Kirito and Sinon's battle with Death Gun is over, but mere weeks later, something strange is afoot in the next-generation VRMMO ALfheim Online. A new duelist with a custom sword skill is defeating all comers--including Kirito! But when Asuna goes to face this duelist, she receives something she never expected: an invitation to an exclusive guild! But what is their aim? The Mother's Rosario arc begins!

Asuna joins forces with the Sleeping Knights guild in their quest to defeat a major boss, but inwardly, she struggles with her ongoing attachment to the VRMMO game. When the time for battle arrives, will she be ready? And when Yuuki's secret is revealed, what will the consequences be?

Yuuki's sudden disappearance has left Asuna bereft. It had seemed like everyone was having such a good time-what did she do wrong...? She turns to Kirito in her search for answers, but she may end up wishing she'd never pulled on that thread. The most heartbreaking arc in SAO comes to a tearful conclusion...!

A year after Kazuto and Asuna escaped from Aincrad, the deadly setting of Sword Art Online, they're still coping with the aftermath as they try to recover from the harrowing experience. Meanwhile, there's a new VRMMO game sweeping the world's gamers--Gun Gale Online. When a mysterious player who calls himself "Death Gun" claims to be responsible for real-world deaths, Kazuto (aka Kirito) is recruited to enter the game to investigate, bringing an end to his hard-won peace!

Kazuto Kirigaya (aka Kirito) has beaten Sword Art Online, a VRMMORPG that transformed into a literal game of death, and returned to the real world. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Asuna Yuuki (aka Asuna the Flash), the girl with whom Kirito fell in love in the virtual world of Aincrad but who has yet to awaken from her game-induced slumber. As his sister, Suguha, sadly looks on, Kazuto continues to visit Asuna in the hospital in the hope of finding answers. But when one day he meets a man claiming to be Asuna's fiancé, Kazuto fears that Asuna may be lost to him forever... That is until a fellow survivor of SAO taken form the latest VRMMORPG sensation, ALfheim Online - a screenshot that features someone being held captive who looks entirely too much like Asuna! His hope renewed, Kirito dives headlong into an all-new virtual adventure, but can true love conquer the game?!

In the year 2022, gamers rejoice as Sword Art Online - a VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) like no other - debuts, allowing players to take full advantage of the ultimate in gaming technology: NerveGear, a system that allows users to completely immerse themselves in a wholly realistic gaming experience. But when the game goes live, the elation of the players quickly turns to horror as they discover that, for all its amazing features, SAO is missing one of the most basic functions of any MMORPG - a log-out button. Now trapped in the virtual world of Aincrad, their bodies held captive by NerveGear in the real world, users are issued a chilling ultimatum: conquer all one hundred floors of Aincrad to regain your freedom. But in the warped world of SAO, "Game Over" means certain death - both virtual and real...

Sword Art Online, the world's first VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game), may have started out as a game, but it has since become a matter of life and death for the ten thousand players trapped within. Two years after game programmer Akihiko Kayaba's chilling declaration--"This might be a game, but it's not something you play"--the number of players has dwindled to six thousand, and for many, every day is a struggle for survival. Though Kirito has stayed alive by making a name for himself as a solo adventurer in that time, his life undergoes a major change when he unwittingly joins Asuna's powerful guild, the Knights of the Blood. What does fate have in store for Kirito, Asuna, and the brave young fighters who are risking their lives to return to the real world?!