In light of this, here's a tidbit of info on the Chinese translations' progress:
Spoiler for progress + MAJOR plot spoilers:
Good news, of the 12 chapter parts left in WEB8 six of them are complete. The bad news: this is the last 6 bits of the twelve, the translators skipped some in between bits due to lack of interest and taking those slowly >.<
Feel my pain and share my suffering at not knowing what happens in between, like (LAST CHANCE to turn back from spoilers):
Spoiler for End of WEB 8:
how PoH shows up; how Gabriel gathered a army of hardcore US gamers to fight for him (the kind described in GGO arc (Vol5), bloodthirsty players that logs out by suicide or killing others ingame); how the ALO cast gets summoned by Yui to kick serious ass against these players; and how Berculi goes down fighting against Gabriel.
Having said that, I can understand why the TLers jumped right into the last 6 bits first: Kirito dual wields the Blue Rose & Night Sky Swords, Release Recollection both of them to nuke 30,000+ foreign players (bloody HAX - Blue Rose drains enemies' HP/MP and disperse them into the surroundings, then Night Sky absorbs all the energy in the area to fuel its Limit Break); PoH being 'executed' by Kirito; Gabriel VS Kirito showdown, with the fate of UW at stake in the BEST FIGHT SCENE/S in the Alicization arc; Kayaba's Fluctlight finding new meaning with his existence, pulling a 'Heroic Sacrifice', saving Ocean Turtle from a nuclear reactor meltdown.
TTGL, eat your heart out, this stuff rivals your hot-bloodedness in spirit if not in galactic scale.
Ti
Then, if against the 30000+ players he uses release recollection, then against gabriel he uses that + incarnate + the 27 hit "The Eclipse"
if not for.the vector super.account, that would redefine OVERKILL
In light of this, here's a tidbit of info on the Chinese translations' progress:
Spoiler for progress + MAJOR plot spoilers:
Good news, of the 12 chapter parts left in WEB8 six of them are complete. The bad news: this is the last 6 bits of the twelve, the translators skipped some in between bits due to lack of interest and taking those slowly >.<
Feel my pain and share my suffering at not knowing what happens in between, like (LAST CHANCE to turn back from spoilers):
Spoiler for End of WEB 8:
how PoH shows up; how Gabriel gathered a army of hardcore US gamers to fight for him (the kind described in GGO arc (Vol5), bloodthirsty players that logs out by suicide or killing others ingame); how the ALO cast gets summoned by Yui to kick serious ass against these players; and how Berculi goes down fighting against Gabriel.
Having said that, I can understand why the TLers jumped right into the last 6 bits first: Kirito dual wields the Blue Rose & Night Sky Swords, Release Recollection both of them to nuke 30,000+ foreign players (bloody HAX - Blue Rose drains enemies' HP/MP and disperse them into the surroundings, then Night Sky absorbs all the energy in the area to fuel its Limit Break); PoH being 'executed' by Kirito; Gabriel VS Kirito showdown, with the fate of UW at stake in the BEST FIGHT SCENE/S in the Alicization arc; Kayaba's Fluctlight finding new meaning with his existence, pulling a 'Heroic Sacrifice', saving Ocean Turtle from a nuclear reactor meltdown.
TTGL, eat your heart out, this stuff rivals your hot-bloodedness in spirit if not in galactic scale.
Oh boy. Talk about going way over the top. What's missing now is a giant drill or giant hammer to add to the events.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eijigawa
Sword Art Online Vol.12 - Alicization Rising Illustration preview
Kirito and Eugeo vs Integrity Knight !!! I wonder who is that knight......
Ti
Then, if against the 30000+ players he uses release recollection, then against gabriel he uses that + incarnate + the 27 hit "The Eclipse"
if not for.the vector super.account, that would redefine OVERKILL
To be fair, Gabriel himself figured out the Incarnate skill enough to be just as HAX as Kirito. The Vector GM account is pretty much his weakest aspect by the final battle >.>
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eijigawa
Sword Art Online Vol.12 - Alicization Rising Illustration preview
*snip*
Kirito and Eugeo vs Integrity Knight !!! I wonder who is that knight......
Spoiler for Knight:
That's probably Fanatio. She's the only Integrity Knight that wears a helmet all the time.
Chinese translation progress Update: Another chapter is done, 5 left until WEB8 is complete. I'll wait until it's all done before starting to summarize the whole WEB chapter.
In light of this, here's a tidbit of info on the Chinese translations' progress:
Spoiler for progress + MAJOR plot spoilers:
Good news, of the 12 chapter parts left in WEB8 six of them are complete. The bad news: this is the last 6 bits of the twelve, the translators skipped some in between bits due to lack of interest and taking those slowly >.<
Feel my pain and share my suffering at not knowing what happens in between, like (LAST CHANCE to turn back from spoilers):
Spoiler for End of WEB 8:
how PoH shows up; how Gabriel gathered a army of hardcore US gamers to fight for him (the kind described in GGO arc (Vol5), bloodthirsty players that logs out by suicide or killing others ingame); how the ALO cast gets summoned by Yui to kick serious ass against these players; and how Berculi goes down fighting against Gabriel.
Having said that, I can understand why the TLers jumped right into the last 6 bits first: Kirito dual wields the Blue Rose & Night Sky Swords, Release Recollection both of them to nuke 30,000+ foreign players (bloody HAX - Blue Rose drains enemies' HP/MP and disperse them into the surroundings, then Night Sky absorbs all the energy in the area to fuel its Limit Break); PoH being 'executed' by Kirito; Gabriel VS Kirito showdown, with the fate of UW at stake in the BEST FIGHT SCENE/S in the Alicization arc; Kayaba's Fluctlight finding new meaning with his existence, pulling a 'Heroic Sacrifice', saving Ocean Turtle from a nuclear reactor meltdown.
TTGL, eat your heart out, this stuff rivals your hot-bloodedness in spirit if not in galactic scale.
Spoiler for Question:
When you say ALO players, do you mean all or just the significant ones like Recon, Sakuya, Eugene and etc.?
Regarding Kayaba's FL, what are the chances of there being another copy? The same goes for Gabriel and PoH?
When you say ALO players, do you mean all or just the significant ones like Recon, Sakuya, Eugene and etc.?
Regarding Kayaba's FL, what are the chances of there being another copy? The same goes for Gabriel and PoH?
Spoiler for Answer:
Uncertain, since the part where ALO side logs in isn't translated yet. Later parts suggest there was something like 2,000 Japanese players logged in, and the named characters managed to stay logged in from the fight until the end despite the ALO side being defeated.
Kayaba being another copy, not sure. Though PoH and Gabriel are confirmed to be really dead, those two don't have copies made.
Uncertain, since the part where ALO side logs in isn't translated yet. Later parts suggest there was something like 2,000 Japanese players logged in, and the named characters managed to stay logged in from the fight until the end despite the ALO side being defeated.
Kayaba being another copy, not sure. Though PoH and Gabriel are confirmed to be really dead, those two don't have copies made.
Thank you for answering my questions. That explains a certain popular fan theory regarding the connection between AW and SAO.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tusjecht
In other words, Kayaba pioneered Fluctlight by making a copy of his...mind? Fluctlight?
We have another thing to thank him other than the World Seed. The same World Seed that helped accelerate the progress of the Alicization Project in the first place...
Thank you for answering my questions. That explains a certain popular fan theory regarding the connection between AW and SAO.
We have another thing to thank him other than the World Seed. The same World Seed that helped accelerate the progress of the Alicization Project in the first place...
Also, Nerve Gear is foundation for Soul Translator.
People, new summary (WEB 8 Part 31, 2nd half) is here, and once again $h!t just got real:
Spoiler for WEB 8 Part 31 (second half) summary:
Asuna, Alice and Ronie woke up after a night’s talking, and began eating breakfast. Asuna thought while still half asleep due to the time being accelerated 1000x, she’d be eating 1000x more meals… hopefully she won’t be getting fat like this. Glancing at Alice, Asuna noted she has a perfectly balanced body that’s apparent even through the thick cloth Alice wore. Asuna wondered if in UW the body’s numerical values are set from birth, or was it only a reflection of their imagination.
Ronie was feeding Kirito small bites of food, enough to keep him alive and healthy but Kirito refused to eat a lot before today – it was like he was getting thinner every day. Like he wanted to erase himself from not just this world, but in every world he was alive in. Ronie commented Kirito has changed, being more willing to eat now, and Alice wondered if it was because three beautiful girls had slept with him; the three of them talked to 1am about Kirito before finally falling to sleep from exhaustion, and just dropped down around him to sleep.
Asuna thought Kirito doesn’t change no matter where he goes. He is kind to everyone, but because of that he tries to shoulder too much and get hurt in the process. Asuna thought Kirito really gone too far this time, trying to shoulder the weight of an entire world by himself. He should rely more on her and others, he’s well-liked by many after all. Though Asuna adds nobody loves him more than she does. Asuna resolved to tell Kirito when he wakes up it’s alright, everything has been settled. What he had wanted to protect she and others have already done so for him. Looking at Alice and Ronie, they nodded as if they could hear her thoughts and agreed with her.
Then, the signal for enemy attacking sounded.
The 4 Synthesis Knights and Asuna met up at the north of their camp. They found out about the climbing rope bridges. Vector seemed to be uncaring about his losses to choose this plan, but even so a third of his forces are likely to survive this crossing and that would still leave an army of 7,000 to face against. The human side only have 1,000 with Berculi and others right now. Berculi decided this is war, and they should take the chance when it is offered to them. He planned to have Synthesis Forty-nine’s Release Recollection (giant boomerang) to cut off the ropes, and the other 4 will guard him as he does so. Alice thought she herself had burned thousands of lives away already with her spell previously, she had no right to ask for a honourable battle. All that’s left for her is draw her sword and kill her enemies.
Gladiator leader Ishukaan is anxious and wants everyone to cross quickly before enemies arrive. He is thoroughly angry that Vector forbid him to cross first, and now he has to watch his comrades fall to their doom every time the wind blows across this ravine. It’s not even a honourable death against a enemy, just death trying to attempt a jester trick. Many of the ones that fell gave a bestial roar of regret that they didn’t die on a battlefield.
A group of 5 riders came by, and Ishukaan hoped it was just scouts but unfortunately it was all Synthesis Knights. 30 gladiators tried to hold them back, but were mowed down instantly.Then one of the rope bridges was severed. Ishukaan’s anger at his forces being decimated without a chance to die like a warrior threatened to burst his right eye.
Gabriel didn’t even care 3 of the rope bridges was severed almost instantly. By this point he had lost over 70% of his forces in the two days’ battle, but he wasn’t worried at all. He’s just waiting for his plan to come to fruition.
Eight Hours ago:
Gabriel’s hacker reduced the acceleration down to 1x, and then sent out a notice to the US online gaming community. A brand new VRMMO is being released, a R18+ game focused on slaughter with no moral code restrictions. This is in complete defiance towards current gaming laws, where explicit blood and gore, corpses and screams of death was forbidden to be shown in VR games. While you can ignore this law, it was nigh impossible for your servers to not be shut down. In just 8 hours over 30,000 copies of the entrance program was downloaded. Every player was given a Lvl70 Dark Knight account, the one like Gabriel’s lieutenant Vassago had. Rath side didn’t even think of this possibility, that people can use The Seed’s transfer function to contact this world. Yui noticed this plan as she kept a eye on the internet at large when Asuna came into UW, and tried to call Rath to tell this through Asuna’s phone. The phone wasn’t in the same room as they’re not holed up in against the attack on Ocean Turtle however, so Yui went elsewhere for help.
Sinon and Lyfa were called by Yui for help. Yui accessed Kirito’s bank account to give Sinon bus fees and told her to come immediately.
Higa was munching on a energy bar and wondered what’s taking Asuna so long. It’s been over 6 hours since she logged in, and should have been 4 months inside. Could it really take that long to get to World End Altar? Then a phone called, it was one of the branch offices in developing STL trying to contact Kikuoka. Two female high school students showed up and asked for him, saying company secrets they should not know about; they told Kikuoka to check UW’s STRA rate right now. Higa did so, found it was reduced to only 1x and was shocked. Kikuoka frantically tried to confirm who the two girls are, and the caller said they called themselves ‘Sinon’ and ‘Leafa’, obvious not Japanese names despite looking like Japanese people.
Yui confirmed Suguha and Sinon was allowed into the Rath office, before went back into ALO to meet up with 4 others. In Kirito and Asuna’s 22nd floor cottage was Silica, Lizbeth, Klein and Agil. They logged in after Yui called them and requested them to do so. Yui reported to them the current situation. Klein scowled that Kirito had once again got himself into a mess all by himself. In the process of reporting back we now have confirmed Yui has evolved from being a Top-Down AI into a ‘True’ AI, being able to feel emotions instead of just showing replies given certain cues. Yui is crying that the life/AI formed from the many experiences of everyone in VR, their sadness, laughter, love, and tears are now in danger. Yui is afraid for Kirito and Asuna’s wellbeing, she loves them and wants to help. Lizbeth said of course they’ll help, Silica hugged Yui, Klein said they won’t just leave Kirito alone while Agil commented they owe Kirito a great debt and now they can try and pay some of it back. Yui is overwhelmed by emotions, and thought she must be bugged right now – for efficieny’s sake she should be passing more pressing info on, not crying. All she could do is say thanks to them while in tears for agreeing to help.
They started discussing various ways for them to try and counter the US player invasion. Klein proposed to log in themselves using Rath accounts and fight the US players head on, NEETs committed gamers in Japan are no worse than US gamers. Agil pointed out there’s a problem – right now it’s 4:30am in Japan, while in US it’s the middle of the day. The US side will have overwhelmingly more players due to time zone differences. Yui says there are more powerful accounts than the ones used by the US available, and she brought up this plan even knowing it was equivalent to asking for the 4 here to give up half of themselves:
The ‘Convert’ function – they can send their The Seed account into UW to fight.
5am, in the ALO World Tree dome, the place where it used to house the Grand Quest but is now used as a neutral meeting area between the 9 races. Over 3,000 players gathered. Klein and Lizbeth used every method they had, even contacting people IRL, to get them to log on. Now 8 of the faction leaders have gathered, and many professional players from other games have also transferred into ALO. The 3,000 here are the elite players in Japan. Lizbeth explained the situation and asked for their aid. Sakuya gave Lizbeth’s story the benefit of the doubt and asked what’s involved in logging into UW. The players grew steadily more agitated after hearing A) there’s no way to log out of your own will, B) the pain absorb function is non-existent there, and C) if you die in UW it’s likely you will lose your The Seed account.
A Salamander player on the same rank as Eugene within the Salamander faction said they’re not doing this crap, risking their accounts is too much. He accused the SAO survivors of being elitists and can go be heroes themselves, the AIs be damned. Lizbeth felt there’s some grains of truth in those accusations, the SAO players mainly hung out in new Aincrad and didn’t go down into ALO much, and kept their contacts to ex-SAO players. The ALO leaders they knew, Eugene, Sakuya, and Alicia didn’t speak up to help Lizbeth, waiting to see if she can convince them all of her resolve.
Lizbeth told them while on the verge of tears the SAO survivors might have problems distinguishing reality and fantasy, but none of them saw themselves as heroes. The ex-SAO players are forced into attending the same school against their will, being monitored all the time in there, asked invasive questions like whether they feel unsuited for reality or do they feel like they want to hurt others. The government treat the SAO survivors as criminals-in-training.
Lizbeth then said to a lesser degree it’s the same for all VRMMO players as well, they have a reputation of being useless and a waste of taxpayer money. Recently there’s been suggestions to force all net-gamers into military service to forcibly make them accept reality. Lizbeth yelled out this, ALO and The Seed VR, is their reality as well, and by no means is it a place of escapism. They have real friends here, real happy and sad times, meetings and partings. They all work so hard here in VR, why else would they do so if this is all false? If they can abandon this place just because it’s not real, then where is their true ‘reality’?
Lizbeth finally let her tears fall, and asked them all: “The many worlds everyone had cultivated together, like the World Tree here that gathered, bloomed and finally fore fruit, I want to protect them! I beg you all… please lend us your strength…!”
After a moment of silence, through her tear-stained eyes several thousands pairs of fairy wings activated and glittered.
Asuna kept fighting, even knowing she’s snuffing out others’ lives. It was a hard battle, but at the rate things are going it will be their victory. But then, several thousands of black lines began to drop down from the heavens 1-2km away from them, made of numbers and letters. Everyone stopped fighting to look at this sight. Seconds after the lines landed, the lines formed into people.
Ishukaan was so stunned he forgot to be angry. Dark Knights with swords and spears showed up where the black columns landed. They weren’t like the Knights he’s familiar with, with their undisciplined stance and filled with desire. There’s more than 30,000 of them, and if the Dark Knights had this number to begin with they could have overthrew the council to begin with and ruled DT by force. The Dark Knights with him have no idea what is happening either. Ishukaan then realized his people, no, not just that, the entirety of the DT was meant to be a sacrificial pawn for Vector, buying time for this new army to show up. The pain in his right eye incapacitated him as he went from a 17-year old warrior who cared only about improving his skill and the wellbeing of his people into someone that can think about the situation of the entire UW. The 30,000 attacked, and for a moment Ishukaan thought even Vector had some mercy as it looked like the 500 Dark Knights currently fighting the Synthesis Knights will be saved. Then it turned out the 30,000 killed off DT troops as willingly as they attacked their enemy.
Berculi was stunned at the appearance of the new army. Asuna heard the warcries of the new enemy as they closed in, and found it to be coarse language in English (Flere821 note: Anyone here ever been in a MMO mass PvP or mass PvM situation as the recently released event started? The chatter is kinda distinctive…) and realized it’s US players logged in using The Seed. There was no time to explain the UW people aren’t just NPCs, so Asuna had to fight. She used her account to call up mountains, and blocked off the east side. Her mind was nearly incapacitated by the pain however, the ability is bringing heavy load onto her brain. Though Asuna kept going, as she thought if this is for helping Kirito then this is nothing. As expected, on the west side the players were slaughtering DT troops without caring on whose side they’re on. Their only hope is to open a way to the south and escape. Alice held up Asuna as she collapsed, saying it’s time for them to fight instead. Alice waved off Asuna’s protest it’s enemies from the RW, several tens of thousands of enemies with unlimited desire and bloodthirst, and Berculi says they need some time to shine as well. Asuna saw through his bravado however, as his forces are surrounded by 30x their own number. Their side prepared their formation and waited.
Ishukaan shook, his forces were slaughtered like livestock by the new army without even a chance to fight back. And due to Vector’s orders as the strongest the troops have to keep passing on the remaining rope bridges, feeding the bloodthirst of the black legion. Ishukaan wanted to move to where Vector is, asking him to stop the command to cross, then found Vector had flew off towards the battlefield on a dragon. Ishukaan saw Vector looked down at them, without a shred of remorse or care for his people. Ishukaan finally had enough, and ripped his own right eye out of its socket. A leader had responsibility to go with his strength, and Vector ignored his responsibility. Ishukaan denied that Vector now have authority over him. He broke the Code 871, and along with that any loyalty to Vector.
Ishukaan told his 2nd in command Vector gave no orders about what to do with the new Dark Knights, and told them they can kill the Knights all off and it won’t be disobeying Vector’s orders. He told him to prepare the troops to cross the bridge, and he will now go prepare the bridge. Incarnation fire engulfed first his legs, then his entire body. If he can’t travel across the bridges… then he can just fly over the 100m wide ravine. He Leaped, and a trail of fire was left behind him. The record for Leap was 20m, yet Ishukaan tried to challenge 5x that distance. He rose up into the sky, reached the top of the arc carried by the wind, but then the wind stopped. He descended, missing the edge by 5m. Before he fell into the abyss his 2nd in command roared out to him, did the impossible and smashed a rock the size of his head towards Ishukaan. The force gathered in his right arm however also shredded the gladiator’s right fist. Ishukaan gritted his teeth, and jumped off of the rock that flew at him to try and reach his destination with one last Leap.
Asuna took down yet another Dark Knight, yet there’s too many of them. They managed to reach the south, but were headed off by an army. Eventually, one of the guards figured out their enemy fades away a bit after dying, they’re fighting a army of spectres. The Dark Knights broke through their defensive line, and blood began to spill. The realistic death scenes only increased the bloodthrist of the US players. Asuna cried out for them to stop, and returned to attack. As she fought she slipped on the blood spilt, and a battleaxe cut off Asuna’s left arm below her elbow. Before the group of Knights finished killing Asuna however, Ishukaan dropped down from above and pulped the enemies.
Ishukaan then punched the ground, sending a shockwave that blew away all the nearby players. He grabbed Asuna by her collar and offered her a deal: make a bridge across the ravine, and he + his 4,000 Gladiators will help her kill off this phantom army. Synthesis Twelve, Shuuta, said he’s not lying, the two of them had fought before. Asuna agreed, and think it’s only right her last shot (too much burden on her mind) of using the power to manipulate terrain is used for creation, not destruction. Asuna made the bridge, though the mental pain was even more than how her hand got sliced off. The 4,000 Gladiators roared in approval and crossed, ready to fight their enemy.
1 minute before:
Alice kept fighting the Dark Knights, who had no resolve of a Knight or matching sword skills, yet kept fighting and stepped over the corpses of their fallen comrades. It was like they cared nothing about the sanctity of life, regardless of which side. If everyone in Asuna’s world was like this, then no wonder Asuna denied it was the land of the gods. The long time of constant slaughter had dulled Alice’s reflexes, and she had had enough of this war. She summoned a flaming lance, and blew a hole in the enemy formations. She saw a hill nearby, and charged ahead. If she could reach the top of there she can repeat the spell that blew apart the DT army yesterday and end this war now. Berculi shouted at her to stay back, though she charged ahead without hearing his warning. Alice reached the top of the hill, finally had a breath of air that’s not heavy with the scent of blood, then was attacked from behind.
Gabriel planned this gamble from the start: force the human side into a hard enough fight and Alice will try and repeat her army-killer spell from yesterday. He stayed hidden up in the air, and waited for what was probably the longest 10 minutes he had in UW before he found Alice breaking through. His Void Incarnation had already devoured the mind of his dragon, and he commanded his steed to fly down to intercept Alice. He caught her unaware and knocked her out, then flew off from this fight. This world and the people he summoned no longer has any meaning left for him, and he made his way towards the World End Altar.
So... that's how the US players got into UW... Wasn't sure if UW would be compatible with the other Seed worlds, given that UW had pretty much evolved..