'Sword Art Online' Shows-Off Alice's Strength

Sword Art Online's third season kicked off when Kirito and Eugeo's childhood friend in the Underworld, Alice, was taken away by the Integrity Knights and the Alicization Rising arc has seen Kirito and Eugeo fighting their way to the top floor of the Central Cathedral in order to save her.

After confirming that she's been turned into an Integrity Knight without any memories of her past life, the two came across her on the 80th floor and fans saw just what kind of strength Alice has at her disposal.

It's revealed that her golden sword is actually a Divine Object that's as old as the Underworld itself. Spawning from a tree from where the Central Cathedral now stands, her Osmanthus Blade is the oldest object in the Underworld with "everlasting eternity." Her Perfect Weapon Control art is essentially always active as a result, and causes her sword to break into a wave of golden petals.

She says that each petal is capable of splitting rocks or the ground, and Kirito likens it to an Indestructible Object in standard virtual world terms. Alice then demonstrates just how strong her sword is in its base form as she quite easily pushes Kirito back. Kirito even tries to use his own Perfect Weapon Control art, and while it was able to overwhelm Sir Fanatio in his last fight, it doesn't damage Alice at all as she counters it quickly.

Eugeo then uses his Perfect Weapon Control art to freeze Alice in place, but her sword is so strong that she's able to quickly cut herself out of the ice quickly. Not only is defeating Alice going to be a challenge, but the two of them need to defeat her in a certain way. Eugeo has to attack her with a special dagger Cardinal gave them to restore her back to the way she used to be, but that's easier said that done.

But Kirito and Alice are pulled out of the side of the Cathedral due to a strange force, so fans will have to wait until the next episode to see what comes next. If you have yet to catch the new season of the series yourself, Sword Art Online: Alicization can currently be found streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Hulu. The series is officially described as such:

"Where... am I...?" Before he knows it, Kirito has made a full-dive into an epic, fantasy-like virtual world. With only a murky recollection of what happened right before he logged in, he starts to wander around, searching for clues. He comes upon an enormous, pitch dark tree (the Gigas Cedar), where he encounters a boy. "My name is Eugeo. Nice to meet you, Kirito." Although he is supposedly a resident of the virtual world - an NPC - the boy shows the same array of emotions as any human being.

As Kirito bonds with Eugeo, he continues to search for a way to log out of this world. Meanwhile, he remembers a certain memory deep down within him. He remembers racing through the mountains with Eugeo as a child... A memory that he should not have in the first place... And in this memory, he sees someone other than Eugeo, a young blond girl. Her name is Alice. And it is a name that must never be forgotten..."