Persona: HEAVEN (Persona/Sword Art Online/Isekai Multicross)

tysdagr - 20th of Harpa
Ragnarök

She's seething. The Lightning Flash of SAO, the fastest player in the game, stands apart from you. She must feel alone, surrounded on all sides by people she can no longer trust. Scared and angry, now only capable of reacting.

And for good reason. She's standing before a murderer.

Don't you dare apologize! You owe her nothin' but a middle finger.
"Asuna..." you hesitate. Sugou's still reeling from Asuna's initial assault, and you feel power gathering in the Flash's core, an arrow just waiting to be released. The least you owe her is an explanation. As a member of Laughing Coffin to one of their victims.

You don't owe shit. Do you think she wouldn't kill to save her own skin?
She was a «Clearer». She risked her life day after day to save you...

So an idiot who doesn't value her own life. Everyone's got something they'd kill for. Ours was just simpler than hers.
Your own life. Your freedom.

...

Maybe that was who you were. But you don't want to be that person anymore. You don't want to have to kill, directly or indirectly, just to survive. You don't want to apologize as Lux, the scared SAO player who could do nothing but live day to day. You want to apologize as Lux, the «Edge Punisher». The hero who was hated, reviled, and scorned. The hero who would risk her soul to save total strangers.

You want to apologize as the Lux you wanted to become.

"You're right, Asuna. I'm a pathetic coward. I could have tried to stop Laughing Coffin, but I was too afraid. I've tried to justify it. Make excuses. Telling myself that it wasn't my fault because I wasn't the one actually doing it."

Asuna is silent.

"But that's all it is, excuses. In a way, I've killed more people than any other person in Laughing Coffin. But that was who I was. This is who I am now."

Because you won't be that person again.

Strike me down if you must. I'm even in a NerveGear right now, so you can put me down for good.

"If you... if you must... strike me dow—d... do... stri—str... "

You try to say the words.
You try to open your mouth.
You try to regain control.

All you manage is a heave of agony, dropping «Excalibur» to the ground as all three of your eyes begin to burn. The searing pain of the third eye comes roaring back with the force of a jackhammer, whatever protection your Shadow was giving you vanishing into pain.

You lying? This better be a fucking lie.
It's beyond mere pain. It's as if you were in two places at once, no, like you were one person physically ripped into two. Your body shivers and the Persona, the weapon that's been by your side all this time feels like a half-remembered mirage, and the power suffusing your avatar vanishes as you struggle to remain conscious.

Don't say it. Don't entertain it. Don't even fucking think of it.
You were... you were... lying... it was just a ploy to build sympathy...

If the Flash were to take you up on your generous offer what would you do? Let her skewer you just to make her feel better? Gonna just lay down and die for her satisfaction!?
No... no more deaths. Y..ou won't be that the old Lux anymore. You won't sacrifice others for your...

You didn't die for the hundreds of losers in SAO you spied on. You didn't die for Rossa. But you'll die for this?
Beyond the veil of your consciousness, you feel the ground shake. Asuna has charged ahead, Gwen hot on her heels with her flaming censer in hand. OBERON wasn't going to wait for your crisis to pass. Shiroe's shouting something about target prioritization and the sounds of battle echo from all sides. You can't focus on the specifics, not as your brain is being torn in two.

I'll tell you what you'll do. Whatever is necessary. You'll rip out her soul, drown her in her own dam tears, crush her skull between your teeth! Manipulate your friends, enslave her mind, even hold hands with fuckin OBERON! WHATEVER IT TAKES! TO WHOEVER IS IN THE WAY!
You're used to complaints echoing from within your mind. It's your thoughts attacking each other, the subconscious at war with the ego.

You are me. I accepted it! So shut up!

I AM YOU AND YOU ARE ME! THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED!

You can suppress your Shadow. It's as simple as not thinking about her, a flip of a mental switch that lets her speak to you. When you no longer want it she doesn't even exist, because she is you. That's how it works, that's what you accepted.

IS THIS REALLY WHO YOU WANT ME TO BE!?

But the shouts keep continuing. Your Shadow was stronger? No, it wasn't coming from your shadow.

It's...

From...

The voice is coming from yourself. Because, as I have so pointedly informed you many, many times, your shadow is yourself.

Silence. The battle rages without you once more. MAXWELL? Is that you...?

Yes, it's me. Again. Because you split yourself up. Again. And I'm here to fix you. Aga—

What just happened? My Persona, my Shadow, it stopped working. I'm in the middle of a fight here! I need to get back into the action!

What happened is that you contradicted yourself. I do deserve some blame for this, I had foolishly assumed that after your last heart-to-heart you would no longer need my help stabilizing things. But as always, you continue to defy my expectations.

What did you do?

Temporary suppression of the Persona.

You can do that!?

When it is that weak and already fracturing? Of course I can. I was the one who split you in the first place, after all. Contractor, I must remind you that you chose to accept the gifts of fusion. The art runs contrary to my nature, but Master Igor has given me a crash course in the basics. Change must be gradual, and harmonious. What just happened was the opposite of that.

Wait, are you saying I lose my Persona by arguing with my Shadow!? I've disagreed with her tons of times already without anything like this happening!

Your shadow is not another person. It's nothing more than another side of you. That you conceptualize your inner turmoil as a voice you argue with is entirely secondary to the matter at hand.

All I want to know is what just happened!

You feel it as you and your shadow disagreeing on something, but it's just you disagreeing with yourself. You are at a crossroads, and as is the nature of the shadow it will always take what the ego leaves behind. In that way, a fractured mind can take both paths and explore both sides of a decision. It is a crutch afforded to the weak. But Contractor, you have started the path towards recovery, to be whole. For you there is no Shadow, there is only yourself. And one soul may only make one choice.

Fine! So how do I fix it!?

Well, you did initiate the process by offering to allow yourself to be harmed. To die in exchange for Asuna's forgiveness.

I... I didn't mean it...

Is that so? Normally this would just wallow in your subconscious for the rest of your short lifespan, causing nothing more than an unpleasant feeling to bubble up from time to time and ruin a few relationships. But you are a contractor and you must wield a Persona.

And a Persona... is the power of choice...

Precisely. The subconscious does not control you. You must control your own subconscious. So resolve your contradiction and tell yourself your answer. Would you do it? Do not concern yourself with such complications as whether or not their ire is justified. Do not even concern yourself with this person named Asuna. Answer yourself a simple question: would you spill innocent blood to protect your own life?

How can I make that decision... how can I possibly know how I'd react!?

There is no true way of knowing, thus man can live in ignorance. They can tell themselves they'll act one way or another, living out a fantasy in their own minds. A necessary defense mechanism for mankind. But you are different. You are a wielder of the Persona, one who must master her subconscious. So you do not get the luxury of ignorance. Confront the truth and choose. Only then will the Persona respond to your call.

---

MAXWELL's voice fades from your mind. He's asking for the impossible, to make a decision about your own subconscious in the middle of a battle? You need time to think, time to collect yourself, and more than anything else you need this fight to be over.

So you make your choice, and feel your soul knit itself together once more.

This fight needs to end. Exploring your more esoteric powers all at once in the middle of the final battle was proving to be harsher on your mind than you had anticipated. You try to reach for your Persona. Any Persona. It's not just the recent fracturing that harms you. It's also the simple fact that you're exhausted, any spiritual force you could bring to bear utterly emptied by sequential abuse of your strongest abilities.

But you still try. You reach into yourself and grit your teeth.
You need to end ALO. The world needs to burn.
So who can you use?

Putana licks her lips and watches you fail. Alice's back is turned, too engrossed in her book to notice you. Urvashi is nowhere to be found, her place in your mind replaced by a gnarled vine. Undine slips away like mist between your fingers.

There's only one left.

Crowned in everlasting light, his outstretched hands reach towards the sky in prayer. He stands in a divine raiment practically buried in the purest gold and the finest gems. His golden mask hides a face you know is smiling. The pharaoh sees you and deigns to lower himself, supplicate himself, to you. His outstretched hand offers salvation.

...

You raise your arm and grasp it.

And the world is clear again. Sugou's keeled over, leaning against a collapsed wall. Gwen slams her censer into his head over and over like a berserker, with each hit the earth shakes and volcanos erupt in the distance. You see the man call forth light to recreate OBERON but Asuna's already wise to his tricks and knocks him away from his own powerup. Yuuki follows her up in a switch so perfect you couldn't help but wonder if Yuuki was an SAO survivor herself.

You rise to your feet, weapons in hand, Shadow silent. Your third eye smolders, vanishing into the motes of light, its power returning to the one you borrowed it from.

It's in your mind. The only one in your mind. Nephren-Ka. This thing... this king in gold... it was a lie. Wrong. Your grasp of what is and is not yourself is wavering, especially of late. But this one thing you know with a certainty you've never felt before.

This... Persona...

It was not you. But right now it was the only thing that would fight for you.

"System call..."

That is not needed, contractor. I am already here.

With a single step forward he appears. This is your first time seeing him rendered in the virtual world, for when you borrowed his third eye, there was no need to manifest a body. Before you could tell yourself he was a figment of your imagination.
But now you have no such illusions.

Asuna, Gwen, Shiroe, and even all the members of OBERON's harem stop what they're doing and stare. Sugou, wounded and struggling to call forth his armor of ego, recoils at the very sight of your Persona.

How did it go...? Ah... I am thou. Thou art I? An ill suited play on words. I do dislike such contradictions.

The Pharaoh looms over you all, shining brighter than even OBERON.

The truth is much simpler.

Arms outstretched into the sky. Two hands held in supplication. For a moment it seems as if your Persona was worshipping the sun, only now the sun has been snuffed out. Instead, it stands in prayer to a god that doesn't exist. The thing holds a tiny ember in its hands. It doesn't move to your will, it scarcely feels under your control at all. But you asked for fire and it heard your wish. It would create for you the one thing you know that will end this nightmare as soon as possible.

You know who I am.

Sugou sees you. He sees the strange man in golden robes looking up at the sky. He sees a tiny flame flickering softly between Nephren-Ka's hands.

There's no system announcement. No particle generation warning. No stream of data, no black and red lines, and no indication the system was even aware of it. As you watch the flames solidify between the hands of your Persona, the answer comes to you unbidden.

This is the memory of fire within all humans. Not the tamed thing that warms your food. Not even the infernos that destroy homes and forests. No, this is the memory of fire as it existed during a more primordial time, a tiny curiosity created when the light from the sky struck the brush. It is the memory of that first discovery and all the discoveries that followed it. The fire that created civilization.

For I, myself, am all you humans!

He releases the fire. The «World Tree» smolders, the fire a tiny and weak thing lost in the vastness of the great tree. As it stands it has no power, no chance of burning anything larger than a single branch.

There's only one thing you want from this fire. Fire can nurture, it can create. Food, energy, even life. But you don't care for those aspects of fire.

Now, you want only one thing. You incarnate but one word.

"Burn."


The tiny flame forgets what it once was and remembers what it could be. The reality of fire peels away into the unreality of ALO and suddenly the world realizes what you've just brought into existence.

Ragnarok.

The flame grows. It reaches. It spreads. It burns.

The first to die is your Persona, vanishing into motes of light beneath the power of the flame. Nephren-Ka just provided the spark, the raging firestorm was yours alone. Then the fire saturates Sugou's avatar, but he remains unharmed. No matter, he will spread the flames instead.

Answering your will the fire rakes through the land, leaving you untouched in your own private bubble but blanketing everything else in fire. Fire burns the leaves of the World Tree, turning them into nothing but ash that drifts off into the virtual winds. You guide it, dragging it around your allies and Asuna.

The massive alabaster tree creaks and groans. The fire spreads exponentially, and with each passing heartbeat, branches fall into the void below. There was no more ground, no more «Jötunheimr», no more Alfheim. Where once pure white bark stood now there's only soot and the skeletal remains of a dry, rotting log finally burning itself away. The flames rush down the trunk, through the roots, and diffuse the remaining lands of ALO. From ice caps to valleys, from forests to cities, the fire consumes the virtual world.

Sugou screams, his flaming body retreating into the bowels of his castle. Your allies give chase even as the flames billow up into the sky. You're tired, and you can't even bring yourself to move. And as you lay down, you feel the flames licking at you as well.

"You don't do things by halves, huh?" A strong hand grabs you by the shoulders, hoisting you up onto her back. It's a familiar presence. Blonde hair, only lightly burnt by the flames.

"Everyone's making a run for OBERON's palace now. It's somehow staying afloat even when the tree is coming down around us," Cayna says, flying towards the castle in the distance. It appears unmoored from the tree, a final ark for OBERON. "Shiroe thinks the core of ALO is in there. We destroy it and the world falls with it."

Resting your neck against her back you feel the wind pass your face for the last time. The air singes your eyes and nostrils, nothing like the peaceful winds of your first flight in ALO.

"Lux. Thank you for keeping Yuuki safe."

"It was nothing. I'm sorry for, uh, keeping my past a secret..." Cayna no doubt heard everything Sugou was saying about you.

"I admit I have some questions," you feel her shift underneath you. "But I'd be kind of a hypocrite for complaining about you holding secrets for so long. And honestly, you were pretty shady from the start."

"Thanks... I think."

Cayna laughs at your words. "I may not look like it but I am an adult! Don't let the past hold you down. Take it from someone with their fair share of regrets, if you let it, you can spend a lifetime trying to regain what you've lost. I almost did."

...

"And in a way, I suppose I still am. But I'm going to keep looking towards the future. The past isn't going anywhere, and it can damn well wait."

Cayna's future... you have your doubts. But whatever the case, you hope that she can find her own happiness.

As the flames creep up on you both the final bastion of ALO approaches, and you hear the sounds of fighting continuing. Gwen, Asuna and Yuuki, all high-speed players, had chased him into the throne room. They were using every trick they had to keep him off balance and prevent him from recreating his armor.

"Here we are!" Cayna says, touching down on a balcony. From here you see what OBERON sees every day. The massive open arches that once looked over the world, the magical gardens that bloomed with the finest of Alfheim's flowers, all gone. Replaced with smoldering ruins and the raging firestorm you created.

"Will you be alright?"

You settle down on the ground, feeling the strength of your Persona resettle in your mind. "Yeah. Might have trouble pulling off more powers, but the fight's almost over."

Cayna nods, turning to you one last time. "Then I'm gonna stay till the end, Lux. Go and finish this."

She jumps off the balcony, joining the rest of the «Sleeping Knights» in the foyer of OBERON's castle, warding off the remaining members of OBERON's harem.

They still fill the sky, floating like mindless puppets in front of the castle. If they haven't stopped fighting it means Sugou's still alive. One of them sees you and points you out to the others. There are no more taunts, just a collective scream as they charge you in one great mass.

"I knew it. I fucking KNEW IT!"

Rain sets down next to you, and you're treated to a rare sight. She's grinning like a lunatic, her singed combat maid outfit hanging off of her in tatters. She's covered in wounds and nearly out of MP, but otherwise, she looks like the cat that caught the canary.

"Uh, what?"

"Laughing Coffin! It's obvious, considering how you're a huge asshole, lie all the time, and your first instinct to fix any problem is to charge in and kill it! I knew you had to have been some kind of big-shot PKer in SAO!" Rain punches her own palm and points at you. "I should've guessed after you decided PKing a whole concert was a good idea! Argh, all the clues were there all along, how did I not realize?"

"Ah... are you mad...?"

Rain just rolls her eyes. "I'm just mad I didn't figure it out myself. I would've liked to see you sweat after all the bullshit you put me through. If I figured out early I could've blackmailed you into being my slave for a week. A proper revenge!"

You smile, feeling the magic of Rain saturating the air as the harem rebounds for another pass. "Should've spent less time lying and more time spying."

Rain snorts and follows your gaze, seeing the approaching wall of bodies. "Regrets, who has time for them? Now get back in there and end this Lux."

"Are you and the «Sleeping Knights» going to be enough to hold them off?"

"Phff, don't you know who you're talking to?"

She smiles and the sky fills with a rain of steel. Every last one of Rain's weapons, plus all the strange fluff weapons you had forged but never used, all floating around her in a brilliant blue light. Here at the end of the world, the weapons forged by a bringer of the apocalypse would sound out their first and last cry.

You know who you were talking to.


"«Thousand Sword Rain», the Strongest Player in ALO."

She gives you a final thumbs up and then she's gone. The last thing you see is her back before the infinite curtain of steel and the hundred victims of OBERON meet for one final battle.

---

You charge through the halls, covered top to bottom in gold and crystal adornments. The smell of incense fills the air, and if it wasn't for the unbearable heat you wouldn't have even known the world outside was melting.

You chase the sound of battle to the center of the palace. And there, standing over the throne room adorned in shattered armor stands Sugou. He's covered in wounds, his armor riddled with holes and dented at every possible angle. The light that emanated from OBERON's form is faded, even Sugou's godly form unable to weather the fires of Ragnarok.


Asuna gives him not even a second to pause. She thrusts forward, but her rapier is caught on OBERON's shield. An «Immortal Object» barrier briefly flickers but with a single glowing stab Asuna's Augmented thrust shatters it and knocks aside the shield.

"Switch!"

Asuna shouts and without missing a beat Yuuki seemingly rises out of her shadow and bats OBERON away with a double-handed overhead blow. The two of them work in such tandem that even as Sugou recovers they're already closing the gap, Yuuki swinging with the sword, and Asuna flickering to the side.

"Lux!" Shiroe calls, tossing you a healing potion. "It's over. With ALO dying around us, OBERON has no more power left. All that's left is to finish this."

It's less of a fight and more of an execution now. Sugou awkwardly bats away Yuuki only to get his sword arm sliced off by Asuna charging in from his flank. He opens his mouth to taunt, to beg, to say something.

But Gwen just jumps over Asuna and rams her knife into his mouth.

The ceiling caves in, the roar of a giant dragon accompanying the massive head of Dorz'l breaking through the roof of OBERON's palace. He's bleeding and covered in blood, scales falling off of him as leans his head through the hole and breathes pure dragon fire into the throne room.

Dragonfire from Sword Art Online.
Cursed flame from Daji's curse.
Primordial Fire from Ragnarok.

As one the fires mix and churn. They saturate OBERON and then spill out into what remains of the world.

With one final shudder ALO surrenders.

Kept afloat by your wings, you watch the floor retreat beneath you. And beyond the palace, the tree itself tilts, creaks, and splits apart with a final snap.

The tree that dominated your life for months finally topples over. There's no fanfare. There's no earth for the tree to crash into, no gods to lament its passing, no players to mourn the death of their favorite game.

That great thing, now no more than a flaming log rapidly descending into the featureless void, disappears into the fog and when it finally passes your sight everything else dies with it. The skybox disappears, the horizon blinks out of existence, and for a moment there is nothing but black and red.

---

TUESDAY - May 20th, 2025
SEED Developer Room

"Why... why did you..."

It's a sobbing, wailing mess that greets you when you open your eyes. A man with slicked-back hair and a generic business suit sits before you. His arms are wrapped around his knees and he rocks back and forth like a child. Golden light, shining robes, aura of power... all gone. Just a simple businessman.

Just Sugou.

"Why...? Why... this was everything..."

He doesn't bother looking at you as he prattles on and on about all the things he lost. His castle. His career. His... toys.

One by one your allies return.

You were back in the backrooms of the SEED. In that strange world of black and red you see every time you enhance the memory of your Persona. The same strange sight you saw when you logged in via Mikami's account.

"This... the SEED dev room..." Shiroe says, "I think that means ALO crashed and we're back into a debug state. According to the party list, Cayna and Rain both have logged out, along with the rest of the «Sleeping Knights»."

"Is everyone alright? Are the SAO survivors safe?"

Shiroe fiddles with his menu. "It appears I can still access the main menu. A few messages from Agil... evidently their monitoring equipment overheated and... hmm... you're starting to look sick? Lux, I suggest you log out at once, something seems to be happening to your body."

"Later! The survivors!"

"...Safe, tentatively. Rain's awake and feeling no worse for the wear, she says the queued logout function of SAO removed the SAO survivors before she logged out herself. Cayna reports her team is safe in the real world as well."

"So it's done." You breathe a sigh of relief. The mission was over, and the SAO survivors were finally safe.

"It appears so. Agil's preparing the evidence for release. It's best we time this with the media circus that's bound to occur tomorrow, once all the hospitals realize the SAO incident is finally over."

...

"It's not over yet." A voice calls out from behind you. It's Asuna, and she still can't look you straight in the eyes. "Kirito is still trapped. Until he's out, SAO won't be over."

You don't need Asuna to tell you. You're fully aware that the job's not over yet.

"Lux, I... I don't think I can forgive you. Not after all the friends I saw die." You don't expect her to. "But at least for now, I still don't know what happened. Everything's a blur, and I just... I need to sleep on it. In my own bed, and not in this virtual place."

There's a brief moment of hesitation, but Asuna shakes her head to herself and addresses you once more. "Now... we need to deal with Sug—OHFF!"

A purple blur slams into Asuna with the force of a bullet, Yuuki's flying glomp taking the poor girl by surprise. "You were SOOO FAST! That's why they call you «The Flash»!? I could scarcely keep up!"

Asuna returns the hug, laughing awkwardly. "Ah... Yuuki was it? You, ah, kept up quite well yourself."

"Yup! I'm a VRMMO veteran after all. What was that move you pulled off at the end? It was like WHOOSH and then you skewered him with like 50 holes. That the kind of stuff you can pull off in SAO!?" Asuna looks confused but before she can respond Yuuki continues, her mouth running a mile a minute. "And your rapier! Is that a rare drop or a crafted weapon?"

"Errr... crafted? I commissioned it from a blacksmith, along with the rest of my gear."

Yuuki gasps dramatically. "Weapons and armor? Wow, they must be super popular with players, you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find a good blacksmith in ALO. The one we have just makes swords to throw at people!" You sigh, watching Asuna getting talked into the ground by the enthusiastic girl. Even if she distrusted you, it seems Yuuki was impossible to dislike.

"Hey, hey, want to duel!? Like obviously not right now, but once you're not busy, wanna come find me in «Asuka Empire»!? I want to know who's faster!" You wince, did Yuuki just Asuna to play another VRMMO after she's been trapped in one for nearly two and a half years!?

But Asuna surprises you with a laugh. "You're on. But you better prepare yourself. I have no intention of losing."

Yuuki laughs and spins Asuna around in a circle, ignoring her sudden cries of alarm. You close your eyes, focusing on the sounds of laughter. And for a moment, everything was well.

Until Gwen punches Sugou in the face, shattering his nose and sending him sprawling on the ground.

"Don't think we're done with you yet!"

Sugou for his part just groans on the ground, a strange grey orb slipping out of his trembling hands. It rolls along the ground, coming to a stop at the feet of Asuna who picks it up with a shaking hand.

It's grey, featureless, and dull. Expended. That was the SEED?

She stares at it with a strange expression. Like she's looking at both her curse and salvation. "It's hollow," Asuna says, tossing it between her hands. "This is the core of ALO?"

"Yes, it is." Confirms Shiroe. "Contained within that core is the totality of ALO's memory. The NPCs, our player data, everything."

"Let's destroy it." You say immediately.

Shiroe scratches his head, looking at the grey egg in Asuna's hand. "Let's not be hasty. The SAO survivors are logged out, Asuna can testify against him, and there's nothing he can do to us anymore. He's just a man now, one who's going to pay for his crimes the moment we release the footage. If we destroy it our avatars go with it. This is our one and only opportunity to decide what to save and what to destroy."

"What the fuck do we want to save?" Gwen jumps down, spitting at the catatonic form of Sugou.

"The data for Dorz'l and Thrym for one, if you feel we owe them for their assistance. Your own character data for SEED to SEED transfer. And... well, everything every player put into this world." Says Sugou. It was nothing less than ALO itself. Perhaps not the research of Sugou, but the world that Mikami and his team poured their hearts and souls into.

...

"Whatever. Lux, you can do whatever you want. I ain't attached to this avatar anymore, not after we finish this asshole," Gwen says, stalking closer to Sugou. "But there's one more thing we have to finish."

Gwen walks forward, eyes locked on the catatonic Sugou. "He still needs to pay for what he did."

He's not moving.

It's all over, OBERON was purged with the death of ALO and now that you look at Sugou you can finally see what he's doing. He's mindlessly pawing at the air, trying to summon forth a GM console that no longer responded to him.

"Gonna play dumb!?" Gwen screams, dragging the man up by the chin. "What do you have to say for yourself!? WHY DID YOU DO ALL THIS!?"

"..." There's no response. Gwen shakes him, shouting at him to speak but he just keeps mumbling nonsense. He almost seems like he's in withdrawal, a man running off the high of being a god and after losing it all he lacks to confidence to even move. Apathy made manifest.

"Tch. Can you at least scream?" Gwen's fingers dig into the flesh of his cheek, leaving a deep red gash on his skin. This causes more of a response, as even in the throes of apathy Sugou feels the pain of having his face mutilated.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

"Figures." Gwen tosses him aside like a ragdoll and kicks him again for good measure. "Why the fuck did this idiot not leave his «Pain Absorber» on? This is no fun." She pulls out a knife and holds it over him. "I promise you that Daddy will make sure you never see sunlight ever again. I'm going to get my pound of flesh from you Sugou, and the real world is gonna hurt a lot more than this!"

...

"Wait, stop!"

It's Asuna, hand wrapped around Gwen's arm.

"Whaaa? You angling for first dibs, Flash?" Gwen keeps her blade over the avatar of Sugou. "Cause you'll have to wait in line. Not after what he did to me!"

"No! It's not that, he's.. he's using a NerveGear. If his HP falls he'll die! So don't kill him!"

A NerveGear? Why was he using that device?

"Asuna, what's going on?" Something's not adding up. How did she know? How could she know, she was locked up the whole time. And why hasn't she logged out yet? "Where did you hear that?"

"I..." Asuna avoids looking at you, hand still wrapped around the struggling Gwen.

Was it true? You died when you were fighting Yuuki, and the NerveGear didn't fry your brain. But ALO was a game explicitly without death. Respawning was part of the lore and revival effects were plentiful. It's a disturbing thought. If you died in a game with a permadeath system, would the NerveGear fry your brain like it did for 4000 victims of SAO? And what would happen to Sugou if he died here, in a Dev Room? In this primordial VR world?

"Can you tell me, Asuna? I don't care if you don't trust me, but I need to know! How did you learn of this!? I doubt Sugou willingly volunteered the information."

Asuna hesitates. Gwen, for her part, never stops holding the knife over Sugou's catatonic body.

"Why is that a problem!? He deserves it! Let's just kill him now and get it over with!"

This man was an unrepentant rapist. One of the most evil men you've ever met, and the worst part was that his taunts held a kernel of truth. The type of crime he perpetuated was so difficult to explain, so lacking in physical evidence, that there was a nonzero chance he could still get away with it.

But still...

"Gwen. I... I don't want you to become a murderer again..."

You see her struggling, her fury warring with her better judgment. With a growl of frustration, she tosses the knife to the side and collapses into a heap next to Sugou. "I feel sick. Fuck this, I'm outta here." Gwen flashes open her menu and hovers over the main menu. "You guys do whatever the fuck you want to this guy. Just make sure he doesn't get away with it."

This has been a long day. Sugou can stay in this room till he rots away for all you care. You'll deal with him now in the real world, with all the consequences that entailed. Right now... right now you wanted to rest.

"Uh... w-what? Are you fucking serious?" Gwen's voice is breaking.

You flip open your menu with your left hand. The rest of your group does the same.

"Hey! Hey, it's not here!" Yuuki calls out.

Asuna sucks in a deep breath and trembles.

"This is not good." Shiroe's voice breaks, and you hear him swiping his menu so fast the sound effects begin overlapping.

...

It's not there.

You flick through all the options. Menu. Map. Equipment. Search. Friends list. Party menu. Nothing. You can still use magic and everything else, but it's missing.

The Log Out button. It's gone.


You should have panicked. But for some reason the dread that washes over you is not accompanied by the telltale signs of terror. You want to shiver but you can't muster up the energy. You want to scream but your mouth is screwed tight. You want to run but you can't feel your legs.

...

"Sugou. I thought I'd find you here."

Nobody can move. You can't even turn your head to look at the voice. It's one you don't recognize.

"Y... you..." Sugou's voice is rising.

"Get up Sugou. It's not over yet. Are you going to let your dreams end here?"

"W... why? Why are you here!? Did you come here to laugh at me!?" The Apathy melts away, replaced with rage and hatred.

"I would never do that. Despite what you might think I once considered you a friend. I'm here to offer you a hand, for old time's sake. But before that, I must ask that you stay quiet for a spell, as there's someone else I need to talk to."

He walks around your paralyzed body. You see him studying you, as a man might do to a particularly strange rat. He looks like nobody in particular. A plain and forgettable man in a lab coat. His hands are in his pockets while grey eyes look past you at some distant dream.

There's no hostility in his voice. No anger, hatred, or any indication he cared for anything except his own curiosity.


"Now... who are you?"

>Your STRESS has increased by 1 point! (Currently 2)
>Your DETERMINATION has dropped by 1 point!