A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update this, but I had a bunch of things to do on my end and I just couldn't find the right time to write or edit the chapter until now.
That and I am a lazy bum.
Anyway: Enjoy reading this chapter and be sure that I havent abandoned this series. I'm just taking my time.

Yggdrasil

Tokyo office of the Virtual Division

Kikuoka Seijirou, a man with disheveled black hair wearing a dark green suit with a blue tie and a white shirt, not to forget that he was wearing glasses, sat behind his desk in his office reading one of the many reports that were lying on his desk.

He had actually draped the tie over the back of his chair since he technically didn't leave the office for the last twenty-four hours.

Nor did he sleep.

The reports ranged from VRMMOs suddenly shutting down completely and players not waking up to outright strange occurrences like a mall suddenly changing into some sort of dungeon.

Why and how the reports on the latter topics had found their way onto his desk was beyond his comprehension. However, judging from what he heard from his contacts, it seemed like those reports were going out to every major governmental institution.

He was just about to take a nap to at least be able to work another eight hours as his cell started ringing.

As he looked at his phone to see who called him, he knew something was up.

Kirigaya estate

After the fight was over and Lizbeth had calmed down, she was sitting on the couch in the living room, covered with a blanket and holding a steaming cup of tea with both hands, Kirito had some time to think about what had happened in the short time after they woke up.

The Dark Repulser had disappeared again, it was almost as if the blade knew that it was not needed right now.

Somehow the sudden change of the form of his ears wasn't the only change his body had experienced. As he was brewing the tea he had accidentally ripped out one of the drawers in the kitchen and the wound on his arm was almost completely healed only minutes after it was inflicted on him.

The bigger problem however was that Suguha was dead, stabbed by something that bore a terrible resemblance to him.

Any sane person his age would call the police and be done with it, except with the emotional trauma of finding ones sister/cousin stabbed and soaked in her own blood, but with all that's happened today he wasn't so sure if he could do it.

While contemplating what he, and Lizbeth, could do, the one name he wasn't comfortable with knowing about this whole situation popped into his head.

Kikuoka Seijirou. The man questioning him inquisitively about almost everything about SAO, twice.

Why did this name pop into his head, and stay there, even if everything about him seemed fishy?

Given what he'd been able to find out about him during his brief research on the internet he'd most likely declare him nuts… or actually believe him, he wasn't quite sure. However, he was willing to take his chances right now.

And so Kirito dialed the number of the person in question.

After ringing two times, the owner of the phone picked up.

"Well if it isn't the young Kirigaya. How can I help you?"

"Can I trust you to handle the matter discretely?" Kirito asked back, not even bothering to hide his distrust.

"Of course I can, what can I do for you?" the government employee asked, this time without a hint of his usual easygoing tone.

"I need a doctor and an ambulance to transport a person." Kirito answered, leaving out the part about the person in question being dead.

The thought of Suguha lying there alone made him sick to his stomach and almost ready to break down and cry, but for the sake of his beloved he had to be strong right now. Focus on surviving and grieve when you have the time was one of the few useful things he learned while being trapped in SAO.

"I'm sure I can arrange that…" Kirito could practically see him frowning through the phone as the bespectacled man on the other side of the line paused, "…but I'm sure there's something you're not telling me."

The, now pointy-eared, teen couldn't deny that.

"If you can come here yourself I may be able to explain certain things."

"I don't like you being so cryptic but I'll try to get your request done as soon as possible."

Forty Minutes later

Kirito couldn't believe it as he heard a helicopter landing at the next crossroad. That man was definitely no ordinary government employee if he could organize a helicopter in such short time, and a military model with a squad of JSDF soldiers on top of it.

Kikuoka Seijirou made his way inside with what looked like a field medic, judging from the equipment carried by said person, while the rest of the squad, consisting of five soldiers, secured the front lawn. The fact that he brought a squad of soldiers to a peaceful neighborhood like this made Kirito nervous, since it could mean there was something more going on.

His assumptions should be proven right in just a few minutes.

"Now, where's my patient?" the medic asked in a typically military tone.

"Upstairs, first door on the left, I… can't go in there again."

As soon as Kirito had spoken the last word the medic was on her way upstairs.

"What happened exactly?" Seijirou asked the boy as they made their way into the living room.

Kirito pulled the bandana off his head as he put his hand around Lizbeth's shoulders. His pointy ears made his guest hold his breath.

"So you're affected as well…" the bespectacled man whispered.

"So it isn't just us?" Kirito asked.

"We've been getting calls about… strange happenings all over the country." Seijirou said as he picked up the remote and turned the TV on with a sigh.

It only started last night, but Tokyo is already in a state of emergency in response to the major incidents changing the city almost overnight into what could best be described as a fantasy world from a game or movie.

The confusion, and in most cases even panic, over those changes has gripped not only the hearts of Tokyo-citizens but also of people all over the country, as the happenings are not limited to the city but are reported to occur all over Japan.

A mall suddenly transformed into what could best be described as a giant cave, full of monsters lurking inside and waiting to attack the first unlucky civilian to walk into their den.

The JSDF are working to contain as much of them of them as possible, however with their numbers spread all over the country…

Seijirou turned the TV off again before the female reporter could continue to describe the lack of manpower even further. As he did so they could hear the medic coming back downstairs.

"The patient has been dead for at least twelve hours." She reported without paying much attention to the reaction of Kirito or Lizbeth.

"What the hell happened here, Kazuto?" the government employee asked, forgetting his polite demeanor completely.

"If those things wouldn't be happening all over the country I'd call you insane, …" Seijirou started as he took his glasses of to clean them, "…but since we are in a situation like this I'll at least give you the benefit of the doubt."

"We have five unknowns approaching the premises!" the soldier stationed at the front door called out.

"They're armed wi-gchhhhhh" the soldier was literally cut off as a blade penetrated his throat and severed his head from the rest of his body, the blood spraying out painting the walls around him, and his attacker, red.

"Make that six." The medic stated as she pulled her side-arm and started firing at the attacker.

Simultaneously the four soldiers remaining outside could be heard firing their rifles. The one attacker that made it inside charged at the medic, unfazed by the bullets piercing his body. Just before his blade could reach the soldier he was sent flying through the next wall by a punch from Kirito.

"Help your teammates outside, I'll take care of this guy." Kirito ordered her.

The female medic was about to protest as their attacker stepped back through the hole he had left in the wall. Now that he got a good look at the attacker his anger flared up. It was another of those things with his SAO-appearance, only that it was armed with two versions of the Elucidator this time. One held in its right hand and one still sheathed on its back.

With a feeling of warmth the familiar weight of his Dark Repulser appeared in his right hand. Seeing that the female soldier just walked past him and to the front door, her head filled with questions about how stuff like that was possible in the first place.

"Target Kirigaya Kazuto: acquired. Beginning elimination." The copy stated in its metallic voice as it pulled the second blade from the sheath on its back.

Kirito had no choice but to block the two swords coming down on him by raising his own horizontally and reinforcing his block by supporting the flat side of the blade with his left hand, he just didn't want to risk the attack accidentally hit anyone else.

Grunting as the force of the impact traveled through his body he tried to get away from his copy to get a chance to attack, but the only viable option he had was to back away. However, this would mean giving his copy the chance to attack his girlfriend or his guest, which was something he was not very keen on seeing.

An explosion outside drew his attention long enough for his copy to deliver a kick to his stomach, forcing him backwards onto his backside.

Wasting no time it set after him with a stab aimed at his heart.

Rolling to the right Kirito managed to evade certain death while the blade pierced the wooden floor. Rolling further the second blade embedded itself right next to his head, cutting a few of his hairs off and nearly cutting his ear.

Getting up as quickly as possible he got into his usual combat stance with his one sword behind him. His enemy however was not looking at him anymore. The thing was looking at Lizbeth as she shakily got up from the couch and immediately dashed towards her as she looked for a way out.

Seeing this Kirito dashed forward as fast as he could and slashed at his copy horizontally, effectively cleaving it apart before its blades were even close to reaching his girlfriend.

But his victory didn't last long as the sound of braking glass was soon followed by a sharp cry of pain from the bespectacled government employee Kikuoka Seijirou. As he looked to where the man in question was he could clearly see two blades sticking out of his chest, the blood running down the edges and dropping down at the tips, forming a puddle of blood on the floor. The stabbed man fell to the floor as soon as his assailant pulled the blades from his body revealing another copy of Kirito to stand in the living room.

Throwing a quick glance to where he had slain the last copy, and seeing how it dissolved the same way its predecessor not even three hours earlier, Kirito quickly moved between the new copy and his beloved. As another two copies of him tore through the wall separating the living room from the front door hallway he found himself clearly at a disadvantage. He could probably handle two of them at once, only assuming they didn't use any kind of sword skills from Aincrad, which he was pretty sure those things could do. They were copies of his SAO-avatar after all.

Suddenly he remembered the strange occurrence that let him defeat Suguha in their little sparring match a few days ago. He was almost certain that he had used some kind of sword skill at that time.

"You won't hurt anymore of my loved ones." Kirito hissed through his teeth as he mentally prepared to fight the three doppelgangers.

"Resistance is futile. Cease any form of resistance and your death will be almost painless." All three of his grey counterparts replied with their metallic voice in unison.

All three charged at him and he braced for the pain that was sure to come when the blades dug into his body.

After pushing Lizbeth behind the couch he deflected the first two swords to his left with his Dark Repulser, dodged the next two by jumping in the air and prepared to take the final two blows full force.

However, the last two swords never connected as a familiar redhead with a red glowing katana cut the copy wielding those swords vertically in two with the most enthusiastic war-cry he had ever heard from him.

Taking his chance, Kirito used his momentum to drop-kick the copy in front of him to get some space between him and his counterpart.

Positioning himself back to back with Klein, Kirito got ready for when the two copies currently circling around them decided to attack.

"Being friends with you never gets boring." Klein said with a smirk as he got ready to execute another sword skill.

"Just tell me what you're doing here after we're finished." Kirito replied while preparing a sword skill of his own.

Seeing Klein pull of a sword skill in the real world in front of his eyes he now was pretty sure that he could do so as well. Not to mention that he already successfully executed one while sparring with Suguha.

The blades of Kirito and Klein started glowing blue and orange respectively just as the colorless Kirito copies decided to attack them.

Kirito surged forward and severed his copy's head while Klein used a three-hit skill, cutting off its arms before finishing it with a horizontal slash.

While falling to the ground the copies dissolved into threads that were absorbed by seemingly nothing, just as if reality itself was made of some kind of fabric.

Letting his sword disappear again, Kirito rushed to Liz' side to help her up while Klein checked the hallway and front lawn for any copies they might have missed.

"We should be going." Klein said as the couple stepped outside, his Katana sheathed on his left hip.

"Where?" Was all Lizbeth was asking as she tried to avoid looking at any of the dead soldiers lying in the garden.

"And could you please tell us what you're doing here?" Kirito asked confused as to why the redhead was here to begin with.

Not that he wasn't grateful that Klein showed up when he did, saving Lizbeth and him, but the last time he checked Klein would have to go pretty far out of his way to come here.

"Oh, right…" Klein started as he rubbed the back of his head.

"You see, I was just on my way home as I got attacked by one of your lookalikes while taking a shortcut through a back alley."

While saying that he gestured around, seemingly replaying his struggle against his opponent, even going so far as using the lid of a trashcan to make it more authentic.

"And when I thought I was going to die that really hot blonde appeared from out of nowhere and killed that thing with a single blow from her spear."

"How does this bring you here then?" Kirito asked slightly annoyed at his friend's antics.

"That's the best part!" Klein exclaimed with a big grin on his face.

"She agreed to go out with me if I help you two get to that giant tree in the middle of Tokyo."

As soon as those words left his mouth Kirito and Lizbeth made a point of hitting their forehead very hard with the palm of their hand.

"Which makes me wonder… " Klein continued, seemingly lost in thought, " … do you guys know a woman calling herself Valkyrie?"

It was silent for a moment as Klein stood in the middle of the street, waiting for an answer, the jacket of his suit fluttering in the breeze.

"That's your reason?" Kirito and Lizbeth asked in unison.

"Yeah, what else did you think I was doing here?" Klein asked dumbfounded.

"Maybe out of concern for your friends?" Lizbeth asked, Klein's antics seemed to have finally snapped her out of her daze.

"We should get going then, I doubt that those things will let us be for very long." Kirito said in a dry voice.

"Right." Klein responded.

Although Tokyo wasn't that far away it should take them a while to get there, since the chaos caused by all the events happening around the country had pretty much shut down all of the public transportation.

It was a long track to the middle of Tokyo, and although they came across a lot of people moving in the opposite direction at first, the closer they got to the center of the city, the fewer people they actually saw.

They had only been walking for about half an hour when they noticed that they were completely alone.
The only sound they heard as they moved closer to the center of Tokyo, and the giant tree that suddenly stood there, was the sound of birds and the occasional growling that could not possibly have come from a human throat.

It also got steadily more like they ware walking through a shady meadow.
The closer they got to the truly massive tree trunk, the more it looked like nature had reclaimed the paved streets and skyscrapers for decades and not just a single night.

Not to mention that the tree itself beggared belief as well.
The trunk alone was at least several kilometers wide and the crown of the tree easily broke through the clouds above, its branches reaching even further than its trunk.

So it was more accurate to say that the tree was Tokyo instead of just in the center of it.

After another hour or so of walking they came to a collapsed and already overgrown skyscraper.
The only thing that gave them a clue as to what the small hill they were ascending was, was the glass of some of the windows sparkling in a stray ray of sunlight that broke through the treetop.

On top of the hill sat a blonde woman in a reinforced, light green and brown, leather armor, a small round shield and a spear made of a silvery white metal resting on the ground beside her.
Leaned back, her arms keeping her upper body up and her head leaned back, she looked up at the branches of the tree swaying in the wind.

"You did good, bringing them here." The woman said while getting up. "Thank you, Klein."

"This is her?" Lizbeth asked, her gaze fixed on the blond warrior.

"Yeah." Was the wannabe-samurai's only answer.

"Say, doesn't she remind you of someone?" Kirito asked, after inspecting the woman's face a little more closely.

"An Angel?"

That statement got Klein a smack to the back of his head, courtesy of Lizbeth.

"You're right." Said the pinkette thoughtfully.

The question was answered just moments later by the woman in question.

"Hello, Kirito and Lizbeth..." The woman said with a small but polite bow, palm of her right hand on her chest, right where her heart was, "... let me welcome you to the gardens of Yggdrassil."

"It seems you know us." Kirito stated. "Would you be so kind and give us you name?"

"Of course." The woman said with a small smile, her deep blue eyes sparkling mysteriously. "My name is Ryuzaki Kazetori."

A few moments of silence, during which Klein whispered something about beautiful names, or something along those lines.

Then it suddenly klicked for Kirito, right before the woman, or rather Kazetori, dropped the next bomb.

"I'm the daughter of Ryuzaki Akatsuki and Kirigaya Suguha."

Another moment of silence, this time without any whispered comments from a certain redhead.

Then Kirito and Lizbeth exclaimed their surprise.

"WHAT?!"