Kirito wakes up to find himself inside a mysterious world evoking a fantasy game. His memory fuzzy, he tries to log out, but is unable to return to the real world. After wandering aimlessly, he finds himself underneath a colossal tree.

A year has passed since SAO was cleared. Summoned by Kikuoka of the Virtual Division at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Kazuto learns of a series of bizarre murders linked to the popular VR game, Gun Gale Online (GGO), the only game in Japan played by pros.

Kirito and the others are tasked with subjugating the Frost King Thrymr, and a quest to recover Excalibur. It's Yui's guess that this isn't a quest planned by the game admins, but something automatically generated by the system. And if that's the case…

It's reported that the Holy Sword Excalibur has been discovered inside ALO. Hearing the news, Kirito and Leafa decide to take possession of Excalibur before other players get to it first.

In an upcoming update of ALO, Floors 21-30 of New Aincrad will be unlocked. Asuna, Kirito and Yui revisit their dream of once again living together in their log cabin on Floor 22.

In the real world, Kazuto Kirigaya lies unconscious. At Kikuoka’s request, Kazuto is moved to a well-equipped hospital, but when Asuna and Suguha try to visit, they’re turned away. Suspicious, Asuna and the others split up to find out more about Rath.

While Asuna continues her attempt to escape, another woman in Kirito’s life tries to make sense of her emotions.

Armed with a large sniper rifle, Hecate II, the young girl Sinon is making a name for herself as the No. 1 sniper in GGO. When her squadron ambushes another squadron, she succeeds in taking out her first target. But when she takes aim at her second target, a robed “Behemoth,” he dodges the bullet.

In real life, the player Sinon is a high school student named Shino Asada. On her way home from school, she’s dragged into an alley by delinquent girls. Their leader, Endo, tries to extort money from Shino, but she bravely refuses.

Asuna is asked to help the guild “Sleeping Knights,” which has decided to disband soon due to the members’ circumstances. Before they do, they want to defeat a Floor Boss with only their party.

Asuna and the Sleeping Knights’ attempt to defeat the boss on Floor 27 has been observed by a guild specializing in boss raids. Now 20 of its members block the boss room. With Kirito stalling the rest of the guild, can Asuna and the others break through?

Leafa is making enemies leaving her area and group to team up with Kirito. On their way to neutral Territory, they speak more of the rules and areas of the ALO.

Kirito decides that Death Gun and the man in the cape will be appearing in BoB. He uses the remaining time to exchange information with Sinon and find out more about the contestants. Sinon sees how strange he was acting during the qualifier and asks him what happened. She learns that he is a SAO survivor. The main BoB tournament begins and 30 players are dropped in a 10km wide field.

Hearing rumors about a brilliant player known as Zekken, Asuna decides to mount a challenge. But when Asuna logs out, she is told by her mother to take an exam to transfer into an academically oriented high school.

Kirito, along with his childhood friend, Eugeo, has been tasked with cutting down a colossal tree called the Gigas Cedar. They’re swinging their ax when their friend Alice arrives with lunch. As they eat, the three friends decide to go to a fabled cave.

Kirito makes up his mind to journey to Centoria. Since he'll need Eugeo's help, he also decides to fell the Gigas Cedar. Meanwhile, Alice's little sister, Selka is worried about Eugeo, and opens up to Kirito about her concerns.

To register for BoB, Kirito starts entering the required information into a terminal, but is astounded to see that the form includes columns for his real-world name and address. He is temporarily torn when he realizes that without this info, he won't be eligible for the top prizes...

The man in the ragged cloak is an SAO survivor, and he might also be a player Kirito fought with to the death... This thought consumes Kirito, and his anguish is palpable - to the point that it worries Suguha.

As Kirito learns about the game from Leafa and the hatred between the races, Asuna learns the truth of her role from the Fairy King.

Sinon is attacked from behind by Death Gun and paralyzed. He's using a Black Star Type-54, ironically the same gun that Sinon used to shoot the robber. Her memories of the incident come flooding back and Sinon loses control, and Death Gun tries to kill her to make Kirito angry. But just before he can kill her Kirito saves her at the last second. Sinon is out of the fight, and Kirito tries to flee with her but is pursued by Death Gun.

Death Gun's attack is modeled after Star Splash, a SAO skill that doesn't exist in GGO. Death Gun is skilled with not only a gun but a blade as well, and he gradually wears down Kirito's health. Meanwhile, Sinon's scope has been destroyed by Death Gun and she cannot attack, so she's forced to simply watch the fight. She grits her teeth and wonders if there's anything else she can do.

A new MMO allows users to fly and encourages player killing. Kirito has joined this new game in search of Asuna and is pleasantly surprised with what he finds.

Something isn’t right; Recon has sent Leafa a message “I was right. Be careful. S." What does he mean and will Leafa and Kirito have the time to figure it out?

Kikuoka has recruited Kirito to investigate GGO, and so he logs in. To lure Death Gun into targeting him, he hopes to enter Bullet of Bullets (BoB), a tournament to decide the most powerful gunman in GGO. But as a first-timer, he doesn't know his way around this game, and soon loses his way, when he catches sight of Sinon and approaches her.

A man in a beat-up cloak watches Kirito fight his first battle and demands to know if he's "the real thing". The man has the tattoo of Laughing Coffin, a murderer's guild that existed within SAO. He tells Kirito that he'll kill him someday, and vanishes.