New Testament Novel 「.hack」 (Novel)

Previous Title	Current Title	Next Title
.hack//ZERO	New Testament Novel 「.hack」 Games Tetralogy Vol.1~Vol.4 .hack//Liminality Another Birth (Novels) .hack//XXXX	Unison (Bonus)

新約小説「.hack」 New Testament Novel 「.hack」
Languages	Japanese
Publications	Webnovel (Digital) .hack//Fanbook Vol.1-4 (Print)
Release Dates	Digital: 2017 June 20 ~ 2017 October 17 Physical: 2017 September 08 Fanbook Vol.1 2017 October 01 Fanbook Vol.2 2017 November 30 Fanbook Vol.3 2017 December 29 Fanbook Vol.4
Author	Yano, Masayuki
Artist	Hoshi, Itsuki Shimako (CC2 Staff) Ankate (CC2 Staff) Oiji (CC2 Staff)

新約小説「.hack」 (Hepburn: Shin'yaku shōsetsu dotto hyakku, New Testament Novel ".hack") is a retelling of the events of the Games Tetralogy from the perspective of player behind the avatar of Kite.

Synopsis

「.hackersドットハッカーズ」の「カイト」とはどんな少年だったのか？
主人公カイトの視点で話が進み、彼の心情が描かれる!
リアル側に隠されていた彼の素顔を綿密に描き、同時に「事件」にかかわる登場人物の「リアルでの活躍」を絡めることで、ゲームで描ききれなかった真実を補完する、決定版小説。

What kind of boy was “Kite,” of the .hackers?
The story progresses from the perspective of the main character, Kite, and his feelings are explored!
This novel compliments the truth that could not be fully depicted in the game. By carefully depicting Kite's true personality, which he hides from the offline world. The story also shows the offline efforts of various characters involved in the incident.

Plot

The plot is broken up between different kinds of chapters:

• chapters that retell the events of the Games Tetralogy
• chapters that show Kite's player's offline life
• chapters depicting historical events and general worldbuilding

As with as other retellings (such as the Another Birth novels), certain details in this version of the story differ slightly when compared to the portrayal of the same events in the original games. Discrepancies will be detailed below.

Chapters

Vol. 1

Infection (Vol.1)

Chapter #	Chapter Setting	Summary	Art
Chapter 1	Historical Event(s)	History Chapter: December 24 2005 Pluto's Kiss Events
Chapter 2	Offline	Kite's Player introduced. Transferred to new school, meets Yasuhiko.
Chapter 3	Offline	Kite's Player's family introduced. Yasuhiko invites him to play The World.
Chapter 4	Historical Event(s)	History Chapter: The founding of the Internet, the Cold War, Sputnik 1, The Moon Landing, ARPANET (Largely aligns with real-life historical events.)
Chapter 5	「The World」	Kite meets Orca in The World. They encounter Aura and Skeith. Both players lose consciousness.
Chapter 6	Historical Event(s)	History Chapter: Hackers. Explanation of motivations behind why people hack.
Chapter 7	Offline	Kite's player wakes up at his desk, disoriented. The next day at school, he learns that Yasuhiko has been hospitalized. Kite posts the "coma" thread on the BBS.
Chapter 8	Historical Event(s)	History Chapter: Brain, the first computer virus. (Slightly fantastical version of events compared to the real-life historical virus.)
Chapter 9	「The World」	Kite comes to the conclusion that the key to saving Yasuhiko is in The World. Meets BlackRose, goes to Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground, encounters Balmung and receives the Bracelet.
Chapter 10	Historical Event(s)	History Chapter: Yankee Doodle (1991 virus)
Chapter 11	「The World」	Kite gets email from Helba. The "Coma" post is deleted from the BBS. Kite and BlackRose level up a bit and learn more about data drain.
Chapter 12	Historical Event(s)	History Chapter: Hello, WNC (Virus)
Chapter 13	「The World」	Kite encounters Mia and Elk
Chapter 14	Historical Event(s)	History Chapter: Deadly Flash
Chapter 15	「The World」	Kite encounters Balmung, they speak about Orca. Afterwards, Helba appears and warns Kite about Lios.
Chapter 16	Historical Event(s)	History Chapter: June 1990, a Boston company called “Games & Publishing” is targeted by two students who felt wronged after not receiving a poster. They were sentenced to 4 years in prison and two years in probation.
Chapter 17	「The World」	Kite meets Linda, who reveals that Balmung and Orca were the Descendents of Fianna.
Chapter 18	Historical Event(s)	History Chapter: 1980-1988, a hacker named Martin Mitnick (Based on the real-life history of Kevin Mitnick.)
Chapter 19	「The World」	Kite and BlackRose invite Balmung to fight Skeith (Deviation from possible party members in the Games.) Cubia appears. Its roar blows the party away. Kite loses consciousness.
Chapter 20	Historical Event(s)	History Chapter: The Complications of Cybercrime
Chapter 21	Offline	Kite's player wakes up the next morning. Yasuhiko still hasn't woken up, even though Skeith was defeated. Kite's player runs into Mr. Tokuoka.
Chapter 22	Historical Event ???	Harald comes from Berlin to visit Emma's grave in Nuremberg.

Vol.2

Mutation (Vol.2)

Chapter #	Chapter Setting	Summary	Art
Chapter 23	???	Disjointed stream of consciousness narration by Harald.
Chapter 24	Offline	Kite's player and Mr. Tokuoka speak at an internet café. Tokuoka is surprised to learn that Kite defeated Skeith, and alludes to being saved falling into a coma when he encountered Skeith.
Chapter 25	Historical Event(s)	History Chapter: The Birth of CC Corp. The aftermath of Pluto's Kiss, the Network Regulations Act, ALTIMIT OS.
Chapter 26	「The World」	BlackRose cheers up Kite.
Chapter 27	Historical Event(s)	History Chapter: August 2006, Carlsbad, San Diego County, California. Harald comes to meet with CC Corp regarding his game's prototype. He meets a woman by the name Nica, who works at CC Corp.
Chapter 28	Offline	One month has passed since Kite started playing and Yasuhiko fell unconscious. Kite's player's parents are concerned about how much time is spent on the game, but he manages to get them to drop the topic.
Chapter 29	「The World」	Kite and BlackRose both receive a suspicious, anonymous email. They go to the field and are ambushed by Lios and the other System Administrators. They narrowly escape deletion when Helba intercedes.
Chapter 30	Offline	The next day, Kite's player receives a phone call from Tsuchiya, Kouji; the person behind the System Administrator, Lios. They meet in person.
Chapter 31	「The World」	Lios sends Kite and BlackRose to survey an area. There, they meet Elk and Mia. Mia's voice is distorted and appears to be bugged. The two parties go down to the dungeon, defeat a data bug, and find the Aromatic Grass Mia and Elk were after. Lios asks about what they encountered in the field, and comments that they encountered data anomalies before they entered the dungeon. The mismatch in what Kite reports gives Lios pause.
Chapter 32	Historical Event(s)	History Chapter: September 2006, Harald has integrated well with the team at CC Corp. He is nicknamed "Hal," by the others. In October there are some disagreements about the name of the game. Initially Harald wanted the name "Twilight," but eventually the team agrees on "fragment."
Chapter 33	Offline	Kite's player talks to his sister regarding her concerns that they might be moving again.
Chapter 34	「The World」	Kite and BlackRose fight Innis.
Chapter 35	「The World」	Kite and BlackRose meet a shadow of Aura, return one of the fragments to her. This triggers the appearance of Cubia, whom they must fight.
Chapter 36	「The World」	Kite pays Linda a hefty sum of GP for information, receives keywords in return. Goes to the field, finds a Harald room, and encounters Balmung. They form a temporary truce to work together.
Chapter 37	「The World」	Linda tells Kite to find a player called Wiseman, whom he meets in Carmina Gadelica. Kite asks him to find information about the Epitaph of Twilight, and Wiseman agrees to do so once he figures out what he wants from Kite in exchange.
Chapter 38	「The World」	Wiseman's condition is to join Kite's party. Kite, BlackRose, and Wiseman investigate some rumors from the BBS and encounter Plaird, who is deleted by Lios.
Chapter 39	Historical Event(s)	History Chapter: By Winter 2006, Harald becomes visibly ill. After the new year, spring, and summer pass, Harald appears to recover slightly. While speaking with Nica over drinks, he accidentally lets slip his desire to meet Morganna. Afterwards, they part ways and Harald never returns to work.
Chapter 40	「The World」	Kite and Wiseman decide to seek out Helba in Net Slum. Lios pursues them.
Chapter 41	「The World」	Lios attempts to delete Net Slum, but his face off with Helba is interrupted by data distortions. Kite's appearance exposed Net Slum to Morganna. Kite, BlackRose, and Wiseman face Magus. After the fight the infected data has spread to the Root Towns.
Chapter 42	Offline	Kite's player's family are eating and watching television. Kite tries to ask his dad about the possibility of moving again, but his father is distracted by the television, which is covering the chaos unfolding in the Minato Mirai area of Yokohama. A piercing woman's scream takes over the broadcast. Everyone goes pale and watches in stunned silence.

Vol.3

Outbreak (Vol.3)

Chapter #	Chapter Setting	Summary	Art
Chapter 43	Offline Flashback	Kite's player thinks back to time he was in 2nd grade and a time that made him realize what kind of person he was.
Chapter 44	「The World」+ Offline	Details how Magus' defeat and the Minato Mirai incidents were linked. Tsuchiya calls to scold Kite's player, who is overtaken with guilt.
Chapter 45	「The World」	BlackRose tells kite why she keeps playing alongside him. Her brother fell into a coma. Kite is stunned out of his depressive state. Kite and BlackRose cheer each other on.
Chapter 46	「The World」	Kite and BlackRose try to figure out their next move. Kite reaches out to Balmung and they officially team up.
Chapter 47	「The World」	Fidchell Fight.
Chapter 48	「The World」	Fragment returned to Aura. Cubia fight. BlackRose realizes that Cubia doesn't want Kite to meet Aura. Afterwards, Lios lectures them about why he can't work with hackers like Helba.
Chapter 49	Offline	Kite wallows in guilt and self-loathing. He desires to be like the hero of Makai Tenshi GIGA. By the time December rolls around, TV programs are covering the network incidents and openly criticizing CC Corp and The World. Kite's player and his classmates are now able to visit Yasuhiko in the hospital. Mr. Tokuoka calls from Northern Gifu. He also is aware of Helba. Kite's player updates him on recent occurrences and Tokuoka offers to help him. As it turns out, Mr. Tokuoka used to be a programmer for CC Corp. He also knows Tsuchiya, Kouji, who he calls "Tsuchi." He says that convincing Lios would be impossible, so Kite should consider working with Helba to find something to tempt Lios with Collateral.
Chapter 50	「The World」	Three days after the call with Mr. Tokuoka, Kite receives an email from Wiseman. He and BlackRose go to Net Slum, which has been moved. Tartarga escorts them to meet Helba, who is eventually persuaded to try Kite's strategy. However before moving forward with the plan, she must first ask the denizens of Net Slum how they feel about undertaking such a risk. After Helba delivers an impassioned speech, the denizens of Net Slum enthusiastically consent.
Chapter 51	Offline Flashback	Flashback to Kite's player and Yasuhiko talking at school about which mammal is the most powerful. Yasuhiko explains why he thinks the correct answer is Killer Whales (aka Orca).
Chapter 52	「The World」	The residents of Net Slum and Helba have come to an agreement, so now Lios needs to be convinced. Kite asks Wiseman to set up a meeting between Lios and Helba. Kite and Wiseman mediate as neutral third parties. The meeting ends with Lios stating that he plans to think on it give an answer later. The next morning, Kite receives an email from Lios.
Chapter 53	「The World」	Helba, Lios, Balmung, BlackRose, Wiseman, Kite, some members of the Pig Racing Squadron, and some wandering AI gather in Net Slum to go over the plan.
Chapter 54	「The World」	Kite and BlackRose go adventuring to raise their levels. Upon returning to Carmina Gadelica, they encounter Elk. Mia is missing, and Kite offers to help Elk find her. Elk tries to refuse but BlackRose overpowers him and forces him to exchange member addresses with them.
Chapter 55	「The World」	Operation Breakwater launched. Kite, BlackRose, and Balmung fight Gorre.

Vol.4

Quarantine (Vol.4)

Chapter #	Chapter Setting	Summary	Art
Chapter 56	???	Disjointed stream of consciousness narrated by Morganna.
Chapter 57	「The World」	The Vaccine Program plan is discussed. Kite talks to Lios about Mr. Tokuoka. Lios flies into a rage and badmouths him before leaving. Kite reflects that Mr. Tokuoka was wrong, though it was too late to change anything.
Chapter 58	Offline	Kite's player finally speaks to his father regarding moving. His father clarifies that only he will be moving for work, that he'll return on weekends, and that the rest of the family will remain in their current home. He apologizes for the burden of repeatedly uprooting the children's lives.
Chapter 59	「The World」	Kite declares the commencement of Operation Orca. Kite, BlackRose, and Balmung fight Macha.
Chapter 60	「The World」	The Vaccine Program fails. Of the System Administrators, only Noguchi survived. Kite and BlackRose face Tarvos.
Chapter 61	Offline	One week until the start of Winter Vacation. Kite's player contemplates how the Eight Phases are connected to the Epitaph of Twilight. He also can find a reference to Cubia in the Epitaph, but can't find anything about Morganna Mode Gone, which makes him question who their enemy is and how she ties into everything.
Chapter 62	「The World」	December 24. Kite invites BlackRose and Balmung to an area with one of Harald's Rooms. They speak to a stone with the remnants of AI Harald. Aura appears and reveals the connection between Cubia and the Bracelet. The final battle with Cubia begins, and Kite realizes what he must do to defeat Cubia once and for all. After the battle ends, Kite loses consciousness.
Chapter 63	「The World」	The team reconvenes and discuss what they've learned. They come to the conclusion that Morganna Mode Gone is Emma Wieland.
Chapter 64	Historical Event(s)	History Chapter: The team at CC Corp discover the black box Harald built into Fragment. They discuss postponing the beta test and game launch, but ultimately cannot due to working with other companies, like ALTIMIT. They decide to move forward, and fragment is released in July, as originally planned. The beta ends after a little over two months. The team is ultimately unable to break into the Black Box. Despite the success of fragment, employees begin to quit after The World is launched. Of the original team, only Nica remained. She eventually is promoted to a high level position. She hid the development tools Harald left behind. Only she was able to break into the Black Box. She did so in secret, though she ultimately only made one change; she impulsively tweaked the code of the black box program to distort the system's ability for self-awareness. Her motivations were to end the "fake family" Harald had sought to build in the game, as she considered Aura and Emma unnecessary. To her, only Harald's work was worth preserving.
Chapter 65	「The World」	The fight against Corbenik and Morganna.
Chapter 66	「The World」	Kite's attempt to speak with Morganna fails. After losing many allies, the tide of the battle shifts and Morganna begins to flee. Helba receives word that Tokuoka and his friends are taking action on the outside and the party try to hold out hope. In an act of desperation, she sends a prototype of the phases after the party: Skeith ZERO, the Terror of the Primordial. Lios saves Kite and Helba using a secret vehicle hidden in the game's code: a Steam Bike. Lios announces his intent to face the enemy.
Chapter 67	「The World」	Lios jumps off of the bike and starts to fistfight Skeith ZERO. Kite realizes that this Skeith is covered in cracks and appears to have been damaged by the various battles against the Phases. Helba moves in to assist Lios. Balmung and Kite face Morganna and the Seekers. Balmung is data drained and Kite looks around to realize that everyone else has fallen, and that he is alone in facing Morganna. Kite yells at her, calling her Emma and asking if she's forgotten who she is. When he goes to land the final blow on Morganna, Aura appears in front of her. Kite watches as mother and daughter mutually try to protect each other.
Chapter 68	「The World」+ Offline	Thanks to Aura becoming the ultimate AI, the game data returned to normal and the network problems ceased. Everyone who had fallen unconscious due to the game returned. Offline, Kite's player talks to his sister after the New Year. He also speaks to Mr. Tokuoka one last time. Kite and BlackRose meet Aura in a dungeon, and the Bracelet is returned to Kite. Kite's player meets Yasuhiko, who is now awake but unable to attend the offline meet-up. Kite's player doesn't really have any interest in meeting the people offline, but attends anyway because he wants to thank BlackRose's player. Mr. Tsuchiya reserved a cafe for the meeting. The attendees include Lios, BlackRose, Balmung, Wiseman, and Helba, some of the other System Administators, as well as some of the hackers from Net Slum.
Chapter 69	「The World」	Elk and Kite visit a dungeon after receiving a message from Aura. Mia is reborn and they are reunited.

Characters

Online

Kite	Orca	BlackRose	Balmung	Mia	Elk
Helba	Lios	Wiseman	Linda	Noguchi

Aura	Morganna	Cubia	AI Harald	Skeith	Innis
Magus	Fidchell	Tarvos	Gorre	Macha	Corbenik
Skeith ZERO	Tartarga

Offline

Player	Younger Sister	Yasuhiko	Tokuoka, Junichiro	Tsuchiya, Kouji
Father	Mother	Harald "Hal"	Emma Wielant
President of CC	Mr. Kirsch	McGavin "Mag"	Veronica "Nica" Bain

Character Text Colors

The Webnovel features distinct text colors for the dialogue of some characters.

Character Text Color

Kite		Orca
BlackRose		Balmung
Mia		Elk
Helba		Lios
Wiseman		Aura

Production

Release

Release Dates

Release Date	Chapter #s
2017-06-20	1 ～ 7
2017-06-27	8 ～ 11
2017-07-4	12 ～ 15
2017-07-11	16 ～ 19
2017-07-18	20 ～ 22
2017-07-25	23 ～ 27
2017-08-1	28 ～ 31
2017-08-15	36 ～ 39
2017-08-22	40 ～ 42
2017-08-29	43 ～ 45
2017-09-5	46 ～ 48
2017-09-12	49 ～ 52
2017-09-19	53 ～ 55
2017-09-26	56 ～ 59
2017-10-3	60 ～ 63
2017-10-10	64 ～ 66
2017-10-17	67 ～ 69

Media

Chapter Illustrations

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  Artist: Hoshi, Itsuki

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  Artist: CC2 Staff

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  Artist: CC2 Staff

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  Artist: CC2 Staff

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  Artist: CC2 Staff

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  Artist: CC2 Staff

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  Artist: CC2 Staff

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  Artist: CC2 Staff

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  Artist: CC2 Staff

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  Artist: CC2 Staff

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  Artist: CC2 Staff

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  Artist: Hoshi, Itsuki

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  Artist: Hoshi, Itsuki

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  Artist: Hoshi, Itsuki

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  Artist: Hoshi, Itsuki

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  Artist: Hoshi, Itsuki

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  Artist: Hoshi, Itsuki

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  Artist: CC2 Staff

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  Artist: Hoshi, Itsuki

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  Artist: Hoshi, Itsuki

External Links

• Webnovel Landing Page (via CC2.co.jp)
• .hack//Fanbook Page (via CC2.co.jp)
• English Fan Translation (via .hack//Translate on Wordpress)