Sword Art Online - Volume 26 - Chapter Aft

AFTERWORD

Thank you for reading Sword Art Online 26: Unital Ring V.

The Unital Ring arc started at the end of 2018, and now we’re at the fifth volume, and it’s about time for the story of these two worlds to really begin heating up toward a climax…but I keep finding more things I need to write and things I want to write, and I put myself in the difficult position of having to choose what to include or not. Not that that’s any different from usual!

(Spoilers for this volume to follow.)

Even still, I managed to reach a major milestone I had my eyes on from the start of the UR arc: the revival of Ronie, Tiese, and Selka, which I felt very emotional about. Every time I mentioned that it had been two hundred years since the Underworld and Moon Cradle arcs, I myself had to wonder, “Will we really see those three again…?” Thankfully, we managed to get to Admina and retrieve the formula for the Deep Freeze art within this volume. I was just as relieved as Kirito was about that.

Of course, this isn’t happily ever after. I ended off with “to be continued” right as you wonder what will happen to Tiese when she sees Commander Eolyne right after waking up! I think we’ll be finding out more about the commander’s mysteries next time, so look forward to it!

Meanwhile, the conquest of Unital Ring continues, including a look at the shape of the overall world this time. I hope you enjoyed seeing Silica and Sinon hold their own against a supertough field boss in Kirito and Asuna’s absence, and got a feel for how much they’ve grown.

Now, in October 2021, when this book comes out in Japan, the movie Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night is about to hit theaters!

This one is an exciting gamble, a retelling of the story of Aincrad, where it all began, from Asuna’s perspective. As the author, and a fan of Kirito and Asuna, I’m really looking forward to seeing this on the big screen. I would be really delighted if you all show up at the theater!

We had a lot of trouble after the initial submission of the text this time, and I’m very, very sorry to our illustrator, abec, and editors, Miki and Adachi, for that. I’ll do my best to make things smoother next time! Thank you all for reading!

Reki Kawahara—September 2021