Asuna prayed with all her might for Kirito to wake up, even as she looked at him with teary eyes. Other RW girls are calling out his name as well in their hearts. The final one of 4 people calling to him calling out might have been Eugeo, however (as opposed to maybe Alice).
Kirito felt like someone might have called out his name, and woke up from a slumber. We’re treated to a flashback of Kirito back during SAO beta-testing period. Kirito thought everything that had happened in UW, not that he can remember them clearly, was just a dream. Kirito spent these days mostly playing SAO beta at night, and sleeps in class time. Kirito then walked past a group of 5 students bullying this one person, and Kirito tried to ignore them. The student in question was like Kirito, one of the top students in their middle school. A while back Kirito had helped the guy, grabbing a shinai and beaten up the leader of the bullies when it had gone beyond just stealing lunch money and into outright extortion. It had ended up as a serious issue with both sides’ parents called into the school, but the matter was resolved with Kirito showing a hidden recording of the bully’s threats and actions. The bully and his friends had spent a while not going after this guy after that, but had returned to the old habits by this point. Kirito by this point doesn’t give a damn anymore, not wanting to get involved in such things. He’s a gamer now, not a martial artist, and it would be a joke if he still tried to help out.
Returning home, Kirito saw Suguha training kendo in a green sweater. Suguha was so dazzling in her appearance and efforts for kendo Kirito paused to watch involuntarily. Suguha eventually realized Kirito was watching and warmly welcomed him back. Kirito shied away, gave a blunt reply, and moved inside the house. Kirito realized the path he could have taken and the girl he had distanced himself away from was shining brightly on the other side of this wall he built up. He wondered when he started to distance himself – he had forgotten by this point. Was it because he had quit his grandfather’s dojo? Why did he do so again? Because he was beating up another guy in front of the dojo using a technique he found on the internet? Kirito can’t remember.
Kirito returned to his plain room, and started up the SAO beta. His beta character was a bishounen, and by Kirito’s own words it was 10x harder to make a cool male teen character than a cutesy female teen character. Kirito at the time had gleaming half-plate armour, white clothing trimmed with blue edges, a silver cape, and a crystal blade. Kirito walked through the Floor 10 streets, being warmly greeted and he replied in the same way; something he wouldn’t do IRL. He also declined the countless requests for him to join other people’s guilds on his way to his destination.
Kirito met up with another two guys in a inn, both as well-dressed as him. The two here are the current leaders of the most powerful guild in SAO beta. They’re here to try and entice Kirito to join their guild, after Kirito had left the #2 most powerful guild two weeks ago. After hearing their recruitment speech and seeing what they had to offer (generous gear and wealth offered), Kirito told them he’ll join on one condition – let him PK this one particular swordsman within their guild. Not that Kirito wanted to become an Orange named player, it’s a huge hassle to get rid of that status. Kirito asked them to set things up that Kirito will be alone with this guy in one of the duelling arena’s locked rooms. The duelling arena was a beta game area where if you die there it will have a death penalty and your items may be dropped.
The guild leaders asked why is Kirito going so far to PK this person, didn’t he defeat this guy in the last official tournament? And they’re hesitant in letting one of their core members being PKed. However, the two leaders agreed after Kirito hinted if they agree to this when the Beta’s over Kirito will join their guild as well. Strong players at this stage tended to be solo players due to efficiency and loot allocation issues, so guilds go out of their way to ensure they have good players. The guild leaders reasoned that the other guy hasn’t been logging into SAO much these days anyway, and if it’s just an ‘accident’ then everything’s fine.
That night, everything was settled and Kirito went into the duelling arena. 3am in the morning, most people have logged off. Kirito got the key to the locked room and rushed there to meet up with his prey. The other guy had gear that looked like rough-looking beginner ones, but their stats was equal to Kirito’s own gear. The guy was told he was here to meet up with new guild members with others, but the other members didn’t show up. Kirito greeted him, then attacked without warning. Despite the other guy’s trusting look, it appeared he was suspicious as well as he managed to block Kirito’s sneak attack. Kirito explained he was pissed that in the last tournament this guy threw the match in a serious duel, for the sake of the gambling winnings. Kirito had given his all in that duel, the only time in SAO beta to have done so; yet the guy had given up. Kirito was going to ask the guy to be his friend due to his skills, he had fun fighting him, before the guy threw the match.
Kirito brought out a pile of Revive Crystals, it had cost him a fortune to get these. It revived the player immediately instead of sending them to the Black Iron Palace, but death penalties and item losses still apply. Kirito declared he’s going to kill the guy 10 times, until the guy lost all his gear and levels and can’t recover before the next tournament. If he doesn’t want that then he better fight seriously.
The fight between the two was as fierce as Kirito expected, with both of them pulling out tricks they wouldn’t show in public. Despite Kirito’s anger he had fun, feeling adrenaline pumping him up. This further enraged Kirito, that with this level of skill the guy still had faked a loss. Then, with a 5-hit combo the guy blocked 4 hits and then deliberately let himself die on the 5th hit. The guy died and got revived, losing his helmet as a drop. Kirito was pissed the guy was trying to fake a loss again, and killed him a second time by slashing him across the chest – the guy didn’t block this either.
The guy said with tears he was happy that Kirito was going to join their guild. You can’t fake tears in VR (eg , Mother’s Rosario with Asuna’s mother). The guy said he didn’t fake his loss because he wanted to get the gambling winnings. Looking into his eyes, Kirito realized it was that student who was bullied in his school, they were friends before Kirito gave up on him. The guy said he wanted to try and deal with the bullies himself, and if Kirito had noticed who he was back in the tournament he would have wanted to ask him to be his friend once more.
That last sentence actually didn’t get completed properly. The guy suddenly died for real from the bisected wound Kirito gave him for the 2nd death, realistic blood and sensations filled the scene. The revive crystals didn’t activate this time. The torches around them began to be extinguished, and the sand beneath his feet turned into a bog that sucked Kirito down.
Kirito realized this was supposed to be a dream, he’s still in UW. Though the dream should not have ended this way; after the reveal, the two of them abandoned their duel and left SAO for the night. The guy didn’t manage to get free from the bullies, and Kirito continued to ignore him. The guy left SAO for good, and one month later when the beta was over Kirito was stuck inside the death game, fighting for his life.
More memories began to return to Kirito; SAO, ALO, GGO, everything is coming back to him… though Kirito begged whoever is out there to not let him remember. Then, it cuts to when Kirito met Eugeo in UW. The events of Alicization began to play out in front of him in fast forward, until they reached the top of the Cathedral fighting as a team. There, Eugeo perished.
Kirito screamed out in pain and despair. He blamed himself for Eugeo’s death. That it was his own powerlessness, foolishness, weakness that led to Eugeo’s death. Eugeo should not have died. Kirito wished he was the one that had taken Eugeo’s place and had died instead.
Kirito kept screaming. He blindly tried to grasp at the sword he dropped earlier to try and stab his own heart out. His sword was nowhere to be found, however. Instead, his hand came into contact with something soft. It was the corpse of the student Kirito had killed in the arena moments earlier – then, it morphed into Eugeo’s corpse.
Kirito screamed, torn his own shirt apart, and tried to gouge out his heart with his own bare hands. The skin was ripped, his muscle torn, yet Kirito couldn’t feel the pain. Kirito wanted to rip his heart out and then crush it, only then he will be able to atone for what he did to Eugeo.
Then, Asuna’s image showed up, calling out his name. Kirito doesn’t recognize her, however. Sinon and Suguha also showed up after Asuna, calling out for Kirito. Kirito can feel himself being healed, becoming whole again. However, after remembering them, Kirito thought he didn’t have the right to accept their kindness. He rejected their kindness, thinking he could no longer stand up and fight. Kirito’s heart is now torn out of his body, and Kirito is on the verge of crushing it.
Higa, beginning to lose consciousness from blood loss, is shouting weakly why Kirito isn’t back to normal yet. The data flowing into Kirito pushed his status into one step away from being healed, yet it’s still missing that final step. A miracle like this amount of data should have healed him. Higa concluded they needed at least one more person, otherwise Kirito at this level of activity would be stuck in an endless nightmare; even being in a vegetative state like before might have been preferable. However, there was nobody left with a deep bond, a strong willpower, linked with Kirito – and there isn’t any spare STL left for them to link up to Kirito anyway. Higa wanted to pound at the controls in frustration, but then stopped as he looked at the screen; a fourth connection is attached onto Kirito, and it came from the Main Visualizer. Though it’s just mnemonic data of Objects of UW there, there shouldn’t be a soul in there. Higa then realized memories, partial Fluctlights, can reside in an Object as well not just other souls/Fluctlights. Though to his knowledge this should be theoretically impossible. Higa fully opened the connection of the Main Visualizer to Kirito’s STL anyway, willing to take this long shot to heal Kirito.
The second before Kirito crushed his heart, Eugeo’s voice reached him. Eugeo’s physical unmarred form showed up as well. Kirito asked blankly, barely able to hope, that was Eugeo, his best friend and partner, alive after all? Eugeo shook his head, saying he’s only Kirito’s memory of Eugeo. He reminded Kirito of a conversation long ago, on Eugeo’s deathbed, that they believed memories are eternal and resting in others’ hearts. Asuna and the rest of the girls chimed in, agreeing with Eugeo; that they’re always connected with Kirito, that no matter how far physically away they are from one another, the memories and emotions will always link them together.
Kirito’s eyes watered, and he asked Eugeo if it was alright for him to continue forward. Eugeo instantly said yes, and told Kirito there are a lot of people waiting for him. Eugeo said he’ll always be with Kirito, no matter where he would head off to. Eugeo and the other girls’ forms turned into a bright light, and flowed into Kirito.
And then…