Moruti appears and immediately changes the appearance of the area. She can control all aspects of The World… all weird events, such as the Fountain of Illusion drying up and the difficult monsters were her doing. She can even teleport people to her, as Shugo soon discovers when he attempts to Data Drain and Komiyama appears in her arms.
Reki watches from his office inside the game. Phantom City has been dropped from the CC Company’s control. Soon he is joined by Kamui.
In Phantom City, the NPCs of the town start attacking Shugo and co. When Shugo decides he’s had enough and prepares to Data Drain, Sanjuro stops him. She’s the only connection they have to Rena.
Back in the office, Reki asks what Kamui found in the kids’ computers. She replies that they must have had an interest in death. When he turns his back to her, she stabs him with her spear. His character turns grey and disappears…
Moruti explains that she wants to know the true meaning of death. This was the only way… to create a true death when PC and NPC die. She demonstrates by PKing the NPCs.
Reki teleports back to the office soon after his death to continue his conversation with Kamui. Moruti used the kids to create death in the world. Reki teleports a frozen monster into the room and explains when a player is killed by this monster, a special gate opens and they’re transmitted to a special area within the server. The player is then caught in an illusion which makes them think they really are dead. It seems the kids created this program to understand perfect death.
Back in Phantom City, Balmung explains that perfect death is the antithesis of the World’s fundamental idea. Sanjuro adds that if perfect death could happen, The World would be different. Aura must have sensed this and revived the .hackers’ characters to fight against this. Therefore it must be possible to stop this World change and Shugo’s bracelet must be the key. That would explain why Moruti kept sending monsters after Shugo.
Back at the office, Kamui explains that when she searched the kids computers, the data clearly indicated that Shugo was the target. It seems that Rena has since become the target. If Shugo had been the one to have been caught in the death illusion and something went wrong, he could have used the bracelet to escape. Rena, on the other hand, does not possess a bracelet, and her illusion has currently been removed.
The Phantom City party deduces that if Moruti really wanted to learn the true meaning of death, Shugo is too risky to the chance of success, so she changed her target to Rena. The goal must be to eliminate Aura, the one being that can exist in the world anywhere, which inversely means she doesn’t exist anywhere. Moruti will use Rena to catch Aura. Inside the cave illusion, a large monster swallows Rena and teleports to Moruti.
At the office, Kamui explains that to fight back, first they must develop highly contagious virus that will not only corrupt data, but eliminate it completely from all CC Company’s backup servers. Then they will have to insert it into Rena.
Moruti initiates her World of Death scheme by injecting Rena and players who know Rena’s member address including Aura with a virus to delete their characters. Immediately, everyone’s hit points start decreasing, and none are able to log out. Soon, Aura appears and asks them to defeat the monsters while she uses her strength against the virus. Balmung heals the party and everyone take the offense again.
Reki and Kamui realize that a vaccine against the virus is now impossible. They can only stop it from being transmitted. They realize the consequences if they fail: Aura will no longer exist and they’ll either fall unconscious or possibly die. Kamui decides to teleport to the Phantom City to fight to the end with the one she loves… Balmung.
In Phantom City, the virus eats away at the party’s weapons and soon they are fighting barehanded. Shugo’s bracelet is still unharmed, but Aura cautions him not to use it, or Rena will also be affected. If that happens, she won’t be able to continue suppressing the virus. Kamui soon appears and uses a Level 2 Darkness attack. She advices the party that their weapons might be useless, but they can still use their items. She will fight to avenge the Knights.
Shugo attacks and is tossed into the city ruins. When he pulls himself together, he notices a silhouette hiding amongst the buildings
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