Yes, I know, this was supposed to be uploaded yesterday. But I felt that I was rushing the ending trying to get it posted on time, so I decided I would rather make you guys wait another day than give you a crappy ending to such an important chapter (yes, it's the boss fight). So I basically rewrote the entire ending of this during BPE, and I think it's a lot better now. I really like it, at least.
On a side note, have I mentioned that I'm in marching band? Well I'm in marching band, and as anybody in marching band knows, you basically sell your soul (and freedom) to it as soon as you sign up. Just putting that out there.
Lots of love!
-Elysia Grace
•••••
Tsuro was ecstatic. He had done it! He and his guild had made it to the final boss of the game! They could really do it, they could really be gifted with unlimited flight!
It wasn't easy to get up here, oh no. Definitely not. In fact, Tsuro was pretty sure that he would be dead already if it wasn't for Iya and Kenko, the two Undine revivers in his guild that were able to revive any of their fallen members before their Remain Lights disappeared. And of course, his warriors and mages as well. And his tanks. And his archers. Really, he couldn't have done it without any of them.
Tsuro turned to face his guild. They were a rather mismatched group, consisting of three different races: Undines, Salamanders, and Cait Siths. Support, melee, and ranged. One race to get to the top first, and two allies to be blessed as well. Everything was perfectly planned.
They were ready. They could do this. Tsuro knew it. "Look at us, my friends. Not long ago we were a pathetic group of gamers who didn't even know how to fly, and now we are preparing ourselves to beat the game! I thank all of you for standing by me and the rest of the guild, for without you we would not be here right now! We are smarter, stronger, better than every other player in this game! We will fight, and we will be victorious!" A loud cheer ran through the group.
"Now!" Tsuro turned back to face the doors. "It is time to defeat the final boss!" And with a deep breath, he pressed a hand against the cool stone of the door, and pushed it open.
•••••
Asuna looked at her phone. It was laying on her bed, across the room from where she was seated in front of her computer. The screen had just lit up, and from what she could see it looked like she had received an email. She couldn't make out who it was from, though.
Closing out her partially-complete homework, Asuna opened a window and logged onto her email. When the page showed up, she frowned. The email at the very top of the page, the most recent one, was listed only under "Unknown". There was no subject. Okay, strange...
Ignoring her skyrocketing paranoia, Asuna opened the email with shaking hands.
•••••
Light flooded into the shadowed room. And with a careful caution, Tsuro and the 23 other members of his guild crept into the giant, circular chamber. Torches flickered from the side, making shadows dance along the wall. A giant throne sat at the far end.
Tsuro looked around, trying to find where the boss was. Floor? Empty. Ceiling? Blank. Walls? Clear.
So... Where is it?
Beside him his strongest archer, Yaji, gasped, ears and tail stiffening in distress.
Yaji was staring at the throne, where there now was a boy, a boy that he obviously hadn't seen before. It was startling small, and was far to little for its giant throne, but instead of making it seem weak and comical, the throne made the boy seem evil, terrifying. Light flickered off its black hair and wings. A black sword was strapped to its back.
Briefly, Tsuro wondered if this was a trap. Maybe there was some sort of task to complete before they could enter the actual boss room.
The boy rose, and Tsuro watched it carefully, waiting for its programming to kick in, for it to say something, give them a clue.
Tsuro looked to Yaji at his left, who was un-drawing his arrow, and to Kenko at his right, who was lowering her hands. Iya was lowering her's as well, and the rest of his guild followed suit. Yaji's ear twitched.
But Tsuro kept his sword drawn. Something didn't feel right. Why was that NPC still silent?
One of Tsuro's mages, a Salamander by the name of Maho, walked forward. Tsuro watched him with a frown.
"Maho!" He hissed, "What are you doing! I haven't given an you an order! Fall back immediately!"
Maho glanced back at Tsuro with a lopsided smirk. He flicked a red lock of hair from his eyes. "Relax, boss. I just want to see what the NPC wants."
Tsuro scowled, and took a step forward. "Maho, you will come back this exact second! We are a team! We will approach it together!" But Maho just laughed.
"Oh come on, Tsuro, what do you thinks going to happen? I want to get to the boss room as fast as you do, and clearly nobody else is doing anything." He turned back to the boy, who hadn't moved an inch.
"Hey!" He yelled, trying to get its attention. "Hello! Do you need any help! We are here to assist you! Let us pass!" The boy didn't react. Maho growled.
"Hey, what do you wa-!"
The boy moved, faster that what should have been possible, and all Tsuro saw was the point of a sword and the scarlet glow of a Remain Light where Maho should have stood. Fragments of light dispersed into the air.
Tsuro stumbled back. Beside him, Iya had her hands raised and was frantically chanting the revival spell as fast as possible.
The boy, the man, the boss rose, sword as dark as midnight in his hands and black eyes flashing dangerously, wicked smile on his face and feathered wings spread wide.
"How..." Tsuro was frozen. This was the boss? It looked like a player, same as them! A giant towering monster he could handle, but this? And those attack patterns! He had never seen anything like that before, charging with such perfect timing! And a one hit kill! How were they supposed to fight this?!
The boss raised his sword, and charged again, and Tsuro barely had enough time to react.
•••••
A- a picture. A picture of Kazuto. That's what the email was.
He clearly hadn't realized the picture was being taken, because his attention was focused elsewhere. He was lounging on some sort of oversized throne, with a flicker of dark purple flame dancing above his fingertips. He was dressed in black, but it was a different outfit from his one in SAO. The background looked like some sort of dark stone.
But- but he looked fine! Fine! He looked perfectly normal! And he was alive! All she had to do was find out where he was and then go and save him!
Everything would be okay!
•••••
Tsuro grabbed Iya and ducked out of the way, right as the bosses sword cut through where she was just standing. A blue lock of hair fell to the ground and broke into fragments. The sword hit the wall with a deafening clang!
Tsuro shook his head. Come on Tsuro, get it together! You have a guild to protect and a boss to defeat! Focus!
Tsuro yelled to his guild as they all scattered away from the boss. "Alright! Tanks! Capture its agro and set up a front immediately! Switch out when health reaches yellow! Mages and archers stay close to the walls and ceiling! Keep out of its reach and launch attacks when warriors are out of range! Warriors stay behind Tanks and prepare to attack on my command! We can do this!" Tsuro turned to the shaken girl beside him. "And Iya, your coming with me. We're going to get Maho back." She looked at him with blue, determined eyes.
Immediately Tsuro's guild broke up, Tanks worked their way to surround the boss, who was currently near the wall it had charges and was strangely still. Salamander Mages and Cait Sith Archers flew to the ceiling to stay as far from the it as possible. Undine Healers hovered around, waiting for their assistance to be needed. Salamander Warriors surrounded the Tanks.
Tsuro smiled. It was working. They could do thi-
And then an icy laugh chilled him to the bone.
Tsuro immediately whirled from facing Maho's Remain Light to stare at the boss, only to find that it seemed to have disappeared. Another laugh sounded, and it seemed to echo from every surface of the room. Tsuro backed away from the Remain Light towards the wall closest to him, and pulled Iya with him. Where is it?
Suddenly, and without a sound of warning, Iya screamed. It was shrill and piercing and in everyway pained Tsuro to hear, and then it was cut off as Iya burst into shards.
Tsuro yelped and scrambled back from the wall, falling backwards onto his hands and knees, red armor clanging and brown hair falling in his eyes. He could only watch as the boss melted from the shadows until he stood in front of Tsuro, lips pulled back into a feral grin that was all-too-wide to be sane. His sword hung from one hand, and a dark flame pulsed in the other.
It knew. It knew! It knew Iya was a reviver, and it killed her so she wouldn't bring back Maho! How was that possible?! What kind of program was this?!
The boss raised its sword, black tip gleaming wickedly, and prepared to swing it down. Tsuro lifted his hands to sheild himself, even though it would do nothing. This is it. This is the end. All of that hard work for nothing...
Thanks God it's just a game...
An arrow flew by Tsuro's ear, and caught the boss in the shoulder. Whipping his head around, Tsuro turned to find Yaji in the air, bow drawn and another arrow prepared to launch.
The boss howled, a horrific sound that sounded like actual pain. Like the arrow had actually injured the boss.
And the audio too... this boss... it's unlike anything I have ever seen before...
What the hell am I fighting?!
Looking back at the boss, Tsuro barely managed to launch himself into the air before the sword came crashing down where he once lay.
Too close... too close... I'm such an idiot, forgetting I had wings...
He flew as far away as possible. The boss stood and yanked the arrow from its shoulder, growling low and deep in its throat and a boiling hatred growing in its eyes. No more playing with its prey.
Tsuro tried to yell to his guild in what broken speech he could muster. "-Intelligent! Knew- Iya- reviving!"
The boss turned its steel gray irises to Tsuro, eyes narrowed to slits and obviously not liking what it was hearing. In a flash of light, the fireball that was in its hand launched itself and exploded right over his head, causing thick black smoke to curl around the room.
Kenko screamed shrilly, and a blue Remain Light lit up the smoke. On the other side, Maho's flickered and went out.
No... she was our only other reviver...
There's no second chances now...
Clearly the rest of the guild understood this too, and everything descended into chaos.
Fire, red and black, was shooting across the room at lightning fast speeds, hitting stone and flesh and only adding to the blinding smoke. Screams became a cacophony of sound, cries of pain and anguish as guild members fell one by one. Yaji, dead. Yoroi, dead. Shisu, dead.
Tsuro wanted to scream, to yell, to tell his guild members that damnit! Keep your heads! We haven't lost this yet!
God, he wished that was true.
The boss was a whirlwind. Spinning and weaving throughout the ranks of players, not seeming to touch anything yet leaving a rainbow of Remain Lights in its wake.
There was no pattern, no rhythm to distinguish. No way to plan attacks and counterattacks. How could this mob, this creation of ones and zeros, be so life like? There was no way they could have prepared for this.
Tsuro searched frantically for both the boss and any remaining members of his guild, sword pointed away from his body in defense. He found neither.
Suddenly the smoke flushed out of the room, leaving only thick traces lingering around the walls. And there, in the center, was the boss. It's hair was sticking to its head with sweat but it's smile was gleeful.
Maybe... maybe not an it... maybe...
The boss approached. Crunched metal was dangling from its hand, and in the other was his sword, still bathed in the deep purple glow of black flame. The armor of his fallen comrades.
Maybe a he...
The boss, the boy, the player marched up to Tsuro, deranged grin on his face and flashing eyes. He put his sword to Tsuro's throat.
A deep gash, and Tsuro saw no more.
•••••
But the message underneath gave Asuna pause.
Come get him, Princess. I'll be waiting.
-King Oberon of ALfheim Online.
Asuna looked back at the photo, but it was flickering. Flickering from black, to the original, to a completely different photo. And when it froze Asuna screamed.
She wasn't looking at Kirito laying on a throne anymore. All she could see was Kirito's face covering the frame. It looked like he was holding the camera in his hands. Black smoke was blurring the edges.
But it was his expression... there was such a sadistic gleefulness in his eyes and smile that it made her want to cry. He was grinning wildly and his eyes were dangerous. His hair was mussed and tossled and sticking to his forehead.
This... that thing isn't Kirito! That is the face of a madman!
The screen of her computer flickered, and went black.