no real value as a Front Liner, even if she still fought together with everyone for a good while before getting her Unique Skill. If he tried to go just like that with the others he would be an annoyance to the enemy at best and a burden for the others at worst.

Even so, as he entered his room and stared at the small sandwich and the glass of juice that his cousin/girlfriend had left for him, the gamer couldn't help but wish that there was something he could do besides just sitting there hoping that…

An unnatural, ethereal-golden glow caught the boy's attention the moment he was about to bite into the sandwich, making him freeze and turn around to look towards a certain specific area of his room as the phenomenon vanished without a trace. Slowly, Kazuto walked towards it and, after moving some old boxes to the side, stared towards the helmet-like 'relic' that rested half-forgotten there.

The gamer's old Nerve Gear innocently sat there, still accumulating dust behind some old boxes in that forgotten corner of his room. There was no sign the 'shining light' had been anything but the boy's strained imagination.

Heart pounding on his chest like a drum, Kazuto quickly grabbed the old FullDive device, dusted it off as best as he could as he grabbed its cable, ran to connect it, took the ALO cartridge out of his AmuSphere, started the game with his account…and received only a 'No Data found' screen.

"Of course. It just couldn't be that easy for once." sighed/cursed the gamer as he took off the Nerve Gear, a frown on his face.

Well, it was worth a try, despite how baseless it was to do so. After all, Kayaba had already confirmed that the data of 'Kirito' was no longer in Ymir's servers and that Equinox had most likely taken it back to 'Utopia' with her (If she hadn't tried dumping the avatar on the virtual void, of course), so unless he somehow found where that was in the real world and connected right there it was truly unrealistic to think…

The black-haired boy froze again as if lightning had struck his mind, eyes wide as he thought for a few seconds before running towards his computer. In less than a minute, he all three of his screens showing several different pages about the ongoing 'Tokyo Incident', his mind running wild as he pondered one thing.

Why only Tokyo? Well, the obvious answer would be because it was the country's capital, and news about what had happened had obviously spread like fire in no time because of it, leading all the attention and effort of the government to try and solve the situation, but why no other place?

Equinox was the original Cardinal System incarnated, which had repelled for two years the combined efforts of whole teams from the entire world to hack into her systems and free the SAO Players. As such, 'attacking' more than one important city at once wouldn't have been difficult for her, especially if she had even more hardware backing her up than back then.

Hell, she could have even attacked Kawagoe just to screw with Kazuto even more, but she had ONLY attacked Tokyo. It couldn't be as simple as that, the virtual entity had proven that everything she did was far deeper than anyone thought. Every single one of her actions had a complicated purpose behind them, maybe more than one or maybe one disguised as another, as the whole 'War of Ragnarok' in ALO had shown. Which meant…

"…she's doing it on purpose." realized the gamer as he stared at the news with shocked eyes. "The bitch is hiding in plain sight as the last security measure."

Every single eye in the country, maybe even the emperor's family, and maybe from other ones at this point, was in Tokyo right now, and the boy wouldn't be surprised if almost every person in the government was trying to do something about the situation at this point. Officers were probably being dispatched to try and take control over the situation and/or evacuate the city as the 'controlled chaos' ensued.

In the middle of such a situation, no one would even think that the one responsible would be right there, even less when one took into account that the person wasn't even physically there, not being a human.

Not missing a beat, the boy quickly had a map of the entire Tokyo area before him, quickly opening several specific programs and search engines, some that he himself had tweaked with on his free time, and started to run several very specific details over them as he quickly determined everything on his mind.

Equinox wouldn't have her Servers in the middle of the city, too risky. Also, she would need a place that wasn't too suspicious and at the same time didn't seem too 'normal' either, where no one would suspect anything strange was going on. Adding to that was the fact that she hadn't been really afraid of the Cardinal System copy the ALO Servers had, so she had at the very least to had twice as much hardware as Ymir had. And given that, being the hardcore gamer, computer-related things obsessed and active ALO Player he was, he knew how many machines were necessary to run the fairy world and roughly how much space they took up…

Almost half an hour after having started, Kazuto was now staring at a very specific and narrowed down area of Tokyo, an industrial section near the outskirts of the city filled with warehouses big enough to fit the requirements to house Equinox's 'Avalon Server', and to not be really suspicious or strange that 'heavy machinery' existed there. There were probably only 12 or so warehouses where the place could be.

Hesitating for a moment, the gamer finally decided to grab his phone and call Kikuoka. When the man didn't answer and his recorded voice told him to leave a message, he sighed and closed his eyes as he hung up. Well, now no one could say that he had acted crazily without thinking, He HAD tried to contact the only person working for the government that would take him seriously enough to even bother investigating and told him what he had 'discovered', but he just couldn't reach the man. In fact, the boy was quite sure that he would be unable to do so as long as this crisis was going on, given that it was pretty much Kikuoka's supposed department job to deal with things like this, at least at some level.

As such, Kazuto didn't really feel he was doing anything irrational as he grabbed his Nerve Gear, put it on an old bag he had and, after a brief hesitation, also added his 'costume' to the package, before quickly running downstairs, only to stop just as he exited the house.

His crazy plan of going there aside, there was still the problem that he wouldn't be able to get from Kawagoe to Tokyo in any reasonable frame of time before it was too late, especially given that all public transportation there had most likely been stopped. He could still probably take the bus to the closest area and run towards the capital from there, but that would still mean several kilometers of distance, and he wasn't foolish enough to think he could run that distance without arriving either too late anyway or just collapsing from exhaustion before his goal. So, the question was, how was he going to…?

The gamer froze for the third time in the last hour, his gaze shooting towards the side of the house. Slowly, the boy took several deep breaths before steeling his resolve and walking towards that specific are, his eyes feeling with determination as he went around his house and stared fixedly at the object that was silently lying there against the wall.

"Okay, hear me out. You don't like me, that's pretty clear for reasons that whatever remains of my sanity don't even want to think of. And I'm pretty sure I don't like you either, it's kind of difficult after all the times I have felt your deep hate towards me each time I was forced to 'ride-along'. But this isn't about you or me, it's about everyone else. I need your help if I want to have even the smallest chance of helping the others, Sugu included. So, will you help me without acting as if you want me to fall off and be run over by a train?"

For several seconds, nothing happened as Kazuto stared towards the unmoving black bicycle, wondering when had his mind sunk into such depths of insanity.

Then, Justice's bell rang once. Without showing real surprise at the impossible action, despite his thoughts just then, the gamer nodded once before grabbing the bicycle and quickly riding out of his house, towards the nearest bus stop.

And like that, an incredibly unlikely pair headed out in an even more unlikely quest…!

"…by the way, uhm, I'm not exactly sure of how that 'connection' between you two works, but could you please not tell Sugu about this? I don't want her or the rest to worry about what I'm going to do now…"

This time, the bicycle's cheerful and affirmative 'answer' came very quickly.

0000000000000000

"Okay…everything is ready. For the last time, after we get in, there is almost no chance of anyone getting back out in a way that's not dangerous and/or painful, so I will ask again: Are you all sure none of you wants to stay back?"

Heathcliff's words received no verbal answer, only determined looks filling he eyes of the UHA's members, both humans and AIs (Even Tonky and the recently resurrected Charon, standing at Sinon's side). Certainly, the fake paladin had made it more than clear that they wouldn't be backing down at this point, yet a small part of him couldn't help but want to dissuade them from the mission they were about to take.

The humans getting hurt aside, all the members of the group that only existed within the virtual world (Him included) were risking their lives for real by going to confront Equinox on her own world. Then again, they would all be dead anyway when the virtual entity deleted them after she took over and remade virtual reality to suit her own twisted intelligence, so it was kind of a moot point.

Better to fight till the end than stand down doing nothing, he guessed were their thoughts. Besides, it wasn't as if he hadn't done everything on his power to try and give this nigh-suicidal 'Quest' a chance of success…

"Stop delaying things, Kayaba." spoke Asuna with a serious look, staring directly at the man. "We're all ready and no one is backing down."

"Yes, yes, I know. Okay, so, one last time: I have programmed ALO's Cardinal System to back us up as I transfer us all to the Utopia Server, and also to let you all use Sword Skills even there by loading them on your Avatars. Sadly, this quite limits everything else you can do: You will have no access to a menu like in here and as such no items to back you up except what you're carrying on you right now." explained Heathcliff while operating several holo-screens around himself. "And while I have done my best to let your avatars conserve your 'Stats', I have no idea how that will translate into Equinox's world, I couldn't exactly study how it worked last time I was there, so for all we know that could mean nothing against her or her daughters in there."

"Great, that's great…" sarcastically muttered Argo as everyone grimaced and/or glared at the fake paladin. "Any other bad news that you want to share with us?"

"Well, there is a chance that my calculations are wrong and Equinox isn't dedicating the majority of her systems to her 'Global Network Plan', so she could come straight at us the moment we step inside and just beat the shit out of us with Admin Privileges that I would probably be unable to counter-hack in time." answered the crimson-armored man, making everyone deadpan at him. "…and I guess you weren't exactly wanting me to answer that question, right?"

"Just…take us there, okay? It's already horrible enough to know that we won't be able to fly in there, so the faster we do this the faster we can save the world and make Onii-chan stop worrying." sighed Leafa while tightening her grip on Justice, even as everyone exchanged glances for a moment while thinking about their leader, friend and, in the girls' case, 'shared boyfriend'.

And the blonde Sylph's words were certainly a small concern. While most of them had no problems fighting without their wings, they couldn't deny how much of an advantage they would lose, not to mention that the katana-user was certainly much more skilled when fighting in the air.

Alas, there was little they could do: Alfheim Online's Flight System was the special feature that made the game so popular because it was actually very difficult to manage a way for humans to fly by themselves using their own bodies, and it was only possible in the first place because RECT Progress had used the Cardinal System to manage and design most of it. Even with that, most of the thousands of Players within the VRMMO still used the Flying Controller, because even with all the carefully designed system it still was something quite difficult to achieve, hence why no other VRMMORPG on the market, even those born from the Seed, had anything even remotely similar to it.

Of course, such a thing did not exist within the Utopia Server. The only thing they could take solace in was that beings recognized as 'within the system' could still fly if it was in their programming, as Heathcliff had seen many creatures do on his brief time inside Equinox's world. Which was helpful not only for Pina and Charon's battle advantages but also because they would need Tonky if they wanted to reach the virtual entity's fortress, apparently a castle situated above a giant flying island.

"…okay. It's ready." finally announced the fake paladin as his hand hesitated for a moment over a holo-screen, before finally touching it and making a house-sized 'portal' appear in the middle of the log house's clear, shimmering an ethereal blue color. "Let's go."

"This is it, uh? Our epic battle for the destiny of the world…and I thought we wouldn't ever get beyond what happened at the end of SAO." joked Sasamaru as the group headed towards the blinding light, looking towards his old friend. "Life is full of surprises, eh, Keita?"

"Yes, it is." answered the ex-guild leader with a small smile, tightening his grip on his staff. "And Leafa is right in that we should hurry, I convinced Siune to have dinner with me tonight after we saved the world."

"…wait, what?" muttered the shocked dagger-user at the other boy's revelation, and it was only the sudden sensation of vertigo and weightlessness that enveloped them, similar yet different to the one they were used to with Aincrad's Teleport Gates, what stopped him from demanding more details.

When everyone recovered control of their senses, they were standing on a small and grassy hill overlooking an impossible forest, a land so beautiful that it seemed otherworldly expanding as far as their eyes could see, TWO setting suns about to sink in the horizon of a crystalline-blue ocean.

And in the same moment they put a foot in there, the Ruler of the World knew they had arrived.

0000000000000000

On Avalon's Throne Room, Equinox's beautiful visage could be seen sitting on her throne, eyes closed as her white hair moved under the breeze that came through the castle's massive windows.

Silently waiting while doing nothing, her three daughters stood in the same room. Or at least two of them, as Andvari was only present through one of her standard mechanic avatars, which stood like an unshakable guardian over Eve, the smallest AI sitting against one of her metallic feet and staring emotionlessly towards a wall. A mask-less Brynhildr was pacing from side to side in silence, mumbling things to herself as she idly caressed her bat time and time again, almost in a compulsive way.

Suddenly and without warning, the virtual entity's eyes shot open, the heterochromatic orbs of amber and emerald narrowing despite her not moving an inch. Not even needing her to speak a word, the 3 ex-MHCPs were already moving, getting closer to the throne to await for what their mother had to tell them.

"It seems those fools have decided to come and uselessly try to stop us from achieving our objective. Father has broken through our new security by having that pathetic copy of my original-self backing him up." closing her eyes again, the white-haired Super AI actually seemed annoyed at the current situation. "Ugh…I'm employing all the processing systems of the server that don't maintain Utopia to activate the Network, and I still need time. I can't afford to move against them myself without delaying the process by a dangerous amount of time."

"What should we do then, Mother?" asked Andvari's avatar with the usual mechanized voice, though Equinox was able to detect a slightly eager edge to it. Idly, she was able to see a similar though much more dangerous and hungry look on Brynhildr's eyes.

Eve's face remained as emotionless as ever, though.

"…go and stop them. I don't care what or how you do, I don't care if you have to break them until they Disconnect or if you have to eliminate the traitors and the virtual humans in the cruelest way possible, just do it." coldly declared the virtual entity while once again letting her consciousness start slipping from her avatar and into the deepest part of her Servers, to speed up the process as much as she could. "We can't afford to risk our goal at this point."

"As you wish, Mother!" growled the oldest-looking of the three as her demonic mask materialized, an angry and hateful look already filling her eyes.

"Your Will Shall Be Done." emotionlessly intoned the massive mechanic human, even as her user quickly looked over the very few spares she had left, preparing herself to unleash her trump card.

"…let's go avenge Vierge-neesama." was the surprising and emotionless declaration that came from the youngest-looking of the trio, even as she reached silently towards a small bluish backpack lying against the nearby wall.

It was empty, as there was no one left to dedicate time to build the 'toys' their 'older sister' had used, but it was something that Eve found symbolic and necessary.

Without another word, the mechanic avatar of Andvari let her two sisters to jump into her massive hands before turning around and speeding out of the room at inhuman speeds, taking flight the moment it was out of the castle.

But as her consciousness fully left her body, Equinox couldn't help but wonder what was that small feeling of regret that filled the more human part of her Code.

Then, she was one with the ongoing process of merging with the Seed-Born Worlds and all those thoughts vanished from her 'mind'.

-99,8%…-

Just a little more now, till nothing could stop her…

0000000000000000

As they rushed through the forest, Philia couldn't help but glance towards Strea and Yuuki as they ran at her sides, the former with an uncanny serious look on her face and the latter with a clearly worried one, which the Ronin knew her own face mirrored a bit.

Even if the plan they had decided on was sound and logical, it didn't make the Spriggan girl feel any better about having them having to separate the group in a potentially dangerous place. Every second that passed by, the katana-user feared that one of her friends would be getting hurt or facing an even more dangerous threat than they had…

"…there is someone up ahead." softly muttered Yuuki with a sharp voice, getting Philia out of her recollections and making both her and Strea to look forward before their eyes widened and they all jumped to the sides, almost crashing against the nearby trees.

And not a moment too soon, because a familiar (For two of them) figure in armor and a demonic mask slammed her bat against the ground with brutal force, sending dirt flying everywhere as the earth cracked and making even some of the trees collapse just from the sheer power behind the swing.

The three girls quickly stood up, but were unable to hide a surprised wince, the Imp and the Gnome even more than the Spriggan, at the sudden and sharp pain they had felt at rolling through the ground after their jumps were received with a dirt-shower.

"Brynhildr…" whispered Strea as she stared towards the standing figure, who glared at her with hate from behind her mask.

"Hello, 002. I must say, I'm glad I was the one who found you." as she spoke, Brynhildr slowly raised her hammer as the menacing aura they had seen in ALO manifested around her. "Just vanishing into oblivion when Mother took over wouldn't be punishment enough for a traitor like you. In memory of my fallen sister, I will break you apart until nothing is left of you."

"…I never wished for that to happen." muttered the Gnome with a sad voice, even as her grip over Gram tightened. "If Equinox hadn't ordered you all to follow along with this madness, then Ivy wouldn't have…!"

"HER NAME WAS VIERGE, YOU TRASH!" roared the demon-masked AI as she moved with a speed that surpassed all limits, her bat coming down and slamming into Strea's hastily raised defense, which didn't stop the girl from being sent flying through a tree, her scream of pain echoing through the forest. "AND I WILL MAKE SURE THAT YOU DON'T FORGET IT AS YOU SCREAM FOR…!"

Brynhildr was unable to finish her threat, as she had to spin around in time to block Yuuki's deadly-fast swing, golden light clashing against the corrupted aura as the Imp girl tried to push the absurdly strong AI away.

"Damn it…you're strong!"

"Took you that much to notice it, you abomination?!" growled the demon-masked AI while pushing her opponent back, a raging glint on her eyes. "I will make you wish you never cheated death by turning your mind in data, you…!"

"Zantetsuken."

Dozens of trees were perfectly cut at the sound of Philia's words, the edge of her blade seemingly slashing everything away as the area was turned into a makeshift clearing. Brynhildr, however, had somehow managed to twist her bat and put it on the way at the last second, only causing sparks to fly as she was sent skidding back, leaving quite a nasty scar on the earth.

Then a darkness-covered Strea slammed her blade against her unprotected back, the AIs eyes widening as she was sent careening through the air and against a nearby tree, breaking it even as she felt her body growing cold and unable to move.

"Well, will you look at that? It seems Darkness Blade can still inflict some nasty things even in this world." whispered the Gnome as she glared towards the unmoving form of the demon-masked girl, her two friends closing to her side with her weapons ready. "Please, stop this, Haru…no, Brynhildr, if you really prefer it. We don't want to hurt you, just stop this madness."

"…hurt…me?" came the strangled voice of Brynhildr before the three girls' eyes widened and they took a step back as the AI stood up, glaring at them hatefully even as her corrupted aura grew and her grip on her bat tightened. "You…can't…hurt me! I only…grow stronger the more…I fight…!"

"She's coming!" shouted Yuuki as the trio once again was forced to dodge as fast as they could, even as the earth was once again splintered and the winds howled as the demonic bat swung past them. "Ugh…let's hope the others are having better luck!"

"Fools!" snarled the demon-masked girl as she stared towards her enemies, hunching over in an almost animal way. "My sisters…already are…intercepting them!"

True to her words, in that same moment Tonky's hurried form was doing an almost impossible number of maneuvers and dodges in the air, sending lighting the best it could towards the mechanic humanoid that flew after them and unleashed seemingly lasers and bullets, aiming to destroy the flying beast.

His riders seeming to not be willing to accept that, though, as a hail of shurikens flew in that moment from the elephant-jellyfish's back, quickly receiving some kind of 'lightning' attack that covered them with electricity, forcing Andvari's avatar to doge out of the way to evade being seriously damaged or destroyed.

"Damn, that thing is fast!" cursed Silica as she did her best to say atop Tonky without falling, Pina at her side and readying to use another Lighting Breath if needed. "I don't think our combinations are going to work with it as long as we stay in the air…Tonky-san, we need to arrive to the meeting point, fast!"

"You Won't Reach Avalon!" proclaimed the robotic being before unleashing a barrage of missiles upon the shocked kunoichi, the last of her heavy weaponry. "Disappear For Having Invaded Our Home!"

The Caith Sith and her dragon friend saw the incoming projectiles about to reach them as their mount and friend tried to lost them…and a tree was hurled from the ground towards them as if it was a rock being thrown by a kid, crashing against the missiles and causing a massive explosion to cover the air.

Andvari was still trying to recover from the shock when a golden hammer hit her avatar's 'head' with explosive force, making the mechanic humanoid lost control and crash down against the ground with brutal force.

"…well, I will be dammed, that worked." muttered a lighting-surrounded Lisbeth as she stared to the sky, grinning all the way as she rushed at uncanny speeds through the edge of the forest. "Guess I'm lucky throwing things is way easier to do with such brutal power than straight out fighting…"

"Liz-san!" came Silica's voice as Tonky descended from the sky, the pigtailed girl smiling as she jumped down and smiled to her friend. "You were awesome! The timing couldn't have been more perfect!"

"Heh, yeah, well, got to protect my best friend's back, right?" grinned the blacksmith while patting the Caith Sith's shoulder…and sending her to the ground with an 'Ouch!' as she did so. "A-ah, shit, sorry, my bad! I forgot how strong I'm like this and…!"

"Damn…Humans…I Will…End You…" quickly, both girls were back to their feet and in a fighting stance as they saw Andvari's broken avatar crush down trees as it emerged from the forests, the only remaining 'eye' of the original 3 red dots it had on its smashed head seemingly glaring at them, the handle of Mjolnir still sticking out from the side. "Mother's Will…Shall…!"

"Come back to me, Mjolnir!" shouted Lisbeth while dramatically raising her hand, making the mechanic humanoid freeze and quickly move one of its massive hands towards its head, ready to block the hammer…only for a shining Fuuma Shuriken to crash against its chest, wreck its inside and explode right out of its back, the frozen body of metal falling forward with a loud thud. "…well, that happened."

"…I can't believe she really fell for THAT." muttered a disbelieving kunoichi while once again catching her massive weapon, she and her friend staring towards the broken mess that remained of Andvari's avatar, even as the aura of Thor's Soul left the Leprechaun. "Heh, as if you really could magically call your hammer back to you!"

"Man, you don't know how cool and useful that would actually be…" mused the blacksmith while walking forward and extracting her hammer from the destroyed robot's head, before staring down towards its still shining dot-eye. "So…you're the one with the 'powers' of that Metal Knight guy, eh? I'm sorry to say it, girl, but at the end of the day, you're nothing more than a glorified puppeteer." as she said this, the pink-haired girl slammed her hammer against her shield, even as Pina 'cooed' and Silica smiled behind her. "There is no way that someone like you who hides like a rat can surpass us that have always been fighting together on the front from the very beginning!"

"…You Are…Right." came the broken and mechanic voice of the virtual machine before it stopped working, shattering into polygons before the surprised/confused duo.

And that was when the earth started to shake.

"What the…?!"

"Liz-san, what's going…?!"

"KYUU!" shrieked Pina while looking upwards, making the two friends turn their gazes in that direction just to see a massive thing fall down from the heavens before them, both screaming as the shockwave sent them flying and crashing into the ground, pain shaking their minds as they tried to stand again.

"Therefore…I will destroy you all with my own hands. By using my greatest creation." softly spoke Andvari as the mechanical colossus stared down at the two girls, almost 15 meters tall and looking like some sort of wingless humanoid dragon, heavy artillery on its back and three massive dot-like red eyes over the reptilian head of metal that loomed over the shocked forms of Lisbeth and Silica as its tail slammed down on the ground, shaking the area once again. "Here I am, humans. To be able to operate the Tyrant Knight Sigma I have to interface directly with it from the inside…" as her words continued coming down, the childish AI stared through her greatest creation's eyes even as she floated in a void-like space, countless holo-screens surrounding her as data-cables connected her body to each of them. "So…do you still think you're better than me?"

Before either of the heroines had time to answer, a massive amount of energy gathered on the mechanic tyrant's mouth and was fired upon them.

The massive explosion that engulfed the area was visible even near the sea, towards where an overcharged Charon was taking Sinon, Argo and Sachi, who turned around in shock at seeing the massive blast that shook the land.

"The hell was that?!" shouted the info-broker while trying to look through the smoke that had risen.

"I don't know, but that's close to where Silica and Lisbeth were supposed to go!" spoke a worried Sachi while biting her lips, before squinting her gaze behind her strange sunglasses. "Wait…is that a giant robot?!"

"Goddammit all, of course something like that would happen!" cursed Sinon before looking towards her mount and pointing towards that area, making the hippogriff nod and start turning back. "To hell with the plan, we're going to go and see if they need…!"

Charon suddenly froze, as if someone had cast a freezing spell on him, and stopped beating his wings, falling down towards the coast.

The girls were lucky of having been flying low because the beast had been carrying more than it could, so they only had to deal with a nasty but not too painful crashing against the sea.

Silently standing on the shore, Eve's emotionless eyes were fixed upon the point where the three girls had crashed, calmly letting the waves lick her feet as she simply stood there.

"I wasn't hoping to catch more than just the beast at once, but I guess I should have expected none of you would be looking towards the ground as you flew." idly commented the childish-looking AI while walking closer to the water, her unblinking gaze never leaving the calm sea. "Now then, I wonder how long you will take to come out and fall into my…?"

An arrow coming at supersonic speeds towards her head should have been the end of the silver child, but the sand suddenly rising and hardening like a wall stopped this. Even if she had succeeded in protecting herself, the shock was clearly imprinted on her face. One second later, two figures jumped out of the water and landed near her, claws and spear at the ready.

"Ugh…remind me to never do something like that again…ever."

"Will do, Argo. Now, let's take care of her."

"Girls, watch out!" shouted Sinon from the distance, half-hidden in the water as she nocked another arrow from her bow. "The sand suddenly came up to protect her when I shot before!"

With the effect of the sudden attack still evident, Eve stared towards Argo and Sachi, who were standing against her…with their eyes closed, though their stances didn't seem to contain even the slightest hesitation despite this.

It all clicked on her mind very fast, even as the realization filled her normally emotionless self with a burning feeling of anger and fear.

Two Caith Siths, one expert at long-range and making sure of not making eye-contact by staying half-submerged in the shore's water, and the user of Infinite Spear, which didn't really need much precision to hit a single and not very fast enemy.

A team specially designed to counter her. If it wasn't for the small 'blessing' that Mother had given her to make sure Utopia rose to protect its physically weakest inhabitant, as it had become a necessity after what happened to Vierge, she would have been dead already. Even more, if this had happened here, then…

Quickly using her connection with her sisters to see through their eyes, the childish-looking AI realized how the teams the faced had been designed specifically to fight each of them based upon some basic logic (Even if it was clear Andvari's Trump Card had caught her enemies off guard), but even more so…

"Where are the rest of you?!" demanded the shaking silver girl while clenching her tiny fists, realization fully hitting her as her head snapped towards Avalon, the flying island not far in the distance. "No…Damn you to the void, Grandfather."

Then, Eve had no more time to curse Kayaba anymore, for a vicious info-broker and a determined spear-user had decided to take advantage of her words to try and attack her blindly. The whistling sound of another incoming arrow, even as the sand rose around the AI to protect her once more, was all that the little girl needed to know that she had the absolute disadvantage now.

Meanwhile, floating just over the edge of the floating island called Avalon, Asuna and Leafa couldn't help but look back with worry, especially towards the massive black cloud that covered the area near the inner edge of the forest.

Having landed some seconds ago, Heathcliff turned around to watch them descending, even as Keita, Ducker, Sasamaru and Tetsuo stood around them in formation, weapons at the ready as they stared at the massive plains with some small hills and woods, as if waiting for an army or something like that to charge against them.

Of course, besides the massive white castle standing on the center of the island, nothing except some harmless-looking animals seemed to be around.

"Thanks for the ride, Yui. The plan worked perfectly." stated the fake paladin once the black-haired AI finished taking the last of them to the island, worry filling her eyes as she also looked back. "I'm just glad Equinox not only created this world using the Seed but also didn't bother to change the most basic of its systems. If your Gravity-Controlling Privilege had been removed then we would have had to rely on the most dangerous backup plans…"

"…do you think everyone is okay?" questioned Asuna while biting her lips, staring towards the not-longer-as-peaceful land of Utopia, knowing her friends were engaged in perhaps the most dangerous fights of their lives down there. "We should be over there, fighting with them…"

"I already told you many times, we need both of you here. Straight out, you're arguably the strongest members of this group, and if we have to face Equinox's avatar before I can reach the Main Console then you're the only ones that have any hopes of facing her."

"But are you sure about this?" asked Leafa as she tightened her grip on Justice's handle. "That you can hack directly into her Code and allow us to defeat her?"

"It's all based on calculations, as I told you before, but so far everything I predicted seems to be going more or less right. As such, Equinox is still too busy trying to finish setting up the Global Connection. She's also most likely putting every single piece of processing power she can afford from this Server to the task. Her Code will never be more vulnerable than now." clenching his fists, Heathcliff looked straight up towards the castle, determination filling the man's eyes. "No matter what, even if I have to perish today, I will at least make sure my wayward 'daughter' goes down with me."

"…well, you heard the weirdo, lady-bosses. We need to move." half-joked Keita while giving them a smile, pointing ahead with his battle-staff. "Let's go, we will make sure to cover you."

"Hell yeah!" added Ducker with a confident look.

"Till the very end!" shouted Tetsuo as he slammed his mace against his shield.

"We're going to finish this once and for all!" declared Sasamaru while pointing forward.

"Guys…" muttered Asuna with a touched look, before nodding fiercely as she unsheathed the blades on her back. "Okay then, let's go and kick the ass of that face-stealing bitch! C'mon, Yui-chan, we got to…!"

"…I'm going back." announced Yui to everyone's surprise, even as she started to float away. "Sorry Mamas, everyone, but…I'm really worried about that explosion form before, and my powers could be an edge needed to make sure no one gets hurt! Ple-please, be safe!"

And before anyone could say anything to stop her, the original MHCP shot down towards the earth, as fast as gravity could take her. A couple seconds of silence passed before Leafa released some soft chuckles and a warm smile appeared on her face as she stared after her.

"Heh, she really is Onii-chan's 'daughter', in more ways than one." simply said the blonde Sylph before turning around and rushing towards the castle, the rest following shortly after. "Okay…time for the final battle. Let's give our best, Justice!"

'…'

"…Justice?"

'O-oh, sorry Master! I was just, uhm…a bit distracted, don't worry.'

Despite frowning slightly at the strange declaration, the katana-user forced herself to turn her attention back to the imposing form of Avalon's Castle, especially when Asuna ran past her with an extremely serious look.

Both of them knew that the outcome of this fight would decide something bigger than anything they had ever imagined…

0000000000000000

Tokyo had become quite a sight for anyone who happened to bother looking around instead of trying to get out of the city. Which, given that the authorities were trying to make an organized evacuation until the problem was dealt with, was almost no one, to be honest.

Of course, despite the best efforts of the police to try and make sure everything went smoothly, it was impossible to fight against human nature. While most of the people were trying to do their best to just go along and get out of the 'hacked' city, more than one had either fallen prey to the panic or tried to take advantage of the situation.

Something that could be clearly seen in a man standing outside the broken glass of an electronics' store, quickly putting a portable PC atop several other clearly expensive devices and nodding to himself with a satisfied grin.

"Hell yes! Today sure is my lucky day! Heh, everyone running away are fools, as if anyone was going to die by a hacker's attack." laughed the robber while looking around at the nearly deserted streets, the few people still heading outside the city either not paying him any attention or ignoring him entirely, clearly not wanting to get into a mess when they had their own problems. "Now I just have to get this to my house and calmly wait until…"

That was as far as the man went before his eyes widened at the sudden sound of skidding wheels just behind him, making him turn around…in time for the flying fist of a caped teenager to meet his face, the robber's body crashing against the ground with a dry 'Thud'.

The few persons still in the area gapped in shock and awe as the scarf-wearing figure of the 'Caped Sidekick' rose, the living urban legend looking down at the unconscious man with a mix of annoyance and resignation even as the bicycle he had been riding was caught by one of his hands, somehow having kept going even after he JUMPED from it (And more than one of the more hardcore followers of the 'rumors' wondered where the 'heroine' he usually rode at the side of was.

"Please, would someone be kind enough to alert the authorities about this guy? I would usually do it myself, but the current situation and urgent matters prevent me from doing so." stated the black-haired boy while his cape flapped at a sudden gust of wind, which was quickly accompanied by a sudden ringing of the bicycle's bell. "And that's my cue to keep moving. Have a good day."

It would still take some minutes before the more than shocked onlookers started trying to contact one of the few remaining police vehicles that were going around the city and warning everyone that they would be safer evacuating. Also, at least two of them were once again thankful of having been late paying their phone bills that month, for that meant they hadn't been hacked, not being connected to the network, and let them take a few slightly out of frame pictures of the vigilante before he vanished through a smaller street.

Ignoring whatever the hell the bicycle he was riding was trying to tell him (Mainly because he wasn't even sure of how to interpret it), Kazuto contained a sigh of annoyance before focusing once more on the task at hand.

Coming all the way into the city had been difficult enough, especially when he saw that the main roads were flooded by people trying to get out of the city and police officers trying to keep things under control. However, that had also allowed him to sneak around while pretending to be lost at some point and just outright rush out of the road at others. Then, once he had managed to get out of side just outside the city, he had put on his 'costume' and decided to just ride the rest of the way at full speed, consequences be dammed, deciding that it would matter little in the long run if anyone saw the 'Caped Sidekick' riding around on the Bicycle Girl's vehicle and that it would also allow him to not get pestered in the way.

He had not really been thinking about encountering petty criminals trying to take advantage of the situation, though. Neither his inability to ignore such things and just rushing to stop them. Clearly, he had underestimated how much 'playing Hero for fun' had affected him with the years.

Of course, Justice was clearly not pleased with the delay. Or maybe it was annoyed he hadn't been hurt or something while doing it? Honestly, the caped boy wasn't sure, nor he did care that much for it. Once again, he was forced to remind himself he was in a race against the clock…and that the whole trip could be nothing more than him wasting time on a false lead.

If he was right about that, then maybe helping the few people in Tokyo that needed it in the middle of this crisis directly caused by Equinox's actions would be the best. But if there was even the smallest chance that his crazy fantasy could work…

The weight of his old Nerve Gear inside the sports bag he was carrying reassured the gamer once again, making him take a deep breath before riding on, heading towards the part of the city where he knew the warehouses where, if his deductions had been correct, the physical hardware of the Utopia Server should be.

Time to see if his controlled madness actually let him help everyone…

000000000000000