Chapter 9: Back to Hell
Saburo stretched his arm as far as he could, trying to take Vivi's hand as the dark tendrils slowly engulfed her. No matter how far he reached, she only seemed to grow further and further away. She gave one final desperate outcry before she was swallowed up. "Daddy! Save me!"
Saburo shot up in bed, panting heavily. A thin sheen of sweat coated his skin, glistening in the low light of the early morning. Rena was woken by the sudden movement. "You okay, Saburo?" She asked, sitting up. "I'm fine. Just a dream." He replied, sighing deeply. "Vivi again?"
"I'll get her back Rena. I have to." Saburo said, bunching up his fists. "Egil and Diabel messaged me last night." Rena said. "They say it's time for us to head back to the front line." Saburo leaned back against the headboard, his silver hair illuminated by the rising sun. "I guess that's for the best. It's about time everyone woke up from this nightmare."
Saburo fastened the last of the buttons on his signature white coat as he stood in front of the full length mirror. As he pulled on his combat gloves, movement in the background caught his eye. Rena walked up behind him in her Knights of Elysium uniform. Nearly everything was the same. The black skirt, top and boots. Only one thing had been altered.
Vivi's Heart hung on the end of thin silver chain around her neck. "Feels weird doesn't it?" She asked, smoothing out the tiny wrinkles in her uniform. "Being back in uniform." Saburo nodded. "Yea, I'd gotten used to relaxing all day. I guess it's time to head back into the madness."
Floor 75: Front Line: Collnia
Diabel tapped his foot impatiently, while Egil stood stone still with his arms folded and eyes closed. Soon the blue haired warrior began to pace back and forth in front of the teleport gate. "They should be here by now." Diabel said as he stopped, turning to Egil. "What's taking them so long?" "Patience, Diabel." Egil said, keeping his eyes closed. "They'll be here."
Just as he finished speaking, the teleport gate illuminated with a bright blue light, revealing Saburo and Rena. They walked down the short flight of steps holding hands. "How was your vacation?" Egil asked as they approached. "Eventful, to say the least." Saburo replied. "Glad you enjoyed yourselves. Now let's get going!" Diabel said, motioning frantically. "Heathcliff is holding a meeting for the floor boss! We don't wanna be late!"
Castle Elysium- Floor 75
The raid party gathered around a central table in the war room of the new Knights of Elysium castle. "Everyone seems to be present," Heathcliff said as Saburo and Rena entered the room. "Let's get started." The paladin spread a map across the center table. On the paper was a detailed schematic of one of the connecting floor towers.
"The boss is located approximately four fifths of the way up the tower. The enemies are fairly easy, so perhaps we'll have a simple fight on our hands." He explained. "Is there any information on the boss?" Saburo asked, motioning to the map. "The door only opens when the raid party is fully assembled and confirms that they are ready to challenge the boss." Heathcliff replied. "We weren't able to get a look at it without challenging it."
"That makes things a bit trickier." Saburo said, furrowing his brow. "When are we planning to attack?" "The raid party is all accounted for and well supplied. We could challenge the boss today if necessary. There's no clear way to strategize of we have nothing to base the strategy upon." Heathcliff added.
Saburo nodded. "We'll head out around noon, then. Make sure everyone is fully supplied with the best armor and weapons. We'll also need to distribute potions among the raid party." Heathcliff turned to his second in command, a slender woman with red hair. "Get the troops organized. We'll be moving out in a few hours."
12:35AM
The raid party stood before the boss gate, Saburo and Heathcliff in the lead. "Alright, we all know the drill by now." The White Dragon said. "Hit hard and stay frosty." As he turned to the boss door, a notification appeared. 'Confirm raid party?' Saburo confirmed. The door swept open, letting in a draft of cold air. The raid party filtered into the room, a circular arena with a red stone floor. A heaping mountain of rotting bones was piled up in the center of the room, emitting a foul odor.
"I don't see a boss anywhere..." Rena said as she drew her rapier. Saburo looked around. "Same he-" The mountain of bones shifted, throwing dust into the air. Slowly, the bones unfurled, revealing their true form. Saburo's jaw dropped as he saw the boss's true form looming before them. A skeletal centipede-like monster rose off of the ground. Its legs were tapered down to needle-sharp points that would skewer a person easily. At the front of the bony creature was a humanoid skull with gleaming red eyes. At tail stretched put behind its body, a wicked scalpel like extrusion decorating the tip. A label hovered over its head. 'The Skull Reaper.'
"Avoid the tail!" Saburo called out as he rushed in to attack the monster. "Go for the legs!" Heathcliff yelled, charging in as the monster advanced. "They're weak points!" The raid party all followed, turning the arena into a jumble of battle cries and clanking weapons. The boss began to whip around, sending its tail thrashing in all directions. The blade caught Heathcliff, and just for a moment, Saburo though he saw a purple panel over the man's head.
He snapped out of it as the tail came whipping dangerously close to him. A soldier behind Saburo moved too slow and was caught across the chest with the tail. He shattered into prismatic bits after just one hit. 'Crap! It's really powerful!' Saburo thought as he hacked away at one of the uncountable legs. 'I'll have to dispatch the tail!'
"Rena! You think you can get rid of that tail?" He called over the roar of battle. "I'll need a boost!" She called, running at Saburo. Just as she was about to collide with him, he meshed his hands together. Rena hopped onto his springboard and was sent into the air as he tossed her upwards. "Pirouette!" She called as her rapier glowed with a red light. She spun through the air as she fell, her sword gaining a fierce amount of momentum.
She fell into the tail, ripping through it, before she touched down to the ground. The boss gave an out cry of pain as its tail thudded against the floor and shattered. "Good work!" Saburo said as she touched down. "He won't do near as much damage now!" Rena nodded. "Let's end this!"
The Skull Reaper exploded into fragments of prismatic light as the finishing blow was struck. Rena and Saburo collapsed, back to back, exhausted. The White Dragon looked around at the raid party, taking note of its size.
"How many did we lose?" He called out as everyone sat on the floor resting. "Fourteen, seven from both guilds." Egil replied back. Saburo gave a growl of anger. "We still have 25 floors to go..." "Can we even make it to the top?" Egil sighed.
In the brief moment of calm that had overtaken the raid party during their rest, Saburo's eyes turned to Heathcliff. His mind flashed back to their first fight together, when Heathcliff pulled off an impossible blow. Then his thoughts flickered to the flash of purple over his head during the boss fight. Heathcliff's, HP hovered just on the edge of green.
'If I wanted to, I could end him right here...' Saburo thought to himself. Silently, he picked up his sword. Heathcliff stood with his back to Saburo as he stared off into the distance. The White Dragon cocked his arm back as his sword glimmered with grey light as he hurled his sword at Heathcliff with all his power.
The paladin heard the projectile just a split second too late. As he turned to deflect the projectile, he wasn't able to raise his shield in time. Instead of decapitating him, The blade was met by a purple aura that flared up to protect Heathcliff. This time, the purple label above his head appeared fully. 'Immortal Object.'
Rena turned to see the blade crash into Heathcliff, activating the status. Her mind flashed back to the very same label that had appeared above Vivi's head. The raid party gasped as they saw the message.
Heathcliff stood silently, saying nothing as the message disappeared. "A-An immortal object?!" Diabel stuttered. "That status is only applied to programs and-" "And Game Masters." Saburo finished coldly. "The game ensures that his HP will never fall into the yellow zone."
"Back at the start of the game, my friend, Ailwen asked me a question. 'Where does he hide while he watches us and adjusts the world?' The simple answer eluded the both of us at the time. Something any child would know. There is nothing as boring as watching another person play an RPG." He turned to the paladin. "Isn't that right, Heathcliff? Or should I say, Kayaba Akihiko."
The raid party gave another unanimous gasp. "So, how did you figure me out?" Kayaba asked, keeping his ever-placid expression. "During our duel." Saburo explained. "No ordinary player should have been able to withstand that kind of attack without their HP dropping to zero. But yours never strayed beyond the green zone. Even if you had a 20Lvl lead on me, you would have at least dropped down to red. And just for a moment during the boss fight, you were caught off guard. It wasn't you who withstood that blow from the boss, it was the program you engineered to protect you."
"An unfortunate mistake on my part." Kayaba admitted. "You overpowered me to the point that I had to engage the system's over-assist mode." He gave a small chuckle. "Yes, truth is, I am Kayaba Akihiko. And if I may add, I am the game's final boss who would have awaited you at the top floor." Egil grunted in rage. "After all this time fighting together, you would just betray us all like that?!" He shouted.
"Not a bad storyline is it?" Kayaba said nonchalantly. "The game's strongest player become's the final boss." He looked to Saburo. "I always thought that you would be the one to face me at the end. But, your power exceeded my expectations. Well, all of the unexpected variables are what makes an MMORPG fun."
Heathcliff second in command bunched her fists up. "All of our loyalty...our hope...how dare you?!" She grabbed her sword and rushed Heathcliff, intending to strike him down where he stood. Kayaba turned and extended his hand. Instantly, she exploded into fragments of light. "Sorry, but it won't be that easy to defeat me." He said, coolly.
"Kayaba, you monster!" Rena screamed. "So now what, Kayaba? You can't expect us just to let you walk out of here alive." Saburo said, drawing his sword. "Of course not." Kayaba replied. "Normally, you'd have to make it to floor 100 to challenge me, but since you deduced my identity, I'll give you a special chance."
"A chance?" Saburo asked. "An opportunity, to fight me one-on-one. Naturally, I'll deactivate my immortal status. It will be a real test of skill. Defeat me, and you beat the game. All the players will be able to log out. How about it?"
Rena grabbed Saburo's arm. "You can't! Not alone! We should fall back for the moment." Saburo mind raced as he considered his options. Defeat the game now, or wait until the 100th Floor battle, when they're may barely be any player's left alive. He thought of Ailwen's final words. Saburo drew Rena in close. "I have to. For Vivi, for Ailwen, For everyone." Her eyes grew wide. "No! He'll kill you!" She protested. "Then I'll drag him down with me." Saburo replied. "Rena, if this is goodbye, then know that I love you." He gave her a warm embrace before turning to Kayaba. The White Dragon drew his sword. "Kayaba. Let's finish this."
"Red Mirror." Saburo's blazing second sword materialized in his hand. Kayaba opened his menu, deactivating his immortal status. Rena rushed forwards, before Egil caught her hand. "Thank you." Saburo said to the burly man.
'This is it.' The silver haired warrior thought to himself. 'We're fighting to kill. Only one of us will walk away from this alive.' "Ready when you are." Kayaba said unsheathing his sword.
The was a moment of silence as Saburo and Kayaba stared each other down. "Apollo's curse!" Saburo called, his swords glowed white hot as he rushed Kayaba. To nearly everyone in the room, he appeared to vanish completely from his sheer speed. Kayaba was caught off guard as Saburo materialized in front of him, a flurry of lightning quick blades slicing and tearing at him. He raised his shield just in time to block the onslaught. The paladin felt like his arm would fall off from the sheer force off the blows.
Kayaba threw Saburo back with his shield, only to have the warrior come flying at him again. He retaliated with his own barrage of sword blows, the harsh ringing of metal echoing through the dead silent room. Kayaba swept his blade around, missing Saburo's face by a hair. 'He designed all of these skills!' Saburo thought to himself as they exchanged blows. 'He'll be able to block all of the preset combos. I'll have to switch to manual control!'
Kayaba was caught across the face as Saburo's attack pattern suddenly changed, becoming more erratic. 'He's in manual!' The paladin thought to himself. He growled in frustration. The battle began to accelerate as they both took blows from their opponents. 'I have to win!' Saburo thought as he reached the limits of how fasts he was able to move. 'I need more speed! Faster!' He roared out loud as he continued his flurry of sword attacks. His HP was falling into the low yellow, due to his all-offensive method of attack.
Just as he went in for another rush of attacks, Saburo's pseudo-blade shattered under all of the abuse. "Goodbye." Kayaba said, bringing his sword around in a downwards arc.
"Shadow Transfer!" A female voice cried out. Saburo's eyes widened as time seems to slow down. 'No! That move!' Before he knew it, he found himself in Egil's grasp, as he switched positions with Rena. He was powerless to save her as Kayaba's blade speared through her chest, dropping her HP to zero.
"RENA!" Kayaba pulled his blade out of the girl as she lay on the ground panting heavily. Saburo ran to her side. Holding her in his arms. "I couldn't watch you die, Saburo." She said weakly. "I'm sorry." "No, Rena...This can't be happening..." She fractured into a aurora of light, as she closed her eyes. Saburo clutched weakly at the particles in the air as they faded from existence. He collapsed to the ground as a void of nothingness filled his chest.
Hot tears streamed down his face as the weight of the world crushed his shoulders. "How unexpected." Kayaba said, calmly. "That skill wasn't supposed to be implemented into the game yet. I guess these things happens sometimes." He looked down at Saburo, who was on his hands and knees.
The White Dragon began to emit a sound that no one expected. Saburo let out a small chuckle that slowly grew into a roaring guffaw, mixed with sobs. The silver haired teenager quaked with rage as he stood, laughing while tears cascaded down his face. "Shit, he's completely lost it." One of the raid party members breathed quietly.
Saburo picked up Rena's rapier, the blade rattling as he hands shook from the anger the was slowly enveloping him.
"Hmm? What's funny?" Kayaba asked. Saburo gave another small laugh. "I'm going to make you burn in hell, Kayaba."
Just as he was about to lunge in to attack, both of his arms were restricted. Saburo turned around, eyes blazing, to see who was stopping him from revenge. Egil had a firm grip on one of his arms, while Diabel restrained the other. "Saburo, you HP is almost in the red." Diabel said. "If you go in again, you will die. You're our strongest swordsman, we need you."
Saburo began to thrash wildly in an attempt to escape their grips. "You're not thinking clearly, Saburo!" Egil said, as Saburo struggled to break free. "Let me go, NOW!" Saburo roared as he jerked and twisted. Even though it pained them, Egil and Diabel both shook their heads no. "We will defeat him, Saburo. Just not today."
Kayaba turned and began to walk away. "What a pity, I didn't expect him lose control like that. I guess that the end of that fight." "HE'S GETTING AWAY!" Saburo roared, finally breaking one his arms free. "I'll be waiting at the Ruby Palace." Kayaba said, turning back for just a moment. Saburo hurled his blade at the man with all his might. Just as it was about to hit him, Kayaba disappeared in a flash of red light. The blade passed through harmlessly, clattering to the floor. Saburo went limp as his chance at killing Kayaba vanished along with him. "We'll get him, Saburo." Diabel said clasping his fists. As Saburo held onto Rena's rapier, a voice flickered through his head for a brief moment. "Saburo, come save me. I'll be waiting."
