Four years after the Twilight incident in the .hack video games, stability has seemingly returned to the on-line RPG "The World." Shugo and Rena, twin siblings who are living apart from each other, mysteriously acquire the player models of the .hackers: Kite and BlackRose, respectively. But invincible monsters have now made their way into the game - possibly as a result of a group of rogue players. Shugo is given the Twilight Bracelet, a dangerous data-altering item entrusted to the original Kite. Shugo and Rena, along with their newfound friends in the game (including Balmung and Sanjuro, two original players involved with the Twilight conflict), attempt to uncover the secret of these events while also avoiding the Cerulean Knights, a relentless team of system administrators.