Chapter Summaries

Xu Yue recruited Camille and five other Reincarnators, then founded the Knights of the Blood Oath and rapidly grew its membership after the first-floor boss defeat. The chapter left Xu Yue stunned when Heathcliff, the game's GM, applied to join the guild.

• Camille offered Xu Yue a contract for his six-person team to follow him, but Xu Yue replaced it with stricter terms that the team accepted.
• Xu Yue's group returned from the BOSS room with six new Reincarnators, bringing his team to nine alongside Asuna and Kirito.
• Xu Yue formed the Knights of the Blood Oath, recruiting players who had participated in the first-floor BOSS battle and appointing Tiabel, Asuna, and Kirito as vice guild leaders.
• The guild grew quickly while Xu Yue continued leveling, until Heathcliff applied to join it.

Kayaba Akihiko joined the Knights of the Blood Oath while investigating Reincarnators and other irregularities in SAO. Meanwhile, Bruce’s Radical Association identified the guild as a likely Reincarnator creation and planned to undermine it through Camille and his allies.

• Kayaba Akihiko joined the Knights of the Blood Oath after noticing strange abilities among some players and deciding to investigate them from within.
• Xu Yue welcomed Kayaba Akihiko, while the Knights of the Blood Oath’s recruitment drive inspired other players to form parties and guilds.
• Bruce founded the Radical Association in the game, gathering members of his legion to exploit the Punishment mission and expand their influence.
• Radical Association members criticized Camille and six others for refusing Bruce’s summons, but Bruce deduced that a higher-authority contract was restraining them.
• Bruce concluded that Reincarnators had established the Knights of the Blood Oath and planned to use Camille to sabotage the rival guild and gain mission rewards.

Xu Yue returned to the Knights of the Blood Oath with Asuna and prepared to join the race to challenge the second-floor Boss. As guild members questioned his leadership, Camille quietly chose to limit his support for Bruce while the assembled guilds headed for the Boss room.

• Xu Yue analyzed a longsword with his Sharingan, received Tiabel's messages about guild unrest and the second-floor Boss raid, and told Tiabel to organize the members.
• Xu Yue reassured Asuna that he would protect her and help her return home before they teleported to the front-line town.
• Members of the Knights of the Blood Oath criticized Xu Yue's absence, while Tiabel explained that Holy Dragon Union and several other guilds were already heading to the Boss room.
• Camille told his squad not to provide further support to Bruce, judging Xu Yue to be the more formidable figure and worrying about the unexplained death of King Fang.
• Tiabel urged the guild to hurry toward the second-floor Boss room as troublemakers continued to influence neutral members against Xu Yue.

Xu Yue led the Knights of the Blood Oath to defeat the second-floor BOSS without casualties, impressing the other guilds and inspiring the Reincarnators to seek rewards by fighting later BOSSes. After completing his mission to stir their greed, Xu Yue planned to keep encouraging them toward the space’s paid skills and rewards.

• Xu Yue offered Heathcliff the vice commander position and discussed Kayaba Akihiko with the guild’s vice commanders as they approached the BOSS room.
• Xu Yue ignored the other guilds’ attempts to assert influence and told them to stand nearby while the Knights of the Blood Oath handled the BOSS.
• Xu Yue led the Knights of the Blood Oath to defeat the second-floor BOSS effortlessly, drawing every attack and dealing the most damage.
• The Reincarnators, impressed by the victory, decided to raise their prestige by defeating later BOSSes and claiming mission rewards.
• Xu Yue received rewards for completing the BOSS achievement and the Greed One mission, then planned to reveal later that purchased skills had helped him fight so well.

Four months after the second-floor BOSS, SAO’s clearing progress reached the fortieth floor as Xu Yue profited from guiding the Reincarnators toward spending Plot Points. After reaching level sixty, he left the front lines to pursue side quests and joined the Moonlit Black Cats, where he accepted Keita’s invitation to join the guild.

• The raid groups returned to server-wide cooperation after guilds suffered heavy losses trying to defeat BOSSes alone, and Xu Yue’s remarks encouraged Reincarnators to spend Plot Points.
• Heathcliff used his GM authority to investigate Reincarnators, causing several to disappear without anyone realizing he was responsible.
• Xu Yue reached level sixty, stopped grinding, and handed leadership of his guild to Heathcliff before leaving the front lines to pursue side quests.
• Xu Yue met the Moonlit Black Cats in Taft Town after helping them avoid danger, and Keita welcomed him to their gathering.
• Keita asked Xu Yue to join the guild, and Xu Yue cheerfully accepted.

Xu Yue led the Moonlit Black Cats to a hidden chamber on the twenty-seventh floor, where a trap unleashed a horde of level 56 minotaurs. As the party faced certain death, Xu Yue revealed the Sword Domain skill and destroyed every monster.

• After the Moonlit Black Cats gathered enough money to buy a house, the group headed to the twenty-seventh floor to farm for more.
• Dakar found a hidden chamber and approached a lone treasure chest, triggering a trap that sealed the exits and filled the room with level 56 minotaurs.
• Xu Yue realized the trap had likely scaled to the party's highest level, while the Moonlit Black Cats panicked at the overwhelming horde.
• Xu Yue quickly killed the minotaurs nearest Dakar, but more monsters kept pouring into the cramped room.
• Xu Yue dropped his longsword, activated the Sword Domain skill, and summoned a vast array of swords that destroyed every minotaur.

Xu Yue parted ways with the Moonlit Black Cats after saving them from a deadly trap, then found the unconscious Yui and tried to merge her into himself. The world’s central program intervened, but after Xu Yue backed down, it severed Yui’s connection to its core, leaving her independent as Xu Yue carried her away.

• Xu Yue wiped out the monsters in the trap room with a powerful one-use item and told the Moonlit Black Cats to be more careful.
• Xu Yue left the guild before Keita returned, warned the team to proceed cautiously, and said goodbye at the labyrinth entrance.
• Sachi led the Moonlit Black Cats toward a lower floor to level while Xu Yue headed into the wilderness.
• Xu Yue found Yui unconscious and used his Sharingan to examine her golden data-like form.
• Xu Yue began wrapping Yui in black threads to merge her into himself, but stopped when the central program scanned them.
• The central program severed Yui’s connection to its core after Xu Yue promised not to absorb her, and Xu Yue picked her up.

Xu Yue returned to the front lines with Yui and introduced her to Asuna, then learned that rival guilds were plotting to sideline him. He gathered the Reincarnator representatives to discuss sharing rewards, but they accused him of monopolizing them, and he began arguing that they needed to help grow the rewards first.

• Xu Yue carried Yui back toward the front lines and warned her not to mention systems or their creator around Heathcliff.
• Xu Yue introduced Yui to Asuna, who accepted Yui as her daughter and began looking after her.
• Asuna told Xu Yue that the Radical Association and Holy Saints of Heaven were preparing something and had tried to win Heathcliff over against him.
• Xu Yue arranged a meeting of the Reincarnator representatives, who accused him of monopolizing the mission rewards.
• Xu Yue said he had called the meeting to discuss sharing benefits and argued that everyone needed to invest more to make the rewards grow.

Xu Yue persuaded the Reincarnators to invest in skills and cooperate to clear the floors, then pushed the raid toward higher rewards and harder bosses. At the entrance to the fifty-fourth-floor BOSS room, the guild leaders challenged him about his costly S-Rank skill as they prepared to face a more difficult fight.

• Xu Yue urged the representatives to cooperate in clearing all one hundred floors and invest points in powerful Sword Skills for greater rewards.
• The major guilds unleashed their strength against the fortieth-floor BOSS, crushing it and helping Xu Yue's party continue their advance.
• Xu Yue spent time with Asuna and Yui, then anticipated that the fifty-fourth-floor BOSS would be harder after he had hinted to Heathcliff that the earlier raids were too easy.
• At the fifty-fourth-floor BOSS room, Xu Yue criticized the guild leaders for exchanging for powerful skills, while they argued the skills were worth the cost and questioned his S-Rank ability.

The raiders struggled against the Level 54 beetle BOSS, whose high defense and healing swarms threatened to exhaust them. Xu Yue revealed his powerful S-Rank passive skills and persuaded the Reincarnators to spend heavily on new skills, leaving the united raid finally driving down the BOSS's health.

• The Level 54 beetle BOSS summoned swarms of small beetles that restored its health, overwhelming the raiders' attacks and draining their supplies.
• Bruce hesitated over whether to retreat as his powerful Sword Skill failed to damage the BOSS.
• Xu Yue revealed his Meditation and Blood Revival skills and urged the Reincarnator bigshots to spend Plot Points on skills.
• The bigshots and Elite Reincarnators agreed to invest in skills, while Veteran Reincarnators and other raiders followed their lead.
• The raiders' increased damage rapidly reduced the BOSS's health, and they believed their gamble had paid off.

After helping the raid leaders unite around their newly acquired skills, Xu Yue accepted a mission to restore order on Floor 55. He also rescued Silica on Floor 35 and promised to help her reach the Flower of Life to revive Bina.

• After defeating the Floor 54 boss, Xu Yue and the guild representatives agreed to clear each floor steadily and level the raid group to the cap.
• On Floor 55, Xu Yue stopped Kirito from approaching a distressed guild president and accepted the request, triggering the Restore Order mission against Reincarnators disrupting an orange-name guild.
• On Floor 35, Xu Yue rescued Silica after Bina fell in battle and the apes attacked her.
• Xu Yue told Silica that the Flower of Life on Memory Hill on Floor 47 could revive familiars, and Silica agreed to go with him.

Xu Yue accompanied Silica to obtain the Flower of Life, using it to infiltrate SAO’s system and plant another seed. On their return, Rosalia and her ambushers confronted them, only to find that red-name players had surrounded the group as well.

• Xu Yue and Silica returned to town, where Rosalia taunted Silica about Bina and learned they planned to go to Memory Hill.
• Three Reincarnators discussed their orange-name status and their plans to farm achievements, while plotting to kill Rosalia once she was no longer useful.
• Xu Yue guided Silica through the Forest of Giant Flowers on the forty-seventh floor and obtained the Flower of Life.
• Xu Yue used the Flower of Life to enter the system database and plant a seed before giving the item to Silica.
• Rosalia confronted Xu Yue and Silica on their way back, and six or seven red-name players emerged to surround them.
• Rosalia and three hidden Reincarnators were stunned when they realized the red-name players were not part of their group.

Xu Yue and Silica encountered Smiling Coffin alongside Rosalia and her Reincarnator subordinates, and Xu Yue initially suspected the killers had come for him. After Smiling Coffin eliminated Rosalia’s paralyzed subordinates, its members turned on Xu Yue and Silica, and Xu Yue killed the first attacker with a burst of speed.

• Seven Red Name Players, Rosalia, three Reincarnators, Xu Yue, and Silica gathered around the Flower of Life.
• A masked Smiling Coffin member paralyzed Rosalia and the three Reincarnators, and the killers murdered the Reincarnators one by one.
• Xu Yue realized Rosalia had hired Smiling Coffin to eliminate her uncontrollable subordinates, not to target him.
• Smiling Coffin turned its bloodthirsty attention toward Xu Yue and Silica.
• Xu Yue removed his mask and killed the first attacker before the man could react.

Xu Yue continued manipulating the Reincarnators into buying powerful skills while he advanced through SAO, and his solo defeat of the seventy-fourth-floor BOSS widened the gap between him and them. After Xu Yue hinted that the guild leaders had acquired unusual skills, Heathcliff investigated the game data and discovered the Reincarnators’ new abilities as well as the skills on Xu Yue’s shell.

• Xu Yue killed the last Red Name Player, and Rosalia picked up his Prison Teleportation Stone and entered the prison while Silica struggled with what she had witnessed.
• The Reincarnators’ improved team raided their way to the seventy-fifth floor, while Xu Yue soloed the seventy-fourth-floor BOSS and further frustrated them.
• The Reincarnator leaders exchanged for another S-Rank Skill each, hoping to improve their final evaluations and recover the cost of their loans.
• Xu Yue received two S-Rank Plot Points toward his clear evaluation and decided the Reincarnators were nearing the limit of what they would spend.
• Xu Yue remarked to Heathcliff that several guild leaders had skills like his Dual Blades, prompting Heathcliff to take leave and investigate the game data.
• Heathcliff uncovered the Reincarnators’ exchanged skills and, while examining the data, also discovered the skills on Xu Yue’s shell.

Xu Yue let Bruce and the other Reincarnator guilds lead the 75th-floor boss raid, while Kayaba Akihiko returned to the legion without confronting him. The boss proved far more dangerous than expected, and after a Radical Association warrior died, Xu Yue watched from the sidelines, hoping the pressure would produce another S-Rank reward.

• Kayaba Akihiko withdrew from confronting Xu Yue and returned to the legion through the normal procedure.
• Bruce asked Xu Yue to let the other Reincarnator guilds handle the 75th-floor boss, and Xu Yue agreed while keeping the Knights of the Blood Oath back.
• Bruce organized the Holy Saints of Heaven and the Radical Association to take turns damaging the boss, but Alexander found that his strongest attacks barely reduced its health.
• When the Radical Association took over, its defensive warrior died to the boss's charged triple-slash combo after Alexander deliberately sabotaged the handoff.
• Bruce called for the guilds to attack together, shared the boss's dangers, and excluded the Knights of the Blood Oath; Xu Yue accepted and considered the chance of earning another S-Rank reward.

Xu Yue used the Bone Hunter’s sudden power surge to pressure the Reincarnators into spending more credits on skills, while he and Kayaba Akihiko held the boss back. Kayaba mistook the Space’s interference for an outside hacker helping Xu Yue breach SAO, and Xu Yue agreed with his assumption.

• The Bone Hunter grew stronger below half health and scattered the Reincarnator Guild members, including Bruce.
• Xu Yue warned Bruce that dying would cost them the skills they had bought, prompting him to request support.
• Xu Yue and Kayaba Akihiko joined the raid and struggled just enough to buy the Reincarnators time.
• Xu Yue urged the Reincarnators to invest in more skills rather than abandon their progress, and many spent their remaining resources to strengthen the team.
• Kayaba Akihiko realized an outside force was interfering with his world and asked Xu Yue if they were working together; Xu Yue nodded.

The Bone Hunter’s “Cannot be killed” status let it slaughter the Reincarnators after they had invested heavily trying to defeat it. Xu Yue bypassed Kayaba Akihiko’s system authority and removed the status, but Kayaba then paralyzed the Knights of the Blood Oath.

• Bruce’s final attack on the Bone Hunter was blocked by a “Cannot be killed” prompt, and the BOSS killed him as his debts and mission rewards vanished.
• The Bone Hunter continued slaughtering the Reincarnators, and Alexander vowed never to invest in a Punishment mission again before it killed him.
• The Bone Hunter turned on the Knights of the Blood Oath, but Xu Yue erased its invincibility setting and destroyed it with a sword swing.
• Kayaba Akihiko admitted he had used the BOSS to observe Xu Yue, then paralyzed every member of the Knights of the Blood Oath.

Xu Yue defeated Kayaba Akihiko in a struggle for control of Aincrad, clearing the game and gaining THE SEED. After merging the seed and game world into his Frozen Realm, Xu Yue returned to the real world and discovered his Wood Clone had guarded his body.

• Xu Yue explained that Kayaba Akihiko had paralyzed the Knights of the Blood Oath and revealed himself as the game's developer.
• Kayaba Akihiko challenged Xu Yue to a duel, promising that everyone would clear the game if he lost.
• Xu Yue used the authority he had built within the system to fight Kayaba Akihiko, and the game announced that it had been cleared.
• Kayaba Akihiko gave Xu Yue THE SEED, which Xu Yue planted in the Frozen Realm to give it a World Will and the ability to evolve.
• Xu Yue returned to the real world, where his Wood Clone revealed that it had guarded him, and he asked the space how much it would deduct if he killed someone trying to harm him.

Xu Yue visited Asuna in the hospital and revealed that Sugou Nobuyuki had trapped her and other players’ consciousnesses in the servers. After killing Sugou, Xu Yue left the world, leaving the Yuukis to free Asuna using the server permissions.

• Xu Yue left his ward despite a caregiver’s warning and went to Asuna’s private hospital room.
• Mrs. Yuuki urged Xu Yue to rest and implied that he should leave, while Asuna’s father and Sugou Nobuyuki arrived.
• Xu Yue revealed that Sugou had detained the consciousnesses of Asuna and three hundred other players in the servers.
• Sugou denied the accusation, and Xu Yue told the Yuukis they could free the trapped players through the server permissions.
• Xu Yue cut Sugou in half and returned from the world, while Sugou despaired as he died.

After returning from his punishment mission, Xu Yue spent his rewards improving his abilities and reunited with Jiong Jiong and Sun Lin. Sun Lin shared her own mission success and gave him a B-Rank Plot Point, before the cafeteria’s attention turned to Shirley, the Ice Queen from the Eagle of Napoleon.

• Xu Yue used his Plot Points to complete the Six Paths Secret Arts and improve several skills, then mastered his abilities in the Meditation Room and training room.
• Xu Yue returned to his dormitory and met Jiong Jiong, concealing how much he had gained from the punishment mission.
• Sun Lin told Xu Yue and Jiong Jiong about earning an A-Rank Plot Point and acquiring a new mech unit in her mission.
• Sun Lin gave Xu Yue a B-Rank Plot Point to make up for the dividends he might have lost on his punishment mission.
• Shirley, the Ice Queen from the Eagle of Napoleon, entered the cafeteria and drew everyone’s attention.