Chapter 21- Ruby Palace: Life or Death

In this chapter Retribution and Mikael continue their duel in the Ruby Palace, the final floor of Aincrad as Retribution reveals his last resort in order to finish off Mikael once and for all while HACKER arrives at Mikael's house ready to inject him with the Nanos of Project Ascension. Is this the end of Mikael or is Hacker going to be able to save him before it is too late? What do you think

Mikael POV

We were both able to get back up after we crashed through the wall of the Ruby Palace, both of the blades I held were broken. I found the location breath-taking but knew that now was no time to be sightseeing as I wanted this duel to be over as soon as possible so I quickly charge straight at him catching him off guard as my sword sliced through his left arm cutting it clean off. He screamed in agony as his arm disappeared into crystals. He soon glared at me in anger and he soon said "I am going to fucking kill you for this." He came straight at me intending to kill me where I stood but I wasn't going to let that happen as I quickly blocked his onslaught of attack with multiply of them being sword skill. He kept scream lines such as "Die" and "Just fucking die already" as I ignored him trying to focus on countering him. We eventually reach a point where this was getting boring so I threw him back when our swords clashed. He eventually lost it when he then shouted "That does it, I am going to end this once and for all. You see Mikael I had spent these last year trying located a skill that only Kayaba knew the location of until I found it and trained to use it probably and now that skill be your undoing."

He then plunged his sword into the ground and said "I have seen through the eye of the man who has caused so much pain, despair and anger. For he was the man who wanted to create his dream and would sacrifice anyone to do so. Forbidden Skill unleash and consume my enemies. Activate Game Master Destruction." He suddenly grabbed his sword with both of his hand causing a black liquid to drip down onto the ground. The Black liquid began to spread around the entire room turning the entire room black as the ground shakes violently like the whole of Aincrad was about to disappear again but that wasn't the case. I then soon Drake regrow his arm by using the black liquid to form one. I notice that the skill had not effect at me at all so I just ignore and charged straight at him as he then drew his sword out of the ground. Just as I was about to make contact with him as I was suddenly thrown back by a mysterious force that punched me in the gut. "What the hell was that" I said as Drake soon responded "oh that is my forbidden skill, it transforms a room to defend the user who used nit by covering the room in a liquid so whenever you try to attack it will defend me but that not the only thing since I control the liquid to defend and attack you in any way I feel like. Let begin the suffering, Mikael."

Suddenly I felt a pain in my left leg as I then look down to see that a black blade had pieced my leg causing agonising pain. I then looked up to see that Drake had raised his hand. A black blade soon pieced my left arm which increased the amount of pain I was suffering. I then looked at my health and saw that nothing was happening to it. "What on earth is happening" I said. "Yeah that right this skill does not take away health but it doesn't cause it victims to suffer agonising pain that would make them beg for it to be over quickly. But don't worry this will be over eventually" he told me before the black blade in my arm disappeared only to be replaced by Drake's sword which went straight through it. He then smacked me in the face which caused me to fall backward onto the ground. Suddenly several black spikes shot through my chest causing me to scream as loud as I could. Drake then picked me off the ground by my neck and said "Well Mikael where was that strength you were showing a moment ago. Aren't you going to stop me from having a little fun with that girl." He soon began to beat the crap out of me up to a point where I had a black eye. I fell to my knee as two spikes then stabbed my shoulders. I notice that my health was at half percent.

Drake then knocked me backwards caused both the spike to break which left them in my shoulders. The Black Liquid then began to spread across my body as Drake walked forward and said "Well it time for you to confront your worst nightmare. And trust me there is no escape from it, now you will know what it is like to suffer a great deal of pain." The black liquid soon covered my face completely as my vision became nothing but black. I soon found myself in a room that was nothing but darkness much like the ability that Shadow used on me during our duel but this one was different as I was stopped by an invisible when I tried to move about the room. I looked around and saw that I was all alone until I saw a figure approach me. When the figure got close enough I was finally able to see who it was, it was Sinon. I was actually glad to see Sinon as I was worried about her when Drake put the Black Knight to sleep. I tried to call out to her but she acted like she couldn't hear me. Tried again and when I did I released that I had no voice in that room. I tried to approach her but was stopped by the invisible wall. I should have been worried but I wasn't as I was glad to see the women I loved. Soon another figure then joined her and it turned out to be my brother Kirito. I still felt okay since this was my brother nothing bad could happen. It soon turned into a nightmare as Kirito grabbed Sinon and began to kiss her. I was surprised at that but became shocked when I saw that Sinon began to return the kiss.

I wanted to look away from it but found myself unable to do so, it was like I was being forced to watch. I then realised that this is what Drake meant when he said 'worst nightmare' but yet this wasn't my worst nightmare. After the kiss Kirito then spoke up "Oh Sinon I love you, I should have gone out with you instead of Asuna." Sinon then responded with something I wished I couldn't hear "Kirito I love you too." Those word caused a sharp pain in my heart. It would have been okay if their conversation didn't continue since what they just said could have been undone. "Oh but what about Mikael" Kirito asked her. I was surprised that he said my name as It made me feel like he could see me but that wasn't true. What was my worst nightmare soon came to be when Sinon replied "Who, oh that Murderer, he means nothing to me hell why would I even go out with him, he's from Laughing Coffin for crying out loud." I suddenly collapse to the ground not wanting to hear anymore after being labelled a murderer by the one person I cared about. 'Please no more' I soon began to think as I clutched my head to stop myself form crying. I soon awoke back in the ruby palace as I got up of the ground as the black liquid retreated from my face. I began to cough as I struggled to pick myself up as the black liquid was holding me down. A thought then crossed my mind as I remember that I was a game master meaning I could disable Drake's Skill and win the duel. I held my hand forward as I tried to open my game master log in. Suddenly I saw something move and then both of my hand disappeared as they had been cut off by Drake. "Nice try but I can't allow you to do anything after all this is almost over" he told me.

I then called out "Game Master Log ii, Username: Sabre, Password:" I was suddenly cut off by the black liquid filling my mouth stopping me from using voice commanders to log in. Drake then walked forward and said "Oh I see you thought that if you log into your GM account you could block my skill and cause me to lose this battle. Unfortunately, I have now stopped you from doing so, so now it time for you to suffer once more before I end this." The black liquid then covered my entire face again. I found myself in the black room again as I immediately thought 'No don't show that enough.' This time it was different as several shadow figure surround me. I was unable to see any of their face but I soon was hit by a spear. Then I was bombarded with spear as each of the shadow figures screamed out "Why'd you kill us" and "Murderer." The attack went on for what felt like hours until one of the shadow figures walked forward and stabbed me in the chest. I once again awoke in the Ruby Palace except this time I was completely covered in cut marks. Drake then approached me and said "Well look like are little fun was at an end. The only way to end this once and for all and that is to make you fall." He then picked me up but the throat again as I was too weak to fight back and I wanted this to be over. 'So this is how I die, I always knew I was going to die in the virtual world, I just wasn't expecting it to be so soon' I thought to myself. 'Oh well I had a good life, sure there were thing I wanted to do like get married, tell my brother who I was and create a virtual reality equipment that surpasses the Amusphere and Nervegear. But I could live with this' I thought. Drake soon held me out of the hole we created when we crash into the sky palace. "This is it, Mikael. Then I guess Farewell" he said to me before plunging his sword in my chest and braking it so it was stuck in there. My health was now at only one sixteenth left as he let go of me and I began to fall from Aincrad. 'So this is it. I die by falling to my death. Very well I accept it' I thought as I proceeded to fall.

Sinon POV

I was awoken by what sounded like Mikael screaming yet when I looked around, I couldn't see him anyway. 'Does that mean the battle is over, did he win the match' I thought, worried about what had happened to Mikael. I soon notice that both Asuna and Kirito were just waking up so I rush over to them since they might have the answer to the question I was asking. "Asuna, Kirito do either of you know what happened to Mikael" I asked them. They both looked at each other before Kirito answered "No, all I remember is Yuuki and Mikael were about to fight Retribution when he suddenly hit the ground." Suddenly Yuuki came flying in and Asuna asked "Yuuki what happened." "Well me and Mikael were fight Retribution and had landed a combined skill on him when he froze Mikael's leg and sword to the ground, so I fought him one on one and lost but just before I did I threw Dark Repulser to him" she told us. I then looked around and saw that one of Mikael's blades had been frozen to the ground. I walked over to it, when I reached it I suddenly felt something telling me to look up. So I looked up and got the shock of my life as I saw Mikael was falling all the way from Aincrad. This cause me to scream out "Mikael."

Hacker POV

Suddenly my pocket began to vibrate as it was my phone. I pulled it out and saw that it was Nariko who was ringing me. "Hello Nariko" I said into it. "HACKER sir you need to get over here quickly" she told me. I was surprised as what she last told me everything was fine. "What's the problem, Nariko" I asked her. "It's Mikael, his heartbeat is accelerating and he was just thrown from the top of Aincrad in the virtual world" she told me with worry in her voice. "Okay has his emergency log off activated" I asked her as I installed one into the equipment in case something bad happened. "No that the problem as well as Zeon told me not to remove the Amusphere saying that what would happen would be similar to the Sword Art Online Incident" she replied. I was now shock and worried at the fact that Mikael might die soon. "Don't worry Nariko, we will be there soon" I told her before hanging up. "AMANO WE NEED TO HURRY, MIKAEL'S LIFE IS IN CRITCIAL DANGER" I told him which resulted in him speeding up. We soon arrive at the street Mikael lived on as the car came to a halt. I quickly rushed to the door and began knocking on it as hard as I could. 'No I won't allow you to die like that, no one is going to die like that ever again' I thought as I waited for a response.

THE END OF CHAPTER 21- A CLIFFHANGER AND THE END OF A YEAR

NEXT CHAPTER IT TIME TO ASCEND MIKAEL.