"Bestowing the Foundation Star upon the Seven of Manifest Destiny..."
"Salute to those who faced death."
Haruto spoke these words, and the other three O5 council members nodded in agreement.
The Foundation Star—
It is the highest honor of the SCP Foundation, awarded to those who have made truly outstanding contributions to the Foundation and to humanity.
This was the first time the Foundation ever awarded the Foundation Star.
Haruto believed that Manifest Destiny deserved it. So did Detective Hakuba Saguru.
Back during the Tomie Incident, Haruto had seen the investigation report authored by Saguro.
When they found Saguro, he had locked himself inside his own bathroom.
The door was completely sealed—sealed so well that even the person who locked it couldn't open it again.
Blood had splattered the walls. Pale bones still scratched at the door, trying to pry it open.
At that time, Saguro's cognition had already been completely contaminated by Tomie.
If Haruto hadn't arrived in time, Saguro might have sealed himself in there until he died.
That might have been the only way Saguro could think of—to not make a mistake, even after his cognition had been twisted.
Thankfully, after the use of a memory-clearing procedure, Saguro cognition returned to normal.
For this elite class detective agent, Haruto naturally extended an invitation.
Saguro, in turn, joined the Foundation as an active agent.
And this time, during the formation of Mobile Task Force – Manifest Destiny—
Saguro was the only member who was not a Kitsune.
Foundation agents are incredibly valuable. Even with training, ordinary people often can't fulfill the responsibilities of an agent.
But Saguro insisted on joining Manifest Destiny.
Haruto never expected Saguro's final act would be like this.
The seven of Manifest Destiny cannot be revived through the Phoenix Protocol. Because transcendent supreme divinity—
Isn't something that can be shaken off simply by dying or transferring one's consciousness.
So this... was a true ending.
In the O, Death Parallel Reality—
Saguro detonated the tactical nuke at Site-01.
There was no Haruto in that parallel reality. So even though Foundations were formed in those parallel realities—
Their circumstances were nowhere near as favorable as the main world.
Their methods, capabilities, and tech levels couldn't even come close. However, with something like a tactical nuke—if the yield is high enough—none of that really matters.
The detonation of the nuke in the O, Death Parallel sealed the rift completely. The Foundation later sent more D-class personnel into the anomalous region—
But the train was gone.
Everything was gone.
Haruto could still tear open the dimensional rift between the main world and Kisaragi Station—
But it was clear: Kisaragi Station was collapsing.
In a few days, the station would completely vanish.
Even now, there were no further paths extending deeper within Kisaragi Station.
SCP-2935 – O, Death had been successfully contained.
But the cost...
Was far heavier than Haruto had expected.
The awarding of the Foundation Star caused a great stir within the Foundation.
But that wave quickly settled.
Everyone at the Foundation merely remembered Saguro and the others of Manifest Destiny in silence.
And nothing more.
Because the Foundation was always such a cold place.
As humanity's last shield, those who toil in the darkness have long been prepared.
But—
While the Foundation is cold, it is not cruel. The sacrifices of the Foundation are never meaningless.
That meaning is left to the living, passed down like a torch.
A person dies twice.
The first is physical death.
The second is when they are forgotten by all.
Manifest Destiny is fated to never experience that second death.
------------------------
After leaving the site—Haruto returned to his apartment and curled up in his room. In the end... he decided to play some games to unwind.
Putting on his VR gaming helmet—
"Damn you, Kayaba!"
The game loaded, and Haruto's character spawned inside a labyrinth.
To be honest, even during the beta, players weren't allowed to log out in battle zones like this.
But—
Haruto didn't care. He bypassed everything!
As soon as he landed, monsters rushed toward him from every direction.
With a one-handed sword, Haruto effortlessly slaughtered all the monsters surrounding him.
The experience notifications popped up.
Haruto reached level 16.
This level was extremely impressive for the first floor.
In the original storyline, it took the group a whole month after open beta to attempt a raid on the first floor boss.
And at that time, the strongest raid group—
Had an average level just over 10.
Even the highly talented Asuna was only level 12 during that boss fight.
And the infamous beta tester—the so-called "cheater lord" with all the advantages—was only level 14 during the fight.
But despite his impressive level, Haruto felt only one thing—headache.
Goddammit!
Where the hell is the boss room!?
It's already been half a month since the server launched!
Haruto had nearly mapped out the entire labyrinth, yet the boss room still hadn't shown up.
Talk about bad luck.
"Well, whatever... I only have 3% of the map left. Even at worst odds, it has to be here," Haruto muttered as he headed for the deepest part of the maze.
Meanwhile, back in the Starting Town on Floor One—
Two cloaked girls brushed past each other in the street.
They both stopped in sync, and looked back at one another.
This type of cloak was pretty common among players. But just now, they had both felt something strange. An odd sense of familiarity.
Like there was something weird about the person they had just passed.
These two cloaked girls were none other than Asuna and Argo.
But after locking eyes, they simply walked away.
They both had important things to do.
Asuna—real name Yuuki Asuna—
The girl had only stayed in the inn for half a day before stepping outside...
No matter how afraid she was—
No matter how absurd this death game was—
Asuna refused to give up.
She had to get out of here. She had to return to the real world.
Someone was waiting for her there.
Even if it was just to see him one more time, she wouldn't surrender.
The moment she stepped out of that inn, Asuna shed her fear—
And became Asuna—
Strong and graceful. Tender, yet unyielding. In just half a month of experience and battle, Asuna had grown from a greenhorn who couldn't even use basic functions— into a front-line solo player in the top tier.
Her maze exploration was already over 50%.
Once she turned in her current quest, she'd reach the safety level for Floor One, and could prepare to take on the boss.
As for Argo, she hadn't been idle either.
It was as if Haruto's actions had awakened something in her.
The "Rat" Argo had begun to resurface.
She passed the hand-to-hand combat skill challenge, securing the eighth slot—a notoriously hard skill to unlock.
That skill was symbolic—
It showed that Argo had taken the first real step out of fear. Afterward, she resumed her old job:
Information broker.
But this time, unlike in the beta when she charged absurd prices for everything, Argo distributed precious tutorial guides for free in the Starting Town.
She also spread out hidden intel to the masses.
As a professional player, Argo had been the most famous info broker in the beta.
She could've easily made a fortune.
Even if real-world money was worthless here, she could've earned loads of in-game currency.
SAO had no pay-to-win system.
Everything—gear, skills, items—could only be earned through grinding or purchased with gold.
Especially in early to mid-game—
Having a ton of gold let you bypass player crafting and buy strong gear straight from NPCs.
That meant better safety and faster leveling.
But Argo didn't do that.
She gave away priceless intel without hesitation. Because she remembered the silhouette of that boy when they parted.
This game may be hell...
But something still had to be done.
Argo didn't have the talent or strength to clear the game herself—
But she would help in any way she could.
Even so—
Despite Argo's efforts—
The player count of 10,000 in the open beta had already seen over 1,000—nearly 2,000—deaths.