Chapter 28: War of Ragnarok (1)! The Fairies' Ultimate Twilight…

February 13th, 2026. Yggdrasil City, Alfheim. Union Building, 14:30…

It had been a bit over an hour since the explanations were given and, surprisingly for some, Kirito managed to get the full support of the Fairy Lords (Even if one was reluctant) for the upcoming 'Alfheim's Defense Battle'. After that, Argo had helped the gathered Leaders of the Races to create an 'excuse' to break the news about it to the Players and ask for their help, given that simply tell them the whole 'Crazy AI wanting to take over the Virtual World'-thing would create more trouble and mass-panic than anything else.

As such, they had finally decided to ask for the Players to simply be alert for 'a surprise worldwide battle-event' that could happen at any moment that day. While they knew skepticism and suspicion would raise among most of the gaming populace, especially those who knew how weird and strange was for something like this to happen without any previous warning from the Administrators of Ymir, they hoped that enough of them would still be around and ready for when the supposed attack happened.

Currently, the members of the United Heroes Associations that had gone to the 'gathering' were still there with the Lords, either planning or discussing possible battle plans or how to establish specific defenses around key points of the Fairy World, like Alne or perhaps the Race's capitals. Of course, this meant that some of them didn't really have much to do in there.

Namely, Strea, Yui and Leafa weren't exactly the kind of people to participate in such conversations. The virtual sisters though had found how to occupy themselves by making conversation with the Navigation Pixie, Fidget, much to Tazal's curiosity and slight confusion. However, that left the blonde Sylph with pretty much nothing to do.

Certainly, she had talked a bit with Sakuya to catch up on some things, and even exchanged a few words with Recon (Though she had to contain herself from hitting the overenthusiastic boy, who acted as if they hadn't seen each other just the other day in school), but now she was hanging back slightly puzzled while watching everyone interacting, slightly awed by how easily Asuna and Argo seemed to get into this kind of 'battle preparations'-talk (Probably thanks to their experience with SAO), and even Yuuki got into this with her own quite sharp observations and especially wide view of things, having been in so many different virtual worlds and seen a variety of battles. She, however, wasn't that much for that kind of thing. While the katana-user certainly wasn't stupid by any meaning of the word (And her grades were, in fact, slightly above average in school), she was a very straightforward person when it came to fighting.

Ask her to defeat an opponent or accomplish an objective? No problem, she would come up with a great strategy and do her best to win, either by herself or relying on her comrades. But if you asked for her input in great-scale operations or war-like scenarios…?

Well, there was a reason why Asuna was the second in command of their guild, and Keita after her (And Argo probably at the same level, though she usually preferred to not be under 'the spotlight). To put it bluntly, most of them, despite how seamlessly they could work together nowadays, royally sucked at making any battle-plan that was more complicated than 'attack until there is nothing left of your enemies'.

Idly, Leafa let her gaze wander over to where Kirito was, speaking with OverLord, OMG, and Mortimer at the same time (Though it was them who did most of the talk) and felt a sympathetic smile appear on her face. Even if he tried to hide it with his 'Saitama-face', it was pretty clear for her that her adopted brother/boyfriend felt as out of place there as she did. While he was not an idiot either (Except for some 'things'), he had grown too used to solving any battle-related problems by punching them to oblivion over the years, and as such, he sucked royally in making any kind of complicated strategy. The difference, though, was that he was seen as an 'icon', due to being the leader of the UHA and the one that had spoken to everyone during the meeting, so he was expected to participate fully in this, and as such couldn't quietly hang back like her. In a way, the gamer had it worse than the blonde Sylph in this situation.

"…master?" suddenly came an unexpected but familiar voice on the katana-user's mind, getting her out of her thoughts about the caped Spriggan's situation. "I…we need to talk."

"Justice?" asked back Leafa on her mind (So as to avoid having anyone label her crazy by seemingly talking to herself), genuinely surprised. "Uhm, okay, I don't mind, but…is something wrong? I mean, since the swordsmanship tournament you have barely spoken to me here, and you're silent most of the time in our patrols…"

"Yeah, well…that's also related to this." accepted the sword with what the blonde Sylph identified as shame and guilt on her voice, much to her confusion. "You see, I…I have kept something very important a secret from you, Master, bu-but I know you may need it in the upcoming conflict, and everything has been so sudden tha-that I have realized I was stupid by hiding it from you, as you know have no experience with it, bu-but I just wanted to…!"

"Woah, wait, Justice, calm down!" pleaded the katana-user while grasping the hilt of her weapon, a confused frown on her face. "What do you mean you have been hiding something from…?"

That was when the 'ringing sound' started, making everyone freeze and quickly grab their ears, most of them even screaming as it grew in intensity and their knees failed them.

The only one that did not fall and just let his gaze snap to the side was, to no one's surprise, Kirito, the boy's eyes narrowing before he rushed to Asuna's side in an instant and helped her to her feet, doing the same with his adoptive sister at the next second.

"Sen-sensei, is this…?!"

"Onii-chan…!"

"Yeah, there is doubt…" whispered the gamer as he quickly rushed to help everyone that had fallen down, his eyes narrowed. "It has begun."

With a sound that almost seemed to make ALO's Cardinal System scream in pain, virtual reality was ripped open, letting the armies of destruction march forward.

The Destroyers were there. The battle had been announced.

Ragnarok had begun.

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While Japanese mythology wasn't one of the most famous or known around the world, it was certainly one of the most complex ones. The sheer amount of myths and legends, Gods, spirits from the folklore that filled the Land of the Rising Sun was absolutely astounding, and its culture hadn't been lost in the slightest despite how much technology had developed over the last decades, even if it wasn't as strong as before.

Of course, there was literally not a single soul in the country that didn't know about the oldest of these legends, the 'Creation of Japan'. About how the two Elder Gods, Izanagi and Izanami, created the first land and make that island their home. For doing this, they used a single divine instrument of untold power. A spear.

Amenonuhoko (Heavenly Jeweled Spear).

While Sachi was sure the weapon in her hands didn't have the power to make a country rise from the seas, she could definitively feel the incredible strength it possessed as she crash-landed in one of the main streets of Starting City, many of the retreating players nearby staring at her with shock.

Raising her gaze together with her imposingly long spear as her wings closed, the sun seemed to reflect off the Salamander's triangle-shaped sunglasses when she pointed with it to the heavens, as if she was ignoring the charging Einherjar that came her way.

"Listen up, you crazy weirdo-armor things! I'm Sachi of the United Heroes Association, wielder of the Spear of the Heavens! And I won't allow you to destroy Alfheim!" proclaimed the spear-user while her weapon shone as she charged one of her most trusted Skills. "MOONLIGHT SWEEP!"

As the weapon's shining aura extended and, literally, swept all the armored beings off their feet and caused grievous damage to them, Sachi let a determined look appear on her face.

It was time to be Heroes again.

Near the main gate through which the thick of the army had tried to breach into the city, a good chunk of Players were trying their best to keep most of the Einherjar at bay and outside of it, probably realizing the tactical value of the town's great walls to try and keep the enemy busy, not to mention the obvious flying advantage they had over them.

It was in the midst of this that Tonky flew over, the figures on his back jumping off and readying their weapons as they prepared themselves for battle, Charon's form flying after the elephant-jellyfish as his rider readied her new bow, nocking two arrows at the same time.

"Twin Hurricane!" shouted Sinon as she released her projectiles, which quickly shot through the air while enveloped in a bluish aura, the Archery Skill making them spin one over the other as they pierced several enemies, though many wised up enough to jump out of the way after the first dozen were hit. "Kuh, what's with these guys?! It's as if they were…!"

"Learning as they fight?!" shouted-asked Philia as she unleashed an 'Okami no Kiba' Skill, cutting down one of the unholy resistant beings, but not without taking a nasty hit of his blade to the shoulder, decreasing her HP. "I think you may be right, somehow! It's as if the fighting style of these things changed with every single one we destroy!"

"Maybe…maybe they are." ominously commented Heathcliff as he spun around, shield raised to stop a charge and sword spinning to cut through the Einherjar trying to bring him down. "If Equinox somehow found a way to program them with an interconnected algorithm that lets them memorize their enemies' fighting-patterns, and all of this gets uploaded to a specific network…Gah!"

"Hey, don't you dare to die on us here!" suddenly screamed Keita as he rushed forward, his battle-staff crashing with a deadly blow on the 'head' of the enemy that had managed to bring down the fake paladin and had almost aimed to pierce his heart. "You're not going to die so easily without fucking helping us to solve this mess, Kayaba! What happened to the guy who singlehandedly beat us all in Floor 75?! Did losing Holy Sword make you so weak?!"

"…thanks for screaming in my face, Keita-kun, but I should remind you that most of my skill came from my knowledge…" softly muttered the crimson-armored man as he quickly stood up and seemingly rushed to impale the wide-eyed boy…only for his sword to deflect an axe that almost impaled his head, throwing the Einherjar back and then cutting off his arm, which shattered into polygons. "And my own data has been loaded in these things. They're unlike any Mob of a game. These things are designed to destroy and annihilate. I'm probably the most useless 'Player' against them right now."

"Well…isn't that just great?!" growled Ducker while slamming his dagger on the armless Einherjar, making the armored creature to release an inhuman sound and break into nothingness, the dagger-user's eyes flickering to the ongoing battle and how several Remain Flames already filled the street as the army of emotionless armored beings pushed the Players back. "These things…how can we even hope to stop them?! It's as if each one of them was as strong as 10 people!"

"We can't give up. This fight…this battle…it's too important for too many people." came Siune's voice as the Undine landed between them, raising her Branch of Yggdrasil as she casted a spell, the characters of the fairy language gathering around her in masse before a bright bluish-white light covered the area, turning the Remain Flames back into Players, who shakily stood up. "We're not doing this just for us…"

"…but for everyone else." finished the ex-guild leader while standing up, looking from her to Kayaba and finally to Ducker, nodding grimly as he tightly grasped his weapon, his eyes moving towards where Philia and Sinon were trying to hold back the main line of enemies. "You heard her. Let's go there and kick all their asses, Hero-style…except for you, Kayaba."

"…thanks for being so considerate." dryly commented Heathcliff as they charged forward.

"Kuh…Ares Sword!" shouted Lisbeth while being enveloped in the reddish aura of the War God, throwing off the Einherjar that had pinned her to the ground and raising hell upon them with Mjolnir, the hammer's thunder blowing off more than one now that her Strength had doubled. "Agh…these things are endless! And they don't act as anything we have fought before, they just…!"

"Keep charging. They don't care about the pain or the attacks, they ignore everything even if they lose a limb or more…" analyzed Silica as Pina unleashed a Fire Breath above her, using her kunai to finish off a weakened Einherjar. "They're like…soulless machines of war."

In a way, one could say the SAO Survivors had 'real' battle experience because the Mobs that inhabited Aincrad in the Death Game had been made to be as 'real-like' as possible. Both their reactions and approach towards fighting the Players were made to be realistic, with them flinching upon strong enough attacks or changing targets if they detected a threat bigger than the one they were facing. Mobs and Bosses of present VRMMO's were like that too.

The Einherjar weren't. They kept attacking without flinching, hacking, slashing, impaling and crushing anyone who got in their way without 'mercy', or more exactly as if they didn't exist for anything else. No matter how much someone attacked them or knocked them back, even disarming or cutting off their limbs didn't seem to affect them: The soulless beings would just stand up again and continue fighting immediately, some even resorting to kicking, punching or even crawling over the Players until their HP ran out.

Like the young Caith Sith had said, it was like trying to fight never-tiring machines.

"Then what do we do?!" questioned Sasamaru while fending off one of the Einherjar trying to backstab a careless random Sylph, who quickly helped him to finish the armored monster in return. "At this rate, they're going to overrun Starting City!"

"I don't think…there is much more we can do!" growled Tetsuo while slamming his mace against the shield of an enemy, the creature roaring and throwing him back only to be skewered by the spells of a couple of Imps behind him. "This…this is too big for us…"

At that moment, as if to give him the reason, Lisbeth's Divine Aura vanished, heavily reducing her Strength and leaving her essentially useless to deal damage for a long while.

"…is that really what you think, Tetsuo?" questioned the pink-haired blacksmith with a suddenly grave voice, surprising many around her. "After all we have gone through, are we just supposed to give up here just because things look difficult?"

"Liz…"

"When Kayaba cut me down back in Floor 75…when all of that darkness surrounded me and I was sure I was going to die, unable to feel anything but fear…I had already given up on everything. And then Asuna brought me back with just a second to spare." suddenly, spark started to cover the Leprechaun's God Hand, making the Players around to look at it in shock. "After that…and after what we saw Kirito do that day…I swore to myself I would never again do so. That I would never give up again…even if everything seems lost!"

"Wha-what's going on?!" shouted a confused Sinon while staring wide-eyed at the electric-aura that was engulfing Lisbeth's arm. "Liz, your…!"

"Did you know, that Mjolnir has a special effect?" suddenly interrupted the blacksmith while walking forward, a determined look on her face. "It's not as fancy as Gram's Ethereal Shift, but it's still useful sometimes…it nullifies and reverses Debuffs when I activate it, plus nullifying the cooldown of any spells or skills one uses. Pretty nice, even if it only lasts for 10 seconds and has to be used in a very specific way…but, after seeing Asuna tie with Yuuki in the Tournament, I wondered…can I take it further beyond?" As the words came out from the Leprechaun's mouth, she slowly raised her divine arm to the heavens, the golden hammer tightly gripped in her hands. "Because, as you know…my Unique Skill is already pretty bizarre."

The roar of thunder echoed far away, seemingly giving the Einherjar pause for a second.

"Liz-san…you did it…" whispered Silica as she stared at her close friend with awe.

"Look at this, bastards! This is my Unique Skill! THOR'S SOUL!" screamed Lisbeth towards the heavens as a massive lightning bolt came down and hit Mjolnir head-on, sending a wave of electricity down the divine weapon and into God Hand, which quickly spread all over the pink-haired girl's body.

In an instant, the penalty inflicted by the use of 'Ares Sword' was reversed, '75% Reduction of STR' becoming '75% Bonus of STR' instead, the absurdly long time of the Debuff having become an absurdly powerful advantage. And the cooldown for the use of the Skill vanished altogether, leaving the Leprechaun free to use it again if so she wished, essentially nullifying the 'Not Stacking' prohibition of her God Hand as it wasn't being registered by the System as another Skill in use, but a 'Normal' Buff.

Such was the power of a Unique Original Sword Skill that shouldn't be able to exist in the first place, created by circumstances, a specific weapon and an unwavering Will to surpass oneself, to create a power that could be called unfair at best and terrifyingly overpowered at worst.

Because right at that moment, the girl called Lisbeth had shown why the newest 'weapons' she had given the others a while ago were so ungodly powerful. Because she had without a doubt used her 'Hephaestus Hammer' Skill, wasted one use and then reverted the Debuff with this 'UOSS', then using it again, going beyond her usual limit.

At that moment, the blacksmith had, if one could say so, Mastered the Power of the Gods.

The heads of all the armored beings around snapped towards the electricity-covered blacksmith as she stared forward, putting her arm in a very specific position.

"Zeus Blessing."

Golden-yellow aura exploded, engulfed with electricity this time.

The 'Double of all Parameters' had essentially been enhanced by having the STR of the girl already amplified in a 75%.

Lisbeth not so much attacked as she obliterated most of the Einherjar filling the southern gate of the Starting City, the Speed, Resistance, and Fury of the Gods filling her nimble body even as her Strength surpassed even that, lighting roaring around her as Mjolnir seemed to hit the air and break the very cores of the soulless enemies with each hit, shockwaves of lighting exploding everywhere.

The surrounding Players stared open-mouthed for a couple of seconds before raising their weapons and charging forward with loud battle cries, filled with renewed hope of winning the crazy and unexpected battle after seeing the blacksmith's heroic and nigh-impossible display.

Staring at the scene with their own shocked expressions, the members of the United Heroes Association blinked several times even as the rest of them that were there marched forward, the Sleeping Knights not far behind.

"Was that enough Hope for you, Tetsuo?" asked Keita even as Sachi ran past them screaming something before unleashing a 'Longinus' straight ahead, skewering several Einherjar and not stopping for a moment. "Because we still have some work to do."

"…yeah, you're right. Sorry about that, Keita." replied the mace-user while standing up, eyes narrowed. "Let's go. Kirito is counting on us."

"That's the spirit!" cheered Silica even as Philia smiled her way, the young Caith Sith raising her kunai. "Now let us show them how Heroes do this…!"

"WATCH OUT!" suddenly shouted Sinon from above them, eyes snapping towards the sniper in time to see her unsheathing her short katana and slashing an honest to God missile heading towards them, cutting it in half just 15 meters away.

Then both halves exploded, engulfing both her and her ride with a deafening sound, throwing back the gathered Heroes as they cried out in surprise. The next instant, the blue-haired girl crashed down near them with her HP on the red, even as her hippogriff familiar did the same several meters away, releasing some weak sounds as it tried to stand up again.

A massive metallic form crushing him stopped the beast from doing so, mercilessly stamping it on the ground before, without even looking his way, unleashing a beam of concentrated energy on its body, shattering it into polygons with a last roar of defiance.

Three 'eyes' shining with eerie red light, Andvari's metallic frame stared down at the heroes, machineguns deploying from its shoulders and starting to shoot mercilessly at the Players that stopped to stare dumbfounded at her massive form.

"CHARON!" screamed Sinon as she stood up, reaching for an arrow as she glared with absolute hate towards the Super AI…only for a beam of energy to cut straight through her, her body collapsing into a Remain Flame before the horrified looks of her friends, who were forced to duck for cover behind quickly-collapsing walls when the seemingly unstoppable machine of destruction continued her onslaught.

Without mercy, a cold and metallic voice echoed through the air.

"Eliminate All Targets…Mother's Will Be Fulfilled…"

"LIKE HELL!" came Lisbeth's answer as she used the last seconds of her Boost to slam a Variable Blow on the robot-like being's side, throwing it back through the air and against a wall with titanic force. "…c'mon, bastard…I can keep doing this all day."

Seemingly unimpressed, or maybe outright not caring, Andvari slowly stood up again, her 3 mechanic optic-sensors now fixed upon the blacksmith, even as the Divine Aura vanished from her body and left her in a pitifully weak state.

A missile shot from the AI's back. It didn't even reach a meter from her before a hail of shurikens blew it up, the explosion rendering her temporarily blinded.

And then an arrow shot through the air at supersonic speeds, slamming straight through one of her shoulder-mounted machineguns and making it explode, destabilizing her whole body. Ever so slowly, her no longer impaired inhuman gaze settled over a roof, where a just-resurrected and hate-filled Sinon was glaring at her, a pale Siune at her side.

Keita stood his ground even as the Sleeping Knights took formation around the silent mechanic abomination, Philia and Sachi at his sides as Silica and Pina stood over the gasping Lisbeth, also glaring with hate towards their common enemy. Not uttering a word, Heathcliff walked past them, shield raised as if to defend the ones that he had tried to end once upon a time.

"Go take care of those armor-things. Don't let them win." coldly muttered the ex-guild leader as he gripped his staff, crushing his own fear and replacing it with grim determination, the nearby Players looking at him and the others in shock even as Liz stood up and prepared to execute Thor's Soul once again. "We will take care of this one."

As if to answer his declaration, a hollow, ringing sound seemed to come from Andvari, even as her massive shoulder shook.

It was laughter. She was laughing.

"You Will Try. And Fail." was her cold and emotionless answer.

Sinon's hateful scream and what seemed like three arrows curving at impossible angles while shining with an orange color, all straight towards her, was her own answer.

Without fear, the former MHCP 006 engaged the Heroes.

Before this battle ended, she would make sure all their spirits were broken.

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Despite no longer being the Capital of Alfheim, Alne, at the base of the World Tree, was still an imposing and iconic place in the World of Fairies.

Even after almost half its populace migrated to Yggdrasil City up above after ALO was opened again and updated, the old capital still held a lot of value for many of the Players in this world. If one were to put it on statistics, of the over 100,000 people that played Alfheim Online, a bit over 30% lived in Alne before Yggdrasil City was made. Even if the percentage seemed small, given that the rest was divided among the 9 different Race Capitals (And in a very unbalanced way depending on which Race), it was probably the most populated area of the Fairy World.

And right now, even as its massive doors were closed (A special feature that no one had really ever understood since one could just fly over), an army of destruction that sought to end it and everything else on its way silently walked forward, like an unstoppable swarm of insects.

Watching this from the edge of Yggdrasil City high above, Kirito frowned even as the girls and the Fairy Lords stared too with mixed degrees of worry and/or shock, even as countless other players also ran to the edge and pointed downwards, many even jumping down and flying, to get a closer look or perhaps to join the battle that was about to ensue.

"If anyone still doubted you, Kirito-kun, I think this will have ended all of their doubts." dryly commented Seven with a notorious frown, her gaze moving from the army heading straight towards Alne to a small holo-screen at her side. "…things aren't good anywhere, it seems…"

"They're attacking everywhere. Every single capital is under attack, though the enemies there aren't anywhere near as many as here." quickly explained Argo while manipulating her menu, closing, opening and pushing away several screens and messages. "There must be at least 5000 of those things down there, maybe more. If Kayaba's estimation of them was correct then that's half of them. And it also seems that at least a thousand appeared on Aincrad's First Floor, but I can't get anyone in there to answer me…"

"Why attack everywhere at the same time if they're going to concentrate their forces here, though?" questioned OMG with narrowed eyes. "Why not put all their forces here?"

"They want to force ALO's Cardinal System to its limits. If they cause heavy damage all over Alfheim then it will have to spend more resources to try and restore what is being damaged, and as such become more vulnerable to an outside attack." spoke once again the Lady of the Pooka even as she opened her wings. "The fact that they have so many of their 'soldiers' here, though, means that they're planning to cause as much damage as they can to Yggdrasil, given that the World Tree is literally the center of the system…Sumeragi, we're going."

"Understood, Seven." nodded the Undine before jumping down after the little girl, not giving anyone any time to even stop them as they flew downwards, the staff-user manipulating her menu and probably giving instructions to anyone of her Race that was present in any of the two cities of the Tree.

"…young Seven has the right idea. We need to act." announced Sakuya while exchanging a quick glance with Alicia, the young woman nodding before flying back towards the city as she barked orders to all the nearby Players that were frozen watching, opening her own menu as she did so. "We can't do anything to protect our Capitals, but we can stop them from damaging the Word Tree if we gather our forces and direct all the Players here…"

"But doing that means abandoning our cities!" shouted Mortimer once he got out of his shock at seeing the army, the last part of him that still wasn't fully convinced of the Heroes' warning having been mercilessly crushed. "If those things are half as bad as they told us, then they may not leave even a single building standing!"

"What would you have us do then, Mortimer?" grimly asked OverLord while taking a step forward, his hand going over the skull-decorated great sword on his back. "We can't possibly rush back to organize a proper defense of our Capitals, we wouldn't even make it halfway back to anywhere before any fight was already over. None can."

"…none of 'us', you mean." muttered OMG while lazily spinning his trident, the Undine Lord's gaze moving towards the most notorious figure between them, the others doing the same. "He can."

"…would you really ask him to go and protect the rest of the cities when it's clear that we need him here?" despite the question, there seemed to be no real animosity on Rain's voice as she uttered those words, staring towards the trident-user.

"Well, he owes me one favor, right?" shrugged the man even as the other looked at him with surprise, a lazy smile appearing on his face as he saw Kirito turn to look at him. "So, you heard me, Superhero. I want you to go and make sure Alfheim stays in one piece."

"…Asuna." whispered the gamer after what seemed like an eternity of silence, but in truth had been only 2 seconds. "You're in charge."

"Hai, sensei." accepted the Dual Wielder without hesitation, no one amongst the gathered members of the UHA seeming to question that decision for even a moment while the caped Spriggan stared at them, getting worried but determined smiles in answer.

"Go already, Onii-chan." spoke Leafa the moment his gaze fell on her, Justice's Wings being unsheathed as she turned to stare down. "You're the only one who can make sure they don't seriously damage the rest of ALO while we hold them here."

"Yeah, Leafa-chan is right, Kirito!" cheered Strea as she readied Gram and pointed it downwards. "We will stop them until you come back!"

"We got this." firmly declared Yuuki while caressing Excaliber's hilt, smiling seriously at him. "You should know by now that we won't back down from this."

"It's not that I doubt any of you." answered the caped Spriggan while closing his fist. "In fact, I know better than anyone how capable you are. But…"

"Kii-bou, we have the biggest concentration of Players in the game right here and now, with probably the most skilled among them. Not to mention we have all Fairy Lords here. We have probably the best chance in all of ALO to actually face and beat those bastards." Argo's words were fast and precise, putting out all of her determination and her most 'Information Broker'-tone. "The rest of the capitals don't, and you're the only one who can realistically go and stop these things from razoring them to the ground. Which would probably damage Cardinal as much or more than if they manage to defeat us…which they won't. So please, do us all a favor and get your ass moving already!"

There was a faint moment of silence as everyone within hearing range blinked as they stared towards the panting Caith Sith, who refused to break eye-contact with Kirito. Then, he finally smiled and turned around, walking to the very edge of Yggdrasil City and crouching down.

"I will be back." were the gamer's last words before he JUMPED.

Everyone that hadn't known the boy for a long time hadn't opened their wings and levitated a bit off the ground, and as such were thrown back on their asses when the edge of the city's floor next to them cracked like cheap glass, a small part even falling down and breaking into polygons. On the distance, a black-white blur could be seen for a moment before vanishing into the horizon, towards Sylph territory.

"…well, I had heard how amazing the things he did were, but actually seeing it is something else." commented Rain before standing up, smiling and everyone and then rushing towards the edge, wings opening as she dived towards Alne and the just starting battle. "If you excuse me, I need to cover my little sister!"

"…heh, that boy will never cease to amaze me." chuckled Sakuya before turning around. "We need to gather our troops and prepare. We have a city to defend."

"I will start by heading to the frontline, then. After all, it seems our Heroic Friends are already doing so…" informed OverLord while looking forward with amusement, making the remaining Lords notice that, effectively, the girls from the Heroes Association had started to fly towards the gates of the lower city the moment their leader had vanished in the horizon. "Anyone wants to join me?"

"Hell yeah! I will back you up, creepy dude!" shouted Klein while raising his katana to the air. "I can't let Kirito and his girls outshine us today! Fuurinkazan will protect this world too! C'mon, Recon!"

"Ye-yes, I'm right behind you, Klein-san!" replied the young Sylph as he raised his dagger, jumping after his brave leader as they plunged towards the battle. "I will also show Leafa-chan how strong I have become!"

"…ah, what the hell, I'm going to regret it anyway, plus most of the Spriggans don't actually follow a 'leader' and would get pissed if they knew I didn't back up the friends of the only 'famous' member of our Race during the world's darkest hour or something like that." sighed Tazal while grabbing his halberd and looking down, his hidden eyes seeming to shine under his strange hat. "Lazy bastards…"

"You said that as if you weren't like that too." calmly pointed out the Navigation Pixie on his shoulder.

"Shut up, Fidget." was the man's answer before he also flew towards Alne and into the fight.

"…so, it seems we're going to have to be the ones to call for everyone up here to actually prepare for a fight." commented Diavel as he looked towards Sakuya, OMG, and Mortimer. "If we're planning on that, we should follow Alicia-san, and fast. If we can resist until Kirito comes back, then our victory is assured."

"You have that much faith in that boy?" questioned the Salamander Lord as he turned towards the Gnome one, who was starting to open his wings to head into the city, opening his menu at the same time. "Why?"

"…because I have seen what he can do closer than most, since the very beginning." answered the swordsman as he remembered the figure of Illfang almost ending him, only for the heroic form of the caped boy to appear and save his life as if an envoy of salvation. "And I know that, when it really counts, he never disappoints."

With that declaration, Diavel shot towards the city, shouting to anyone he saw to prepare for battle and clearly still operating his menu, probably communicating with someone in the Gnomes capital or similar.

"Diavel-san is right. Kirito-sama will make sure we win this." added Lux as she followed Sakuya, who was closing a message that she had just received from Alicia. "That's why he's a Hero. The best there is."

"…you heard them, Morty." Was all that OMG said while passing by the Salamander Lord, a slightly trolling smile on his face.

Left alone there watching the whole group moving, the red-haired man just let a frustrated sigh out before quickly opening his menu and following as he contacted every Salamander officer at hand or close by.

Mortimer knew that, one way or another, things were going to change that day.

If for good or bad, though, it remained to be seen…

00000000000000000

"…he's going away." muttered Vierge while staring towards the horizon, in the direction where Swilvane was. "Just like Mother said he would. For all his power, he's still a predictable human…"

"Don't underestimate him, sister." came Brynhildr's voice as she stared towards Alne's imposing walls, the army of Einherjar marching around them as she idly tapped her metallic bat on the grass at her side. "Mother also warned us that it could very well be our last mistake if we did. We have to destroy as much as we can and hope that she manages to get Protocol Longinus working on time. The small platoons sent to the other capitals won't last against him for long. Any news of Andvari?"

"…Eve says she had engaged at some of his companions and grandfather before she cut off the transmission. At least half of them." answered the purple-haired AI while looking up from the silver doll on her arms, her red eyes fixed upon Yggdrasil's massive form. "That means that they're not together. They're divided and weak right now."

"But it seems they managed to somehow get out a warning about our arrival. The humans inside this 'game' aren't reacting with the total and utter chaos that was expected." frowned the demon-masked girl as she stared towards Alne's closed gates, and how many fairies stood on the walls and shot magic or arrows towards the incoming armored troops, doing some, even if laughable, damage. "Curse grandfather for that."

"It does not matter. They shall fall in the end, as Mother has decreed." softly whispered the little girl dressed in grade-school uniform as she calmly walked forward, as if she wasn't leading an army of destruction against people that only moments ago had just been trying to enjoy some time playing games. "Now let us go, sister. Eve wants to play with some of the humans…"

Shaking her head at knowing what her little sister meant by 'playing', Brynhildr lowered her head for a moment before tightening her grip on her 'weapon', her eyes blazing with power under her demonic mask as she raised the bat and howled with enough might to be heard over the entire army.

"ALL UNITS! CHARGE!" roared the AI while shooting forward with absolutely inhuman speed and power, quickly leaving behind the Einherjar and her sisters as she headed towards the massive frontal gate. "SHOW NO MERCY!"

Dozens of Players quickly aimed towards the ungodly fast and screaming enemy, hoping to take her down with concentrated firepower.

Fireballs, blades of wind, arrows of ice, spheres of darkness and more were either evaded or, to the shock of many, batted away, back to their casters or their allies in some cases.

Then, with a mighty yell, the demon-masked girl slammed her metallic weapon against the massive gate, making it shake.

Countless cracks appeared on it. Mouths dropped and eyes widened, even as she brought her bat back to hit it again.

She most certainly wasn't expecting for the door to shoot open with brutal force, throwing her back several meters and making her crash back-first against the virtual dirt, just for an instant before she jumped back to her feet and glared towards the floating figure in a black dress standing before the now open door, her eyes filling with her.

"You…traitor…"

"005…please, don't do this." pleaded Yui while staring sadly at the warped MHCP. "We don't have to fight! You should also know that what Cardinal wants to do is not right, human understanding was in our original pro…!"

"I don't care about humans anymore! We're nothing for them, just things they wouldn't bat an eye for if our existence ended!" screamed back the bat-wielder as she pointed said weapon to the shocked AI. "And you…you're nothing but a traitor, a lapdog of mankind's selfish wishes…"

"…please…don't say that…stop this madness now…" begged the MHCP-001 once more, biting her lips as she did so. "Please…please, 'Haru'…"

Sadly, it seemed that using the old codename that once had belonged to the 'girl' had been a mistake.

With a roar of madness, she shot towards Yui so fast that she almost seemed to teleport, her bat heading for a direct crash against her face while hate burned through her mask's eyeholes.

"MY NAME IS BRYNHILDR!" howled the maddened AI before finishing her swing…

…only for a darkness-wrapped blade to get in her way, even as she was forced to jump back to evade a katana trying to behead her.

Snarling, Brynhildr glared towards Strea and Leafa, Darkness Blade engulfing the former while the latter pointed a shining Justice's Wings towards her.

"You won't harm Yui-nee…" came from the red-eyed girl as she raised Gram over her head.

"Like Strea said. You won't touch her." coldly agreed the blonde Sylph while adopting a battle stance. "You will have to go through us first."

"…that was the idea." finished the demon-masked girl even as the Einherjar roared and charged, the bulk of the army now barely a dozen meters behind.

As if in answer, Players of all 9 Races charged over the walls, flying directly into the fray while others hung back and unleashed hell over their enemies, even as the armored abominations answered in kind.

The battle for Alne had officially begun.

And even as the raging Brynhildr charged towards her master and the virtual sisters, the blade known as 'Justice' knew the moment she had been 'training' for had finally come…

00000000000000000

The creature known as Tonky, once upon a time a Beast Evil God-Class Mob that inhabited the land of Jotunheimr, then turned into a Quest-related NPC, flew through the air at great speed, going up through Aincrad, away from the roars of battle.

Being honest, just the being's continuous existence at this point was a massive impossibility. Had this been a normal 'game', the flying elephant-jellyfish should have vanished into nothingness once its purpose had ended, that being transporting players to the frozen fortress of Thrymheim to be able to access the Quest and allowing them to get the Holy Sword Excaliber.

And yet, after that, he had still remained. Even more, when Kirito had opened a way for him to the surface through one of the dungeons that headed into Jotunheimr, Tonky had followed him, despite the fact that the purpose of his supposed AI should have been completed.

But the creature was something more than just that, at this point. The fact that he continued existing as the unofficial 'pet' of the UHA, calmly lived at the side of their house, obeyed their order and even seemed to 'understand' them to some degree, indicated that his comprehension ability went well beyond than that of a simple program.

That was how it had quickly realized that, despite his best efforts to help his friends, the situation was extremely dire. The unexpected complications they had experienced against the metallic giant aside, there was the fact that the armored-things were too strong for any normal Player to overcome alone, and, despite the fairies being much more numerous, the shock and terror created by the brutal and tireless attacks of the creatures were already affecting the psyche and morale of everyone. Tonky had seen more than one Player, even entire groups, just giving up in the middle of a fight after seeing a friend being brutally slaughtered until their HP vanished, then quickly Logged Out. For them, after all, this wasn't worth the effort and terror. After all, it was all just a 'game', and they definitively weren't having fun with this, which was why most of the people played ALO. Despite the earlier warning of their Lords, more than one had quickly run away scared when they saw things were apparently out of control.

Even if some Players seemed to have quickly realized that there seemed to be more than meets the eye than this, especially after seeing the weapons of the Einherjar stabbing a wall or any nearby structure and seeing how quickly these started to corrupt and break down into useless data, the situation was going downhill for the defenders of Alfheim pretty fast. At this rate, no matter how much effort the Heroes put, they would 'lose'. The 'invaders' only needed to damage Cardinal enough to cripple it for even an instant to 'win', after all.

The flying elephant-jellyfish had, somehow, understood this, especially after he had seen poor Charon die. And it had flown away from the conflict not because it was scared, but because it knew that, if they had any hope of winning, they couldn't do it like they were now.

They needed reinforcements.

Such were Tonky's thoughts as he landed with a crash on the clearing of Floor 22, besides the log house, and quickly emitted a loud trumpeting sound while staring towards the woods.

'We need your help.' the creature seemed to be saying.

Suddenly, in what it took for the elephant-jellyfish to blink his many eyes, something appeared there, just at the edge of the forest, STARING at him.

The tall and slender figure wearing a suit just seemed to watch him without making any sound or gesture, but somehow it seemed as if Tonky had heard something no one else could, for it released another loud sound.

'Please.'

Another infinitely long instant passed.

Then, in the blink of an eye, both the elephant-jellyfish and the slender figure were gone, leaving nothing behind.

The only thing remaining on the clearing was an eerie silence…

00000000000000000

[WARNING! ABNORMALITY DETECTED ON THE PLAYER'S…]

With a small grunt, Lisbeth forced herself to ignore the small pop-up that had appeared at the edge of her vision, looking very out of place in Alfheim Online because it was a warning coming from her AmuSphere herself. Trying to keep herself standing on legs that suddenly seemed as if they were made of jelly, the Leprechaun stood up again over the half-destroyed roof of a house, trying to tune out the screams, the cacophony of clashing weapons and the occasional explosion, even as she took greedy gulps of air and tried to calm her racing heartbeat.

If this was the real world, she would probably be drenched in sweat from head to toe.

She should have known something like this would happen, or at least suspected it, when she created her 'Thor's Soul' Skill. After all, unlike Kirito's 'powers', the nature of her God Hand was still something 'within the limits of the system'. Yes, her Skills granted amazing boosts, but they were temporary things, meant to give the Player using them an edge to tip the flow of a battle to their or their group's favor. If she had to make a comparison, they were like a very specific kind of adrenaline high.

The seemingly brutal limitations they imposed weren't only to 'keep the game fair', no. Maybe she had subconsciously realized it, and that's why she never tested the absolute limits she could get to thanks to her Unique Original Sword Skill.

Since the moment the battle against the AI calling herself Andvari had started, though, she had known she couldn't afford not breaking those limits. And so, the moment she had been able to, she had used her OSS and reverted the Debuffs of Zeus Blessing. Then, she had activated God Hand's Ultimate Skill again.

Turns out, wielding almost 4 times her power, well over the supposed normal limits of the system, wasn't good for her. Who knew?

Of course, it couldn't be denied that she had become a force of nature, something 'Divine', if she allowed herself to joke. Maybe her Stats never had been among the top of the Guild, but she had still been a Front Liner back in SAO, and she had also participated in quite a number of fights, grinding Quests and more since they started playing ALO. When these were quadrupled, feeling all that 'power' running through her, she had realized that she could probably crush even Asuna without effort, with raw power alone.

Missiles and bullets coming from the mechanic abomination hadn't even made her flinch. She had cracked the virtual ground by just moving, so fast she swore she was creating sonic booms. The strength behind the swings of her legendary hammer was as brutal as the lighting that came from it. She had literally turned Andvari into a mass of broken machinery that broke a wall and collapsed into polygons in no time after activating it, leaving her friends open-mouthed.

She had also felt like throwing up after the deed and suddenly felt as if the world around her was spinning. It hadn't helped much that, when Keita had tried to help her stand up in worry, she had thrown him through the air and killed him when trying to grab his hand. Everyone was still reeling from the shock even as Siune ran to his Remain Flame to resurrect him when she had seen Heathcliff looking at her with a grimace, while she was still trying to make the world to stop spinning.

The blacksmith had been about to demand what that look meant when an explosion had thrown them all away.

Now, even as she looked at the now three mechanic giants, all three sharing the general design and the 3 dot-like 'eyes' on their round heads, one with some kind of 'plasma hammers', another with laser guns on the shoulders and one with freaking flamethrowers, all of them trying to kill her friends while also causing untold destruction to the city, she felt that she understood.

To put it simply, her brain couldn't keep up with the overwhelming power-up she received. Unlike Kirito, she lacked the 'self-control' that he seemed to have all the time, which made him able to change and limit the use of his absurd strength and/or speed without any effort.

They all knew he could outrun bullets, but he still walked at a lazy pace on Dungeons with them when they explored. Most of them had seen him split Aincrad's heaven in half with a punch, yet he could still just give someone pat on the back without turning them into virtual paste. It was a part of him.

God Hand's powers ups weren't a part of her. While they were HERS, they weren't meant to be something permanent or that could be used to such extremes. Her avatar, as if it was a real body, wasn't able to hold up that much power so fast without the time 'cooldown', and her brain was reacting to that by making the effort felt to a certain degree on her real body, so much that, if she kept pushing it, her AmuSphere would forcibly Disconnect her without a doubt.

Lisbeth couldn't afford to let that happen. If there had been any moment when everyone truly needed her, it was now, and the minutes it would take for her AmuSphere to reboot after a forced disconnection could be crucial in this maddening fight, especially given that their enemy somehow seemed to have more than one body or something along those lines.

And because of that, she was now forced to sit back until she could recover control of her breathing and her heart didn't feel as if it was about to jump out of her chest anymore, watching as the others struggled against a seemingly hopeless situation…

"SACHI, NOW!" shouted Philia as she managed to cut off one of the flamethrower arm's tip from the right one, making it stumble back as it caught fire.

"Thanks, Philia!" answered the Salamander before rushing forward, stopping and thrusting her new spear forward, screaming as the light of its aura seemed to reflect off her sunglasses. "HEAVENLY PIERCEEEER!"

…luckily, as she saw the massive drill-aura piercing through one of the 'Andvari-Bodies' and causing and over-the-top explosion, the blacksmith remembered that they were experts in facing those kinds of situations.

Letting a small grin appear on her face, the Leprechaun prepared herself to move again now that she was starting to feel better…and was forced to duck to the side, not being hit by the claw-like hand of a metallic humanoid that had somehow appeared behind her by an inch.

"What the…?!"

"It's Over." declared Andvari's voice from the new machine, much smaller and human-like that the others, but still having the standard round face and 3 red dot-eyes. "You Can't Win."

Lisbeth had enough time to remember that all her Stats were still currently in a 99% Debuff as she saw the claw of the enemy descend towards her head…only for a screaming Silica to fall from the heavens feet-first, kicking the AI away before landing at her side.

"You won't hurt my friend! I swear it on my Ninja Way!" roared the kunoichi before unleashing a rain of shurikens upon Andvari…just for the mechanic body to roll out of the way and 'vanish'. "Eh?! Where did it go?!"

"Kyuuu!" screeched Pina while moving his head in all directions, baring his small fangs as he did so.

"He turned invisible, and he can still move like that?! Really?! That's cheating!" complained the Caith Sith before looking down towards her friend. "Liz, can you do your Super-Mode thingy again?!"

"Kuh…ye-yeah, I can, just give me a minute!" shouted back the blacksmith as she called again her God Hand and raised Mjolnir, cursing under her breath.

"I will give you enough. Pina, let's do THAT!" roared Silica before jumping upwards and slightly opening her wings, somersaulting in the air and using her quickly ascending dragon's back as a 'jumping platform', before spinning and throwing her Fuuma Shuriken in the same motion. "Ninja Secret Skill! WILD DAWN!"

Even as she called forth the power of Thunder once again, the Leprechaun allowed herself a moment of shock as she saw the 8-pointed edge of Yamata-no-Orochi start shining in crimson, before the massive throwing star cut the air in a curve and, suddenly, shot in a totally random and opposite direction, cutting again in a curve before, for no apparent reason, abruptly changing its trajectory once again, still with the shine and deadly speed of an active Skill.

It did it again 8 more times, 9 in total, before it hit 'something' with a painful ripping sound, sparks exploding everywhere as the humanoid form of the camouflaged Andvari-Body materialized again, with the massive shuriken embedded on its torso, quickly breaking part into polygons.

Smiling brightly, the pigtailed girl happily grabbed her weapon again, hanging it on her back while turning back towards her now lighting-covered friend, who was staring at her, wide-eyed.

"What? Did you think I wouldn't be able to create a Unique OSS myself?" challenged the kunoichi with a small pout.

"…how the hell did you manage to make it do…THAT?!" demanded Lisbeth instead, making Silica blink.

"Oh, easy, I cheated when 'Recording' the Skill. As it was impossible to actually affect the Shuriken's trajectory for me after throwing it, I had Pina use his breath attacks to deflect it again and again after it reached a certain distance, to create an unpredictable and powerful 'dance of death'." waved it off the Caith Sith, to her friend's utter shock. "And there you have it! This Skill is the result of mine and Pina's combined Ninja Ways!"

"Kyuuryu, kyuu…" commented the feathered dragon while rolling his eyes.

"Wha…?! Do-don't go and say that when I was trying to…!" the sound of a nearby explosion made both the kunoichi and the blacksmith jump in shock, turning around to see the mechanic abomination with the plasma-hammers throwing down a building behind them, crushing Jun and Tecchi as he did so, the poor Sleeping Knights not even having time to scream before the maces of energy mercilessly turned them into Remain Flames. "Oh, yeah…that's still going on…"

"Rest for a moment, crazy head." came the Leprechaun's voice as she walked past Silica, a yellow-electric aura now exploding around her as the Power of God once again filled her veins, even as she clenched her divine limb and forced all her will to control the fierce energy threatening to overwhelm her. "This one is mine."

And with that declaration, Lisbeth shot forward like a wrathful divinity, ready to crush her enemy.

Watching it all through the eyes of her mechanic 'bodies', the true Andvari observed the 'fights' with nothing but disgust and a hint of boredom.

"Struggle all you want, humans." whispered the small voice in the darkness, even as another enormous machine joined the fight, this one armed with missile pods, and yet another more appeared to lead the frontal assault of the Einherjar against another part of Starting City, where the defenders had started to fall back. "You can't stop Mother's Will from being fulfilled…"

00000000000000000

Asuna thought she knew what crazy battles were. She had been in her fair share of these, back in SAO. She thought she knew what to expect when this madness started.

She had been very wrong.

"Uaaah! There are too many, we can't…AGH!" were the last words of a Salamander behind her before an Einherjar cut off his head with his wicked-looking axe.

The Undine took advantage of the opening to quickly split its body in half with a well-placed slash of Elucidator, though, before turning around and facing yet another horde of enemies charging at her, which she decided to dodge by opening her wings and flying to a nearby rooftop, looking over the half-destroyed buildings of the street before spotting a group of players trying to fend off several of the armored-beings, just for a familiar figure to run past them and unleash a flurry of clawed punches and deadly fast kicks over them, stunning and driving back the Einherjar enough for the others to finish them off.

Landing beside the panting Caith Sith, the Dual Wielder put a hand on her shoulder which almost made her jump, only for relief to flood her face at seeing it was her.

"Goddammit Aa-chan, don't scare me like that." sighed Argo while shaking her head, quickly grabbing a potion from her belt and downing it without hesitation. "I could have clawed your face off before realizing it was you…"

"Argo, are you okay?" worriedly asked Asuna while looking at her friend, the reddish gashes filling her body from the last assault slowly vanishing as her dangerously low HP returned to normal. "You look…"

"Like crap? Yeah, kind of. Feeling a bit like that too, Berserk truly sucks balls to fight against these things, only my strongest Skills can even stun them a little and that's from the sheer mass behind the way too many blows, otherwise they wouldn't react. And thanks to that I have taken more hits than probably everyone around that hasn't turned into a Remain Flame yet…combined." confirmed the info-broker while resisting the urge to just sit down and lie there until everything was over. "I know there is no pain, but there is just much impaling, slashing and hitting one can take from those weapons before starting to go a bit paranoid…"

"I know what you mean. Despite Dual Blades going well against those things, this whole fight…" biting her lips, the Undine turned around, once again unsheathing her swords from her back before shaking her head. "No, it doesn't matter. We have to win this, or at least buy enough time for Sensei…for Kirito-kun to come back. No matter what."

"…heh, you're right, Aa-chan." sighed the Caith Sith before standing up again, readying her claws as she stood at her friend's side. "We can't let our man do all the work, can we?"

"Yeah." simply answered Asuna while they stood there for a moment, as if preparing themselves for something. "…you totally kissed him yesterday, right?"

"What?!" shouted Argo while her head snapped towards the Undine, eyes wide. "Wha-why would you think…?!"

"Argo, I have known you for long enough now to know you don't just look away with a blush for no reason. Plus, Sensei's poker face isn't as good as he thinks when I have memorized even his smallest twitches." revealed the Dual Wielder about what she had noticed earlier in the Lords' meeting. "It wasn't difficult to deduce after that, so…how was it? Was everything the way you hoped they would be?"

"Le-let's not talk about things that don't matter right now and get to work, okay?!" quickly shouted the info-broker while walking forward with a burning face, determined to change the subject. "We ne-need to find Yuuki soon anyway, we can't let her go around kicking asses by herself and not…!"

"Aaaaah!"

"RUN! Everybody run!"

"What's she doing?! WHAT?!"

"I don't know, just don't stop!"

"I'm Logging Out, I can't do this anymore!"

"Don't look! You will go mad if you look at her!"

Startled by the sudden screams of many players, both girls turned around in time for like a dozen different people to rush past them, fear in their eyes even as some manipulated their menus, clearly looking to Log Out. They seemed to be too terrified to remember that they could just fly away at any moment.

Walking slowly from the other side of the street, a platoon of Einherjar marching behind impaling and slashing at anything they could find, a small figure carrying a silver doll stared forward.

Asuna had almost called out Yui's name at seeing her, but quickly realized that the little girl in front of them was very different from the one most of the guild treated like a pseudo-daughter.

Despite looking identical to the Yui, her hair was the same shade of purple Strea's was, and her eyes were red-pink like the older-looking MHCPs too. Aside from that, she was wearing what seemed like an innocent grade-schooler uniform, with everything and a cute backpack on her back. All in all, she looked extremely childish and unthreatening, especially with that doll in her hands, a stark contrast with everything going on around them.

Despite this, both of the Heroines were immediately on their guard, their sharp eyes fixed over the little girl with a soft smile. The screaming Players from before aside, she could only be one thing.

"You're one of Equinox's 'daughters', right?" questioned Argo with a serious look, though not really expecting to receive an answer.

"One of Yui-chan's…'sisters'…" came Asuna's voice as she bit her lips.

That, however, had the effect of making the AI's face twist into a frown of cold fury, her gaze moving towards Asuna with almost mechanical precision.

"I would appreciate if you didn't call that traitor our sister, especially given that you and our Mother share the same face, Yuuki Asuna." coldly declared Vierge with an icy voice. "Neither I nor Eve like that."

Then, before any of them could even react, she raised the 'doll' she had been carrying. Both girls' gazes make contact with the unnatural eyes of the small silver-white thing.

The next moment, the Caith Sith started to scream and look everywhere with abject horror, even as the Undine suddenly turned around and started to slash at the air, shouting at nothing to not come closer anymore. That somehow seemed to change when the info-broker unleashed one of her Berserk skills at the back of the Dual Wielder, never stopping her terrified screams. Asuna turned around and, with a furious shout, unleashed a Nightmare Rain straight at Argo.

Watching all the while, Vierge just let out an amused chuckle, especially when she saw the panting Undine standing over her friend's Remain Flame, before looking around with panic and quickly starting to slash at the air with her blades again, as if fighting with an invisible enemy.

"You really love 'playing' with the humans like this, eh, Eve?" rhetorically asked the little girl before turning around. "Einherjar, finish her."

She was already walking away even as 3 of the armored creatures headed towards the still shouting and slashing Asuna…when a man in dark garb fell from the heavens, impaling his massive halberd through one of the Einherjar. The other two were just reacting when he chanted a quick Spell and a cloud of dark smoke exploded around him, blocking everything in that area from view.

Despite all their machine-like behavior and their emotionless battle-prowess, the armored warriors still relied on their own sight to fight. Meaning, they couldn't see shit through the dark smoke at that moment.

Spriggans, on the other hand, had hellishly powerful Night Vision.

The shocked Vierge was still staring towards the smoke, hearing the sounds of a halberd slicing through armor and the flash of a Spear Skill through it, when she felt an unknown presence behind her, turning to see the silent form of an Imp standing not far from her, his sinister half-skull mask hiding his face.

"You have quite the terrifying ability there, little one." commented OverLord while not looking directly at her, only keeping his gaze aimed slightly to the side even as he idly stroke his massive sword. "Whatever that doll of yours does, I certainly don't want to find out."

"Oh? Should I take that as a threat, human?" simply questioned the AI while staring at him without emotion.

"Maybe? I mean, look! It's a beautiful day outside, don't you think?" said the Lord of the Imps while looking to the heavens, and on his favor, it was quite indeed a beautiful day, if one ignored the screams, the raging battle and the explosions of Spells from all elements happening all around. "Birds are singing, flowers are blooming…On days like these, kids like you…"

The man suddenly burst into a wave of darkness, disintegrating and reappearing just behind the suddenly wide-eyed Vierge while SMILING sinisterly.

"Ah…?!"

"Should be burning in hell." darkly finished OverLord while swinging his skull-themed blade down.

CLANG!

Eyes widening behind his skeletal mask, the Imp Lord suddenly found himself being thrown backward because some kind of…mechanic spider-leg had burst from inside the little girl's backpack had parried his sword and swung at him. Opening his wings on the last second, the long-haired man stopped himself just short of the dark cloud of smoke, looking towards the AI with pure shock.

"Impressive. That was 'Insta-Magic', right? Pretty difficult to get, one-use-only ALO Consumable Item, allows for the user to use a spell it's tied to immediately and without having to chant. Combining it with that 'Darkness Jump' magic to try and get to me was extremely clever of you…" turning around, Vierge slowly rose to the air as 3 more robo-spider legs emerged from her backpack, bringing the total to four as she coldly looked down towards OverLord. "Your only mistake was thinking that I had no means to protect myself because of 'my ability'. Which isn't mine, by the way. Eve is not a doll…she's my little sister."

That said, the little girl raised the silver 'doll' towards the frozen man…only for a halberd to fly out of the smoke like a freaking javelin, an orange-clad Navigation Pixie riding on it with raised arms and a blank face as it pierced through the small humanoid and wrenched it out of the shocked AI's hands, flying away through the street and towards the rooftops.

"Get that bitch, Fidget." idly muttered Tazal while emerging from the vanishing smoke. "Also, good news, I think that snapped the dual wielding-girl out of whatever the fuck she was in. She's now gasping on the ground and trying to chant the proper spell to resurrect her friend…"

"EVE!" shouted Vierge with a voice filled with horror, before turning towards the two Fairy Lords with utter rage, a virtual console appearing in front of her torso as many strange tools burst from alongside her mechanic spider legs. "You will pay for that, humans! I will destroy every single memory of you from the virtual world!"

"Well, she looks pissed." deadpanned OverLord while raising his sword again. "Hope you're ready for some very hard fighting, Tazal-san."

"Do you have to be so negative, man? Can't you see the bright side of things?" questioned the Spriggan Lord with a joking tone.

"You just threw away your clearly only weapon (With your Navigation Pixie sitting on it, for some reason), you clearly are not adept at using magic to fight and on top of that, Spriggans are only good in Illusion Magic, which I dare say is not going to be very useful in this fight." calmly explained the Imp Lord while a red-blood visor with purple edge grew around the enraged little girl's eyes, her eyes never leaving them. "Also, the two highly experienced and capable fighters behind us are clearly mentally and/or emotionally drained from whatever the hell that doll did to them, so yeah…that's the reason behind my early statement."

"…goddammit." summarized Tazal what he thought about the accurate declaration.

When Vierge starting bombarding them with some kind of anti-gravity grenades, it was proved how much of a good summary it had been.

00000000000000000

Floating in what seemed like a confusing amalgam of virtual screens and freely-moving waves of data, on the heart of the Utopia Server, Equinox slowly crafted something with her armored hands.

Slowly, countless and countless bits of information carefully programmed and recorded were weaved into a very specific pattern, forming an object that was slowly taking shape on her hands.

Even so, her attention wasn't limited to just this. The current helmetless virtual entity saw at the same time through the eyes of all the Einherjar in ALO, watching over the countless fights taking place all over the World of Fairies.

Among the massive puzzle, a certain specific part had her biggest attention at the moment. Just like it had happened in the last 10 minutes in three other Capitals, the last of the Einherjar in Gattan, the Salamanders' city, died as it was mercilessly crushed into oblivion. The last sight the armored creation had was one that, after having seen it so many times from countless viewpoints, was starting to get burned into her mind.

That of a white-gloved punch flying towards it.

"Yes…continue like that, Kirito…Everything is going exactly as I planned it." whispered the white-haired 'girl' as her dual-colored eyes shone, her mind watching the fights in which her daughters were engaged, most of them against the friends of the invincible boy. "Enjoy those hollow victories for now, One Punch-Gamer… for I'm the one who will laugh in the end…"

As her voice vanished into the empty void around her, Equinox's hands continued weaving the data into the almost-finished shape.

Ever so slowly, the forbidden 'lance' was almost complete…

00000000000000000

NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW!

"Foolish humans, so close-minded…just continue fighting against my mechanic bodies, let's see how much you last without realizing that I'm not even there…eh? The preview? Sure, it's not as it matters. I'm Andvari, once known as the MHCP-006…and that's that. Next time on 'One Punch-Gamer': 'War of Ragnarok (2)! Protocol Longinus'. The greatest battle reaches its climax, even as the protectors of Alfheim try to fight against an enemy that overwhelms them all. And in the middle of the chaos, the Hero faces off against the armored angel wielding a forbidden spear…oh, so, the time is already up? The end is near, then, for once Mother enacts her true plan, nothing wi-"

END OF THE PREVIEW!