Grant me some artistic license with this, hope you make some sense of it.


He thought it normal, Yume thought it cruel.

It, being the players having only once a chance at living.


"Welcome to the Pre-Stage of Level 100."

As she commanded, banners unfurled, and party poppers went off.

All the level clearers immediately went for their weapons, the sounds of their blades sliding out of their sheathes, an audible click.

"Everyone, be on guard! Recon party reported that Field Boss is humanoid, mage-class attacker."

She floats down from the ceiling, legs only forming as she meets the ground.

Looking at the entire group, she takes a count.

"And despite knowing that, you didn't bring in a full 48-strong team."

Gesturing, she closes the doors.

Tapping the invisible screen in front of her, she opens the command prompt screen, and the system generates a banquet table.

Their formation is close knit, a strongly defensive team.

"This is the defensive half of the Clearers. No Senko, no Kuro Kenshin. Hm. And no Heathcliff. I would think that he was the player with the highest defense stat amongst all the players. They must have really sent you all in to die, Recon Team 2."

It's always amusing to rile people up.

Some of the clearers looks ready to explode, some, aren't so certain.

Waving off their concerns, she tells them to sit.

"Please, help yourself. Once you are fed, we can continue talking."

Ever so cautiously, they seat themselves, but how carelessly they eat.

Well, at least it's not poisoned.

Yume has always been strong.

She treasures her strength.

Knowing that these are lives she's playing with, knowing that this is how much they have to trust her…

She smiles.

Once, I had someone who smiled at me.

The direct opposite of the Kuro Kenshin.

It's almost sorrow that crosses her visage as she thinks back to what she did to enter this world.

A world where people died.


"Hime-sama…"

She blinks at their form of address.

Having chosen to sit on a random wooden chair, she subtly checks for a crown on her head.

"There's no need to be so formal, Klein-san."

He draws back, surprised.

"You know my name..?"

As she stands, they follow suit.

Pulling out the command prompt again, she clears the room, pulling out data sheets by the side.

"Klein, Level 91 Guild Leader of Fuurinkazan, 6 member, green-type guild. 1 orange offence, 2 player kills, over a thousand monster kills."

She watches the Samurai swallow.

Role playing is heavy even in real life.

Yume respects that.

"It was honourable still. That you offered a player killer a lease of life. Despite having to strike him down again, that gift… was wholly yours."

He must startle, because she watched that fight.

Watched someone faced with so terrible a choice, watched his blade slip, and kill.

A blue gem, so pretty it was, sacrificed for someone so impure that even the system sought to rebel.

She pulls the conversation from him, by reopening the doors to chaos.


The other clearers rush in, yelling for their friends.

Kirito is by Klein's side, checking him all over, even as his breathing slowly evens.

She closes the door quietly.

Pulling out the command prompt, she blows it up in size.

"Designated as Anti-Crystal Area. Moderator Summons: All Players."

Once more, she watching confusion unfold, like on the first day.

In that expanse of the room, clearers in the middle, other players, mostly level 1s to 20s filling the gaps at an increasing speed.

Unlike the first day, and unlike Kayaba-sama, she doesn't announce her presence as a system announcement.

Yume waits for them to acknowledge her.

And they do.

Because she's floating above them, and even the clearers are silent.

She then converts to her Moderator Form.

Kayaba-sama looks like a hooded reaper.

She looks like a bishop, all dressed in white.

"Welcome, to the Crystal Pavilion."

At that moment their floor changes.

It shifts at moments, reflecting all the levels that the players have passed.

The good, the bad.

"I am Yume, a Game Moderator. I am the Field Boss of Level 100. Allow me to expose some of the inner workings of Sword Art Online."

She paints the genius of Kayaba Akihiko, of his belief that life in a game could be much better than in real life.

She shows them how all the players proved them wrong.

"Regardless of what you may have viewed the game creator as, I would like to firmly state that he knew players would kill in the game. This pavilion was created to hold 9000 players. But 2000 players died before a month passed."

There're whispers of ill-concealed hate.

"The Monument of Life may not tell you the cause of death, but the system remembers. 300 were beta players, and of these beta players, around 200 were killed out of anger and jealousy. What this game exposed, was how dirty and crooked you players alive are."


She thought it curious, Kayaba-sama thought her a sadist.

It, being how they would react once they found out.


Some clearers look ill.

They're naive.

But even she, would like to believe in human goodness.

"This fortress is called Aincrad. It comes from shortening An Incarnating Radius. It also hides a secret of the numbers we used to compute the code. All values inputted by the system, are in radians. But all values affected by players are in degrees. 1 radian is converted to 57.2958 degrees. Players have 1 chance at living. To the system, everyone had 57.2958 lives."

And to them, it doesn't make any sense.

It shouldn't.

"Every person who died, got incarnated into a monster. When a living person killed that same monster, that monster respawned. Over the technical linkages and filler NPC data that was created, every person would experience dying 58.2958 times before their data was deleted from our servers. Their physical bodies died the first time."

She can only smile, watching as it sinks in.

And her voice is purposefully soft.

"But subsequently, the deaths destroyed their minds. Crammed with the monster instinct. Being run through by players they thought were good. Being unable to retaliate, or be strong enough to kill. That is An Incarnating Radius."

Yume swaps out of Mod to Field Boss mode.

Staff reforming, she's too fast for them to do anything about it.

"Crystal Bloom."

The blooms are so pretty, it's a pity that they become stained by blood so early.

Everyone chops at the base, trying to cut the weak players free, but they, don't stand a chance.

The ones who survive have their legs severed.

"This is a test of your determination. Lose your humanity, or die."

Some charge headlong at her.

These, she applauds, each clap punctuated by the crunch of a spike piercing a ribcage.

"Crystalline Dance."

She watches the Kuro Kenshin fall back with all the rest of his friends.

Somewhere else, Shi-sama would have gone in headlong either way, with all of us gladly following simply because we trust him.

Of course, then, there wasn't the threat of permanent death.


There's a death count above them, and the numbers are increasing steadily.

Yume is a monster, and she knows that.

Killing like this is easy to her, because she's so strong they just fall one after another.

She doesn't stop, not until she feels that sharp blade sliding between her ribs, puncturing her right lung.

As her lungs deflate, she sighs, crumpling against the hands that catch her.

She looks up.

"You didn't even kill me in your actual form, Kayaba-sama."

He doesn't smile, not understanding sentimentality.

Kayaba-sama is a genius, but he's a socially stunted and emotionless idiot as well.

"I completed both our scans. Maybe we'll see each other again someday. It was… nice meeting you, Yume."

He announces his identity, and tells the remaining players that he is their final boss.

The Ruby Palace was the hall of lost souls, where all human formed monster souls had just been summoned to.

A Battle Royale.

She closes her eyes, and doesn't talk anymore.

Like he would, a day or so later, she shattered.


He thought it was an experiment, Yume knew it was torture.

It, being the entirety of Sword Art Online.


Grant me leeway with the math. I know it doesn't affect normal numerical calculations so directly, but, I pretend. It's really a pain converting back and forth.

Unrelated note, anyone going for math tests, remember to check that your calculator is in the right mode (Be it degree or radians) before you do the paper.