Chapter 1

The new Aincrad's 22nd floor was completely covered with snow.

It was early January in the outside world, but even though it was

winter, the temperature in Tokyo hardly ever drops below zero due to

global warming in the recent years.

However, whether or not it was to show the company's work

ethics, Alfheim continued to be under severe cold. The temperature in

the area north of the World Tree frequently drops down to 10, 20

degrees below zero. If you didn't prepare cold-resistant equipment or

buffs, you wouldn't even want to fly. Currently, Aincrad floated above

the Gnome's territory, in the far North of the world. The temperature in

every floor was so cold that you could see ice crystals even during the

day.

But even though it was so chilly that a brook would get frozen all

the way to the bottom, the cold couldn't permeate into the house,

which was guarded by thick wooden walls and a roaring fireplace.

8 months ago— On May 2025, Alfheim Online had its largest

update up until now —『Floating Castle Aincrad』.

ALO originally operated on a duplicated system of the death game

«Sword Art Online». Therefore, the server had a complete copy of

Aincrad, the stage where SAO was set. In the past, ALO was run by

«RECTO Progress». However, when a new company bought both the

software and hardware, not only did they not delete Aincrad and

former SAO players' character data, but they also boldly proposed a

way for it to exist alongside ALO.

Of course, they were also trying to fight against the decrease in

playerbase due to RECTO Progress' human experiments by using an

impactful upgrade. But that definitely wasn't the only reason. The

creators of the new company were all veteran MMO players who'd

been playing since the 2D age and couldn't bear the deletion of the

intricately designed floating castle— That is what Asuna heard from

Agil who had connections with someone from the company.

With Aincrad's resurrection, Asuna set a small goal in her heart

and began to play the game as an Undine healer and rapier user. Her

goal was obvious: To save enough Col, no, Yurudo, reach the 22nd floor

before anyone else, and buy the small wooden house deep within the

coniferous forest. A long time ago in another floating castle, for 2 short

weeks in that exact place, she had formed a family and passed sweet,

happy, peaceful days.

Last May's update opened the first 10 floors. September opened

up the 11th to 20th floors. Then, on Christmas Eve— December 24th's

night, the door leading to the 21st floor opened. Asuna, with Kirito,

Klein, Agil, Lisbeth, Silica and Lyfa, formed a 7 member party, and

rushed up to the next floor as soon as the call celebrating the opening

ended.

The 22nd floor was a sparsely populated floor with nothing but

forests, and there were plenty of residences in the village's main street,

so there'd probably be no competitors aiming for the same house. Even

so, they rushed like a gale through the 21st floor's wilderness and

challenged the Boss found at the end of the dungeon along with the

other parties. Klein later attested that Asuna, despite having spent half

of her ability points on support, was even more imposing as she fought

at the fore of the 50-man group than back when she was the sub-leader

of the «Knights of the Blood».

After kicking aside the 21st floor's boss she defeated herself,

hurrying to the wooden house and clicking the OK button to confirm

the transaction, Asuna couldn't help but weep with happiness. —That

night, after the party ended and all their friends left, while drinking a

toast with Kirito and Yui, who had returned to her girl form, she cried

again. This incident was kept secret from their friends.

Asuna herself wasn't really sure why she was so devoted to that

place. Together with the boy who she seriously fell in love with for the

first time, although it was in a virtual world, but having surpassed

hardships, this was the place where they finally settled down and spent

a brief moment of happiness. It sounded simple, but Asuna felt like it

wasn't just that.

That house was perhaps, for Asuna who frequently couldn't find a

place to return in the real world, a place where she could feel at

«home». A small, warm place where a pair of birds could rest their

wings, snuggle up and sleep. A place for her soul to return.

More importantly, after all the hard work, that wooden house had

become a place where their companions could get together. They

rarely ever had no guests. Asuna devoted herself entirely to the

interior design of the small house, attracting everyone up from the

surface. Not to mention companions from SAO, new friends from ALO

frequently visited to eat Asuna's handmade dishes. —Once, due to bad

timing, they had a tension-filled meal where both the Sylph Lord

Sakuya and the Salamander General Eugene were both present.

Today— That was January 6th, 2026, a few familiar faces had

gathered around the table which «grew out of the house».

To Asuna's right sat the tamer Silica, who had triangular ears

unique to Cait Siths. She was currently staring at her math homework

on the holographic monitor and whimpering. Similarly, to her left, the

Sylph magic swordswoman Lyfa was scowling at her English essay.

Opposite her, the Leprechaun smith Lisbeth sat with her legs

crossed and was drinking raspberry liqueur while immersed in a novel

sold in-game.

In the real world it was only 4pm, but time in Alfheim differs.

Outside, the sky was almost completely black save for the light

reflecting off the falling snow. It was obvious that it was freezing cold

outside even if you couldn't hear the wind, but the fireplace inside the

house crackled. In addition, a warm fragrance was coming from a large

pot, where a steaming stew was seething.

Like her friends, Asuna had her hands on a virtual keyboard and

viewed sites in the browser windows floating around her, successfully

completing her report.

Even though her mother didn't approve of her doing things she

could do in reality in the VR world, working here was more efficient in

the long term. Her eyes and hands wouldn't tire and a number of

informative sites which could not fit into her room's UXGA display

floated in easily viewable places.

Asuna once told her mother that and let her try using a FullDive

program dedicated to text editing, but she logged off in just a few

minutes saying that she was dizzy and ignored it from then on.

Indeed there were people who got dizzy in the virtual world, but

Asuna who «lived» in the virtual world for 2 years simply couldn't

imagine how that felt. Her fingers moved swiftly without a single error

and her essay gradually reached its conclusion—

At that time, something suddenly leaned on her right shoulder.

Asuna took a look and noticed Silica's black, short-haired head

leaning on her shoulder, her triangular ears twitching as she slept with

a happy expression on her face.

Asuna couldn't help but laugh, and lightly scratched Silica's ears

with her left hand.

"Hey, Silica. It'd be a problem if you can't sleep tonight because

you slept right now."

"Mm... Nya..."

"There's only 3 days left of Winter Break. You have to work hard

on your assignments."

Finally she lightly pulled Silica's ear and she woke up, startled.

She blinked a few times with a dazed expression, shook her head and

looked at Asuna's face.

"U... uu... So tired."

Muttered Silica, opening her small white-toothed mouth and

yawning. All the Cait Sith players Asuna knew got sleepy when they

were in this house, making her wonder if it was a racial characteristic.

Asuna took a look at the holographic monitor in front of Silica and

said.

"Isn't this page almost at its end? Why not work hard and finish

it?"

"Fu... Fuah..."

"Isn't this room too warm? Should we lower the temperature a

little?"

Hearing that, Lisbeth smiled and responded.

"No, that isn't it, I'm thinking it's because of that."

"That...?"

Asuna looked back, seeing Lyfa pointing at something on the East

wall next to the fireplace.

"Ah... So that's it..."

Looking in that direction, Asuna nodded understandingly.

In front of the glowing red fireplace, there was a large rocking

chair carved out of wood.

Deeply seated in the chair, a «Spriggan» with light black skin and

short black hair was sound asleep. His previously unkempt hair now

stayed down, but his sharp and slightly mischievous face was the same

as before. Needless to say, it was Kirito.

On his stomach, a small, light blue feathered dragon was

comfortably sleeping with its body curled up and its head buried inside

its fluffy tail. That dragon, «Pina», was Silica's partner since back

during SAO.

An even smaller pixie with an innocent face slept using Pina's soft

feathers as a bed. The girl with long, straight, glossy, black hair and was

wearing a light pink dress was Kirito's «Navigation Pixie», as well as

Asuna and Kirito's 'daughter', the AI «Yui», created in the old SAO

server.

Stacked like a three layered cake, Kirito, Pina, and Yui happily

slept on the rocking chair, emitting a sort of magical hypnotic effect.

Even Asuna felt drowsy after just looking at it for a few seconds.

Kirito could actually sleep quite a lot. It's almost like he was

reclaiming the time he lent back during SAO when he had forgone sleep

to clear dungeons. In that house, as soon as Asuna's eyes left him, he

sank into his favorite rocking chair and immediately fell asleep.

Moreover, Asuna didn't know of anything which was more

hypnotic than Kirito's face as he was sleeping in the chair.

Back during SAO, whether it was in the wooden house or the

second floor of Agil's shop, whenever Kirito rocked the chair, Asuna

almost always sat in it and dozed off with him. That was saying, Asuna

had personally experienced and can understand why Silica and Lyfa

are tempted to sleep.

Mysteriously, Pina, whose actions should be based on simple

algorithms, would fly off Silica's shoulder and curl up and sleep on

Kirito whenever she came across Kirito sleeping.

This had cast doubt on whether the sleeping Kirito emitted some

sort of «Drowsiness Parameter». In fact, Asuna, who was writing her

essay at full speed just moments ago, had unknowingly started feeling

sluggish...

"Hey Asuna-san, don't fall asleep yourself! Ah, Liz-san as well!"

Getting shaken by Silica, Asuna lifted her head.

At the same time, Lisbeth, who was on the other side of the table,

shakily woke up, blinked and smiled with embarrassement. She swept

up her metallic pink hair, unique to Leprechauns, and grudgingly

explained.

"Why do I feel sleepy when I look at that... Could this be the

illusionary magic Spriggans are good at?"

"Haha, how could that be. I'm going to brew some tea to drive

away the sleepiness. Although I say that, I'm really just being lazy."

Asuna stood up and took out 4 cups from the cabinet behind her.

Those were the magical mugs which could «pour out 99 different types

of tea with a single tap» they got from a recent quest.

Placing the cups and a fruit pie on the table, the four of them,

including Silica who was struggling to shake off her drowsiness,

immediately took a drink of the warm, fragrant liquid.

"Speaking of which."

At that point, Lisbeth thought of something and said.

"— Asuna, have you heard about «Absolute Sword»?"

"There have been rumors since around the beginning of the year...

It started around a week ago..."

Saying that, Lisbeth nodded at Asuna as though confirming

something.

"Right, then Asuna obviously doesn't know. You've been in Kyoto

since the end of the year."

"Really, don't make me think of things I hate here."

Seeing Asuna frown, Lisbeth laughed out loud.

"Alas, it isn't easy coming from a distinguished family."

"It really isn't easy. You have to sit and greet people in a kimono

all day, and even if you want to『FullDive』at night, the place still isn't

connected to wireless LAN up to this day. Even though I brought my

AmuSphere, it went to waste."

She let out a long sigh and finished her tea.

Since the end of last year, Asuna was half forced to go with her

family to the Yuuki head house, in other words her father's old home.

She also had to express her thanks to her relatives who were worried

during the two years she was 'in hospital', so she couldn't say she hated

it.

When she was small, Asuna considered spending the beginning of

the year with the main family as natural, and was happy that she could

meet cousins around her age.

But, probably around the time she started attending junior high,

Asuna gradually began to feel constrained by this custom.

The Yuuki main family had, without exaggeration, been managing

banks as a family business in Kyoto since 200 years ago, tenaciously

surviving reforms and wars, the current generation opened a branch in

Kansai. Her father Yuuki Shouzou was able to develop «RECTO», a

general electronics manufacturing company, in one generation thanks

to the main family's financial assistance. Taking a look at the family

pedigree, presidents and bureaucrats were everywhere.

As if it was natural, Asuna's cousins and brothers were also «top

students» in «good schools». When all the children were seated side by

side during the banquet, their parents talked about topics like how

their children received praise in a certain competition or how high

they ranked in a national exam. While appearing nice on the surface,

they were just bickering without end in reality. Asuna gradually

noticed a sense of malice in the environment surrounding her, it

seemed to her like the purpose of organizing that function every year

was to rank all the children.

In November 2022, during the winter of her third year of junior

high, Asuna was trapped in SAO, until January 2025, when she was

freed by Kirito. That's why this was her first new year's greeting in the

last 4 years. In the Kyoto-styled mansion at the head house, Asuna

wore a long-sleeved kimono and repeatedly greeted her many relatives

starting with her grandparents. In the end, she felt like she had become

a reception NPC.

Even so, meeting the cousins she hadn't seen for a long time

should've been a happy event, even though they were joyful about

Asuna's return as though it was a matter of their own, Asuna saw

something she hated in their eyes.

Her cousins all pitied Asuna. They felt sympathetic, sad that

Asuna prematurely dropped out of the competition that had been

going on since they were born. It was not that she was thinking too

much. Asuna could easily tell, having read people's expressions since

she was young.

Of course, the current Asuna had a completely different

personality from that time. In that world, there was a boy who

inexplicably changed Asuna. Therefore her cousins', uncles' and aunts'

pity only lightly swept against Asuna's heart. Above all, she was a

«swordswoman», a person who fought using her own power. That

belief always supported Asuna's heart, and didn't change even after

that world disappeared.

But her cousins, who considered VRMMOs poisonous could not

understand that value. The same went for her mother who was always

slightly unhappy when she was with the main family.

The obsession to go to a good university and find a good job

didn't exist anymore. Asuna really liked her current school and in

another year, she could slowly find what she wanted to do. Of course,

forming a family with a boy slightly younger than her in the real world

was her final goal.

— Asuna thought about that on one side, and continued to

answer her relatives' various question with a smile on the other. The

most unbearable thing was being alone in a room with a cousin two

years older than her on the last night in Kyoto.

As a man who's sole duty is assisting the main family's bank, he

talked vigorously about how he was professional, how he had already

decided what position to take in the business and how outstanding he

was going to be. In the beginning Asuna just put up a smile of

admiration, but suspiciously everyone had gone and left the two of

them alone, causing her to wonder whether the adults had any dubious

intentions...

"Hey Asuna, are you listening?"

Getting kicked by Lisbeth under the table, Asuna returned to

herself.

"Ah, sorry. I remembered something I hated."

"What is it? A meeting for marriage in Kyoto?"

"..."

"... Why did you freeze... Could it be..."

"No, no. It's nothing!"

Asuna rapidly shook her head, tapped the side of her now empty

mug and gulped down the strange purple tea. She looked up and

forcefully changed the subject.

"Very strong... Then is that person a PKer?"

"Um, Absolute Sword's a PVPer. Slightly to the North of the 24th

floor's main street, isn't there a tourist attracting island with a large

tree? Under that tree at 3pm every day, Absolute Sword fights any

player who wishes for a challenge."

"Oh~ So is Absolute Sword the type who had participated in

competitions?"

"No, it seems like a completely new face. However Absolute

Sword's skill levels seem rather high, so it's possible that Absolute

Sword transferred over from another game. In the beginning, a notice

was put up on «MMO Tomorrow» recruiting challengers. Around 30

people went thinking that it was just an overconfident novice who'd

immediately lose, but..."

"Instead they got defeated?"

"All of them, beautifully. Absolute Sword should be quite strong,

it's said that not a single person was able to cut down more than 30%

of Absolute Sword's health."

"It's slightly unbelievable."

Silica, who has been eating fruit pie until then, suddenly

interrupted.

"It took me around half a year before I could really fight in mid-air.

But even though that person only transferred over recently, that

person can fly so well!"

The so called «Transfer» was a character transferring system for

VRMMOs like ALO using «The Seed» as a platform. It could preserve

the player's «strength» in general, but all money and items are lost and

certain skills would be redistributed.

"Has Silica also fought Absolute Sword before?"

In response to Asuna's question, Silica immediately widened her

eyes and shook her head.

"How can that be? I was convinced that it's impossible for me just

from spectating Absolute Sword's duel. Ah, but Liz-san and Lyfa-san

still fought Absolute Sword. They're quite bold stepping up for a

challenge."

"Shut up."

"Anything can be a good experience, you know."

Smiling as she listened to Lisbeth and Lyfa pout, Asuna was

slightly shocked.

Lisbeth, who's race didn't tend to fight and prioritized forging

was out of question, but there weren't many players who could defeat

Lyfa, who could be considered the Sylph's top player, in an aerial fight.

Moreover, Absolute Sword just transferred over, that type of thing was

unheard of.

"That sounds like the real thing. Hmm, I'm slightly interested."

"Haha, I knew Asuna would say that. Even though there are lords

and generals who rank high in the monthly competition like Sakuya

and Eugene, it's hard for people in their position to participate in street

fights."

"But if people see that Absolute Sword's so strong, won't there be

no challengers? It's different from large competitions, isn't there a

hefty experience penalty if you lose in a street fight?"

"Not at all. Everyone enthusiastically participated in this gamble."

Silica once again chimed in.

"Eh? Is a super powerful rare item being gambled?"

"It's not an item. Absolute Sword actually gambled an «Original

Sword Skill». One which is a super strong, finishing move level."

Asuna can't help but want to copy Kirito's habit of shrugging and

whistling, but she held back.

"So it's an OSS. What type? How many hits?"

"Let me think, it seems like it's usable by one-handed swords in

general. It's a shocking 11-hit combo."

"Wow~!"

This time she really reflexively let out a cry.

The key system in the currently non-existent SAO is 'Sword Skills'.

There were 'skills' set for the innumerable weapons, there were

many skills ranging from strong single-hit attacks to flurries of

continuous attacks. The difference from normal attacks was that from

the moment you assume the starting position, your body would

automatically move at the system's highest speed until the skill was

complete. The gorgeous light and sound effects accompanying hits let

the user savor the joy of becoming a super warrior.

In Alfheim, in the large scale updates surrounding Aincrad's

implementation, the new company made a bold decision to reimplement sword skills as they were.

That was, in the new ALO, there was a huge revolution starting

from the very roots of the battle system. This obviously caused a

mighty uproar from some players, but dissenters pretty much became

slaves to the thrill as soon as they've experienced sword skills once.

Before that, in ALO, gorgeous effects were monopolized by magic,

which also had superior range and accuracy, so not many people chose

to specialize in melee. That's why it could be said that the appearance

of sword skills balanced things out. Even though it had been half a year

since the upgrade, the new battle system with «Aerial mobility» +

«Sword Skills» was still the topic of many discussions.

These sword skills borrowed from their predecessors weren't

enough to satisfy the audacious organizers.

So they developed and included a new element, the «Original

Sword Skill» system.

Like the name implied, that was a 'personal sword skill'. It was

not an already existing sword skill which had all of its actions set from

the start, those were sword skills which players could compile

themselves.

When this feature was announced, in order to get a gorgeous

finishing move of their own, a lot of players scrambled onto the streets

and wilderness and brandished various weapons. —And they all tasted

deep frustration.

Registering an OSS (Original Sword Skill) was extremely easy.

First you open the menu, move to the OSS panel, enter the sword

skill recording mode and press Start. After that you just swung your

weapon as you wanted and press Finish. That was it.

However, there's a harsh requirement for the system to approve

of «the finishing move you thought up».

Single hit slashes and thrusts are almost all registered as

preexisting sword skills. Therefore if you want to compile an OSS, it

had to be a combo. However, as a series of actions, there couldn't be

any flaws in the various aspects like the center of gravity and

trajectory. In addition, the speed must be almost as fast as the

completed sword skill.

That was saying, "You must execute a combo which should be

impossible without system support, without the system's assistance." A

harsh requirement which could be considered contradictory.

There was only one way to overcome that barrier, and that was

repeatedly practicing innumerable times. Until your nerves completely

remembered the series of actions.

Almost all the players couldn't stand that type of boring

assignment and easily gave up their dream of having a 'personal

finishing move'. However, a portion of the hard workers successfully

managed to create and register their OSS, receiving an honor

equivalent to that of the head of a sword style in the middle ages.

Actually, some players started guilds named [00ryuu] and some even

opened dojos in town.

What made that possible was the 'Sword Skill Inheritance' feature

in the OSS system. The original creator of the OSS could pass on the

'Skill Manual' to other players.

Not to mention PvP, OSS also had a significant effect in PvE. That's

why everyone wanted it. According to the trend, the skill's inheritance

fetched a huge price. Skill manuals for «finishing moves» over 5 hits

were currently the most expensive thing in ALO. It was general

knowledge that the strongest OSS up till now was the 8-hit «Volcanic

Blazer» compiled by the Salamander General Eugene, which hadn't

been passed on to anyone as he wasn't short on money. Asuna herself

managed to create a 5-hit one after several months of hard work, but

that had already exhausted her strength, and she wasn't thinking of

starting a new one.

Appearing in that situation was『Absolute Sword』, the

mysterious swordmaster with an exceptional 11-hit combo.

"Well, if that's the case then it's understandable that there'd be plenty

of challengers. Has everyone personally witnessed that sword skill?"

The three of them immediately shook their heads in response to

Asuna's question. Representing them, Lisbeth responded.

"Hmm, it seems like it was shown on the very first day of the

street fights, but it hasn't been used in actual combat... Rather, nobody

is able to force Absolute Sword to use that OSS."

"Even Lyfa can't?"

In response, Lyfa's shoulders dropped and shook her head.

"Even though we were about even when both of our HP was

around 60%... In the end I got defeated by a normal skill."

"Oh... — Speaking of which, the important things still haven't been

asked. Absolute Sword's race, weapon? What are they?"

"Oh, Absolute Sword's an Imp. The weapon used was a onehanded sword, but it's almost as thin as Asuna-san's rapier — Overall,

Absolute Sword's very fast. The normal attacks were almost as fast as

sword skills... So fast that my eyes almost couldn't follow Absolute

Sword's actions. That was the first time I encountered such a thing, I

was really shocked."

"A speed type, eh? If even Lyfa can't follow Absolute Sword's

movements, then I probably have no chance either... — Ah."

At this point, Asuna remembered something important.

"Talking about speed, there's another player who feels like a

cheater sleeping over there. What about Kirito-kun? It seems like he'd

be interested in this sort of thing."

At this, Lisbeth, Silica and Lyfa glanced at each other and

suddenly laughed out loud.

"— Wha, What is it?"

Looking at the shocked Asuna, Lyfa giggled and said something

shocking.

"Hahaha. — My brother has already fought Absolute Sword

before. Moreover, he also beautifully lost."

"How..."

Lost. That Kirito.

Asuna was frozen, agape for several seconds.

In Asuna's heart, Kirito as a swordsman was already synonymous

with «absolutely strongest». In both SAO and ALO, from the people

Asuna knew, the only person who defeated Kirito in a duel was the

leader of the Knights of the Blood, Heathcliff, and that was only due to

the system's protection as a Game Master.

Even though she hadn't mentioned it to Lisbeth and the others,

Asuna herself actually seriously fought Kirito once back in SAO.

This was before they understood each other, back when Asuna

commanded the front lines as KoB's sub-leader.

While they were discussing the method to defeat the strong boss

of a certain floor, there was an opposition between guilds led by KoB

who prioritized speed and several solo players led by Kirito. Both sides

couldn't find a compromise, so in the end they decided to let the

representatives of both sides duel.

At that time, Asuna was already interested in Kirito, but she also

wanted to purge that thought. At that time she believed that putting

personal emotions before clearing the game should not be tolerated.

Asuna felt that the duel was a good chance to defeat the weakness

in her heart. Defeat Kirito, efficiently defeat the boss and once again

return to her cold self.

But Asuna didn't know about the strength hidden behind Kirito's

unreliable-looking face.

That duel was really heated. As their swords crossed, all the

unnecessary thoughts in Asuna's head were blown away, only the

pleasure of fighting a good opponent filled her body. She felt as though

she was directly fighting with her nerve impulses, something which

she had never felt before. It lasted around 10 minutes, but Asuna didn't

notice the length of the time.

Then Asuna lost. Kirito did an overly realistic feint — the reason

was understood later — of «pulling a second sword from behind his

back and attacking», Asuna reflexively blocked and was beautifully hit

in the resulting opening.

In the end, after experiencing that fight, Asuna's feelings instead

became something which she couldn't give up, and at the same time, a

deep impression of Kirito's sword was left in Asuna's heart.

— The strongest swordsman. Up to this day, even after the «Black

Swordsman» from SAO had disappeared, this belief hadn't wavered.

That's why when Asuna was disquieted when she heard Kirito

lost to 'Absolute Sword'.

Asuna shifted her gaze from Lyfa to Lisbeth and shakingly asked.

"Kirito-kun, he... Are you serious?"

"Well~ Yes..."

Lisbeth frowned and shrugged.

"Even if you ask me, for that level of fighting, someone like me

can't determine whether they're serious... But Kirito wasn't dualwielding, so in that aspect he wasn't going all out. Moreover, that..."

Lisbeth paused, her eyes reflecting the light from the fireplace,

and took a look at the sleeping Kirito. His mouth displaying a constant

smile.

"This is what I think. Probably, in a normal game, Kirito won't

fight seriously anymore. On the other hand, Kirito only fights seriously

when the game isn't a game anymore, when the virtual world becomes

real... That's why it's better if situations which force him to fight

seriously don't appear. From the beginning, he was the type to easily

get wrapped into troublesome things."

"..."

Asuna also looked at the black-haired swordsman's sleeping face

for a while, and nodded at Lisbeth.

"Ah... That's true."

On either side, Lyfa and Silica slowly nodded with various

emotions.

The one who broke the temporary silence is Kirito's sister in the

real world, Lyfa.

"— However, this is just my impression... But I think my brother

was serious. At least, I feel like he didn't go easy. Moreover..."

"... What?"

"Even though I'm not sure, but shortly before the duel was

concluded, when their blades are locked together, my brother seemed

to have said something to Absolute Sword... Immediately after that, the

distance between the two widened and my brother wasn't able to

avoid Absolute Sword's charge and lost..."

"Hmm... So what did he say?"

"Thing is, even if I ask him he won't tell me. However, it feels like...

there's something."

"Really? Then it probably wouldn't work even if I asked him."

Asuna looked down at her hand and muttered.

"...All that's left is directly ask Absolute Sword, then."

Hearing this, Lisbeth raised her eyebrows.

"So you really want to fight?"

"Even though I don't feel like I'd win. I have a feeling this person

called Absolute Sword came to ALO for a certain purpose. I'm talking

about something other than street fights."

"Ah, I also think so. However, to know that, you must be on the

same level as Kirito. What about your character? Which are you going

with?"

Asuna thought a little about Lisbeth's question. Other than the

Undine rapier user «Asuna» which was transferred over from SAO, she

also made a new account and trained a new character from scratch: the

Sylph «Erika». The reason she created a new character was extremely

simple: Sometimes she wanted to change her appearance too.

Erika specialized in melee and had most of its ability points

devoted to dagger skills, so it was more suited for duels than Asuna

which was half a healer. However, Asuna shrugged and immediately

replied.

"I'll go with this one, which I'm more used to. Since the opponent

is a speed type, victory would probably be decided in an instant rather

than by DPS. Is everyone coming?"

Looking around, Lisbeth, Silica and Lyfa nodded at the same time.

Silica happily waved her tail and said.

"Of course! There's no way I'd skip this match."

"I don't really know whether or not it can be called a match... Well,

then it's decided. Absolute Sword appears on the island on the 24th

floor around 3pm, right? Then let's meet here at 2:30."

Clapping her hands, Asuna called out the menu and looked at the

time in reality.

"Not good, it's already 6, I'm almost late for dinner."

"Then let's part here for today."

Lyfa saved the window in front of her and quickly packed up.

After saying goodbye to the 3 people, the Sylph swordswoman quietly

approached the rocking chair, held the back of the chair and suddenly

shook it wildly.

"Brother, wake up! It's time to go!"

Smiling at this scene, Asuna suddenly remembered something

and faced Lisbeth.

"Hey, Liz."

"What is it?"

"Just now, you mentioned that Absolute Sword transferred over...

Since Absolute Sword's so strong, is it possible that... it's someone from

SAO?"

In response to the whispered question, Lisbeth nodded with a

serious expression on her face.

"I suspected that. But when I asked Kirito what he thought after

his fight with Absolute Sword..."

"What did Kirito-kun say...?"

"He said that there was no way Absolute Sword was originally a

SAO player. His reason being..."

"..."

"He said that if Absolute Sword existed in that world, «Dual

Blades» would've been given to that person instead."