Satoru sat quietly on his bed, holding the pitch-black helmet in his hands.
After all this time, the deep, black-gem luster on its surface had faded into mottled metal. Scratches where the paint had chipped away made it look unmistakably aged.
He gathered up the long data cable and plugged each connector back into its port.
When he pressed the power button, a green indicator lit up on the side of the helmet.
It looked as if it could still be used.
He lifted the black FullDive device, shaped like a motorcycle helmet.
Now that no one was interfering with it, the battery inside would not start threatening people's brains on its own, would it?
He let out a long sigh.
According to what he had heard from Kirito, however, this thing once called a demonic machine had truly become nothing more than an entertainment device. It no longer had any mechanism capable of causing harm. Open the system menu, and the Log Out button was plainly visible. Even death would only leave the player waiting calmly for the respawn timer on a gray-white screen.
He plugged the main charger into the nearby power strip and slowly put the helmet on.
It was clearly only a mass-produced device, yet it fit the shape of his head perfectly, as if it had been made specifically for him.
"Then let us go in one more time."
He lay flat, stretched, then spoke with quiet resolve.
"Link Start."
Before his eyes, the long-missed brightness of daylight and brilliant light flooded back in.
"Existing character detected. Use this character?"
Yes.
"Change name?"
No.
"Please select your race again."
Salamander.
"Character anomaly detected. Log in anyway?"
Yes.
"Welcome to ALfheim Online. Enjoy the game."
...
The silent, deserted woodland was filled with a faint, ghostly fragrance of flowers.
A pure white moon hung in the night sky, half-hidden behind the dark clouds around it. Bright moonlight slipped down through breaks in the clouds, passed through the dense gaps between branches and leaves, and finally fell across the grass in streaks, like overlapping strands of white thread.
A night breeze drifted through, gently stirring the leaves. Even the moonlight seemed to ripple.
In the dim view ahead, in the cool air, points of firefly light flickered and intertwined as they danced.
Soft music, gentle as a lullaby, echoed from every direction.
A Salamander appeared amid a flare of bright flame. Facing the shifting world around him, he showed not the slightest discomfort. Instead, he opened his chest and breathed in the clean, false air.
How nostalgic.
Satoru looked over the virtual world around him and clenched his hand.
Unlike his real body, here he possessed a stronger physique and greater resilience.
With practiced fingers, he swiped down through the air in front of him.
The clear chime of the menu was almost pleasant. He did not even look. Relying on muscle memory alone, he tapped several times on the keyboard in empty space, and the character menu, inventory, skill list, and world map opened before him one after another, glowing exactly as he wished.
His gaze moved over his character stats, and his eyes narrowed slightly.
Everything had been wiped clean. Or rather, the values matched a newly created character. In exchange, the growth gained from leveling in ALO had been toned down, since the game itself leaned toward action-based PvP.
His inventory, however, still contained a great many items, items that should not have been in a new character's bag. Without exception, their descriptions had all turned into garbled text. Even clicking on them had no effect, and the gray-white icons alone made it impossible to tell what they had once been.
He gave a small smile, then dragged every item out and deleted them all.
Perhaps one of them had been Sakura Fang, the Unique Sword that helped him kill the Holy Sword. Perhaps another had been the rare Glimmer Cloak. Perhaps some had been treasures, or engravings.
But their role was already over.
In half a minute, he emptied his inventory.
How strange. He had once spent a year and a half on things that could now be erased cleanly in half a minute.
A single glance at the skill list was enough.
Naturally, Infinite Sword was nowhere to be found.
He closed the three windows and stared at the world map.
"Clear Moon Forest. A common spawn point for the Salamander race?"
He pinched the map smaller with his fingers, revealing a broader region.
It was quite far from the great city where the World Tree stood. If he traveled there without relying on teleportation, it would take a fair amount of time. Naturally, there were also obstacles along the way, from monster zones to the territories of other races, with plenty to block the route.
Kirito, it seemed, was already close to that place.
For a guy who had entered the game less than half a month ago to make it that far, he truly lived up to the name of Aincrad's Black Swordsman.
Thinking that, Satoru let out an "ah, well" sort of sigh.
Still, if one used their head a little and called in a few connections, some things were unexpectedly easy.
He opened his friends list and entered a name to send a friend request. The other party accepted almost instantly, as if they had been waiting for that request all along.
"Coordinates," the person typed, brief and direct.
"Clear Moon Forest, 2435.4561."
"Wait one minute."
After receiving the reply, Satoru simply sat down on the ground.
Or rather, it took less than a minute.
The sound of wings beating rang through the quiet forest. There seemed to be the soft roar of burning flames mixed into it as well.
One fiery red figure after another flapped wings like living fire through the air, leaving only swift crimson shadows behind. The light trailing through the dim night sky was startlingly vivid.
Whoosh!
They pierced through the air and the shadows of the dense forest.
A small team of nearly ten people approached at extreme speed, then stopped abruptly above Satoru. They surrounded him in the middle. All ten Salamanders, each wearing blood-red armor, held themselves suspended in the air as they slowly descended.
Feeling their assessing gazes, Satoru patted the dirt from his clothes and stood back up.
The squad leader at the front looked at the nickname above his head and nodded lightly.
"Yurnero-san, correct?"
"Oh, that was fast, bro."
"We were already nearby. And not only us. This time, ten squads came in advance to wait at the Salamander spawn points. My squad simply happened to be close. The others will arrive soon as well."
The squad leader answered honestly, though his tone was as solemn as if he were giving a work report.
"We brought plenty of items to extend flight time. Considering that Yurnero-san might not be used to flying, we also brought items that allow one player to carry another in flight. If we move at full speed, we can reach the capital beneath the World Tree tonight. The Guild Leader has been waiting there for some time."
"The people who came this time are all elites, so there is no need to worry about combat slowing us down along the way. Even in the territories of other races, we have already made arrangements. They will not interfere with us."
"So that rigid otaku boss's studio has grown to this scale, huh?"
Satoru rubbed his head helplessly.
"I was only thinking of asking for a little help. I did not expect this kind of production."
"No. There are also old coworkers you used to know."
Only then did the squad leader finally laugh.
"...?"
"I heard you caused quite the stir inside SAO, Suzuki."
"...Who are you?"
"Souji Yae."
The squad leader folded his arms.
"Shadow Song?"
Satoru froze for a long while before finally remembering this guy's nickname from the old studio.
"Correct. The very same! Demon Hunter Shadow Song, equal to Blademaster Yurnero in Warcraft III!"
"Do you not feel embarrassed saying that? You are almost twenty-three, right?"
"Not! At! All!"
"..."
"All right, get ready to take off. The guys are here too."
Souji looked off to the side.
Wave after wave of players arrived, already too many to count at a glance. The fiery red crowd almost seemed to light up that side of the night sky. Every one of them wore matching armor and carried matching weapons. The Salamander players swept toward this place like a torrent of flame, so organized that they could practically be called a military unit.
"First squad, present."
"Second squad, present."
"Third squad, present."
"Fourth squad, present."
"Fifth squad, follow the planned route first and clear the way as you go."
Standing on the ground and looking up, Satoru saw nothing but blazing wings and figures. Not even the night sky or the bright moon could be seen anymore.
"Hey."
Satoru's mouth twitched.
"Do not tell me they are all..."
"Yeah."
Souji, still with his arms folded, nodded.
"We are all power levelers."