~~An alternate ending to the Aincrad Arc of Sword Art Online.~~

With a final slice, Kirito launched himself at Heathcliff. Unable to defend himself in time, Heathcliff looked in horror as his HP began to diminish rapidly.

"How did you-" he was cut off as his HP reached zero. Smiling, as if hiding some secret, he pixelated and disappeared.

At the same time, all the players regained their movement.

"Kirito! You did it!" Asuna cheered, running over to embrace him.

"Stop!" Kirito yelled, "Something doesn't seem right..." As if on cue, everyone in the room was instantly teleported back to the center in the Town of Beginnings.

"What's going on?"

"Did the people on the front lines beat the game?"

"Is there another surprise for us?" People cried, wondering why everyone had been suddenly transported to the center.

Where is Asuna, wondered Kirito. He methodically scanned the crowd for Asuna's familiar red and white Knights of Bood Oath uniform. After a minute, he spotted her. She was on the other side of the area, in between a burly Liberation Force member and a young child, who looked obviously terrified by the sudden change.

"Asuna!" Kirito yelled across the plaza. However, Asuna couldn't hear him. Kirito attempted to message her using the game controls. He selected her name and began typing a message, however, he was interrupted by the sudden, gravely familiar flash of a system notification.

Oh god, it's happening again, he thought. Sure enough, that robed, faceless avatar Kayaba Akihiko was first sighted as had appeared.

"Welcome, players," his voice boomed across the plaza. "You are all most likely wondering why I have gathered you here."

"Yeah, tell us!" screamed a man near the front of the plaza. Kirito recognized him as Kibaou, the man who corrupted the Aincrad Liberation Force and started the segregation between Beta Testers and normal players. Suddenly, Kayaba opened his menu, and in a few short clicks, Kibaou was dead.

"Now that I will not be interrupted," Kayaba growled, "I will explain why you are all here: A player by the name of Kirito was able to deduce my disguise as Heathcliff, leader of the Knights of Blood Oath, and succesfully defeat me in combat." Kayaba explained. "I had originally planned to continue playing, and then to finally reveal myself as the final boss on the 100th floor. However, now that I have already been defeated, I will offer you all a choice. You may choose to continue playing the game and complete the final levels of the game. Or you may send two players into Ellius, another game I created for this specific scenario. I will not tell you the specific details, but Ellius is similar to Aincrad. If the two players are unable to clear the 5 levels of Ellius, everyone will remain trapped here until they die.

A message suddenly appeared in front of everyone. The display read:

Make Your Choice:

Continue Aincrad

Defeat Ellius

Grumbling, the players cast their votes. When they had finished, Kayaba announced the results.

"The players have cast their votes," Kayaba announced, "The majority of you decided on defeating Ellius. Congratulations! You have two days to pick your players." And suddenly, he was gone.

Tell me: Did you love it, like it, or hate it?

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Thanks! ~~~~That Guy With The Face