Sword Art Online: Season 3

A new virtual reality game known as "Gun Gale Online" (GGO) is promoted via streamed broadcast, featuring top-ranked player named XeXeeD. In a bar, a cloaked man nicknamed "Death Gun" fires a bullet from his pistol through the video screen, causing XeXeeD to suddenly convulse and disconnect. A month later, Kazuto Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki are at a park on a date, discussing the differences between the real and virtual worlds. Four hours earlier, Kazuto met with Seijirō Kikuoka, a member of the Vi

GGO player Sinon snipes a boss in an underground dungeon in SBC Glocken, managing to defeat it with her FR F2 sniper rifle and receiving a PGM Hécate II as her reward. She later assists squadron leader Dyne and squadron member Ginrou in an ambush against another squadron, whose bodyguard named Behemoth is equipped with a minigun. Ginrou dies after being shot multiple times by Behemoth, and Dyne commits suicide by using a plasma grenade to take out Behemoth's squadron. When Sinon and Behemoth are

Shino Asada, real-life persona of Sinon, is ridiculed by schoolmate Endou, who then is warned away by Shino's friend Kyōji Shinkawa. After hanging out with Kyōji at a restaurant, Shino returns to her house, where she tries to hold a gun replica, inducing a past memory. When she was eleven years old, she shot a robber to death with his own gun at a post office when her mother was threatened to be killed. This flashback triggers a terrifying panic attack for Shino. Meanwhile, Kirito informs Asuna

In GGO, Kirito becomes baffled that his avatar has feminine qualities. He wanders around the city and spots Sinon, who mistakes him as a girl. He explains that he needs to go to the General Governor's Office to sign up for the Bullet of Bullets (BoB), a player versus player tournament. Sinon directs Kirito to a market to buy weaponry and armor, but first he must earn more credits. He participates in a gambling arcade game, in which a player must run up and tag the gunman while dodging the bullet

Kirito and Sinon arrive in time at the terminals of the General Governor's Office to register for the BoB. Kirito leaves his contact information blank, and ends up in the same block as Sinon in the qualifiers. While waiting for them to begin, Kirito reveals his gender after an embarrassing incident with Sinon in the changing room, and this creates a rift between them. Sinon explains the rules of the tournament and expects to see Kirito in the final rounds. The two briefly encounter Spiegel, game

Death Gun vows to kill Kirito someday, whether or not he is the "real deal". Kirito recalls a time when he and his party fought against Laughing Coffin in SAO, feeling anguished that he personally killed three members of Laughing Coffin during the fight. Sinon later finds Kirito stricken with trauma, but he is transferred to his next battle before confiding in her. Kirito wins against his opponent Ginko, while Sinon wins against her opponent Stinger, so Kirito and Sinon are up against each other

At home, Kazuto's sister Suguha Kirigaya shows Kazuto a news article about the BoB, in which Suguha has already found out from Asuna that Kazuto converted from ALO to GGO. Kirito assures Suguha to not worry about him, since he will return to ALO as soon as he finishes his work in GGO. Meanwhile, Kyōji notices that Shino is acting differently and tries to calm her down when she vents her anger about Kirito. When Kyōji tries to hug her, she pushes him back and rejects him. Back at the hospital, Ka

Kirito believes that Death Gun will be under the guise of an alias and use the tournament to stage another murder. Sinon later explains to Kirito the rules and regulations of the battle royale round of the BoB, and she says that there are three players other than him out of thirty players who have not participated in the previous tournaments. Kirito indirectly confides in Sinon about his reason for entering the tournament. During the battle royale, Sinon decides to target Dyne as well as Pale Ri

Sinon attempts to shoot Death Gun, but he dodges the bullet and kills Pale Rider with his pistol. Asuna, Leafa, Klein, Silica, Lisbeth and Yui also realize that Death Gun is a part of Laughing Coffin. Sinon and Kirito deduces that Death Gun traveled underwater in the river, and is now heading north. Asuna logs out of ALO to find Kikuoka for answers. Kirito and Sinon reach the end of the river and try to find the two other first-time tournament players, Musketeer X and Sterben. They locate Musket

Kirito intercepts Death Gun, injuring him with a sniper rifle and chasing him off with a smoke grenade. Kirito carries Sinon to a buggy rental station and commandeers a buggy, while telling her to shoot the only functional mechanical horse to make it unusable. However, Sinon is unable to exert force on the trigger due to psychological trauma, which allows Death Gun to catch up and take control of the mechanical horse. During the subsequent chase, Death Gun fires at Kirito and Sinon with his pist

Kirito tells Sinon that he is trying to accept the weight of his traumatic memories as a means of closure. Kirito and Sinon try to figure out how Death Gun is able to shoot a player in the virtual world and kill the same player in the real world. They have the idea that Death Gun may have used his camouflage mantle to peek at the players' contact information in the terminals, which is a violation of etiquette and privacy. However, Kirito realizes that Death Gun is two people, in which one of the

With twenty-four players dead and five players alive, Kirito speculates that there may be more accomplices of Death Gun who are committing murder in the real world. Kirito and Sinon believe that Yamikaze may be another target for Death Gun. With that in mind, Kirito goes out in the desert as bait and waits for either Yamikaze or Death Gun to attack him. Kirito senses Yamikaze closing in on him, but Death Gun fires a bullet, which Kirito dodges by a hair. Yamikaze tries to hide, but Sinon kills Y

Recalling a debriefing before the raid against Laughing Coffin in SAO, Kirito finally recognizes Death Gun as Red-Eyed XaXa, formerly second-in-command of Laughing Coffin. Sinon creates a bullet path as a distraction, and Kirito pulls out his pistol to fire at XaXa, making the latter vulnerable from using his camouflage mantle. This allows Kirito to use all of his willpower to slice XaXa in half, but XaXa reassures him that their battle is not over yet before he dies. Kirito and Sinon reveal the

After being entrusted with the fate of the world by the Cardinal, Kirito and Eugeo head to the top floor of the Central Cathedral. On the way, they find their confiscated swords among a vast pile of weapons in an arsenal, only to be greeted with a hail of arrows by the Integrity Knight, Deusolbert Synthesis Seven.

One month after the GGO incident, Suguha "Leafa" Kirigaya shows her brother Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya a news article about a legendary item, the Holy Sword Excaliber, which has been discovered in a floating dungeon located in Jötunheimr in ALO. The two rally Asuna Yuuki, Shino "Sinon" Asada, Ryōtarō "Klein" Tsuboi, Keiko "Silica" Ayano and Rika "Lisbeth" Shinozaki together to prepare for the mission to retrieve Excaliber. They enter Jötunheimr through a secret passageway and use Tonky, a friendly

At the entrance to Thrymheim, the group is determined to succeed in the quest in order to prevent Thrym from invading Alfheim and causing the cataclysmic event Ragnarok to happen. At the end of the second floor, they use elemental magic to power their weapons in order to take down two minotaurs with a great amount of teamwork. After they defeat a giant insect on the third floor, they encounter a woman locked in an ice cage, and despite fearing it may be a trap, Klein destroys the ice cage to fre

The group engages in battle against Thrym, overwhelming him with their attacks, but he soon retaliates. Among the pile of gold, Kirito finds a golden hammer and tosses it to Freyja, who suddenly transforms into Thor, the Norse god of thunder. With the group's help, Thor defeats Thrym once and for all, rewarding Klein with the golden hammer Mjölnir. A staircase opens up and leads to the last floor, where Kirito pulls the sword out of the ice with much effort, causing the floor to break off and dr

While Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki reminisces about their time in Aincrad, Andrew Gill "Agil" Mills informs them about the third update in ALO, which has unlocked the 21st through the 30th Floors on New Aincrad. With the help of their friends, Kirito and Asuna manage to defeat the boss of the 21st Floor, allowing them to enter the 22nd Floor, where they are able to purchase their old honeymoon log cabin again. At night, Asuna is told about an unbeatable player named Zekken (or Absolu

Asuna logs out of ALO and has dinner with her mother Kyouko Yuuki, who shows high concern for Asuna's education, wanting her to go to college to have a successful career and future husband. Asuna storms out when Kyouko states that Kazuto is an unsuitable husband. In her room, Asuna laments that despite being powerful in the virtual world, she feels powerless in the real world. The next day, Asuna goes to the 24th Floor to meet with Kirito, who shares his first impressions of Zekken. At the islan

On the 27th Floor, Asuna is introduced to Yuuki's guild, the Sleeping Knights (Yuuki, Siune, Jun, Tecchi, Talken and Nori). They need Asuna's help in defeating the boss of the 27th Floor with their party alone, to have all of their names permanently etched on the Monument of Swordsmen on the 1st Floor, since they will not be able to adventure together after winter. However, Kyouko forcefully logs Asuna out of ALO to her dismay. The next day, Asuna and the Sleeping Knights clear the dungeon of th

While Kirito takes on the raid party reinforcements, Klein arrives and helps Kirito hold them off. Asuna and the Sleeping Knights then fight their way through the raid party blocking the boss room. Inside the boss room, Asuna and the Sleeping Knights battle the Four-Armed Giant again, in which Asuna figures out that the jewel on the Four-Armed Giant's chest is its weakness. Yuuki uses Tecchi's back as a stepping stone to jump and uses her sword skill to destroy the jewel, thereby destroying the

Three days later, Siune tells Asuna to forget about ever meeting the Sleeping Knights for her own sake. After school, Asuna meets up with Kazuto, who gives her the address to a hospital where a virtual reality gaming console called the "Medicuboid" is undergoing clinical trials. At the hospital, Asuna meets Yuuki's primary care physician Doctor Kurahashi, who explains that the Medicuboid is designed for patients in terminal care, and that Yuuki suffers from AIDS due to an infection via blood tra

Asuna takes the audiovisual bidirectional communication probe to give Yuuki the experience of attending school for a day. Yuuki requests Asuna to take her to her old house to see it one last time, since the house will be demolished soon. Yuuki says that her mother does not understand what her feelings are, which Asuna can relate with her own mother as well. Although Yuuki denies that she is as strong as Asuna, Yuuki says that she is honest with her feelings. Following Yuuki's advice, Asuna goes

Months later, Asuna receives an urgent message from Kurahashi that Yuuki's condition had deteriorated. Asuna rushes to the hospital and requests Kurahashi to hook Yuuki up to the Medicuboid one last time. Asuna meets Yuuki at the island, where Yuuki creates a scroll containing her original sword skill and gives it to Asuna. All of Yuuki's and Asuna's friends and allies arrive to see Yuuki in her final moments, fulfilling Yuuki's wish for all of her loved ones to come see her before she dies. Aft