History Recap / SwordArtOnlineAlicizationArc

* ArcherArchetype: Deusolbert Synthesis Seven uses the Conflagrant Flame Bow as his weapon.

* SatanicArchetype: Quinella. She rebelled against the Underworld's version of God in order to become one herself, setting herself up as one gifted by the gods before constructing a false faith in her own name, eventually succeeded in her goals, and ruled enforced by her specially-prepared laws [[spoiler:and her Integrity Knights]].

* FateWorseThanDeath: Vassago's final fate is, [[spoiler:being turned into a tree by Kirito.]]

* PowerTrio: The ThreeAmigos variant is present between Alice, Eugeo, and Kirito, [[ChildhoodFriends back when they were kids]]. It later makes a return once Alice allies with them and the three of them face off against Quinella together.

One fateful evening, however, Kirito has a real-world encounter with "Johnny Black", the third and final conspirator behind Death Gun, who ambushes him with a poison-filled syringe. While Kirito is saved from dying, he is left in a comatose state. He is subsequently abducted by Rath -- led by Seijuro Kikuoka, a man whom Kirito had past dealing with, none of them pleasant -- to undergo treatment in the STL in the hopes of restoring him to full consciousness in the real world. Asuna manages to track down Rath's base of operations on a floating fortress in the sea known as the Ocean Turtle, aided by Rinko Kojiro, the lover and assistant of Akihiko Kayaba. There, she learns the true purpose of the STL: to create true artificial intellegence from the bottom up using artificial Fluctlights, with the purpose of creating unmanned military weapons for the Japanese government. As part of their endeavor to facilitate the creation of these advanced [=AIs=], time within the Underworld was accelerated: a day in realtime was equivalent to years in the Underworld.\\

* BloodierAndGorier: And how! Despite the previous arcs feeling relatively bloodless, Alicization has levels of violence that wouldn't seem out of place in a seinen manga. Limbs are hacked off with blood spewing, attempted rape is shown at a level never before seen in SAO, characters endure painful torture, and to top it all off, one character gets a spear impaled through her eye with graphic results. This is all worse considering the characters all feel these effects in the real world.

* SenpaiKohai: All trainees of the Sword Academy become valet to a senior graduate who mentors them.
** Kirito became kohai to Sortiliena Serlut's senpai.
** Once Kirito and Eugeo become Elite Disciples, they in turn become senpais to Ronye and Tiese.

* SempaiKohai: All trainees of the Sword Academy become valet to a senior graduate who mentors them.

* KillEmAll: Vassago's JustBetweenYouAndMe threat to Kirito about killing both him and Asuna in real life in the anime is framed with him delivering it from the perspective of both Asuna and some of their allies watching the fight as it wraps up. The threat now carrying the [[ImpliedDeathThreat implication]] that he'll go after them as well.

* ArcherArchetype: Deusolbert Synthesis Seven uses the Conflagrant Flame Bow as his WeaponOfChoice.

%% * HeelRealization

* KillEmAll: Vassago's JustBetweenYouAndMe threat to Kirito about killing both him and Asuna in real life in the anime is and framing with him delivering it from the perspective of both Asuna and some of their allies watching the fight as it wraps up. The threat now carrying the [[ImpliedDeathThreat implication]] that he'll go after them as well.

** Vassago's OmnicidalManiac tendencies are also greatly expanded upon in the Anime. With him trying to pull an ApocolypseHow against every living thing, be they allied with him or not, just to get Kirito to waken from his coma.

* EnemyMine: Once the American foreign players arrive in the Underworld and start slaughtering both Human Realm and a Dark Territory alike, the two former factions team up to face this new common threat.

** The foreign players speak entirely in English, but are all voiced by Japanese voice actors so come across speaking very broken {{engrish}} woth very obvious accents.

* IOweYouMyLife: The reason for Alice's dedication to Kirito, as he allowed her to see the truth and taught her it was fine to have a freewill of her own and fight for what she believed in. Alice believes this as Kirito saving her life and has been taking care of him since.
* KillEmAll: The anime has Vassago's JustBetweenYouAndMe threat to Kirito about killing both him and Asuna real-life [[AdaptationDistillation during their final battle]], framing the line itself from the perspective of both Asuna (refered to as Lightning Flash in his threat) and some of their allies watching the fight. With the [[{{Implied}} implication]] that he'll eventually target them in real-life too at some point. His plan to get Kirito to waken from his coma also involved [[OmnicidalManiac killing Asuna, their allies and every other player and Underworld native, human, demon and creature alike regardless of whether they're good or evil.]]

* YouShallNotPass: Kirito pulls one on Gabriel in the FinalBattle, beliving he had no chance of defeating Gabriel but still determined to stall him long enough for Alice and Asuna to reach the World's End Altar. Gabriel knows this fully well and gives Kirito the chance to entertain him in the time it takes the girls to reach the top.

* SenselessSacrifice: Bercouli manages to kill Gabriel in his Vecta account at the cost of his life, only for Gabroel to return using his Subtilizer account.

* Bloodier and Gorier: And how! Despite the previous arcs feeling relatively bloodless, Alicization has levels of violence that wouldn't seem out of place in a seinen manga. Limbs are hacked off with blood spewing, attempted rape is shown at a level never before seen in SAO, characters endure painful torture, and to top it all off, one character gets a spear impaled through her eye with graphic results. This is all worse considering the characters all feel these effects in the real world.

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: After making his final assault on Kirito, he is soon arrested.

* KarmaHoudini: As far as the adaptation is concerned, Johnny Black is notably the only villain in either part of the arc to get away with his actions outright, disappearing altogether after he poisons Kirito.

*** Episode 15, Kirito tells Fanatio that he had lost battles to great swordswoman before. The most recent time that happened was against Yuuki.

With time running out until the JSDF intervenes, the mercenaries sabotage the fluctlight acceleration process of the Underworld, cranking it past its safety limits: within the next fifteen minutes, time in the Underworld would accelerate so fast that over two hundred would pass in a matter of minutes, far more time than Kirito and Asuna could possibly endure safely! Kikuoka warns Kirito to get himself and Asuna out of the Underworld before then.\\

* KarmaHoudini: Johnny Black is notably the only villain in either part of the arc to get away with his actions outright, disappearing altogether after he poisons Kirito.

With the last of his strength, Eugeo uses his blood to reforge his shattered sword for Kirito to use. With two swords in his hands, Kirito is able to overwhelm Administrator, driving her to attempt retreat to the real world, only to be killed by Chudlekin when he latches onto her and incinerates them both. With Administrator defeated at last, Kirito uses a console in the room to make contact with the outside world, only to discover that the Ocean Turtle is under attack by mercenaries. Kikuoka instructs Kitiro to take Alice to World's End Alter in the Dark Territory, but before he is able to act, the mercenaries cut the main power in the Ocean Turtle, causing a power surge that strikes Kirito's fluctlight...

It has been a few years in the Underworld since Administrator's death. As a result of the power surge caused by the attack on the Ocean Turtle, Kirito's fluctlight was damaged, rendering him catatonic. Alice and her younger sister, Selka, had been taking care of Kirito since then. The peace and quiet that followed the battle with Administrator comes to an end, however, when goblins from the Dark Territory appear in her hometown and start killing people.\\

The following morning, after an instructor restores Eugeo's eye, both he and Kirito are taken into custody by an Integrity Knight: none other than Alice, herself! Strangely, however, she has no memories of Eugeo and treats him and Kirito harshly as she transports them to a prison beneath the Central Cathedral. The two make their escape and are aided by a mysterious ally named "Cardinal" -- a virtual avatar for the error-checking systems of the Cardinal System that ran the Underworld. Cardinal explains that the source of the Integrity Knights is the self-proclaimed goddess of the Underworld, "Administrator". Once a mortal woman named Quinella, she was raised to a position of power through her training in the sacred arts -- reality-warping commands within the Underworld -- and used forbidden arts to stop her own aging, regain her youth, and take over as pontifax of the Axiom Church, essentially becoming ruler of the Human Empire. To ensure no one could potentially usurp her, she abolished the Human Empire's military, save for the Integrity Knights. Unfortunately, this would leave the Human Empire at a grave disadvantage when the Final Load Test began and the gate seperating the Human Empire from the Dark Territory fell. If the Human Empire fell during the ensuing battle, the people in the real world running the Underworld would reset it. In addition, Administrator tried to take over Cardinal's Fluctlight, but in so doing made her equal in power to herself, and has been trying to destroy her since.\\

It has been a few months in the Underworld since Administrator's death. As a result of the power surge caused by the attack on the Ocean Turtle, Kirito's fluctlight was damaged, rendering him catatonic. Alice and her younger sister, Selka, had been taking care of Kirito since then. The peace and quiet that followed the battle with Administrator comes to an end, however, when goblins from the Dark Territory appear in her hometown and start killing people.\\

* FamedInStory: [[spoiler:At the end of the story, far into the Underworld's future, Kirito, Asuna, and Alice are deified as the Star King, the Star Queen, and the Integrity Knight, respectively.]]

As Asuna helps Alice reach the World's End Altar, Kirito confronts Miller. While Miller proves to be his toughest opponent yet, Kirito unlocks the full power of his Night-Sky Blade, fueled by the thoughts and hopes of his friends from all across the Underworld, and strikes Miller down, destroying his avatar and killing him. Alice is logged out of the Underworld and sent to the sub-control room just before time begins to accellerate, but Kirito is unable to escape before then. As he despairs over leaving his friends behind, however, Asuna appears before him, having chosen to stay behind with him.\\

Kirito begins to fight back against [=PoH=], and after a long and brutal dual, Kirito emerges victorious. [=PoH=] promises to keep coming back until he kills Kirito and Asuna, but he would never get the chance: Kirito uses the power of his Night-Sky Sword to transform [=PoH=]'s body into a Gigas Cedar, trapping his mind inside of the Underworld. With time in the Underworld moving at a faster rate than in the real world, Vassago Casals would be completely cut off from both the virtual and real worlds, driving him insane until his eventual death.\\