The show is 82 minutes long. The first 40 minutes consist of recaps of the first, second, and a tiny bit of the fourth arcs of the story, and the remainder is devoted to the new original story Infinite Burst. Since the first 40 minutes are cut-and-paste cuts from the anime with a narration in Sachika Misawa's voice, I'll be skipping those entirely.
21st July 2047 / Sunday 2:00PM
Infinite Burst begins at 38:20 with the introduction of the new girl, Risa Tsukiori. She's a gymnast, and as she attempts the pommel in a national meet, the springboard shatters and she flails through the air. Before she hits the ground, she whispers an Acceleration command.
27th July 2047 / Saturday 4:00PM, Shibuya 1st Territory Area
The real story kicks off with a Territorial Battle between NN and Promi versus Great Wall. Iron Pound/Suntan Chafer vs Sky Raker/Ardor Maiden, Lignum Vitae/Viridian Decurion vs Pard/Rain, Ash Roller/Green Grande vs Haru/Hime. Raker 1v2s Pound and Chafer, revealing that she has her legs back by discarding her dress. Niko shoots the ground to get rid of both Vitae and Decurion's soldiers, but Pard saves her just before she falls below as well.
Lotus and Grande meet and have a standoff, but just before they actually fight, Grande holds up a hand. Behind Haru and Hime, a fierce wind kicks up and begins to blow everyone away from itself. A black cloud rises and the silhouette of waving tentacles appears in the distance. Everyone holds onto the ground, Grande holds up his shield and Ash is the first to get blown off his bike. Haru loses his grip and gets tossed about uncontrollably; for a moment, he sees a vision of a girl, who cryptically says: "Don't come."
Haru then gets disconnected from the game, and presumably everyone does too. They awaken back in the park they were in. While they're wondering what happened, Utai points out that the BB icon on their desktop is strange - it's greyed out and unresponsive. Niko tries to Accelerate to no effect, and then spots that the Social Security Camera's (SSC) lights are flashing weirdly. Announcements begin to go up all over Japan that the network is down.
The crew (Haru, Hime, Chiyuri, Takumu, Utai) gather at Umesato and Dive into the local net. Pard and Fuuko gathered information and sent to Hime that the area in which you cannot Accelerate and where the SSC network has stopped working are identical. Chiyu and Utai believe its possible to enter by entering the Unlimited Neutral Field(UNF) and walking over to the incident site at Yoyogi park, but Takumu brings up that he has heard many other BLers have also seen an identical black cloud in the game and cannot logout, as though they were under Infinite Enemy Kill (EK). He suggests that all the legions cooperate together as one. Hime can see where he's coming from, she'd like to meet the rest of the Kings, but hasn't heard anything from them. And at the rate the cloud is spreading, it will cover Koenji by 6am tomorrow morning. She'll hold out for meeting the Kings until the last possible minute, but agrees with Haru: she doesn't mind facing the black cloud with only NN's members. They'll meet tonight at Haru's house again because his mother is overseas.
Scene cuts to School festival. Aqua Current, Ash Roller, Pard and Yuniko appear to join them at the festival and to see some AR fireworks. Hime starts to discuss about the time before Haruyuki was a Burst Linker, and how she feels just as scared as he was then. They have a discussion about what it may mean to be a Burst Linker that no longer plays the game, and Haru decides to be assertive and puts an arm on Hime's back. As he starts a monologue, he slowly forgets about his hand until it's right over her buttock, and her subsequent calling out brings him back to his senses and on his knees apologising. Hime opens her mouth to admonish him, but forgets what she was going to say. And throughout all this, everyone looks on at them: Rin in particular.
1st August 2047, 5:50AM, Arita Residence
The ten of them meet the next morning at 5.50AM at Haru's house and cable together in a circle. The two legions will enter as one, find out the truth, and then return.
When they enter the Unlimited Field from Suginami, the very first thing that happens is Ash Roller blindsiding Silver Crow and running him down, using his front wheel to grind him down. He accuses Haru of getting cozy with Hime despite knowing his sister's feelings for Haruyuki. While Haru begs Ash Roller to stop and explain that its a misunderstanding, Rain steps in and orders Ash Roller to back off. As Lime Bell heals Crow in the back, Rain calls Invincible to shoot at the black cloud with Heat Blast Saturation. It's not very effective, just as according to her information. The group wonders if they can attack and advance at the same time, Ash Roller gets his Engrish wrong by misuing the phrase 'Easy Come, Easy Go,' and they decide to stick to the original plan.
Lotus detects someone's presence nearby and calls him out - it's Green Grande at the top of a tall building. No sooner than she has said "Who's there?" than Grande had leapt from the top of the building and landed on the ground with two feet, shattering the earth around him. Grande speaks for the first time that anyone can remember: "That cloud, I thought so too."
He tells Lotus more about the black cloud: it's the Dark Cloud of Goddess Nyx, a Legendary Enemy. Through their discussion it becomes apparent that Nyx wasn't defeated in the past, but sealed in her dungeon. Grande is here to find out more about Nyx as well. Niko asks him to try to punch a hole in the Dark Cloud - he responds by using Parsec Wall to create a cross of light. The cross flies up towards the cloud and creates a bigger hole than Niko's guns had. Convinced of his intention, Niko changes the Invincible into the Dreadnought, aka the Nikobus. As she drives, she knocks over trees and other obstacles to charge her Special Gauge, creating a bumpy ride and making Utai sick.
As they approach the cloud, Grande uses Parsec Wall again, this time to create a barrier of crosses protecting the bus. He begins to take damage from the cloud, and mentions that he can only maintain the shield for 2 minutes. Chiyuri remarks that he should have said that earlier. Niko floors the accelerator, and they barely manage to clear the cloud when Grande's shield runs out. They reach a clear area and see a strange, massive object in the sky. Haru immediately deploys his wings and flies to investigate, but Grande holds up a hand in warning. Confused, Haru flies too close to the structure and triggers the spawning of three large Enemies, and each of them releases hundreds of flying Enemies. Each flying Enemy is thrice the size of a duel avatar, and the large ones are at least a hundred times that.
The structure they're circling around and protecting is the dungeon in Yoyogi Park, the last place that the Goddess Nyx was sealed in, and now she has escaped from her prison. Lotus orders everyone to attack. Rain destroys dozens with her opening salvo, but the flying enemies begin to swarm her and clamber all over Invincible.
Haru asks Hime about the Goddess Nyx, and she tells him that she was sealed in her dungeon at Yoyogi Park because she was too dangerous to fight in the early days of Accel World. When Haru asks what she means by 'too dangerous,' Hime replies that Nyx is stronger than Metatron of the Four Saints.
Scene cuts to Maiden spamming Flame Torrent. Aqua Current uses her skill Phase Trans: Keen, gaining extra offensive and defensive power. Raker and Pard are back-to-back in melee combat when they realise they're not peeling for Rain, who's getting dog-piled by all the flying Enemies. Ash is doing his best by firing off missiles, but the Enemies are succeeding in tearing Invincible to pieces. Chiyuri clocks one Core over the head and remarks to Taku that there's too many, and he too worries that they may all fall into Infinite EK. Just when Invincible is about to collapse with Rain inside, purple lightning rains from the sky and fries everyone it hits: it's Purple Thorn and her right-hand woman, Aster Vine.
Thorn declares that it was only on Grande's invitation that they're there, not because they came to save Lotus. Rain complains from under her feet that they could have picked a gentler way to save her, to which Thorn fires back that she's not saving Rain the next time.
A wave of flying Enemies come for Cyan Pile and Lime Bell, but before they can act, a torrent of blue energy annihilates them - plus a few hundred more in the air further away.
"Looks like you still like to fight solo, Black Lotus."
Blue Knight appears, flanked by Cobalt and Manganese Blade. When Lotus asks him why he's here, he also replies that she should thank Grande for his presence: that if Grande hadn't cleared a path for them, they'd still be stuck trying to bypass the cloud. Rain snarks that maybe that's why he and Purple Thorn are both covered in scars. Blue Knight brushes it off as that a hero needs to get dirty too, and throws it back at Lotus, who's the cleanest-looking of the Kings. While he understands she hates working with people, he suggests to her that it's for everyone's benefit right now to cooperate. Lotus throws a fit and insinuates something about yesterday, but Haruyuki doesn't let her finish.
As the newcomers fight, Lime Bell summons everyone casually to gather in front of her: she casts Citron Call on them, refreshing their health and restores Invincible to pristine condition. Blue Knight approaches Lotus and suggests they try something else: focus firepower on one of the three large floating Enemies. Absolutely Everyone gathers on a cliff and unleashes their load:
- Scarlet Rain - Coronal Mass Ejection
- Black Lotus - Vorpal Strike
- Cyan Pile - Lightning Cyan Spike
- Ardor Maiden - Superluminal Stroke
- Purple Thorn - Frontal Thunder
- Aqua Current - Maelstrom
- Silver Crow - Laser Javelin
It works, and one of the large Enemies falls to the ground. Inside the dungeon, Nyx wakes up. She was sleeping next to Risa's duel avatar.
The large Enemy they just shot down unfortunately isn't dead yet - it grows several tentacles, each twenty times the size of a duel avatar. One of them opens up to reveal a mouth and zooms in on Lime Bell. Stricken with fear, Chiyuri freezes to the spot, only saved by Takumu's suicide. The tentacle bites him in half and instantly kills him.
The group scatters while Rain shoots down on the Enemy. The perspective changes to the Enemy's vision, when it begins to distort and warp. A very familiar merry-go-round pony crosses its field of vision, as does another, and another, and another. The Enemy turns in circles, having fallen to the illusion.
Yellow Radio makes his appearance in a dramatic puff of smoke with his assistant, Lemon Pierette. Although he didn't want to join them in the beginning, he figures he doesn't mind 'helping' a little. Thorn and Radio exchange some barbs about his late arrival and coming from their rear, and Pierette parrots whatever Radio says, but they get over it. The Kings get in formation, or rather, they just pose for it:
http://i.imgur.com/Bbd5s2n.png
Grande calls Silver Crow - once they begin their attack on the Enemies, Crow will take Lotus and fly into the dungeon. Raker and Maiden will clear the way for them as well.
They begin their attack. Sky Raker fixes on her Gale Thruster, which takes a more elegant form for its owner. She grabs Maiden and she uses Flame Torrent and Flame Vortex to waveclear, then Raker brings her back to safety. Haru and Hime make it into the dungeon, which strangely resembles the corridors of a school. They find an opening and run to the central dungeon, where Nyx sleeps in the middle of a huge stadium.
Nyx awakens, and warns that she is not to be disturbed. She claims that the Dark Cloud will bring eternal peace to Accel World: no fighting, no pain, no suffering. All Burst Linkers will sleep peacefully and live forever. When Hime objects, Nyx summons thorny vines to surround and suffocate both of them.
They see Risa's memories while wrapped up. Risa had entered the Unlimited Field in mid-air, and refused to go back because she believed she had failed. She talks about how she was afraid of gymnastics , how she spent her time practicing in Accel World. Nyx reveals that it was Risa's crying that awoke her from her slumber for thousands of years, and she managed to get Risa to unlock and free her.
Lotus breaks free from the vines, angrily asking if Risa wants to live in the UNF forever at this rate. Nyx/Risa replies in the affirmative - they would never go back to the real world and would rather sleep here in virtual reality. That that was Risa's wish. Haru breaks free and shouts that Hime and himself are not Enemies, and that this isn't their world to live in. Nyx warns them about disturbing her one last time before she draws curtains around themselves. Thick, black hair cascades from the ceiling, solidifying and giving rise to Goddess Nyx's true form.
Nyx grows out from below the dungeon, upside down (Give Walpurgisnacht legs and you're set). Gravity is reversed for both Haru and Hime, and as they dodge Nyx's attacks, and Lotus warns that flying too far will make it easier for her monstrously long arms to catch them. But when he flies closer, two Enemies spawn on her elbows: Nyx's children, *Nemesis* and *Thanatos*, the strongest Enemies besides Nyx herself. Lotus parries their attacks at the cost of lots of her Health, but just when they're stuck, a brilliant golden light erupts from Haruyuki's chest, resolving into a three-petal pixie with an angel's halo.
This is Metatron, or what used to be her. She calls Enemies as Beings instead as she used to be one herself. More on that later... She advises Haruyuki that they can't defeat Nyx directly, but they can sever the connection between her and the 'little white avatar.' Haru doubts that they have enough power to do that, but Metatron slaps him around and exhorts that he use Incarnation to get it done. And she'll give him her wings to do it.
Haru takes flight and uses Light Speed to destroy Nemesis and Thanatos. He equips Metatron Wings mid-flight, fusing with Metatron to gain four angelic wings. Holding onto Hime tightly, they join hands and use Laser Lance and Vorpal strike together. One Yell To Increase Power later, they break through Nyx and enter an ethereal space full of stars.
They find Risa and talk to her. Haru's point is that they all have to return to the real world at some point, for the sake of peope who care for them in their hearts. Risa says that she has always felt alone, and all she had was her ability as a gymnast, relying on it to interact with other people. If she lost that ability, she'd rather run away and sleep in Accel World forever.
Hime speaks up - she too was in a similar dilemma as Risa. She had lost everything and contemplated giving up. However, having Haru by her side and many other friends have taught her that anything can be had as long as you reach out for it (and try). Haru chips in and says that there's definitely people waiting for Risa to come back. Risa contemplates for a moment, then smiles and takes Hime's extended hand.
The scene cuts back to the Unlimited Field. Nyx's dungeon is falling from the sky. Inside, Risa thanks Nyx for their time together. Nyx tells Risa that she'll always be watching them from now on. The dungeon dissolves into light and disappears, depositing Risa back on the roof of a building while Haru and Hime hover overhead.
Back in the real world, the Camera Network is back to normal. Haru wonders if its fine for so many people to visit, to which Hime replies that hospitals are boring anyway. They gather outside a window and spot Risa at a corridor. Risa's friends curiously remark that they're from a different school and asks who they are. Risa gets up and spots them; in response, she smiles and replies that they're her friends.
End.
Notes:- Suntan Chafer refers to Iron Pound as Aniki, older brother.
- Lignum Vitae is scared of the dark.
- Lignum Vitae's ability fills the Special Gauge of allies close to her, and Viridian Decurion creates soldiers by consuming Gauge. Their combo is to push out an endless wave of soldiers, but Vitae has to stand still and mime a tree when she does this.
- Utai can speak in when she Dives in a Local Net as well, not just only in Accel World.
- Ash calls Green Grande 'Boss'.
- Grande's Incarnation, Parsec Wall, has two uses: he can project one cross of light a great distance to attack offensively, or he can expand a network of crosses around himself for two minutes defensively.
Spoilers about...everything
-- Fuuko got her legs back in Volume 5. She realised that her wish wasn't to fly, but to go to space and see the stars. That's why her Enhanced Armament is the only Armament that lets a duel avatar maneuver in space. Her obsession with flying had not only led her to cut off her legs, but also prevent them from growing back whenever she entered the game. This epiphany helped her to overcome her obsession with flying and she allowed her legs to grow back.
-- Rin, the little white-haired girl, really is Ash Roller's sister. The dissonance in identity is due to the fact that she borrowed her brother's Neuro Linker to play games frequently. Although its his personality that controls the avatar, the bike, and all his actions, Rin is aware of everything that's going on. This somehow also implies that Ash Roller is aware of Rin's memories and emotions, but only when she wears the Neuro Linker.
-- Current uses an IS skill called Phase Trans: Keen to protect herself. Not shown here are one other named Mode and three unnamed Modes for other specialties that focus on different strengths.
-- Nyx calls the real world the Lowest Level.
-- Hime transformed her blade into a hand in their last attack: this is **not** an accident. In Volume 8, she demonstrates what she believes to be the third and highest level of Incarnation: facing your trauma and trying to overcome it. In her case, she tried to change her belief that she could never touch anyone without hurting them, so touching Haruyuki without cutting him is a first for her.
-- Metatron was a Legendary Enemy with at least two forms. *Was*. After her first form was defeated and a mind-controlling crown removed from her, Metatron revealed that she is actually a sentient AI, and that every Enemy, or Beings as she prefers to call them, are similar to her in this aspect. As she references the Archangel Metatron, she grants Haruyuki her angelic Wings on at least two other occasions. As for why she's in a pixie form... I should not say more unless asked.
-- Hou the owl makes an appearance at 48:00. He's an owl that Utai and Haruyuki take care of in Volume 6 as part of their activities in the Caretaker Club for small animals.
Error:
Timeline: The date of the Territory battle is given as July 27th, but the legion meets up 'the next morning' at 5.50am on August 1st.
The dates also imply that Risa has been in the UNF for at least one week, or seven thousand days, or 19.17 years in Accel World.
Goddamn, that's a long nap.
2016-07-23, 14:52
Author
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