Twilight Moon

"From here on out the enemy will be pursuing you, understand Shugo?"

- Sanjuro

Twilight Moon (黄昏の月) is the seventh episode of .hack//Legend of the Twilight.

Story
After running several tests Rena the doctor tells her parent's that she has fallen completely comatose. Though her body and her brain are perfectly healthy she is unconscious, as if her consciousness is somewhere else. Logging into The World Shugo notices that her character is still logged in. He wonders why she fell comatose if her body is completely healthy. Meanwhile inside The World, Rena floats in an unknown location muttering the words "I'm dead" over and over again. Aura appears besides her and tells her that she's wrong, she's still very much alive. Reaching towards her she brings her PC back to life.

Shugo travels to the hideout, and informs Mireille, Ouka, and Hotaru of Rena's condition. He tells them that he believes Rena's mind is still somewhere in The World, and that if they can find it they may be able to wake her up in reality. They travel to Δ Cursed Woodland Murderhouse; the field where Rena disappeared with the intent of looking for clues. Balmung and Sanjuro appear as well, and offer to help their search.

After examining the torture chamber where Rena was killed, Balmung says that according to the system logs she has not logged out once since disappearing. A sudden noise outside the room causes everybody to raise their guard, but it's merely Reki coming to talk to Balmung. Reki tells Balmung that the access logs show that a temporary portal was opened in this field, and teleported Rena to an unknown location. Any more information was deleted from the system by the perpetrator. Balmung tells Shugo that there have been other victims like Rena, and that this evidence shows that some unknown enemy is behind it all. Balmung swears that he'll hunt down whoever is responsible and destroy them.

In the real world the four hackers are gathered around their terminals. Michi notices that Shugo has returned to the Mansion and tells the other hackers. Daisuke suggests attacking them while their guard is down, but Katsuyuki reminds him that he's currently with a System Administrator. Were they to launch an attack it would be easily traced back to them. Katsuyuki tells them that they should just wait, until an opportunity to attack presents itself. Following their progress he notices that such an opportunity has just arisen.

Back in Mac Anu Sanjuro draws a parallel between the current situation and the events four years ago. After traveling to the hideout Balmung tells Shugo that four years ago several players fell comatose while playing the world, this incident was codenamed the Twilight Incident by CC Corp and almost all information regarding it was deleted to keep the public from finding out. The incident was eventually resolved by the legendary players Kite and BlackRose as well as their party members the .hackers. When asked why they know so much about the Twilight Incident Sanjuro reveals that he and Balmung were members of the .hackers. Elsewhere in the city the four hackers realize they've lost Shugo's location. Katsuyuki speculates that they're probably in a hideout, and says that attacking them there would be too much hassle. He tells the other three to draw back and wait until they use a Chaos Gate.

Sanjuro tells Shugo that the largest obstacle to the enemy is the Twilight Bracelet that Shugo possesses. That is why they've been trying to destroy him with Data Bugs. And now that they know he's onto them, their attacks will only grow more persistent. Balmung says that Shugo can no longer afford to act like a newbie, he has to start taking things seriously or else he won't survive.

In the real world Shugo thinks about Balmung's words. Looking out the window he notices a full moon and remembers a story that Rena liked, about how the rabbit that lives on the moon exists to give courage to travelers so they can find their way. He swears that he'll be like the rabbit, and help Rena find her way back.

Meanwhile Aura finally succeeds in reviving Rena, after hearing her name Rena realizes that she's the girl who gave Shugo his bracelet. She tries to log out so she can collect her thoughts, but soon realizes that she's trapped inside of the area. Aura tells her that when she was killed by the monster, her PC Body was teleported her and a hypnotic suggestion was placed into her brain. That suggestion caused her to believe she was dead, and made her fall comatose in reality. She shows Rena the other coma victims also trapped inside the area, and reveals that due to security measures placed on this field she is unable to use her full powers to awaken them, awakening Rena alone has already sapped most of her strength. She tells Rena that Shugo is the only one who can save these people.

Having regained his confidence, Shugo runs through Mac Anu and uses the Chaos Gate to warp to Δ Gusting Southern Nation Snows. Katsuyuki and Daisuke watch him go, and after Michi confirms his location and the fact that he's alone, the hackers begin to prepare their trap. Daisuke volunteers to take him out, and is given permission to fight him by himself.

In the field, Shugo quickly encounters Daisuke's monster, a Data Bug Chimera made of multiple monster types. Sanjuro, Ouka, Mireille, and Hotaru arrive shortly, having followed Shugo. Sanjuro steps in to fight the monster, but is surprised when Shugo tells him to hold back. He says that there's probably some sort of data inside of the monster that will teleport anyone killed by it to Rena's location. If that data can be found and analyzed, it will be possible to find out where Rena is being held. After hearing his plan, Sanjuro agrees and tells Shugo he'll do his best to capture it. He orders Shugo to perform Data Drain the monster and weaken it. Unfortunately Komiyan III gates directly into the attack and is hit instead. Shugo tries to perform another attack, but realizes he doesn't have enough SP to use Data Drain again. Balmung gates in and begins fighting the monster alongside Sanjuro and Ouka. Sanjuro orders Mireille and Hotaru to recover Shugo's SP so he can Data Drain again, and says that the three of them will hold off the monster in the meantime.

Mireille and Hotaru soon succeed in restoring Shugo's SP, he prepares to use Data Drain again but is interrupted by the arrival of a squadron of Cobalt Knights. Kamui appears and orders the Knights to delete the Data Bug. Despite Balmung and Shugo's objections they succeed in deleting the monster and withdraw.

Balmung confronts Kamui, who tells him that it was her new boyfriend Reki who revealed the details of Shugo's plan to her. She informs him that CC Corp has given full authority over the current problems to her. After she warps away Shugo asks Balmung if there's any strings he could pull to help the situation. After hearing that there isn't he grows angry, wondering why CC Corp doesn't care about Rena or the other coma victims. Staring up at the moon he begins to despair over ever rescuing Rena.

Trivia

 * It is revealed in this episode that Kamui and Balmung used to date each other.
 * When the .hackers are shown, Subaru and Tsukasa appear as well, even though they aren't technically .hackers.
 * Shugo's second kiss occurs in this episode, when he accidentally trips into Reki and kisses him.
 * Shugo loses his tooth in this episode after Kamui smacks him away to keep him from interfering.