WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Episode 15 of Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld, Part 2, "Instigation," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Episode 15 of War of Underworld completely halted whatever momentum the heroes gained in the previous episode, giving it right back to the villains. Though it’s still relatively early in the season, the Alicization arc looks to be close to its endgame. As the villains prepare for another attack, the heroes will be put to the test against some familiar old faces.
“Instigation” opens up with Sinon consoling a grieving Alice following Bercoulli’s death. Sinon tells Alice that Miller didn’t really die and that all Bercoulli did was defeat the Vecta account, not the user. As Alice questions whether or not Bercoulli’s sacrifice was in vain, Sinon tells her that as long as he managed to save her, it was worth it. Alice then sets off for the World’s End Alter, and Sinon stays behind to face off against Miller when he respawns.
Back on the battlefield, Sheyta, Iskahn and the rest of the Pugilists Guild continue to face off against wave after wave of American players. Iskahn looks over to his exhausted and injured comrades, and then notices Sheyta fighting off soldiers. Things then change to her perspective, as she continues to go through enemies and realizes that she no longer has the drive to fight. Sheytan and Iskahn then join each other, and tell the other that they want to be together as they’re charged by another massive wave of enemy soldiers.
The focus then shifts back to Asuna and company as they turn their attention to Vassago, who is revealed to be PoH, the leader of Laughing Coffin. As the SAO survivors look on in horror, the opposing army gets a boost for Chinese and Korean players and begin to push back the Human Army. Perspective then changes again to a group of Korean and Chinese players, and illustrates how PoH is manipulating the foreign players by telling them that the opposing armies are just hackers griefing the server. Asuna looks around as she sees comrade after comrade fall, and the perspective the changes back to Sinon. Miller returns in his Subtilizer account. Sinon, stunned by the realization of who Miller is, quickly gets overtaken by him.
Back at the Ocean Turtle, Higa and Yanai make their way down to the main control room. Once there, Higa begins the process of restoring Kirito’s Fluctlight, but Yanai pulls a gun on him and demands he stop.
War of Underworld didn’t give its heroes too much of an advantage before taking it away again. The episode was full of twists that should play out soon enough. PoH should make for an interesting addition, if he lasts for the rest of the season. The biggest obstacle right now is the situation with Yanai. The longer he holds up Higa, the longer Subtilizer and PoH can wreak havoc on Underworld. Asuna and Sinon look like they have their work cut out for them, how long they’ll hold out for, and whether or not Kirito will be back in action soon enough to help either of them remains to be seen.