Immediately upon teleporting back into the Hollow Area's Administration Area, the first thing I noticed was that Philia was laying asleep on one of the futons. I've no idea which of the two futons it was that she was on though, seeing as how she was currently sleeping on one... and the other was all bundled up in her arms... like an impromptu body pillow. She didn't seem to be sleeping too heavily, though, as it seemed that the sound of me teleporting in had stirred her awake.
Philia: "mmMMmback so soon?" *yawn*
Y/N: "Back so soon...? But I thought I was gone for ages! But at least you got some decent beauty sleep in the meantime, no?"
Philia: "Annnnnnd? Did it work?"
Y/N: "Uhm... did what work?"
Philia: "My beauty sleep, duh! Am I more beautiful now, hm? Hm?! You called it that, not me! Go on, tell me what you think!"
She said this as she was still laying down soundly on her futon, although she had since relinquished her embrace with my own futon as a body pillow to cling to, instead electing to use one of the pillows to cutely cuddle with as she posed for my appraisal. But all I could really think of right now was how this will be the last time that Philia would have to sleep on the floor in this place. And of how, after all the dust has settled today, she will be able to retire to a room of her own, reserved for by Asuna and paid by myself, and she will then be able to sleep in a proper bed— with all the amenities that she has been missing out on, like a table to eat at and a place to bathe off all the dirt of the day's questing, amongst other things that us in Aincrad had been taking for granted.
Of course, she was still waiting for an answer from me. So, to try and brighten the mood somewhat in preparation for the heavy work we were about to get stuck into, I thought I'd try an innocent little joke that would hopefully help me avoid anything too committed!
Y/N: "Well... I guess you're not any uglier than you were before!"
Philia: "HEY! RUDE!!"
Y/N: "I uh... I mean... This is a virtual world, right? Unless you deliberately go out of your way to change your appearance with an item or something, you'll look identical to how you did the day before... right?"
Philia: "Hmph... Here's a little bit of insider knowledge for you, U/N, because I'm such a generous friend and all... When a girl asks if you think she looks good, just say that she does. I promise you she'll appreciate it!"
Y/N: "I... I'll keep it in mind, thanks for the... uh, for the advice."
Philia: "Hehe! You're welcome! Of course, I'll be expecting some sort of repayment on that in some way~"
Y/N: "Oh? Sure, I guess I can do that. You want to head back to Aincrad with me later, right?"
Philia: "Hey! No fair! You can't use that as your bargaining piece! That's totally evil! Hehe!"
Y/N: "Well, I suppose I can always just head back to Aincrad alone. I thought you'd want to head on and get your Orange Cursor removed, no?"
Philia: "Y/NNNNNNNNN!"
Y/N: "Ahaha! I'm just messing with you, Philia! Why'd you think I wanted to get back as quickly as I did, hm? It's time to clear your name. Are you ready?"
Philia: "I... y–yeah... Yeah, I am!"
Y/N: "Glad to hear it! Now, here, take your dagger back. Lisbeth did some great work on it whilst she also worked on my spear. So we should have no trouble at all down there, as long as we stick together!"
Philia: "... You know what? I'm not even gonna comment on it. I'm just glad that the day finally arrived! Freedom, huh? It's been a long time coming. I... I started to think it would never happen. That I was the AI after all..."
Y/N: "Philia... I know it's been hard on you, stuck out here to fend for yourself for so long... But you're still here, you made it. And now your dedication is finally to be rewarded."
Philia: *sniffle*
Y/N: "Come now, Philia. Let's save the tears for once you're back in Aincrad, alright? I'm going to need you at your best when we head in there. Alright... partner?"
It took Philia a second to click onto what I said to her. To which she responded not with words, but rather instead with her taking her arm and wiping her forearm against her face, wiping the building tears away from her eyes. One last sniffle is all she offered me after that verbally, which in tandem with the decisive nod of her head and a relit fire in her eyes. Now, it seems, it is time that we head down there and resolve all of this...
And so, with Philia's blessing, I made my way over to the main console of the Administration Area and went back to the option that myself and Kirito tried to access before: to initialise a teleport to the underground area that PoH had devised that deadly plan of his. And this time, differing from our last attempts, I was able to finalise the request to teleport without issue. And the teleport point that Yui had pointed out to me last time she was here had lit up for us.
After such a great sign, I sent a party request to Philia, who silently accepted it, before then leading her towards the teleport point... and we gave each other one last look towards one another, each of us knowing that no matter what happens next... this was to be the end of the Hollow Area being Philia's prison.
* TELEPORT: ADMINISTRATION AREA! – UNDERGROUND! *
Without a hitch at all, the two of us were able to teleport as we had hoped to; to this new area that we had yet to visit. The final area. The last obstacle between us and Philia's freedom... and stopping PoH's planned update too whilst we're at it. Upon teleporting, we found ourselves in a weird room... it was as if all the textures around us were placeholders. The ground and walls around us were see-through yet entirely solid, textured with nothing more but a blue grid-like pattern.
And ahead of us, a familiar looking gate barred our passage. So, as we have done several times before now, we walked up to the gate and awaited what would happen next...
SYSTEM MESSAGE: "System Authority Detected. All–Green Release."
And just like that, the final gate had been quelled, disappearing and allowing us entry to the rest of what lay ahead of us...
Philia: "All of this... I have no idea how he managed to make it into here..."
Y/N: "Well, I guess it would mean that PoH was a high–level test player, just like Yui said I was. And on top of that, he was a criminal willing to get his hands as dirty as they needed to get, as long as he got to have his fun with it. I wouldn't be surprised if he used the tests to get a hold of some special skills..."
Philia: "Well, if he was able to make it, that means we should be able to make it too, right...?"
Y/N: "Oh definitely! I'm sure we can get to that Central Administration Console, no problem at all! Especially with the two of us working together, don't you agree?"
Philia: "You're right... Okay, let's do this! We've got to stop him after all, Y/N!"
This motivational dialogue of ours carried out all the while we continued to walk through this new area, and it conveniently stopped just as we reached a Teleport Pedestal, queueing us up for the next thing for us to talk about.
Y/N: "This Teleport Pedestal probably takes us further in, right?"
Philia: "Yeah. Up ahead is probably where the central console is. Where we can stop PoH's update from happening."
Y/N: "Yeah. And where we'll be able to fix that error of yours, don't forget. Then once we've settled everything, we can head back to Aincrad. Together."
Philia: "U/N... Yeah. Let's go back together, okay? Together."
And with that, we teleported to the next area. And as much as I had been hoping that it would simply present us with a room which contained the console within it. Like the previous console rooms that we had been to before. But unfortunately that wasn't the case. Instead we ended up in a place with a destination coded as 'Classified Zone Underground 1F' with a general area zone of 'Top-Secret Development Area.'
No, instead we found ourselves in a series of hallways filled with all manner of mobs that made walking past them all without conflict quite difficult. Fortunately though, for some reason, these mobs were all only level 110. And so, with both of us being far above that level, we were able to easily handle all that stood between us and progress. And within a couple minutes of clearing enemies and running through the hallways did we find ourselves at the end of this Floor, with a gate-like door that would lead us to the next floor up.
The levels didn't increase all that much on the next floor either. Only raising up a couple of levels higher than the Floor before. There were also chests of loot available on this Floor too. But all we seemed to get from them were potions and crystals, and we had already stocked up with all that we needed... so it felt kind of pointless to keep searching. But, just in case, Philia convinced me to open all the chests with her... just in case we stumble across something of actual use. At least the enemies weren't all that difficult for us to best, so it wasn't all that much of a chore.
Y/N: "Another Mending Crystal..."
Philia: "Oh? Well... maybe the next one will have something!"
Y/N: "Perhaps, maybe... You know what? You really are so optimistic when it comes to treasure hunting."
Philia: "Heh, thanks! Huh... Now that I think about it... This is like our own personal Aincrad, isn't it? It's a whole bunch of Floors filled with enemies, and they're all pretty easy at the moment. It's like we're back down on the First Floor!"
Y/N: "The First Floor? I know these mobs are pretty easy, but I don't think they're quite easy enough for level 1's to be able to deal with!"
Philia: "Well, yeah, obviously! Hehe! I was just saying that's what it feels like! So... how many more Floors do you think this place is going to have? It won't be a full 100 Floors like Aincrad... will it?"
Y/N: "Oh, I hope not! I promised the guys back in Aincrad that we'd be home in time for supper! As fun as this might be, I don't think we'd be able to manage it all in time for that! And remember, PoH made his way through this place, so I don't think it could be all that gruelling an activity, right?"
Philia: "I guess you've got a point... But then what's your guess? How many Floors do you think we'll have to go through to get to the top?"
Y/N: "Hmm... I would hope there would just be three of them. But... I have a feeling there's going to be ten of them for some reason... What's your wager?"
Philia: "Mine? Hmm... How about four or eleven then?"
Y/N: "Ha! Are you saying that just to undercut my guesses?"
Philia: "Hehe! Maaaaaaaybe! So what'll the reward be for the winner?"
Y/N: "Well, considering your tactics... I'm not sure you deserve a good reward for winning!"
Philia: "Hey! It's a valid strategy! You're just jealous you didn't get a chance to use it!"
Y/N: *fake sigh* "Now, just what am I going to do with you..."
Philia: "Oh! How about this then? Whoever gets the closest guess will get a free meal from the loser back in Aincrad! You said there was some nice restaurants and bakeries there on Floor 76, right?"
Y/N: ""Hmm... I guess that's not too bad. Alright then, I'm fine with that!
Philia: "Great! So then that means as long as there isn't three, eight, nine or ten Floors then I'll win! Oh? But what if there are seven? Who gets that one?"
Y/N: "Ehh... Let's call that a free spot. I doubt there'll be seven anyways, it's a bit of an odd number for this type of thing after all."
Philia: "Alright then, deal! Hey, why don't we shake on it?"
I wasn't sure why, but I had this odd feeling like she was reaching for this handshake for a particular reason. And I couldn't help but suspect that it was some sort of practical joke, like an electric shock button hidden in the palm of her hand. But regardless, I took the bait and... nothing. It was just a simple handshake? There was no ulterior motives, nor any pranks revealed. Just a handshake to cement the little wager that we had agreed upon.
Although... I feel like she was holding onto my hand for far longer than is normal...
Philia: "Well then... Let's get back to it, and we can see who has the better guess of us two!"
Y/N: "Of course, and I'll be looking forward to the treat I'll be winning!"
Philia: "Hehe! Sometimes your spontaneous bravado really throws me for a loop, what with how quiet and shy you always used to be... Of course, your confidence is misplaced, because it will definitely be you treating me! Hehe!"
Y/N: "Well, we're not going to find out who's to be the winner between us by just standing around like this! Come on, Philia, let's get to it!"
And so we did. The following floors really weren't all that much in terms of difficulty. The levels of the enemies never once rose above level 125, so even though there were large crowds of them filling the hallways that we had to traverse through, they really were not of any meaningful threat to either myself nor Philia.
And steadily did we rise up through this hidden tower we found ourselves in... passing by my more hopeful guess of three floors to conquer before reaching the top quite quickly. And we continued to scale even higher and higher, with us continuing to loot every treasure chest that we stumbled across as per Philia's request. It mostly remained as a source of potions and crystals that we didn't really need, but eventually we did start to open up chests that had ores of the Hollow Area in them; ores of which we hadn't really gone out of our way to gather yet, seeing as how my mining level had gotten reset with the bugs and I never really found the time to try levelling it up again with my focus being solely on helping Philia. But once we finally get past this saga of Philia's entrapment, perhaps I might bring Lisbeth over here so that she can loot all that this world has to mine?
Philia: "Heh. Well, here we are. Right at the end of the Tenth Floor. One more Teleport Pedestal left, anything after that and I win! Getting nervous?"
Y/N: "Honestly? I just want to get to the end of this now. At this point, I'm willing to just pay for your meal if it means we get to the end of this place!"
Philia: "Uh–huh! Sounds to me like you're just looking for excuses to get out of losing! Hehe!"
Y/N: *sigh* "So, are we going through this next Teleport Pedestal...? Or are you going to keep picking this fight with me that you will most certainly lose if we actually came to duel over it! Ahaha!"
Philia: "You want to take it up as a duel...? Oh! Oh yeah! Didn't you say something earlier about you and Asuna having a duel when you guys reached the Eightieth Floor of Aincrad? How did that go? You won, right?"
Y/N: "Hm? Oh, that. We haven't actually had that duel just yet, everything sorta... kicked off before we could arrange it. But maybe that's a good thing? Because I'd hate to do anything of the sort until my personal cheerleader is back from the Hollow Area so that she can cheer me on after all!"
Philia: "Heh. You seem pretty confident that I'd be backing you over the Lighting Flash herself! That's quite the ask, don't you think?"
Y/N: "Aha! I guess my best friend in the Hollow Area is a traitor then! Come on then, enough of this, let's just bite the bullet and see what's on Floor Eleven of this place, shall we?"
And so we did, activating the Teleport Pedestal once more and taking us onto what awaits us on the Eleventh Floor of this underground zone of the Administration Area. Upon teleporting in, Philia was quick to celebrate the lack of a console visible to us, and that it would mean that she emerged victorious in our little dare. But I wasn't so quick to concede... as those series of gates one after another over there seemed rather conspicuous...
Walking over to interact with the gates however, they didn't seem to have any interactivity to them at all. Something I was just in the process of wondering aloud, as to whether we had missed something in one of the Floors we had passed through, but Philia caught on to something I missed entirely.
Philia: "U/N! Your hand!"
Y/N: "Huh...?"
Y/N: "Oh? It's doing this again... Like it did when I first arrived here in the Hollow Area. I guess I would just need to place my hand against this gate and—"
My hand had barely made contact with the large red gate ahead of us before it and all the sequential gates behind that first gate had disappeared and allowed us to continue on our way through this place. Although, at the end of the corridor that that the gates had locked access to, there appeared to be a very different looking area... perhaps the end of the road?
Philia: "This place..."
Y/N: "It kind of shouts 'This is it!' doesn't it..."
Philia: "But I don't see a console anywhere, so that means this Floor isn't it! Aha! I win!"
Y/N: "Hmm... If you would count this as a Floor, I suppose you could say that. But there was nothing on this Floor other than the gates behind us and this last teleporter... This is an intermission, and I have a feeling that there's going to be an enemy waiting up ahead that will make the ones up until now feel like a walk in the park..."
Philia: ". . ."
Y/N: "Are you alright, Philia? Maybe you should stay back and wait for me to deal with it, after all—"
Philia: "Thanks... but no, I'm fine. I'm not just fighting monsters. I'm fighting for myself too... So... will you let me fight with you?"
Y/N: "Of course. I will say, it's nice to see you more confident again, Philia. You found your resolve again."
Philia: "Mhm, but also, if we don't stop the update, it won't just be us. A lot of people are going to be in trouble."
Y/N: "Yeah... and who knows how much time we've got left to stop it. We'd better hurry. The lives of a lot of people hang in the balance."
Philia: "It's gonna be all right, U/N! We've overcome a lot together, haven't we? On our way here, we've faced many challenges, just us two! This time is just more of the same. We've got this!"
Y/N: "Yeah... You're right!"
Philia: "Let's go when you're ready, partner!"
* TELEPORT *
Having settled those uncertainties, Philia and I used what seemed to be the final teleporter, and in doing so we ended up in a very different setting as to what we had been fighting through for the last hour or so. There were no walls around us anymore, there was nothing but a translucent floor underneath us that resembled a relatively large circle in shape. And the skybox was that of space, with distant stars surrounding us on all sides. But other than that? There was nothing...
Y/N: "There's no console or anything here..."
Philia: "U/N! Be careful!"
<< Occlusion the Eclipse >>
Y/N: "I guess this is the last boss in our way, then..."
Philia: "Are we... going to fight this thing?"
Y/N: "Looks like. I guess PoH set up contingencies just in case we tried anything... We ARE the intruders here, after all. I guess now the system wants to eliminate us, no matter what. There's no telling what kind of attacks it might throw at us... Be careful, Philia!"
Philia: "Don't worry, U/N. I won't let it hurt you, heh!"
Y/N: "Lucky me! Let's do this then!"
Preparing our weapons, the two of us charged towards the Boss, attacking it from the edge of the circular floor that we stood upon. All the while the Boss hovered just within range of us. It attempted to attack with various beam attacks, and with swipes of its cleaver–like arms. But it was no match for us, for Philia and me who had bested many Bosses with just the two of us. Our synergy was unmatched to such a degree that it could not land a single hit on us, with us managing to stun it out or dodge its attacks whenever it tried.
Even when the boss went to its next type of attack, of flying underneath the floor we were standing on and attacking from underneath us, it was far too predictable for us to suffer from it, instead using the opportunity to reapply our combat buffs so as to extend their duration.
Lisbeth's upgrades to our weapons had definitely come in clutch for this, as whilst I was doing the majority of the damage in this encounter with my more powerful weapon, Philia was able to apply a myriad of debuffs to the boss, even some new ones thanks to the attributes that Lisbeth's additions had provided.
Whilst this Boss definitely had the health pool to be threatening, we were able to eventually knock it down, Philia and I, the two that had remained in this Hollow Area side-by-side and conquered all that this world had to offer. We brought our weapons together, and with our combined might did we bring the health points of this formidable Boss to zero...
* SHATTER! *
Philia: *phew* "... did we... Did we do it...?"
SYSTEM MESSAGE: "System Guardian Suppression Confirmed. Activating Final Sequence."
Y/N: "Final... Sequence?"
* BZZT! *
Suddenly a bright light had erupted beside me, in the place that Philia had just been standing. Fearing the worst, I immediately darted to look for her, to which once the light had faded I saw her buckled over...
Philia: "What?!"
Y/N: "Wha—?! Philia! What happened?!"
Philia: "p–paralyzed... but my equipment should make me immune...?"
Y/N: "A system-forced paralysis?! What the—?!"
I didn't have the opportunity to ponder on what to do for Philia, though. As another bright light had suddenly made itself visible. Although this one was further away from us. And once that light had also faded... in it's place stood... myself?
Hollow U/N: ". . ."
Y/N: "What... in the world...?!"
SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT: "Hollow Area implementation test. Launching the final sequence."
Hollow U/N: ". . ."
Y/N: "This is..."
Philia: "What's going on? U–U/N...?"
Hollow U/N: ". . ."
Philia: "There are two of you..."
Y/N: "Was this PoH, playing a disgusting joke? Or was this always the plan? My final test involves fighting against myself... Well, against my Hollow self..."
Philia: "Does this mean this thing's as powerful as you are, U/N?"
SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT: "The Hollow Data update will take place once the test has been completed."
Y/N: "So that's what's going on here... It's me against my Hollow, and only of us can survive..."
Hollow U/N: ". . ."
Philia: "But U/N! That one is wielding a sword, instead of your spear. So won't that mean it'll be weaker? If that is a copy of you, I mean?"
Y/N: "No... That sword I made specifically for PvP. My spear could do well against less–skilled players, but it wouldn't do as well against the more experienced players that had been watching my playstyle. I forged that sword and practised in secret for months... long before Floor 76, long before I got that damned skill..."
Philia: "What skill? What does it do?!"
Y/N: "Darkness Blade. It means all attacks with a sword or dagger will ignore all defensive abilities of my opponents, bypassing buff and effect alike. It allows me to do true damage to my target... It's how I was able to solo those Floor Bosses in Aincrad recently."
Philia: "That... That's a really strong skill! Do you... Do you think that your Hollow self has it?"
Y/N: "It does. I can see it from here... that filthy black aura surrounding it... If I get hit even once by it, I'm not sure I could survive it."
Philia: "wha—?!"
Y/N: "But there's no choice. I have to do this..."
Philia: "w–Wait!! U/N! Maybe there's another way?!"
Y/N: "Philia... Wish me luck."
Despite Philia's protests, I had started to walk towards this other me, assuming it was similar to a monster, it likely had an aggro range I would have to trigger. But in the meantime that meant I was able to start re-applying those buffs that I had been using against the Boss that came before Hollow U/N. I could have also swapped my weapon to also utilise my sword. But... if this thing fights like I do, then I'll know it's moves, and I specifically learned to fight enemies that were close-range like other swords. I still preferred to use my spear and bow combination when facing more distant foes, like those with greatswords, axes, and other spears.
Philia: "You... You don't need luck. I know you can do it! I'll... I'm going to cheer for you!"
That... and I would rather finish this with my preferred weapons, rather than the one that made me sick to even wield. To beat this forme of myself, it would be like cleansing the monster within. Of absolving myself from all that I disdained about my current self. And so, for Philia, for the people of Aincrad, and for myself, I will win.
Hollow U/N: ". . ."
Y/N: "Let's do this!"
I must have just stepped into my Hollow self's aggro range, as it had started to move towards me. And in response I started to speed up as I made my rush towards it, spear braced for a charge... hoping that I might just get lucky with an instant kill. Unfortunately my attempt was not successful, and Hollow U/N was able to deflect my attack, although it attempted to parry me rather than settling for a block, so where it might have had an advantage otherwise it instead just allowed for me to respond with a parry of my own in kind. And with the Hollow U/N's parry now on cooldown, it gave me a good opening to pressure Hollow U/N.
The fight between us continued for quite some time, I was actually doing well against this Hollow recreation of me, managing to land a fair few hits on it whilst simultaneously preventing taking any damage myself so far. It really did mirror my own moves and techniques, like it was a carbon copy of myself...
This made things convenient, as I had only learnt so many sword skills for swords. And the ones I did learn were ones that Argo's strategy guide had recommended to players, with the optimal uses for each one. This was something I could take advantage of...
I would deliberately perform certain actions that I knew would make certain sword skills favourable, and knowing how these sword skills would play out I could then easily dodge said attacks and on top of that also being able to take advantage of the Hollow U/N being stuck in their animations and thus an open target for my counter attacks.
Even though I was able to do this, I knew that I was playing with fire. That an AI could certainly pick up on what I was doing and adjust accordingly, and that if I fell complacent to my ways that I would be killed almost immediately. If I had chosen to use my sword in response to Hollow U/N's loadout, I would have already beaten him with this tactic... but would this tactic have worked if I wasn't using a weapon with superior range?
Well... I guess I'll never know now the answer to that, because...
*STAB* *SHATTER!*
I had just dealt the killing blow to Hollow U/N. And with nothing more than the sound of their pixels shattering did they disappear... leaving nothing of them behind.
With my fight now at a close, I turned around and ran back over to Philia. That announcement earlier did say something about this being the final test, I think, but I would rather be beside Philia regardless. Just in case.
SYSTEM MESSAGE: "Removing lock for all extraneous players."
Philia: "I... can move?"
Y/N: "Philia! Are you okay, Philia?"
Philia: "y–Yeah... I think so... Yeah. But what about you?! I couldn't really see properly some of the time because of the paralysis keeping my head stuck in one spot, are you okay?"
Y/N: "I'm fine. I just... getting my breath... but now what—"
SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT: "The Hollow Data update has been cancelled by a high–level user."
Y/N: "Oh? That must mean we've put a stop to the update... right...?"
Philia: "Yeah. It looks like it..."
Y/N: "If I'm being honest. There were a lot of close shaves back there... that could have played out way differently to how it did..."
Philia: "I know... But you made it through, unscathed too! And that's why... That's why you're my hero... Your Hollow was incredibly powerful, wasn't it, U/N?"
Y/N: "Yeah, it was. There's no way I could have beaten them without your support, Philia."
Philia: "R–Really? I–I..."
Y/N: "Me and my Hollow were perfectly matched. The same level and the same stat distributions. We might have been using different weapons, but whilst I had technique they had a scary level of strength to balance it out. The only difference, in my eyes, was that you were here with me, cheering me on as you always have."
Philia: "Thank you for saying that. Nothing makes me happier than helping you... But, U/N... Your cursor's turned orange... Just like mine..."
Y/N: "Well, it wouldn't be the first time... Although, having your cursor turn orange because you defeated yourself... That's quite a tough one, emotionally..."
Philia: "Well, I don't mind what colour your cursor is, U/N. (I'm always just so glad to get to spend time with you...)"
Y/N: "Hmm? What was that?"
Philia: "Oh, uh, nothing!"
Y/N: "...Okay. Now we just need to finish this thing off. I can only assume that the Console we're looking for will be through that area that just spawned in."
Philia: "I think so too..."
And so, with Philia's mobility restored, the two of us walked towards the center of the platform that we stood upon– where a teleport point had spawned in after my besting my Hollow self. And upon teleporting down, we arrived back in a more familiar-looking area. With the blue grid floor returning once more. And, right in the middle of this room? A very familiar-looking console.
* * *
SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT: "The error has been resolved. The error was caused by duplicated data. Logging error..."
Philia: "Oh..."
Y/N: "And... there! Our orange cursors are gone, Philia. Both yours and mine."
Philia: "Oh... It's over already...? I–I mean, thank you, U/N."
Y/N: "See? It's just like I said. You never did anything wrong, Philia. In fact, I feel like making a complaint."
Philia: "A complaint? To who?"
Y/N: "Oh, you don't need to worry about that... Anyways, let's head back, shall we?"
Philia: "To the Administration Area, right? I wonder if that teleporter over there will let us head back?"
Y/N: "Most likely it will, yeah. But no, Philia. We're going back to Aincrad."
Philia: "Aincrad...? Right... That's where I used to be, right? Before all this happened... Are you sure it's okay for me to come with you, though?"
Y/N: "Seriously, you can stop asking me stuff like that, Philia! Of course it's okay! You think I'd have gone through all of this with you only to not bring you home with me?!"
Philia: "Right, right... Sorry..."
Y/N: "Now, are we ready to go?"
Philia: "... Home? With you?"
Philia: "Yes. I'm ready. Let's go!"
Y/N: "Oh! Actually, there's one last thing I need to do..."
Turning my back to Philia I returned to the Console for just a moment, finalising something that I had been pondering for a while now but ultimately decided to follow through with.
Philia: "What's up, U/N?"
Y/N: "It'll just take a second more... There! That should be fine. Now, let's head back!"
Philia: "Okay!"
* TELEPORT: ADMINISTRATION AREA! *
Y/N: "Well, Philia, it's about time to go back to Aincrad."
Philia: "Yeah... It feels kind of strange, though. Like going back to a house you've moved out of..."
Y/N: "I'm sure you'll get used to it in no time. It is home, after all... Well, home in SAO, that is..."
Philia: "Right. You know, I haven't thought about the real world for a long while... I was in such a pit of despair... until you lifted me out of it, U/N."
Y/N: "Oh come on, I barely did anything. You're the one who saved yourself, Philia. Don't forget, though, now that we've got all those powerful skills and items we found in the Hollow Area, it shouldn't be long before we clear this game. Then... Then you'll all be able to go to your real homes... In the meantime, though, I guess we should focus on getting settled in Aincrad."
Philia: "I... I'll try..."
Y/N: "If it helps at all, I know that there's plenty of secret dungeons yet unexplored that I'm sure you and I could get to exploring. You are still a Treasure Hunter, aren't you?"
Philia: "Oh! That sounds fun! Heh, I'll take that as a promise then, U/N."
Y/N: "I wouldn't have it any other way... Now, we'd better go over there so I can re-introduce you to everyone."
Philia: "Right. All of the old group... I'd only seen Liz, Asuna and Kirito lately, when they came in here to the Hollow Area with you. But I'm sure there's more of them out there, right?"
Y/N: "Yeah. Both old faces and new ones! Friends that you haven't met yet."
Philia: "Like Sinon? Do you think she'll be less... well... wary of me now? Now that I don't have that orange cursor anymore?"
Y/N: "I'm sure she will. She's not an idiot, just... overly cautious and wrapped up in her ideals somewhat. Ah, and as for the rest of them... They can be quite peculiar, but everyone's really nice. I think you'll make good friends in no time! I mean... if that's what you want to do, of course..."
Philia: "Yes, I want to get to know your friends, U/N. Both those I used to know, and those I've never met. I know you're a good judge of character. (Besides, I just want to be close to you...)"
Y/N: "Hm? Sorry, what was that?"
Philia: "Hehe..."
Philia: "...Nothing! Just that... I'd like to go back to the Hollow Area for more adventures with you sometime, U/N!"
Y/N: "Oh? That's the spirit! Let's find ourselves some new quests!"
Philia: "Yeeeeeeah!"
* TELEPORT: ARC SOPHIA! *
Philia: "Where are we...?"
Y/N: "This is Arc Sophia. It's a town on the 76th Floor. We're in Aincrad, no doubt about it!"
Philia: "Aincrad... I really made it back..."
???: "Hey! What are you jabbering about over there?!"
Philia: "Huh?"
The unexpected voice was coming from behind both myself and the girl I had finally managed to bring back home with me, of which Philia was currently admiring the cityscape she had suddenly found herself thrust into, but when we both turned around so as to look at the source of the familiar voice we heard, that is where we found both Lisbeth and Silica sitting at one of the benches nearby. And they weren't the only ones that were here either!
Silica: "Over here, Philia!"
Lisbeth: "So, we finally get to see you in Aincrad again."
Leafa: "Welcome back, Philia!"
Sinon: "It's such a relief, knowing that you both made it back safely..."
Klein: "Man... You must have been through some pretty dark times over there... Still, you're here now, and that's all that matters!"
Yui: "I always believed that you and U/N would make it back!"
Asuna: "Now we're all together at last..."
Kirito: "Well, not everyone. There's still a couple of faces missing from our group. But Rain and Lux are still down in the lower parts of Aincrad for now."
Asuna: "I'm sure we'll see them again soon enough, before we clear Floor 100. But for now... Welcome, Philia, to Floor 76."
Philia: "Oh... Uhhh..."
* pomf *
She seemed to grow very sheepish, perhaps from the sudden flanking that such a large group of our friends had performed right upon her arrival. She didn't seem quite mentally prepared for such a large interaction just yet. But she seemed to relax some when I placed my hand on her shoulder, against that old blue cloak of mine that I had gifted her all the way back on the Second Floor. The cloak that she had kept wearing ever since.
Y/N: "Well, Philia?"
Philia: "Ummm... It's, uh... I–It's ... It's good to be back!"
Everyone: "It's good to have you here!"
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