I must admit that this is one of the greatest stories that I have ever read, and it is the greatest story about my most favorite .hack// character.

I do have to wonder, though. What would happen to Hotuko-san? If she had a whiff of what was happening, she wouldn't just ignore, right? And she MUST have come to Watarai-san's funeral, so is she going to be a part of the plotline? Or was she just booted out of the story? And also, I have one request, though a silly one it may be, and it is a wish from the bottom of my fangirly heart.

Please don't kill off Rumor, Shugo, or Albireo. TAT

I sincerely hope that you will update soon, and I will be praying to God(though that might not be necessary) that Albireo finds a way to live a happy life in The World, or he somehow comes back to life. :]

~Rei

This is primarily a response to the comment in your profile about the Another Birth books. The flaws you cite in the first book were due entirely to a bad translation/adaptation job, and Tokyopop got a lot of negative feedback (though actually, it wasn't as bad as what they did to the AI Buster books - it's just that more people know what happens in the games than in the Japanese books). They recruited a couple of fan consultants to help with the rest of the series, and decided to treat .hack books much more seriously. The second volume, which was already mostly translated by that time, ended up as a decent adaptation, while the third and fourth are good translations. Most of the problems in the first volume should be fixed in the newest reprinting.

I've enjoyed this story, as it's well done and involves more than one of my favorite underrepresented characters. I hope you decide to pick it back up sometime.

I find the last part funny. TO bad you didn't have krim go into the fight. I think it would have been interesting to see the former leader of the cobalt knights fight the former leader and creator of the crimson knights.

It is a very weird fanfic but your descriptions are detaileds and the plot interesting. It`s funny, here Morganna remember me to Ultimecia/Edea of Final Fantasy VI, I understand, that is the reason for the name of a chapter "the knight of Morganna" :)You are very wit.

Wow, a story linking AI Buster, the games, the manga...this is special :)
First of all, finding such an interesting story idea so well written is a treat. I'm truly enjoying this dive into Albireo's mind, and I quite enjoy the ambiguous Rumor character as well ^_^
Adding Kamui was a nice touch, what with her history with Watarai and all. I especially loved the exchange between Helba and Kamui...Sooner or later, something's going to explode, isn't it? I'm really looking forward to the exchange between Albireo and Kamui, should they meet up...
Will we see more of the dotHacker group? And the fact that you left Shugo's group behind leads me to believe all may not be well in the Japan servers, either.
I'm also wondering how Roots/G.U. will be incorporated into this, if it will be. I noticed the guilds...I'm curious as to what else may be added.
Is Balmung acting as an admin still, or has he definitely been fired for good? Generally I find the idea is that he was reinstated, but I don't think confirmation to one or the other has ever been given.
Finally, I enjoy looking at Aura from Morganna's point of view. Aura is hope...but at what cost to the old world? I don't think of her as a destroyer...that she manages to give that hope to all but the ones she had to destroy to realize her own birth. But to Morganna...yes, it's a very different point of view, and an interesting one to explore.
A wonderful, intriguing, captivating story. I love finding a gem of a story, and definitely found one here.
I don't know how frequently you update, and having just started university, I definitely can appreciate the demands life puts on one's time...but I'm quite looking forward to the next installment. Well done ^_^
...And many of the best stories I've ever read have been on the dark side at one point or another...I'm a happy-ending kind of person myself, but traveling through a period of darkness is often what makes that happy ending worth reading.

*-* w< Did I tell you how much I luff this story?~ By the way, one theme you used reminded me of the same thing in a different setting... an AI's ability to change and adapt... I'm trying to incorporate that into my story. Although school (calculus and commute specifically), Gold Award, drawings, reading, and two penpals are seriously eating away at my time. ;_; If I borrowed //GU, it would eat me alive. So I'm going without, even though I'm dying to play more. >_<

It's somehow reassuring to see good ol' ClaraRose again. ^^ Along with the more canon faces (names..?) of Rumor and Bito-chan (teehee xD). And Lycoris is a sweety. ^^ ...Urgh, that looks like "sweaty" xD Eww. I like the impromptu BBS name. ^^ How fun! Gr34t is also fun. ^^ A good balance of characters! Huzzah! ^o^

I also like Albireo's strategy... I've never dealt with a large-scale party before... how did you acquire that good (although somewhat basic) strategy?

Poor Chobi. XD Although I immediately thought of "Chobits".

Looks like I've finally got my own account XD But aside from that, sorry I've taken so long to get a review done for the chapter.

I think it was a good idea to take a little breakout from Watarai's POV to move to Rumor's and see what's happening in the meanwhile. Rumor's interested me during the .hack fandom, but there just isn't enough of him around I think ^^ You've got a very good grip on the characters thus far, and with excelent inner-monologs breaking up the main story.

The story so far is also looking interesting, and I can't wait to find out what happens with the two parties. Keep up the good work :3 I hope to see a chapter update soon!

I can see Lycoris being match maker between the waver master and the knight trying to get them back together again. If there's anything of her left. Thou .hack//twilight seems to imply that the majority of Lycoris' data was recycled to give birth to Zeifie. "Are you going to delete me again?" She asked moving the spear in much the same positon that Lycoris did.

good story really suspenseful

I love this, as always! =) Please don't kill this chapter...

Rumor is always an interesting guy. I get conflicting information of whether he's an AI or not. Like when he said "Something like that" to the question if he was here when the World began - my friend said the Japanese was a modest assent. But the end bit says Rumor is an AI... Well, he's the most lucid AI, along with Tartarga, huh? Both of them interest me.

Poor Kamui. This might really hurt her. And I think it's nearly impossible to seperate Watarai and Albireo. Have you read the 6th Harry Potter book? You'd have to tear his soul to shreds, I think... why have a fragment of a soul?

Wow! Finally a fanfic about Alberio, and about time too! I loved him and his character in the .hack novels, and while reading this fiction I began to get confused about what was part of the official storyline and what was here ^^; In a good way of course. Though I havn't seen //Sign, I like how you write Morganna's character, she certainly seems interesting, yet phychotic, just the kind of character I usually like writing about.

I think that the BBS comments at the end really add to the storyline, as it is good to hear the other characters and their opinions on the situation, and writing some of them in slang etc. really adds to the varity of them. The whole players being killed in real life, and how Alberio responds to it all, that, and the fact that he's died in real life adds a far darker edge to the plotline, adds quite a bit of interest to the story. Not to mention that, being somewhat of a fangirl, I tend to like dark storylines. I feel it's really possible to sympathize with Alberio in the fiction, and that allows for a far more emotional responce to his situation thus far.

I hope you'll update soon as I really like where his story is going so far, and can't wait to see what happens next. :3 Sorry if what I've written sounds a bit rambly and/or non-sencical ^^; I hope to see another great chapter! And don't worry about interludes, they break up the story a little, keeping intrest to what's happening. Keep going!

I'd start crying a lot sooner... and tell Obachan what I think of her - someone to be pitied. I'd try to talk her out of it. If there is no place made for her, then carve out your own niche! Isn't that what life's about?

Nice to see some familiar faces on the BBS ;D Though Rumor's "Mom" imitation reminds me a bit of Tsukasa...

wow...that was pretty violent, dont u think?...how were the actual players 'wounded' in real life?...well, this'll b interesting

ok, i really dont kno where ur going with this, but i guess i'll go along. (nothing else for me to do, its summer)

hmm..Rumer has friends? the only PC i've heard of him interacting with (not on bbs) is rena...or rather..brigit

anywho, pls update (it says u havent in pretty much a month)

Wow... This is a cool story, but it's really taken quite a dark turn, hasn't it? Even so, it's fascinating to read about Albeiro's dealing with his new situation. I'm a little uneasy about the Corp "murders", though - so you're suggesting that what happened in-game caused real, physical wounds to appear on the players' bodies? That's a premise that requires quite a lot of suspension of disbelief - even The Matrix didn't go that far.

That issue aside, I look forward to seeing how Morgana intends to wage her war, and how her army and her enemies feel about it as they come to realize just how real the danger is! Keep writing!

Poor Watarai. Poor Albireo.

I may be Steeple digitally, but she is the same as... well, that's a secret. ;) My RL name. To know someone's name is to hold power over that person, right? Something like that. I have always been "Steeple3", the handle has been donned on my head like my given name. Kinda like... A nickname. It becomes you, y'know? There is no seperation between Steeple and I. I am Steeple3, always have been. ^_^ It's a heavy thing.

Watarai has truly suffered. To take anouther life is to take on a burden; as Yuuko in xholic said, "...and it's very heavy! A near crushing weight." I couldn't do it. I would protest too much. But you know my views on dealing with Obachan here. ^_^ My heart would cry out for many things. Am I a bleeding heart? Maybe. But bleeding hearts saved at least one life.

Oh, I didn't review sooner because I was away all weekend. ^^; Sorry! ...c/p...