New Releases by Reki Kawahara

Kirito awakens in a vast, fantastical forest filled with towering trees. In his search for clues to the truth of his surroundings, he encounters a young boy who seems to know him. He ought to be a simple NPC, but the depth of his emotions seem no different than a human. As they search for the boy''s parents, Kirito finds a peculiar memory returning to him. A memory from his own childhood, of this boy and a girl, too, with golden hair, and a name he should have never forgotten--Alice.

It''s been just two months since they were trapped in the game of death that is Sword Art Online, and Kirito and Asuna continue their struggle at the vanguard of progress through the game. The fifth floor of Aincrad is a mazelike ruin, and the two dare to take pleasure in raiding it for the treasure it contains. Upon returning to the fourth floor, it''s time to do some questing on behalf of the Elf Lord Yofilis--but here begins Asuna''s discontent, for in doing so they will have to face her least favorite monster ever...

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 Rosary arc begins!

READ THE NOVEL THAT IGNITED THE PHENOMENON! In an effort to discover the truth behind Death Gun, Kirito has entered the Bullet of Bullets tournament in Gun Gale Online. Both he and Sinon the sniper girl have made it to the finals, and the reality of what they discover is stranger than anything they could''ve prepared for. As Sinon is forced to face her own past, lives are on the line once again, and Kirito struggles to connect Death Gun to events in the original SAO game--but can Death Gun''s bizarre rampage be stopped in time?

Linked up and logged into the deadly VMMORPG "Sword Art Online" in both the real and virtual worlds, Kirito is stuck in a hell of one man''s making, and like everyone else, unable to escape until the game is beaten. But while some players are crippled by fear and others throw themselves into completing the game, still others relax into everyday life in the face of their cruel predicament and live to the best of their ability...laughing, crying, but always enjoying the game. Among them are four women who make a mark upon the solo adventurer that Kirito has become: Silica, the beast-tamer; Lisbeth, the blacksmith; Yui, the mysterious orphan; and the tragic Sachi, never to be forgotten by the black swordsman...

Read the novel that ignited the phenomenon!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...

Read the novel that ignited the phenomenon! Kirito plunges into a suspicious new VRMMORPG called ALfheim Online to rescue Asuna, who never returned from Sword Art Online. ALO offers many features to entertain players in the wake ofSAO: ultra-high-end graphics, action-heavy gameplay, a choice of fairy races, and a next-generation flight engine. Playing as a spriggan, Kirito heads for the location of Asuna''s prison--the top of the World Tree, the final destination of every player in the game! Along the way, Kirito nearly falls to a plot hatched by the enemy salamanders, just barely surviving the ordeal with the help of a sylph named Leafa and his Navigation Pixie, Yui. But just as Kirito and Leafa make it to the foot of the World Tree, the end of their quest in sight, each realizes the other has a very big secret...

Kirito has escaped Sword Art Online, the forbidden VRMMORPG of death, and returned to reality. He heads off to find his game partner and lover, Asuna Yuuki. But Asuna never made it back from the nightmare. Lost and desperate, Kirito''s only clue to her virtual whereabouts is a mysterious screenshot of Asuna as a fairy trapped in a giant birdcage. His conclusion: She must be trapped within the new, high-powered VRMMORPG, ALfheim Online. Now Kirito must plunge into the world of ALO, where players are fairies who fly gracefully through the air!

It''s time for the "real" SAO--the third floor! Kirito and Asuna are hardly out the door when they stumble upon the start of the Elf War quest. When they decide to side with the elite dark elf Kizmel, they''re set on a path that will push them harder than ever before. But together, nothing can stop them...right?

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?

Kirito has entered the new VRMMO Gun Gale Online in order to investigate the Death Gun incidents, only to discover his avatar is not exactly how he remembers it! He barely knows up from down in this new world, and he needs an ally. He may have found one in the mysterious female sniper Sinon, but she''s got an agenda of her own...

While Nezha attempts to atone for his misdeeds, the battle against Sword Art Online''s second-floor boss begins! Kirito''s uneasy alliance with the other front-runners seems to be holding, but what will happen when the floor boss corners them? Can Nezha rise to the occasion and seize a hero''s prize?

The girls of SAO are back! Liz, Silica, and Leafa, with their new friend Lux--having ruined their clothes in their previous adventure--go to see Ashley, a survivor of Sword Art Online and a legendary master tailor. The price for Ashley''s skills is a high one, and in order to pay the tailor, the girls end up in a swimsuit contest! But naturally, this isn''t just any swimsuit contest. Will Lux, Liz, Silica, and Leafa get away with their wardrobes and dignity intact?!

"Here we go, Asuna! Hang on tight! Tilnel, launch!"Having said their good-byes to the mysterious elven knight Kizmel, Kirito and Asuna set their sights on the fourth floor of Aincrad. But once they open the door, they find the way forward blocked by a powerfully flowing river. The updated version of the fourth floor has been changed into a water world! When they finally arrive at the floor''s town, they''re greeted by chalk-white streets and countless gondolas of all sizes. To navigate this place, Kirito and Asuna will need their own gondola--but getting one will involve confronting an eight-meter-tall beast of flame: Magnaterium...And that''s only the beginning of the difficulties the fourth floor of Aincrad has in store! Sword Art Online: Progressive, a new version of the Sword Art Online tale chronicling the entirety of Kirito and Asuna''s epic adventure through Aincrad, continues!

In the year 2026, a young man by the name of Kazuto Kirigaya beat Sword Art Online, a VRMMORPG that had become a death trap for its players. He would go on to participate in experimental tests of an entirely new full-dive machine. Meanwhile in 2047, a boy named Haruyuki accelerates himself in order to finish his homework just before class. But in the Accelerated World, he detects a strange tremor. Checking the matching list, he notices a most un-Burst-Linker-like name: "Kirito." It''s Kirito vs. Silver Crow as two of author Reki Kawahara''s protagonists clash across time and space--and that''s just the beginning!

In Alfheim Online hat Kirito in Leafa eine treue Begleiterin gefunden, die sie auf seiner Suche nach Asuna unterstützt. Gemeinsam wollen sich die beiden auf den Weg zum Weltenbaum machen, wo Asuna sich aufzuhalten scheint. Doch Unruhen zwischen den Völkern der digitalen Welt bringen sie zunächst von diesem Weg ab ...

Nach seiner Rückkehr aus der Online-Welt Aincrad muss Kazuto Kirigaya erfahren, dass seine Freundin Asuna das Spiel Sword Art Online nie verlassen konnte. Doch es gibt Hinweise darauf, dass sie nun in einem anderen Game namens Alfheim Online aufhält und dort gefangen gehalten wird. Kurz entschlossen loggt Kazuto sich in das neue Game ein ...

Asuna wird von Sugou an der Spitze des Weltenbaums in ALO gefangen gehalten. Kirito will sie befreien und macht sich unterstützt von Leafa auf den Weg zu diesem Ort, der als unerreichbar gilt ...

Kirito hat sich mittlerweile gut in die Welt von SAO eingelebt und beginnt die Zeit in der virtuellen Welt nicht zuletzt dank der zauberhaften Asuna sogar zu genießen. Doch nach wie vor lauern an allen Ecken Gefahren, nicht nur durch gefährliche Dungeons und Bossmonster, sondern auch durch die Missgunst anderer Spieler ...

Kazuto Kirigaya ist ein begeisterter Online-Spieler. So ist er natürlich unter seinem Pseudonym Kirito auch mit an Bord als das erste VRMMORPG online geht, in dem die Spieler dank eines speziellen Interfaces komplett mit dem Spiel verschmelzen. Doch nach dem Start müssen die 10.000 teilnehmenden Spieler feststellen, dass es nur einen Weg aus dem Spiel heraus gibt: Erst wenn alle 100 Ebenen der Welt Aincrad bezwungen sind, können sie sich wieder aus dem Spiel ausloggen. Doch auf dem Weg dahin, bedeutet ein "Game Over" immer auch den ganz realen Tod der Spieler ...

The virtual world of ALfheim Online might not be literally deadly, but there''s still plenty of tough adventuring to be had. The trio of Liz, Silica, and Leafa set out on a quest for a magical ring but immediately run into monsters tougher than they expected. A certain black-clothed swordsman comes to their rescue--but it''s not Kirito?! It seems the "game of death" has had lingering emotional effects on everyone, and even the survivors bear scars. But the trio have gotten through tough times before, and they''re not gonna let a buffed boss stand between them and their goal! Even if they succeed in finishing the quest, though, will they be able to heal the mysterious sword-wielder''s broken heart...? Join Liz, Silica, and Leafa on a new adventure that''s all their own!

The party is shaken when their leader, Diavel, is struck down by the boss of the very first floor. Asuna and her teammates are confronted for the first time with the cruel reality of their situation: Sword Art Online is no mere game--death here is final. Their commander lost, the remaining fighters begin to lose heart and plan their retreat. But the fight must go on if they are to escape this game world, and in his dying moments, Diavel managed to convey his appointment for the next commander--Kirito!

"There''s no way to beat this game. The only difference is when and where you die..." One month has passed since Akihiko Kayaba''s deadly game began, and the body count continues to rise. Two thousand players are already dead. Kirito and Asuna are two very different people, but they both desire to fight alone. Nonetheless, they find themselves drawn together to face challenges from both within and without. Given that the entire virtual world they now live in has been created as a deathtrap, the surviving players of Sword Art Online are starting to get desperate, and desperation makes them dangerous to loners like Kirito and Asuna. As it becomes clear that solitude equals suicide, will the two be able to overcome their differences to find the strength to believe in each other, and in so doing survive? Sword Art Online: Progressive is a new version of the Sword Art Online tale that starts at the beginning of Kirito and Asuna''s epic adventure--on the very first level of the deadly world of Aincrad!

To negate the threat of Cyan Pile, the mysterious enemy attacking Kuroyukihime, Haruyuki--now the Burst Linker Silver Crow--stands up to fight as her knight. But Kuroyukihime''s suspicions about the true identity of her foe are placed squarely on a certain person Haruyuki knows well! Suddenly, Haruyuki is at odds with his princess, and this strain in their relationship sends everything careening off in the absolute worst direction! The inevitable clash between Silver Crow and Cyan Pile begins!!

Kirito jumps into a new VRMMORPG called ALfheim Online (ALO) in search of Asuna, who still hasn''t regained consciousness. On his quest to find the World Tree and reach Asuna, he meets a sylph girl named Leafa. A veteran player experienced with the sword, Leafa recognizes that Kirito is motivated by serious circumstances and decides to help him. But...Leafa''s identity in the real world is Suguha Kirigaya--Kirito''s sister. And it''s the glimmer of her beloved brother she sees in Kirito that prompts her to lend him a hand. Now, despite the conflicting interests guiding them on, the pair set off on a journey to the World Tree!!

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?!

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?!

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...