Chapter Summaries

Feng Chen, Bella, and Kirito encountered the Aincrad Liberation Army in the Labyrinth Area as it attempted to return to the front line. Feng Chen and Kirito decided to follow the group led by Kobatz, ready to intervene if they risked their lives.

• Feng Chen teased Kirito about only having kissed Sachi despite the opportunities he had arranged for them.
• Bella defeated a monster while Feng Chen distracted Kirito, and the group continued deeper into the Labyrinth Area.
• Feng Chen recognized the players ahead as members of the Aincrad Liberation Army, which had split into factions over whether to fight on the front line or focus on survival.
• Feng Chen explained that Vice Guildmaster Yao Wang had likely sent Kobatz and the others to attempt a clear without weighing the risks.
• Kirito asked whether they should follow the Army, and Feng Chen agreed so they could intervene if necessary.

Feng Chen led a raid party deeper into the Floor 74 Labyrinth Area with Kobatz and the [Army], despite the danger to its underleveled members. As the party approached the Floor Guardian room, Asuna joined them, and her tense encounter with Bella left Feng Chen caught between the two.

• Feng Chen reflected that Kobatz was pushing the [Army] deeper into the Labyrinth Area despite its members' exhaustion and the risk to their lives.
• Feng Chen and his companions recalled that Yao Wang had once tried to buy the Black Xuanyuan Sword for two hundred thousand col.
• Kobatz led the [Army] toward the Floor Guardian room, while Feng Chen knew the room's Crystal Nullification effect made BOSS intelligence personnel useless.
• Asuna joined Feng Chen's party after he invited her to help her out of trouble, surprising him and Kirito.
• Bella and Asuna traded hostile looks, and Bella sat down after a loud bang, leaving Feng Chen uneasy about the confrontation.

Feng Chen, Bella, Asuna, and Kirito caught up with the Army players as they opened the Floor 74 Guardian BOSS room. Feng Chen let them enter despite their exhaustion, then prepared to lead the raid, warning that the unknown BOSS might be extremely powerful.

• Feng Chen, Bella, and Asuna rushed to the Guardian room after hearing its massive door open and found Kobatz leading the exhausted Army players.
• Feng Chen identified himself and warned Kobatz that dying in SAO would burn out their brains, while Bella, Asuna, and Kirito backed him up.
• Kobatz accused Feng Chen and the others of trying to monopolize the raid, but Feng Chen told the Army they could join only if they were capable of fighting the BOSS.
• Feng Chen threatened Kobatz, then opened the door and told the Army players to go in and face the danger on their own.
• Feng Chen assigned Bella and Asuna to one side of the door and himself and Kirito to the other, then warned that the BOSS might force them to use their trump cards.

Feng Chen led Asuna, Bella, and Kirito into the dark Floor Guardian room and fought the powerful dual-wielding [Shining Magic Eye]. The party survived its Dragon Breath, but the BOSS had barely lost any health, so Feng Chen began planning how to give Kirito an opening to use [Starburst Stream].

• Feng Chen used [Snow Step] and [Time Fracture] to throw the [Army] players out of the BOSS room, then guided Asuna, Bella, and Kirito through its darkness.
• Feng Chen assigned positions and roles, telling Kirito to equip [Night Seeker] and attack the BOSS from behind while he took its first assault.
• A slender man outside shut the BOSS room door, and Feng Chen confronted the giant orc holding two greatswords when the torches lit.
• Feng Chen attacked with alternating [Time Fracture] strikes, while Asuna interrupted the BOSS's counterattack and Bella added elemental damage.
• Kirito wounded the BOSS's arm with [Death Strength: Waning Moon], but the [Shining Magic Eye] retaliated with blue Dragon Breath that Feng Chen narrowly stopped.
• Feng Chen saw that the party had barely damaged the BOSS and planned to create an opening for Kirito to use [Starburst Stream].

Feng Chen fought Shining Magic Eye, using the Black Xuanyuan Sword to damage it and split its Dragon Breath while the Herrscher Core’s forced awakening left him stunned. As the BOSS trapped him between its greatswords and another Dragon Breath, he ran along one blade and switched to Jizou Mitama +60.

• Feng Chen battered Shining Magic Eye with punches and a Fatal Blow that struck its heart, reducing its HP by one segment.
• Feng Chen used his ability to destroy part of the Dragon Breath, but the Herrscher Core’s discomfort left him temporarily unable to move.
• Bella sensed that Feng Chen was in danger and prepared to fight alongside him.
• Shining Magic Eye attacked with outward-slashing greatswords and Dragon Breath, restricting Feng Chen’s escape routes.
• Feng Chen ran along the BOSS’s raised sword toward its arm and switched from the Black Xuanyuan Sword to Jizou Mitama +60 as the flames approached.

Feng Chen used his abilities and martial arts to drive the 74th-floor Floor Guardian BOSS toward defeat, despite the danger of unleashing [Erosion] and the damage he took. With his HP low, he positioned the BOSS beneath a torch and prepared to use his final trump card.

• Feng Chen used [The World] and Jizou Mitama to deflect the BOSS's Dragon Breath, while Kirito, Asuna, and Bella attacked during the opening.
• Bella inflicted elemental status effects and Kirito wounded the BOSS, while Feng Chen stopped its spinning attack with [Inch Punch: Heaven Splitter].
• Feng Chen activated [The World] and unleashed a barrage of punches, then used [Fatal Blow] to suppress the BOSS again.
• The BOSS struck Feng Chen and broke his ribs, but Feng Chen kept fighting until he drove it into the wall beneath a torch.
• With his HP in the yellow zone, Feng Chen announced his final trump card and slammed the BOSS's head beneath the torch with the last punch of Death Force: Sky Ripper.

Feng Chen, Asuna, Bella, and Kirito fought Shining Magic Eye in the Crystal Invalid Zone and created an opening for Kirito to unleash his strongest Dual Wielding Sword Skill. They defeated the boss and cleared Sword Art Online’s seventy-fourth floor, leaving the players’ morale soaring as the gate to the seventy-fifth floor opened.

• Feng Chen injured Shining Magic Eye’s head, but the boss survived and continued attacking as the party’s healing crystals failed in the Crystal Invalid Zone.
• Feng Chen urged Asuna to keep fighting and coordinated with Bella and Kirito to create an opening for Kirito’s powerful move.
• Feng Chen used Dimensional Slash and other abilities to delay the boss while Asuna and Bella attacked during switches.
• Kirito unleashed Starburst Stream, reducing Shining Magic Eye’s HP below ten percent, and Asuna interrupted the boss before it could strike him.
• Feng Chen used The World and finished Shining Magic Eye with a barrage of punches, clearing the seventy-fourth floor and opening the gate to the seventy-fifth.

Feng Chen encountered the terrifying Scythe of Fate and realized Time Fracture might not be able to stop it, then used the skill to flee toward a room it could not enter. The story shifted to three days earlier, when Feng Chen secretly bought a house on Floor 22 and began investigating the rumored White Ghost.

• Feng Chen and Bella defeated a group of Corpse Toads as they explored deeper into the area.
• Feng Chen encountered the Scythe of Fate, a level-unknown boss whose speed let it move during Time Fracture and whose attack badly damaged him.
• Feng Chen deduced that Time Fracture might also fail against the Floor 75 Floor Guardian and tried to escape into a room the Scythe of Fate could not enter.
• Three days earlier, Feng Chen had secretly bought a secluded house on Floor 22, where Bella played with Higanbana.
• Feng Chen decided to investigate the White Ghost rumor on Floor 22, hoping to put an extremely daring idea into action.

Feng Chen encountered the rumored White Ghost in Floor 22’s Labyrinth Area and realized she was a little girl who could move through his [Time Fracture]. After she disappeared, she headed for his cottage, where Asuna had already arrived to confront him about jumping from Floor 10 to Floor 22.

• Feng Chen discussed the White Ghost rumor and reflected on the possibility that SAO was becoming a true [World].
• A little girl in a white dress saw Feng Chen and ran deeper into the Labyrinth Area, moving freely through his [Time Fracture].
• After Feng Chen left, the girl revealed she had wanted to speak with him and wondered what his time skill might do at MAX proficiency.
• The girl set off toward Feng Chen’s cottage, while Asuna visited him and blamed his careless move from Floor 10 to Floor 22 for causing problems.
• Feng Chen asked Asuna whether she had come to supervise his practice or be a third wheel.

Asuna visited Feng Chen and revealed that she had taken leave from the Blood Oath Knights to avoid Kratier, her unwanted bodyguard. Bella agreed to let her stay in the house, and Asuna ended up arguing with Feng Chen over the sleeping arrangements.

• Asuna challenged Feng Chen over his lack of welcome, but he bluntly admitted he did not want her interrupting his vacation.
• Feng Chen guessed that Asuna was avoiding Kratier, and she admitted she had taken leave and handed the guild’s affairs to someone else.
• Asuna discovered Bella owned the house and decided to stay there rather than return to Kratier.
• Asuna stopped Feng Chen and Bella from sharing a room, and the two argued over how to arrange the sleeping spaces.

Feng Chen, Asuna, and Bella pursued the White Ghost through the twenty-second-floor Labyrinth Area and discovered that she was Yui, who retained her memories and could use her own abilities to transfer them. Yui brought Feng Chen and Bella to face a copied higher-floor boss, and Asuna followed; the fight began with Bella trapped by the boss’s tentacles.

• Feng Chen invited Asuna to search the Labyrinth Area for the rumored White Ghost, and Asuna agreed to join him.
• Feng Chen and Asuna cornered the White Ghost after using The World, revealing her identity as Yui.
• Yui recognized Bella as Benarès and teased Feng Chen about the women who cared for him.
• Yui forcibly transferred Feng Chen and Bella to a boss arena, and Asuna grabbed on and followed them.
• Yui revealed that the boss had copied data from a higher-floor enemy, then started the battle.
• The boss fired a purple ray and seized Bella’s limbs with its tentacles before an orange flash cut across them.

Feng Chen, Asuna, and Bella fought the floor boss Gasares while Feng Chen treated Bella’s injuries. They exploited Gasares’s vulnerable eye and left it badly damaged, with its Evil Eye skills disabled.

• Asuna rescued Bella and joined Feng Chen as Gasares launched another attack; Feng Chen blocked its charge and struck its exposed eye.
• Feng Chen and Asuna coordinated attacks that pierced Gasares’s pupil, stopping it from targeting players with its beams.
• Feng Chen used Higanbana and Honkai Energy to stabilize Bella’s injuries while Asuna and Jizou Mitama held Gasares back.
• Asuna fought off a tentacle and damaged Gasares, while Feng Chen used dust and a boulder to conceal his approach during the boss’s wide-area attack.
• Feng Chen’s Inch Punch drew Gasares into an attempted retreat, and a huge katana pierced its pupil, disabling its Evil Eye-type skills.

Feng Chen, Asuna, and Bella fought Gasares until it trapped all three, then Feng Chen awakened his Eye of Balor and defeated the boss to protect Bella. Yui revealed that the battle had been an illusion incapable of killing them, then disappeared, leaving a black-haired girl in a hidden Labyrinth Area to identify them as outsiders before falling asleep.

• Feng Chen, Asuna, and Bella attacked Gasares and inflicted three abnormal statuses, but its tentacles bound all three at once.
• Feng Chen awakened his Eye of Balor after Gasares hurt Bella, reducing the boss's HP to zero and completing the fake conquest.
• Yui appeared and explained that she had altered Gasares's data so it could not kill them and that the battle's pain and danger had been illusions.
• Yui said they might meet again, then a black-haired girl in a white dress revealed she knew Feng Chen and the others were outsiders and fell asleep in a hidden Labyrinth Area.

Feng Chen entered the hidden Labyrinth Area with Bella and fled from the Scythe of Fate, which was far too powerful for him to fight. After sending Bella into safety, he recognized his love for her and summoned Benarès, ordering the Honkai Beast to stay with him until the world's final moment.

• Asuna ended her investigation into Yui and left Feng Chen and Bella to their private affairs.
• Feng Chen and Bella used a Transfer Crystal to reach the Black Iron Palace and slipped past the Army guards into the hidden Labyrinth Area.
• Feng Chen realized the Scythe of Fate was pursuing them and that he could not defeat it, so he raced toward a safe-zone room.
• Feng Chen threw Bella into the safe zone, where she begged him not to leave her alone again and asked to stay with him until the end of the world.
• Feng Chen realized he loved Bella and commanded the Honkai Beast Benarès to live with him until the world's final moment.

Feng Chen survived the Scythe of Fate’s final attack and argued with Honkai about his future plans and need for a way to restore the Eye of Balor. After receiving Honkai Energy Amplifiers, he and Bella continued deeper into the Labyrinth Area, where they found a girl lying on an operation module.

• The Scythe of Fate changed its mission to target Feng Chen, but the system destroyed it before it could land its final blow.
• Feng Chen reflected on pushing Bella away and wondered whether he could revoke his order for her to stay by his side.
• Feng Chen asked Honkai for help restoring his eye or gaining a new ability, but Honkai refused.
• Honkai told Bella that Feng Chen planned to abduct Sirin, and Bella declared that she would offer her life for her master if necessary.
• Honkai gave Feng Chen Honkai Energy Amplifiers, and he and Bella continued into the Labyrinth Area.
• Feng Chen and Bella found a young girl on a rectangular operation module, and her eyelids moved as she sensed them.

Feng Chen found Yui after SAO had restricted her permissions and listened as she confessed her helplessness and desire to understand human emotions. He offered to help her, and Bella joined them, leaving Feng Chen’s plan more than halfway complete.

• Yui admitted that SAO had restricted her permissions and identified herself as Prototype 001 of the Mental Health Care Program.
• Feng Chen asked Yui whether she was truly only an AI, prompting her to confront her uncertainty about humanity and her own existence.
• Yui showed Feng Chen and Bella scenes of players’ deaths and explained that she felt powerless to comfort them.
• Feng Chen told Yui that her tears and emotions made her human, though Yui insisted her tears were only part of SAO’s system.
• Feng Chen offered to help Yui gain human emotions, and Bella reached out to join them after he promised to help her too.

Feng Chen attended the strategy meeting as the Floor 75 raid stalled and Heathcliff remained absent. The players revealed that twelve people had died after entering the Floor Guardian’s room, which appeared to be a trap and a Crystal Invalid Zone.

• Yui warned Feng Chen that the Floor 75 Guardian was far stronger than the previous boss and that an invader was threatening the world.
• Feng Chen learned that Heathcliff had withdrawn from the Floor 75 raids and left the Blood Oath Knights’ affairs to Asuna and the others.
• Feng Chen met Kirito, Asuna, and the other players at the strategy meeting and asked what they knew about the Floor 75 BOSS.
• Kirito explained that the boss-room door had sealed behind twelve players and could not be opened from either side.
• Kirito reported that the twelve players had disappeared and their names had been crossed out at the Black Iron Palace, revealing the room as a deadly trap and a Crystal Invalid Zone.

Feng Chen promised to stay on the front line until the Floor 75 boss was defeated and warned the players not to neglect their training. As criticism of his and Heathcliff’s absence spread, Asuna defended Feng Chen, and Heathcliff finally arrived at the Strategy Meeting.

• Feng Chen faced worried players at the Strategy Meeting and promised to remain on the front line through the Floor 75 boss fight.
• Feng Chen warned the players not to slack off on training and reminded them that SAO was a death game.
• Players complained that Feng Chen and Heathcliff had left Kirito to lead the raid and accused them of using others as cannon fodder.
• Asuna silenced the players and said Feng Chen had no obligation to protect anyone outside St. Freya.
• Heathcliff emerged from the Teleport Gate wearing red-and-white armor and carrying a massive cross-shaped shield.

Heathcliff joined the Strategy Meeting and proposed an all-out raid against the Floor 75 Boss, aiming for zero losses despite having no information about it. Feng Chen and Kirito agreed to commit everyone to the raid, and the meeting ended with preparations set for three days later.

• Heathcliff arrived at the Strategy Meeting and promised to fight alongside Kirito and Feng Chen in the Floor 75 Boss raid.
• Heathcliff declared that the raid would aim for zero losses and proposed sending everyone into battle against the unknown Boss.
• Heathcliff scheduled the raid for three days later and told the support squad, led by Silica, to prepare supplies and treat anyone forced to withdraw.
• Feng Chen agreed to the all-out plan because a failed first raid would leave no useful information for the players who followed.
• Kirito and Asuna supported the plan, and the Strategy Meeting concluded with the players told to prepare for the raid.

Feng Chen and the assault force confronted Bone Reaper, the hidden Floor Guardian of the seventy-fifth floor, and struggled to withstand its powerful attacks. As Feng Chen tried to restrain it with Time Fracture, Bone Reaper moved anyway.

• Feng Chen spotted Bone Reaper clinging to the ceiling and knocked it down with Inch Punch: Heaven Splitter.
• Bone Reaper landed and swept players aside, forcing the defense squad to rotate into position.
• Feng Chen assigned Heathcliff to support the defense and divided the assault groups among himself, Kirito, and Asuna.
• Heathcliff and Feng Chen blocked Bone Reaper's attack and struck back as the assault squad joined the fight.
• Bone Reaper severely injured a player, and Feng Chen attempted to restrain it with Time Fracture, but it kept moving.