The moment he swung, Akimi immediately sensed that something was off—though it sounded absurd, all monsters in SAO “read commands.”
When they detect a player locking onto them and taking action, their AI always responds in some way; only when a player is sneaking can this detection be avoided.
However, SAO isn’t designed like Soul-Travel, where the system recalculates a series of complex data when a monster detects a player’s action to control the monster’s reaction.
In simpler terms, low-level players aren’t even qualified to participate in high-level battles—even if someone tries to compensate with skill, the numerical difference alone can overwhelm them.
Now, the humanoid “monster” before Akimi didn’t react at all to his sword technique.
Even now, no cursor or HP bar appeared above its head.
Normally, whether player, NPC, or monster, there’s always a tri-colored cursor.
This had never happened before.
Akimi braced himself for a serious loss—hoping that this “monster” didn’t have any other ridiculous mechanisms.
As expected, just as his attack was about to hit, the “monster” lightly sidestepped and left Akimi’s attack range.
“Water Breathing, Second Form—Horizontal…”
Gritting his teeth, Akimi spun to unleash another strike, but before he could execute the technique, the “monster” pressed its blade against his throat.
That helpless feeling reminded him of when he first started learning swordsmanship and tried challenging Master Kirigaya—every strike he swung couldn’t even touch the hem of the master’s clothes.
In Master Kirigaya’s eyes, each swing was like a street thug flailing a baseball bat: completely unskilled.
It was a gap in absolute strength, a chasm in technique.
Facing this “monster” now, Akimi felt the distance between them was even greater than that between his younger self and Master Kirigaya.
Thinking this, he could only smile bitterly, silently acknowledging his bad luck—he was used to facing strong enemies before, but this time he had directly run into someone he simply could not defeat.
“Looks like I’m about to be forced offline… hmm, I just hope Asuna doesn’t overreact…”
Muttering to himself, Akimi quickly pulled up the message panel and sent out the pre-prepared message.
Having done all he could, he turned his gaze to the “monster” before him, ready for one final struggle.
When he actually got a good look at it, he froze for a moment—he felt like he had seen this “monster” before.
A high black ponytail, with tips dyed a sunset-like crimson, vivid red eyes, a fiery red marking on his forehead, and paper earrings patterned like the sun—his expression calm, detached, and otherworldly.
He wore a crimson haori over a bright yellow top, with a black hakama below the waist.
The striking contrast of red, yellow, and black left a strong impression, impossible to forget.
Akimi just wanted to shout: “Holy crap!!”
Then he completely gave up resisting—labeling this level of “human” as a monster in SAO was practically cruel.
Not just one Akimi, even fifteen hundred of him wouldn’t stand a chance here.
Although it couldn’t actually be Yoriichi himself, this “Yoriichi” was terrifyingly overpowered even as an experience card… a random encounter investigation task meets Yoriichi, strong as a monster, almost impossible to defeat.
“Long time no see, junior.”
Hearing Yoriichi’s voice, Akimi—who had just been cursing Kayaba Akihiko’s ancestors—was stunned.
He glanced around to make sure no one else was there, then pointed at himself in disbelief.
By actual standards, he could barely be considered Yoriichi’s junior.
And he could swear he had never actually seen Yoriichi in person anywhere—so what did she mean by “long time no see”?
And the last question—this Yoriichi before him, wasn’t he supposed to be an SAO NPC?
The sheer incongruity gave Akimi a headache.
For now, all he could do was stare blankly at the tall figure before him and see if it would trigger any follow-up dialogue.
Seeing Akimi like this, Yoriichi probably understood something, but didn’t say it outright.
Instead, he said something else:
“I am not originally from this… ‘Aincrad.’”
Well, that was a bombshell right out of the gate.
“In other words… hmm, using your terminology, my ‘Incarnation’… or rather… my soul, comes from the real world, not nurtured by this world,” Yoriichi said, maintaining that calm, unflinching expression, dropping information that could shock Akimi for an entire year.
Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!
Akimi doubted his own hearing—the concept of an Incarnation wasn’t introduced until the later Alicization project, right?
The timeline didn’t match at all!
And if Yoriichi really came from the real world, how did he know this concept?
And how did he even enter SAO?
Before Akimi could fully process the enormous amount of information from the previous sentence, Yoriichi continued:
“Roughly four or five years ago in the real world, and five hundred years ago in this world, I suddenly entered this world for reasons unknown to me.
When I first arrived, most people here were like puppets, repeating everything from the previous day—but soon after, they gradually began to develop ‘self-awareness,’ and this world started approaching reality.
Later on, beings very similar to demons appeared, and with them came a Demon Slayer Corps that largely matched the one in reality… even the master was still named Ubuyashiki.
However, just like in reality, the Demon Slayer Corps here initially did not know the Breathing Techniques, so I taught them the Breathing Techniques myself.”
Hearing this, Akimi rubbed his slightly throbbing head, trying to fully comprehend what Yoriichi had just explained, but he realized it conflicted with everything he had known up to now—understanding it wouldn’t be that simple.
Also… the way Yoriichi delivered such important information was as calm as casually chatting about what someone had for breakfast.
But he had to admit, it perfectly matched the image of Yoriichi he had imagined.
After sorting out his thoughts, Akimi furrowed his brow and asked: “So… Senior Yoriichi, what about the Demon King?”
When Akimi first received the Breathing Techniques, the mission prompt said that the Demon Slayer Corps had to fight with all their strength just to seriously injure the Demon King.
But with a godlike figure like Yoriichi around, that shouldn’t have been necessary.
Yoriichi shook his head: “I don’t know. I’ve never seen the Demon King of this world. Strictly speaking, when I was still in that Demon Slayer Corps, I never heard any news about the Demon King.”
“Eh?” Akimi said, a little stunned.
“That can’t be… if there’s no Demon King, where did the demons come from?”
— The end of the Chapter–
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