The sun over Aincrad's fourth floor was bright and peaceful — a world of windmills and rolling plains, where wildflowers danced beneath the mechanical sky. Yet beneath that calm, the whispers had begun.
Everywhere in the player settlements, from the smallest tavern to the war councils of the frontliners, one name passed from mouth to mouth in uneasy tones.
Kirito.
The Black Swordsman.
The Blade King.
The Hacker of the Golden Gate.
Each title was said with awe — and with fear.
[Frontline Headquarters — Floor 4, Windvale Outpost]
The meeting hall was filled with tension thick enough to cut with a blade. Maps of Aincrad's floors covered the walls, and around a long stone table sat some of the most powerful guild leaders in the game — Asuna of the Knights of the Blood, Diavel, Argo the Information Broker, Klein of Fuurinkazan, and several others.
Asuna stood at the far end, her arms crossed, gaze focused but troubled.
"The rumors are spreading faster than I can stop them," she said. "Every time Kirito appears on a floor, players claim he clears entire areas alone. Some say he summons weapons that move by themselves."
Klein leaned back with a nervous laugh.
"Not to be that guy, but… they're not wrong. I saw him last week on Floor 3. Guy fought a dungeon boss solo. The room was raining swords like something outta a nightmare."
"And how many died because of it?" Diavel asked, his tone sharp.
Klein's smile faded.
"None. He didn't hit a single player."
"Not yet," Diavel muttered.
The others exchanged uneasy looks.
Asuna spoke again, more firmly this time.
"Kirito isn't our enemy. He saved half our parties during the Tolbana raids. He's—"
"He's changing," Argo interrupted quietly. Her whiskered face was unusually serious. "I've been tracking system anomalies since that fight in the South Ruins. Something big happened down there. Golden data signatures spread across the floor — same wavelength as Kirito's attacks. Whatever he's using… It's rewriting parts of the game."
Diavel slammed his hand on the table.
"Then we can't ignore it! If he's messing with the core system, Kayaba could use him as a weapon."
"You don't know that," Asuna shot back.
"And you do?"
Silence fell. Asuna's hands tightened at her sides. She wanted to believe Kirito still controlled himself — that the person she had fought beside hadn't vanished behind that golden light. But ever since she found him in the ruins, something in him had changed.
The way he looked at the world. The way the air bent around him when he walked.
Even his eyes… they didn't shine violet anymore. They gleamed like molten gold.
"You've been spending the most time with him," Argo said softly. "If anyone knows what he's thinking, it's you."
Asuna hesitated, then finally spoke.
"He's… afraid," she said quietly. "He hides it, but I can tell. That power — the 'Gate of Babylon' — it's not just a weapon. It's alive. It speaks to him."
"Speaks?" Klein repeated. "Like, voices?"
"Yes."
A murmur spread through the room.
"He told me it calls him 'Heir.'"
"Heir to what?" Diavel asked.
Asuna looked down.
"A throne."
The word hung in the air like a curse.
Diavel stood, his armor clinking softly.
"Then he's dangerous. If the system is naming him a king, it's giving him control. What happens when a player can command the world itself?"
"He wouldn't use it like that," Asuna said firmly. "Kirito's not Kayaba."
"Maybe not now," Diavel replied. "But power like that always corrupts. If he loses control, no one here can stop him — not even you."
Argo sighed, folding her arms.
"There's another issue. The monsters have started reacting to his presence. Higher spawn rates, aggressive patterns, like they recognize him. Floor 5's labyrinth went berserk an hour after he appeared there."
Klein frowned.
"So what do we do? Hunt him? Lock him up? He's still one of us."
No one answered.
That night, the outpost was quiet. Asuna sat alone on the outer wall, her rapier leaning against her shoulder. The wind carried the faint hum of the digital plains.
She stared up at the fake stars — pixels arranged to mimic beauty — and thought about the real sky she might never see again.
Then, behind her, a voice spoke.
"You shouldn't be out here alone."
She turned sharply.
Kirito stood on the wall behind her, half-shrouded in shadow. His cloak fluttered in the wind, and a faint golden radiance flickered at his back.
"You heard everything, didn't you?" Asuna asked quietly.
Kirito gave a small, humorless smile.
"You know I did."
He walked to the edge, looking down at the town below.
"They're right to be afraid. I can feel it too. This thing inside me… It's not just power. Its influence. The system itself listens when I speak now."
He raised his hand. The air shimmered, and a tiny golden blade appeared — no larger than a dagger — and floated beside him like a living ember.
"I think Aincrad wants me to rule it."
"And do you want to?" Asuna asked.
Kirito looked at her, and for a moment, the weight in his eyes was unbearable.
"I just want everyone to survive. But every time I use this power, it demands something from me. Control. Dominance. It whispers that the only way to bring peace is to make everyone obey."
Asuna stood, stepping closer.
"Then don't listen. You've always fought for freedom, Kirito. That's what makes you different from Kayaba."
He turned away.
"And what if freedom only leads to chaos? What if the only way to save everyone… is to become the very thing I hate?"
The silence between them stretched, heavy and endless.
Then Asuna spoke softly, her voice trembling with conviction.
"Then I'll be the one to stop you."
Kirito looked at her, startled.
"If that power ever consumes you… If you forget who you are, I'll remind you. Even if I have to cross swords with you."
For a long moment, he said nothing. Then, slowly, a faint smile tugged at his lips.
"You really would, wouldn't you?"
"I would."
He nodded, turning toward the horizon. The plains below shimmered faintly gold, as though the world itself was responding to his heartbeat.
"Then promise me something," he said.
"What?"
"If the throne calls me again… don't follow."
She hesitated.
"Kirito…"
"Promise."
After a long pause, she whispered,
"I promise."
Kirito's golden aura dimmed slightly. He gave her one last glance, then vanished in a flash of light.
[Teleport: Floor 5, Throne Gate Ruins.]
Asuna stood there long after he was gone, the wind whispering through her hair.
"You're still trying to carry it all alone," she murmured. "Even when the world's collapsing around you."
And far above them, deep within the game's hidden code, a new process activated — lines of golden script forming the shape of a crown.
[Royal Protocol — Phase II: Ascension in Progress.]