So let's see for this chapter...
I saw the Portal reference there, and it's indeed good to see that the cake wasn't a lie this time x)
Did I already say that Klein is really one of the best bro in all Aincrad, if not the whole of SAO? Really, the guy is underused in the series, I like to see more of him.
Seems like Asuna is kinda supportive of a Kirito/Kizmel? That's good, I could see so many author going on harem stories from there or jealousy spanning tens of chapters...
The line where you explain how Kirito learnt to dance was hilarious x)
We're really getting in the romance of the story there, with some deep thinking from Kirito, with Kizmel who turned off the ethics code protection (I really hope that THIS in particular won't cause some problems with some as*hole PKer later...)
Sachi's singing surprised me but it gives her a bit more character so it's good!

Bitter chapter, because we all knew how it would turn out and it was a vain hope for Sachi. Though hope's still that, hope. And I think it might help her finally grieve too.
We got a few glimpses to Yuna and Nautilus in this chapter too.
And I don't think they're really relevant, but there was a tanned girl and a guy with a tamed wolf. Found it interesting because Agil is basically the only "tanned" one beside NPCs that I know of in Aincrad, and Silica is often the first (and more often than not the only one) with a tamed monster.

I'm curious of the blond girl and old man mentionned in the boss fight. I have no idea who the guy can be, but I remember watching some Let's Play of SAO games because I was curious, so it might be the treasure-hunter girl that appear in them (don't remember her name though).

First, the artwork with winged elves and humans is nice glimpse to ALO and even to the fact that there is indeed a Zelda game (at least one I know) that has wings as an item! Minish Cap is the first Zelda I played and made quite the impression on me.
Second... they entered the Reliquary and let "the door still open". I read this I thought "Oh sh*t, with the sword having a bonus against orange players, there's gotta be PKers coming. Morte? Maybe Joe?" Wasn't ready for the XaXa AND PoH to appear!
With the events of this chapter, the clearers should realize as of now the danger that the PKers represent. Hell, event if he's not the most social, Kirito should call an emergency meeting with all the clearers right away! Just the fact that PoH is so adept at PK that he aim for the gaps of skills is vital info there.
And Joe is Johnny Black in the end? Well, another information for Argo's future revenge!

So Lisbeth appear a bit earlier than usual here... does that make her the third female on the frontline with Asuna and Kizmel ? There probably might be some others, but at least they weren't mentioned in the story so far.

I thought the Trial of Bravery would be some thing around their worst fears and/or memories, but I didn't think it would be this heavily symbolic (a coat with'B's really? lmao xD)
I wonder what will come of the other two trials... though if I had to guess one thing in the final results would proabably be that Kizmel will gain the Player's powers (menu and all this) and Kirito will probably gain something of the Elves/NPCs, though I have no guess what it will be exactly... I suppose I'll see if I'm right soon

Bitter and heart wrenching chapter there... So this time two Cats survived and Sachi is a Beat-Tester... Wonder what will happen of Keita after all that... And Joe guy is in for a hell after what he pulled on Argo, knowingly or not

I have to say, it must be pretty hard to consider the world views of both Kirito (and the Players in general) and Kizmel's. Their understanding of things is pretty different, hell they are litteraly from different worlds! But you manage it really well. The way Kizmel understand how they were trapped in Aincrad with false promises etc. is a magistral.

A very promising start! I'm gonna like this story, I'm sure :D

Yes! Philia got one last fluff! Thank you sir! You do this Philia lover proud!

Once again I would not mind if Philia joined in from time to time but yeah the main pair is just too cute.

I'm looking forward to the next arch with the final run of the game. All new territory and I can't wait to see what legends and stories you draw from.

Not too much to say for this one other than if was a well paced breather chapter with what seemed to be the proper length to it.

"Oh sure" is a bit too casual for narration when that's not the tone you have for the overall narration of the story.

Klein re-welcoming Griselda after their return was great. She's seeing the place she's been to before with new eyes, like it's the first time she's REALLY been there, and we then see that Klein is right on the same page with her. It's both cute and very narratively well executed.

Did GA only have 8 members? For some reason I thought it was 9, I could totally be wrong though, it's been a while.

It's been great getting back into this story after so long, and as always I'm looking forward to more. Not sure if it's a coincidence of not, but I think reading this again has kinda lit a fire under me and I've actually been getting some decent writing done myself, so thanks for that too. :D

The first time it's named, you call it Black Repulser instead of Dark Repulser.

The whole environment and fight was great, it flowed well and had me on the edge of my seat. That being said there was a bit of an internal world inconsistency, that could maybe be explained away, but certainly didn't make sense to me at the time. That is Philia and Tia. With her friends lives on the line, why didn't Philia attack Tia to keep her from interfering so that she could be the only one influencing the fight? You could solve this in a few ways without much work, but the other is a bit more complex. At some parts of the fight, Tia and Philia's influence over the environment is very apparent, both of them aiding their side by manipulating the terrain. However, there are some long stretches when no, or very little, manipulation happens. Why would they stop? I know meta wise it's because of the flow of the story, but it is rather noticeable when it goes from a whole bunch of manipulation to none or very little. All and all though, I still loved the fight, great concept and execution.

I'd figured Kizmel was going to get the Alice treatment for some time, but I've always wondered what would happen to Griselda... is she going to someone inhabit Tilnel's light cube? Because, her body should be long since dead, how else is she going to get out?

I totally get why you cut it, and I agree that it was the right call, but man, that AI war would have been hella cool. That's good to hear about Tia though, I was really hoping it wouldn't be the last we would see of her.

Hey, I'll be reading this as long as you keep on writing it. This fic's better than a lot of published novels I've read.

The only sad thing about tearing through these so fast is that soon I'll be without new chapters to read again. T.T

The opening scene is hard to visualize until you realize that the hollow is using whirlwind, but that's only revealed at the end.

I'm really curious to see how things are going to play out with Kuradeel in this. I can see the pieces slowly coming together, but I can't tell what the pictures going to be yet. I'm pretty excited for this one, I feel like you're going to do something really interesting with his character.

Mini Gleam Eyes kinda feels like it comes out of nowhere. Yeah it's kinda to set up the mini bosses later, but there is also no reason to believe before this moment that Grimlock can make anything other than Hollow players, so it kinda feels like it comes out of left field. Maybe if Philia had seen some other kind of Hollow creature when skulking about to lead her (or at least the reader) to think that they might be experimenting with mobs too.

"Going orange be damned." Isn't everyone other than Kirito and Kizmel already orange?

3 for 3 with Griselda predictions. :D

I like how directly you flip around that Grimlock was the one that changed. It was mostly subtext in the original, but it feels good that he's directly called out for it.

I'm kinda surprised that Klein didn't end up delivering the Coup De Gras on Grimlock, but his passing was still very fitting, so I'm not disappointed with how it all resolved.

The aside about Kirito mentally reminding himself to ask about Rain's new technique is very in character, but feels out of place and clunky with how it's put in the sentence.

Not surprised that Philia is a big LotR fan, though in the movie, it was both, not either. I don't recall if that exact line was even in the books, I've only read them once.

Always fun to see more of the Rai team.

When it comes to Strea, I feel like there was a missed opportunity there. Not even in her overall story, but in her final showdown as is. The whole "my numbers are bigger than yours" thing is used a lot in games, real and fictional, and is pretty clear in SAO cannon as well when Kirito fights Titan's Hand. It would have been a really interesting fight to see the K team have to come up with a solution to win a one sided fight like that rather just having Vanel show up and fix it for them.

Wait, did Strida just make a Babylon 5 reference and a Mass Effect reference in the same sentence? This guy is my spirit animal. XD

Great to see Lind ride to the sort of rescue. I look forward to seeing the post battle conversation between those two. :D

Okay, onto the finale... of the finale. XD

After the "What kind of pervert designed these mobs anyway?!" A short scene of Heathcliff/Akihito Kayaba at a desk in his office in the Knights of Blood HQ sneezing would have been funny.