Cardinal had no immediate plans to enter the real world in person. For now, she intended to clean up the enormous mess Administrator had left behind.
Even if she couldn't visit reality herself, she could still connect to the device in Asuna Yuuki's hands through a satellite signal and see what the outside world looked like.
Asuna had already taken Alice and the others to a crowded festival, where they were now watching a Christmas Eve fireworks display.
This was Asuna's first time joining an event like this as well.
Because of her strict upbringing, her mother had never allowed her to "waste" too much time on such activities.
The recent upheaval had dealt her mother an enormous shock, but she no longer controlled Asuna as strictly as she had before.
From now on, Asuna could freely enjoy all kinds of virtual-reality games without her mother forbidding her.
Well, that wasn't entirely accurate. There was still one condition: Asuna couldn't play merely for the sake of playing. At the very least, she couldn't allow her academic performance to suffer.
Asuna had also decided on her future specialization. She intended to study the quantum field of the human brain, a field closely connected to artificial intelligence.
When it came to gaming, Asuna would also be entrusted with an important mission whenever she entered other virtual worlds. She would investigate whether the game contained any anomalies and determine whether its NPCs or AI programs showed signs of dangerous behavior.
Most importantly, she needed to remain vigilant against the birth of another dangerous entity like Administrator.
The explosive growth of virtual-reality games could no longer be stopped. New titles were being developed everywhere, and all kinds of AI were being incorporated into them.
Meanwhile, nations around the world were pouring even more resources into developing unmanned weapons. They all hoped to create beings similar to Alice.
They didn't even need to reach Alice's level. An artificial intelligence comparable to Yui or Strea would already be terrifyingly powerful.
If such intelligences refused to obey the rules established by humanity, they could seize control of the global network and dominate every connected electronic device.
That would lead to a machine uprising.
This wasn't an unfounded fear. It was something that could very well happen in the future.
That warning had been discovered after another portion of Akihiko Kayaba's encrypted code from the future was deciphered.
For that reason, the continued existence of Underworld was essential. Its inhabitants could become humanity's allies if a machine uprising ever occurred.
Humanity needed to treat Underworld properly from now on.
To expand Underworld, production of the Light Cube Cluster would be increased. The technology behind the Light Cubes themselves would also undergo further development and upgrades.
Once Underworld's servers reached the necessary threshold, the entire world would undergo a two-hundred-year period of accelerated time.
Seijirou Kikuoka had originally been responsible for developing artificial intelligence. His new mission, however, would be to monitor AI across the entire world and prevent humanity from being destroyed by its own creations.
As for Kain and the others, they simply explained that they came from a parallel world. That was also the explanation Asuna had given her mother.
Naturally, she hadn't mentioned 6O's so-called Adam and Eve Plan.
Kikuoka, Takeru Higa, and the others had no intention of reporting Kain's true origins to their superiors, either.
Instead, 6O had fabricated an even larger story. According to her explanation, several worlds had already joined an organization known as the Parallel-World Human Salvation Agency.
Kikuoka and the others were merely local members recruited from this particular world.
Whether they believed that story didn't matter. They had no choice but to accept it, considering that Kain's side possessed military technology capable of overwhelming the entire era.
Boom!
With a deafening explosion, the fireworks display began, pulling Asuna from her thoughts.
"So this is a fireworks display? It's beautiful…"
Alice murmured in amazement.
The brilliant flowers of light completely captivated her, pushing the anxiety she had felt about entering the real world into the deepest corner of her mind.
She wished Selka could see such beautiful scenery as well.
That wasn't impossible. Alice could record the fireworks and show the footage to her sister the next time she logged into Underworld.
"Hmm. I think the explosion from a Thermal Cluster Bomb looks even prettier than these fireworks."
"Uh…"
Asuna was rendered speechless by 6O's remark.
The explosion produced by that weapon admittedly looked spectacular, but it was also extremely lethal.
"Yui, just half an hour. Please?"
The pleading voice of Yui's younger sister came from the small phone in Yui's hand. Strea wanted Yui to lend her identity—and her body—for a little while.
"I'm sorry, Strea."
Yui still refused.
6O had warned her that Strea might use her body to do something rather questionable—namely, "attacking" Kain.
But it was Yui's body. How was she supposed to face everyone afterward? It would be unbearably embarrassing!
Besides, 6O had told her about their plan for that evening.
Yui couldn't allow Strea to interfere.
She wanted Asuna to be happy, and she knew about Asuna's feelings for Kain.
Kain couldn't remain in this world for long, meaning Asuna would have very little time to spend with him.
Yet Asuna seemed too nervous to take the initiative. That was why Yui had agreed to cooperate with 6O's plan.
Yui's role would begin at bedtime. Alice would probably return to Underworld for the night, so Yui would go with her, claiming that she wanted a proper tour of that world.
She would then ask Alice to stay with her for as long as possible.
That would prevent Alice from suddenly returning to the real world and "accidentally" interfering with the plan.
"F-Fine! Then I don't consider you my sister anymore!"
The childish threat nearly made Asuna laugh.
She glanced from the corner of her eye at Kain, who was still frowning slightly. He seemed to be agonizing over what gifts he should buy.
6O had acted spoiled and reminded him that today was Christmas. Therefore, as their Commander, he was supposed to play Santa Claus and give them presents.
Once the fireworks display ended, Kain would go shopping for gifts in this world. He had to choose something for everyone before midnight.
The fireworks soon came to an end, and Kain disappeared for half an hour.
When he returned, he was carrying six gift boxes.
"That was fast, Commander. If you picked them carelessly, they might not be things girls would—"
"Do you want yours or not?"
"Of course I do! Which one is mine?"
Although the wrapping looked identical at first glance, 6O noticed that each box bore a different mark.
The gifts weren't all the same. The Commander had genuinely selected something different for each of them.
"This one is yours."
Kain handed her one of the boxes, then distributed the remaining five among the others.
Since Strea didn't have a body yet, Yui held her gift for her.
Just then—
Crack!
A strange noise came from above.
The overhead lamp directly above Asuna suddenly shattered, sending fragments raining down.
The Commander moved to shield her immediately, but 2B reacted even faster. She swept Asuna into her arms and carried her clear of the falling glass.
Unfortunately, at that exact moment, the handle of Asuna's gift bag snapped, sending the box inside flying toward the ground.
Just before it struck—
"That was close!"
6O leaped forward and caught the gift box.
If her reaction had been even a tenth of a second slower, the Commander would have caught it instead.
Fortunately, she had reached it first. Otherwise, they would have needed to change the plan.
After all, 6O had deliberately engineered the current situation.
As she caught the gift, she used her body to block the Commander's view of the box for a brief moment.
Within that narrow window, 6O secretly slipped something resembling a card into the package.
It was a special invitation card meant for Asuna, granting her access to a particular private broadcast.
A2 had told 6O that there was another broadcast whose existence the Commander knew nothing about.
Apparently, everyone except the Commander had already watched it.
Asuna had clearly seen the entire broadcast, yet she didn't appear disgusted by the Commander afterward.
6O had repeatedly detected a powerful increase in Asuna's heart rate whenever she was near him.
That was what humans called romantic attraction, wasn't it?
In other words, Asuna still liked the Commander despite already knowing about that side of him.
If she saw the rather suggestive scenes in tonight's broadcast, she probably wouldn't disconnect immediately.
After that, everything would become much easier.
The stage would finally be set for the Commander to win Asuna's heart and draw her into their growing circle.
(End of Chapter)
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