disclaimer: I only own OC's. whoever owns SAO, it's not me.
Chapter 24: Veiled threats and Dark Revelations.
Slowly and nonchalantly, though hiding a sea of emotions, Adamant moved towards Heathcliff. When he caught the man's eye, he thought about the best response, eventually deciding on a respectful nod, which was returned in kind by the guild leader.
Looking around for an appropriate excuse to draw closer, Adamant's eyes alighted on a player sitting a couple of metres behind Heathcliff, and gave the woman a hand up. He then turned to the oblivious general, moved to barely behind, and whispered "How's your perfect world going, Kayaba?" Seeing the man stiffen and hearing him take a sharp, involuntary breath was all the response Adamant needed.
In one smooth movement, he unsheathed his blade from his shoulder holster and swung it downwards at the treacherous general, and as he had hoped, his sword clashed with an invisible barrier, staggering him backwards several paces as a purple hexagon appeared where his blade impacted, showing off the Immortal Object classification for everyone in the raid group to see.
Heathcliff looked at Adamant with what could be classified as respect before speaking. "Well, I suppose the ruse is over. Yes, I am Akihiko Kayaba, the Game master, and I knew it was only a matter of time before you found out." The other few dozen players in the raid group were watching in confusion, and Ben got over his shock in time to translate Heathcliff's words.
"I'm annoyed it took me so long." Adamant said coolly. "But it made sense. There's nothing more boring than watching someone else play a videogame, especially not such a realistic experience. How long would you have gone through with the deception?"
Heathcliff shrugged. "If no one found out? I probably would have sprung it on you just after floor 99 was beaten, or perhaps faked my death? It would have been so entertaining to see your faces when I suddenly appeared at the top of floor 100. Yes, as you can probably figure out, I will be the final boss of this game." Jade moved to beside Adamant, her crimson eyes positively burning with anger. "You have a lot to answer for, you psycho."
Heathcliff shrugged. "Perhaps. But I have no doubt I will find it worth it. Still, as a reward for you discovering me, I will try to answer any lingering questions you may have."
Serena, approaching, answered immediately. "Why did you ban Yui from talking to people?" Heathcliff looked at her, a faint smile on his lips. "The psychology assistant? I would have thought it would be obvious. This world is a test; a test of the human mind. People trapped inside a videogame, where dying kills them in real life? It sounds like the plot to an Anime season. I did it to measure how all those people would react, and I couldn't have an A.I meddling. Except in your cases, of course."
"What a convenient segue into my question." Adamant interrupted. "Why is my guild so important to you?"
Heathcliff smiled, and then glanced across to Ben, saying, "You may not want to translate this." Then turned back to Adamant.
"I don't suppose Yui went into any more detail than 'you're special'?" They shook their heads. "Understandable. Allow me to fill in the blanks. Jade, earlier this year you developed a skill known as 'thorn of the rose.' Serena, you developed the echolocation skill 8 levels before it should have been possible. Gorgamith, surviving Arach's attacks long enough to throw your shield at the relic. And of course Adamant, with both your 'Wyvern's Tooth' and 'Iron Field' skills. The thing that links these and other interesting situations? All of them were physically impossible." He took in the confused faces of the team, and sighed. "I didn't code those skills, or a way to survive more damage than your armour and health allows, or a way to learn a skill early. Kirito's unique skill, 'dual wielding' was given to the player with the fastest reaction time, but your team is simply breaking the game. I was curious about what was so special about you all, which was why I engineered your encounter with the reflection construct, Ditto."
"So what did you find out?" Adamant asked, honestly intrigued, but Heathcliff chuckled.
"Oh I won't be telling you that until you reach me in the Jade palace on floor 100, and I have no doubt you will. However, these last 25 bosses will have to be done without my assistance."
Adamant sighed. "And now I regret revealing you…"
"Hey!" Came Gorgamith's dejected voice. "I'm pretty sure I can do my job better than a treacherous psychopath-"
(An arrow flashed at Heathcliff from Serena's direction but bounced off him with another purple hexagon, followed by a muttered "Damn, I thought that might work…")
"-Who cheats." Gorgamith finished.
Heathcliff chuckled. "Your inter-group antics are just as amusing as before…" He muttered to himself, but Serena's enhanced hearing caught the remark. "What do you mean 'Before'?"
The general caught himself and sighed. "Again, I will explain when you reach me. Now I intend to leave in a suitably dramatic manner, before I give anything else away. Good day."
"YOU PIECE OF-!" Adamant finally let his pent up anger out and dashed at Heathcliff, but the game master bashed his shield against the floor again, causing an explosion that knocked everyone backwards. When the smoke cleared, he was gone. "GAAAAAAAAAAH! SON OF A… Grrr…" Barely keeping his rage under control, he focused on what he had to. Naturally everyone will stand around shouting and doing nothing, because people are stupidcreatureswhoarecomparativetosheepintheirblindignoranceand why am I thinking like this? Oh yeah… Seriously, can I not go through any mildly negative experience without emergency mode cropping up? He sighed, opened his eyes, and looked out at the confused crowd, who (as predicted) had gotten into a massive shout fest. "Ben." He said, without looking at his team-mate. "Sorry about treating you like an instrument, but I'm gonna need this translated. Someone needs to talk to these people." He whistled, and Dylan gave out a roar (causing Adamant to grin; his dragon could do roars now.) as well as a burst of flame for added effect. The crowd quietened, and Adamant began. "Okay people, listen up. I'm not going to sugar-coat this. For those of you who missed it, Heathcliff, general and leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath, is not only the game-master, but the final boss of this place. He was also a brilliant speaker, and the best" (*Ahem*) "Second best shield user in the game. And I know that your natural reaction is gonna be to go and cower in the town of beginnings, with a few exceptions." He gave a meaningful glance at where Kirito and Asuna stood, leaning on each other for support, but with a determined glint in their eye. "Allow me to let you all know that that would be a very bad idea. As would be throwing yourself off of Aincrad because you just watched your friends die. That's because, with levels in the vicinity of 90, you are collectively the strongest players in the game. Everyone know Spiderman? "With great power comes great responsibility" That means that if you have the power to help save people's lives, for example, the 6-odd thousand people left in this game, then you have a moral obligation to do just that. Which is why I expect to see all of you, and more if I have any free time from grinding, stood before the door to floor 76, and 77, and on upwards to 100, where we're gonna kick that mass murderers teeth in." The crowd seemed to be reacting to his determination; he could see the light back in their eyes. "He made these bosses beatable, and put them in our way, so we're going to beat them all. And if he made them invincible, well…" He looked back at his five team-mates. Ben cock-sure, Gorgamith resolute, Serena naïve, Bulltrue just reacting to the positivity in the air, and Jade giving him a knowing look. All grinning from ear to ear. "…Well, we have some experience with that too." He concluded, raising his sword in a salute to his guild, then to the group at large, before turning to the new door leading out of the room and upwards. "Ever considered running for ruler of the world?" Jade asked, moving to his side as the room erupted into applause. He smiled back at her. "The things I would do… safer to keep me as just 'badass gamer motivator. So, shall we go?" He gave a mock bow and held out his hand, and she slightly blushed, knowing the sometimes-genius-sometimes-clueless teen meant nothing of it. She replied with a similarly mocking curtsy, took the hand, and walked towards the rest of the world.
"Told ya." Ben chuckled, not so subtly elbowing his friend and pointing. Bulltrue looked at the two walking hand in hand through the doorway, and frowned. "Told me what?" Ben chuckled and started walking. "You're as clueless as he is… come on; I've got to cash in the info on this new floor to Argo before anyone else does."
Yeeeeeaaaaah! Speeeeeeches! Please follow, favourite, and review fairly. Next chapter up by friday, promise. I have no more excuses, and hope (hehe, no chance) to get it finished by the summer holidays. If not, you'd better hope i have wifi, or you have a two week gap without content. Heck, i bet there are far less reliable writers out there *cough* *Cough* *harry potter and the nightmares of future past *cough* See y'all!