12 – The Beginning of a Legend
Episode Rating: 
Anime Series: .hack //Legend of the Twilight
Episode: 12 – The Beginning of a Legend
Read More: .hack //Legend of the Twilight Episode Guide
The battle between Shugo’s party and Moruti continues. The heroes’ item inventory is rapidly depleted but they still seem to be doing no damage and the virus is still spreading. Shugo sees Koniyama watching from the shadows. Shugo wonders if he has not been harmed by the virus because he was previously Data Drained.
Shugo reveals is plan to use Data Drain to the group. When the rest of the party hesitates on this risky tactic, Shugo assures them that he will be the only one to receive the Data Drain. He is determined to save his sister at all costs – including sacrificing himself. The rest of his party soon follows his lead, and sure enough, after the Data Drain, Shugo, Mileiyu and Hitaru are cured of the virus. Balmung is still critically injured, but cheers his team on.
Attacks against Moruti and the baddies still aren’t working, so Aura asks Shugo to Data Drain. He must wait until after the virus completely takes over Rena. He has a lag time of about 1/1000th of a second, but if he can Data Drain during that moment, he can drain just the virus. He does, and the virus lifts from Rena and the monster disappears.
With the monsters defeated, Shugo goes after Moruti until a hacker girl interferes. Moruti disappears and The World begins to collapse… her final trap. Soon all chaos gates turn red and begin deleting all evidence. Logging out is impossible and there is 5 minutes to system shutdown.
The girl is the 4th of the hacker group who have been helping Moruti. Her interest in death led her to experiment with The World. At first she thought death was like being eliminated. Rena asks if she thought that, why did she create a world after death? The twins then try to empathize: they know the feelings of wanting to go some place, even after death. Death and separation are similar, but even if you are separated, you can meet each other anytime in The World. The hacker girl wants to believe that… she wants to understand why another sacrificed herself to save her… but soon The World will collapse. Perhaps they’ll really die, or just sleep forever. Maybe death is like sleeping forever.
Editor’s Note: IMHO, this rant is too over-the-top. The hacker girl comes off as a selfish brat who wants to kill everyone in her quest to unravel the mysteries of death. The characters are surprisingly sympathetic, which is one reason I rated the episode so low. Why anyone cares or might be compassionate is beyond me.
Anyway, once the hacker girl’s rant is done, Aura reveals why she revived Kite and Black Roses characters – to stop the destruction. Rena puts her hand on Shugo’s bracelet and together they fly into the Chaos Gate. Everything disappears. The End.
After credits: The series gives us a happy reunion once the credits roll. Rena and Shugo log in and celebrate their victory while bratty hacker girl watches and is reminded that friends can meet in The World anytime regardless of distance… The Hero of Legend revives.
Category: .hack//Legend of the Twilight
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
