Klein roared out in broken English to the US players he has no personal issues with them, but as they hurt his friends he’s going to pay them back 3, no, 5, no, several million times more pain they gave to his friends. Klein then did what Asuna thought was a suicidal charge against the players, when another player dropped down. It was Agil, with a wicked looking 2-handed war axe. Liz and Silica came next, and Asuna completely relaxed after seeing them, saying they really came. The two of them replied of course they would come. Liz chided Asuna for trying too hard by herself being wounded like this, and Silica says she should leave it to the rest of them. The two of them embraced Asuna, ad she felt almost like all her wounds are evaporating away.
More players have landed, their weapons are varied and all seem to have a higher levelled gear compared to the US players. Asuna realized the acceleration speed had been reduced to 1x, and the players have transferred their The Seed account into UW to fight despite there being no safeguards. Asuna apologized with tears to everyone, that they might not be able to transfer back or even lose their experienced accounts if they die here. Liz assured Asuna they spent all their time on their characters in order to protect something important to them at a time like this.
Renri asked with wonder who are these new knights, and Asuna told him and the rest of the UW guards they’re her allies from RW. Renri said with relief that they have help now, for a moment he had thought Asuna was the only good person in RW and everyone else is like those soldiers. Lizbeth took mock offense to that, and introduced herself. Asuna thought she’d probably never forget this moment, where people of two worlds met and became friends. The story will continue from this new beginning and it shouldn’t end in a tragedy. Asuna asked how many people have transferred, and Liz said a little over 2,000 – not everyone who listened to her speech decided to transfer over. Asuna patted Liz on the back and told her she did well already, don’t be too hard on herself. She then gave orders for 200 players to be set in reserve for support, and asked the UW people to focus on healing now as the RW players aren’t used to the spells here. Silica asked what is Asuna going to do, and she replied of course she’ll be charging on the front lines.
The ALO players such as Sakuya, Alicia, and Eugene had transferred over. And from how the sharpshooters are doing, they’re probably from GGO. The Sleeping Knights are also mowing down their enemies, as fitting of the name of the strongest Guild in ALO. Asuna promised herself she would do her best to minimize deaths on her side and take the greatest risks, as her Super Account won’t be lost even if she dies. The Japanese players only number around 2,000 however, so they could still be mobbed by the 10,000 US players. Thankfully, with the arrival of new players the US ones thought this is just a beta after all, and went back to being berserkers for their own bloodlust.
The only problem left however is no pain absorb, and with the constant retreating, healing and advancing to fight, the Japanese players would have to suffer every minute of this battle. This was something that can break a person, as Asuna herself had experienced herself. Asuna rallied the players and said they can definitely win this if they’re all together.
A small ‘interlude’ here of a ALO player trying to come to grips with how there might be AIs, and how the virtual world is just like the real world. He got his foot wounded by a axe of a US player, and the pain was excruciating. He managed to kill the player off, but he was almost overwhelmed and wanted to log off. A UW girl healed him, and thanked him for fighting for them. The guy knows he’s probably just caught up in the moment, but he asked for her name, and went back fighting – resolving to do his best, otherwise he won’t have the face to see her again, to see someone living in a alternate reality trying her best. ‘Interlude’ ends.
Scene change to Higa, working his butt off trying to adjust the ALO accounts into the equivalent of UW ones. Koujiro Rinko, his work mate and Kayaba’s ex-assistant, assured him they’ll do fine and handed him a energy drink. Higa blamed himself for being so stupid they did not notice the US team’s plan to send in other players. They could try and destroy the antennae that allowed the US players to access UW, but doing so meant stopping the lockdown, and the attackers could then come in and kill off the hostages. So Kikuoka and Higa had to leave this to the three girls that dived in after Kirito and the Japanese VRMMO players that dived in with them. Their main problem right now isn’t how over half of Project Alicization is now leaked onto the internet, but that there’s a very real chance the US will succeed in retrieving Alice and become the unrivalled world power in the new age of unmanned weapons. Yet, Higa commented, and Kirito probably knows this as well, Alice is not a weapon but a actual person of a different world. He absently gazed to the window with Kirito’s Fluctlight activity and tried to close it off now, being not needed right now, but then saw something:
Kirito’s Fluctlight activity had spiked a moment before, and checking the graph there was a larger spike 8 hours ago. Higa called Rinko over to check this, and they figured out, as impossible as it sounds for a broken Fluctlight to show this activity, that Kirito has responded to the girls logging into UW. After some theorizing, Higa figured out (Flere821 note: and this was foreshadowed earlier at the scenes of Sinon kissing Kirito, and of Berculi’s death) while Rath did not keep a back-up of Kirito’s Fluctlight the back-up rests within the souls of other people. Your ‘self identity’ is not just about how you see yourself, but also how others see you. The way to fix Kirito, then, is to link up at least 3 person who knew Kirito well onto his STL – which the girls currently dived in here now definitely apply. Kikuoka confirmed Sinon and Leafa are close to Kirito as well, not just Asuna here having a deep connection with him. Higa celebrated for a moment as the way to cure Kirito is found, but then despaired – the only way to do this is at the main control room, which meant cancelling the lockdown. They can’t wait until the Japanese Navy intervenes either, as prior to their move Ocean Turtle will be shut down.
Higa decided to risk himself, opening the lockdown for just a moment and go connect up the STLs manually by going through the service ducts. To cover for this momentary opening of lockdown Kikuoka suggested sending the #3 robot against the US team as a diversion. Rinko asked what the #3 robot was, and Higa explained it’s the body made for Fluctlights if they’re brought into the real world, so they won’t collapse due to the experience of having no physical body. Rinko’s question of whether there’re #1 and #2 robots are ignored. Kikuoka said it’s too dangerous for Higa to go alone, and Higa replied due to his small stature he’s the only one that can go inside the narrow ducts anyway. The JSDF soldiers should stay here to protect the others, he said, despite his fear of being shot. Higa felt though it’s thanks to Kirito they made this much progress, and he had fought so hard to protect Alice that they owe it to him to do everything they can to fix him.
Then, a different person spoke up, volunteering to go along with Higa. He was almost smaller than Higa is, so he can fit through the ducts. Higa called this person ‘Yanai’, and he was thankful to have someone along with him.