Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online.

Reign of the Shadow

Chapter 1

Hijacked

The group walked through two massive marble doors with elaborate designs carved into them. Kirito led the way into a Great Hall. Two rows of pillars ran the length of the hall, and gigantic windows on both walls allowed the setting sun's light into the hall, giving it an almost golden glow. Only clouds could be seen for as far as the eye could see. This would definitely be a battle in the sky.

At the far end of the hall, three wide steps led to a tall, gold throne. In it sat a figure all too familiar to Kirito and his friends, except for Lyfa and Recon. His long, silver hair falling down around his pale but noble face and going down the back of his white cape and red armor; Heathcliff watched them enter. He was not Kayaba, but merely the programmed end boss to Aincrad castle. Finally, Kirito, with the help of his companions, was going to fulfill his vow of completing all 100 levels of the castle.

Heathcliff didn't speak until they were about halfway into the room. He stood, and his deep voice echoed off the walls, "Congratulations on making it this far. I am Heathcliff, the Demon King. If you wish to clear the game, you must defeat me. Are you ready?"

Kirito smiled as watched the man on the throne rise to his feet, "You bet we're ready."

"Very well," Heathcliff replied, "Be prepared and be aware, I will show you no mercy."

The red knight drew his sword and charged them. The group had barely enough time to draw their own weapons before he was upon them. Naturally, as he was in the lead, Kirito was the target of this first attack. He used his two swords (Liz reforged the broken one) to block the coming attack. He strained under the strength of the boss, but was rescued when Asuna charged him from the side. Heathcliff easily blocked her attack with his shield, but he moved away from both of them.

The group formed a circle around the boss, who simply observed them from the center. Then without warning, he charged toward Recon, who was by far the weakest of the group as far as direct combat was concerned. Fortunately he was spared by Lyfa, who parried the attack with her katana. The rest of the group moved in toward them. The boss quickly drew away and turned to the rest of the other players.

He moved fluidly in between all of them, and did not seem to attack in any type of pattern, though if anyone got too close to him they would have to face a sudden flurry of attacks. His moves were too quick for everyone to engage him at once. Then, an idea struck Kirito.

"Lyfa, Recon!" Kirito shouted as the point of his black blade met Heathcliff's thick shield and the other sword parried the coming attack. "Use your magic to create explosions around him, so he can't see us." Heathcliff jumped back from him and turned after Egil and Klein. Kirito then addressed the rest of the group, "Everyone, attack him at once! We have to overwhelm him!"

Heathcliff dealt some damage to both Egil and Klein before jumping back to the middle of the circle. Just as he did so, Lyfa and Recon finished their spells. Two explosions erupted on either side of the boss, obscuring him with smoke and dealing some damage at the same time. The entire party advance on him, emerging from the quickly clearing smoke in time to see Heathcliff also preparing for their attack. His sword parried Lyfa and Egil's attack simultaneously, while his shield protected him from most of Asuna's lightning fast strike.

Recon sent a fiery dart into the boss's side, while the glowing red blade of Klein's katana slashed his shoulder. A few of Asuna's many rapid green strikes found their way around the shield to deal some damage. Kirito did the most damage though, as both of his blades, now glowing green, slashed down the length of his back.

One attack was all they were going to get though, Heathcliff reacted with lightning speed. He staggered Lyfa and Egil with a shove of his sword and spun around, bringing the blade downward. This nearly cut Recon in half. At the same time, the tip of his large shield smacked Klein in the face, sending him flat on his back. Kirito crossed his swords to block the coming blow, which landed right on them, but the Demon King's sword still nearly separated his left arm from his body.

They all jumped back to avoid any more damage. The boss charged after Kirito, who completely blocked his attack with Asuna's help. The couple glanced and smiled at each other, Kirito's gratefulness evident in his eyes. Then they dashed at their enemy. His large shield blocked the point of Asuna's blade, and his sword blocked one of Kirito's. The young raven-haired man spun under Heathcliff's arm, slashing his side with the other sword.

The others also saw the opportunity opened by their friends' attack, and advanced themselves. Another explosion erupted right behind the boss from Recon, while the others charged. Heathcliff turned to meet their advance. In a flash of green and yellow, the boss's HP bar dropped when Egil's and Leafa's strikes found their mark. Unfortunately, Klein was again struck in the face by the shield, spinning him around and knocking him to the ground.

The party continued to follow this pattern of attacking. Someone, usually 2 or 3 people, would charge at the Demon King's front, allowing the others to strike from the sides or from behind. The center of that golden Great Hall became filled with their battle cries and flashes of color from their weapons as well as sparks that flew each time swords met or an attack was blocked by the shield. Slowly, the party whittled down the final boss's HP. However, nearly every blow he dealt caused damage of some sort to at least one member.

Then, Heathcliff's health entered orange. Completely ignoring any coming blows, the red knight crouched down, pulling his sword arm across the front of his body and angling his sword into the air so that it came around his back. Before anyone could hit him, the blade of Heathcliff's sword glowed red, and he swung. The move was so powerful it kicked dirt and dust into the air, while a red flash extended in a circle from Heathcliff with tremendous force, throwing the entire party into the air.

As they struggled to their feet, the boss swiftly advanced on Recon. Recon had been switching between healing the group and use long-range magic attacks to deal a little damage but also distract the boss from the group. As he struggled to his hands and knees, however, Heathcliff struck up ward, his sword catching Recon in the side and nearly slicing him in half while flinging him into the air. When he finally landed on his back on the floor, his HP bar read that he had hardly any health left.

Heathcliff moved to finish Recon off, but was blocked by Lyfa. Despite this being a game in a virtual world, anger shone from her face. She did not like what he had just done to her boyfriend. She parried to more attacks and moved to try to get in between him and his shield. However, the Demon King moved out of the way and skewered her on the edge of his sword. He raised her up, and then flung her away. She collided with Egil just as he stood up, knocking him back down on the ground. He HP was now orange.

However, Heathcliff still didn't get to Recon. For Kirito let loose a battle cry, roaring as he charged the boss. Sparks flew as the young man attacked swiftly. He did not allow the boss time to attack, so fast was his flurry of blows. The party watched in amazement as the boss's HP slowly dropped to red. Once it did so, the group saw Heathcliff suddenly move, then a large flash of red, and Kirito was sent soaring into the air. He hit the ground on his back and slid all the way to Asuna's feet.

Asuna helped him up while Heathcliff charged at the other players. Lyfa dodged him, trying not to lose any more health. Both Egil and Klein tried to block the blows he sent at them, but his attacks were so powerful that they smashed through both of their defenses, staggering both of them while taking a chunk of HP.

Then the Heathcliff turned around to see both Kirito and Asuna sprinting across the floor towards him, their blades glowing. The couple's swords were aimed at his center, so Heathcliff brought his shield to his front. Then, the two players leapt from the ground directly in front of them, striking his face as they flew over his head and landed behind him. The boss's HP gauge dropped to almost nothing, and he suddenly went berserk. However, both Kirito and Asuna were already berserk. The quickly found themselves locked in a furious duel against him.

Finally after a while of neither side dealing any damage, Kirito and Asuna struck downwards at opposing angles, causing Heathcliff's sword and shield to both move down away from his body. This left him completely open, and the couple charged their swords and attacked. The Demon King let out a groan as their blades slashed into him, and his HP bare dropped to 0.

The final boss fell to his knees, remaining upright only by leaning on his sword as his entire image began to fade to white. When he finally became completely white, he exploded into hundreds of tiny shards of white light. The party cheered, their very souls elated as the word "Congratulations" appeared over where the boss was.

Then something strange began to happen. Suddenly, the word flashed and became very deformed. The crackle and pop sounds of static emanated from it. Then the light from the sun started to increase dramatically. The light became brighter and brighter until all anyone could see was white. Then the robotic female voice of the administration announcer echoed all throughout Alfheim and Aincrad.

"Warning: System Error- Anomaly Detected. Warning: System Error- Anomaly Detected."

When the light finally receded, the party found themselves standing on the roof of a building in a city they had never seen before. The city was huge, stretching for miles. In the distance, they could see the World Tree and Aincrad Castle. What was more, the entire city was filled with players, packed into every crevice, every nook and cranny; and all wondering what was going on.

Then, high above their heads, what looked like a cloud of thousands of swirling streams of pitch-black smoke appeared before them. It grew to an enormous size, and then a shape began to emerge from the cloud. It took a while before it took on any real form, but soon the players all found themselves staring at a giant, hooded skull with white eyes jutting from the cloud.

"Welcome, my fellow players," the skull spoke, its voice depositing a slight twinge of fear and anxiety in Kirito's heart. "My name is Shadow. I have hijacked the game system for this game and am now in total control of its administration. As the new administrator, my first act was to create this city, known as Millennial City. My second act is to now declare that as of this point on, no one can log into, or log out of, this game." His declaration was met with many panicked whispers of some and the stunned silence of others. Kirito and his friends felt like a lead weight had been dropped on them.

Shadow continued, "Naturally, this brings some changes to how you should play this game. For those of you who are veterans of the SAO incident, you know how this works. From this point, should you die in the game, you die in real life. However, unlike the SAO incident, should anyone on the outside try to rescue you by removing your NerveGear, nothing will happen, you will remain trapped in this world. I have notified all the governments of your nations of what is occurring; but rest assured, they will be of no help to you. Their attempts to access the game are futile.

"I now officially declare a state of war between myself and all of the 10.7 million players in Alfheim. In order to be free, you must find me, and defeat me. I give you this city to be a safe haven, and a base of operations. All the other cities in this world will not become safe until you secure them and purge them of all enemies." Suddenly a pillar of light shown over the central square of the town, and a figure could be seen descending in it. "I give to you this man to be your leader. Many of you probably recognize him. He is Akihiko Kayaba, creator of Sword Art Online. He achieved immortality by copying his consciousness to cyber space. I have brought him back to lead you. Make no mistake, he is your ally. Also, in the sense of fair play, I will give you a clue to start you on the path to finding me."

Slowly, a stream of darkness crawled from the cloud and formed some sort of object floating in midair. The object was pitch-black except for a red gem at its center. It flared outward at its base, bulged around the red gem, and came to a point at the top. Its design made it look almost like a giant blade.

"The secret to my identity and location lies locked on the 90th floor of Aincrad Castle. In order to access this floor, four keys must be found. The object you see before you marks the entrance to the dungeons where they are located. For now, I bid you all farewell, though some of you will not live to see me again. Hahahahah- HAHAHAHA!" His laugh continued to echo even after the cloud was gone.

For a moment, there was absolute silence. Then, panic took over and the city became a setting of pandemonium. As panic struck the city, Kirito and his friend stayed on their rooftop, shocked into silence.

Crazed thoughts raced through the young man's mind. This wasn't real, was it? This couldn't be really happening, not again. He had so much left to do, he was going to graduate soon, and though they were married in this virtual world, he and Asuna were only engaged in the real world, and were planning on getting married shortly after graduation. He looked over his shoulder at the beautiful brunette standing behind him. He could see the tears pooling in her eyes and knew she was feeling the same thing that he was.

The day was 22 of June, 20 2027; the day of first encounter with the malicious entity known only as Shadow.

Well, what do you guys think? Please review and let me know! I'll work on getting the next chapter up soon. Till then.

Dark Guymelef