Sword Art Online Light Novel Volume 09

Alicization Beginning (アリシゼーション・ビギニング) is the 9th book in the Sword Art Online Light Novel series, published on February 10, 2012.

Summary
Using a new FullDive machine called the Soul Translator, Kirito entered Underworld as a child without his real world memories. There, he and his friends Alice Zuberg and Eugeo embarked on an adventure, which ended with Alice accidentally violating the Taboo Index, with disastrous consequences. Six years later, Kirito awoke within Underworld with his real world memories. This time, Eugeo and Kirito left their village on a quest to return Alice to her hometown.

Part 1
Eugeo and Kirito, two eleven-year-old boys living in a settlement at the northern edge of the «Human Empire» called Rulid Village, were assigned the lifelong task of chopping a giant, durable tree—known as the «Gigas Cedar»—using the «Dragon Bone Axe», in order to allow the villagers to expand their fields and pastures. Several generations and more than three hundred years of chopping diligently with the axe had left a one-mel-deep gash in the tree, with three more mels and around nine centuries' worth of chopping remaining. When the two boys finished their quota for the morning, the village chief's daughter Alice, who had been studying the Sacred Arts at the Rulid church, brought them homemade lunch. After discussing possible ways to prolong the «Life» of their food, the children decided to spend the next rest day searching for ice in the forbidden «Mountain Range at the Edge».

Part 2
On the following rest day, the three children gathered at the edge of the village and departed towards the mountains. En route, Eugeo pondered on their futures, as well as their past before being assigned to his «Sacred Task». At that moment, Kirito asserted his belief that they could choose to be guards if they managed to fell the «Gigas Cedar» — an idea that Eugeo rejected as impossible. Eventually, the three children reached the cave at the mountain pass; to their surprise, the trip lasted significantly less time than anticipated. As they explored further and further into the dark cave, the air grew considerably colder, making their breath visible. Moments later, the three children arrived at a large chamber, within which they were greeted by the sight of hulking white bones of a fallen dragon. The trio soon realized that the dragon had been killed with a sword.

Part 3
While speculating on the cause of the dragon's death, Kirito pulled a sword, known as the «Blue Rose Sword» in the village's legends, from the dragon's remains. However, due to the sword's weight and their unwillingness to rob the dragon's grave, the children instead returned to their original goal of gathering ice. After filling Alice's basket with it, the three of them attempted to leave the cave and return to the village. However, as they took the wrong path, the children instead arrived to the entrance to the Dark Territory, the land of the devil races. Looking up into the blood-red sky, Alice, Eugeo, and Kirito witnessed a mid-air battle between a white Integrity Knight on the back of a dragon, and one of the Dark Knights. When the Integrity Knight mortally wounded the Dark Knight and the latter fell to the ground just in front of the three children, Alice subconsciously attempted to come to the dying knight's aid but tripped along the way, accidentally touching the soil of the Dark Territory with her hand.

Part 4
The next day, an Integrity Knight descended on Rulid Village, announcing to the village and its chief that Alice had broken a Taboo and was to be taken away for interrogation and execution as punishment for her crime. Having seen the dragon flying overhead at the Gigas Cedar, Eugeo and Kirito rushed back to the village, where the latter was restrained by the other villagers when he attempted to attack the knight with his axe in an attempt to free Alice, while the former stood frozen, unable to defy the rules. Ignoring the commotion, the Integrity Knight finished tying Alice to his dragon and ascended into the sky, vanishing into the distance.

Part 1
On June 29, 2026, Asada Shino (Sinon) met with Kirigaya Kazuto (Kirito) at the «Dicey Café», where the two discussed about the aftermath of the «Death Gun» murders, as well as the recently-held fourth Bullet of Bullets, the winner of which seemed to be able to predict the patterns of veteran players in an uncanny way. While assessing that an unusual playstyle might be able to overcome the player, the girl felt a chill as she recalled the time she was ambushed during the tournament by the player and he whispered to her in English that her soul would taste sweet. Assuming a falsely cheery tone upon recovering from her recollection, Shino invited Kazuto to participate in the next tournament, reminding him of her help with Excalibur to help persuade him. As they continued their conversation, Kazuto realised that Shino had also invited another person and quickly checked his phone, which displayed a red dot on a map moving towards their location. The dot's arrival at the café coincided with the entrance of Yuuki Asuna.

Part 2
Seeing Asuna's casual interactions with Shino, Kazuto became curious to know when the two of them had got to be that close, becoming upset when he discovered that Shino had spent a night at Asuna's house, while he himself had never visited her house even once. When the topic turned to the app on Kazuto's phone, Shino learnt that Asuna's version was capable of displaying Kazuto's body temperature and heart rate, transmitted by a sensor implanted under his skin as a result of his part-time job. Thus, Shino questioned him further about his job, which led to Kazuto explaining that he was involved in the testing of a new Brain Machine Interface (BMI), overseen by a company called «Rath». Following a detailed explanation on the concept of «Fluctuating Lights» («Fluctlights»), the fundamental principle of the new technology that was based on the theory of quantum brain dynamics, the boy noted that he had been unable to differentiate the world created with this new technology from the real world.

Part 3
Comparing a FullDive with the Soul Translator to the state of dreaming, Kazuto explained the concept of Fluctlight Acceleration (FLA), a function of the Soul Translator that amplified the user's perception of time by interacting with the Fluctlight's thought-clock, thus allowing the user to experience a longer Dive in the same amount of time. After Kazuto asserted his intention to halt his participation in the project as his finals were about to begin, Asuna noticed that it was nearly six o'clock, thus prompting the group to finish their conversation and leave the café. As they departed, Shino stopped abruptly as she sensed a prying gaze directed at them but was unable to locate its source, until it suddenly vanished.

Interlude I
After taking the train to Setagaya, Kazuto was escorting Asuna to the latter's home while holding hands. This reminded Asuna of the time the two held hands in Granzam on the 55th Floor of Aincrad in Sword Art Online after the incident with Kuradeel that forced Kirito to kill the man to stop him from harming Asuna in her moment of hesitation. Since then, Asuna learnt to discern information from the warmth of Kazuto's hands, thus she knew that the boy was silent due to hesitating to tell her something important. Just then, Kazuto stopped abruptly to reveal his decision to seek his future in America, where research was being made on a brain implant chip that the boy was very interested in. However, the boy was conflicted about the decision due to not wishing to part with Asuna. As such, the boy pleaded the girl to travel with him, prompting the girl to reply that she would go anywhere with him, surprised that this question was the entire reason for the boy's concerns.

When the two reached a small park near Asuna's house where they typically parted ways, the couple was approached by a man, who asked for directions to the station. However, having realised that the man had been following them since they had left the cafe, Kazuto demanded that the man identify himself. The man's reference to wearing a mask in Sword Art Online allowed Kazuto to identify him as Johnny Black (Kanamoto Atsushi), a member of «Laughing Coffin», as well as one of the murderers behind the Death Gun incident. Moments later, Atsushi produced a syringe filled with succinylcholine from within his jacket, prompting Kazuto to order Asuna to seek help while he tried to defend himself against Atsushi. As Asuna rushed to the nearest houses, Atsushi injected Kazuto with the drag by pressing the needle-less injector against his shoulder, while the boy stabbed the tip of his umbrella deep into Atsushi's thigh. Asuna immediately rushed back and called an ambulance, which promptly arrived on the scene. The paramedics attempted using atropine to counter the effects of the succinylcholine; however, the boy soon entered a state of cardiac arrest.

Part 1
Kirito awoke in the heart of a forest, unable to recall what had taken place after he and Asuna reached the park. Noticing that he was wearing unusual clothes that seemed to fit the aesthetics of a fantasy game, the boy presumed that he might be in a virtual world but was unable to open any in-game windows when he attempted to log out. After numerous conjectures, Kirito assumed that he found himself in Underworld, thus he attempted to call the operator, Higa Takeru, by yelling at the sky for him to stop the Dive, to no avail. Disappointed, Kirito decided to find a source of water to quench his thirst and found a crystal-clear stream by following the sound of flowing water. Having refreshed himself with the water, the boy suddenly heard a chopping sound in the distance. Following the sound to its source, the young man abruptly witnessed a brief vision of two boys and a girl walking by the riverside under the setting sun of midsummer. Struck deeply by the scene, he wondered if it was a memory of long-passed days he had forgotten.

Part 2
The vision faded as quickly as it had come, leaving Kirito with a sense of nostalgia, as if he were remembering his own childhood, despite having no recollections of living in Underworld. As he continued following the sound of chopping, Kirito reached a clearing, where he found a boy standing next to an enormous tree with an axe in his hand. After some hesitation, Kirito decided to enquire about the possibility of logging out; however, as the boy failed to understand the question, Kirito concluded that it was not an option. Considering his next best option in the current situation, the newcomer wondered if there were a lodging place in the area. The boy thus revealed that his village was nearby and offered to escort Kirito there, if the latter would wait till the former was finished with his work. When Kirito agreed to wait, the boy, realising that he had forgotten to do so before, introduced himself as Eugeo.

Inferring that Kirito had not yet eaten lunch, Eugeo offered one of his pieces of bread to the boy. Before the two began eating, Eugeo summoned the Stacia Window for the bread to check on its Life, prompting Kirito to regard this as a confirmation of him being inside a virtual world. Discovering that Eugeo always ate bread from the day before due to his unforgiving schedule, Kirito remarked that he should bring a boxed lunch from home. Reminded of the past by this comment, Eugeo shared the story of the events six years prior that led to his childhood friend named Alice being arrested by an Integrity Knight. After finishing lunch, Kirito learnt that the boy's «Sacred Task» was to cut the giant tree; feeling thankful for the boy sharing his lunch, Kirito offered to help him with his job. Dusk arrived by the time they finished Eugeo's daily quota and headed towards to the village of Rulid.

Part 3
At the village, Selka, a girl learning the Sacred Arts from Sister Azariya, explained the rules of the village to Kirito, but he went to sleep with many unanswered questions. The next day, Selka persistently nudged Kirito up for the morning prayer. After church worship and breakfast, he decided to follow Eugeo to continue his «Sacred Task». At their noon break, they talked about the Sacred Arts and the deaths of twenty villagers in an epidemic three years prior. Kirito began chopping at the tree, but felt compelled to ask Eugeo if there were anything harder than the axe they could use, and Eugeo replied that the Divine Instruments were the only things harder. Eugeo then went to the axe's storage shed while Kirito chopped, returning with the «Blue Rose Sword». Kirito made an attempt to cut the tree with it, but because Kirito's Object Control Authority (OC Authority) was lower than that of the sword, he could not activate any skills with it and missed hitting the designated area of the tree, lowering the tree's six-digit Life by only a single point. The two then decided to go back to using the axe instead to finish the day.

Back at the church, Kirito took a bath. Once finished, he went to his room, where Selka awaited him. Kirito asked Selka about her sister Alice, and she responded as best she could, mentioning her frustration that her Sacred Arts were not as good as her sister’s; Kirito reassured and encouraged her as best he could. Soon, the bell chimed nine and, just before leaving, Selka asked Kirito if he knew why Alice had been apprehended. After being told that Alice had transgressed against the Taboo Index by touching the soil of the Dark Territory, Selka left for the night, leaving Kirito alone in his room to ponder about Alice. A bright golden light flashed before his eyes as he fell asleep.

Part 4
The next morning, Sister Azariya approached Kirito as he washed his face, informing him that Selka had vanished. Realizing that his informing her of the circuumstances of Alice's arrest was to blame, Kirito left with Eugeo to search for Selka, and they soon arrived at the «Mountain Range at the Edge», where Eugeo pointed out the entrance to a cave. While walking through the passage, they heard Selka screaming from further in and hastened their pace, entering the main chamber to find that a group of goblins had captured Selka. When the group decided to kill the two boys, Kirito told Eugeo to help him rush the first four goblins, put out their fire, and take out the leader, and asked Eugeo to grab a sword himself in the confusion that would follow. Their first attack worked flawlessly, leading Kirito to confront the leader of the goblins, «Lizard Killer Ugachi», while Eugeo dealt with the other goblins. Kirito's first two blocks failed, but using a «Sword Skill», the three-part «Sharp Nail», effectively breached the goblin’s defense and cut off the goblin's arm. Kirito's subsequent carelessness allowed the goblin to slash his left shoulder, the extreme pain of which paralyzed him momentarily. As Ugachi lifted his machete to kill Kirito, Eugeo came to his aid and knocked Ugachi back, but an easy counterattack from the goblin's sword sliced deep into Eugeo's abdomen. In a sudden flash of memories, Kirito recalled moments from his first time in Underworld, and summoned the strength to cut off Ugachi's other arm and kill him. The other goblins fled from Kirito in fear, and he freed Selka and took her to the side of the dying Eugeo. At Kirito's insistence, she used a highly dangerous Sacred Art to transfer some of Kirito's Life to Eugeo. Before losing consciousness, Kirito heard a familiar voice in his head, telling him that it awaited the two boys at the top of Central Cathedral. Hearing this, he was suddenly imbued with an overwhelming energy, which flowed swiftly from his body into Eugeo's.

Part 5
Two days after the fight in the cave, Kirito and Eugeo returned to their «Sacred Task» and were surprised to find that the axe felt unusually light in their hands. They reached the halfway mark much earlier than usual as well, and Kirito, having noticed an increase in his Object Control Authority after the fight with the goblins, decided to try swinging the «Blue Rose Sword» again. This time, Kirito successfully activated the skill «Horizontal» against the tree; seeing the skill, Eugeo expressed an interest in learning Sword Skills. Kirito decided to teach Eugeo the basic Sword Skills that he used, allowing the latter to practice extensively on the «Gigas Cedar». Within five days, the «Gigas Cedar» finally fell, and Gasupht Zuberg, the village leader, declared a feast in commemoration of the tree's felling. At the climax, he gave Eugeo the chance to choose his next task, and after some deliberation, Eugeo declared his intent to be a swordsman. The current Rulid Village guard, Jink, took offense to this, believing it unfair that Eugeo should have the chance to enter the dueling tournament in Zakkaria before him. Jink's father insisted that the two of them duel to see which one of them was stronger and should be the first to leave. Eugeo easily defeated Jink in the duel by striking and destroying his sword in a single blow; he does so using a skill he learnt without Kirito's help, «Slant». The celebration continued for the rest of the whole day until the bell chimed ten. Selka dragged a drunk Kirito back to his room, where he swore to her that he would someday return to Rulid with Eugeo and Alice.

Part 6
The next day, Garitta awaited for Kirito and Eugeo along the path towards the fallen tree. Before the two boys left to Zakkaria, the elder gave them a branch of the Gigas Cedar as a gift. Garitta then told the two to visit a man named Sadore so that he could craft the branch into a sword. The two thanked Garitta, and both walked towards the path to finding Alice, on a path they would not be coming back from for a long time.

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Volumen 9 Sword Art Online (Ранобе, Том 9)