The Legendary Hero

"The only one who can save "The World", that one is you. You are the heir to the .hacker legend."

- Aura

The Legendary Hero (伝説の勇者) is the first episode of .hack//Legend of the Twilight.

Story
The episode begins with a lone Blademaster, encountering a corrupted field in The World. The graphics of the field have been reversed, and parts of the scenery have been levitated into the air. After encountering an empty Spring of Myst the player is attacked by several strange monsters. Though he survives the initial wave, he is defeated when more of the monsters suddenly appear. With his character dead, he prepares to log out and contact the system administrators, but suddenly finds that logging out is impossible. In the real world his real body collapses, as he falls into a coma.

Meanwhile, 14-year-old Shugo Kunisaki, receives a surprise. He has won a limited edition character in The World from a contest he didn't even enter. A phone call from his sister Rena Kunisaki reveals that she was the one who entered him into the contest, and that she won a similar character. Despite his misgivings, Shugo decides to try out The World, figuring that at the very least it will be a way for him to see his sister. Something made quite difficult after their parent's divorce three months ago. Logging into The World on his new character, Shugo finds himself overwhelmed by the game. Fortunately he is soon discovered by Rena, who begins showing him the basics of the game. She explains that their characters are modeled after the legendary .hackers, a group of players who supposedly solved the "final mystery" of The World. As a reward for their bravery, the leaders of the group Kite and BlackRose had their character models retired. As contest winners Shugo and Rena are the first people who can use those models, making them legendary characters themselves. With the explanation out of the way Rena continues to show Shugo the game, unaware that they are being stalked by a small Wavemaster.

After chatting for a bit about their lives since the divorce, Shugo decides it's time for a real adventure. Rena takes him to the Chaos Gate and together they warp to the field Δ Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field. They immediately begin hunting for monsters, not noticing that the Wavemaster has followed them to the field as well. She wonders why the .hackers would be visiting a newbie area, but shrugs it off and continues to follow them.

Shugo and Rena soon encounter their first monster, a level 1 Mad Grass. Realizing it's a weak enemy Shugo tries to defeat it by himself, but with his limited knowledge of the game he gets clobbered by the monster. Using a special attack Rena manages to save him, and restores his HP using a Health Drink. She chastises him for not reading the manual, and Shugo swears he'll do better next time. At the next monster portal Shugo prepares to restore his honor, but suddenly finds himself facing an Armored Super Shogun, a level 48 monster. From her hiding place a safe distance away the Wavemaster watches as Rena and Shugo try to run away from it. Unfortunately the monster is faster than them, and eventually manages to catch up. Using his body as a shield Shugo manages to protect Rena, but is killed by the monster. Realizing he's now helpless, Shugo decides to forcibly log out by removing his headset. However he realizes that his physical body has completely frozen, frightened he can do nothing as his character is teleported away.

Back in the field Rena tries to hide from the monster in a building. She is frightened as well, as dead characters are supposed to remain by their party members as ghosts, and Shugo is nowhere to be found. Not only that, but a high level monster like an Armored Super Shogun shouldn't even be in a low level field anyway. Her thoughts are interrupted as the monster finds her, forcing her to run again.

Shugo, still lifeless appears in a dark area. Suddenly there is a flash of light, and a silver haired girl appears before him. She brings him back to life with a kiss. As she helps him to his feet, a golden bracelet appears on his right arm. She tells him that he has the power to defeat the monster that killed him, the power of Data Drain. Ignoring his questions she goes on to say that only he, as the heir to the .hackers has the power to save The World. Turning away from him, she vanishes just as quickly as she came. Shugo then finds himself back in the field where he was killed earlier. And realizes he just got his first kiss. A scream from Rena brings him to his senses, the monster has finally cornered her. Shugo runs to rescue her, but a knightlike Blademaster with angel wings appears first, and begins to fight evenly against the monster. The Wavemaster, still watching from a safe distance recognizes him as Balmung of the Azure Sky. Balmung delivers a killing blow to the monster, but the monster suddenly heals itself, rendering his attack useless. Ignoring Balmung's warnings to stay back, Shugo enters the battle. When the monster changes its target to Rena he realizes its time to act, and uses his new bracelet to data drain it, rewriting its data into that of a level 1 Limp Knife. Turning back to Rena Shugo is enraged to see her in the arms of Balmung. Ignoring his protests, Balmung helps Rena to her feet and gates away.

The Wavemaster who had been following them finally decides to reveal herself, destroying the Limp Knife with a powerful Vak Don spell. She introduces herself as the Rare Item Hunter Mireille and begins talking about how cool it must be to have limited edition characters and get special events involving players like Balmung. Annoyed at her obsession with their characters, and Shugo's bracelet, Rena drags Shugo away, leaving Mireille by herself.

In another part of the field Balmung meets with his subordinate Reki. He informs him that a bugged Armored Super Shogun appeared in this area, and that it may have something to do with an earlier incident. Reki promises to investigate it, and gates away. Balmung muses what Kite and BlackRose's return to The World could mean.

Trivia

 * The field that Shugo and Rena visit, Δ Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field was also the very first field that Kite visited in his first adventure.
 * Shugo loses his tooth in this episode after he trips and falls on his face while trying to save Rena.
 * Though it is never mentioned in the actual show, the credits reveal that the character who falls into a coma in the intro is named Tom.