Hearing rumors about a brilliant player known as Zekken, Asuna decides to mount a challenge. But when Asuna logs out, she is told by her mother to take an exam to transfer into an academically oriented high school.

The episode was rated 7.73 from 291 votes.

Nearly a year after the Sword Art Online incident, a new virtual reality MMORPG known as Gun Gale Online has taken Japan by storm. One day, as a top ranked player named Zexceed appears on a streamed broadcast via his avatar, a cloaked man calling himself and his weapon "Death Gun" fires a bullet at Zexceed's avatar through a video screen, causing Zexceed to suddenly convulse and disconnect. A month later, Kazuto Kirigaya is called to meet up with Kikuoka Seijiro of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Virtual Division, who reveals that Zexceed's user was found dead of acute heart failure a few days after his avatar was shot, also showing evidence of a similar case involving the death of a GGO user. As Kazuto states his doubts that a game could cause someone's heart to fail, Kikuoka, believing Death Gun is specifically targeting professional GGO players, asks Kazuto to once again take up the role of Kirito and investigate what is causing the victims to die. Remembering all the people who died in SAO, Kazuto thinks over his decision whilst spending time with Asuna at the park. Meanwhile, in the world of GGO, a sniper known as Sinon is in top form.

The episode was rated 7.76 from 443 votes.

While Kirigaya Kazuto tried to defend himself against Shinkawa Kyouji, he leaves an opening for Kyouji to attempt to inject him with succinylcholine. Instead of running away, Asada Shino returns inside and knocks Kyouji out with a stereo. Shino then checks on Kazuto's condition, but found out that there is an electrode stuck at the part of his chest where Kyouji had attempted to inject him with the drug which protects him against the needless syringe. Several days later, Endou calls out to Shino, who again tried to demand money from her. As Shino refuses the demand, Endou took out a model gun and threatens Shino. However, after Endou unsuccessfully attempts to fire with it, Shino took the gun from Endou, shows her that the safeties needed to be disabled to fire and then shoots a can with it before returning it back to Endou. As Shino was about to leave the school grounds, she saw that Kazuto was waiting for her near the entrance and drawing unwanted attention. Kazuto first drives Shino to a cafe to meet with Kikuoka Seijirou about the Death Gun incident. After that, Kazuto takes Shino to the Dicey Cafe, where he introduces her to Yuuki Asuna and Shinozaki Rika (Lisbeth). Kazuto then reveals that he had told the two girls about Shino's past and explains that he had them help him find a certain person that she should meet. The person is revealed to have been a woman, named Oosawa Sachie, who was the post office worker, threatened by the robber that Shino killed. The woman thanks Shino for saving her life and tells her that she was pregnant at the time, so Shino had also saved the life of her daughter, Mizue. Kazuto then explains that he wants Shino to think about the people that she had saved by killing the robber and thus be able to forgive herself for it.

The episode was rated 7.87 from 337 votes.

While waiting for BoB to begin, Kirito assumes that Death Gun will sign into the tournament under a different name, given the perfect stage for him, and vows to find him and face him again. After much persistence, Kirito is able to convince Sinon to explain to him the details of the BoB royale. After she explains the rules and regulations, Kirito stops Sinon from leaving and asks her whether there were BoB participants that she did not know about. He then finds out that, aside from him, there are three other players who had not participated in the previous tournaments. He then explains her his motivation behind that question, and she theorizes from his explanation that he is an SAO survivor. Later on, during the tournament, Sinon decides to target Dyne and Pale Rider. Having found a sniping position on the west side of the bridge that Dyne had crossed, she prepares to take action, but is stopped by Kirito, who instructs her to not shoot and just watch Dyne and Pale Rider's battle. After Pale Rider defeats Dyne, he is suddenly shot with a silenced stun bullet and, after several moments, the shooter, Death Gun, reveals himself from the bridge. As Death Gun prepares to finish off Pale Rider, Kirito yells at a confused Sinon to shoot him before he does.

The episode was rated 7.88 from 346 votes.

Asuna finds out Yuuki is terminally ill with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome aka AIDS.

The episode was rated 7.89 from 283 votes.

Kazuto is now logged into GGO but is baffled as to why his avatar has long hair and feminine qualities. This leads to all the male players mistaking him for a girl. Without much lead on how to reveal himself to Death Gun, Kazuto wanders until he spots a female player with blue hair, Sinon. He explains that he wants to find directions to the Governors Office to sign up for BOB, "Bullets on Bullets" an intense PvP game mode. Sinon is happy to help and directs Kazuto towards a Market to buy weaponry/armor. Being strapped for cash, Sinon offers him money but he declines and asks if there's a fast way to earn it himself. There happened to be one game; "Untouchable" a QuickDraw game where the player must dodge the NPC gun mans bullets and tag him to receive all the credits anybody has ever put in. Sinon tells him it's rigged but Kazuto believes nobody ever had the skills to defeat it, so when witnessing a player fail, Kazuto is determined to win, and his agility and training from SAO allows him to dodge with ease thus winning all the earnings. Back at the weapon shop Sinon is recommending guns but Kazuto is interested in an energy sword which he purchases immediately, although Sinon persists he at least buy a handgun to distract enemies to gain "Sword Range". Back outside Sinon realizes they only have 10 minutes to get to the Governors Office, but Kazuto spots a buggy station and rents one for a quicker get to. Sinon is impressed with Kazutos skills and enjoys the ride thus telling him to go faster!

The episode was rated 7.89 from 358 votes.

On the day after Asuna's reunion with Yuuki, Asuna takes a Bidirectional Communication Probe to guide Yuuki around the school. Yuuki takes part in the lectures and becomes popular with her classmates. Afterwards, Asuna takes Yuuki to the old Konno residence, which Yuuki reveals is about to be torn down soon, so she wished to see it for one last time. She then admits that by seeing her house she realized how her mother had been surrounding her with her feelings. Asuna tells Yuuki about her relationship with her own mother and asks Yuuki how to be as strong as her. However, Yuuki claims that she was not strong, but instead, she did not feel like she had time to waste, so she would always be honest with her feelings. She then recommends Asuna to talk with her mother and share what she felt. Using Yuuki's advice, Asuna asks Kyouko to log into ALO with her so she could show it to her. Kyouko reluctantly agrees and uses Asuna's sub account to log in. At the Forest House, Kyouko is reminded of her parents' home. Asuna then tells her mother about how happy her parents were of her and how they wished to protect their home so Kyouko would have a place to return to. Asuna then says that she realized how life was not about just doing things for oneself and how the happiness of others could make one happy as well, thus she wanted to remain in her current school where she could support the ones she loved. The next morning, Kyouko tells Asuna that if she planned to support someone, she had to be strong herself, thus she would have to work hard on her grades to get into a university and whether Asuna would have to transfer would depend on her progress.

The episode was rated 7.92 from 279 votes.

Yuuki takes Asuna to an inn in Ronbaru and introduces her to the other members of the Sleeping Knights: Jun, Nori, Siune, Talken and Tecchi. Yuuki then reveals that the guild wanted Asuna's help in defeating the next Floor Boss with just one party. Siune explains that the group wanted to defeat the boss in order to etch their names on the Monument of Swordsmen, as they would not be able to adventure together after winter. After some thinking, Asuna agrees to help. Sometime later, while she is walking to the Teleport Gate plaza, Asuna is suddenly disconnected from the game by an unsatisfied Kyouko. After an unpleasant conversation with her mother, Asuna heads to a park in another residential area. There, she considers calling Kazuto, but decides that she did not want to expose her weakness to him. The next day, she meets up with the Sleeping Knights and they easily manage to reach the boss room, but Asuna detects several other players hiding near there. Though the players claim they are waiting for their friends, Asuna realizes they were actually spying on their battle to study the boss without sacrificing their own men. After the Sleeping Knights and Asuna are defeated and re-spawn in Ronbaru, Asuna tells the others what she discovered and they decide to rush to the boss room again before the guild had enough time to gather a raid group. At the boss room, they find a large amount of players gathered at the door. As the guild rejects the request of the Sleeping Knights to let them try again, Yuuki declares that they would fight it out and attacks the raid group's leader. At that point, the rest of the raid party arrives, but Kirito appears, having followed them, and blocks their path.

The episode was rated 7.93 from 282 votes.

After Kirito blocked the raiding guild's reinforcements, three mages of guild fired multiple magical projectiles at him. However, he used «Deadly Sins» to break all seven projectiles. As the reinforcements got into formation for battle, Kirito told Asuna that he would hold them off for three minutes with the help of Klein. In the meantime, the Sleeping Knights engaged the guild's forces blocking the path to the boss room. But, seeing that their assault was rendered useless by the intervention of the guild's healers, Asuna asked Siune to manage the healing herself and used «Flashing Penetrator» to break through to the healers, while killing the group's leader. After the healers were disposed of, the remained of the players were easily defeated, allowing Asuna and the others to enter the boss room. During the boss battle, Talken's spear was thrown into the air by the boss and it accidentally hit a crystal where the boss's two heads connected. Seeing that this caused the boss to assume a guard stance, Asuna deduced that it might be its weak point and tested it out by firing several ice pillars at the same spot. Confirming her deduction, Asuna left the healing to Siune to tell Yuuki to use a Sword Skill at the weak spot. Following Asuna's suggestion to use Tecchi as a stepping stone, Yuuki defeated the boss with her signature Original Sword Skill. After the battle, the group agreed to celebrate at Asuna's player home. While conversing about various things, Asuna asked whether she could join the Sleeping Knights, but, seeing that it resulted in an unpleasant reaction, she decided to change the topic and reminded everyone about the Monument of Swordsmen. At the monument, everyone took a picture and Yuuki accidentally called Asuna as her elder sister. Since she had also done the same in the boss room, Asuna pointed this out to Yuuki. Unexpectedly, Yuuki started crying and abruptly logged off.

The episode was rated 7.95 from 282 votes.

Kirito and Sinon arrive at the General Governor's Office and go to the terminals to register. Kirito is surprised that the registration asks for his real-life information, and he leaves the fields blank. He is then registered into the same block as Sinon, and both are able to make it to the finals due to the ladder arrangement. Before they can enter BoB, however, there is a qualifying preliminary. While waiting for the preliminary round to begin, Kirito reveals his gender after an embarrassing incident with Sinon in the changing room, and this creates a rift between them. Sinon demands that he make it to the finals so she can defeat him there, then proclaims her intention of "kill[ing] all the strong ones", which causes Kirito to briefly suspect her of being Death Gun. They then meet up with Kyōji in his GGO avatar, Spiegel. When Kirito is transferred to his first battle, he is initially put off-balance in the gunfight, but is able to defeat his first opponent using his Photon Sword. Upon returning to the preliminary waiting area, he is confronted by Death Gun, who Kirito feels he recognizes. He then catches a glimpse of a tattoo on Death Gun's wrist and recognizes it as the mark of the SAO Red Player guild "Laughing Coffin".

The episode was rated 8.09 from 351 votes.

After checking the map, Kirito finds that twenty-four players had already been killed, while only Yamikaze and himself are shown on the map. Seeing as, even accounting for Sinon, Death Gun, and Pale Rider, the numbers of those killed and those who are still alive did not match the total, he speculates that Death Gun had more than one accomplice in charge of the killings in the real world. Fearing that Yamikaze might also be a target, Kirito and Sinon decide to set up the former as bait, while Sinon snipes Yamikaze and Death Gun from a distance when they arrive. Sometime later, while Yamikaze is closing in on Kirito, Death Gun attempts to kill Kirito himself. Sensing his intent to kill, Kirito manages to sense where he would be shot from and barely manages to dodge the bullet. Noticing a sniper shot, Yamikaze immediately hides behind an obstacle for cover, but he is then shot by Sinon and killed. Sinon then turns her attention to Death Gun, but, as she had already fired her first shot, which wouldn't be detected, Death Gun is able to see her targeting him. The two of them fire at each other at the same time and, while Death Gun manages to destroy Sinon's scope, she manages to destroy Death Gun's weapon. However, as Kirito is about to strike Death Gun, the latter pulls out an estoc and counters the attack. After having a conversation with Kirito, Death Gun begins assaulting him with overwhelming speed.

The episode was rated 8.11 from 316 votes.

Kirito pretends to not understand Death Gun's answer, and Death Gun states that he will kill him, whether or not he is the real Kirito, before leaving. Kirito then has a flashback to his time in SAO, when he and several others battled Laughing Coffin, and notes that he killed two members during that battle. He then realizes that the player who confronted him was actually Death Gun. Sinon later meets up with him and senses that something is wrong, but before Kirito can confide in her, he is teleported to his next duel, which he wins. Eventually, both Kirito and Sinon have made it into the finals. While waiting for Kirito, Sinon begins to feel he is just like her. She becomes frustrated when Kirito calmly walks straight toward her position, not showing any signs of wanting to dodge her bullet. Sinon fires at him repeatedly, but misses, and she personally confronts him about it. Remembering the promise he made to Sinon, Kirito apologizes and sets the rules for a rematch: he would move away by ten meters, and they would start fighting once he throws a bullet to the ground. Despite Sinon's Hecate's one-hundred percent hit rate at such a range, Kirito shows his confidence in his abilities. When the rematch begins, Kirito is able to slice Sinon's bullet in half and hold her at the tip of his Photon Sword. Realizing that Kirito predicted the bullet path by watching her eyes, Sinon realizes that his strength goes beyond a virtual game and asks him what he is afraid of. He implies to her his experiences in SAO are not strength, but skill. He then asks her to surrender, since he doesn't want to defeat a girl. In anger, she does so, stating that next time would be different.

The episode was rated 8.12 from 359 votes.

Sinon shoots at Death Gun, but he dodges the bullet and then kills Pale Rider with his pistol. Death Gun then introduces himself and his gun to the spectators, finishing his monologue with a catchphrase used by PoH, the founder of Laughing Coffin. Meanwhile, Sinon attempts to find out Death Gun's name, but he was not shown on the satellite scan, thus Sinon assumes that he traveled through the battlefield underwater. She and Kirito then decide to follow Death Gun, eventually going to the Lost City. However, since they could not find him along the way, they look for him during the next scan. Seeing that two players, Sterben and Juushi X (銃士Ｘ, Jūshi X?), were present in the city, they decide to go after Juushi X, as his name sounded like Death Gun (死銃, Shijū?) backwards. During the scan, they find Juushi X at a stadium, while Sterben abruptly vanishes from the city. The two rush to the stadium and, after confirming that there was a sniper, decide to split up. However, as Sinon takes a sniping position, she is suddenly shot with a stun bullet. Death Gun, who is actually Sterben, appears and proclaims that he is going to kill her. Sinon tries to defend herself, but then sees that Sterben is carrying the Type 54 Black Star, the same weapon she used to kill the robber at the post office.

The episode was rated 8.16 from 344 votes.

The battle between Death Gun and Kirito begins as the former unleashes a deadly barrage of strikes that greatly weakens Kirito. While they are fighting, Kirito has a flashback to the meeting before the Laughing Coffin raid in Sword Art Online, recalling a strikingly similar player with the same red eyes as Death Gun. Kirito deduces that Death Gun is really the infamous, "Red Eyed," Xaxa, the second in command of Laughing Coffin. As Xaxa goes for the final blow, Sinon creates the illusion of a direction line using her experience in the game alone, causing Xaxa to cloak to avoid it. However, Kirito pulls out his sidearm and fires it at Xaxa, stopping the cloaking process and rendering him vulnerable. Using the willpower and strength he possessed in Sword Art Online, Kirito defeats Xaxa, cutting in clean in half. Before he dies, Xaxa reassures Kirito that their battle is not over. Sinon and Kirito then come to an agreement to end the Bullet of Bullets by committing double in-game suicide using a grenade, crowning them both the winner, but not before they reveal to each other their real names. After logging out, Shino is visited by Shinkawa, who, after making romantic advances on her, pulls out a syringe and reveals himself to be the second person involved in the Death Gun murders, which Kirito and Sinon earlier deduced while in the cave. Shinkawa tries to rape Shino, but she is able to get away, only to have Shinkawa pull her back. As this is happening, Kazuto bursts through Shino's door and attacks Shinkawa, holding him off while telling Shino, who recognizes Kazuto as Kirito, to run.

The episode was rated 8.24 from 319 votes.

After a guild gathering which lead into a won boss fight and a timeline with background music Asuna comes home and sees that she recieved a message from Yuuki's doctor saying her condition got worse. Asuna immediately runs to her hospital. Arriving there she get's told that Yuuki's heart already stopped once. Yuuki wakes up and Asuna meets her using the Amu Sphere the next room in Alfheim Online at the tree they first met. Yuuki binds her original sword skill which is called "Mother's Rosario" to a scroll and gives it to Asuna as she knows she does not have much time left. Other members of the Sleeping Knights arrive and gather around her. After they spoke their last words hundreds of other players gather around the tree praying for Yuuki. She says to her friends that she may found her meaning in life and is in spite of all the pain in her life now at least happy in her last moments. At Yuuki's death watch Asuna and Siune meet up. Siune tells her she recovered from her disease the day after Yuuki died and got released from hospital. Kirito and Yuuki's doctor arrive and they figure out that the Medicuboid was designed by Kayaba Akihiko. After the outro Kirito and Asuna are sitting in a park meeting their friends in real life.

The episode was rated 8.29 from 292 votes.