A week passed as we went at the break of dawn, the labyrinth raid of floor 75 was going to start. Multiple groups of players were waiting, including Fuurinkazan, Aincrad Liberation Force, KoB, and other smaller groups.

As much as there were the guild groups, there were multiple four-partied players and solo players. I looked around as I was with Toru, Asuna, Kirito, Sato and Neo. “Heathcliff should be here soon” Asuna said as we then heard footsteps coming from behind us, We turned around to see Heathcliff in his red and white armor.

We split up to create a way for him to walk to the front as he walked through the crowd. The crowd eventually forms back to normal as Heathcliff sets his hands on the double door. “Are you going to give your inspirational speech Heathcliff?” A KoB guild member said as he looked at him and said “No.. I’ll save it for when we get to the boss.”.

He took a deep breath in and out before opening the doors with two others, when the doors opened the labyrinth was like a maze. It shifted constantly, making it impossible for larger groups to go in without being splitted apart. Heathcliff saw this as he shouted “Split into threes or fours!!” as he unsheathed his sword and rushed in.

“Everyone!! Split into three or four groups!!!”

One of the louder KoB members shouted as more people shouted it to notify the entire raid group. We all splitted up as Kirito and Asuna splitted up with Klein and Agil, meanwhile I splitted up with Toru, Sato and Neo. We rushed towards the maze-like labyrinth as my group ran into the shifting walls. All of a sudden, the walls stopped shifting after the first half of the raid group ran in.

We noticed this as I said “Be on guard guys!” as we unsheathed our weapons. We heard battling from outside of the walls as we looked up and saw gigantic spiders come out of holes in the walls. I swung my sword as I slashed one of them as Toru and Neo took care of the other. Sato slammed his sword into the spider’s abdomen as we saw it shatter, he pulled his sword up as one part of the wall would open up.

We ran through the opening as we heard people falling and shattering, it gave us a little scare as we weren’t considering traps to be in this labyrinth. As we ran through, we ran into a bigger room than normal, Sato and I stepped through as we heard rumbling throughout that room.

The opening behind us then began closing as Sato was quick to think on his feet as he turned around and pushed me out of the opening we ran through. “Sato!!” I shouted as I got up and saw his smile and a thumbs up from him before the wall collapsed.

“No!! Sato!!”

I shouted trying to push the wall open as I slammed my fist on the wall. Neo also tried to break the wall open as she slammed her dagger into the wall damaging her dagger's durability. “Kirin we need to keep moving..” Toru said as another wall opened for us, I got up as I kept running and thought to myself “You won’t be forgotten Sato…” as we made it to the other side of the labyrinth.

Kirito, Asuna, Klein and Agil looked at us as Kirito said “Where’s Sato?”, I looked at him as I looked away a bit, gripping my handle. Kirito sighed before patting my back trying to comfort me, saying “You and Sato were almost inseparable…I’m sorry…”. I took a deep breath with my voice shaking a bit saying “T-thanks…” with a little voice crack to go along with it.

We looked back at the labyrinth as we saw no other players coming through from the other side, We turned away from it as Heathcliff said “Can I get your attention!”. Heathcliff started his inspirational speech as this kind of attitude reminded me of Diavel, it only gave me more doubt as I felt a hand touch my shoulder. It broke me out of my self-conscious doubt as Toru was the one who touched my shoulder, “Kirin…We’ll finish this game together..” she said in a light tone as I nodded.

“Yeah, we’ll finish this together”

I said lightly as I held her hand, I didn’t pay any attention to Heathcliff’s speech as I looked ahead and saw the doors open. We all rushed in as the bosses arena was a circular shape standing above a pit.

We all spreaded out as we noticed that the boss wasn’t around. “Where are you…” I thought to myself cautiously looking around as Someone then fell backwards onto their bottom as I looked over. He was looking up as his expression was almost scared, I looked up as My expression also changed into a fearful-like state.

“Holy…Shit…”

I said underneath my breath as I saw two red eyes open up, and then another pair, and then another and smaller pair of eyes. As quick as our scared banter were, the Entity slammed down into the middle of the arena. With dust coming up from the ground and most of us thrown close to the edges.

It stuck its knife-like arms into the ground as it helped up its gigantic head and looked around, its jaw splitting open and letting out a clicking-like sound while looking around. It was nightmare fuel on steroids, as it let out an eerie roar, seeing its name and 6 health bars show up.

We all got up as it began looking around, but before it could even attack it let out a painful scream. We covered our ears as the Skull reaper suddenly just shattered. We all looked at it confused as the Congratulations didn’t show up. “What…What just happened…?” I thought as I wasn’t sure what happened.

I looked around at the other confused players as I looked at Heathcliff, also confused at the situation as one of the players asked “Did…Did we beat it..?”. Another player responded to his question “No, none of us hit it once, and the congratulations thing didn’t show up..”. The situation got even more confusing from there as one of us then realized what just happened.

“We…Were soft blocked…”

I looked over at the player who said it as I knew what he meant, “No… We can’t be soft blocked here!!!” I thought as other players asked “What’s soft blocked..?”. I explained to the confused players “Soft blocking means that the game is stopping us from progressing, the only way is to reset the game…”.

The players looked between themselves as they said “We can’t reset the game! We’re so close to the finish line!!” as they began rallying up a bit. A few minutes turned into hours, as almost all of us sat down to re-think about the situation. By now we all knew that we were stuck in this place, despair was filling the atmosphere of the room.

I looked at Toru who had her head on my lap and holding my hand. She had taken her gloves off to hold my hand with her ring on, she sighed as I heard a wind chime sound again. I checked my messages as Kirito had sent me a message, “I have a hunch but… I need both of us to try something…”.

I replied, “What do you need to do?” as he sent to me “I need the both of us to attack Heathcliff”. I looked at him confused as we were a few meters apart from one another, I looked down and sent him a message saying “Why? Why Heathcliff, is it because you lost in the fight?”.

He replied back “No, well kind of, but I just have a hunch that something’s up with him, He’s too calm in a place like this where we’re stuck. It’s almost like he has his own exit…”.

I looked at him and he stared at me, I looked down at the text and replied “What do you mean by that?” as Kirito explained in a message,

“He’s really calm in a situation where we’re stuck…I think that he could be Kayaba… No other player should be calm while the feeling of despair is in this room… but how it leads to my hunch of him being Kayaba is…something that has to do with our fight…”

I looked at him a little concerned as he sent another message saying “Just…Trust me alright” as I sighed. I looked at him and nodded as I let go of Toru’s hand and slowly got up. Kirito and I unsheathed our weapons as I switched my skill to a skill called “Blademaster”.

We blitzed towards Heathcliff from both sides as Kirito thrusted his Dark repulser and I swung my Dragonslayer Sword diagonally towards him. Our swords slammed into a force field as for the both of us a purple hexagon popped up saying “Immortal Object”. Everyone saw this as Kirito and I jumped back now cautious of the situation.

“Heathcliff…?”

Asuna said as Asuna, Toru, Kirito and I were the only ones to recognize that purple hexagon. Heathcliff looked around as everyone was shocked at this revelation, He sighed, dropping his act saying “Well the cat’s out of the bag now…”.

“You’re quick to know Kirito, I assume you knew I was Kayaba from our fight huh?”

Heathcliff said in an almost emotionless tone, Kirito’s surprised expression told me all I needed to know. I then asked him “Kayaba, Why did you do this! For two years now you kept us under this fucking world!!” as I was visibly angry.

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He turned his attention to me as he looked at me and said “The Dark Knight wants to talk now? Oh please, go kill another orange or red player now would you.” as I took that as an Insult.

“You self-loathing son of a bitch!!!”

I shouted as I swung my sword and slammed it against the purple hexagon once again. “Now that’s the Kirin I know, always quick to temper, strong, and most importantly, willing to take another person's life in a second!” Kayaba said with almost an excited tone.

This frightened me a bit as I felt my body suddenly freeze up and fall to the floor. Kayaba then tapped an icon as everybody in the room froze up and fell to the floor. I then saw on my hud that it was an infinite paralysis effect.

“Well Kirito, since you found out my little secret, how about we make a deal”

Kayaba said as Kirito looked up, Kayaba then added on saying “You get a little freebie, what do you want with that freebie, Black Swordsmen?”.“I want you to go fuck yourself by letting everyone stuck in this fucking game go..” Kirito said as Kayaba chuckled, Kayaba looked down saying “How about a little rematch huh? I felt like it was cheating having to increase my switch speed by a second.”.

“Sure.. If it mean I get to kick your fucking ass…” Kirito said in an aggravating tone. “Sure thing, if you can beat me a second time” Kayaba said smugly as he let off Kirito’s paralysis effect. Kirito got up as he looked at Asuna and walked over, he held her hand while secretly handing her a cleansing crystal.

“Use it when you think it’s the right time…”

He whispered to Asuna as she gave him a small smile, Kirito then got up as he picked up both of his swords from the ground. Everyone around began chanting for Kirito to win, Kirito then said “Klein! This one's for you!” as Klein teared up saying “If we win…You’re buying me pizza and some soda!!”.

“I’ll be sure to pay for it”

Kirito said smiling as Kirito got the duel request, with the condition being deathmatch. Kirito accepted the request as the timer began counting down. “Alright…No holding back Kirito…” I thought to myself quietly as the crowd went silent, nothing but the sound of the timer ticking down.

The timer hit zero as Kirito rushed in quickly, swinging his swords at Kayaba’s shield. “Alright no more messing around..!” Kirito thought to himself as he used a horizontal square, breaking through Kayaba’s guard. Kirito slashed at him, hitting a clean strike, and dropping his health down to low green.

“That won’t happen twice!”

Kayaba shouted as he kneed Kirito’s abdomen before shield-bashing his face, forcing Kirito to stumble back. “YOUR LEFT KIRITO!!!” I shouted as Kirito ducked under Kayaba’s sword, Kirito charged up a double Upward strike as he swung both swords up at the same time.

Kayaba was caught off guard as his health dropped down to yellow, Kirito’s health was also at yellow from the shield-bash. “HAAAH!!” Kirito shouted as he began swinging again and Kayaba began blocking with his shield. “Kayaba knows the dual wielding sword skills, so I need to use them sparingly!” Kirito thought to himself as Kirito charged up another sword skill.

Kirito noticed a change in Kayaba’s footing and posture as Kirito released his Starburst Stream. “I can’t stop now…Starburst Stream is a continuous hitting combo..!” as Kayaba was being pushed back slightly by the sword skill.

“HAAAHHH!!”

Kirito cried out as he thrusted his Dark repulser against Kayaba’s shield, the sword slammed into the shield as the tip of the blade snapped off. Kayaba smirked as Kirito’s expression was that of fear, Kayaba then raised up his sword and slashed diagonally.

Kayaba’s expression was out of confusion as Asuna had gotten in the way and took the hit, “Asuna!!” Kirito shouted as he caught her from falling backwards.

“Asuna! No no no!!”

Kirito said scared as Asuna sets her hand on his face smiling and saying “Kirito…I..-” as her sentence was cut off with her shattering. Kirito looked up as he tried grabbing the shattered particles, saying in a shaky voice “No…No don’t go…” as he fell to his knees in tears.

The room was silent as Kayaba said confused “How…did she get out of my paralysis?” as Kirito grabbed his elucidator and Asuna’s Lambent Light. He got up as he swung his elucidator without any power behind it, missing as Kayaba was just taking steps back.

“Now I feel really bad for you”

Kayaba said, trying to sympathize as he smacks Elucidator away with his sword. Kirito looked over as he didn’t want to fight anymore, Kayaba shrugged saying to him “I’ll see you in the next life, Kirito” as Kayaba impaled him with his sword.

“No…Not you too Kirito…”

Klein said in a saddened tone, Kirito then gripped the rapier as he began to glitch, Toru and I noticed this as it was almost the same kind of glitching that Yui had. Kirito then looked Kayaba dead in the eyes as his eyes shimmered a glint of gold. Kirito then said “I’m taking you with me!!” as he shoved Lambent Light through Kayaba’s abdomen.

Kayaba’s HP dropped as we saw his health bar reach the lowest, but then it stopped. “W-what…” Kirito said as Kayaba chuckled a bit saying “I guess your rapier skills weren't strong enough”. Kirito then said “God…Fucking damn it…” as he shattered.

Our hopes were now at the lowest of lows, as Kayaba’s health returned back to green due to it being a duel. “That’s much better, never have I thought I’d lose there” Kayaba said as I gritted my teeth.

“KAYABAA!!!”

I shouted as he turned to me, saying “what is it Reaper” as I shouted on the top of my lungs “LET ME OUT! I’M NEXT TO FIGHT!!! YOU NEVER FOUGHT ME BACK AT THE COLISEUM!!!”.

Kayaba takes a little thought of it as he remembers “Oh right, well I guess that works as an excuse” he chuckled. Kayaba then says “I’ll fight you, under one condition” as I looked at him, Kayaba then said “Your partner there, she won’t get out” as he doesn’t want what happened to Kirito and Asuna.

I looked at Toru as she looked at me, I sighed as I said “Fine, deal!”. Kayaba then lifted my paralysis as I stood up, I grabbed my Dragonslayer sword as Kayaba sent me the deathmatch request. I accepted it as the timer counted down. Everyone in the room is filled with despair and hopelessness, I then thought to myself “I will not let Kirito and Asuna’s attempt to be in vain…” as the timer hits zero. This time, Kayaba is the one to rush as he recognizes I only use one sword. I swung my sword as it hits against his shield.

“One sword, It can’t be One-handed…”

Kayaba thought to himself as he sidestepped a vertical swing, he then continued his train of thought “The sword swings are too wide, A one handed sword user would use the weapon as close for effectiveness…”.

I swung my sword once again as it slammed against Kayaba’s shield “Good…He doesn’t know about the BladeMaster Skill…” I thought to myself as I gripped the hand with my other hand, forcing him back a bit. “Enough of this!” Kayaba shouted as he swung his shield upwards and opened up my guard. Kayaba then thrusted his sword as I used one hand to let go of the sword and materialize a dagger to block the attack.

His eyes widened for a second as he took a couple steps back and I recuperated. Kayaba seemed confused once again as I flipped my dagger from the reverse grip. “So that’s your ace skill… My prototype Skill…” Kayaba said as I looked at him as he added on “Blademaster…Was it?”.

I began to get a little worried as he said “I knew it…” as he rushed in, I ran in as well as we clashed swords, I swapped my dagger to another sword as we both pushed each other back. I spun around and swung my swords as Kayaba got ready with his shield. I slammed both swords into his shield as his shield's durability drastically fell.

This surprised Kayaba as I kept swinging like Kirito did, shouting “this is for Asuna!” as I thrusted my sword and shattered his shield along with my second sword. “This one is for Kirito!!” as I spun and slashed as he blocked it with his sword. Both our swords collided as I gripped my sword with both hands and Kayaba did the same.

“AND THIS ONE IS FOR RINA!!!”

I shouted on the top of my lungs as I let out a battle cry and kept pushing downwards. I eventually broke through his guard as I sprung forward and slammed the sword through his chest, tackling him down to the ground too.

The sword landed a critical hit as I pulled it out and materialized it into a dagger slamming it into his chest multiple times. After 15 times of stabbing him I slammed the dagger into his chest for the 16th time. His health bar immediately dropped to zero after that as he began glowing blue.

He chuckled as I looked at him confused, he then said “I’m…not dying alone…” as I felt the fatigue the skill had as a backlash. The fatigue and adrenaline were taking its toll as my health dropped quickly. Kayaba shattered first as my health dropped to zero, my hud disappearing as a hexagon appeared on my hud saying “You are dead”.

I looked over towards Toru as I began to glow blue, smiling at her as her tears ran down her face. The announcer’s voice was announcing the game’s end as it said “As of November 7th, 2024, Sword Art Online has been beaten, As of November 7th, 2024, Sword Art Online has been beaten, now logging out all players”.

I woke up to an outside view of Aincrad, seeing the castle above the clouds and the sun setting. I looked around and vaguely saw Kirito and Asuna off in the distance. “Beautiful…isn’t it…” A voice said as I turned around to see who it was. It was Kayaba again, but not Heathcliff this time, but himself.

“Kayaba..?”

I said as he nodded saying “you’re a very good player Kirin, I never thought you’d overpower and administrator…” as I looked at him. I had many questions to ask as I said to him “So.. What happens now?” as Kayaba responds with a sigh. “Now, everyone leaves…” He said vaguely as he opened his menu and clicked an extra menu and clicked players.

He then tapped “Logout all” as I stood there and asked him “So why did you just keep us here..?” as Kayaba said

“Well, I just wanted people to live in a fantasy outside of the real world, a world where they don’t have to fear taxes, government, and world wars… I just wanted my little world to be an escape from reality…”.

I looked down to see the castle crumbling as I asked him “What about the logout button?” as he quickly replied “That…that was never supposed to happen…I was quickly rushed due to deadlines and having a ametur programmer somehow fuck up the simplest logout system.”, I looked at him and said “Why didn’t you do-” as he cut me off saying “I was at a meeting with the publishers!”.

He sighed saying “Sorry…for everything Kirin…” as he added on “I didn’t mean to antagonize myself or anyone, I…I was also scared of the concept of death once I realized that the game wasn’t finished…”.

He sounded very genuine as he put his hand out saying “This is goodbye man..” as I looked down and shook his hand, saying “You’re not bad of a player yourself…” as he chuckled. “I used to play world of warcraft” as we let go and he walked off, fading out.

I turned to look at the collapsing castle as I then took one final revision of myself,

“Mom…Dad…I’m…I’m sorry for doubting you both… Now that I realize what there is to fight for and live for…I now finally understand what you both mean…I…I miss you both…”

I sighed as the light engulfed everything around me, muttering one last time “I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…Toru…” as the light erased my SAO Character.