Rinko retrieves Alice's Lightcube, but Asuna informs her that she will stay behind in UW to be with Kirito, and the system enters the maximum acceleration phase. Meanwhile, Miller returns to the real world, just to find that his body is dead and his soul is dragged to Hell. Upon learning that both Miller and Vassago were ultimately defeated, Critter and the other remaining attackers decide to flee. Before fleeing, they rigged Ocean Turtle's main engine with explosives. However, Akihiko Kayaba takes possession of one of the installation's robots and successfully disarms the bomb...